Indigenous media programmes in foreign languages as strategy to enhance the globalisation of the Nigerian culture

The growing globalisation of the Nigerian motion pictures(Nollywood) and the Nigerian hip-hop music production hascaught the attention of many scholars, politicians and critics.These two sectors of popular culture production, so farrepresent the major vectors of Nigeria's contribution to theinternational communication flow. Despite this favourablesituation, additional efforts are still necessary, to enhanceNigeria's contribution to the global information flow. Based onsemi-structured interviews with experts and secondary data,this paper argues in defence of the use of indigenous mediaprogrammes in foreign languages as strategies to enhance theglobalisation of the Nigerian culture. The paper contends thatNigerian news and cultural production strategies shouldperfectly emulate big international (Western) news agenciesthat broadcast in a diversity of foreign languages includingEuropean, Asian modern languages; and even some Africanvehicular languages. The paper explores a number ofimperatives for such a project to effectively emerge andsurvive in the Nigerian media and cultural ecology. It equallyanalyses the prospects of such an initiative and identifiespotential challenges to it. The paper finally provides ways ofovercoming these challenges

Efficiency of an intervention package for arterial hypertension comprising telemanagement in a Cameroonian rural setting: The TELEMED-CAM study

Introduction: Sub-Saharan Africa has a disproportionate burden of disease and an extreme shortage of health workforce. Therefore, adequate care for emerging chronic diseases can be very challenging. We implemented and evaluated the effectiveness of an intervention package comprising telecare as a mean for improving the outcomes of care for hypertension in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: The study involved a telemedicine center based at the Yaounde General Hospital (5 cardiologists) in the Capital city of Cameroon, and 30 remote rural health centers within the vicinity of Yaoundé (20 centers (103 patients) in the usual care group, and 10 centers (165 patients) in the intervention groups). The total duration of the intervention was 24 weeks. Results: Participants in the intervention group had higher baseline systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure, and included fewer individuals with diabetes than those in the usual care group (all p<0.01). Otherwise, the baseline profile was mostly similar between the two groups. During follow-up, more participants in the intervention groups achieved optimal BP control, driven primarily by greater improvement of BP control among High risk participants (hypertension stage III) in the intervention group. Conclusion: An intervention package comprising tele-support to general practitioners and nurses is effective in improving the management and outcome of care for hypertension in rural underserved populations. This can potentially help in addressing the shortage of trained health workforce for chronic disease management in some settings. However context-specific approaches and cost-effectiveness data are needed to improve the application of telemedicine for chronic disease management in resource-limited settings.Key words: Hypertension, control, telemedicine, Cameroon, sub-saharan Afric

"What did I tell this sad person?" : memory for emotional destinations in Korsakoff's syndrome

We investigated destination memory, defined as the ability to remember to whom a piece of information was previously transmitted, for emotional destinations (i.e., a happy or sad person) in Korsakoff’s syndrome (KS). We asked patients with KS and control participants to tell facts to neutral, positive, or negative faces. On a subsequent recognition task, participants had to decide to whom they told each fact. Compared with control participants, patients with KS demonstrated lower recognition of neutral, emotionally positive, and emotionally negative destinations. Patients with KS demonstrated lower recognition of emotionally negative than for emotionally positive or neutral destinations, but there were no significant differences between recognition of neutral and emotionally positive destinations. Our study demonstrates a compromised ability to process negative destinations in KS. Our study highlights the relationship between memory decline and impaired emotional processing in KS

Increased burden and severity of metabolic syndrome and arterial stiffness in treatment naïve HIV+ patients from Cameroon

William Ngatchou,1 Daniel Lemogoum,1 Pierre Ndobo,2,&dagger; Euloge Yagnigni,2 Emiline Tiogou,2 Elisabeth Nga,2 Charles Kouanfack,2 Philippe van de Borne,1 Michel P Hermans3 1Hypertension Clinic, Erasme University Hospital, Brussels, Belgium; 2Department of Cardiology, Central Hospital, Yaound&eacute;, Cameroon; 3Department of Endocrinology and Nutrition, Cliniques Universitaires St-Luc, Brussels, Belgium &dagger;Professor Pierre Ndobo passed away on January 21, 2013 Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and its therapy are associated with increased aortic stiffness and metabolic syndrome (MetS) phenotype in Caucasian patients. We hypothesized that, independently of antiretroviral therapy, HIV infection in native black African patients is associated with increased burden of cardiometabolic risk factors that may accelerate arterial structural damage and translate into increased aortic stiffness. Patients and methods: Ninety-six apparently healthy Cameroonian subjects (controls) were compared to 108 untreated Cameroonian HIV+ patients (HIV-UT) of similar age. In each participant, pulse wave velocity (Complior), aortic augmentation index (SphygmoCor), brachial blood pressure (Omron 705 IT), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), and lipids were recorded, as well as the prevalence and severity of MetS, based on the American Heart Association/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute score &ge;3/5. Results: Prevalence of impaired fasting glucose (FPG 100&ndash;125 mg &middot; dL-1) and of diabetes (FPG > 125 mg &middot; dL-1) was higher in HIV-UT than in controls (47% versus 27%, and 26% versus 1%, respectively; both P < 0.01). Fasting triglycerides and the atherogenic dyslipidemia ratio were significantly higher in HIV-UT than in controls. Hypertension prevalence was high and comparable in both groups (41% versus 44%, respectively; not significant). HIV-UT patients exhibited a twice-higher prevalence of MetS than controls (47% versus 21%; P = 0.02). Age- and sex-adjusted pulse wave velocity was higher in HIV-UT than in controls (7.5 &plusmn; 2.2 m/s versus 6.9 &plusmn; 1.7 m/s, respectively; P = 0.02), whereas aortic augmentation index was significantly lower (6% &plusmn; 4% versus 8% &plusmn; 7%, respectively; P = 0.01). Conclusion: Similar to Caucasian populations, native Cameroonian HIV-UT patients showed a higher prevalence of MetS and its phenotype, associated with increased aortic stiffness, an early marker of atherosclerosis. Keywords: metabolic syndrome, HIV, arterial, stiffness, Cameroo

Increased burden and severity of metabolic syndrome and arterial stiffness in treatment-naïve HIV+ patients from Cameroon.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and its therapy are associated with increased aortic stiffness and metabolic syndrome (MetS) phenotype in Caucasian patients. We hypothesized that, independently of antiretroviral therapy, HIV infection in native black African patients is associated with increased burden of cardiometabolic risk factors that may accelerate arterial structural damage and translate into increased aortic stiffness.Journal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tSCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Profil clinique et immunologique des patients infectés par le VIH à l’initiation du traitement antirétroviral à Douala

The aim of this study was to describe the clinical and immunological profile of patients infected with HIV after initiation of antiretroviral therapy. Sociodemographic characteristics, clinical and immunological patients were recorded. Chi square test and Mann-Whitney were used to compare variables. The multivariate regression model identified risk factors. So that, 936 (56.2%) patients were in stages III and IV of the WHO and 65.2% at an advanced stage of the disease. Factors associated with initiation at an advanced stage, were male sex (p = 0.007) and time to diagnosis (p = 0.005). In 2/3 cases, treatment is started at an advanced stage of disease. It is therefore important to intensify awareness campaigns for early detection and encourage patients to ensure regular medical follow-up screening.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe