Hepatitis B and C: An assessment of risk exposure and prevalence among preclinical medical students in northwestern Nigeria

Background: The risk of transmission of hepatitis B and C (HBV and HCV) infection is of particular concern among medical students training in high endemic regions. In this study,we investigated the risk and prevalence of hepatitis B and C viruses among preclinical medical students in a government-owned medical school in northwestern Nigeria.Methods: We employed a cross-sectional studytargeting the whole population of preclinical medical students of Kaduna State University, Kaduna State northwestern Nigeria. Data were collected usinga self-administered, semi-structured questionnaire and blood testing for HBsAg and HCV antibodies using rapid screening kits.Data were analyzed using SPSS version 22.Results: A total of 133 students participated, and 79.7% of them had a previous risk exposure to injuries by sharps. The seroprevalence for HBV and HCV was 0.8% for both infections. Complete HBV vaccination uptake (3 doses)before enrolment in medical school was 18.8%. The knowledge that HBV infection is preventable was a significant determinant for the previous testing for hepatitis B and C.Conclusion: Risk exposure to injuries by sharps was high in preclinical students. But their seroprevalence for both hepatitis B and C were low. Keywords: Hepatitis B and C viruses;prevalence; medical students;sharp injurie

Maternal and child health interventions in Nigeria: a systematic review of published studies from 1990 to 2014

BACKGROUND: Poor maternal and child health indicators have been reported in Nigeria since the 1990s. Many interventions have been instituted to reverse the trend and ensure that Nigeria is on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. This systematic review aims at describing and indirectly measuring the effect of the Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH) interventions implemented in Nigeria from 1990 to 2014. METHODS: PubMed and ISI Web of Knowledge were searched from 1990 to April 2014 whereas POPLINE® was searched until 16 February 2015 to identify reports of interventions targeting Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health in Nigeria. Narrative and graphical synthesis was done by integrating the results of extracted studies with trends of maternal mortality ratio (MMR) and under five mortality (U5MR) derived from a joint point regression analysis using Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey data (1990-2013). This was supplemented by document analysis of policies, guidelines and strategies of the Federal Ministry of Health developed for Nigeria during the same period. RESULTS: We identified 66 eligible studies from 2,662 studies. Three interventions were deployed nationwide and the remainder at the regional level. Multiple study designs were employed in the enrolled studies: pre- and post-intervention or quasi-experimental (n = 40; 61%); clinical trials (n = 6;9%); cohort study or longitudinal evaluation (n = 3;5%); process/output/outcome evaluation (n = 17;26%). The national MMR shows a consistent reduction (Annual Percentage Change (APC) = -3.10%, 95% CI: -5.20 to -1.00 %) with marked decrease in the slope observed in the period with a cluster of published studies (2004-2014). Fifteen intervention studies specifically targeting under-five children were published during the 24 years of observation. A statistically insignificant downward trend in the U5MR was observed (APC = -1.25%, 95% CI: -4.70 to 2.40%) coinciding with publication of most of the studies and development of MNCH policies. CONCLUSIONS: The development of MNCH policies, implementation and publication of interventions corresponds with the downward trend of maternal and child mortality in Nigeria. This systematic review has also shown that more MNCH intervention research and publications of findings is required to generate local and relevant evidence

An enhanced predictive analytics model for tax-based operations

In order to meet its basic responsibilities of governance such as provision of infrastructure, governments world over require significant amount of funds. Consequently, citizens and businesses are required to pay certain legislated amounts as taxes and royalties. However, tax compliance and optimal revenue generation remains a major source of concern. Measures such as penalties and in the current times Data and Predictive Analytics have been devised to curb these issues. Such effective Analytics measures are absent in Bauchi State and Nigeria as a whole. Previous studies in Nigeria have done much in the area of tax compliance but have not implemented Data Analytics solutions to unearth the relationships which this study will cover. A Combined Sequential Minimal Optimisation (CSMO) model has been developed to analyse co-relation of Tax-payers, classification and predictive traits which uncovers trends on which to base overall decisions for the ultimate goal of revenue generation. Experimental validation demonstrates the advantages of CSMO in terms of classification, training time and prediction accuracy in comparison to Sequential Minimal Optimisation (SMO) and Parallel Sequential Minimal Optimisation (PSMO). CSMO recorded a Kappa Statistics measure of 0.916 which is 8% more than the SMO and 7.8% more than the PSMO; 99.74% correctly classified instances was compared to 98.28% in SMO and 98.35 in parallel SMO. Incorrectly classified instances of CSMO recorded a value of 0.25% which is better than 1.72% of SMO and 1.68% of PSMO. Training time of 223ms was recorded when compared to 378ms in SMO and 286ms in PSMO. A better value of 0.9981 for CSMO was achieved in the ROC Curve plot against 0.944 in SMO and 0.913 in PSMO. CSMO takes advantage of powerful Analytics techniques such as prediction and parallelization in function-based classifiers to discover relationships that were initially non-existen

Effect of maternal country of birth on breastfeeding practices: results from Portuguese GXXI birth cohort

Abstract Background Maternal country of birth has been associated with perinatal health outcomes but less is known regarding breastfeeding practices in contemporary European settings. This study investigated effect of maternal country of birth on breastfeeding initiation and duration by comparing native Portuguese and migrant mothers. Methods We analyzed data of 7065 children of the Generation XXI (GXXI) birth cohort recruited at birth (2005–06) and followed-up 4 years later. Logistic regression was used to assess the effect of maternal country of birth on breastfeeding initiation. Kaplan-Meier estimate was used to compare breastfeeding duration by maternal country of birth and length of residence by migrant mothers in Portugal. Results Breastfeeding initiation and the type of breastfeeding practice were similar for native Portuguese and migrant mothers. The migrants had significantly higher median duration in months of any breastfeeding (Odds Ratio [OR] 6.0, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 5.4,6.6) and exclusive breastfeeding (OR 4.0, 95% CI 3.8,4.2) than native Portuguese mothers (OR 4.0, 95% CI 3.8,4.2 and OR 3.0, 95% CI 2.9,3.0). Migrant mothers who resided in Portugal for either ≤5 years (OR 5.0, 95% CI 3.9,6.1 and OR 4.0, 95% CI 3.8,4.2) or >  5 years (OR 6.0, 95% CI 5.5,6.5 and OR 4.0, 95% CI 3.7,4.3) years had similar duration of any breastfeeding or exclusive breastfeeding, in both cases higher than the native Portuguese mothers. No significant differences were found when world regions were compared. Conclusions Maternal country of birth does not influence breastfeeding initiation and type of feeding practice. However, migrant mothers have longer breastfeeding duration of either exclusive or any breastfeeding, which was not changed by length of residence in Portugal

Trend of modern contraceptive uptake and its predictors among women accessing family planning service in a tertiary hospital in Northwestern Nigeria, 2000–2014

Background: Client preference and availability of contraceptives are important determinants of uptake in developing countries. In this study, we investigated the trend of contraceptive uptake and factors associated with client choice among women accessing family planning services in an urban tertiary hospital in Northwestern Nigeria. Subjects and Methods: Time-trend analysis was performed on registry data of contraceptives dispensed between January 2000 and December 2014 at the family planning unit of Barau Dikko Specialist Hospital, Kaduna, Northwestern Nigeria. Five-year periods (2000–2004, 2005–2009, and 2010–2014) were identified, and the prevalence of contraceptive methods for each period is expressed as moving averages. Predictors of client choice were determined by logistic regression expressed as odds ratio [OR] (95% confidence interval [CI]). Results: A total of 5992 family planning consultations were made during the 15-year study period. Compared with the intermediate 5 years, there was a rise from 1723 (2000 to 2004) to 2128 (2005–2009) and a decline in the final 5 years to 1912 (2010–2014). Cumulatively, the most preferred contraceptive was injectables (40.7%). Women aged ≥35 years showed significant positive association with contraceptive uptake (OR 2.243, 95% CI = 1.489–3.380; P < 0.05) for injectables (OR 13.609, 95% CI = 6.317–29.318 and OR = 0.019, 95% CI = 0.012–0.030; P < 0.05) for oral contraceptive pills. Women who had completed secondary school or more had greater odds of using intrauterine contraceptive device or implants, OR 2.278, 95% CI = 1.869–2.776, P < 0.05 and OR 5.012, 95% CI = 2.346–10.79, P < 0.05, respectively. Conclusion: Injectable contraceptive was the most common method used. Women's age and educational attainment were the major factors influencing choice and uptake of modern contraceptives

Health and nutrition claims for infant formula:international cross sectional survey

Objectives: To review available health and nutrition claims for infant formula products in multiple countries and to evaluate the validity of the evidence used for substantiation of claims. Design: International cross sectional survey. Setting: Public facing and healthcare professional facing company owned or company managed formula industry websites providing information about products marketed for healthy infants delivered at full term in 15 countries: Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States in 2020-22. Main outcome measures: Number and type of claims made for each product and ingredient. References cited were reviewed and risk of bias was assessed for registered clinical trials using the Cochrane risk of bias tool, and for systematic reviews using the Risk Of Bias in Systematic reviews tool.This study received no external funding.Peer reviewe