In vivo comparative study of ocular vasodilation, a relative indicator of hyperemia, in guinea pigs following treatment with bimatoprost ophthalmic solutions 0.01% and 0.03%

Abayomi B Ogundele, David Earnest, Marsha A McLaughlinAlcon Research, Limited, Fort Worth, TX, USAObjective: The objective of this in vivo study was to compare the incidence of vasodilation in guinea pigs following topical administration of bimatoprost ophthalmic solutions 0.01% and 0.03%.Methods: The study comprised 20 guinea pigs assigned to 2 treatment groups (10 per treatment group) to receive either bimatoprost 0.01% or bimatoprost 0.03%. Animals were hand-held under 2.75 × magnification to score ocular vasodilation (a measure of hyperemia), using a scoring system developed at Alcon Research, Ltd. Following baseline ocular scoring, each animal received a 30 μL dose to the left eye of either bimatoprost 0.01% (3 μg) or bimatoprost 0.03% (9 μg). Vasodilation was again scored at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 hours after dosing. Incidence of vasodilation was calculated as the percent of total eyes in each 2-hour time interval with scores ≥2.Results: The incidence of vasodilation was higher in the bimatoprost 0.01% treatment group (range, 45.0% to 60.0%) than the bimatoprost 0.03% treatment group (range, 30.0% to 52.2%) at all post-dosing time points.Conclusion: The 2 bimatoprost formulations elicited ocular vasodilation of long duration (>6 hours) in the guinea pig model, with the bimatoprost 0.01% treatment group showing a higher incidence of ocular vasodilation than the bimatoprost 0.03% treatment group. Further clinical studies would be needed to determine whether the higher incidence of vasodilation may also be attributed to the increased BAK concentration in the bimatoprost 0.01% formulation.Keywords: bitamoprost, ocular vasodilation, hyperemi

ASSESSMENT OF GRAIN STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES FOR EFFECTIVE MARKETING IN SUSTAINING FOOD SECURITY PROGRAMME BY TRADERS IN SOUTHWEST NIGERIA

Nigerian Food Security Programme is centred on three-tier grain storage with active participation of traders in storage of 85% of grain requirements through the On-Farm Storage Programme. The study assessed grain storage technologies to determine suitable ones for storage and marketing by traders in Southwest Nigeria. A pre-data survey of recommended grain storage technologies was followed by multi- stage sampling of Oyo, Ondo and Ogun States for 120 rural and urban traders. Data were analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics at p = 0.05. Traders preferred recommended storage technologies except silo. Only sacks were preferred out of the indigenous storage technologies. Technology attributes and communication factors are essential for use of recommended storage technologies. There is no significant relationship between age (r = 0.86), income (r = 0.78) and use of recommended storage technologies while quantity of grains stored (r = 0.94), years of experience in grain storage (r = 0.93) and educational status (X2 = 9.51) were significantly related.  Rural and urban traders were not significantly different in their levels of use of recommended grain storage technologies (tc = 0.20). Traders’ storage extension through the use of various channels of communication, trainings and adult education programme were recommended. Key words: Recommended technologies, indigenous technologies, determinants, use

Effects of Farmers’ Demographic Factors on the Adoption of Grain Storage Technologies Developed by Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI): A case study of selected villages in Ilorin West LGA of Kwara State.

This study was carried out to identify the factors that determine farmers’ adoption of NSPRI grain storage technologies in selected villages of Ilorin West Local Government Area of Kwara State. Data used were collected from a total of 120 respondents who were randomly selected from 6 villages of the Local Government Area. 10% of all the farmers in each of the villages were interviewed. The variables examined in the study are sex, age, marital status, primary occupation, secondary occupation, level of education, number of dependents, years of farming, farm size, years of grain production, means of farm land acquisition and types of grain produced. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression model were used to analyze data. The inferential statistical tool used indicated significant relationship between sex and NSPRI grain storage technologies’ adoption.  Level of education and occupation were also significantly related to adoption of NSPRI grains storage technologies. This study recommends a wholesome dissemination model that will benefit both educated and uneducated farmer and also the involvement of farmers’ group or representatives in participatory approach of technology development, introduction and use. Keywords: Education, farming, occupation, participatory development, logit regression model

Corporate environmental accountability in Nigeria: An example of regulatory failure and regulatory capture.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how state regulations become ineffective in holding corporations accountable for environmental degradation in an emerging economy context, with a specific focus on oil and gas and cement industry in Nigeria Design Methodology: The study draws on capture theory to bring out the factors that have rendered redundant the state intervention to make corporations accountable for their environmental activities. The research setting is the oil and gas and cement industry in Nigeria. Data for the study are derived from both documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews and analysed using a thematic technique. Findings: The findings of the paper demonstrate a regulatory failure to hold corporations to account for their environmental activities. A lack of political will, outdated regulations and the manipulation of the regulators, all have played a part in preventing corporations from being accountable for their activities. In addition, the widespread elite corruption in the country has provided corporations with leeway to manipulate their environmental accountability practices. The study emphasises the need for continuous review of the regulations and efforts to reduce corruption in order to promote corporations' environmental accountability in Nigeria. Originality value: The study adds to the debate on corporate environmental accountability practices engendering insights from the Nigerian oil and gas and cement industry. The paper demonstrates how companies in emerging economies can capture state regulations and how rendering environmental accountability becomes more of a rhetoric than a reality with little impacts on the welfare of people and society

Financial Liberalization and Economic Growth in Nigeria (1986-2018)

Several studies have emerged since the work of McKinnon and Shaw (1973) on the relationship between financial liberalization and economic growth. However, there are still dearth of literature in respect to the proxies employed for financial liberalization. As a result, this study investigated the effect of financial liberalization on economic growth in Nigeria covering a period of 33years spanning 1986 to 2018. Adopting McKinnon and Shaw hypothesis as the theoretical framework, economic growth was represented by gross domestic product (GDP), financial liberalization was represented by prime lending rate, saving deposit rate, exchange rate, credit to private sector and ratio of private investment to GDP. Data were sourced from CBN Statistical Bulletin and estimation done using auto regressive distributed lag. The study found that, financial liberalization has long and short run relationship with economic growth. Further findings also showed that prime lending rate had insignificant positive and credit to private sector had significant positive effects on economic growth. On the other hand, savings deposit rate, exchange rate and ratio of private investment to GDP have insignificant negative effects on economic growth. The study concluded that, financial liberalization has significant positive effect on economic growth with overriding effect from credit to private sector. Therefore, the study recommended among others that, government through the Central Bank of Nigeria should review the saving deposit rate upward in order to encourage increase of domestic savings by surplus sector of the economy. More importantly, policies that will encourage private sector investment should be looked into by government so as to further stimulate economic growth in Nigeria

Data Mining in Health Care Sector: Literature Notes

© 2019 ACM. A standout amongst the most essential strides of the knowledge discovery in database KDD is data mining. Data mining is defined as a basic advance during the time spent learning discovery in databases in which understanding strategies are utilized in order to pattern discovery. Due to the huge amount of data available within the healthcare systems, data mining is important for the healthcare sector in the clinical and diagnosis diseases. However, data mining and healthcare organizations have developed some of dependable early discovery frameworks and different healthcare related frameworks from the clinical treatment and analysis information. The main motivation of this paper is to give a survey of data extraction in health care. In addition, the benefits and obstacles of the use of data extraction strategies in health care and therapeutic information have been thought

Seatbelt use and risk of major injuries sustained by vehicle occupants during motor-vehicle crashes: A systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies

BackgroundIn 2004, a World Health Report on road safety called for enforcement of measures such as seatbelt use, effective at minimizing morbidity and mortality caused by road traffic accidents. However, injuries caused by seatbelt use have also been described. Over a decade after publication of the World Health Report on road safety, this study sought to investigate the relationship between seatbelt use and major injuries in belted compared to unbelted passengers.MethodsCohort studies published in English language from 2005 to 2018 were retrieved from seven databases. Critical appraisal of studies was carried out using the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) checklist. Pooled risk of major injuries was assessed using the random effects meta-analytic model. Heterogeneity was quantified using I-squared and Tau-squared statistics. Funnel plots and Egger's test were used to investigate publication bias. This review is registered in PROSPERO (CRD42015020309).ResultsEleven studies, all carried out in developed countries were included. Overall, the risk of any major injury was significantly lower in belted passengers compared to unbelted passengers (RR 0.47; 95%CI, 0.29 to 0.80; I-2=99.7; P=0.000). When analysed by crash types, belt use significantly reduced the risk of any injury (RR 0.35; 95%CI, 0.24 to 0.52). Seatbelt use reduces the risk of facial injuries (RR=0.56, 95% CI=0.37 to 0.84), abdominal injuries (RR=0.87; 95% CI=0.78 to 0.98) and, spinal injuries (RR=0.56, 95% CI=0.37 to 0.84). However, we found no statistically significant difference in risk of head injuries (RR=0.49; 95% CI=0.22 to 1.08), neck injuries (RR=0.69: 95%CI 0.07 to 6.44), thoracic injuries (RR 0.96, 95%CI, 0.74 to 1.24), upper limb injuries (RR=1.05, 95%CI 0.83 to 1.34) and lower limb injuries (RR=0.77, 95%CI 0.58 to 1.04) between belted and non-belted passengers.ConclusionIn sum, the risk of most major road traffic injuries is lower in seatbelt users. Findings were inconclusive regarding seatbelt use and susceptibility to thoracic, head and neck injuries during road traffic accidents. Awareness should be raised about the dangers of inadequate seatbelt use. Future research should aim to assess the effects of seatbelt use on major injuries by crash type

Inhaled carbon monoxide protects against the development of shock and mitochondrial injury following hemorrhage and resuscitation

Aims: Currently, there is no effective resuscitative adjunct to fluid and blood products to limit tissue injury for traumatic hemorrhagic shock. The objective of this study was to investigate the role of inhaled carbon monoxide (CO) to limit inflammation and tissue injury, and specifically mitochondrial damage, in experimental models of hemorrhage and resuscitation. Results: Inhaled CO (250 ppm for 30 minutes) protected against mortality in severe murine hemorrhagic shock and resuscitation (HS/R) (20% vs. 80%; P<0.01). Additionally, CO limited the development of shock as determined by arterial blood pH (7.25±0.06 vs. 7.05±0.05; P<0.05), lactate levels (7.2±5.1 vs 13.3±6.0; P<0.05), and base deficit (13±3.0 vs 24±3.1; P<0.05). A dose response of CO (25-500 ppm) demonstrated protection against HS/R lung and liver injury as determined by MPO activity and serum ALT, respectively. CO limited HS/R-induced increases in serum tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6 levels as determined by ELISA (P<0.05 for doses of 100-500ppm). Furthermore, inhaled CO limited HS/R induced oxidative stress as determined by hepatic oxidized glutathione:reduced glutathione levels and lipid peroxidation. In porcine HS/R, CO did not influence hemodynamics. However, CO limited HS/R-induced skeletal muscle and platelet mitochondrial injury as determined by respiratory control ratio (muscle) and ATP-linked respiration and mitochondrial reserve capacity (platelets). Conclusion: These preclinical studies suggest that inhaled CO can be a protective therapy in HS/R; however, further clinical studies are warranted

Global overview of the management of acute cholecystitis during the COVID-19 pandemic (CHOLECOVID study)

Background: This study provides a global overview of the management of patients with acute cholecystitis during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: CHOLECOVID is an international, multicentre, observational comparative study of patients admitted to hospital with acute cholecystitis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data on management were collected for a 2-month study interval coincident with the WHO declaration of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and compared with an equivalent pre-pandemic time interval. Mediation analysis examined the influence of SARS-COV-2 infection on 30-day mortality. Results: This study collected data on 9783 patients with acute cholecystitis admitted to 247 hospitals across the world. The pandemic was associated with reduced availability of surgical workforce and operating facilities globally, a significant shift to worse severity of disease, and increased use of conservative management. There was a reduction (both absolute and proportionate) in the number of patients undergoing cholecystectomy from 3095 patients (56.2 per cent) pre-pandemic to 1998 patients (46.2 per cent) during the pandemic but there was no difference in 30-day all-cause mortality after cholecystectomy comparing the pre-pandemic interval with the pandemic (13 patients (0.4 per cent) pre-pandemic to 13 patients (0.6 per cent) pandemic; P = 0.355). In mediation analysis, an admission with acute cholecystitis during the pandemic was associated with a non-significant increased risk of death (OR 1.29, 95 per cent c.i. 0.93 to 1.79, P = 0.121). Conclusion: CHOLECOVID provides a unique overview of the treatment of patients with cholecystitis across the globe during the first months of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The study highlights the need for system resilience in retention of elective surgical activity. Cholecystectomy was associated with a low risk of mortality and deferral of treatment results in an increase in avoidable morbidity that represents the non-COVID cost of this pandemic