Bilateral septic arthritis of the knee in a seven-year old sickle cell disease patient: a case report

Background: Septic arthritis is an inflammatory process in the joints associated with isolation of pathogens or a positive Gram stain of the synovial fluid. It is a disease condition with significant complications such as joint destruction and immobility. Individual cases are difficult to manage and frequently necessitate prolonged courses of antibiotics.Aim: The aim of the study was to present our findings with the view towards improving treatment outcomes in similar clinical scenarios.Findings: Septic arthritis in the index patient developed insidiously and was diagnosed after multiple arthrocentesis were performed. It was bilateral and associated with recurrent bouts of fever, joint tenderness reduced mobility and swelling. The predisposing factor in the index patient, a seven year old male was sickle cell disease. Multiple antimicrobial regimens were instituted in the patient with unsatisfactory results. Initial treatment regimens did not appear to be based on bacteriological statistics which resulted in prolonged hospital stay. Culture of the synovial fluid was initially onto brain heart infusion both and subsequently subcultured onto chocolate and MacConkey agar. The isolate recovered was Serratia rubideae which was identified using the Microbact 12A kit. Susceptibility studies showed the isolate to be susceptible to only meropenem. The patient was subsequently placed on meropenem for forty two days and recovered with radiologic and clinical evidence of improvement and thereafter discharged home.Conclusion: Close collaboration between the orthopedic surgeon and microbiologist will help to improve treatment outcomes. The Microbact12A kit is recommended in the routine identification of gram negative pathogens.Keywords: Septic arthritis, sickle cell disease, meropenem, microbact, arthrocentesis, Serratia rubidea

Strategies for improving woodwork practical projects in tertiary institutions in Lagos State, Nigeria

The study determined the strategies for improving woodwork practical projects in tertiary institutions in Lagos State, Nigeria. Three research questions guided the study. The study adopted a survey research design. The study was in four tertiary institutions offering woodwork technology education in Ojo and Yaba Local Government Areas of Lagos State. The population for the study was 112 respondents, made up of 12 woodwork facilitators, 7 technicians and 93 students from the study areas. No sampling was done, since the population is manageable. A 46-item self-structured instrument title: Strategies for Improving Woodwork Practical Projects Questionnaire (SIWPPQ) was used for the study. The SIWPPQ was face validated by three experts. A reliability co-efficient of 0.83 was obtained using Cronbach Alpha analysis to determine the internal constituency of the SIWPPQ items. The SIWPPQ was administered to all 112 respondents. Data collected were analyzed using Means and Standard Deviation. The findings revealed 13 items on how motivation of students, 16 items on how instructional facilities and 17 items on how appropriate teaching techniques can improve woodwork practical projects. It recommends that guest speakers/entrepreneurs should be invited to motivate students about the benefits practical projects experiences for employability and Computer Aided Instruction (CAI) technique should be employed to improve students‟ Computer Aided Design and Drafting (CADD) skills for self-employment on graduation from tertiary institutions

The role of middlemen in the marketing of smoked fish in Doron Baga Fish Market, Borno State

This paper examines the role of middlemen in the marketing of smoked fish in Doron Baga fish market of Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State. Data were obtained from 200 respondents using stratified random sampling technique, with the aid of structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistical tools. Secondary sources of information were also gathered from research papers, reports and journals. The study revealed that, there are two types of middlemen in the Doron Baga fish market: selling brokers (Dillali) accounting for 75% and buying brokers (Yan acha) 25%. The role played by the selling brokers includes selling for the fishermen with commission, lending money to fishermen and providing security for the unsold fish. Buying brokers assist those that want to buy fish while the buyer gives them little amount of money as commission. Brokers get more clients when the fish during periods of maximum catch. The problems the middlemen face are failure of the fishermen to pay back the money borrowed from the selling brokers while buyers hardly trust the buying brokers

Qualities of an Ideal Language Teacher: A Gender-Based Investigation

Teachers influence to a large extent, the attitudes learners of a language have towards a target language. The question is thus asked, What do the language students want to see in their teachers?, what personality traits and professional qualities would endear teachers of languages to the their students? and how would these qualities be determined or influenced by the gender of selected respondents?. This study aims at identifying the qualities of an ideal language teacher as perceived by language undergraduates students at the Lagos State University. Selected respondents answered to a 42-item Likert-scale questionnaire concerning their perceived notion of qualities or personality traits of a successful language teacher. Independent sample t-test was used to calculate and identify any gender-based differences. Recommendations was made along the need to enhance the inherent personality traits and professional qualities of language teachers, explore the optimum potentials in order to maximize students language learning potentials

The profile of tuberculosis infection at the Babcock University Teaching Hospital

Background: Tuberculosis is the leading cause of death from any single pathogen and it has consistently continued to be a major public health challenge globally. Data show that Nigeria ranks tenth among the 22 high tuberculosis burden countries.Aim: This study intends to describe the profile of tuberculosis infections in Babcock University Teaching Hospital.Methods: This was a retrospective cross sectional study of patients presenting to the Tuberculosis Laboratory of Babcock University Teaching Hospital.Results: Patients presenting to BUTH were 2.29 times more likely to have a positive AFB sputum smear result when compared to samples from Primary Health Care Centers – P = 0.05, χ2 = 3.83, O.R = 2.29, R.R = 1.17, CI = 1.0 – 5.34. Patients presenting to BUTH were more likely to be HIV positive when compared to those from PHC’s p = 0.00, χ2 = 24.74, df = 2.Conclusion: The burden of tuberculosis is still high in our environment and challenges in its rapid and accurate diagnosis still remain. In order to strengthen tuberculosis control, attention needs to be placed on rapid diagnosis and prompt treatment.Keywords: Tuberculosis, HIV, Primary Healthcare Centre, Ziehl Neelson stain, Directly Observed Treatment Short Course, pathoge

Development of a Power-harnessing Smart Shoe System with Outdoor Navigation

The Internet of Things (IoT) and the world of Smart Systems are ushering in an era where people, machines, devices (e.g. sensors) and processes are all interconnected and able to interact seamlessly with one another. Business and IT leaders predict they will see an increase of more than one-third (33%) in revenues from the use of smart technologies over the next five years. Smart system is the future of technology with so many different applications to it. We present in this project a system developed for a more convenient outdoor navigation. It involves the development of a power harnessing smart shoe to aid navigation and reduce the dependency of individuals on maps i.e. the need to constantly look at the maps for direction rather than focusing on the road. The project uses the Arduino UNO microcontroller as the brain box of the designed system. The microcontroller was programed to achieve the various tasks needed in this project. The smart shoe is fitted with piezo-electric crystals which are pressure sensors generating the power required for the system, a Bluetooth module to interface with the mobile application which was programmed specifically for the shoe, and also vibrator motors which act as the output signal that is felt by the user to help inform them which way to turn. This project proffers solutions to the setbacks in navigation of the user with accuracy and focus

Utilization of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) among building technology education entrepreneurs for Sustainable Development (SD)

The study determined the extent of utilization of information and communication technology (ICT) among building technology education entrepreneurs for sustainable development (SD) in Lagos State. The design employed was the survey research with a population of 402 entrepreneurs, made up of 168 entrepreneurs with less than five years experience and 234 entrepreneurs with over five years. No sampling was made because of the relative size of the population, as the study was targeted at self employed building technology education graduates. The study was guided by four research questions and four hypotheses respectively. Validated instrument with 0.8 reliability coefficient was obtained using cronbach alpha to obtain data. Mean, Standard Deviation statistics and t-test were employed for the data analysis. The findings of the study revealed that to a high extent, the building technology education entrepreneurs utilize ICT to enhance marketing of goods and services; for accounting and financial records; and entrepreneurship knowledge acquisition. It was also concluded that entrepreneurs experience barriers to the utilization of ICT among them. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that building technology education entrepreneurs with over five years experience should undergo ICT training to improve their ICT skills and also avail themselves to the use of ICT to acquire information on entrepreneurship in other to grow their business better and faster.Keywords: Utilization, ICT, Building Technology Education, Entrepreneur, Sustainable Developmen

Lessons on small towns water and sanitation reforms in Jigawa state, Nigeria

The paper attempts to discuss the Jigawa state’s attempt at implementing its WASH (Water Supply Sanitation and Hygiene) policy on small towns which had led to not only improvement in access to water and sanitation but had empowered communities to take strategic decisions on options and tariff which ordinarily would have been impossible due to political pressure. The challenges of implementation include dealing with a large number of small towns (about 400 WCAs (Water Consumers Associations)) and strengthening the WCAs to move from the nurturing state to self reliance. Donor agencies have played proactive roles in supporting the small town reforms. One lesson is that for access in water and sanitation to be improved, policies need to focus more on small towns but these communities will need to be nurtured to address cost recovery and supported through structures at state level like STOWA (Small Towns Water Supply and Sanitation Agency) in Jigawa state and at Local Government levels like the proposed Local Government WASH departments.. The next step of whether the WCAs can delegate responsibility of water supply operation to local private operators, remains to be seen

The etiology and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of urinary tract infections at a private Nigerian teaching hospital in South West Nigeria

Background: Urinary tract infections (UTI’s) are among the commonest bacterial infectious disease in clinical practice with a wide range of etiologic agents. It frequently occurs in both the hospital and the community.Aims/Objectives: To determine the etiology of UTI at BUTH and obtain data on their susceptibility and resistance patterns.Methods: This was a prospective analysis of data on patients with UTI obtained from in and outpatients over a six month period. Samples had been obtained by clean catch mid-stream urine or suprapubic aspiration. The organisms had beenidentified by biochemical methods with susceptibility and resistance testing performed. Data analysis was with EPI-INFO version 3.5.1Results: There were a total of 200 urine samples that had positive growth. Prevalent organisms were Escherichia coli (48%) and Klebsiella spp (24%), followed by Staphylococcus aureus (10%) and Coagulase Negative Staphylococci (6.5%). The risk factors for UTI were female gender (p = 0.00), Diabetes mellitus (p = 0.03) and genitourinary surgery (p = 0.04). Effective antibiotics in-vitro to Escherichia coli were Nitrofurantoin and Cefepime at 84.8% and 92.3% respectively; while Cotrimoxazole performed poorly (32.5% susceptibility).Conclusion: Urinary tract infections are an important cause of morbidity in our environment and inaccuracies in diagnosis will prolong morbidity and may lead to costly and unsafe treatments.The prevalent pathogens in our environment are the Gram negative bacilli, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoneae. Nitrofurantoin retains efficacy to both urinary pathogens.Keywords: Urinary Tract Infection, Catheterization, Escherichia coli, Risk factors, Nitrofurantoi

Effect of socio-economic characteristics of greenhouse farmers on vegetable production in Ogun state, Nigeria

In Nigeria, vegetable production is adversely affected by climate change, pest and diseases attack and unfavourably environmental condition which have made resourceful farmers and government to embark on vegetable production under greenhouse technology. Hence, this study was conducted to assess socio-economic importance of greenhouse technology for sustainable vegetable production in Ogun State, Nigeria. One hundred and twenty (120) vegetable farmers were purposively selected for this study while descriptive statistics and chi-square analysis were used for the data analysis. The results showed that the respondents were 32 – 40 years of age; predominantly male (90.8%), and had formal education (28.3%). Socio-economic importance of greenhouse technology includes increased yield (94.3%), available supplies all the year round (85.7%), cluster marketing formation (72.9%), higher income generation (75.7%), and rural development (91.4%). Paradoxically, greenhouse vegetable production has not been widely spread due to difficult to establish it by individuals and high cost of construction (98.3%); it is too expensive for the low peasant vegetable farmers (86.7%); and awareness of greenhouse vegetable is low in the public markets (85.8%). So also, chi-square results showed that significant relationship existed between the major limitations and socio-economic importance of greenhouse technology at p < 0.05 level of significance. This study recommends that cost of raw materials for constructing greenhouse should be subsidized by the Federal Government of Nigeria while wealthy individuals, farmers’ groups and cooperative societies should invest in greenhouse technology for large scale vegetable farming.Keywords: socio-economic, importance, vegetable, greenhouse, technolog