AN EVALUATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VARIATIONS IN PROVISION OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND PAYMENT OF PROPERTY TAX IN IBADAN NORTH-EAST LOCAL GOVERNMENT, NIGERIA

The provision of Infrastructural facilities is the reponsibilty of any governemnt within any jurisdiction. The use of property tax to finance the provisions of infrastructure has been globally accepted. However, the problem is that where there is no known form of property taxation to apply, residents cannot determine the benefit derivable from the infrastructure provided. The research methodology therefore adopted System random sampling in  Ibadan North East Local Government to examine the 0.0035% of the resident population. Thus the occupier of the residential property within location formed the sample frame. The result presented in Tabular form indicated that while  about 58.6% of the population  reside in areas with low infrastructure , the existing form of property taxation has created social injustice  since similar amount is being paid across the locations inrespective of the level of infrastructure provided. The use of Improvement of land was therefore recommended as the basis for determining property tax.Keywords:  Property tax, Local Government, taxation, Infrastructure, System random sampling

MENA-SINO Consensus Statement on Implementing Care Pathways for Acute Neurovascular Emergencies During the COVID-19 Pandemic

In the unprecedented current era of the COVID-19 pandemic, challenges have arisen in the management and interventional care of patients with acute stroke and large vessel occlusion, aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, and ruptured vascular malformations. There are several challenges facing endovascular therapy for stroke, including shortages of medical staff who may be deployed for COVID-19 coverage or who may have contracted the infection and are thus quarantined, patients avoiding early medical care, a lack of personal protective equipment, delays in door-to-puncture time, anesthesia challenges, and a lack of high-intensity intensive care unit and stroke ward beds. As a leading regional neurovascular organization, the Middle East North Africa Stroke and Interventional Neurotherapies Organization (MENA-SINO) has established a task force composed of medical staff and physicians from different disciplines to establish guiding recommendations for the implementation of acute care pathways for various neurovascular emergencies during the current COVID-19 pandemic. This consensus recommendation was achieved through a series of meetings to finalize the recommendation. © Copyright © 2020 Al-Jehani, John, Hussain, Al Hashmi, Alhamid, Amr, Ozdemir, Shuaib, Alhazzani, Ghorbani, Mansour and Saqqur

A GIS based assessment of the relationship between housing conditions and rental value in government built housing Estates in Minna

Housing management decisions require consideration of location and space. There is a constant need for more technology and training in the industry and Geographic Information System (GIS) is not known to have been used in tackling the problems of housing conditions and related problems in Minna. This study examines the relationship between housing conditions and rental value of selected housing estates in Minna with the aid of GIS. Census sample technique was adopted where all the houses in the housing estates were sampled. Satellite images of M.I. Wushishi Housing Estate, Bosso Estate and Oduoye Housing Estate were geo-referenced and maps were produced for various analysis. Conventional geo-database was created for conditions of houses in the housing estates and from it geo-statistical analyses was carried out which produce kriging and spatial autocorrelation analysis. In addition, correlation analysis was used to analyse the impact of building conditions on rental value. It was found out among others that building conditions has weak relationship with rental values in the housing estates. It was therefore recommended amidst others that Geo-statistical tools should be an instrument for measuring and monitoring of residential property development

Predictors of Recurrent Ischemic Stroke in Patients with Embolic Strokes of Undetermined Source and Effects of Rivaroxaban Versus Aspirin According to Risk Status: The NAVIGATE ESUS Trial

Background: Embolic stroke of undetermined source (ESUS) identifies patients with cryptogenic ischemic stroke presumed due to embolism from several unidentified sources. Among patients with recent ESUS, we sought to determine independent predictors of recurrent ischemic stroke during treatment with aspirin or rivaroxaban and to assess the relative effects of these treatments according to risk. Methods: Exploratory analyses of 7213 participants in the NAVIGATE ESUS international trial who were randomized to aspirin 100 mg/day or rivaroxaban 15 mg/day and followed for a median of 11 months, during which time there were 309 first recurrent ischemic strokes (4.6% per year). Baseline features were correlated with recurrent stroke by multivariate analysis. Results: The 7 independent predictors of recurrent stroke were stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) prior to the qualifying stroke (hazard ratio [HR] 2.03 95% confidence internal [CI] 1.58-2.60), current tobacco user (HR 1.62, 95% CI 1.24-2.12), age (HR 1.02 per year increase, 95%CI 1.01-1.03), diabetes (HR 1.28, 95% CI 1.01-1.64), multiple acute infarcts on neuroimaging (HR 1.49, 95% CI 1.09-2.02), aspirin use prior to qualifying stroke (HR 1.34, 95% CI 1.02-1.70), and time from qualifying stroke to randomization (HR .98, 95% CI .97-.99). The rate of recurrent stroke rate was 2.6% per year for participants without any of these risk factors, and increased by an average of 45% for each independent predictor (P < .001). There were no significant interactions between treatment effects and independent stroke predictors or stroke risk status. Conclusions: In this large cohort of ESUS patients, several features including prior stroke or TIA, advanced age, current tobacco user, multiple acute infarcts on neuroimaging, and diabetes independently identified those with an increased risk of ischemic stroke recurrence. The relative effects of rivaroxaban and aspirin were similar across the spectrum of independent stroke predictors and recurrent stroke risk status. © 2019 Elsevier Inc

Global Impact of COVID-19 on Stroke Care and IV Thrombolysis

OBJECTIVE: To measure the global impact of COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of IV thrombolysis (IVT), IVT transfers, and stroke hospitalizations over 4 months at the height of the pandemic (March 1 to June 30, 2020) compared with 2 control 4-month periods. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional, observational, retrospective study across 6 continents, 70 countries, and 457 stroke centers. Diagnoses were identified by their ICD-10 codes or classifications in stroke databases. RESULTS: There were 91,373 stroke admissions in the 4 months immediately before compared to 80,894 admissions during the pandemic months, representing an 11.5% (95% confidence interval [CI] -11.7 to -11.3, p &lt; 0.0001) decline. There were 13,334 IVT therapies in the 4 months preceding compared to 11,570 procedures during the pandemic, representing a 13.2% (95% CI -13.8 to -12.7, p &lt; 0.0001) drop. Interfacility IVT transfers decreased from 1,337 to 1,178, or an 11.9% decrease (95% CI -13.7 to -10.3, p = 0.001). Recovery of stroke hospitalization volume (9.5%, 95% CI 9.2-9.8, p &lt; 0.0001) was noted over the 2 later (May, June) vs the 2 earlier (March, April) pandemic months. There was a 1.48% stroke rate across 119,967 COVID-19 hospitalizations. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection was noted in 3.3% (1,722/52,026) of all stroke admissions. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a global decline in the volume of stroke hospitalizations, IVT, and interfacility IVT transfers. Primary stroke centers and centers with higher COVID-19 inpatient volumes experienced steeper declines. Recovery of stroke hospitalization was noted in the later pandemic months. © 2021 American Academy of Neurology