Menstrual hygiene among adolescent school girls in Kano

Background: Adolescent girls often lack knowledge regarding reproductive health including menstruation that could be due to sociocultural barriers in which they grow up.Materials and Methods: The study was a cross‑sectional survey conducted among adolescent girls in three secondary schools at Kano, from 1st January to 31st December, 2016. Ethical approval was obtained from Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital Ethics Committee and Kano State Ministry of Health. Consent/assent was obtained from all the participants/guardians. Data obtained were recorded on questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS version 18 Statistical Software. Fishers’ exact test was used in this study and P value of ≤0.05 was considered significant.Result: During the study period (from January to December, 2016), 219 adolescent secondary school girls participated in the survey. The mean age (±SD) was 16.1 ± 1.34 years. There was no statistically significant association between the mean age at menarche and the socioeconomic status of their parents (P [Fishers’] = 0.817). Up to 202 (92.2%) adolescent girls had premanarcheal counseling. Most of the information on premenarcheal counseling was provided by the parents/guardians 139 (62.9%) followed by the school teachers 42 (19.0%). Sanitary pads were the most used menstrual absorbent among the adolescents 202 (92.2%). Other menstrual absorbent used by the adolescents were toilet roll 11 (5.0%) and cloth 5 (2.3%). Among the methods of disposal of menstrual absorbent, dustbin 161 (73.9%) was the most used followed by disposal in the toilet 32 (14.7%), and burning 21 (9.6%). Other methods of disposal used by the adolescents were by washing it or road side/farm/over the fence disposal 4 (1.8%).Conclusion: There was good menstrual hygiene among the adolescent school girls. Sanitary pads were the most used menstrual absorbent.Keywords: Adolescents; Kano; menstrual hygien

Parenting children with hearing impairment: the milieu of parents' practices and experiences

The birth of a child with hearing impairment imposes more parental demands than having a child without a disability. Parents have little concern about the holistic growth and development of their children with hearing disability. This study aspires to delineate the parental practice and experience in dealing with behavioural problems of their children with hearing-impairments in a Special School in Kano State, Nigeria. This study employed a qualitative case study design in which interviews and observation were used to collect the data. Purposeful sampling was utilised in selecting three fathers and three mothers of children with hearing impairment. Data was recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed in which categories were identified and generated. The findings accentuated several major themes and categories of parental practice and their experiences, which have to do with counselling the children with hearing impairment. Parental experience includes the judgment of others in the family and based on the findings, the researchers provide discernments to parents, their children with hearing impairment, and the immediate community where such children live

Choice of specialization among female clinical medical students of Bayero University Kano, Nigeria

Background: The field of medicine is very wide; female medical students also have their choice of specialization which many develop in medical schools due to different factors.Methodology: It was a cross sectional study that was conducted among female clinical medical students of Bayero University Kano. Ethical approval was obtained from the hospital Ethical Committee. Questionnaire was administered to all consenting female students. Data were analysed by SPSS Electronic Software Version 18 (SPSS Inc, IL, Chicago, USA). A P value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: Eighty five female medical students participated in the study. Mean (SD) age was 23.09 ± 1.8 years. Seventy two (84.70%) chose clinical medicine to be their future career while 13 (15.30%) were undecided. Only 15 (22.70%) decided to specialize in their career of choice. Obstetrics and Gynaecology was the most interested speciality of choice (30.80%). Most students were interested in the reward in working in the speciality 54 (68.40%) followed by interest in the clinical work 52 (65.80%). Many of the respondents 41 (49.4%) considered their career development as a priority in future career plans in practice location, and educational environment for children 40 (51.90%). Only 15 (18.00%) were keenly motivated to work in rural areas regardless of the duration of time.Conclusion: Female medical students preferred to be clinicians in their future career with obstetrics and gynaecology as the most interested speciality of choice. Their career development and educational environment for children were the priority in future career plans in practice location.Keywords: Choice of specialization; Female medical students; Kano; Nigeri

Choice of delivery positions among multiparous women in Kano

Background: Confining women to hospital bed with limited power of movement and involvement of decision making during labor process and  restricting them to supine position in second stage of labor might contribute significantly to aversion to hospital delivery. Objective: To determine the different delivery positions women take during home delivery. Method: This was a cross sectional survey among 285 multiparous women who had vaginal delivery of life singleton babies. They were interviewed using questionnaire at Murtala Muhammad Specialist hospital Kano on choices of delivery position. Ethical approval was obtained from the ethical committee of the state. Data obtained were analyzed using SPSS Version 19. Qualitative data were summarized using frequencies and percentages. Chi (χ2) test was used for categorical data. A P value of ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The mean age (±SD) of the respondents was 28.9 ± 7.12 years. Majority of the women that delivered at home assumed the squatting  position for delivery (60%) and were mainly assisted by traditional birth attendants (TBA) (41.3%). Over 50% of those that delivered at home were instructed to take the position they delivered in by their assistants at delivery while those that chose their position by themselves did that because they felt more comfortable in that position (85%). Over 80% of those that were instructed to take a position at delivery did not ask their assistant the reason for advising on that position. There was statistically significant association between educational level and right to decide in which positionto deliver the baby (χ²=28.517, P = 0.000). Conclusion: Squatting position was the most assumed position following home delivery. There was statistically significant association between educational level and right to decide in which position to deliver the baby. Key words: Choices; delivery position; multiparous women; Nigeria; vaginal birth

PRENATAL AND POSTNATAL EFFECT OF LEAD ACETATE ON THE HISTOLOGY OF FRONTAL CORTEX AND MOTOR ACTIVITY IN WISTAR RATS

Objectives: The objective of this study was to find the histologic and motor activity effect of lead on prenatally and postnatally exposed Wistar rats. Methods: In this study, twelve Wistar Rats were used and grouped into four groups of two females and one male. Group I rats served as the control and allowed feed and water freely. The rats in Group II were administered 500ppm of Pb through drinking water from gestation day 8 (GD8) to parturition (GD21). While Group III rats were given 500ppm of Pb in drinking water from postnatal day 1 (PND1) to PND21. The rats in the fourth group (Group IV) were given 500ppm of Pb from GD8 to PND21. Palmer grasp reflex was conducted to assess the motor activity of the rat pups. The animals were then humanely sacrificed and the frontal cortices were isolated for routine histological processing. Results: The histological study has shown normal neurons in the control group while degenerating cells exhibiting karyolysis, pyknosis, karyorrhexis, vacuolation were seen in the lead-treated groups. Group II and Group IV showed considerate deficit in their motor activity while Group III showed mild effect. Conclusion: From this study, lead exposure of Wistar rats at both prenatal and postnatal period of development has effect on the histology of the frontal cortex as well as on their motor activity

Frequently Encountered Animal Diseases at Animal Hospital Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State - Nigeria

Data from the clinical record of the Animal Hospital Birnin Kebbi was used to determine the frequency of occurrence of various diseases of animals from February 2009 to January 2010. A total of 794 cases were presented. 155 (19.5%) for routine check and vaccination, while the bulk 639 (80.5%)were presented as a result of disease conditions. Diseases diagnosed include; helminthoses 141(22%), followed by fowl pox 65(10.2%), lousiness 61(9.5%), traumatic injuries 46(7.2%), enteritis 32(5.0%), upper respiratory tract infection 29(4.5%), mite/mange 24(3.8%), septicemia22(3.4%), bloat 19(3.0%), and abscess 17(2.7%). Other moderately occurring, disorders included dystocia & post partum complications 14(2.2%) each, mal-directed horn/hooves 12(1.9%), tick infestation 10(1.6%), coccidiosis 9(1.4%), fracture 8(1.3%), hernia, PPR, pregnancy toxemia & castration 7(1.1%) each. Poisoning, infectious coryza, arthritis, rumen impaction & vaginal prolapse were 6(0.9%) each, pneumonia and mastitis 5(0.8%) each. The less occurring disorders included urinarytract infection, Gumboro disease, black leg, abortion, paraphimosis & dog bite 4(0.6%) each. Rhinitis & chronic respiratory diseases 3(0.5%) each, Foot and Mouth disease, New castle disease, cowdriosis, and hygroma numbering 2(0.3%) each. The least occurring disorders were Fowltyphoid, dislocation, trypanasomosis, pyometra, orf, stomatitis, grass tetany, canine distemper, atresia ani and rectal prolapse 1(0.2%) case each. Information generated can be useful to Government agencies involved in formulating policies and guidelines for prevention andcontrol of animal diseases

Vocational education students’ perception of entrepreneurship education skills as prognosticators of business start-up at Jigawa State Colleges of Education Gumel

The researchers empirically investigated the Vocational education students’ perception of entrepreneurship education skills as prognosticators of business start-up at Jigawa state colleges of education Gumel. In order to investigate this study, the researchers raised two (2) research questions and two (2) hypothesis. Related literature was reviewed and the entrepreneurial event model (EEM) developed by Shapero and Sokol in 1982 was adopted as the conceptual framework for the study. The framework showed at a glance the various stages and processes that eventually climaxed into business formation. The survey design was used in the study. Six hundred and twenty eight (628) vocational education students from Agricultural education, Business education, Fine and Applied Art education, and Home economics education in the college formed the population of the study out of which a sample size of one hundred and fifty seven (157) students were selected using the proportionate stratified random sampling technique. The instrument used for data collection was the questionnaire tittle: Vocational Education Students’ Perception of Entrepreneurship Education Skills Questionnaire (VESPEESQ) and it was divided into two sections – A and B. Section A consists of the demographic information of the respondents while section B consist of thirteen (13) opinion statements structured in a 4-point rating scale. The instrument was validated by experts in the school of secondary education (vocational and technical education programme), Jigawa state college of education, Gumel and the test re-test method of reliability was used in obtaining reliability co-efficient of 0.78. The instrument was administered to the respondents with the help of research assistants and the data collected was subject to statistical analysis. The descriptive and inferential statistical tools were used in analysing the data. The data generated for the study were analyzed using simple percentage, mean and standard deviation to answer the personal data and research questions while the null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using t-test with inferential statistic of SPSS version 21. The findings revealed that the respondents have positive perception towards entrepreneurship education. It also revealed that there are challenge plaguing the acquisition of entrepreneurial knowledge and skills such as lack enough practical, lack of adequate facilities etc. Among the recommendations advanced by the researchers was that, there should be conscious efforts by educators to properly transmit the entrepreneurial skills to the learners with ease, practical examples should be included in the lectures, teachers should maintain cordial relationship with students

Comparative Study of Maximum Power Point Tracking with a Modified DC DC Converter

Maximum power points are used to find the voltages and currents at which a photovoltaic (PV) panel should operate to obtain maximum power. In order to deliver highest power, an efficient DC DC converter and a reliable tracking algorithm are used. There is also the need to continuously find the maximum power under any environmental conditions at all times. This research is intended to study a comparative performance of maximum power point (MPP) which is presented under uniform irradiance condition. The algorithm employed is an improved cuckoo search algorithm and the DC-DC Converter( switched mode power supply) has been modified by including a synchronous rectifier connected to a load, the performance of the system is validated using MATLAB/Simulink and practical implementation for this work. A comparison of the MATLAB Simulation with the practical implementation of MPP is presented using maximum power and percentage tracking efficiency as performance metric. From the MATLAB results obtained, maximum extracted power is 26.81W and the hardware implementation gives a maximum power of 28.71W. Tracking efficiency improves by 6.62%. The results show the practical MPP gives a better maximum power, which consequently improves the Photovoltaic systems efficiency and conversely mitigates the power consumption and the cost of the system than the simulation result obtained in MATLAB

Effect of Blanching and Sun-Drying on the Nutritional and Microbiological Qualities of Vegetables in Ilorin Metropolis, Nigeria

Vegetable has been identified as a potential tool to curb the menace of malnutrition%253B however, leafy vegetables are highly perishable. This study evaluated the nutritional and microbiological qualities of vegetables before and after blanching and solar-drying. The vegetables were evaluated for proximate and microbiological analysis using streak and pour plate methods. Four bacteria and seven fungi were isolated and characterized, their percentages of occurrence show%253B Pseudomonas putida (25%25), Bacillus cereus (12.5%25), Staphylococcus aureus (37.5%25), Aeromonas hydrophila 25%25. Also, Aspergillus niger 25%25, Aspergillus flavus 12.5%25, Rhizopus stolonifer (16.66%25), Mucor micheli (8.34%25), Candida albicans (8.34%25), Alternaria alternate (16.66%25) and Rhizopus oligoporus (12.5%25). Nutritional compositions were determined. These results showed evidence of contaminations by potential pathogens during production and a slate change in nutritional content of the preserved vegetables. It is now important to pay attention on microbial qualities of leafy vegetables to safeguard the health of the consumers and forestall the possible risk of vegetable borne diseases