Citizenship education, quality assurance and national integration

Since the attainment of independence in 1960, the cry for national integration has remained loud among Nigerians. This might be because of certain presumed defects in the nature of our federation. The call for nation building involves providing among other important things quality education which over the years have detoriated. The call is also loud on providing a kind of education that will do bring the citizenry to proper knowledge of the society, hence the teaching of citizenship. This paper is central on the Concepts of Citizenship Education, quality assurance and national integration. The paper examines the nature of citizenship education system offered in the country; it discussed the importance of citizenship education to national integration and finally concludedby making some suggestions

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

Studying nucleation aspects and morphology of iron (II) oxalate dihydrate crystals in water and diluted phosphoric acid media

Nucleation fundamentals and morphologies of iron II oxalate dihydrate crystals, FeC2O4·2H2O, in deionized water and diluted phosphoric acid (28% P2O5) media were studied. Oxalic acid and iron II sulfate heptahydrate crystals were mixed with deionized water and diluted phosphoric acid (28% P2O5) media at 25 °C with concentration range of 2.7–7.2 g/100 mL. The turbidity of the reaction mixture was measured at different time intervals and the induction time of iron II oxalate dihydrate crystals was calculated. It was found that, the increase of induction time in phosphoric acid medium is more than that in deionized water at the same concentration of iron II oxalate dihydrate crystals. The nucleation rates are 30.5 × 1028 nuclei/cm3·s and 70.2 × 1028 nuclei/cm3·s at 7.2% concentration of iron II oxalate dihydrate in deionized water and phosphoric acid media, respectively. The surface energy increases in water medium compared to phosphoric acid medium. In addition, the formed crystals are converted from cubic to rectangular shape with increasing concentration of iron II oxalate dihydrate in water medium. On the other hand, the crystals are converted from cubic to octahedral while changing the medium from water to phosphoric acid at 2.7% iron II oxalate concentration. Keywords: Crystallization, Crystal morphology, Iron II oxalate dehydrate, Nucleation, Phosphoric aci

Development of Wireless Safety System for Hybrid Vehicle Hazard Monitoring

The advent of advanced automobile technology has enabled the introduction of hybrid vehicle engine which is a combination of electric motor and gasoline fuel usage. Although the technology seems to support environment and provide ease of use to the consumer, the underlying risk associated with this is electrocution which could be fatal with the high rating of battery used in these vehicles. To minimise such risk, an economical and efficient monitoring system has been designed and developed to monitor voltage and current leakage from related cables on hybrid vehicles and warned stakeholders when the event necessitates it. Data collected shows alarming potential current leakage characteristic on overused cables when analysed

On the spectroscopic analyses of thioindigo dye

Highlights: [•] B3LYP as well as FTIR were utilized to analyze thioindigo dye. [•] Vibrational assignments for thioindigo isomers were aided at B3LYP/6-311G(d,p). [•] Cis-isomer is a promising structure for optoelectronic devices as solar cells. [•] Cis-isomer has a high dipole moment (3.44 Debye) and HOMO/LUMO energy gap (3.02 eV)

The differential effects of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on seizure frequency in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy ? A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Objectives: The omega-3 (n ? 3) fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), are known to play an important role in maintenance and modulation of neuronal functions. There is evidence that omega-3 fatty acids may have anticonvulsant effects. The effect of DHA and EPA on seizure rate in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) was investigated. Methods: A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial included ninety-nine (n = 99) subjects with DRE, aged 5?16 years (n = 85) and 17?45 years (n = 14). After randomization, subjects were given two, four, or six capsules per day of DHA (417.8 mg DHA and 50.8 mg EPA/capsule, n = 33), EPA (385.6 mg EPA and 81.2 mg DHA/capsule, n = 33), or placebo (high oleic acid sunflower oil, n = 33) for one year. The primary endpoint was the effect of treatment on rate of seizure. Random-effects negative binomial regression models were fitted to model the patients? total count of seizures per month. The treatment effects on seizure incidence rate ratio (IRR) were tested after controlling for the covariate effects of gender, age, rate of seizure per week at enrollment, type of seizure, and number of antiepileptic drug (AED) combinations used at enrollment. Results: Fifty-nine subjects (n = 59) completed the study (59.6%). The average number of seizures per month were 9.7 ? 1.2 in the EPA group, 11.7 ? 1.5 in the DHA group, and 16.6 ? 1.5 in the placebo group. Age, gender, and seizure-type adjusted seizure IRRs of the EPA and DHA groups compared with the placebo group were 0.61 (CI = 0.42?0.88, p = 0.008, 42% reduction) and 0.67 (CI = 0.46?1.0, p = 0.04, 39% reduction), respectively. There was no difference in IRR between the EPA and DHA groups (p = 0.56). Both treatment groups had a significantly higher number of seizure-free days compared with the placebo group (p < 0.05). Significance: This study demonstrates that EPA and DHA are effective in reducing seizure frequency in patients with DRE

Elevated IgA antiphospholipid antibodies in healthy pregnant women in Sudan but not Sweden, without corresponding increase in IgA anti-β2 glycoprotein I domain 1 antibodies

Objective: The role of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) during apparently normal pregnancy is still unclear. IgA aPL are prevalent in populations of African origin. Our aim was to measure all isotypes of anticardiolipin (anti-CL) and anti–β2 glycoprotein I (anti-β2GPI) in healthy pregnant and non-pregnant women of different ethnicities. Methods: Healthy Sudanese pregnant women (n = 165; 53 sampled shortly after delivery), 96 age-matched Sudanese female controls and 42 healthy pregnant and 249 non-pregnant Swedish women were included. IgA/G/M anti-CL and anti-β2GPI were tested at one time point only with two independent assays in Sudanese and serially in pregnant Swedes. IgA anti-β2GPI domain 1 and as controls IgA/G/M rheumatoid factor (RF), IgG anti–cyclic citrullinated peptide 2 (anti-CCP2) and anti–thyroid peroxidase (anti-TPO) were investigated in Sudanese females. Results: Pregnant Sudanese women had significantly higher median levels of IgA anti-CL, IgA anti-β2GPI (p &lt; 0.0001 for both antibodies using two assays) and IgM anti-β2GPI (both assays; p &lt; 0.0001 and 0.008) compared with non-pregnant Sudanese. IgA anti-CL and anti-β2GPI occurrence was increased among Sudanese pregnant women compared with national controls. No corresponding increase during pregnancy was found for IgA anti-β2GPI domain 1 antibodies. Both IgG anti-CL and IgG control autoantibodies decreased during and directly after pregnancy among Sudanese. Serially followed Swedish women showed no changes in IgA aPL, whereas IgG/M anti-CL decreased. Conclusions: IgA aPL are increased in Sudanese but not in Swedish women, without corresponding increase in IgA domain 1. Whether due to ethnicity and/or environmental influences the occurrence of IgA aPL during Sudanese pregnancies, and its clinical significance, is yet to be determined