Knowledge and practice of sedentary lifestyle among bankers in Abuja, North-Central Ngeria

Objective: Appropriate regular physical activity is a major component in preventing the growing global burden of chronic disease and at least 60% of the global population fails to achieve the minimum recommendation of 30 minutes moderate intensity physical activity daily. This study was aimed at assessing the knowledge and practice of sedentary lifestyle among bankers in Bwari Area Council, FCT, Abuja in North-Central Nigeria.Methods: This was a descriptive cross sectional study using self administered questionnaire. Systematic sampling was used to recruit 257 bankers from the various banks within BAC. The data was analysed using EPI INFO computer software package (version 3.5.3).Results: More than half 174 (67.7%) of the respondents were aware of sedentary lifestyle; 104 (59.9%) had good knowledge of sedentary lifestyle while 55 (31.5%) had poor knowledge. More than half 155 (60.3%) of the respondents were sedentary while only 102 (39.7%) were physically active. Knowledge of sedentary lifestyle did not significantly influence practice of sedentary lifestyle.Conclusion: There was good knowledge of sedentary lifestyle among the respondents. More than half of the bankers were found to be sedentary and about a third were physically active. Programmes aimed at improving physical activity among employees of this occupation group are therefore advocated.Keywords: Sedentary Lifestyle, Knowledge, Practice, Abuja, Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ

Effect of health workers sensitization on satisfaction with immunization services among mothers of under fives in Ilorin, North Central Nigeria

Objective: Patients' satisfaction is a useful measure of the quality of service. An expression of satisfaction or dissatisfaction is also the patients' judgment on the quality of service in all its aspects. This study examined the effect of health workers sensitization on mothers' satisfaction with immunization service provided in health care facilities in a state in North Central Nigeria.Methods: This is a quasi-experimental study involving sensitization of health workers on quality health service provision at the study site, Alanamu Health Centre, Ilorin. The control group was at Okelele Health Centre, Ilorin. One hundred and fifty mothers were recruited from each of the facilities and the total population of mothers bringing their children (0-14 weeks old) for immunization was recruited consecutively for the study.Results: Less than 80% of respondents in the study group and the control group (73.3% and 77.3% respectively) were satisfied with the waiting time at the pre-intervention stage. At post-intervention, there was a significant increase in the proportion of mothers in the study group that were satisfied with the waiting time, seat provision and information received on immunization (p<0.05) while there were no significant changes in satisfaction among mothers in the control group regarding these measures (p>0.05). Age and level of education had significant influence on mothers' satisfaction (p<0.05).Conclusion: Mothers became more satisfied with various aspects of immunization service received after sensitization of health workers on quality health service. Sensitization of health workers towards quality health service may be necessary to generate options in service provision and improve client satisfaction.Keywords: Clients'Satisfaction, Immunization Services, Health Workers Sensitization, Nigeri

Transition from BCS pairing to Bose-Einstein condensation in low-density asymmetric nuclear matter

We study the isospin-singlet neutron-proton pairing in bulk nuclear matter as a function of density and isospin asymmetry within the BCS formalism. In the high-density, weak-coupling regime the neutron-proton paired state is strongly suppressed by a minor neutron excess. As the system is diluted, the BCS state with large, overlapping Cooper pairs evolves smoothly into a Bose-Einstein condensate of tightly bound neutron-proton pairs (deuterons). In the resulting low-density system a neutron excess is ineffective in quenching the pair correlations because of the large spatial separation of the deuterons and neutrons. As a result, the Bose-Einstein condensation of deuterons is weakly affected by an additional gas of free neutrons even at very large asymmetries.Comment: 17 pages, uncluding 7 figures, PRC in pres

The effect of age and font size on reading text on handheld computers

Though there have been many studies of computer based text reading, only a few have considered the small screens of handheld computers. This paper presents an investigation into the effect of varying font size between 2 and 16 point on reading text on a handheld computer. By using both older and younger participants the possible effects of age were examined. Reading speed and accuracy were measured and subjective views of participants recorded. Objective results showed that there was little difference in reading performance above 6 point, but subjective comments from participants showed a preference for sizes in the middle range. We therefore suggest, for reading tasks, that designers of interfaces for mobile computers provide fonts in the range of 8-12 point to maximize readability for the widest range of users

Health workers sensitization: effects on perceived quality of immunization services among mothers of under five children in Ilorin, North Central Nigeria

Clients? satisfaction with services received is an important dimen- sion of evaluation that is examined only rarely in developing coun- tries. Health care professionals have always acknowledged that satisfying the consumers at some level is essential to providing ser- vices of high quality. This is a quasi-experimental study. The study group included 150 mothers bringing their children for immuniza- tion at Alanamu Health Centre, Ilorin. The control group included 150 mothers bringing their children for immunization at Okelele Health Centre. Total population of mothers bringing their children for vaccines against tuberculosis/poliomyelitis/hepatitis B (BCG/ OPV/HBV) and against diphterite-pertussis-tetanus (DPT)/OPV/ HBV were recruited sequentially until sample size was attained. Mean waiting time at pre-intervention was 82.7 ± 32.5 and 90.4 ± 41.7 minutes for the study and control groups respectively. Post intervention, there was a significant decrease (p inf. 0.05) in the estimated waiting time in the study group (mean = 48.0 ± 24.4 minutes) while there was no observed difference in the control p > 0.05 (mean = 88.4 ± 40.6 minutes). Perceived adequacy of information on services being provided by the health facility was low (58%) in the study group while it was relatively higher in the control group (80%), but there was a significant increase in pro- portion of those that felt information was adequate only in the study group (p inf. 0.05) at post intervention. Waiting time in health facili- ties by clients should be reduced as this may give clients a positive perception of the service they have come to access. Information dis- semination to clients should be encouraged among health workers as this would affect clients? knowledge and also quality of health care delivery

Radial and vertical angular momentum transport in protostellar discs

Angular momentum in protostellar discs can be transported either radially, through turbulence induced by the magnetorotational instability (MRI), or vertically, through the torque exerted by a large-scale magnetic field. We present a model of steady-state discs where these two mechanisms operate at the same radius and derive approximate criteria for their occurrence in an ambipolar diffusion dominated disc. We obtain "weak field'' solutions - which we associate with the MRI channel modes in a stratified disc - and transform them into accretion solutions with predominantly radial angular-momentum transport by implementing a turbulent-stress prescription based on published results of numerical simulations. We also analyze "intermediate field strength'' solutions in which both radial and vertical transport operate at the same radial location. Our results suggest, however, that this overlap is unlikely to occur in real discs.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, aastex.cls. Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc

The kinetic dark-mixing in the light of CoGENT and XENON100

Several string or GUT constructions motivate the existence of a dark U(1)_D gauge boson which interacts with the Standard Model only through its kinetic mixing. We compute the dark matter abundance in such scenario and the constraints in the light of the recent data from CoGENT, CDMSII and XENON100. We show in particular that a region with relatively light WIMPS, M_{Z_D}< 40 GeV and a kinetic mixing 10^-4 < delta < 10^-3 is not yet excluded by the last experimental data and seems to give promising signals in a near future. We also compute the value of the kinetic mixing needed to explain the DAMA/CoGENT/CRESST excesses and find that for M_{Z_D}< 30 GeV, delta ~ 10^-3 is sufficient to fit with the data.Comment: 6 pages, 5figure

The stability of axisymmetric Taylor-Couette flow in hydromagnetics

The linear marginal instability of an axisymmetric MHD Taylor-Couette flow of infinite vertical extension is considered. The dependence of the flow stability on magnetic Prandtl number, Pm, and gap-width between rotating cylinders is investigated. There is an unstability for flows with resting outer cylinder even without a magnetic field. Nevertheless, there are solutions with smaller critical Reynolds numbers for certain (weak) magnetic fields. These solutions, however, exist for not too small Pm or large enough gap. For hydrodynamically stable flow, we found that a magnetic field amplitude always exsits where the critical Reynolds number is minimal. In all calculated cases the minimal critical Reynolds numbers are running with 1/Pm for small Pm and the critical Reynolds numbers exceed value of 10^6 for Pm of sodium (10^{-5}) or gallium (10^{-6}).Comment: 8 pages, 17 figure