The practice of hepatocellular cancer surveillance in Nigeria

Background: Hepatocellular cancer is a disease of global and public health importance due to the widespread distribution of risk factors and associated high case fatality. Hepatocellular Cancer (HCC) in Sub-Saharan Africa is commonly seen among the younger age groups (<45 years) who present mostly in the terminal stage, when the disease is not amenable to any curative therapy. Hepatocellular Carcinoma surveillance employs the use of simple, cheap and readily available investigations, to detect early curable cancer in individuals with risk factors for HCC.Objectives:The aim of this study is to assess the practice of hepatocellular cancer screening among physicians.Methodolgy:This is a nationwide online survey carried out among physicians who care for patients with HCC. A questionnaire was sent out via a web link to all consenting doctors in Nigeria. The responses were collated in a cloud-based application and data was analysed using Epi-info version 20.Results:Atotal of 218 respondents, 142 were males (65.1 %) with a mean age of 37.6 ± 5.7 years. The modal age group was 31-40 years 153 (69.5%). The main factors considered as a hindrance to surveillance were; the cost of the tests (57.7%), failure of return of patients (50.5%) and not being aware of a surveillance program (45.2 %). The majority of the respondents were Gastroenterologists and Family Physicians. 54% of the gastroenterologists and 64% of the family physicians have never offered HCC surveillance to their patients.Conclusion:This survey highlights a knowledge gap in HCC surveillance among physicians. There is a need to make HCCsurveillance a daily routine among patients at risk by all physicians. Keywords: Surveillance, Hepatocellular Carcinoma, HBV, HCV, Cancer screening

Fly ash: An alternative to powdered activated carbon for the removal of eosin dye from aqueous solutions

This paper reports the use of powdered activated carbon (PAC) and raw coal fly ash (RFA) in the removal of eosin dye from aqueous solution in batch processes. Operational parameters such as contact time, initial dye concentration, pH and temperature were investigated. Adsorption equilibrium was established in 120 min for the two adsorbents. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms were used to fit the adsorption data. Langmuir model gave the best fit in both cases. The adsorption capacities of PAC and RFA were found to be 62.28 mg/g and 43.48 mg/g, respectively. The highest percentage of eosin dye removal for both PAC (98%) and RFA (90%) was observed at pH 2. Pseudo first-order and pseudo second-order kinetic models were used to fit the adsorption data. Pseudo second-order kinetic model gave the best description of the adsorption of eosin dye onto the two adsorbents. Thermodynamic parameters, ΔH⁰, ΔS⁰ and ΔG⁰ confirmed the physical nature, spontaneity and the endothermic nature of the adsorption process. A regeneration technique and a process calculation for evaluating the adsorbent dose required were carried out. This study has shown that RFA is a good alternative adsorbent in the removal of eosin dye from aqueous solution