Fighting Crime in Coastal Settlements in Nigeria: The Interplay of Location, Spirit Medium and Local Social Control Mechanisms

This paper attempts to develop theoretical and empirical understanding of a range of environmental, spiritual, religious and social control factors often utilized to address the challenges of social crime in two coastal settlements in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria: Ibeno and Eastern Obolo. Specific focus was on ‘armed robbery’ incidence. The study, which adopted the situational crime prevention theory by Ronald Clarke, depended on in-depth interviews, discussions, local informants and secondary literature. In the result, a broad consensus was established bordering on the relevance of the role of the local cosmology, linked with a belief in the mutual communication of territorial and marine spirits, in social crime control. Beyond the territorial and marine powers discussed, ‘communitarian spirit’ which was noted as anchored by neighborhood watch, social capital, community vigilantism, adherence to the values of individual and family integrity and other social norms and values were identified as important resources in community security. The paper argues that discourses on crime of any form in developing countries should be framed around some contextually determined factors to enhance the development of better and context-based mechanisms for practical control. Keywords: crime control, environment, spiritual and social controls, coastal settlements, Nigeria

NFC tag-based mHealth patient healthcare tracking system

Patient misdiagnosis is quite a common occurrence in hospitals around the world. It is a mistake that can happen to anyone at any time, and especially during a pandemic crisis when hospital facilities are overwhelmed with increasing number of patients. This problem could stem from improper patient identification whereby patient files are mislabelled or placed in an incorrect patient dossier. It is the responsibility of a hospital and its employees to guarantee that such mistakes do not occur. With respect to this, near-field communication (NFC) technology, which is a short ranged wireless communication technology, has been identified to have great potential to help identify patients in hospitals. This paper demonstrates a solution by designing and developing a patient healthcare management information system that sees the seamless integration of the NFC technology along with and both web and mobile technologies, to provide a holistic solution to tackle the problem of patient misidentification in a hospital environment especially during pandemics such as COVID-19.The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used as evaluation method in order to quantify the proposed systems’s usability and acceptance using 5 constructs. Results showed acceptance of the system with a mean score of 4, indicating that the NFC tag-based mHealth Patient Healthcare Tracking System was found to be useful and easy to use

Structure and diversity of fish communities in man-made ponds of the Niger Delta (southern Nigeria)

1. A survey of eight local earthen hand-dug ponds located within the freshwater swamps of a Niger Delta area (southern Nigeria) was conducted over a period of 3 months. A total of 4,313 fishes representing 19 species from 12 families were recorded.2. The most abundant species was Xenomystus nigri (905 individuals), whereas the least common was Protopterus annectens (13). Cichlidae and Clariidae counted three species each, whereas Anabantidae, Hepsetidae, Mochokidae, Protopteridae, Phractolaemidae, Malapteruridae and Gymnarchidae were represented by a single species each.3. A lotic species, Synodontis sp., was recorded possibly as a result of the episodic flood of 2012.4. The Engenni swamps harbour a moderately diverse ichthyofauna. Regulations should be put in place to further enhance the fisheries potential of these local ponds

Chemometric Assessment of Orashi River after Confluence with Oguta Lake

This study was carried out to evaluate the surficial water and sediment of Orashi River after confluence with Oguta. A total of 50 sub-samples were collected for the two media and were homogenized to form 10 composite samples (5 each). Water and sediment samples were analyzed for heavy metals concentrations and physico-chemical parameters. Data obtained was interpreted using ten chemometric models and standards of the Federal Ministry of Environment as touchstone values. Approximately 100 % of water samples were contaminated as opposed to 40 % of sediment samples. Both water and sediments showed that Cd  as the highest contaminant with contamination factors of 38 and 1.52 respectively. Water revealed pollution load index higher than sediment probably due to its dissolution ability to metals. Geo accumulation index was observed to have highest value for Cd (45) at point A while Fe (> 4) at all points and same time the highest negative value. All points exhibited very high ecological risk (RI; 1112.7–1473.9) for water while sediments at those points showed low (RI Cd>Ag>Cr>Fe>Cu>Mn>Co>Ni. In conclusion, the water was polluted but good for irrigation use. However, continuous use could lead to health problems due to bioaccumulation of metals while sediments were generally not polluted and of good qualit

Prevalence of Ocular Trauma among Paediatrics and Geriatrics: A Hospital based Study in Abia State Nigeria

Ocular trauma, one of the leading causes of monocular loss of visions especially in children and the elderly, poses a significant public health challenge. This study found the epidemiological characteristics of patients hospitalized in a private eye clinic and a tertiary eye centre in Umuahia, Abia State through a hospital based survey. The study reviewed over 172 injured eyes from 172 patients over a period of 5 years from January 2010 to December 2015. Of the 172 cases of trauma reviewed, 77 (44.8%) closed globe, 39 (19.8%) open globe, 50 (29.1%) lacerations, 5 (2.9%) chemical injuries, 6 (3.5%) thermal injuries were seen. The mean ages of the paediatric and geriatric patients were 9±4.15 and 72±4.27 respectively. The most frequent types of injuries were school-related in paediatrics and domestic-related in geriatrics. The majority (55 cases) of injuries in males and females occurred in the age group of 6-12 in paediatrics and (23 cases) 71-75 in geriatrics respectively. The relationship between final visual acuity (VA) and initial VA was tested using Chi-square test at 5% level of significance (α = 0.05), and there was no significant difference in the initial VA and final visual outcome after trauma since (X2cal = 137.96) is greater than (X2 tab = 28.85). The study reveals the need for adopting proper prevention measures especially for the age group that is mostly affected by ocular trauma. Also more studies are needed to further investigate the effectiveness of the current ocular trauma prevenve or management strategies.Keywords : Paediatrics, Geriatrics, Trauma, injurie

Phytowaste as nutraceuticals in boosting public health

AbstractThe utilization of bioactive constituent of peels and seeds provide an effective, environment friendly and inexpensive therapy for different forms of human disease, and the production, improvement and documentation of novel nutraceuticals. This review systematically presents findings and further understanding of the reported benefits and therapeutic applications of peel and seed extracts on innovative cell culture and animal studies, as well as phased clinical human trial research. The extracts of seed and peels were reported to possess high quantities of bioactive substances with antioxidative, antidiabetic, hepatorenal protective, antithyroidal, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, cardiovascular protective, neuro-protective effects, anticancer and wound healing activities. Therapeutic activities of the bioactive substances of peel and seed extracts include elevation of Superoxide dismutase (SOD), GSH-Px, t-GPx, Catalase and GST activities, with the suppression of MDA levels, hydroperoxide generation and lipid peroxidized products, the extracts also regulate inflammatory mediators and cytokines as they are reported to suppress the secretion of inflammatory cytokines, which include; IL-1β, PGE2, TGF-β and TNF-α and induces apoptosis and cell differentiation. This review revealed the therapeutic importance and best utilization of peels and seed extracts of fruits and vegetables

A Right Atrial Hemangioma Mimicking Thrombus In A Patient With Atrial Arrhythmias

Cardiac hemangiomas are rare tumors, accounting for only 2.8% of all benign primary cardiac tumors and occur at any age. Clinical presentations vary depending on the tumor location (myocardial, endocardial or pericardial). In many cases, this may be an incidental finding. We report the case of a patient with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation who had a right atrial hemangioma detected with transesophageal echocardiography prior to having percutaneous pulmonary vein isolation performe

A potent antimalarial benzoxaborole targets a Plasmodium falciparum cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor homologue.

Benzoxaboroles are effective against bacterial, fungal and protozoan pathogens. We report potent activity of the benzoxaborole AN3661 against Plasmodium falciparum laboratory-adapted strains (mean IC50 32 nM), Ugandan field isolates (mean ex vivo IC50 64 nM), and murine P. berghei and P. falciparum infections (day 4 ED90 0.34 and 0.57 mg kg-1, respectively). Multiple P. falciparum lines selected in vitro for resistance to AN3661 harboured point mutations in pfcpsf3, which encodes a homologue of mammalian cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor subunit 3 (CPSF-73 or CPSF3). CRISPR-Cas9-mediated introduction of pfcpsf3 mutations into parental lines recapitulated AN3661 resistance. PfCPSF3 homology models placed these mutations in the active site, where AN3661 is predicted to bind. Transcripts for three trophozoite-expressed genes were lost in AN3661-treated trophozoites, which was not observed in parasites selected or engineered for AN3661 resistance. Our results identify the pre-mRNA processing factor PfCPSF3 as a promising antimalarial drug target

Using critical information to strengthen pandemic preparedness: the role of national public health agencies.

COVID-19 has demonstrated that most countries' public health systems and capacities are insufficiently prepared to prevent a localised infectious disease outbreak from spreading. Strengthening national preparedness requires National Public Health Institutes (NPHIs), or their equivalent, to overcome practical challenges affecting timely access to, and use of, data that is critical to preparedness. Our situational analysis in collaboration with NPHIs in three countries-Ethiopia, Nigeria and Pakistan-characterises these challenges. Our findings indicate that NPHIs' role necessitates collection and analysis of data from multiple sources that do not routinely share data with public health authorities. Since initiating requests for access to new data sources can be a lengthy process, it is essential that NPHIs are routinely monitoring a broad set of priority indicators that are selected to reflect the country-specific context. NPHIs must also have the authority to be able to request rapid sharing of data from public and private sector organisations during health emergencies and to access additional human and financial resources during disease outbreaks. Finally, timely, transparent and informative communication of synthesised data from NPHIs will facilitate sustained data sharing with NPHIs from external organisations. These actions identified by our analysis will support the availability of robust information systems that allow relevant data to be collected, shared and analysed by NPHIs sufficiently rapidly to inform a timely local response to infectious disease outbreaks in the future