Awareness, attitude and use of labor analgesics by pregnant women at State Specialist Hospital, Akure

Background: Pain relief during labor has always been associated with myths and controversies. Several groups of people think that God has made this process painful and no interference should be done in it. In the present civilization, there is no circumstance where it is considered acceptable for a person to experience severe pain, amenable to safe intervention while under a physician’s care.Objective: This study assessed the level of awareness of pregnant women about labor analgesia and factors preventing them from having analgesia in labor.Study Design: This study is a descriptive cross‑sectional study.Methodology: Questionnaires were used to obtain information on awareness, attitude and use of labor analgesia from pregnant women at the booking clinic visit. Three hundred (300) consenting pregnant women were recruited into the study including provision for attrition. Data were analyzed with the Statistical Package for Social sciences (SPSS) 20. Proportions were calculated for independent variables while crosstabulation was done for related variables to find P value for statistical significance.Results: Level of awareness of labor analgesia was 21%. Majority of the respondents (70.3%) believe that among all health professionals, it is doctors that should inform them about labor analgesia. Only 4.4% had used labor analgesic in their previous deliveries. About 81% of respondents desire labor analgesia in their next delivery. Among factors analyzed, only severity of last labor had significant influence on the patient’s desire for analgesia in their next delivery (P value = 0.026).Conclusion: The awareness rate of pregnant women about labor analgesia is very low. Therefore, all efforts must be made to ensure that discussions about labor analgesia are commenced as early as at the booking visit to improve on pregnant women’s awareness about labor analgesia and help their acceptability and choices. Attitude towards labor analgesia is not influenced by type of facility where the delivery took place suggesting possibility of socio‑cultural influence of the people in the area of study on the practice of labor analgesia.Keywords: Attitude; awareness; labor analgesia; labor pai

Organizational Communication and Influence of Personality Traits on Knowledge Hiding Behaviour of Students

One way of enhancing effective organizational communication is to encourage knowledge sharing. However, knowledge transfer can be problematic because organizations do not own employees' intellectual assets. Despite the benefits of knowledge sharing, some individuals like to hide knowledge. This work is about the knowledge hiding behavior and the influence of the Big Five Personality factors as they affect senior students. A survey of 381 postgraduates showed that 54.8% admitted that they engaged in knowledge hiding along the three dimensions of playing dumb, evasive hiding, and rationalized hiding. Among the five personality traits, only neuroticism had a significant relationship with knowledge hiding (β=0.378; p=0.000<0.05). Lecturers are encouraged to identify students that exhibit neuroticism and develop strategies and teaching methods that could make them engage in knowledge sharing. The study provides valuable empirical data for other researchers seeking to understand the role of personality factors in knowledge hiding behavior where communication and knowledge sharing are promoted and encouraged

Morphological Survey of the Fruits of the Cultivated (Solanum Lycopersicum Linn.) and Wild (Solanum Pimpinellifolium Miller) Tomatoes in Ile-Ife, Nigeria

The last few years have recorded an increase in the forms of the cultivated tomato fruits available in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. The morphological survey of the fruits of the cultivated garden tomato Solanum lycopersicum Linn. and its wild relative, Solanum pimpinellifolium Miller was carried out with the aim of documenting the various forms available on the basis of their different shapes and sizes. The qualitative morphological characters observed were, fruit colour and shape while the quantitative data taken were, the number of ribs present on the fruits, length and diameter of fruits. In this study, thirty-one (31) fruit forms were reported for the cultivated species based on the differences in shapes, presence or absence of ribs on fruits, number of ribs and colour of fruits. The shapes observed in Solanum lycopersicum were ellipsoid, spheroid, obovate, oblate, rhomboidal, elongate and clavate while the shape for Solanum pimpinellifolium was consistently round. The colours observed for Solanum lycopersicum were red, red with yellow patches, and yellowish-red while colour in S. pimpinellifolium was consistently red. Number of ribs on the fruits of the cultivated species ranged from 0–12 while rib was absent in the wild species. Noteworthy, were the fruit forms with beak-like protrusions at the apices of the cultivated species. The length-to-diameter ratio of fruits of the cultivated species was a reliable parameter for differentiating the elongated fruit forms from the other forms in the cultivated species

Microbial Qualities of Vegetables, Water and Soils from Vegetable Gardens in Lagos State, Nigeria

The presence of coliforms in vegetables, water and soil samples from gardens in Lagos State was assayed for. The vegetables sampled were cabbage, waterleaf, carrot, lettuce and cucumber collected from five sites representing five geograpical zones. The isolates obtained were cultured on MacConkey (MAC) agar, Sorbitol MacConkey agar, Eosine Methylene Blue (EMB) agar and Salmonella-Shigella (SSA) agar. They were identified using morphological, biochemical and Analytical Profile Index 20E and 20SA kit. Hemolytic activity of the isolates was assayed for using Blood agar. The aerobic plate counts of soil, water and vegetable samples ranges from 8.80 x 107 to 8.00 x 109 cfu/g, 3.90 x 109 to 6.15 x 109 cfu/ml, and 3.30 x 109 to 1.08 x 1010 cfu/g, respectively. Coliforms were the predominant bacteria isolated from the sites. The coliform counts of cabbage, waterleaf, carrot, lettuce and cucumber were5. 01 x 109cfu/g, 6.76 x 107cfu/g, 5.49 x 107cfu/g, 1.58 x 108cfu/g and 4.67 x 104cfu/g respectively. The fecal colifom population range was between 2.51 x 103 and 1.31 x 108 cfu/g, while Salmonella and Shigella species ranged from 1.38 x 102-3.09 x 104 cfu/g. Escherichia coli 0157: H7 was not isolated from any of the sites. The study showed that washed vegetableswere contaminated with high microbial load especially coliforms

Exploring the Knowledge Sharing Practices among Medical Doctors in Ibadan Metropolis, Nigeria

Medical doctors constitute a vital component of the health sector’s workforce. One major factor that aids their efficiency is knowledge of practice and what they do with it. Literature is replete with knowledge-sharing cases among other professionals but less visible concerning physicians, especially in Nigeria. This study investigates the knowledge-sharing practices among doctors in Ibadan, one of the country’s major cities. The descriptive survey research design was adopted, and data collected through interviews with sixteen doctors selected through convenience sampling. Findings show that the doctors shared knowledge regularly through social media, formal discussions, and informal deliberations. The findings also indicated that the doctors derive benefits from exchanging information, while the knowledgesharing process challenges stem from adverse social factors. This study is useful to medical practitioners, medical associations, and policymakers who need data for staff development and how that impacts the health sector

Effect of heat treatment during mechanical cracking using varieties of palm nut

Palm nut is characterized with unique physical and mechanical properties which determine performance of machine during cracking.  In this research work, commercially acceptable varieties of palm nut were selected, examined and periodically dried to temperature 120 ℃/h, 135 ℃/h, 150 ℃/h, 165 ℃/h and 180 ℃/h before cracking.  At 120 ℃/h, local, dura and tenera nuts moisture content were found to be: 12.5%, 12.0% and 12.0% respectively; at 135 ℃/h, 11.6%, 11.1% and 11.0% respectively; at 150 ℃/h, 10.7%, 10.2% and 10.0% respectively; at 165 ℃/h, 10.3%, 9.6% and 9.1% respectively; and at 180 ℃/h, 9.8%, 9.0% and 8.2% respectively. An improved automated palm nut cracker of 2004 model was used for the experiment and results shown that the highest throughput, functional efficiency and quality performance efficiency were  1,260 kg/h, 99.07% and 98.80% respectively while mechanical damage reduced to 0.20%.  Simple multiple linear regression model was used to establish the relation between machine and crop parameters. Keywords: drying, efficiency, cracker, effect, varieties, palm nut &nbsp

Use of Textism by University Students in Nigeria

The introduction of computer-mediated communications brought the use of textism into human communication. Even though there are overwhelming advantages that surround the use of textism, concerns have been raised on the effect of the use of textism on students' use of the English language. This study investigated the use of textism by University of Ibadan students as well as the factors that influence use. The descriptive survey research design was adopted. Data were collected by an online questionnaire and an observation of Whatsapp chats of the students. The study confirmed the use of textism in computer-mediated communication by students as textism was used consciously and unconsciously, and was used both in formal and informal discussions. A below-average number of the students reported that they used textism daily and in every chat (47.4% and 44.0% respectively). Analysis of the Whatsapp chats also revealed a high use of textism and the various types of textism used by the students. Brevity, speed, and creativity were major reasons for the use of textism. Phonological approximation (30.5%) was the most used, while homophones and onomatopoeia (0.01% respectively) were the least used. The test of hypotheses revealed that all the independent variables except the structure domain have significant relationships (p<0.05) with the use of textism. Sociolinguistic maxims, peer influence, and language influence have strong and positive correlations (r = 0.595, 0.657, and 0.581 respectively), while personality traits and psychological factors have moderate and positive correlations (r = 0.480 and 0.489 respectively). The study made some recommendations

Symptomatology of menopause among suburban Nigerian women

Background: It is believed that the perception and attitude of women to menopause are strongly influenced by several variables which are largely social, cultural, and economic and may reflect in the differences in the mode of treatment. The objective of this study is to determine the age of attainment of menopause and the perception of the symptomatology of menopause among Nigerian women of different backgrounds.Materials and Methods: Information was obtained with the aid of a structured questionnaire from 543 women who had attained natural menopause. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21. Data analysis was descriptive and inferential at 95% confidence interval, and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: The mean menopausal age was 49.1 ± 4.54 years. The commonest early symptom of menopause was hot flushes (45.8%). The commonest late symptom of menopause was pain in the joints (57%). A majority of the women (82.4%) did not think that any of the symptoms may have been associated with cessation of their menses. However, the better educated the women were, the more knowledgeable they were about the symptoms of menopause P < 0.01.Conclusion: The age at which Nigerian women attain menopause is comparable to that of other populations. The manifestation of menopausal symptoms in our women may constitute a significant health burden and it is imperative that healthcare providers should be knowledgeable about the manner in which these groups of women perceive menopausal symptoms. Education improves perception and may be the link to promoting better health‑seeking behavior among menopausal women.Keywords: Menopause; suburban; symptomatolog