Prevalence and determinants of use of traditional methods of infertility treatment among women attending infertility clinic in Southeast Nigeria

Infertility, an obstacle to healthy living, makes its victims patronize traditional methods of infertility treatment (TMIT) in spite of associated complications. They turn to hospitals when this method fails. This is actually a serious issue because the presence of contaminated herbal products and the relationship between the use of TMIT and noncompliance with biomedical treatment regimens constitutes a major concern in medical practice. And the use of traditional methods of infertility treatment has been correlated with severe and fatal consequences. Therefore, the study assessed prevalence/determinants of TMIT use among patients visiting the gynaecology clinic at Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki (AE-FUTHA). Descriptive cross-sectional design was adopted for the research. Only 263 women took part in the study. The research instrument was questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Findings revealed that 95.4% of these women have used traditional methods for infertility treatment and factors influencing infertile women’s use of TMIT are demographic characteristics, infertility duration, husbands’ relatives’ pressure and cheap cost of traditional medical treatment. Again, inability of infertile women to disclose TMIT use to healthcare providers makes effective treatment difficult. Therefore, these impediments expose infertile women to use TMIT. The result is a guide to healthcare providers who are expected to know the extent of their parents’ use of TMIT

Dissecting the Nucleosome: Single-Molecule Studies of Subnucleosomal Structure and Dynamics

The entire blueprint of all living things is encoded in their genomes, which consist of DNA strands. The genome of a complex organism like ourselves can be several meters long. One of the miracles of nature is that such DNA molecules can be stored in the micron-sized nucleus of eukaryotic cells. For this purpose, the relatively large genome of eukaryotes has to be tightly packed while still remaining accessible for vital cellular processes such as replication, transcription, and repair. This is achieved by the organization of the eukaryotic genome into a hierarchical nucleoprotein assembly termed chromatin. Its fundamental unit is the nucleosome, which comprises a short piece of DNA wrapped around a disk-shaped core of eight histone proteins in a left-handed superhelix. As such, nucleosomes constitute the first level of DNA compaction and are assigned a key role in the regulation of the genome to maintain the proper functioning and viability of eukaryotic cells. Hence, detailed knowledge of this fascinating complex is crucial for understanding fundamental processes of life. This thesis deals with investigations of the structure and dynamics of a nucleosomal substructure called tetrasome at the single-molecule level.BN/Nynke Dekker La

Erratum to Prolonged pleural catheters in the management of pleural effusions due to breast cancer [J Thorac Dis, 6, (2014) 8-74]

[No abstract available

Evaluation of Pulp Oil from Persea Americana (Avocado Fruit) in Pharmaceutical Cream Formulation

The cosmetic properties of pulp oil extracted from Persea americana was compared with olive oil after the extraction of oil from Persea americana pulp by cold pressed chemical method using acetone. The percentage oil content from the pulp was 12%w/w. Physiochemical, proximate and elemental analyses were carried out on the extracted oil. Which was characterized based on pH, conductivity, specific gravity and refractive index and both oils analyzed for anti- microbial activities adopting the well diffusion method and using staphloccocus aureus and pseudomonas aeruginosa as micro -organisms. The avocado pulp oil showed zone of inhibition of 1.3-1.7mm against staphylococcus aureus but no activity against gram negative pseudomonas aeruginosa while olive oil did not show any activity against both organisms. Creams formulations were carried out using the extracted avocado pulp oil, mixture of extracted avocado oil and olive oil and evaluated for pH, density, viscosity, sunscreen activity, conductivity,centrifugation and alkali test

Communicative competence as an indicator of the professional image of the modern doctor

Метою статті є характеристика комунікативної компетентності як складника професійного іміджу сучасного лікаря. Методологія дослідження базується на теоретичному аналізі комунікативної компетентності в аспекті специфіки фаху медичного працівника. Наукова новизна роботи полягає у теоретичному узагальненні комунікативної компетентності як складника професійного іміджу лікаря. Проаналізовано зміст основних понять «професійний імідж», «професійна комунікативна компетентність», «комунікативна компетентність лікаря». Доведено, що під час створення професійного іміджу лікаря необхідно орієнтуватися на загальні норми, що сформувалися в результаті історичної медичної практики. Передусім це високий рівень професіоналізму, моральність та емпатія, наявність комунікативної компетентності. Зазначено, що комунікативна компетентність лікаря – це мистецтво, яке починає формуватися ще на етапі навчання в медичному закладі з подальшим розвитком у процесі самовиховання, самовдосконалення та щоденного професійного спілкування з хворими, які мають відмінні психологічні якості, вік, рівень освіти. Наголошено, що складниками комунікативної компетентності медиків є: вміння слухати, комунікативний самоконтроль, толерантність, емпатія, уважність, відкритість, низька конфліктність, бажання допомогти й орієнтація на соціальну користь, прагнення до співпраці. Визначено, що процес формування комунікативної компетентності студентів у закладі вищої медичної освіти потребує комплексного підходу до організації освітнього процесу, запровадження новітніх педагогічних технологій, інтерактивних методів навчання, коригування навчальних планів, створення методичних рекомендацій із різними професійними сценаріями, спільної узгодженої роботи викладачів гуманітарних і клінічних дисциплін. Авторки констатують, що застосування інтерактивних методів навчання формує у студентів здатність до клінічного та критичного мислення, здатність взаємодіяти з людьми, формувати власну точку зору для прийняття рішень. У дослідженні наведено фрагменти завдань, які використовуються для відпрацювання та удосконалення комунікативної компетентності студентів-медиків 5–6 курсів.The aim of the article is to characterize communicative competence as a component of the professional image of a modern doctor. The research methodology is based on a theoretical analysis of communicative competence in terms of the specifics of the profession of medical worker. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the theoretical generalization of communicative competence as a component of the professional image of a doctor The content of the basic concepts “professional image”, “professional communicative competence”, “communicative competence of a doctor” is analyzed. It is proved that when creating a professional image of a doctor it is necessary to focus on the general canons formed as a result of historical medical practice, first of all it is a high level of professionalism, morality and empathy, communicative competence. It is noted that the communicative competence of a doctor is an art that begins to form at the stage of training in a medical institution with further development in the process of self-education, self-improvement and daily professional communication with patients with excellent psychological qualities, age, level of education. It is emphasized that the components of communicative competence of physicians are: the ability to listen to communicative self-control, tolerance, empathy, attentiveness, openness, low conflict, desire to help and focus on social benefits, the desire for cooperation. It is determined that the process of formation of communicative competence of students in higher medical education requires a comprehensive approach to the organization of the educational process, introduction of new pedagogical technologies, interactive teaching methods, curriculum adjustment, creation of methodological recommendations with different professional scenarios, joint coordinated work of teachers of humanities and clinical disciplines. The authors state that the use of interactive teaching methods forms in students the ability to clinical and critical thinking, the ability to interact with people, to form their own point of view for decision making. The proposed study presents fragments of tasks that are used to practice and improve communicative competence in medical students of 5–6 courses

Recent insights from single-molecule studies into nucleosome structure and dynamics

Eukaryotic DNA is tightly packed into a hierarchically ordered structure called chromatin in order to fit into the micron-scaled nucleus. The basic unit of chromatin is the nucleosome, which consists of a short piece of DNA wrapped around a core of eight histone proteins. In addition to their role in packaging DNA, nucleosomes impact the regulation of essential nuclear processes such as replication, transcription, and repair by controlling the accessibility of DNA. Thus, knowledge of this fundamental DNA–protein complex is crucial for understanding the mechanisms of gene control. While structural and biochemical studies over the past few decades have provided key insights into both the molecular composition and functional aspects of nucleosomes, these approaches necessarily average over large populations and times. In contrast, single-molecule methods are capable of revealing features of subpopulations and dynamic changes in the structure or function of biomolecules, rendering them a powerful complementary tool for probing mechanistic aspects of DNA–protein interactions. In this review, we highlight how these singlemolecule approaches have recently yielded new insights into nucleosomal and subnucleosomal structures and dynamics.BN/Nynke Dekker La

DNA Sequence Is a Major Determinant of Tetrasome Dynamics

Eukaryotic genomes are hierarchically organized into protein-DNA assemblies for compaction into the nucleus. Nucleosomes, with the (H3-H4)2 tetrasome as a likely intermediate, are highly dynamic in nature by way of several different mechanisms. We have recently shown that tetrasomes spontaneously change the direction of their DNA wrapping between left- and right-handed conformations, which may prevent torque buildup in chromatin during active transcription or replication. DNA sequence has been shown to strongly affect nucleosome positioning throughout chromatin. It is not known, however, whether DNA sequence also impacts the dynamic properties of tetrasomes. To address this question, we examined tetrasomes assembled on a high-affinity DNA sequence using freely orbiting magnetic tweezers. In this context, we also studied the effects of mono- and divalent salts on the flipping dynamics. We found that neither DNA sequence nor altered buffer conditions affect overall tetrasome structure. In contrast, tetrasomes bound to high-affinity DNA sequences showed significantly altered flipping kinetics, predominantly via a reduction in the lifetime of the canonical state of left-handed wrapping. Increased mono- and divalent salt concentrations counteracted this behavior. Thus, our study indicates that high-affinity DNA sequences impact not only the positioning of the nucleosome but that they also endow the subnucleosomal tetrasome with enhanced conformational plasticity. This may provide a means to prevent histone loss upon exposure to torsional stress, thereby contributing to the integrity of chromatin at high-affinity sites.Accepted Author ManuscriptBN/Nynke Dekker La

On the question of determination of structural components of the communicative image of doctors

Показниками когнітивного компоненту комунікативного іміджу авторки вважають: знання і розуміння комунікативних процесів, що виникають при вербальній (мова, точність, доречність, логічність) та невербальній (міміка, жести, інтонація, стиль поведінки) взаємодії лікаря, хворого і його родичів; знання правил клінічного етикету. Показниками поведінкового компоненту є: володіння нормами культури мови, наявність професійної та корпоративної культури. Показниками особистісного компоненту визначено: психологічний такт, клінічну емпатію та комунікабельність. Особливо важливий у взаємодії лікаря з пацієнтом є психологічний такт – уміння знайти підхід до кожної людини, встановити з нею довірчі стосунки і ефективно взаємодіяти.Indicators of the cognitive component of the communicative image of the author are: knowledge and understanding of communicative processes that occur in verbal (language, accuracy, relevance, logic) and nonverbal (facial expressions, gestures, intonation, behavior) interaction of the doctor, patient and his relatives; knowledge of the rules of clinical etiquette. Indicators of the behavioral component are: mastery of language culture, the presence of professional and corporate culture. Indicators of the personal component are determined by: psychological tact, clinical empathy and sociability. Especially important in the interaction of the doctor with the patient is the psychological tact - the ability to approach each person, establish a relationship of trust with him and interact effectively

Evaluation of nose shape as a Mendelian‑inherited trait in the determination of parentage among Nigerians in Port Harcourt

Background: Nose shape might be environmentally influenced; however, there are evidences of it being inherited in simple Mendelian dominant‑recessive patterns. In such instance, a nose can be broad or narrow with respect to its wideness in comparison to the intercanthal bridge. Therefore, this study was aimed at determining the inheritance pattern of nose shape in the bid to ascertain its usability in parentage determination.Methods: Three hundred and thirty‑seven subjects from 101 families comprising 202 parents and 135 offspring were recruited for this study. The families were randomly selected from within Port Harcourt by a multistage sampling technique. Their nose shape were observed physically in the father, mother, and at least a child in each family and documented. The offspring traits were tabularized in patterns of parental combinations (when both parents’ nose are broad, both parents’ nose are narrow, and a combination of broad and narrow). SPSS IBM (r) version 20 was used to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics and test for association between sex and nose shape was carried out by Chi‑square analysis and the conformance to Mendelian inheritance pattern was analyzed using Mendelian Chi‑square gene distribution model.Results: Broad nose shape was more frequent with 298 (88.4%) when compared to narrow nose shape (11.6%). About 46.9% of males had broad nose against 41.5% for females. However, this distribution was not observed to follow any sexual preference (χ2 = 0.141, P > 0.932). The observed and expected outcome were tested for significance on the assumption that offspring outcome conforms to Mendelian simple dominant‑recessive monohybrid cross; conformance was observed.Conclusion: The distribution of nose shape was observed to be genetically determined and follows Mendelian single gene dominant‑recessive pattern with the allele for narrow nose dominant over the allele for broad nose. This result can be used for preliminary screening in parentage dispute. It can also be useful in forensic and genetic studies.Keywords: Mendelian pattern, Nigerians, nose shape, Port Harcourt, trai