Perceptions of sexual behavior and knowledge on sexually transmitted infections among the undergraduate students of a university in north western Nigeria.

One of the greatest challenges that face Nigerians is the spread of Human Immunodefiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS). Sexually active youths in Nigeria are at high-risk of HIV infection. Many youths engaged in behaviors that place them at risk for HIV infections and other STIs. Objective: To determine the perceptions of sexual behavior and knowledge of STIs among undergraduate students of A.B.U Zaria. Method: A cross sectional descriptive study was carried out on undergraduate students of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria. A structured self administered questionnaire was used to collect data by systematic random sampling technique. Focus group discussions were also held. Data from questionnaires were analyzed by use of computer software, Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 16.0 and ones from focus group discussions by content analysis. Result: The mean age of respondents was 25.5yrs ( 5.4). Ratio of males to female respondents was 2:1. Three hundred and thirteen questionnaires were returned filled out of the 320 distributed giving response rate of 97.8 per cent. Most of the respondents 98.4 per cent knew about some of the causes of STIs by name. About 10.2 per cent actually had an experience of at least an STI while 8.0 per cent took treatment for it. However, discussants revealed that sexual intercourse among the students in ABU, Zaria was very rampant. Students had perception that some of their colleagues might have been infected with HIV or other STDs (89.5%) and some of them saw that as curse (15.0%). Protective measures taken against STIs included abstinence from sex (67.7%), cut down number of sex partners (19.2%), use condoms all the time and sometimes (26.2% and 5.4%, respectively), screened for HIV infection (22.0%), stopped patronizing barbing saloons that do not sterilize their instruments (36.7%), had been careful where to take injections (43.8%) etc. About 8.6 per cent practice casual sex for certain reasons as pleasure (6.4%), financial (2.2%). Conclusion: There is an urgent need to increase the proportion of the students in particular and public in general who have correct knowledge about STIs, promote, positive perceptions and behavior as well as skills to protect themselves adequately

Numerical simulations of drop collisions

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/76145/1/AIAA-1994-835-900.pd

Performance of Chickens under Semi-scavenging Conditions: A Case Study of Ilima and Lubanda Villages, Rungwe District, Tanzania

A study was conducted in Ilima and Lubanda villages, Ilima ward in Rungwe district to assess farmers' socio-economic status and determine the productivity of local chickens and their crosses under village management conditions. A cross sectional survey design using structured questionnaires was used to collect demographic, chicken production, production constraints and income data from 340 households. The 340 households were selected from the two villages out of 600 households which participated in the Vétérinaires Sans Frontières (VSF) funded project between 2006 and 2008. Each of the 340 households was given one Rhode Island Red (RIR) rooster or hen for crossbreeding with local chickens. Data were analyzed using a Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) computer software. Findings from the study showed that on the average, a household consisted of 5 people with mean age of 46.7 years and were mainly headed by males (77.8%), and that household’s main sources of income were crop farming (42.4%), livestock production (42.0%), business (21.1%), wages (7.8%) and carpentry (6.7%). Each household had a minimum of one cross breed and one local chicken and a maximum of 15 crosses and 15 local chickens at the beginning of the Project in 2006. As a result of project intervention, the number grew to a maximum of 20 crosses and 30 local  chickens per household. Monthly income obtained from chickens in the participating households was between 100/= and 90,000/= Tanzanian Shillings (TAS) with a mean of 11,777.55/= TAS. Chicken production constraints identified included diseases and parasites, unavailability of feeds during the dry season, theft, lack of chicken management skills, predators and lack of capital. An average of 16 chickens per household was lost per year due to diseases, predators, accidents, and theft. Diseases were the leading causes of chicken losses. About 71% of respondents vaccinated their chickens while 29.4% did not. Of the vaccines used, 98.2% were against Newcastle disease while 1.8% were against other diseases. Overall, the households which participated in the project benefited from it in terms of improved poultry management skills and income. It was recommended that farmers be further trained in improved chicken management practices including chicken immunization especially against Newcastle disease, prevention and treatment of parasitic diseases especially fleas as well as chicken house construction so as to avoid the risks of predators.Keywords: Chicken production and constraints, household, income, village management condition

Lipid profile of Type 2 Diabetes patients attending Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital Irrua, Edo State, Nigeria

This study investigated the lipid profile (LP) of type-2 diabetics and non-diabetic patients presenting at Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Edo State, Nigeria, with a view to assessing the risk of cardiovascular disease among the diabetics. Twenty (20) diabetic and 20 non-diabetic patients (control) formed the study population. Total cholesterol (TC), triacylglycerol (TG), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), and low density lipoproteincholesterol (LDL-C) were assayed for each group using standard biochemical methods, while the fasting blood glucose levels of the patients were assayed using the glucose oxidase method. The results showed higher mean TC and HDL-C levels among the diabetic patients than their non-diabetic counterparts and the observed differences were statistically significant (p<0.05). The mean glucose, TG, and LDL-C were equally higher among the diabetics than their non-diabetic counterparts, but in this instance, the differences were not statistically significant (P>0.05). Regardless of the high lipid profile levels among the diabetics, the values obtained fell within acceptable range; suggesting that the patients were responding to treatment or life style changes.Keywords: Lipid Profile, Type-2 Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease, Teaching Hospita

The role of anaesthetist in the management of patients due to insurgency in the North-eastern Nigeria.

The roles played by the team of Anaesthetists in the management of patients due to insurgency are enormous and very vital in the survival of the patients and indeed in the reduction of the possible morbidities and mortalities due to injuries from the insurgency. Objective: This study is aimed at giving an overview of the role of Anaesthetist in important areas of patient's management due to insurgency and to suggest ways of improvement. Method: This is a prospective study of 1,339 patients managed for various injuries sustained due to insurgency in the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria, for the period of five years (January, 2010 and December, 2014). Results: One thousand three and thirty nine (1,339) patients who were injured directly due to the insurgency were included in the study during the period under review. Their ages ranged from 1 month to 80 years with the mean age of 38.6±18.3 years. Most of the injuries occurred among the age group 18 - 35 years. Patients were resuscitated, had anaesthesia for surgeries and also had intensive care management. Conclusion: The roles played by the Anaesthetist are so vital in the survival of the patients due to insurgency. However, there is a need for an increase in the number of Anaesthesia manpower and for the training and re-training of these Anaesthetists in the management of mass casualties

Barriers and facilitators to human immunodeficiency virus sero-status disclosure in a tertiary health facility in Kano, Nigeria

Disclosure of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) sero-status to sexual partners, family and friends is essential in preventing HIV transmission. An array of benefits has been associated with disclosure; such as early referral to care and treatment, reduced stigma and increased social support. Objectives: We determined the prevalence, barriers and facilitators to HIV sero-status disclosure among clients attending the Antiretroviral (ARV) clinic in AminuKano-Teaching Hospital, Kano. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 231 HIV positive patients attending ARV clinic at AKTH using a systematic sampling technique. Interviewer-administered semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain respondent's socio-demographic characteristics, disclosure status, barriers and facilitators of HIV sero-status disclosure. We conducted univariate, bivariate and multivariate analysis using SPSS version 22, and a p- value ≤0.05 was considered as the level of significance. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 35 ± 8.64 years with a male to female sex distribution of 53% to 47 % respectively. Majority were not married (74.0%) and two thirds (67%) were Muslims. This study found that 60% of the respondents had disclosed their HIV sero-status and 97% of them had done so voluntarily. The fear of divorce/neglect (p<0.01, aOR=0.017, 95% CI=0.02-0.15) and fear of stigma (p<0.01, aOR=0.03, 95% CI= 0.00-0.03) were found as barriers to HIV sero-status disclosure. Financial difficulties (p<0.01, aOR=3.03, 95% CI=1.16-5.61) and the need for improved access to necessary medical care (p=0.04, aOR=6.52, 95% CI=1.85-23.15) were found to facilitate HIV sero status disclosure. Conclusion: The study found a low HIV sero-status disclosure in Kano. Disclosure being major recommendation by World Health Organisation and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention requires strengthening during patients counselling and education sessions

Enhanced 99Tc retention in glass waste form using Tc(IV)-incorporated Fe minerals

Technetium (99Tc) immobilization by doping into iron oxide mineral phases may alleviate the problems with Tc volatility during vitrification of nuclear waste. Because reduced Tc, Tc(IV), substitutes for Fe(III) in the crystal structure by a process of Tc reduction from Tc(VII) to Tc(IV) followed by co-precipitation of Fe oxide minerals, two Tc-incorporated Fe minerals (Tc-goethite and Tc-magnetite/maghemite) were prepared and tested for Tc retention in glass melt samples at temperatures between 600 and 1000 °C. After being cooled, the solid glass specimens prepared at different temperatures at 600, 800, and 1000 °C were analyzed for Tc oxidation state using Tc K-edge XANES. In most samples, Tc was partially (<60%) oxidized from Tc(IV) to Tc(VII) as the melt temperature increased up to 600 °C. However, most of Tc(IV) was completely (>95%) oxidized to Tc(VII) at temperature above 800 °C. Tc retention in glass melt samples prepared using Tc-incorporated Fe minerals were slightly higher (∼10%) than in glass prepared using KTcO4 because of limited and delayed Tc volatilization

Information-Theoretic Secret-Key Agreement: The Asymptotically Tight Relation Between the Secret-Key Rate and the Channel Quality Ratio

Information-theoretically secure secret-key agreement between two parties Alice and Bob is a well-studied problem that is provably impossible in a plain model with public (authenticated) communication, but is known to be possible in a model where the parties also have access to some correlated randomness. One particular type of such correlated randomness is the so-called satellite setting, where a source of uniform random bits (e.g., sent by a satellite) is received by the parties and the adversary Eve over inherently noisy channels. The antenna size determines the error probability, and the antenna is the adversary\u27s limiting resource much as computing power is the limiting resource in traditional complexity-based security. The natural assumption about the adversary is that her antenna is at most $Q$ times larger than both Alice\u27s and Bob\u27s antenna, where, to be realistic, $Q$ can be very large. The goal of this paper is to characterize the secret-key rate per transmitted bit in terms of $Q$. Traditional results in this so-called satellite setting are phrased in terms of the error probabilities $\epsilon_A$, $\epsilon_B$, and $\epsilon_E$, of the binary symmetric channels through which the parties receive the bits and, quite surprisingly, the secret-key rate has been shown to be strictly positive unless Eve\u27s channel is perfect ($\epsilon_E=0$) or either Alice\u27s or Bob\u27s channel output is independent of the transmitted bit (i.e., $\epsilon_A=0.5$ or $\epsilon_B=0.5$). However, the best proven lower bound, if interpreted in terms of the channel quality ratio $Q$, is only exponentially small in $Q$. The main result of this paper is that the secret-key rate decreases asymptotically only like $1/Q^2$ if the per-bit signal energy, affecting the quality of all channels, is treated as a system parameter that can be optimized. Moreover, this bound is tight if Alice and Bob have the same antenna sizes. Motivated by considering a fixed sending signal power, in which case the per-bit energy is inversely proportional to the bit-rate, we also propose a definition of the secret-key rate per second (rather than per transmitted bit) and prove that it decreases asymptotically only like $1/Q$

Negative phenotypic and genetic associations between copulation duration and longevity in male seed beetles

Reproduction can be costly and is predicted to trade-off against other characters. However, while these trade-offs are well documented for females, there has been less focus on aspects of male reproduction. Furthermore, those studies that have looked at males typically only investigate phenotypic associations, with the underlying genetics often ignored. Here, we report on phenotypic and genetic trade-offs in male reproductive effort in the seed beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus. We find that the duration of a male's first copulation is negatively associated with subsequent male survival, phenotypically and genetically. Our results are consistent with life-history theory and suggest that like females, males trade-off reproductive effort against longevity

Genetic determinants of co-accessible chromatin regions in activated T cells across humans.

Over 90% of genetic variants associated with complex human traits map to non-coding regions, but little is understood about how they modulate gene regulation in health and disease. One possible mechanism is that genetic variants affect the activity of one or more cis-regulatory elements leading to gene expression variation in specific cell types. To identify such cases, we analyzed ATAC-seq and RNA-seq profiles from stimulated primary CD4+ T cells in up to 105 healthy donors. We found that regions of accessible chromatin (ATAC-peaks) are co-accessible at kilobase and megabase resolution, consistent with the three-dimensional chromatin organization measured by in situ Hi-C in T cells. Fifteen percent of genetic variants located within ATAC-peaks affected the accessibility of the corresponding peak (local-ATAC-QTLs). Local-ATAC-QTLs have the largest effects on co-accessible peaks, are associated with gene expression and are enriched for autoimmune disease variants. Our results provide insights into how natural genetic variants modulate cis-regulatory elements, in isolation or in concert, to influence gene expression