19 research outputs found
The Influence of Psychological and Societal Factors on Student Performance in Mathematics at the Senior Secondary School Level.
A ZJER study on psychological and social factors that influence student performance in Mathematics at Nigerian secondary schools.The study examined the influence of psychological and societal factors on students ’ performance in mathematics at Senior Secondary School Level in Ilorin metropolis of Kwara state. A simple random sampling technique was used to sample three hundred secondary school students who supplied information on the questionnaire. Each student was also given an academic achievement test to measure their performance in Mathematics. Average weighted response and correlational analysis were used to test the hypothesis. The result showed that psychological and societal factors are a significant influence on academic performance of Senior Secondary School students. It was also found that psychological factors exert a great influence on performance in mathematics. Based on the result, the researcher recommends that teachers, counsellors and parents should understand the psychological aspects of learning on their students/children in order to enhance dtr'r academic performance in mathematics
Network Analysis of MERS Coronavirus within Households, Communities, and Hospitals to Identify Most Centralized and Super-Spreading in the Arabian Peninsula, 2012 to 2016
Contact history is crucial during an infectious disease outbreak and vital when seeking to understand and predict the spread of infectious diseases in human populations. The transmission connectivity networks of people infected with highly contagious Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia were assessed to identify super-spreading events among the infected patients between 2012 and 2016. Of the 1379 MERS cases recorded during the study period, 321 (23.3%) cases were linked to hospital infection, out of which 203 (14.7%) cases occurred among healthcare workers. There were 1113 isolated cases while the number of recorded contacts per MERS patient is between 1 (n=210) and 17 (n=1), with a mean of 0.27 (SD = 0.76). Five super-important nodes were identified based on their high number of connected contacts worthy of prioritization (at least degree of 5). The number of secondary cases in each SSE varies (range, 5-17). The eigenvector centrality was significantly (p<0.05) associated with place of exposure, with hospitals having on average significantly higher eigenvector centrality than other places of exposure. Results suggested that being a healthcare worker has a higher eigenvector centrality score on average than being nonhealthcare workers. Pathogenic droplets are easily transmitted within a confined area of hospitals; therefore, control measures should be put in place to curtail the number of hospital visitors and movements of nonessential staff within the healthcare facility with MERS cases.This study was supported by research grant QUST-CAS-SPR-2017-25 from Qatar University.Scopu
Hospitalisation for lower respiratory tract infection is associated with an increased incidence of acute myocardial infarction and stroke in tropical Northern Australia
Acute respiratory infections appear to precipitate vascular events. Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and stroke are the leading cause of death and disability globally. This study was based on a cohort of patients admitted to Townsville University Hospital between January 2006 and December 2016. Using a self-controlled case series design, we investigated the risk of AMI or ischaemic stroke after an episode of pneumonia. We defined the 'risk interval' as the first 14 days after hospitalisation for pneumonia and the 'control interval' as one year before and one year after the risk interval. Among a population (N = 4557) with a median age of over 70, a total of 128 AMI and 27 stroke cases were identified within 1 year of an episode of pneumonia in this study. Ten and two admissions occurred during the risk interval, while 118 and 25 admissions occurred during the control period. The relative incidence ratios (RIR) of AMI increased after an episode of pneumonia (RIR=4.85, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.44–9.67). The risk for stroke after the exposure period of 14 days was 4.94 (95% CI 1.12–21.78) considering only the first stroke incidence. The RIR results for AMI and stroke were not altered by adjusting for age, sex or Indigenous status. The risk of AMI and stroke were significantly higher two weeks after an episode of pneumonia
Prevalence of snoring and symptoms of sleep disordered breathing among primary school pupils in Ilorin, Nigeria
Background/Aim: Snoring is the production of sound from the upper aero-digestive tract during sleep due
to turbulent airflow This study is to determine the prevalence, pattern, night and daytime symptoms of
snoring among nursery and primary school pupils in Ilorin, Nigeria due to its public health importance.
Materials and methods: This cross sectional survey was carried out among nursery /primary school pupils
in Ilorin, Kwara state between April and September, 2010.
Ten schools were selected randomly from 100 schools sited within the 3LGAs of Ilorin municipality.
Also private and public schools with different parental social economic status were selected.
The pupils were selected from nursery 2 to primary 6 in each school using the class registers with the
aid of a table of random numbers with 1500 children assessed. The parents/guardians were made to fill
the questionnaires and same returned with visitations to the schools twice weekly and reminders sent via
phone calls. Data were analyzed using EPIINFO 2002 version 2 software.
Results: 1500 questionnaires were given out but 909 were completely filled and returned (response rate
of 61%.). There were 598(65.8%) non snorers (NSn) and 311(34.2%) snorers (Sn) at different scales with
153 male snorers to 158 female snorers. The ages of the children ranges from 3 to 16 years (mean � SD,
8.3 � 4.8 years. The mean age for the Sn was 8.2 and 8.3 for NSn (range 3–6 years). No statistical difference in
age, gender or socio-economic status between Sn and NSn. 598(65.8%) were non snorers (NSn) and
311(34.2%) were snorers (Sn) especially in the age groups 3–6 years, 121(38.9%) and above 6 years of age
101(32.7%) and below 3 years were 89(28%).
Conclusion: Snoring is an important health problem among the pupils as a significant percentage snores
and most of them are between third and sixth year of lif
Challenges of accountability and development in Nigeria: An auto-regressive distributed lag approach
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges of accountability and development in
Nigeria. In the literature, corruption is seen as an indicator of a lack of political accountability in
most countries of the world, especially in less developed countries such as Nigeria. The Nigerian
Government has taken several actions to address the problems of bad governance and corruption
that have impeded economic development, but unfortunately these measures have not yielded the
desired results.
Design/methodology/approach
Thus, this study examined accountability and developmental issues in Nigeria using secondary
data and then made use of the auto-regressive distributed lag econometric technique to analyze
the data.
Findings
The results from the study found that a rise in total government expenditure poses a danger of
reducing Nigeria’s economic development in the long run and that control of corruption and
political (the institutional variables) has a direct and significant effect on Nigeria’s economic
development.
Originality/value
Therefore, upon these findings, this paper recommended that for Nigeria to experience
development, corruption should be eliminated, and the Nigerian Government should spend on
viable projects and economic activities that will be beneficial to the populace and the society at
large and hence bring about economic development. Accountability is the hallmark of a prudent
government that ensures efficient management of resources and transparency in the utilization of
funds by the government. The absence of accountability mechanism allows corruption to thrive,
which hinders the developmental process
The global burden of cancer attributable to risk factors, 2010–19: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019
BACKGROUND: Understanding the magnitude of cancer burden attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors is crucial for development of effective prevention and mitigation strategies. We analysed results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 to inform cancer control planning efforts globally. METHODS: The GBD 2019 comparative risk assessment framework was used to estimate cancer burden attributable to behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risk factors. A total of 82 risk–outcome pairs were included on the basis of the World Cancer Research Fund criteria. Estimated cancer deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in 2019 and change in these measures between 2010 and 2019 are presented. FINDINGS: Globally, in 2019, the risk factors included in this analysis accounted for 4·45 million (95% uncertainty interval 4·01–4·94) deaths and 105 million (95·0–116) DALYs for both sexes combined, representing 44·4% (41·3–48·4) of all cancer deaths and 42·0% (39·1–45·6) of all DALYs. There were 2·88 million (2·60–3·18) risk-attributable cancer deaths in males (50·6% [47·8–54·1] of all male cancer deaths) and 1·58 million (1·36–1·84) risk-attributable cancer deaths in females (36·3% [32·5–41·3] of all female cancer deaths). The leading risk factors at the most detailed level globally for risk-attributable cancer deaths and DALYs in 2019 for both sexes combined were smoking, followed by alcohol use and high BMI. Risk-attributable cancer burden varied by world region and Socio-demographic Index (SDI), with smoking, unsafe sex, and alcohol use being the three leading risk factors for risk-attributable cancer DALYs in low SDI locations in 2019, whereas DALYs in high SDI locations mirrored the top three global risk factor rankings. From 2010 to 2019, global risk-attributable cancer deaths increased by 20·4% (12·6–28·4) and DALYs by 16·8% (8·8–25·0), with the greatest percentage increase in metabolic risks (34·7% [27·9–42·8] and 33·3% [25·8–42·0]). INTERPRETATION: The leading risk factors contributing to global cancer burden in 2019 were behavioural, whereas metabolic risk factors saw the largest increases between 2010 and 2019. Reducing exposure to these modifiable risk factors would decrease cancer mortality and DALY rates worldwide, and policies should be tailored appropriately to local cancer risk factor burden
Effects of time-lagged meteorological variables on attributable risk of leishmaniasis in central region of Afghanistan
Background
Leishmaniasis remains one of the world's most neglected vector-borne diseases, affecting predominantly poor communities mainly in developing countries. Previous studies have shown that the distribution and dynamics of leishmaniasis infections are sensitive to environmental factors, however, there are no studies on the burden of leishmaniasis attributable to time-varying meteorological variables.
Methods
This study used data from 3 major leishmaniosis afflicted provinces of Afghanistan, between 2003 and 2009, to provide empirical analysis of change in heat/cold-leishmaniosis association. Non-linear and delayed exposure-lag-response relationship between meteorological variables and leishmaniasis were fitted with a distributed lag non-linear model applying a spline function which describes the dependency along the range of values with a lag of up to 12 months. We estimated the risk of leishmaniasis attributable to high and low temperature.
Results
The median monthly mean temperature and rainfall were 16.1 °C and 0.6 in., respectively. Seasonal variations of leishmaniasis were consistent between males and females, however significant differences were observed among different age groups. Temperature effects were immediate and persistent (lag 0–12 months). The cumulative risks were highest at cold temperatures. The cumulative relative risks (logRR) for leishmaniasis were 6.16 (95% CI: 5.74–6.58) and 1.15 (95% CI: 1.32–1.31) associated with the 10th percentile temperature (2.16 °C) and the 90th percentile temperature (28.46 °C). The subgroup analysis showed increased risk for males as well as young and middle aged people at cold temperatures, however, higher risk was observed for the elderly in heat. The overall leishmaniasis-temperature attributable fractions was estimated to be 7.6% (95% CI: 7.5%–7.7%) and mostly due to cold.
Conclusion
Findings in this study highlight the non-linearity, delay of effects and magnitude of leishmaniasis risk associated with temperature. The disparity of risk between different subgroups can hopefully advise policy makers and assist in leishmaniasis control program.Faiz Elfaki's research was supported by the Qatar University internal grant ( GUST-1-CAS-2019-53 ).Scopu
Physical and Release Properties of Metronidazole Suppositories
Purpose: A study was made of the effects of some bases and adjuvants
on the physical and release properties of metronidazole suppositories
with a view to providing more information for the optimization of the
rectal formulation of metronidazole. Method: Suppositories (1g)
containing 200mg of metronidazole each were prepared in witepsol (H15
and E75) and polyethylene glycol (PEG 2850 and 4650) bases, using
different concentrations of Tween 80, sodium salicylate and
methylcellulose as adjuvants. The setting time, solidification point
and melting range of the suppositories were determined, along with
their crushing strength, disintegration time and the time for 80% of
metronidazole to be released from the suppositories (t80). Results:
The ranking of setting time for the suppositories was witepsol H15 >
PEG 2850 > witepsol E75 > PEG 4650, while the ranking of
solidification point, melting range, crushing strength, disintegration
time and the time for 80% of metronidazole to be released from the
suppositories (t80) was the reverse of that for setting time. Optimal
concentrations of Tween 80 and sodium salicylate were observed for the
suppository formulations. Using Kitazawa plots, all formulations showed
two dissolution rate constants, k1 and k2 intersecting at time t1, with
formulations containing 5 to 20 % w/w of methylcellulose exhibiting a
third dissolution rate constant, k3 intersecting with k2 at time t2.
Conclusion: The physical and release properties of metronidazole
suppositories are influenced considerably by the bases and adjuvants
employed. Tween 80 and sodium salicylate can probably be used to
formulate only immediate-release suppositories while methylcellulose
can be useful for sustained-release metronidazole suppositories. Some
insight into these inferences can be obtained from parameters derived
from Kitazawa plots
Pattern and outcome of Anaemia in Children Managed at the Federal Medical Centre, Azare.
Anaemia remains a common presenting clinical problem in children in developing countries of the world. It is a manifestation of some diseases and it is often multifactoral in origin.This retrospective study was to determine the prevalence, aetiology, presentation, severity and outcome of anaemia among children admitted into the Paediatric ward of the FederalMedical Centre (FMC), Azare, Nigeria over a 5- year period.The admission records of children with anaemia over a 5-year period (1 January 2002 to 31 December 2007) were reviewed. Information extracted for the study included: age, gender, symptoms and signs at presentation, primary diagnosis (cause of anaemia), complication(s) of anaemia,PCV before and after transfusion, haemoglobin electrophoretic pattern and outcome of admission. The records of 2,766 children admitted during theperiod under study were analysed out of which 152 of them had anaemia due to various conditions; giving a prevalence of 5.5%. Of those with anaemia, 98 (64.5%) were males and 54 (35.5%) females; giving a M:F ratio of 1.8:1. The mean age of the children with anaemia was 4.0±0.51 years. (Range, 0.33-13 years),with 102 (67%) under 5 years of age.Themain symptomat presentation was fever in 132 (86.8%) patients, while pallor was the most frequent physical sign in all the patients. Malaria was the leading cause of anaemia with asexual form of being presentin 93 (61.2%) of the patients, 68 (44.7%) had sickle cell disease. Other identified causes include PEM in 13 (8.6%) sepsis in 8 (5.3%) and G-6-PD deficiency in 3 (2%). Anaemic heart failure in 52 (34.2%), altered sensoriumin 34 (22.4%) and convulsion in 21 (13.8%); were thecomplications in the patients. Sixteen of the children with PCV less than 10% at admission, including 3 with PCV less than 5%, died giving a case fatality of 10.5%.Anaemia still remains a major problem in childhood. Emphasis should be given to efforts that would prevent severe anaemia, such as prompt and appropriate treatment of malaria with artemisinin-based combinationtherapies and provision of good nutrition. Regional blood transfusion centres that would guaranty effective and safe blood at an affordable cost should be established.Keywords: Anaemia; severemalari
Analysis of spatial data with a nested correlation structure
Spatial statistical analyses are often used to study the link between environmental factors and the incidence of diseases. In modelling spatial data, the existence of spatial correlation between observations must be considered. However, in many situations, the exact form of the spatial correlation is unknown. This paper studies environmental factors that might influence the incidence of malaria in Afghanistan. We assume that spatial correlation may be induced by multiple latent sources. Our method is based on a generalized estimating equation of the marginal mean of disease incidence, as a function of the geographical factors and the spatial correlation. Instead of using one set of generalized estimating equations, we embed a series of generalized estimating equations, each reflecting a particular source of spatial correlation, into a larger system of estimating equations. To estimate the spatial correlation parameters, we set up a supplementary set of estimating equations based on the correlation structures that are induced from the various sources. Simultaneous estimation of the mean and correlation parameters is performed by alternating between the two systems of equations. 2017 Royal Statistical SocietyWe thank the Associate Editor and the referees for their perceptive comments and suggestions, that have led to a greatly improved version of this paper. Denis Leung�s research is funded by the Research Center at Singapore Management University. You-Gan Wang�s research is funded by Australian Research Council discovery grant DP130100766 and project DP160104292.Scopu