The Impact of Recycled Neonatal Incubators in Nigeria: A 6-Year Follow-Up Study

Nigeria has a record of high newborn mortality as an estimated 778 babies die daily, accounting for a ratio of 48 deaths per 1000 live births. The aim of this paper was to show how a deteriorating neonatal delivery system in Nigeria may have, in part, been improved by the application of a novel recycled incubator technique (RIT). Retrospective assessment of clinical, technical, and human factors in 15 Nigerian neonatal centres was carried out to investigate how the application of RIT impacted these factors. Pre-RIT and post-RIT neonatal mortalities were compared by studying case files. Effect on neonatal nursing was studied through questionnaires that were completed by 79 nurses from 9 centres across the country. Technical performance was assessed based on 10-indices scores from clinicians and nurses. The results showed an increase in neonatal survival, nursing enthusiasm, and practice confidence. Appropriately recycled incubators are good substitutes to the less affordable modern incubators in boosting neonatal practice outcome in low-income countries

Review Of Clinical Features Of Malaria

Malaria has had a major impact on the life and economies of affected populations since antiquity. Ancient Assyrian, Chinese and Indian religious and medical texts made references to intermittent and seasonal fevers. Hippocrates in 500Bc first described the clinical features of malaria and some of its complication. Association of fever with stagnant water and swamps, led to the drainage of such waters by the Greeks and Romans in the 4th, 5th and 6th century BC. In the early 17th century, the “Peruvian Bark” or Jesuits Powder” was discovered to be of value in the treatment of certain fevers. The tree was later to be named cinchona from which quinine was extracted in 1820. Such fever was known as the agues in England, in Italy as mal'aria and in France as Palludisme due to their association with the fetid air of marshlands. Malaria was an effective obstacle to the colonization of the African heartland by the European Powers in the 16-19th centuries; till quinine chemoprophylaxis was introduced in 1850. Significant progress was made in the understanding of malaria with the description by Laveran of malaria parasites in blood film in 1880. Ronald Ross in 1891 demonstrated the development of malaria parasites in mosquitoes. Patrick Mansion in a series by field experiments confirmed the transmission of malaria by the bite of Anopheles mosquitoes in 1900. The worldwide distribution of malaria peaked by the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th country. Apart from the tropics and subtropics, it was common in the temperate lands including the USA, Europe, Northern Eurasia and Asia. In the early part of the 20th century larvicidal and natural methods were engaged to control vector breeding. The ravages of malaria during the World Wars, and the scarcity of quinine stimulated research into discovery of synthetic antimalarials. This resulted in the introduction of pamaquine in 1924 (Germany), mepecrine 1930 (Germany), chloroquine1934 (Germany), proguanil 1944 (England) amodioquine 1946, primaquine 1950 and pyrimethamine in 1952 (USA). DDT, (dichlorodiphenyl –trichloroethane ) with residual insecticidal action was discovered in Switzerland in late 1940 raising great hopes for the prospect of global malaria eradication. In 1957 the world health organization launched the Global Malaria Eradication Campaign. The programming went on for the next 15 year with excellent results in North America, Europe, Former USSR, part of Asia and Australia. The result in tropical countries was less dramatic. Malaria continues to be a major cause of human morbidity and mortality. It is the world's largest killer of all parasitic diseases and a major public health problem. Although malaria has been eradicated in most temperate zones, it still affects 40% of the world population living in endemic zones of the tropics and subtropics namely; Central and South America, Hispaniola, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian subcontinent, South East Asia, Middle East and Oceania [Fig. 1]. Current malaria facts and figures are daunting: worldwide, 2.4 million people are at risk of malaria, with 300 to 500 million people affected annually. Malaria results in 1 to 3 million deaths annually with 90% of the deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of the deaths are of under 5-year old children. In Africa, malaria is the leading cause of under 5 mortality as it kills an African child every 30seconds. It makes up 10% of the disease burden, contributing 30% to 50% of inpatient admissions and 50% of outpatient consultation. Malaria accounts for 40% of public health expenditure and reduces the annual GDP by 1-4%. Key Words: malaria, severe disease, resistance Orient Journal of Medicine Vol.16(2) 2004: 38-5

Nutritional status of primary school children in Enugu, Nigeria using anthropometric measurements

Background: The survival and wellbeing of children is largely dependent on nutrition. Malnutrition in children can co-exist as under- and over-nutrition in the same population with varying attendant medical risks.Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the nutritional status of primary school children in Enugu North LGA, using anthropometry.Methodology: This was a cross sectional descriptive study involving primary school children aged 6-12years in Enugu. Subjects were selected using multistage sampling technique over a 3 month period. Weight and height were measured using a digital scale and a wooden stadiometer, respectively. Weight-for-age, Height- for -age and Body Mass Index-for-age z scores were then derived using the new WHO reference standards.Results: Three hundred and forty eight (40.4%) children were recruited from public schools while 512 (59.6%) were recruited from private schools. The mean age of the study subjects was 9.18 ± 1.79 years. Seven (0.8%) children were stunted, 26 (3.3%) wasted and 28 (3.3%) underweight. Overweight and obesity were observed in 73 (8.5%) and 35 (4.1%) children, respectively. Under-nutrition was more prevalent in children aged 12 years (P= 0.001) whereas males were found to be more obese than females (P= 0.02).Conclusion: There was a low prevalence of under nutrition. However, overweight and obesity appear to be emerging as nutritional problems.Keywords: Nutrition, Obesity, Stunting, Underweight, Wasting, Anthropometr

Reversible cysteine oxidation in hydrogen peroxide sensing and signal transduction

Activation of redox cascades through hydrogen peroxide-mediated reversible cysteine oxidation is a major mechanism for intracellular signaling. Understanding why some cysteine residues are specifically oxidized, in competition with other proximal cysteine residues and in the presence of strong redox buffers, is therefore crucial for understanding redox signaling. In this review, we explore the recent advances in thiol-redox chemistry linked to signaling. We describe the last findings in the field of redox sensors, those that are naturally present in different model organisms as well as those that have been engineered to quantify intracellular hydrogen peroxide concentrations. Finally, we provide a summary of the newest approaches developed to study reversible cysteine oxidation at the proteomic level.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (BFU2012-32045), PLAN E and FEDER, by the Spanish program Consolider-Ingenio 2010 Grant CSD 2007-0020, and by Grant SGR2009-195 from Generalitat de Catalunya (Spain) to E.H. E.H. is the recipient of an ICREA Academia Award (Generalitat de Catalunya)