Media Use and Perceived Academic Performance of Students in Public Universities in Osun State

This study investigated media use and perceived academic performance of students in public universities in Osun State. A cross-sectional survey research design was adopted. The population consists of 38,385 students of public institutions with a sample size of 381 students determined through the Raosoft sample size determinant. Multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select students in the selected institutions in the state. A validated questionnaire was used to collect data. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. A reliability coefficient value for each variable in this study was recorded as follows; Media Use (MU) = 0.73; Perceived Academic Performance (PAP) = 0.81. Findings revealed that MU had a significant influence on the measures of PAP; self efficacy R2 = 0.124, F(1,343)= 39.753, p= 0.000, Learning Behaviour R2 = 0.104, F(1,343)= 39.753, p= 0.000. This study concluded that MU significantly influences PAP. The study recommended that students are to employ the right use of media as it will improve and aid their academic goals at all times

A Descriptive, Cross-sectional Study to Assess Pressure Ulcer Knowledge and Pressure Ulcer Prevention Attitudes of Nurses in a Tertiary Health Institution in Nigeria

Globally, higher-than-expected pressure ulcer rates generally are considered a quality-of-care indicator. Nigeria currently has no national guidelines for pressure ulcer risk assessment, prevention, and treatment. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the pressure ulcer knowledge and the attitude of nurses regarding pressure ulcer prevention in a tertiary health institution in Nigeria. During a period of 2 months, nurses were recruited to complete a 25-item paper/pencil survey that included participant demographic information (6 items), pressure ulcer knowledge questions (11 items), and statements on participants’ attitude toward pressure ulcer prevention (8 items). Data were entered manually into statistical analysis software, analyzed, and presented using descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages). The majority of the 90 nurse participants were female (60, 66.7%), 45 (50%) were married, and 75 (83.3%) had 1 to 10 years’ experience in nursing practice; 69 (76.7%) had received special training on pressure ulcer prevention. Overall, 58 (64.4%) nurses had correct pressure ulcer knowledge and 67 (74.4%) had a positive attitude toward preventing pressure ulcers. However, 56 nurses (62.2%) disagreed with regular rescreening of patients whom they deemed not at risk of developing pressure ulcer, and 70 (77.8%) believed pressure ulcer prevention should be the joint responsibility of both nurses and relatives of the patients. Thus, the majority of the 90 nurses knew the factors responsible for pressure ulcers and how to prevent them, but nurses need to be orientated to the fact that pressure ulcer risk screening of all patients with limited mobility is an integral part of their job and that it is important that nurses enlighten patients and their relatives on how to prevent pressure ulcers

Development and Testing of Sorption Isotherm Equipment for Nigerian Coal

Aim: The aim of the study is to investigate the methane content in Nigerian coal. Study Design: Fabrication of Sorption Isotherm Equipment and Experimental Analysis. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Petroleum and Gas Engineering, University of Port Harcourt Rivers State, between June, 2014 and January, 2015. Methodology: This study includes the Fabrication of Isotherm Adsorption Equipment, Methane Sorption test, Proximate Analysis, Ultimate Analysis, and Estimation of Methane Content. Results: The maximum moisture and fixed carbon was found in Sample D with moisture content of 3.35%, fixed carbon content of 60.41%; and it also has the minimum ash content of 5.61%. The maximum volatile matter was found in Sample B with volatile matter of 33.57%. The estimated methane content from the Meissner’s method differs from those obtained from the adsorption Isotherm equipment by 22%. Conclusion: The adsorption isotherm models obtained, showed that the total organic carbon content is not a significant factor in the adsorptive and dispersive behaviors exhibited by the shale

Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness among Pregnant Women Attending Selected Health Centres in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria

Introduction: This study assessed birth preparedness and complication readiness (BP/CR) and its associated factors among pregnant woman attending selected health care facilities in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti state, Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was employed. Two hundred and six pregnant women were randomly selected from four health care facilities. Data were analysed using descriptive, binary and multiple logistic regression analysis. The level of significance was set at P <0.05. Results: The overall prevalence of BP/CR was 70.6% (n = 125). About 149 (81%) already identified a place of delivery, 114 (62%) identified skilled birth attendant, and 160 (87%) saved money for delivery. However only 30 (16.3%) of the respondents made arrangement for blood donor in case of emergency. Religion, parity, and knowledge of at least two obstetric danger signs were significantly associated with the extent of BP/CR practice. Being a Christian (AOR = 6.15, 95% CI: 1.65 – 22.97) and having knowledge of at least two obstetric danger signs (AOR = 5.80, 95% CI: 1.81 – 18.56) were significant predictors of good BP/CR practices. Conclusions: Health care providers should stress the importance of identifying blood donor in case of emergency and antenatal clinics should be goal - and client-oriented and time effective. BP/CR should be made an integral part of maternal and child health services as the occurrences of complications during the process of childbirth are unpredictable

Assessment of Self-Medication Practices and Its Associated Factors among Undergraduates of a Private University in Nigeria

Background. Self-medication is the use of drugs to treat self-diagnosed disorders or symptoms or the intermittent or continued use of prescribed drug for chronic or recurrent disease or symptoms, and it is mostly common in developing countries. (is study therefore assessed the practice of self-medication among undergraduate students of a private university in Nigeria. Methods. (e study employed a descriptive cross-sectional design. A pretested questionnaire was selfadministered to 384 undergraduate students of the university. Data were analysed and summarised using descriptive and inferential statistics such as chi-squared and Fisher’s exact tests. Results. Overall, 297 (81.8%) undergraduate students practiced self-medication. About 71% of the students had used analgesic, antibiotics (10.5%), and antimalarial drugs (33%) without prescription within one month prior to the survey. (e most commonly used drug for self-medication was paracetamol (75.1%). Furthermore, self-medication was found to be significantly associated with age (p � 0.021), gender (p < 0.001), college (p � 0.025), and year of study (p � 0.004). Some of the reasons why undergraduate students practiced self-medication were because of the unfriendly attitude of health care workers (27.7%), lack of time to go to school clinic (26.7%), school clinic is too far from hostel (15.3%), and drugs prescribed in the school clinic do not improve health condition (15.3%). Conclusion. Majority of the students attributed the practice of self-medication to unfriendly attitude of health care workers in the university clinic

Breast Cancer Trend: A Case Study of a Tertiary Health Institution in Nigeria

Background: Breast cancer is a major global health problem in women from both developing and developed countries. As the leading cause of death among women, breast cancer has contributed 19.5% to the mortality rate among women in Nigeria. This study investigated the trend of breast cancer among women who attended Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti, Nigeria. Methods: This retrospective study examined the trend of breast cancer over a period of eight years and determined the most affected age group. Participants consisted of patients registered in the cancer registry who had histologically confirmed breast cancer. Data of 362 patients were examined between March and April 2016. Data were analyzed and presented using descriptive (frequency, charts, and percentages) and inferential statistics (Fisher’s exact) for hypothesis testing. Results: Findings of this study revealed that the mean age of the participants was 45.04±16.94 years and all patients involved were females. The age group 20-39 years was most affected by breast cancer with a proportion of 41.7%. This study revealed a relationship between breast cancer classification and age of patients (P=0.011). Almost all (94.3%) cases seen within this time period were malignant. Conclusion: Healthcare professionals should place more emphasis on prevention of breast cancer across all age groups, especially young adults. These young adults constitute the larger percentage of the adult population. An increase in mortality rate in this age group will reduce the labor force and affect the nation’s economy

Assessment of Self-Medication Practices and Its AssociatedFactors among Undergraduates of a Private University in Nigeria

Self-medication is theuse of drugs to treat self-diagnosed disorders or symptoms or the intermittent orcontinued use of prescribed drug for chronic or recurrent disease or symptoms, and it is mostly common in developingcountries. (is study therefore assessed the practice of self-medication among undergraduate students of a private universityin Nigeria.Methods. (e study employed a descriptive cross-sectional design. A pretested questionnaire was self-administered to 384 undergraduate students of the university. Data were analysed and summarised using descriptiveand inferential statistics such as chi-squared and Fisher’s exact tests.Results. Overall, 297 (81.8%) undergraduate studentspracticed self-medication. About 71% of the students had used analgesic, antibiotics (10.5%), and antimalarial drugs (33%)without prescription within one month prior to the survey. (e most commonly used drug for self-medication wasparacetamol (75.1%). Furthermore, self-medication was found to be significantly associated with age (p�0.021), gender(p<0.001), college (p�0.025), and year of study (p�0.004). Some of the reasons why undergraduate students practicedself-medication were because of the unfriendly attitude of health care workers (27.7%), lack of time to go to school clinic(26.7%), school clinic is too far from hostel (15.3%), and drugs prescribed in the school clinic do not improve healthcondition (15.3%).Conclusion. Majority of the students attributed the practice of self-medication to unfriendly attitude ofhealth care workers in the university clinic

Firm Specific Capability Organisational Structure and New Product Performance of Fast Moving Consumer Goods Manufacturers in Emerging Economy

Purpose: This study was centered on understanding the linkages between internal organizational competencies and performance of new products and the role of organizational structure focusing on Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCGs) manufacturers in the South-Western States in Nigeria. Methodology: A survey approach was adopted, and 529 employees of fifteen FMCGs took part in data gathering. A moderated regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses formulated Findings: The results of the moderated regression analysis established that firm-specific capability significantly enhanced new product performance, and the introduction of a definitive organizational structure increased the established effect firm-specific capability had on new product performance to suggest a significant moderator. Implications: Management of the FMCGs investigated need to strengthen their commitment to developing critical and dynamic firm-specific capability and understand the relevance of organizational structure appropriateness. The firms should possess the knowledge to deploy ambidextrous firm-specific capability; it would enable the firms to expand and explore market opportunities that facilitate achieving significant new product performance.&nbsp;&nbsp

Burden of disease scenarios for 204 countries and territories, 2022–2050: a forecasting analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BackgroundFuture trends in disease burden and drivers of health are of great interest to policy makers and the public at large. This information can be used for policy and long-term health investment, planning, and prioritisation. We have expanded and improved upon previous forecasts produced as part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) and provide a reference forecast (the most likely future), and alternative scenarios assessing disease burden trajectories if selected sets of risk factors were eliminated from current levels by 2050.MethodsUsing forecasts of major drivers of health such as the Socio-demographic Index (SDI; a composite measure of lag-distributed income per capita, mean years of education, and total fertility under 25 years of age) and the full set of risk factor exposures captured by GBD, we provide cause-specific forecasts of mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) by age and sex from 2022 to 2050 for 204 countries and territories, 21 GBD regions, seven super-regions, and the world. All analyses were done at the cause-specific level so that only risk factors deemed causal by the GBD comparative risk assessment influenced future trajectories of mortality for each disease. Cause-specific mortality was modelled using mixed-effects models with SDI and time as the main covariates, and the combined impact of causal risk factors as an offset in the model. At the all-cause mortality level, we captured unexplained variation by modelling residuals with an autoregressive integrated moving average model with drift attenuation. These all-cause forecasts constrained the cause-specific forecasts at successively deeper levels of the GBD cause hierarchy using cascading mortality models, thus ensuring a robust estimate of cause-specific mortality. For non-fatal measures (eg, low back pain), incidence and prevalence were forecasted from mixed-effects models with SDI as the main covariate, and YLDs were computed from the resulting prevalence forecasts and average disability weights from GBD. Alternative future scenarios were constructed by replacing appropriate reference trajectories for risk factors with hypothetical trajectories of gradual elimination of risk factor exposure from current levels to 2050. The scenarios were constructed from various sets of risk factors: environmental risks (Safer Environment scenario), risks associated with communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases (CMNNs; Improved Childhood Nutrition and Vaccination scenario), risks associated with major non-communicable diseases (NCDs; Improved Behavioural and Metabolic Risks scenario), and the combined effects of these three scenarios. Using the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways climate scenarios SSP2-4.5 as reference and SSP1-1.9 as an optimistic alternative in the Safer Environment scenario, we accounted for climate change impact on health by using the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change temperature forecasts and published trajectories of ambient air pollution for the same two scenarios. Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy were computed using standard methods. The forecasting framework includes computing the age-sex-specific future population for each location and separately for each scenario. 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) for each individual future estimate were derived from the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles of distributions generated from propagating 500 draws through the multistage computational pipeline.FindingsIn the reference scenario forecast, global and super-regional life expectancy increased from 2022 to 2050, but improvement was at a slower pace than in the three decades preceding the COVID-19 pandemic (beginning in 2020). Gains in future life expectancy were forecasted to be greatest in super-regions with comparatively low life expectancies (such as sub-Saharan Africa) compared with super-regions with higher life expectancies (such as the high-income super-region), leading to a trend towards convergence in life expectancy across locations between now and 2050. At the super-region level, forecasted healthy life expectancy patterns were similar to those of life expectancies. Forecasts for the reference scenario found that health will improve in the coming decades, with all-cause age-standardised DALY rates decreasing in every GBD super-region. The total DALY burden measured in counts, however, will increase in every super-region, largely a function of population ageing and growth. We also forecasted that both DALY counts and age-standardised DALY rates will continue to shift from CMNNs to NCDs, with the most pronounced shifts occurring in sub-Saharan Africa (60·1% [95% UI 56·8–63·1] of DALYs were from CMNNs in 2022 compared with 35·8% [31·0–45·0] in 2050) and south Asia (31·7% [29·2–34·1] to 15·5% [13·7–17·5]). This shift is reflected in the leading global causes of DALYs, with the top four causes in 2050 being ischaemic heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, compared with 2022, with ischaemic heart disease, neonatal disorders, stroke, and lower respiratory infections at the top. The global proportion of DALYs due to YLDs likewise increased from 33·8% (27·4–40·3) to 41·1% (33·9–48·1) from 2022 to 2050, demonstrating an important shift in overall disease burden towards morbidity and away from premature death. The largest shift of this kind was forecasted for sub-Saharan Africa, from 20·1% (15·6–25·3) of DALYs due to YLDs in 2022 to 35·6% (26·5–43·0) in 2050. In the assessment of alternative future scenarios, the combined effects of the scenarios (Safer Environment, Improved Childhood Nutrition and Vaccination, and Improved Behavioural and Metabolic Risks scenarios) demonstrated an important decrease in the global burden of DALYs in 2050 of 15·4% (13·5–17·5) compared with the reference scenario, with decreases across super-regions ranging from 10·4% (9·7–11·3) in the high-income super-region to 23·9% (20·7–27·3) in north Africa and the Middle East. The Safer Environment scenario had its largest decrease in sub-Saharan Africa (5·2% [3·5–6·8]), the Improved Behavioural and Metabolic Risks scenario in north Africa and the Middle East (23·2% [20·2–26·5]), and the Improved Nutrition and Vaccination scenario in sub-Saharan Africa (2·0% [–0·6 to 3·6]).InterpretationGlobally, life expectancy and age-standardised disease burden were forecasted to improve between 2022 and 2050, with the majority of the burden continuing to shift from CMNNs to NCDs. That said, continued progress on reducing the CMNN disease burden will be dependent on maintaining investment in and policy emphasis on CMNN disease prevention and treatment. Mostly due to growth and ageing of populations, the number of deaths and DALYs due to all causes combined will generally increase. By constructing alternative future scenarios wherein certain risk exposures are eliminated by 2050, we have shown that opportunities exist to substantially improve health outcomes in the future through concerted efforts to prevent exposure to well established risk factors and to expand access to key health interventions.FundingBill & Melinda Gates Foundation.</p