Assessment of Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Surface Water from River Niger, Illushi, Edo State, Nigeria

The physical and chemical characteristics of River Niger, Illushi an important fishing site in Edo State which is currently impacted by human activities, was investigated between the month of April and November, 2017. Surface water samples were collected from three (3) sampling stations covering a total distance of 2600metres from upstream to downstream, and a total of  seventeen (17) physical/chemical parameters were investigated. Findingsfrom this study revealed that Air temperature had an average mean value of 27±0.72 mg/L, Water temperature was 26.21±0.63 mg/L, the river was generally acidic with the average pH of 6.27±0.18, Turbidity was   107.28±30.9, Conductivity was 57.08±8.29, Total Dissolved Solid was 34.9±4.78, Total Suspended Solid was 71.7±21.17 mg/L, Alkalinity was 26.62±4.78 mg/L, Chloride was 17.29±1.41 mg/L, Hardness was  26.81±2.59 mg/L, Phosphate was 2.20±0.09 mg/L, Nitrate was 3.19±0.94 mg/L, Sulphate was 25.81±10.78 mg/L, Calcium was 8.69±1.74 mg/L,Magnesium was 2.66±0.39 mg/L, Dissolved Oxygen was 4.47±0.46 mg/L and Biochemical Oxygen Demand was 7.29±3.25 mg/L. This study depicts that turbidity, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, air, and water temperature were higher than the recommended limit for drinkable water. It, therefore, stresses the need for compliance of environmental laws to prevent the river from further deterioration.Keywords: Surface water, physicochemical parameters, River Niger, Illushi

UTILIZING THE POTENTIALS OF BIG DATA IN LIBRARY ENVIRONMENTS IN NIGERIAN FOR RECOMMENDER SERVICES

The big data revolution has gained global attention and initiated creative innovations in every field and libraries as engines of access to information have also been affected by this new trend. Libraries in this part of the world have not utilized the amazing potential of big data in library services. In this time, when various terms such as algorithms age, petabytes age, data age, etc. are been used to describe the activities initiated by machine learning, industries and organizations can achieve much by incorporating inspiring and innovative tools to improve services and performance. In this vein libraries in Nigeria are expected against all odds to make their services more interactive, attractive, innovative, and exciting by utilizing cloud technologies and machine learning techniques to create recommender services. This paper titled “Utilizing the Potentials of Big Data in Nigeria Library Environments by Recommender Services”, focuses on the concept and characteristics of big data and its importance in complementing traditional library services, areas for applying big data systems in libraries, the concept of recommender systems and how it works, adopting recommender systems in libraries for maximum benefits, tools, and techniques for setting up big data recommender systems in libraries, challenges of big data recommender systems in libraries in Nigeria and strategies for overcoming big data challenges in library systems. The paper is based on a contextual analysis of literature from various scholarly works. The paper will also proffer recommendations based on the study

Geoelectric investigation of the aquifer characteristics and groundwater potential in Kwale, Delta state, Nigeria

Subsurface geo-electrical survey using the electrical resistivity (VES) method and drillers logs were carried out in Kwale, Ndokwa West Local Government Area of Delta State in order to investigate the aquifer characteristics and ground water potential of the subsurface formations. Nineteen vertical electrical soundings were carried out within the town and its environment using the Schlumberger array configuration. The data was interpreted using the conventional curve matching and computer iteration method. The results reveal a five layer HKH, KQH and AKH type curves. The true resistivity of the top soil varies from 55-236\u3a9m while the thickness varies from 0.7-1.0m. The second layer has resistivity ranging from 37-627 and thickness ranging from 1.3-3.6m. This layer is composed of clay to sand. The third layer, which constitutes an aquifer, has resisitivity varying from 2.7 to 411\u3a9m while the thickness varies from 4-17m. It is composed of fine-grained sand. The fourth geoelectric layer has resistivity values ranging from 114 to 168Wm while the thickness varies form 15 to 35m. This layer is composed of fine to medium-grained sand. The soft layer has resistivity ranging from 326-2308\u3a9m. This layer is composed of medium coarse-grained soil and it constitutes an aquifer of very good quality groundwater. The average depth of this aquifer is between 30-40m. These results were correlated with lithological logs from boreholes drilled in the study areas and were found to be consistent. @JASE

The Roles of Pharmacists in Optimizing Care for Hypertensive Patients in Hospital and Community Pharmacies in Edo State, South-South Nigeria

In recent times, pharmacists’ roles have expanded beyond just dispensing activities to include other patient-oriented services. We aimed to evaluate the level of pharmacist involvement in patient care optimization and their relationship with other caregivers in the management of hypertensive patients. A non-randomized study was carried out among pharmacists. Data was collected using a modified questionnaire, measuring pharmacist role, extent of involvement in patient care and the relationship with other caregivers. Data obtained were entered into Microsoft excel, SPSS software version 23 and GraphPad in stat for descriptive and inferential statistics. Out of 155 Pharmacists, 80 (51.9%) were females, 76 (49.4%) had practiced for 1-5 years and 81 (52.6%) practiced in a community setting. Eight five (55.2%) were most of the time involved in identifying, resolving and preventing drug therapy problems, 79 (51.3%) were always providing adequate information on hypertensive therapy, 64 (41.6%) were most of the time involved in developing therapeutic care plans. Inferential statistics showed that gender, qualifications, years of experience, practice setting, affected pharmacists’ involvement in therapeutic care planning. Community pharmacists were more involved in hypertensive patients counseling and therapeutic care planning (p<0.05). More than half of the respondents were involved in newer roles of pharmaceutical services. In addition, Pharmacists with additional qualifications and those with more years of service had a better relationship with other healthcare professionals. Key words: Hypertensive therapy, therapeutic care planning, patients counseling

Patterns of Clinical Presentation of COVID-19 Patients in Federal Medical Centre, Asaba, Nigeria

Background: COVID-19 is a global pandemic affecting over 25 million people with more than one million deaths and having different patterns of clinical presentation. The study aimed to describe the patterns of clinical presentation of COVID-19 patients in Federal Medical Centre, Asaba, Nigeria. Methods: After obtaining an ethical approval, a facility-based retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out among 50 eligible patients in the hospital’s isolation ward. Data was collected from the patients’ case notes using a proforma to describe the epidemiological history, medical history, symptoms, signs, treatment measures and complications. Data were analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20 and presented as percentages, mean and standard deviation. Results: The mean age of respondents was 44.7 ± 17.3 years with slightly higher proportion of female 26 (52.0%) and majority 41 (82.0%) had tertiary level of education. Fever 29 (76.3%), followed by malaise 19 (50.0%), cough 18 (47.4%), difficulty with breathing 14 (36.8%) and headache 14 (36.8%) were the most common presenting symptoms while majority 43 (86.0%) of the respondents had mild to moderate clinical presentation. The commonest source of the infection was close contact with confirmed case 33 (66.0%). Conclusion: Mild to moderate cases of COVID-19 were more, with over two-third of the patients being symptomatic. The replication of this study in other COVID-19 treatment centers/isolation wards will aid in the better management of COVID-19 patients

Accessibility and Utilization of Family Planning Services in Nigeria during the Coronavirus Disease‑2019 Pandemic

Background: Family planning services are an important aspect of reproductive health as it helps in the improvement of maternal health. During the coronavirus disease‑2019 (COVID‑19) pandemic, several measures were taken by the Nigerian government to control the virus, which included restriction of movements including curfews and lockdown. Aim: This article is a review of the impact of the COVID‑19 pandemic on the accessibility of family planning services in Nigeria. Materials and Methods: This is a narrative review of articles related to the accessibility of family planning services during the COVID‑19 pandemic. The literature search was done using Medline, Google Scholar, and PubMed. The keywords used for searching for the literature were COVID‑19 and family planning services in Nigeria. The literature search review was done from June 2020 to November 2021. Results: The study found both supply‑ and demand‑side service disruptions. There was a disruption in the supply chain management system, affecting the production and distribution of family planning commodities. The demand‑side issues were because of the lockdown measures on health seeking behaviour, absence, and increased cost of transportation. Conclusion: Accessing and utilizing various contraceptive methods were disrupted by the COVID‑19 pandemic. This is due to several factors including the restriction of movements put in place by the Nigerian government to control the pandemic. The improvement of the use of various pregnancy preventive strategies has the potential to reduce poverty. It is imperative to develop adaptive systems to provide ongoing contraceptive services, by implementing innovations to sustain demand and supply of family planning services during pandemics

Exploring the Growing Market of the Nigeria Health Sector

The idea of internationalisation of business usually provides opportunities to companies aspiring to expand their market shares. At the same time, it can expose companies to higher risks if not properly carried out. Therefore, embarking on detailed market analysis of the targeted country is paramount for a successful internationalisation process. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the growing market in the Nigerian Health sector. The objective of this study is to examine the Nigeria medical device market and suggest ways in which Finnish medical device manufacturer can expands their market to the targeted country. The Empirical part of this study uses qualitative research method which is mainly inter-views. Due to the nature of the research topic, a semi-structured interview was used to get information from health practitioners and medical devices importers in Nigeria. The findings revealed that the Nigerian medical device market is an emerging market which depend solely on importation of medical devices. Though, the market seems to be highly competitive. Therefore, few recommendations were put forward to give Finnish medical device manufacturers ideas on areas in which they can capitalise on when exporting their products to the targeted market

Relationship between knowledge of HIV/AIDS and sexual behaviour among in-school adolescents in Delta State, Nigeria

Objective: To determine if there is any correlation between the knowledge of HIV/AIDS among in-school adolescents in Delta state of Nigeria and their sexual behaviour. Method: A questionnaire based descriptive study of randomly selected secondary school students in Asaba, Delta state. Results: A total of 437 students were recruited for the study. About 47% of respondents had good knowledge of HIV/AIDS. The electronic media were their main sources of information. Fifty-eight percent had been sexually initiated but only 10% were currently sexually active. About 73% of the males and 58% of the females reported condom use in their last sexual act. Seventy-three percent of the students that had poor knowledge of HIV/AIDS had ever had sex compared with 69.5% of students with good knowledge. Similarly 45.6% of students with poor knowledge used condom compared with 58.8% who had good knowledge. However these observed differences were not statistically significant. Conclusion: Knowledge of HIV/AIDS by in-school adolescents in Asaba has not significantly influenced their sexual behavior. Program planners should explore and integrate other factors that could impact positively on adolescent sexual behavior. Keywords: in-school adolescents, knowledge of HIV, sexual behavior, Nigeria Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice Vol. 9(1) 2006: 37-3