A Study of Sacral Hiatus in Dry Human Sacra in Southern Nigeria

The opening present at the caudal end of sacral canal is known as sacral hiatus. The aim of this study is to determine the anatomical variations of sacral hiatus in dry human sacra in southern Nigeria. This study was carried out on 54 dry human sacra in southern Nigeria. Various shape of the hiatus were observed which includes inverted U- shape (24.1%), inverted V-shape (33.3%), irregular (13.0%), Dumbbell (9.3%) and Bifid (5.6%). The apex of sacral hiatus was commonly found at the level of 4th sacral vertebra in 66.7%. The mean length of sacral hiatus was 23.65mm. The mean anteroposterior diameter of sacral canal at the apex of sacral hiatus was 6.11mm. In conclusion, the sacral hiatus has anatomical variations and understanding of these variations may improve reliability of caudal epidural block. Keywords: sacral hiatus, dry human sacra, southern Nigeria

A Study of Sacral Hiatus in Dry Human Sacra in Southern Nigeria

The opening present at the caudal end of sacral canal is known as sacral hiatus. The aim of this study is to determine the anatomical variations of sacral hiatus in dry human sacra in southern Nigeria. This study was carried out on 54 dry human sacra in southern Nigeria. Various shape of the hiatus were observed which includes inverted U- shape (24.1%), inverted V-shape (33.3%), irregular (13.0%), Dumbbell (9.3%) and Bifid (5.6%). The apex of sacral hiatus was commonly found at the level of 4th sacral vertebra in 66.7%. The mean length of sacral hiatus was 23.65mm. The mean anteroposterior diameter of sacral canal at the apex of sacral hiatus was 6.11mm. In conclusion, the sacral hiatus has anatomical variations and understanding of these variations may improve reliability of caudal epidural block. Keywords: sacral hiatus, dry human sacra, southern Nigeria

Fatty acids Analyses of n-Hexane Fractions of Ageratum conyzoides Leaf

Lipidomics is an emerging field, where the structures, functions and dynamic changes of lipids in cells, tissues or body fluids are investigated. This study revealed the GC–MS metabolic profiling of the polar and non-polar fractions from n-hexane extracts of Agerantum conyzoides. After extraction, the n-hexane leaf extract has a yield of 1.20% and the GC-MS result reveal that A. conyzoides have w-6: w-3 PUFA ratio of 2.1 and other fatty acids of biochemical relevance. Keywords: Lipidomics; Cardiovascular disease; Agerantum conyzoides leaf; Fatty acids, GC-MS

Anthropometric Studies of Inner Canthal Distance, Outer Canthal Distance and Canthal Index of Adult Ibibios

Abstract: Outer canthal distance, Inner canthal distance and canthal index are important component of craniofacial anthropometry. Craniofacial anthropometry is vital in making a precise and systematic measurement of the human skull. Eight hundred (800) adults comprising 400 males and 400 females were used for this study. The subjects were measured for inner and outer canthal distances using a non-stretchable plastic ruler and the canthal index was obtained as the ratio of inner canthal distance and the outer canthal distance multiplying the resultant fraction by 100. The results showed that Ibibio males and females had inner canthal distances of 3.52 and 3.36 cm, respectively, outer canthal distances of 11.15cm for male Ibibios and 10.73 cm for the females. Mean canthal index for both males and females was 31.64 and 31.47, respectively. The canthal index of Ibibio males is higher than that of females (p<0.05) using Z-test. This study will be useful in anthropology and medicine most especially in craniofacial surgery

Accuracy and Limits of Lamendin’s Age Estimation Method in a Sample of Nigerian Population

This study compared the accuracy and limits of Lamendin’s age estimation method to age estimation by subset regression analysis in a sample of Nigerian population. The research was a cross-sectional study involving 81 single-rooted teeth obtained from 45 females and 36 males between ages 20 and 90 years. Extracted teeth samples were disinfected and stored, and directly measured using a digital vernier caliper on a 16 W X-ray box. Periodontosis (P) and Translucency (T) were derived using standard formulae from the root height (RH), translucency height (TH), and periodontal height (PH). Data were managed in an excel spreadsheet, then analyzed (stratified by sex) using Lamendin’s equation (Age = 0.18P + 0.42 T + 25.53) in SPSS (IBM® version 23, Armonk, USA) and Minitab® 2017 (version 18.1) best subset regression for males (Age = 6.23TH + 0.113P + 7.7) and females (Age = 14.90PH + 0.330 T − 2.12). Chi-square analysis tested the distributional deviations from actual age (using error ranges). From the analysis, 33.3% of the total population (M: 30.0% and F: 35.6%) were predicted within the suggested limit compared to 61.7% (M: 75.0% and F: 51.0%) for the best subset model. The distributional errors difference in both methods was not significant for males (χ2[df = 3] = 1.810, P = 0.405), females (χ2[df = 3] = 1.275, P = 0.528), and total samples (χ2[df = 3] = 4.960, P = 0.084). Lamendin’s formula did not provide accurate age estimates for a large proportion of sample population. More accurate estimates were limited to age ranged between 30 and 70 years. The study recommended that further studies using a larger sample be conducted to validate the findings of this study

Ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants used in the treatment of animal diarrhoea in Plateau State, Nigeria

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The use of medicinal plants in the treatment of diseases has generated renewed interest in recent times, as herbal preparations are increasingly being used in both human and animal healthcare systems. Diarrhoea is one of the common clinical signs of gastrointestinal disorders caused by both infectious and non-infectious agents and an important livestock debilitating condition. Plateau State is rich in savannah and forest vegetations and home to a vast collection of plants upheld in folklore as having useful medicinal applications. There is however scarcity of documented information on the medicinal plants used in the treatment of animal diarrhoea in the state, thus the need for this survey. Ten (10) out of 17 Local Government Areas (LGAs), spread across the three senatorial zones were selected. Farmers were interviewed using well structured, open-ended questionnaire and guided dialogue techniques between October and December 2010. Medicinal plants reported to be effective in diarrhoea management were collected using the guided field-walk method for identification and authentication.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 248 questionnaires were completed, out of which 207 respondents (83.47%) acknowledged the use of herbs in diarrhoea management, while 41 (16.53%) do not use herbs or apply other traditional methods in the treatment of diarrhoea in their animals. Medicinal plants cited as beneficial in the treatment of animal diarrhoea numbered 132, from which 57(43.18%) were scientifically identified and classified into 25 plant families with the families Fabaceae (21%) and Combretaceae (14.04%) having the highest occurrence. The plant parts mostly used in antidiarrhoeal herbal preparations are the leaves (43.86%) followed by the stem bark (29.82%). The herbal preparations are usually administered orally.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Rural communities in Plateau State are a rich source of information on medicinal plants as revealed in this survey. There is need to scientifically ascertain the authenticity of the claimed antidiarrhoeal properties of these plants and perhaps develop more readily available alternatives in the treatment of diarrhoea.</p

A HYBRIDIZED ENCRYPTION SCHEME BASED ON ELLIPTIC CURVE CRYPTOGRAPHY FOR SECURING DATA IN SMART HEALTHCARE

Recent developments in smart healthcare have brought us a great deal of convenience. Connecting common objects to the Internet is made possible by the Internet of Things (IoT). These connected gadgets have sensors and actuators for data collection and transfer. However, if users' private health information is compromised or exposed, it will seriously harm their privacy and may endanger their lives. In order to encrypt data and establish perfectly alright access control for such sensitive information, attribute-based encryption (ABE) has typically been used. Traditional ABE, however, has a high processing overhead. As a result, an effective security system algorithm based on ABE and Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) is developed to protect health-related data. ABE is a workable option for one-to-many communication and perfectly alright access management of encrypting data in a cloud environment. Without needing to decode the encrypted data, cloud servers can use the FHE algorithm to take valid actions on it. Because of its potential to provide excellent security with a tiny key size, elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) algorithm is also used. As a result, when compared to related existing methods in the literature, the suggested hybridized algorithm (ABE-FHE-ECC) has reduced computation and storage overheads. A comprehensive safety evidence clearly shows that the suggested method is protected by the Decisional Bilinear Diffie-Hellman postulate. The experimental results demonstrate that this system is more effective for devices with limited resources than the conventional ABE when the system’s performance is assessed by utilizing standard model

Anthropometric Study of the Cephalic and Nasal Indices of Ogu and Ikwerre People of Nigeria

Abstract: The aim of this study is to provide a baseline data of cephalic and nasal index of Ogu and Ikwerre people of southern Nigeria. Cephalic index is used to measure the size of the head while nasal index is used to measure the size of the nose. A total number of one thousand subjects (1000) comprising five hundred (500) from each tribe were selected for this study. To obtain the nasal index, the nasal length was measured from the nasion to the point where the nasal septum merges with the skin of the upper lip (nasospinale), while the nasal breadth was measured from ala to ala using a vernier caliper. For the cephalic index to be obtained, the head length was measured from the glabella to the external occipital protuberance (opistocranium), while the head breadth was measured from the transverse diameter of the head (biparietal diameter) using a spreading caliper. The results obtained showed that the Ikwerre males and females have a mean nasal index of 93.8 and 95.8 and a cephalic index of 74.9 and 74.8, respectively while the Ogu males and females have a mean nasal index of 95.8 and 87.34 and a cephalic index of 74.83 and 74.8, There was a significant difference in the nasal index of both Ikwerre and Ogu males and females (p&lt;0.05), while the cephalic index showed no significant difference (p&gt;0.05). This study has shown that the Ikwerre and Ogu people are both platyrrhines and their cephalic index indicated that they are dolicocephalic

Surveillance for endometrial cancer with transvaginal ultrasonography of breast cancer patients under tamoxifen treatment

The association of endometrial thickness with the risk of developing endometrial cancer (EC) within 2 years was investigated in a consecutive cohort of 1205 breast cancer patients under tamoxifen treatment, undergoing transvaginal ultrasonography (TVUS) for follow-up purpose (asymptomatic, 1068) or for abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB, 137). Linkage with tumour registry allowed for the follow-up of 3184.3 person-years. According to underlying incidence, 1.85 EC cases were expected in the study cohort while 12 were observed (observed/expected ratio=6.49, 95% CI 3.35–11.33; asymptomatic=4.09, 95% CI 1.65–8.43, symptomatic=35.71, 95% CI 11.59–83.34). No EC was observed with thickness (half layer) <3 mm. Raising this threshold increased specificity with a substantial loss of sensitivity (⩾3, ⩾4, ⩾6, ⩾9 mm; spec.=25.8, 44.5, 76.1, 91.5%, sens.=100, 91.6, 75.0, 66.6%). The presence of AUB was rather specific (88.94%) but poorly sensitive (41.67%). A combination of AUB presence/absence and thickness allowed the best accuracy (AUB + thickness ⩾3, ⩾4 or ⩾5; sens.=100, 81.6 or 91.6%; spec.=22.8, 40.4, or 56.7%). Breast cancer patients under tamoxifen might be selected for further invasive assessment on the basis of AUB and endometrial thickness assessed at TVUS