Hand hygiene practices post ebola virus disease outbreak in a Nigerian teaching hospital

Introduction: Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a highly contagious viral infection that requires a high risk perception and practice of good hand hygiene by regular hand washing or use of hand sanitizers for infection control at all time. The declaration of Nigeria as an Ebola-free country by the World Health Organization on the 20th of October, 2014 has prompted many Nigerians, including healthcare workers, to discontinue the regular practice of good hand hygiene which was commonplace during the EVD outbreak.Objectives: The study assessed hand hygiene practices for infection control after the West African Ebola virus disease outbreak in a Nigerian teaching hospital.Methods: This study was cross-sectional in design. A total of 450 staff of the University College Hospital, Ibadan participated in the survey. Data was collected using a structured, self-administered questionnaire. Chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression were used to determine associations between predictors of good hand hygiene practice at 5% level of significance.Result: The mean age was 42.2 ± 8.6 years. A higher proportion of respondents in this study had a good knowledge of the risk factors of EVD; good knowledge of the precautionary measures against EVD and a good risk perception towards EVD. However, the majority of respondents, 359 (80.0%), had a poor practice of hand hygiene for infection control. Having good knowledge of risk factors and precautionary measures against EVD was associated with practice of good hand hygiene. Respondents with good risk perception of EVD were 1.63 times more likely to practice good hand hygiene (OR= 1.63; 95% CI= 1.20 – 4.38; p= 0.019).Conclusion: There was a good knowledge of risk factors and precautionary measures of EVD among staff of the University College Hospital, Ibadan. However, the majority of respondents had a poor practice of hand hygiene for infection control, Post EVD. Sensitization workshops to promote the regular practice of good hand hygiene is recommended for healthcare workers to control infection from EVD.Keywords: Hand hygiene, Ebola virus disease, University College Hospita

Prevalence and predictors of prediabetes among administrative staff of a tertiary health centre, southwestern Nigeria

Introduction: Prediabetes is a condition in which individuals have blood glucose levels higher than normal but not high enough to be classified as diabetes mellitus. Inadequate moderate-intensity physical activity, amidst other risk factors, is a well-documented risk factor for prediabetes. Hospital administrative staff can be particularly vulnerable to prediabetes because of the greater number of hours spent in a sitting or sedentary position during administrative duties. The aim of this study was to find the prevalence of prediabetes and to determine its predictors among administrative staff of a tertiary health centre in southwestern Nigeria.Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out among 300 administrative staff of the University College Hospital, Ibadan over a period of three months. Data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire that was adapted from the generic WHO-STEPs instrument approach to surveillance of chronic non-communicable diseases risk factors. Data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17. Descriptive analyses were performed to estimate the prevalence of prediabetes while the independent predictors of prediabetes were investigated using multinomial logistic regression model. The level of statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.Results: The mean age of participants was 51.2 ± 5.3 years. There were 164 (54.7%) males and 136 (45.3%) females that participated in the study. The prevalence of prediabetes was 22.3%. Based on the final multivariable multinomial model, the independent predictors of prediabetes included; male sex (OR= 1.24; 95% CI= 1.082 - 2.460), positive family history of diabetes mellitus (OR= 1.57; 95% CI= 1.088 – 2.611), alcohol intake (OR= 1.13; 95% CI= 0.688 – 1.543) and inadequate moderate-intensity physical activity (OR= 1.49; 95% CI= 1.027 – 2.936).Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of prediabetes among the administrative staff of University College Hospital, Ibadan. Regular screening of hospital employees for prediabetes is highly recommended. Work-place exercise should be advocated to improve moderate-intensity physical activity among hospital employees.Keywords: Prediabetes, Administrative staff, Hospital employees, University College Hospita

Impact of Disturbances on the Biodiversity of Ijala-Ikeren Wetland Ecosystem in Niger Delta

An assessment of Ijala-Ikeren wetland in the Niger Delta of Nigeria was conducted for 9 months for biodiversity data comprising flora and specific aquatic fauna (amphibians and insects) in order to inventorise the species and ecosystem and to ascertain the effects of anthropogenic and natural disturbances on the wetland ecosystem. Five sites comprising three sites within the mangrove swamp and two ponds at the fringes of the mangrove ecosystem were sampled. Data collection methods include insect and amphibian sampling, and a few abiotic data. Empirical data on fish fauna was also obtained from fishermen. The pH value of the sampled sites in the mangrove ranged between 4.7 and 6.1, while temperature ranged from 28 to 29°C. Red mangrove species (Rhizophora sp.) and few species of white mangrove (Avicennia sp.) were dominant plants. Only three insect species from three families were encountered and thirteen species of amphibians from three families were only encountered in ponds at the fringes of the wetland. Amphibians had the highest value of species richness index (d) (2.75) and diversity index (H′) (2.08). The acidic pH values maybe attributed to the influx of effluent from the Warri refinery about 2.5 km away and the low insect diversity is due to the salinity

Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw > 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour, are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017 +/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio

Observation of a new chi_b state in radiative transitions to Upsilon(1S) and Upsilon(2S) at ATLAS

The chi_b(nP) quarkonium states are produced in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.4 fb^-1, these states are reconstructed through their radiative decays to Upsilon(1S,2S) with Upsilon->mu+mu-. In addition to the mass peaks corresponding to the decay modes chi_b(1P,2P)->Upsilon(1S)gamma, a new structure centered at a mass of 10.530+/-0.005 (stat.)+/-0.009 (syst.) GeV is also observed, in both the Upsilon(1S)gamma and Upsilon(2S)gamma decay modes. This is interpreted as the chi_b(3P) system.Comment: 5 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 1 table, corrected author list, matches final version in Physical Review Letter

Search for displaced vertices arising from decays of new heavy particles in 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

We present the results of a search for new, heavy particles that decay at a significant distance from their production point into a final state containing charged hadrons in association with a high-momentum muon. The search is conducted in a pp-collision data sample with a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and an integrated luminosity of 33 pb^-1 collected in 2010 by the ATLAS detector operating at the Large Hadron Collider. Production of such particles is expected in various scenarios of physics beyond the standard model. We observe no signal and place limits on the production cross-section of supersymmetric particles in an R-parity-violating scenario as a function of the neutralino lifetime. Limits are presented for different squark and neutralino masses, enabling extension of the limits to a variety of other models.Comment: 8 pages plus author list (20 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version to appear in Physics Letters

Measurement of the inclusive isolated prompt photon cross-section in pp collisions at sqrt(s)= 7 TeV using 35 pb-1 of ATLAS data

A measurement of the differential cross-section for the inclusive production of isolated prompt photons in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV is presented. The measurement covers the pseudorapidity ranges |eta|<1.37 and 1.52<=|eta|<2.37 in the transverse energy range 45<=E_T<400GeV. The results are based on an integrated luminosity of 35 pb-1, collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The yields of the signal photons are measured using a data-driven technique, based on the observed distribution of the hadronic energy in a narrow cone around the photon candidate and the photon selection criteria. The results are compared with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations and found to be in good agreement over four orders of magnitude in cross-section.Comment: 7 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 4 tables, final version published in Physics Letters

Measurement of D*+/- meson production in jets from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper reports a measurement of D*+/- meson production in jets from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The measurement is based on a data sample recorded with the ATLAS detector with an integrated luminosity of 0.30 pb^-1 for jets with transverse momentum between 25 and 70 GeV in the pseudorapidity range |eta| < 2.5. D*+/- mesons found in jets are fully reconstructed in the decay chain: D*+ -> D0pi+, D0 -> K-pi+, and its charge conjugate. The production rate is found to be N(D*+/-)/N(jet) = 0.025 +/- 0.001(stat.) +/- 0.004(syst.) for D*+/- mesons that carry a fraction z of the jet momentum in the range 0.3 < z < 1. Monte Carlo predictions fail to describe the data at small values of z, and this is most marked at low jet transverse momentum.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (22 pages total), 5 figures, 1 table, matches published version in Physical Review