Awareness of Ocular Complications of Diabetes Among Diabetic Patients In A Tertiary Hospital In Western, Nigeria

Background:- Diabetes is no longer a disease of affluent and industrialized countries. It affects virtually all ocular structures and can lead to blindness. Routine eye examination is necessary for early detection of ocular involvement and prevention of blindness. Only few diabetics have regular eye examination. Aim:- To study the awareness of ocular complications of diabetes among diabetic patients Methodology:- A cross-sectional prospective study of 148 randomly selected diabetic patients was done. A semi structured questionnaire was administered to these patients by an interviewer who is medical personnel, not below the level of a house-officer. Informed consent was obtained from the patients before filling the questionnaires. The information obtained include the biodata, educational level, duration of diabetes, whether they were aware that diabetes can affect other parts of the body, if yes which parts, which parts of the eye can it affect, how can it affect the eye, whether or not routine eye examination is necessary in diabetics, if yes how often, how did they learn about diabetes and how they think awareness of diabetic complications can be improved. The results were collated and analyzed using SPSS version 13, with chi square done where necessary. Results:- A total of 148 patients were studied. Their ages range between 21years and 82years, with a mean of 58.53 +10.4years. Majority were between 36-60yearrs of age. Eighty-three (56.1%) had educational level within secondary level 40(27 %) tertiary education while 25(16.9 %)) do not have formal education. Most common co morbid factor was hypertension, found in 44.6%. One hundred and twenty three (83.1%) were aware that diabetes could affect other parts of the body, 41% were aware of brain affectation, 54% were aware that it can affect the kidneys, 77.7% were aware that it can affect the eyes, 39.2% blood vessels, 66.2% the legs, 40.5% the skin and 41.9% were aware that it can affect the genitals. Of the 77.7% who were aware that it can affect the eyes, more than half (58.8%) did not know the part of the eye that can be affected. 20.3% knew that it can affect the crystalline lens,4.1% external eye, 13.5% the retina and 3.4% thought it can affect the combination of external eye, lens and the retina. Forty nine respondents (33.1%) did not know that routine eye examination is necessary in diabetics, 16.2% says eye examination should be once, 18.2% twice, 18.9% thrice and 26.4% none. Only 18 (12.2%) respondents got their information of eye complication from eye specialists. Sixty- one respondents (41.2%) do not know how diabetes can affect the eye, 29.7% knew that poor control is the problem, 8.8% think it is due to long duration, 7.4% believe it was a combination of poor control and long duration, 2% claim it is due to infection, 8.8% combination of infection, poor control and long duration and 0.7% erroneously believe thinking too much of DM can result in eye complication. Patients who have been diabetic for more than 10years are more aware that diabetes can affect the eye than those below 5years (92.3% vs. 7.2%, p=0.001). Awareness of diabetic complication is better in those with tertiary education than others (p=0.001). Conclusion:- We conclude that though awareness of ocular complication of diabetes mellitus is high, the level of knowledge is low. Health Practitioners especially eye care specialist need to intensify health education through media, regular health talks in clinics to increase knowledge and increase health seeking behaviours of diabetics in the

Quality of sleep and psychological morbidity among paramedical and medical students in Southwest Nigeria

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the quality of sleep and psychological morbidity between medical students and paramedical students.Methods: A cross sectional survey of one hundred and eighty-six students of the College of Medicine, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State, Nigeria, were surveyed using socio-demographic questionnaires, Pittsburgh Sleep Questionnaire and General Health questionnaire.Results: The mean ages among paramedical students was 20.63±1.6 and medical students was 22.80±2.93 respectively. Medical Students had a higher percentage of those who had poor sleep quality (86.7% ,≥ 5, n=85) than the paramedical students (38.6%, n=34) and higher mean scores on General Health Questionnaire, M(SD) = 8.75(5.01) than the Paramedical group, M(SD) = 6.53(2.97) respectively.Conclusion: The findings in our study showed that medical students had poorer sleep quality and higher psychological morbidity in comparison to paramedical students, efforts should be made to reduce academic stress and improving sleep quality.Keywords: Sleep, Psychological Morbidity, Medical Students, Paramedical Students, Medical Educatio

Effect of stand‑of height on the shear strength of ball grid array solder joints under varying pad sizes

The solder joints of ball grid array utilized in consumer electronics systems or assemblies degrade and fail overtime. Their degree of degradation is more critical, especially at elevated temperatures and mechanical loading conditions. This study presents the efect of component standof height (CSH) on the shear strength reliability of ball grid array solder joints under diferent pad sizes. Investigation of the impact of standof height on the mechanical reliability of the solder joint of ball grid array components under diferent pad sizes was conducted in this work. Isothermal ageing of test samples were conducted at 150 °C for 8 days. This study focuses on establishing the relationship between CSH and shear strength of the solder joints under diferent pad sizes and the corresponding efect of prolonged elevated temperature conditions on the mechanical integrity of the soldered joints. The work also identifes the failure mode and examines the region of the failed joints and surfaces to provide information on the morphological characteristics of the material microstructure. The results of this study demonstrate that the smallest pad size (19 mil) gave the lowest shear strength of 61.08 MPa with a high standof height of 0.25 mm as compared to the largest pad size (24 mil) with the highest shear strength of 70.43 MPa having a relatively low standof height of 0.22 m

Optimization of chicken nail extracts as corrosion inhibitor on mild steel in 2M H2SO4

The inhibiting effects of Chicken Nails Extract (CNE) on Mild Steel corrosion in 2M H2SO4 were investigated in this study. The effect of the concentration of inhibitor (0.5–1.5 g/l), time (5–8 h) and temperature (40-70o c) on Inhibition efficiency were investigated using Response Surface Methodology. The Physiochemical analysis and proximate analysis of the CNE were investigated; the result showed that organic constituents were present which made the Chicken nails extract a good inhibitor. The rate of corrosion increases as time and temperature increase while the Inhibition efficiency was discovered to increase as the inhibitor concentration increases. The optimum conditions obtained were temperature 63.63 C, time 5 h and inhibitor concentration of 0.1 g/l. The optimum Inhibition Efficiency at these optimum conditions was predicted to be 74.04%. The micrographs result of Scanning Electron Micrographs analysis showed that in the presence of the inhibitor, there was a passive layer of a film formed on the surface. This study revealed that Chicken Nails Extract is a potentially good green inhibitor for Mild steel corrosion in 2M H2SO

INVESTIGATIVE STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF CERTAIN ADDITIVES ON SOME SELECTED REFRACTORY PROPERTIES OF ANT-HILL CLAY FOR FURNACE LINING

The choice of appropriate locally sourced refractory materials for lining of locally produced furnaces has remained a major concern in which numerous efforts has been put in place to enhance the performance of the local contents of furnace lining materials. This study investigates the effects of certain additives such as Pulverized Glass Wastes (PGW) and Bentonite on some selected refractory properties of ant-hill clay. 100% finely-ground ant-hill clay, clean water and proportionate amount of Bentonite and PGW were manually mixed, consolidated and oven-dried at 110 oC for a period of 8 hours at varying additives percentages. Compressive strength, apparent porosity, permeability, filtration rate, thermal conductivity and bulk density were experimentally determined... The results showed that the compressive strength, bulk density and thermal conductivity of Ant-hill clay increased significantly on addition of additives while there was corresponding decrease in the values of the filtration rate, apparent porosity and permeability. These values were enhanced by Bentonite and pulverised glass waste additions to the Ant-hill clay. The test results for the compressive strength, thermal conductivity, filtration rate, apparent porosity, bulk density and permeability of no-additive clay samples are 156.4 N/m2 , 0.0028 W/m2K, 0.0041cm3 /s, 0.0009 %, 6.3 g/cm3 and 0.0012 cm/s, respectively. However, the sample-mix consisting 100% ant-hill clay with 80% PGW and 20% Bentonite produced 333.4 N/m2 , 0.0032 W/m2K, 0.0037 cm3 /s, 0.00018 %, 9.5 g/cm3 and 0.0015 cm/s as optimum values for the compressive strength, thermal conductivity, filtration rate, apparent porosity, bulk density and permeability, respectively. Therefore, 80%PGW/20%Bentonite additives gave the optimum results for the production of refractory clay blocks for furnace linin

Stigmatising attitude of medical students towards a psychiatry label

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Knowledge of Ocular Complications of HIV/AIDS among Hospital Workers in a Tertiary Institution

Since the commencement of the Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy, there has been increase longevity among people living with HIV/AIDS , a factor which was thought initially to be related to the low prevalence of its ocular complication in Sub-Saharan Africa. In fact some of its ocular signs have been identified as stigmata of HIV. It is therefore important that all health workers and not only eye care workers know about these eye complications. However there seems to be no study on the knowledge of health workers about ocular complications of HIV/AIDS. This study aimed at determining the knowledge of hospital workers in a tertiary institution in Western Nigeria about Ocular Complications of HIV/AIDS. The hospital workers excluding the eye care workers, administrative staff and security staff of Olabisi Onabanjo Teaching Hospital completed a structured self administered questionnaire. The interview covered demographics, cadre in health work, awareness of HIV/AIDS and its transmission, knowledge of its Ocular complications. Their responses were analysed using SPSS statistical package, version 11.0. 72.2% knew that HIV/AIDS could affect the eye which is related to the status of health work (P= 0.00) .About 50% of hospital workers do not know the part of the eye that HIV/AIDS could affect and another 52.5% says it affect the eye only at the late stage. Knowledge about different eye complications was generally low. Only 28.6% knew that it could present first as an eye problem. The knowledge of hospital workers about eye involvement in HIV/AIDS is low there is need to create awareness through regular workshops and seminars, which will in turn help to reduce ocular morbidity and mortality among the people living with HIV/AIDS.Key words: Ocular, HIV/AIDS, Hospital Worker

EVALUATION OF GROUNDNUT LEAVES EXTRACT AS CORROSION INHIBITOR ON MILD STEEL IN 1M SULPHURIC ACID USING RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY (RSM)

1M H2SO4 acidic media was investigated in this study. The effect of the concentration of inhibitor (0.2 - 1.0 g/l), time (3 – 5 days) and temperature (40�60 �) on corrosion rate and Inhibition efficiency were investigated using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The Phytochemical analysis of the GLE was performed; the result showed that organic constituents were present which made the Groundnut Leaves Extract a good inhibitor. Mathematical models were derived for the groundnut leaves extract. The optimum conditions obtained were temperature 49.72 OC, time 5 days and inhibitor concentration of 0.29 g/l while the optimum Inhibition Efficiency at this optimum condition was predicted to be 85.9%. The outcome of the ANOVA test confirmed a confidence level of 95%. Gravimetric experiment was carried out at these optimum conditions to validate the predicted optimum values. The obtained experimental value of 86.3% agreed closely with that obtained from the regression model. The micrographs result of Scanning Electron Micrographs analysis showed that passive layer of film was formed on the surface. This study has revealed that Groundnut Leaves Extract is a good inhibitor for the corrosion of Mild steel in 1M H2SO4 solution. Keywords: Corrosion Inhibition, Groundnut Leaves Extract, Inhibition Efficiency, Optimization

The Knowledge and Risk Behaviours of Nigerian Schizophrenics About HIV/AIDS

This study examined the HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitude and risk behaviours of schizophrenic patients in a Nigerian Psychiatric Hospital. A modified version of the instrument used for National HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health Survey (NARHS) in Nigeria was used to assess HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitude and risk behaviour of 98 consenting schizophrenic patients who reported at the outpatient clinic of the hospital. The mean age of the respondents was 34.46 ± 7.70 years. Forty six (46.9%) of the respondents were unemployed and only 17 (17.3%) were married. The mean duration of schizophrenic illness in the respondents was 8.81 ± 6.44 years. Eighty two (83.7%) of them were sexually active. Compared to their male counterparts, the female respondents were more sexually active (p = 0.027). Twelve (34.3%) of the sexually active had unprotected sex with sexual partners they were not married to during their last sexual act. Majority ( 95.9%) of the respondents were aware of HIV/AIDS. Their main sources of information about HIV/AIDS were television (79.8%) and radio (63.8%). They showed poor tolerance and acceptance toward people living with HIV/AIDS. More than 60% of the respondents would rather maintain secrecy if any member of their family is infected with HIV. Only 21.3% and 6.4% of the subjects respectively responded correctly to all the UNAIDS indicators for knowledge of HIV prevention methods and knowledge about HIV/AIDS transmission. This study indicated poor understanding of HIV transmission and prevention in schizophrenic patients. Thus, it strengthens the need for schizophrenic patients to receive extensive education/counseling about HIV infections. Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Knowledge, Nigeria, Risk behaviour, SchizophreniaThe Nigerian Medical Practitioner Vol. 52 (4) 2007: pp. 85-9