Medical ethics in sub-Sahara Africa: closing the gaps.

Background: Health care providers are expected to have the skills and knowledge relevant to their field and should also be familiar with the ethical and legal expectations that arise out of the standard practices.Objectives: To elucidate the practice of the health care providers in relation to healthcare ethics in Nigeria.Methods: A self-administered structured questionnaire was devised and distributed to staff of two tertiary health care facilities in Northern Nigeria. The questionnaire comprised of detailed questions regarding day-to-day aspects of Medical ethical issues.Results: A total of 307(76.2% ) out of 403 health care providers responded to the questionnaire. The median age of the respondents was 34 years. More than half 168(54.7%) of the respondents disagreed as to whether “Ethical conduct is important only to avoid legal action. Many respondents 135 (44.0%) agreed to adhering to “patient’s wishes”, on the other hand over two-third of the respondents 211 (68.7%) agreed that “doctor should do what is best” irrespective of the patient’s opinion. There were significant differences (p<0.05) between the perception of physicians and non-physicians on many ethical issues.Conclusion: This study has shown gap in knowledge and practice of healthcare ethics among health care providers. There is a need for periodic education on clinical ethics in our hospitals.Keywords: Medical ethics, sub-Sahara Africa

Congenital Toxoplasmosis: A Review of its Pathology, Immune Response and Current Treatment Options.

Toxoplasmosis, caused by the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii, is one of the most common parasites of man and other warm-blooded animals. Humans are infected through contaminated food, water, and blood transfusion, organ transplantation or from mother to foetus through the placenta. Severe congenital infections occur as a result of primary T. gondii infection in early pregnancy. Transmission of T.gondii to the foetus can result in serious health problems, including mental retardation, seizures, blindness and death. Frequency of foetal infection is higher when maternal infection occurs later in pregnancy and sequelae are more severe when maternal infections occur early in the first trimester of pregnancy. The ability of the parasite to survive intracellularly largely depends on the blocking of different proapoptotic signaling cascades of the host cells. During pregnancy, however, alterations in the incidence of apoptosis are associated with abnormal placental morphology and function. Both cellular and humoral immune responses control T.gondii infection. Toxoplasma is asymptomatic, infected women can only be detected by serological testing. In many instances, congenital toxoplasmosis can be prevented by educating pregnant women and women of childbearing age about the route of transmission. The need for screening suspected cases of T. gondii will help reduce transmission to the foetus. Keywords: Toxoplasmosis, Congenital toxoplasmosis, Toxoplasmosis and immunosuppression. Toxoplasma gondii

Computational Biology and Bioinformatics in Nigeria

Over the past few decades, major advances in the field of molecular biology, coupled with advances in genomic technologies, have led to an explosive growth in the biological data generated by the scientific community. The critical need to process and analyze such a deluge of data and turn it into useful knowledge has caused bioinformatics to gain prominence and importance. Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary research area that applies techniques, methodologies, and tools in computer and information science to solve biological problems. In Nigeria, bioinformatics has recently played a vital role in the advancement of biological sciences. As a developing country, the importance of bioinformatics is rapidly gaining acceptance, and bioinformatics groups comprised of biologists, computer scientists, and computer engineers are being constituted at Nigerian universities and research institutes. In this article, we present an overview of bioinformatics education and research in Nigeria. We also discuss professional societies and academic and research institutions that play central roles in advancing the discipline in Nigeria. Finally, we propose strategies that can bolster bioinformatics education and support from policy makers in Nigeria, with potential positive implications for other developing countries. © 2014 Fatumo et al.SAF was supported by H3ABioNet NABDA Node, Abuja, Nigeria with NIH Common Fund Award/NHGRI Grant Number U41HG006941 and Genetic Epidemiology Group at Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.Published versio

Sports sponsorship in Nigeria - a preliminary study

No Abstract. African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance Vol. 12 (3) 2006: 335-33

Commercial advertisement and cigarette smoking: A qualitative analysis of perceptions of students in selected Nigerian University

No Abstract

Commercial advertisement and cigarette smoking: A qualitative analysis of perceptions of students in selected Nigerian University

No Abstract

Effect of an acidifier as replacement for antibiotics on the performance and gut morphology of broilers

An experiment was conducted to determine the influence of an acidifier as an alternative to antibiotics on the performance and gut morphology of broiler chickens. One hundred and eighty (180) 7-day old broiler chicks were randomly assigned to 3 dietary treatments of 4 replicates each. Each replicate had 15 birds. The diets fed to the birds were: Treatment 1- diet with neither antibiotic nor acidifier; Treatment 2- diet with antibiotic and Treatment 3- diet with acidifier. The antibiotic used was Enrofloxacin which was administered to the birds on Treatment 2 via their drinking water while the acidifier used was Biotronic SE (a combination of propionic and formic acids) which was added to the diet of birds on Treatment 3 at the rate of 4kg/tonne of feed. The experiment lasted 42 days. No significant differences were observed in the feed intake, final weight and weight gain of the birds on the different diets. Significant differences were however observed in the villus height in the duodenum and ileum of the birds. The crypt depth values in the different segments of the small intestines of the birds were not significantly affected by the different treatments.Key words: Organic acids, Biotronic SE, Enrofloxacin, Crypt, villus

Estimated burden of fungal infections in Germany

In the late 1980's, the incidence of invasive fungal diseases (IFDs) in Germany was estimated with 36.000 IFDs per year. The current number of fungal infections (FI) occurring each year in Germany is still not known. In the actual analysis, data on incidence of fungal infections in various patients groups at risk for FI were calculated and mostly estimated from various (mostly national) resources. According to the very heterogenous data resources robust data or statistics could not be obtained but preliminary estimations could be made and compared with data from other areas in the world using a deterministic model that has consistently been applied in many countries by the LIFE program ( www.LIFE-worldwide.org). In 2012, of the 80.52 million population (adults 64.47 million; 41.14 million female, 39.38 million male), 20% are children (0-14 years) and 16% of population are ≥65 years old. Using local data and literature estimates of the incidence or prevalence of fungal infections, about 9.6 million (12%) people in Germany suffer from a fungal infection each year. These figures are dominated (95%) by fungal skin disease and recurrent vulvo-vaginal candidosis. In general, considerable uncertainty surrounds the total numbers because IFDs do not belong to the list of reportable infectious diseases in Germany and most patients were not hospitalised because of the IFD but a distinct underlying disease