Book Review: Feminist Practices, Interdisciplinary Approaches to Women in Architecture

Review of Feminist Practices, Interdisciplinary Approaches to Women in Architecture. Edited by Lori Brow

Nigerian Pidgin: A Means of Human Development

Growth and development are the target of every human being. There are several avenues for achieving this said development and one of such means is through the development of a viable language that will aid in people’s effective communication for gains. This paper therefore explores the effective use of Nigerian Pidgin in the development of artistes in Nigeria’s entertainment industry. Data were generated from a library research. The study is based on systemic-functional grammar. The findings indicate that Nigerian Pidgin has offered many artistes the opportunity to showcase to the wider public their works. This in turn, improves their financial and social status. The research recommends that Nigerian Pidgin should be adopted and included among one of Nigeria’s official language

Recurrence and Mortality after Surgical Treatment of Soft Tissue Sarcomas

Background: The recurrence rate after soft tissue sarcoma (STS) treatment ranges between 20-25 % ,and usually occurs within 2-3 years after primary surgery. In Africa, many of the patients present late, access to adjuvant therapy is not guaranteed either. The basis of this study was to establish patterns and factors affecting recurrence and mortality after surgical treatment at a national referral medical facility.Methods: A five and a half years retrospective study between January 2003 and June 2007 and a six months prospective follow-up arm between July 2008 and March 2009.Data reviewed from all eligible surgically treated patients were demographic variables, duration of symptoms, anatomical distribution, investigations, adjuvant therapy, tumour type, size, grade and stage and surgical margins status. The outcome variables were tumour recurrence and death.Results: Mean age was 32.52+18.17 years. The male/female sex ratio was 0.97:1. The mean duration of symptoms was 10.87+18.75 months. The extremities had the most number of cases (62%). Fibrosarcoma was the most common histological type (36.0%) and the mean tumour size was 13.0 +7.36 cm. Most (44.7%) patients presented with high grade tumours and 78.0 % of the patients presented with a recurrence. Most of the recurrences (71.7%) occurred within the first year of treatment.Failure to get adjuvant therapy (p<0.001), tumour size >5cm (p=0.02), advanced stage (III and IV) (p<0.001), and positive microscopic margins (p<0.001) were adverse prognostic factors for recurrence. Presentation with a recurrent tumour (p<0.027), failure to receive adjuvant therapy (p<0.001), advanced stages (III and IV) (p<0.001), positive microscopic margins (p<0.001), and high grade tumours (p<0.001), were predictors for death.Conclusions:Advanced stages of STS, higher histological grades, positive microscopic surgical margins, and failure to receive adjuvant treatment influenced both recurrence and mortality after surgical treatment. Better outcome results from surgical treatment of soft tissue sarcomas may be achieved if efforts to treat them earlier were to be a reality

Implementing an Evidence-Based Educational Module on Nurses\u27 Role on Management of Postpartum Hemorrhage

Postpartum hemorrhage is the second leading cause of maternal death in the United States. According to American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, postpartum hemorrhage is an obstetric emergency. Between 2012 and 2013, a medical facility reported 369 postpartum hemorrhages, a 4.7% increase from previous years. It is important to address this practice issue because postpartum hemorrhage can lead to maternal mortality. The purpose of this project was to increase staff nurses\u27 awareness and knowledge of their role on the management of postpartum hemorrhage. The outcome of the project paper was implementation of an educational module on postpartum hemorrhage at this medical facility. The conceptual model, Academic Center for Evidence-Based Practice, was used to guide this project. The project researcher presented a postpartum hemorrhage module to a staff of 80 postpartum nurses. The module included a pre and post-test developed using Association of Women\u27s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses\u27 guidelines and was reviewed by a panel of experts for content validity, content on postpartum hemorrhage, and an evaluation of the project. The panel consisted of the Director of Maternal Child unit and 3 appointed obstetricians. Nurses\u27 knowledge of postpartum hemorrhage was evaluated by comparing mean aggregate pre and post-test scores. Results showed an increase in the staff nurses\u27 knowledge and awareness of postpartum hemorrhage. These findings are important for nurse leaders and healthcare organizations because they demonstrate that providing staff nurses with an educational program on the importance of postpartum hemorrhage can impact the level of knowledge and thereby increase positive patient outcomes

Natural archives of long-range transported contamination at the remote lake Letšeng-la Letsie, Maloti Mountains, Lesotho

Naturally accumulating archives, such as lake sediments and wetland peats, in remote areas may be used to identify the scale and rates of atmospherically deposited pollutant inputs to natural ecosystems. Co-located lake sediment and wetland cores were collected from Letšeng-la Letsie, a remote lake in the Maloti Mountains of southern Lesotho. The cores were radiometrically dated and analysed for a suite of contaminants including trace metals and metalloids (Hg, Pb, Cu, Ni, Zn, As), fly-ash particles, stable nitrogen isotopes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and persistent organic pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated flame retardants (PBDEs) and hexachlorobenzene (HCB). While most trace metals showed no recent enrichment, mercury, fly-ash particles, high molecular weight PAHs and total PCBs showed low but increasing levels of contamination since c.1970, likely the result of long-range transport from coal combustion and other industrial sources in the Highveld region of South Africa. However, back-trajectory analysis revealed that atmospheric transport from this region to southern Lesotho is infrequent and the scale of contamination is low. To our knowledge, these data represent the first palaeolimnological records and the first trace contaminant data for Lesotho, and one of the first multi-pollutant historical records for southern Africa. They therefore provide a baseline for future regional assessments in the context of continued coal combustion in South Africa through to the mid-21st century

Evaluation of the Safety of Probiotic Use in Transplant Recipients

Introduction: Probiotics use in transplant patients is controversial. A number of case reports demonstrated infectious complications of probiotics, especially in groups at high risk for infection; however, some studies have shown that probiotics given immediately after transplantation can help restore normal gut flora and prevent the translocation of bacteria across the gut wall thereby preventing infections in these immunosuppressed patients. Limited knowledge in this patient population demand the need for further research. The objective of the study was to investigate the safety of probiotics in transplant recipients with respect to secondary infections from probiotic use. Methods: The institutional review board approved this prospective chart review. Waiver of authorization for participation in the study was approved by the IRB, allowing utilization of patient data without requiring subjects to sign an informed consent form. The study was performed to assess the safety of Saccharomyces boulardii, and Lactobacillus species probiotics in transplant patients from January 2011-April 2013 at Indiana University Health Hospital. Kidney, pancreas and liver transplant patients who were \u3e 18 years of age and received 2 or more days of probiotics were included in the study. Patients who were pregnant, had a known hypersensitivity to the probiotic species used in the study or received other probiotics prior to or during admission were excluded. Data was collected from an electronic medical record regarding demographics, admission diagnosis, medical history and concomitant illness, probiotic and duration of probiotic. Data regarding probiotic associated infections such as bactremias or fungemias, endocarditis and meningitis was also collected. Descriptive analysis was used to describe the patients and outcomes. Results: The study included a total of 79 patients with a mean age of 51.8 plus/minus 13.8 years; 51 percent of the patients were women. The patients received the specified probiotics for an average of 10 plus/minus 7.8 days. All seventy-nine patients safely received the probiotics with no reported infections. Conclusion: The results of this retrospective review demonstrated that pancreas, kidney and liver transplant patients safely tolerated the Saccharomyces boulardii, and Lactobacillus species probiotics with no reported infections

Conventional implicatures of the 2019 Presidential Tribunal: implications for the Nigerian leadership, media and users

Conventional implicature deals with non-truth conditional content of the expression in any given situation. Nigerians went into the general election in the year 2019, which various positions were contested and so many conditions that took place. Political parties were at the helm of the affairs doing what they know how best to do, through manifestos, campaign, propaganda and so on. Later, there was outcome of the presidential tribunal, especially among the first and topmost two contenders in the election and actual implicature transpired in the judgement. The implication lies at what the majority sees as a rape of democracy and the court ruling. Language of affidavit became awash on the social media. So many non-truth conditions were generated on the media after the ruling. To ascertain this implicature, this study applied the qualitative research by using purposive sampling technique in gathering the data and its analysis. The study reveals the social vices in this situation against dwindling areas in our leadership and how it affects those using the language. Keywords: Conventional, Implicature, Language, Affidavit, leadership, Presidential, Social Medi