An Assessment of Academic Database Subscription Management in Nigerian Tertiary Institutions: Challenges and Prospects

Research has remained a key expectation of universities all over the globe, and supporting the research effort of academics is a key goal of libraries. Most of the support services is shown by the availability of current information provided by journals and current research output. The paper is an overview of the concept, types of databases and vendors of popular databases, current practices and some identified bias in the subscription process in most universities in Nigeria. The methodology adopted for the study is a descriptive survey research with questionnaires used to solicit responses from participants using Google form. The paper also recommends effort in building local-based content but globally available databases to increase intellectual contribution to the body of knowledge. Government support in the area of curriculum and general standards to reduce bias towards local content. Consortium-managed subscription to international databases to reduce the cost burden on individual institutions and improve access to rich sources of informatio

Information Needs and Dissemination in Five Selected Rural Communities in Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State

The study investigated the information needs of rural dwellers and how information can be disseminated to five rural communities in Sagbama Local government Area of Bayelsa state. It discussed the concept of information need, information dissemination and rural communities. It also discusses the different information needs of rural dwellers. The survey research design was used for the study and six research questions were used as a guide for the study .Questionnaire and focus group discussion were used to gather data from the information providers and the rural dwellers. Most of their information needs were unmet due to ignorance, poverty, illiteracy and lack of information infrastructure , and major strategies of disseminating information to them were through advocacy, sensitization, and education. It concludes by stating that the government and its agencies should provide good information environment to the rural dwellers so that their information needs could be met

Expanding the Frontiers of School Librarianship Through Training of Personnel For Contemporary Challenges

The paper discusses the importance of school library media centres in education. It discusses the concept of school library media centres, concept of school Librarianship and goes further to discuss how personnel of school Libraries can be trained to run school library media centres, challenges faced and the way forward in overcoming these challenges. It concludes- by stating the importance of training personnel to run- school library media centres in Nigerian schools, and that school libraries should avail themselves of the new media so that a favorable reading culture can be developed in our schools.Keywords: Training, School library personnel, School library media centre

Paralyzed by the Dashboard Light: Environmental Characteristics and Firm's Scanning Capabilities in East Africa

Contains fulltext : 201786.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)29 januari 201

Enhanced infection prophylaxis reduces mortality in severely immunosuppressed HIV-infected adults and older children initiating antiretroviral therapy in Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe: the REALITY trial

Meeting abstract FRAB0101LB from 21st International AIDS Conference 18–22 July 2016, Durban, South Africa. Introduction: Mortality from infections is high in the first 6 months of antiretroviral therapy (ART) among HIV‐infected adults and children with advanced disease in sub‐Saharan Africa. Whether an enhanced package of infection prophylaxis at ART initiation would reduce mortality is unknown. Methods: The REALITY 2×2×2 factorial open‐label trial (ISRCTN43622374) randomized ART‐naïve HIV‐infected adults and children >5 years with CD4 <100 cells/mm3. This randomization compared initiating ART with enhanced prophylaxis (continuous cotrimoxazole plus 12 weeks isoniazid/pyridoxine (anti‐tuberculosis) and fluconazole (anti‐cryptococcal/candida), 5 days azithromycin (anti‐bacterial/protozoal) and single‐dose albendazole (anti‐helminth)), versus standard‐of‐care cotrimoxazole. Isoniazid/pyridoxine/cotrimoxazole was formulated as a scored fixed‐dose combination. Two other randomizations investigated 12‐week adjunctive raltegravir or supplementary food. The primary endpoint was 24‐week mortality. Results: 1805 eligible adults (n = 1733; 96.0%) and children/adolescents (n = 72; 4.0%) (median 36 years; 53.2% male) were randomized to enhanced (n = 906) or standard prophylaxis (n = 899) and followed for 48 weeks (3.8% loss‐to‐follow‐up). Median baseline CD4 was 36 cells/mm3 (IQR: 16–62) but 47.3% were WHO Stage 1/2. 80 (8.9%) enhanced versus 108(12.2%) standard prophylaxis died before 24 weeks (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 0.73 (95% CI: 0.54–0.97) p = 0.03; Figure 1) and 98(11.0%) versus 127(14.4%) respectively died before 48 weeks (aHR = 0.75 (0.58–0.98) p = 0.04), with no evidence of interaction with the two other randomizations (p > 0.8). Enhanced prophylaxis significantly reduced incidence of tuberculosis (p = 0.02), cryptococcal disease (p = 0.01), oral/oesophageal candidiasis (p = 0.02), deaths of unknown cause (p = 0.02) and (marginally) hospitalisations (p = 0.06) but not presumed severe bacterial infections (p = 0.38). Serious and grade 4 adverse events were marginally less common with enhanced prophylaxis (p = 0.06). CD4 increases and VL suppression were similar between groups (p > 0.2). Conclusions: Enhanced infection prophylaxis at ART initiation reduces early mortality by 25% among HIV‐infected adults and children with advanced disease. The pill burden did not adversely affect VL suppression. Policy makers should consider adopting and implementing this low‐cost broad infection prevention package which could save 3.3 lives for every 100 individuals treated