Platelet count and platelets indices of mortuary workers exposed to formaldehyde: a study in Calabar, Nigeria

Background: Embalming chemicals such as formaldehyde has been shown to be toxic to human system. It’s carcinogenicity effect and ability to cause adverse health conditions has been reported. Formalin is the aqueous solution of formaldehyde and it is converted to H2C (OH)2 when dissolved in water. This study was done to provide information on the effect of formaldehyde on the platelet count and platelet indices of mortuary workers.Methods: Total of 64 subjects were recruited for the study based on convenience sampling method in Calabar, Cross River State. The test group comprised of 32 mortuary workers with age ranging from 18-60 years from University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, General Hospital, Navy Hospital, Anatomy Department-University of Calabar and Infectious Disease Hospital, all in Calabar Meteropolis and 32 non-mortuary workers of the same age bracket from Calabar municipality served as control. Sample collection was by venipuncture and method of analysis was by the use of automated haematology analyzer.Results: This study shows that mean platelet volume (MPV) and platelet distribution width were significantly increased p<0.01) in mortuary workers. The platelet count of mortuary workers were also significantly decreased (p=0.918) when compared to non-mortuary workers. Three out of thirty two mortuary workers had giant forms of platelet. The result also shows that long term exposure to formaldehyde can cause a reduction in the platelet count and platelet indices of mortuary workers.Conclusions: This study has shown that exposure to formaldehyde has a negative alteration on the platelet count and platelet indices of mortuary workers

Socio-demographic determinants of mammography uptake among women of 40 years and above in Calabar, South-South, Nigeria: a cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION: mammography has the potential for identifying high risk women with breast cancer. Early detection is important in reducing mortality and morbidity, and crucial for better prognosis. Mammography is poorly practiced in Nigeria. This study assessed the association between socio-demographic characteristics and uptake of mammography among women ≥40 years. METHODS: a cross-sectional descriptive study design was employed and data was collected from 365 consenting participants in Calabar, Nigeria, using pre-tested questionnaire. SPSS Version 20 was used for data entry and analysis. The results were descriptively presented by frequencies and percentages. Pearson Chi-Square (χ2) analysis was performed to detect the association between variables at 5% level of significance (p-value of ≤0.05). RESULTS: only 9.9% of participants had a mammography, majority 90.1% never had. Uptake was highest among respondents with tertiary education, married, Civil/Public Servants, and those in the high income level categorization. Educational status, marital status, occupation and age were not statistically significantly associated with mammography uptake (p>0.05). Only religious denominational affiliation (p = 0.02) and income level (p = 0.002) were statistically significantly associated with uptake. Barriers to uptake were poor knowledge about mammography (49.8%), psychosocial (37.8%), economic (17.1%) and health systems (11.5%). Key facilitators to uptake were encouragement/counselling by health workers (44.0%) and presence of breast problems (37.4%). CONCLUSION: mammography uptake in Calabar, Nigeria was extremely low. Therefore, regular awareness campaigns targeting women at faith-based settings, and provision of mammography screening services at subsidized rates will enhance knowledge level and uptake of mammography

Thirty-five years (1986–2021) of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria: bibliometric and scoping analysis

Background Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is an acquired defect of the cellular immunity associated with the infection by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The disease has reached pandemic proportion and has been considered a public health concern. This study is aimed at analyzing the trend of HIV/AIDS research in Nigeria. Method We used the PUBMED database to a conduct bibliometric analysis of HIV/AIDS-related research in Nigeria from 1986 to 2021 employing “HIV”, “AIDS”, “acquired immunodeficiency syndrome”, “Human immunodeficiency virus”, and “Nigeria” as search description. The most common bibliometric indicators were applied for the selected publications. Result The number of scientific research articles retrieved for HIV/AIDS-related research in Nigeria was 2796. Original research was the predominant article type. Articles authored by 4 authors consisted majority of the papers. The University of Ibadan was found to be the most productive institution. Institutions in the United States dominated external production with the University of Maryland at the top. The most utilized journal was PLoS ONE. While Iliyasu Z. was the most productive principal author, Crowel TA. was the overall most productive author with the highest collaborative strength. The keyword analysis using overlay visualization showed a gradual shift from disease characteristics to diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Trend in HIV/AIDS research in Nigeria is increasing yet evolving. Four articles were retracted while two had an expression of concern. Conclusion The growth of scientific literature in HIV/AIDS-related research in Nigeria was found to be high and increasing. However, the hotspot analysis still shows more unexplored grey areas in future

Mean platelet volume as diagnostic and therapeutic marker of risk and prognosis of heart disease

Increased mean platelet volume (MPV) is associated with platelet reactivity and is a predictor of cardiovascular risk and unprovoked nervous thromboembolism. Mean platelet volume is a precise measure of platelet size. Studies have reported the use of MPV as a biomarker for predicting ischemic stroke in atrial fibrillation patients as well as in anticoagulant prescription and rhythm-control therapy. Moreover, MPV may predict cardiovascular event outcome following percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with coronary artery disease. MPV may predict residual platelet reactivity in dual antiplatelet therapy. Factors influencing MPV result were discussed. This review centered on the reports that MPV may be a biomarker of risk and prognosis of prevalent heart diseases

Causes of morbidity and mortality among patients admitted in a tertiary hospital in southern Nigeria: A 6 year evaluation.

BackgroundData on morbidity and mortality are essential in assessing disease burden, monitoring and evaluation of health policies. The aim of this study is to describe the causes of morbidity and mortality in the wards of University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH).MethodsThe study took a retrospective approach evaluating causes of morbidity and mortality from 2012-2017. Causes of death were documented based on International Classification of Disease 10 (ICD-10). Data were retrieved from health records department, UCTH.ResultsOverall, 2,198 deaths were recorded out of the 49,287 admissions during the study period giving a mortality rate of 4.5% comprising 1,152 (52.4%) males and 1,046 (47.6%) females. A greater number of males were admitted via accident and emergency. Age group 15-45 years had the highest number of admissions (57.9%) and deaths (37.7%), while age group >65 years recorded the highest number of deaths per admission (9.7% mortality rate). The broad leading causes of death were infectious and parasitic disease and diseases of the circulatory system (cardiovascular diseases) accounting for 22.7% and 15.8% of all deaths, respectively. However, diseases of the circulatory system recorded the highest number of deaths per admission (13.7% mortality rate). Overall, infectious diseases were the chief cause of mortality in adults while conditions originating from perinatal period were the major cause of death in children. Septicemia (6.0%), stroke (4.2%), liver diseases (4.1%), tuberculosis (3.7%), diabetes (3.6%) and HIV/AIDS (3.4%) were the specific leading cases of deaths. Sepsis, chronic diseases of the tonsil and adenoids and malaria were the specific leading causes of death in children, while sepsis, stroke and liver diseases were the leading cause of death in adults.ConclusionMost causes of deaths in this study are preventable. This study revealed double burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases

Bibliometric analysis of global Lassa fever research (1970-2017): A 47-year study

Background: Lassa fever has been a public health concern in the West African sub-region where it is endemic and a latent threat to the world at large. We investigated the trend in Lassa fever research using bibliometric approach.MethodsWe used the SCOPUS database employing Lassa fever as search descriptor. The most common bibliometric indicators were applied for the selected publications.ResultsThe number of scientific research articles retrieved for Lassa fever research from 1970 to 2017 was 1101. The growth of publications was more linear (r=0.67) than exponential (r=0.53). The duplication time of the scientific articles was 9.19years. Small number of authors were responsible for bulk of the article production (transience index of 78.89%). The collaboration index was 4.59 per paper. The Bradford core consisted of 19 journals in which Journal of Virology was at the top (4.6%). Majority of the output were from USA government agencies. United States was the most productive country. Joseph B. McCormick was the most productive author, while New England Journal of Medicine published the two most cited articles.ConclusionThe growth of scientific Literature on Lassa fever was of linear pattern with high transient authors indicating low productivity and non-specialized authors from other related areas publishing sporadically. This study provides a helpful reference for medical virologists, epidemiologist, policy decision makers, academics and Lassa fever researchers.Sin financiación2.565 JCR (2018) Q3, 48/89 Infectious Diseases1.489 SJR (2018) Q1, 58/298 Infectious DiseasesNo data IDR 2018UE

Bibliometric analysis of global sickle cell disease research from 1997 to 2017

Introduction Sickle cell disease is an autosomal recessive genetic disease caused by a single point mutation in the β-globin chain of the hemoglobin. It has been recognized by the World Health Organization as a public health priority since 2006. Methods The Scopus database was used in this study with the search descriptors: “sickle cell” and “sickle cell disease”. We applied common bibliometric indicators to evaluate the trend in scientific literature in sickle cell disease research. Results We retrieved a total of 19,921 pieces of scientific literature in the repertoire from 1997 to 2017. The Price law was fulfilled in the trend of production of scientific literature on SCD as the growth of scientific literature was more exponential (r = 0.9751; r2 = 0.9509) than linear (r = 0.9721; r2 = 0.9449). We observed a duplication time of 4.52 years. The Bradford core was made up of 69 journals with Blood at the top, publishing the greatest number of articles. The most productive institutions were mostly United States agencies and hospitals. The United States was the most productive country. The National Institute of Health was the most productive institution and also had the highest number of citations. Vichinsky E was the most productive author, while the most cited article was published by Circulation. Conclusion The growth of scientific literature in Sickle cell disease was found to be high. However, the exponential growth trend shows a “yet-to-be-explored” area of research. This study will be useful for physicians, researchers, research funders and policy-cum-decision makers.Sin financiaciónNo data JCR 20200.412 SJR (2020) Q3, 87/129 HematologyNo data IDR 2019UE

Demographics of Rhesus Phenotype of Blood Donors in Calabar: A Case Study of University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria

Background. Rhesus antigens have been documented to cause haemolytic disease of the newborn as well as acute and delayed transfusion reactions. This study was performed to evaluate the frequency of rhesus antigens (C, c, D, E, and e) in the studied population. Method. This study was a cross-sectional study involving 130 prospective blood donors attending University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) donor clinic. Donors were grouped for Rh antisera (anti-E, anti-e, anti-C, anti-c, and anti-D) using the standard serologic technique. Result. The most prevalent Rh antigen was “c” (98.5%), followed by “D” (97.7%), while the least was “C” (30.7%). The most prevalent phenotype was cDe/cDe (R0R0). Conclusion. This work therefore concludes that the most prevalent rhesus antigen and rhesus phenotype was c and cDe/cDe among blood donors in University of Calabar Teaching Hospital