Morphometric profile of tendocalcaneus of South Africans of European ancestry using a cadaveric approach

Background: Tendocalcaneus is a strong tendon that is vital for bipedalism in humans. Despite its tremendous strength, the tendocalcaneus is prone to damage and degeneration causing mobility problems and pain. Morphometric dimension of the tendocalcaneus is of benefit to the surgical repair and reconstruction of the damaged tendon. Cadaveric approach provides a realistic method for determining tendocalcaneus morphometry and as at present only two cadaveric studies on Indian population is available. Thus this study presents data on tendocalcaneus morphometry in South Africans of European ancestry using a cadaveric approach. Materials and methods: A total of 66 lower limbs (32 left and 34 right legs) sourced from 49 male and female cadavers were used. After careful dissection of the posterior aspect of leg, the medial and lateral length, distal width, distal circumference and proximal width of the tendocalcaneus were measured. Results: The data showed a high degree of reproducibility indicating that the measurements obtained using cadaveric approach were precise and accurate. There was no difference in measurements between the sides. Measurements in the males were generally higher than in the females. Strong associations were observed between the paired measurements of the medial and lateral tendon length and between the distal width and distal circumference. Conclusions: The data obtained will be useful in predicting tendocalcaneus size during the surgical reconstruction of the tendocalcaneus

Changes in the cholinergic, catecholaminergic, orexinergic and serotonergic structures forming part of the sleep systems of adult mice exposed to intrauterine alcohol

We examined the effect of chronic prenatal alcohol exposure on certain neuronal systems involved with the sleep-wake cycle of C57BL/6J mice exposed to prenatal alcohol once they had reached 56 days post-natal. Pregnant mice were exposed to alcohol, through oral gavage, on gestational days 7–16, with recorded blood alcohol concentration (BAC)s averaging 1.84 mg/ml (chronic alcohol group, CA). Two control groups, an oral gavage sucrose control group (chronic alcohol control group, CAc) and a non-treated control group (NTc), were also examined. At 56 days post-natal, the pups from each group were sacrificed and the whole brain sectioned in a coronal plane and immunolabeled for cholineacetyltransferase (ChAT), tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), serotonin (5HT) and orexin-A (OxA) which labels cholinergic, catecholaminergic, serotonergic and orexinergic structures respectively. The overall nuclear organization and neuronal morphology were identical in all three groups studied, and resemble that previously reported for laboratory rodents. Quantification of the estimated numbers of ChAT immunopositive (+) neurons of the pons, the TH+ neurons of the pons and the OxA+ neurons of the hypothalamus showed no statistically significant difference between the three experimental groups. The stereologically estimated areas and volumes of OxA+ neurons in the CA group were statistically significantly larger than the groups not exposed to prenatal alcohol, but the ChAT+ neurons in the CA group were statistically significantly smaller. The density of orexinergic boutons in the anterior cingulate cortex was lower in the CA group than the other groups. No statistically significant difference was found in the area and volume of TH+ neurons between the three experimental groups. These differences are discussed in relation to the sleep disorders recorded in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)

Morphometric profile of tendocalcaneus of South Africans of European ancestry using a cadaveric approach.

Tendocalcaneus is a strong tendon that is vital for bipedalism in humans. Despite its tremendous strength, the tendocalcaneus is prone to damage and degeneration causing mobility problems and pain. Morphometric dimension of the tendocalcaneus is of benefit to the surgical repair and reconstruction of the damaged tendon. Cadaveric approach provides a realistic method for determining tendocalcaneus morphometry and as at present only two cadaveric studies on Indian population is available. Thus this study presents data on tendocalcaneus morphometry in South Africans of European ancestry using a cadaveric approach. A total of 66 lower limbs (32 left and 34 right legs) sourced from 49 male and female cadavers were used. After careful dissection of the posterior aspect of leg, the medial and lateral length, distal width, distal circumference and proximal width of the tendocalcaneus were measured. The data showed a high degree of reproducibility indicating that the measurements obtained using cadaveric approach were precise and accurate. There was no difference in measurements between the sides. Measurements in the males were generally higher than in the females. Strong associations were observed between the paired measurements of the medial and lateral tendon length and between the distal width and distal circumference. The data obtained will be useful in predicting tendocalcaneus size during the surgical reconstruction of the tendocalcaneus

Estimation of sex from metatarsals using discriminant function and logistic regression analyses

© 2020, © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. South Africa has one of the highest crime rates in the world and the discovery of dismembered bodies for human identification process poses a greater challenge. The South African Africans (also known as South African blacks) population group is often the victims of crimes as they are the largest group. While measurements of several bones of the human skeleton have been used for sex estimation, the potential of metatarsals have not been explored in this population group. Metatarsal bones are usually well-preserved since they are recovered in shoes protected from scavengers and they are able to withstand environmental degradation and taphonomy. This study investigated the potential of measurements of metatarsals in sex estimate amongst South African Africans using logistic and discriminant function analysis. Six measurements of metatarsals from 100 individuals of known sex and population affinity from the Raymond Dart Collection of Human skeletons were analysed. Various combinations of measurements of metatarsal bones yielded suitably high average accuracies (79% to 84%) for sex estimation and are comparable to functions derived from other skeletal elements of South African Africans. Metatarsals of South African Africans are therefore useful as alternatives to highly sexual dimorphic bones in the forensic estimation of sex

Anthropometric studies for designing to fit gari-frying workers

 Work system and product design require anthropometric data of the user population relevant to the facility in order to have safe operation in service as well as increase user satisfaction and efficiency. Designing to fit gari-frying workers in each of the southwestern states in Nigeria is geared towards this end. The age, weight and twenty-five body dimensions of 120 gari-frying workers in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti, selected by random sampling, were measured. The body dimensions include stature, shoulder height, sitting height, eye height, forward grip reach, buttock-popliteal height, buttock-knee length, knee height, thigh clearance, forearm-to-forearm breadth, waist depth, elbow rest height, knuckle height, elbow grip length, hip breadth, hand length, hand breadth, hand thickness, grip span and lumbar height. SPSS 20 software was used to perform statistical analysis to determine the mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum values, 2nd, 5th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 95th percentiles for each state. Ogun state was used as a control, against which means of body dimension data, collected from other states, were compared using paired sample t-test. The results revealed that some of the body dimensions showed significant difference across the states at P≤0.05 with Oyo having more anthropometric parameters that differ from that of Ogun and Ondo having the least. Between 11.42% and 24.25% difference in the mean age, weight and lumbar height was observed in all the states. Osun state has the highest mean BMI and BSA values of 32.38 kg/m2 and 1.82 m2, respectively. These results are the required data for the design of facility and products for gari-frying workers as well as in similar women workspaces, especially in processing centres

The Impact of Recycled Neonatal Incubators in Nigeria: A 6-Year Follow-Up Study

Nigeria has a record of high newborn mortality as an estimated 778 babies die daily, accounting for a ratio of 48 deaths per 1000 live births. The aim of this paper was to show how a deteriorating neonatal delivery system in Nigeria may have, in part, been improved by the application of a novel recycled incubator technique (RIT). Retrospective assessment of clinical, technical, and human factors in 15 Nigerian neonatal centres was carried out to investigate how the application of RIT impacted these factors. Pre-RIT and post-RIT neonatal mortalities were compared by studying case files. Effect on neonatal nursing was studied through questionnaires that were completed by 79 nurses from 9 centres across the country. Technical performance was assessed based on 10-indices scores from clinicians and nurses. The results showed an increase in neonatal survival, nursing enthusiasm, and practice confidence. Appropriately recycled incubators are good substitutes to the less affordable modern incubators in boosting neonatal practice outcome in low-income countries

Global patient outcomes after elective surgery: prospective cohort study in 27 low-, middle- and high-income countries.

BACKGROUND: As global initiatives increase patient access to surgical treatments, there remains a need to understand the adverse effects of surgery and define appropriate levels of perioperative care. METHODS: We designed a prospective international 7-day cohort study of outcomes following elective adult inpatient surgery in 27 countries. The primary outcome was in-hospital complications. Secondary outcomes were death following a complication (failure to rescue) and death in hospital. Process measures were admission to critical care immediately after surgery or to treat a complication and duration of hospital stay. A single definition of critical care was used for all countries. RESULTS: A total of 474 hospitals in 19 high-, 7 middle- and 1 low-income country were included in the primary analysis. Data included 44 814 patients with a median hospital stay of 4 (range 2-7) days. A total of 7508 patients (16.8%) developed one or more postoperative complication and 207 died (0.5%). The overall mortality among patients who developed complications was 2.8%. Mortality following complications ranged from 2.4% for pulmonary embolism to 43.9% for cardiac arrest. A total of 4360 (9.7%) patients were admitted to a critical care unit as routine immediately after surgery, of whom 2198 (50.4%) developed a complication, with 105 (2.4%) deaths. A total of 1233 patients (16.4%) were admitted to a critical care unit to treat complications, with 119 (9.7%) deaths. Despite lower baseline risk, outcomes were similar in low- and middle-income compared with high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Poor patient outcomes are common after inpatient surgery. Global initiatives to increase access to surgical treatments should also address the need for safe perioperative care. STUDY REGISTRATION: ISRCTN5181700

INVESTIGATION OF COMPLEX INDEX OF REFRACTION OF GALLIUM NITRIDE GaN

An understanding of the complex index of refraction of Gallium Nitride (GaN) is important because of the increasing application of GaN in many high frequency, optical and electronics devices. Complex index of refraction of Gallium Nitride (GaN)have been investigated theoretically by means of Kramers and Kronig method in the photon energy range 2.0 – 10.0eV. We obtained refractive index which has a maximum value of 2.89 at photon energy 7.0eV, the extinction coefficient which has a maximum value of 1.17 at photon energy 7.0eV, the dielectric constant, the real part of the complex dielectric constant has a maximum value of 7.0 at photon energy 7.0eV and the imaginary part of the complex dielectric constant has a maximum value of 6.79 at photon energy 7.0eV, the transmittance which has a maximum value of 0.18 at photon energy 7.0eV, the absorption coefficient which has a maximum value of 86.18 at photon energy 7.0eV. The values obtained for complex index of refraction ofGaN are essentially important for emerging GaN applications such ashigh-power and high-frequency devices, solar cell arrays for satellites, communications and optoelectronics devices

Investigation on the Corrosion Performance of Nickel Electrodeposited Tempered Steel Substrate

ABSTRACT The investigation into the corrosion performance of nickel electroplating of low carbon steel substrate in Na 2 CO 3 environment was studied. The substrate was heat treated at various tempering temperatures, plated with nickel for 30 minutes and subjected to corrosion in Na 2 CO 3 solution. The microstructure and weight loss technique were adopted to evaluate the corrosion susceptibility of the substrate Na 2 CO 3 medium. From the results, it was observed that the rate of corrosion of nickel plated tempered low carbon steel substrates is significantly low compared to the control (i.e unplated) sample, couple with the good mechanical properties of the steel confirmed it a good option for engineering applications