Pattern of liver cancer admissions at the University College Hospital, Ibadan - A 4-year review

Background: Liver Cancer (LC) is a common malignancy globally, and it exacts an enormous toll on the health care system. Therefore, it is imperative to have an epidemiological profile for effective planning.Methods: This study examined the basic demographic, admission profile and outcome of this category of patients through a retrospective cross-sectional study. The study was carried out using data of clinical diagnoses of LC admitted into the Gastro-intestinal Unit (GLU), Department of Medicine, University College Hospital, Ibadan between 1st January 2011 and 31st December 2014.Results: Two hundred and six patients (16.8%) had diagnoses of LC out of the 1228 total cases admitted by the GLU. The total male  patients were 147(71.4%) and female 59 (28.6%) while the most prominent age group for both genders and males were 41-50 years in the male group and 51-60 years among females. The mean + SD and median hospital stay was 10.6±11.6 days and eight days for LC patients, respectively. The intrahospital fatality rate was 37.9% and occurred mainly within five days of admission.Conclusion: Liver Cancer is an important disorder in gastrointestinal practice and had high fatality within a few days of admission; hence, efforts should be made to improve the care of the patients

Assessment of students' satisfaction with university health care services in a medical university in southern Nigeria

Objectives: Assessment of patients' satisfaction with health services helps to identify deficiencies in health care delivery and provides invaluable feedback to health care providers. Level of satisfaction of students with the health services provided by a University in Southwest Nigeria was assessed with the aim of providing feedbacks to the health workers.Methods: The study is a cross-sectional descriptive study that assessed satisfaction of students with University health services between April 2016 and March 2017 using the Short Assessment of Patient Satisfaction (SAPS) questionnaire. Data generated was analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences version 17.0.Results: One hundred and forty-one students participated in this study with male: female ratio of 1:1.6 and mean age of 18.70±3.25 years. Their mean SAPS score was 18.70±3.25. One-hundred and ten (78%) of the respondents were satisfied with the effect of the treatment received, 95(67.4%) were satisfied with their communication with the doctors, 102(72.4%) were satisfied with physical examination by their doctors, 105(74.6%) were satisfied with their involvement in decision making concerning their health, 83(58.9%) were satisfied with the respect accorded to them by the doctors, 57(40.4%) were satisfied with duration of time spent by the doctor with them. Overall satisfaction using the total SAPS scores showed that 73(51.7%) were satisfied with the care.Conclusion: About half of the respondents were satisfied with the health services received. Domains with the lowest scores were those related to short duration of time spent with patients during consultation and respect for patients.Keywords: Students, satisfaction, University, healthcare, service

Energy generation from anaerobic co-digestion of food waste, cow dung and piggery dung.

The study investigated bioenergy generation from anaerobic co-digestion of food wastes (FW), cow dung (CD) and piggery dung (PD). The physicochemical parameters of the substrates were determined before and after digestion following standard procedures after mechanical pretreatment. Throughout the study, pH remained slightly alkaline while temperature varied between 26 and 32 °C. The highest cumulative biogas yield of 0.0488 L was recorded from the digestion of FW + CD + PD on the ninth day. After analyses, the highest methane content of 64.6 was obtained from the digestion of FW + PD while the lowest (54.0%) was from the digestion of FW only. Overall, cumulative biogas production for the four digestion regimes followed the order: FW + CD + PD, FW + PD, FW + CD and FW only respectively. Accumulation of VFAs was recorded at a slow rate during the digestions

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Regional economic integration and economic upgrading in global value chains: selected cases in Africa

This study examined the impact of regional economic integration on economic upgrading in global value chains (GVCs), of the East African Community (EAC), Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), from 2000 to 2015. Using the Least Square Dummy Variable (LSDV) technique, the results showed that regional economic integration is not a significant driver of the economic upgrading of their Members, in GVCs but one-period lagged backward participation in GVCs is. Considering labour productivity as an alternative measure of productivity in the place of productivity linked with participation in GVCs (economic upgrading), regional economic integration turned out to be a weak positively significant determinant. At a disaggregated level, regional economic integration significantly determined labour productivity in both EAC and SACU but not in ECOWAS. More regional efforts are needed to sufficiently aid the contribution of these African RECs to their Members’ economic upgrading in GVCs

Composition of tree species in Onigambari Forest Reserve, Oyo State, Nigeria

The tree composition of Onigambari Forest Reserve in Oyo State was evaluated by laying out a plot size of 50 x 50 m2 resulting to four plots per hectare. 104 and 93 stems per hectare were recorded. A total of 197 tree stands were encountered in the two compartments studied with family Sterculiaceae with species Cola gigantean, Cola millenii, Sterculia africana, Sterculia oblonga, Sterculia tragacantha, Triplochiton scleroxylon, Pterogota macrocarpa and Nesogordonia papaverifera.as the most abundant having 34 stands, followed by the family Papilionoideae with species Baphia nitida with 20 stands as the most abundance species. About thirty-nine percent of the tree species encountered were wildlings having a diameter at breast height of ≤ 10 cm. Less than one percent (0.50%) of the trees were of merchantable size. This could be a thing of concern and it calls for adequate resourceful and sustainable management techniques. Habits in Onigambari Forest Reserve are presented in Table 1. A total of forty-three (43) species of trees distributed into twenty (20) families were encountered. Family Sterculiaceae and Fabaceae was the richest with eight (8) species each followed by family Euphobiaceae with (5) tree species. Based on their habit, these species were classified into 100% trees. Furthermore, it is of the importance that the forest reserves be protected from illegal/indiscriminate logging among other anthropogenic activities in order to allow it regenerate. Keywords: Abundance, merchantable, sustainable, resourcefu