A missed cornual ectopic pregnancy: a case report

Ectopic pregnancies continue to be among the leading causes of maternal mortality globally. Cornual pregnancies are types of ectopic pregnancies that occur in the interstitial part of the fallopian tube and invades the uterine wall. We report a case of cornual ectopic pregnancy at 26 weeks that was missed and only diagnosed at autopsy following rupture and death of the pregnant woman. This case emphasizes the importance of a detailed carefully performed ultrasonography in the first trimester for all pregnant women.

A Qualitative Study Of Emergency Nurses’ Basic Life Support Practices In A Ghanaian University Hospital

ABSTRACT Background: Medical emergencies are common but Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) incidences are rare; yet when they occur could be life threatening leading either to disability or death. During SCA incidents, health care professionals will be required to act skilfully and swiftly to restart the heart and stabilise the patient until advanced care can be accessed or provided. There is evidence that victims of cardio and/or respiratory arrest whilst in the hospital will have improved outcomes if Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) is initiated within three to five minutes. The objectives of this study were to find if emergency nurses were adequately resourced to practice Basic Life Support (BLS), and the ease or difficulties with which they practice BLS. Methods: This Qualitative Descriptive (QD) study was conducted at the University of Cape Coast Hospital (UCCH) between June and September 2019. Six nurses were purposively recruited for the study. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcription was done with Microsoft Word and transferred to Microsoft Excel for thematic analysis using an inductive descriptive approach. Data analysis took a conventional qualitative content analysis approach. Results: Four of the participants were females whilst two were males. During data aggregation and analysis, 17 first-level codes were extracted from which two themes, five categories and six subcategories were obtained for discussion. The major themes were: (1) Basic Life Support (BLS) equipment and material resources, and (2) working environment and human resource. Conclusion: The study found that nurses working at emergency ward at UCCH were adequately resourced and well prepared to practice BLS. They however had challenges as their work seem to be hindered by patients who present to the ward without emergency needs and unavailability of emergency drugs

Factors affecting birth weight in Cape Coast, Ghana

Background: This study aimed at determining the incidence of low birth weight among live births and maternal anaemia and to investigate the association between some maternal factors and birth weight.Methods: This was a retrospective cross sectional study that involved mothers who regularly attended antenatal clinics and had delivered singleton live births between January 2014 to December 2014 in the University of Cape Coast Hospital, Cape Coast, Ghana.Results: Out of the 405 newborns included in the study, 194 (47.90%) were females and 211 (52.10%) males with a mean birth weight of 3.25±0.52kg. There was a low birth weight prevalence of 7.7% and a maternal anaemia prevalence of 38.8%. The period of gestation (p=0.00001), maternal anaemia (p=0.0217) and maternal age (p=0.0030) were found to be significantly associated with birth weight. Sex of baby (p=0.6668), parity of mother (p=0.6959) and maternal sickling status (p=0.7915) were not significantly associated with birth weight.Conclusions: As far as low birth weight is concerned, frequency is not high among live babies born to mothers who regularly attended antenatal clinics. This agrees with studies that suggest that antenatal clinic attendance positively affects birth weight. Thus in order to reduce the high prevalence of low birth weight and maternal anaemia in developing countries all pregnant women must be encouraged to attend antenatal clinics regularly

Evaluation of urinalysis parameters and antimicrobial susceptibility of uropathogens among out-patients at University of Cape Coast hospi

Background: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a major global public health issue. The gold standard for diagnosing UTI is urine culture. This is however labour intensive and time consuming. Many prescribers therefore rely on urinalysis in diagnosing UTI. This study sought to evaluate the performance of some parameters of urinalysis as predictors of urine culture positivity. The common causative agents and their antibiotic susceptibility patterns were also determined. Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out at the University of Cape Coast Hospital from July 2017 – December 2017 among out-patients. The performance characteristics of leukocyte esterase (3+) and nitrite reactions were estimated and compared with urine culture. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests were done using disc diffusion technique described by Kirby-Bauer. Results: Prevalence of UTI in this study was 30.0% (64/213). The most prevalent pathogen was E. coli (20, 31.2%), followed by S. saprophyticus (9, 14.1%). Most of the bacteria (52, 94.5%) were sensitive to amikacin, followed by ciprofloxacin (42, 76.3%). The most sensitive (94.4%) of the parameters was pus cells [>5 white blood cells (WBC) per high power field (HPF)] and the least sensitive was the nitrite test (21.0%). The leukocyte esterase test showed the highest accuracy of 91.1%. Conclusion: The study supports the recommendation of the use of oral ciprofloxacin as the first line treatment of uncomplicated UTI by the Ghana Standard Treatment Guidelines (2017). Funding: No funding was provided for this study. Keywords: urine tract infection, urinalysis, uropathogens, Cape Coas

Quality Assessment of Artemether-Lumefantrine Samples and Artemether Injections Sold in the Cape Coast Metropolis

Most prescribers and patients in Ghana now opt for the relatively expensive artemether/lumefantrine rather than artesunate-amodiaquine due to undesirable side effects in the treatment of uncomplicated malaria. The study sought to determine the existence of substandard and/or counterfeit artemether-lumefantrine tablets and suspension as well as artemether injection on the market in Cape Coast. Six brands of artemether-lumefantrine tablets, two brands of artemether-lumefantrine suspensions, and two brands of artemether injections were purchased from pharmacies in Cape Coast for the study. The mechanical properties of the tablets were evaluated. The samples were then analyzed for the content of active ingredients using High Performance Liquid Chromatography with a variable wavelength detector. None of the samples was found to be counterfeit. However, the artemether content of the samples was variable (93.22%−104.70% of stated content by manufacturer). The lumefantrine content of the artemether/lumefantrine samples was also variable (98.70%–111.87%). Seven of the artemether-lumefantrine brands passed whilst one failed the International Pharmacopoeia content requirements. All brands of artemether injections sampled met the International Pharmacopoeia content requirement. The presence of a substandard artemether-lumefantrine suspension in the market should alert regulatory bodies to be more vigilant and totally flush out counterfeit and substandard drugs from the Ghanaian market

Olfaction: anatomy, physiology and behavior

The anatomy, physiology and function of the olfactory system are reviewed, as are the normal effects of olfactory stimulation. It is speculated that olfaction may have important but unobtrusive effects on human behavior

Olfactory event-related potentials in normal human subjects: effects of age and gender

Behavioral and electrophysiological testing of olfactory function was performed in 33 normal human male and female subjects, 18-83 years of age. Acuity for odor identification and odor detection was verified by standard psychophysical tests. For evoked potential testing, a constant flow olfactometer provided odorant stimuli (amyl acetate) or air control stimuli that were presented to the right nostril by a nasal cannula at a flow rate of 5 l/min, duration of 40 msec and random interstimulus intervals of 6-30 sec. The behavioral tests revealed no significant difference between males and females, whereas increasing age was associated with a decline in performance on the odor identification test. No reproducible evoked potentials were recorded in response to the air control stimulus. Potentials to the odorant stimulus consisted of 4 components named P1, N1, P2 and N2. A significant correlation was found between P2 latency and odor identification test scores, suggesting a relationship between the generation of the P2 component and olfactory processing. P2 peak latency increased significantly with age at 2.5 msec/year. An age-related decline in N1-P2 interpeak amplitude was seen in male subjects. Topographic differences were seen in the P2 peak amplitude and the N1-P2 and P2-N2 interpeak amplitudes such that their amplitudes were greatest at Cz and Pz. On average, N1-P2 interpeak amplitudes were larger in the female subjects than in the male subjects, possibly revealing a hormonal influence on the olfactory event-related potential

Language endangerment and language documentation in Africa

Non peer reviewe

Utilisation of Skilled Delivery in Ghana: A Systematic Review

Background: Access to a doctor, nurse, or a midwife during childbirth is key to the global effort to reduce maternal mortality ratios. Ghana has recorded significant improvements in maternal care over the past three decades. However, despite many policies aimed at improving health care for pregnant women such as the free maternal care policy, many Ghanaian women still deliver without a skilled birth attendant present. This systematic review, therefore, sought to identify the various factors affecting utilisation of skilled birth attendance in Ghana. Methods: PubMed Central, African Journals Online (AJOL), CINAHL Plus with Full Text (EBSCO), and Science Direct were searched for studies from January 2010 to December 2020. Broad range of search terms was used. Studies included had diverse designs, were conducted among Ghanaian pregnant women, and had skilled delivery as an outcome of interest. The quality of studies was assessed. Due to the diversity of types of studies included in this systematic review (including qualitative, descriptive, and evaluative studies that ranged from simple bivariate analyses to complex multivariate modelling), a meta-analysis was neither possible nor appropriate. We, therefore, conducted a narrative synthesis of the search findings. Results: Twenty-four (24) studies met our inclusion criteria for this review. Included studies comprised sixteen (16) cross-sectional studies and eight (8) qualitative studies. The sample size of the included studies cumulatively was 86,998 participants. The emerging themes were: health system factors (10); maternal and family factors (5); and sociodemographic factors (9). Conclusion: In general, health system factors; maternal and family factors; and sociodemographic factors were found to influence skilled delivery services in Ghana. Therefore, in order to ensure that there is a skilled birth attendant present at every birth, efforts should aim at addressing social and cultural factors which have been identified as key determinants to utilisation of skilled delivery in Ghana