An audit of the quality of surgical operation notes in a Nigerian teaching hospital

Background: Operation note records are important tools for ensuring patients’ continuity of care, for research purposes and medico-legal reasons. They can effectively serve these purposes only if well documented. The main objective of this study was to assess the practice of recording the operation notes among surgical trainees in a Nigerian Teaching Hospital.Methods: Operation notes completed by doctors in the Surgery Department over a 2-month period were audited for completeness, legibility and conformity to the standards of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.Results: There were 100 operation notes reviewed, two-thirds of these were written by Senior Registrars, majority of which were for elective operations (63%). Only 37 of the operation notes were appropriately completed with about two-thirds either incomplete or wrongly filled. The cadre of the surgical trainee did not significantly influence the completeness of the operation notes.  Legibility of the operation notes was associated significantly with completeness (p<0.04).  Conclusion: Standards of operation note writing in our practice needs to be improved upon. The challenges of legibility and completeness of documentation can be overcome by the use of an aide-memoire as well as computerized operation notes

Assessment of anti-corrosion potentials of extract of Ficus asperifolia -Miq (Moraceae) on mild steel in acidic medium

FullThe inhibitory potentials of ethanolic extracts and four fractions of the stem bark of Ficus asperifolia Miq. for the corrosion of mild steel were assessed using weight loss method, Fourier atomi absorption spectroscopy,scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The effects of varying immersion period,concentration of the inhibitors and temperatures for mild steel corrosion in 5 M HCl acid solution were carried out. A detailed kinetic reaction, thermodynamic (Ea, ∆H, ∆S) and adsorption isotherm studies were obtained. The crude extract of F. asperifolia (EFA) has the highest inhibition efficiency of 55%. The inhibitory efficiency of the four fractions of F. asperifolia (EFA) compared with the crude extract was in the order ethyl acetate > n-hexane > butanol > EFA > Aqueous. The inhibition efficiency was found to increase with increase in the extracts concentration but decreased with temperature. Corrosion rate increases with time but decreases with extracts concentration. The kinetic studies of the data followed a first order reaction. Thermodynamic studies revealed that corrosion inhibition may be due to spontaneous mixed adsorption of the plant constituents on the metal surface. Experimental data were fitted to Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin adsorption isotherms. The plant investigated showed a good potential for green corrosion inhibitors. Investigation of phytochemical constituents showed that the extracts contain alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, tannins anthraquinones and reducing sugars

Mycological, toxigenic and nutritional characteristics of some vended groundnut and groundnut products from three Northern Nigerian ecological zones

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) and groundnut products are important, street-vended, energy-rich sources of protein and oils useful in human and animal diets although fraught with microbial contaminations. Fungi associated with vended samples of roasted groundnut, Kulikuli, Donkwa, peanut butter and Yaji obtained from Kano, Kaduna, Minna and Ibadan were isolated using pour-plate method. These were qualitatively screened for presence of mycotoxin on palm kernel agar medium and the concentrations of aflatoxin and deoxynivalenol content in the samples quantified through immunoassay. The fungal load of the samples was highest between 1.3X103 and 1.6X104 TFU/g while the frequency of occurrence of Aspergillus, Fusarium, Rhizopus and Penicillium species in the samples were 36%, 33%, 20% and 11%, respectively. Qualitatively, the highest aflatoxin intensity producers were two strains of Aspergillus flavus from a Yaji and Kulikuli sample. The highest aflatoxin concentration (115ppb) was recorded in the Kaduna Yaji sample and 65% of the samples had aflatoxin concentration above the FDA-prescribed 20ppb. The highest deoxynivalenol concentration (0.7ppm) was recorded in Kaduna Donkwa sample which was still lower than the 1.0ppb prescribed recommendation. Kano Yaji and Kaduna Kulilkuli had the highest protein content (60% and 44% respectively) while all samples were high in calcium and potassium (725.16-1292.75 and 325-1280mg/100g) respectively. There was fungal contamination of vended groundnut product samples and the detection of mycotoxins in all the samples. Regulatory bodies, especially in developing countries, need to set quality standards and ensure compliance of the same in street vended food products for product and consumer safety.Keywords: Groundnut products, Mycotoxigenic properties, Deoxynivalenol, Aflatoxin, Nutritional compositionAfr. J. Biomed. Res. Vol. 22 (January, 2019); 65- 7

Determination of Hydroxyl Radical in Seto Inland Sea and its Potential to Degrade Irgarol

Photo-production rates and overall scavenging rate constants of the highly reactive hydroxyl radicals (•OH) were measured by irradiation of surface seawater samples collected from the Seto Inland Sea, Japan. Photo-production rates of •OH ranged from 7.2 × 10-12 M s-1 to 424 × 1012 M s-1 and scavenging rate constants were 1.3 – 4.1×106 s -1 . The steady state concentrations of •OH in seawater, which were calculated from the photo-production rates and scavenging rate constants were in the range 2.6 –189 × 10-18 M. Estimation from the scavenging rate constant showed that the lifetime of •OH in seawater ranged from 0.29 ×10-6 s to 0.55 ×10-6 s. Nitrates and hydrogen peroxide contributions to OH radical formation rates were negligible in the samples studied. However, direct photolysis of NO2 - accounted for up to 73% of the observed •OH formation rates. The rate constant for the reaction •OH with irgarol was found to be (9.7 ± 0.52) × 109 M - 1 s -1. Based on the steady state concentration of •OH, the calculated half-lives for Irgarol due to the reaction with hydroxyl radicals in the Seto Inland Sea were in the range 4.3-318 day

Geological and Electrical Resistivity Sounding of Olokonla Area in North-Central Nigeria

Geological mapping and Electrical resistivity sounding were carried out in Olokonla area in Moro Local Government of Kwara State in order to determine the apparent resistivities of the subsurface lithologies and correlate them with the exposed rocks observed during the geological mapping. The studies also delineate the pattern of fractures in the area which form prefential pathways for ground water. Three vertical electrical soundings (VES) were performed radially adopting the Schlumberger electrode configuration, with half-current electrode separation (AB/2) varying from 1m to 100m. Anisotropy polygon was also constructed based on the radial electrical sounding. The geoelectric parameters revealed five subsurface layers which were interpreted as topsoil, lateritic soil, dry sand soil, weathered granite and granite respectively. The geological mapping showed that the area is underlain by crystalline rocks comprising biotite granite, granite-gneiss and migmatite. The anisotropy polygon showed that a major fracture direction along 600 (northeast to southwest) and the coefficient of anisotropy is 0.79. Based on the apparent resistivities and the structural disposition, a potential aquifer was inferred at a depth of 45m. The fracture pattern in the area was constrained to northeast to southwest direction. The data obtained would be useful in borehole drilling for water within the study area.KEYWORDS: Vertical electrical sounding, aquifer, electrical resistivity, anisotropy polygon, geological mapping, fracture patter

The Human Microbiome and Its Impacts on Health

(e human microbiome comprises bacteria, archaea, viruses, and eukaryotes which reside within and outside our bodies. (ese organisms impact human physiology, both in health and in disease, contributing to the enhancement or impairment of metabolic and immune functions. Micro-organisms colonise various sites on and in the human body, where they adapt to specific features of each niche. Facultative anaerobes are more dominant in the gastrointestinal tract, whereas strict aerobes inhabit the respiratory tract, nasal cavity, and skin surface. (e indigenous organisms in the human body are well adapted to the immune system, due to the biological interaction of the organisms with the immune system over time. An alteration in the intestinal microbial community plays a major role in human health and disease pathogenesis. (ese alterations result from lifestyle and the presence of an underlying disease. Dysbiosis increases host susceptibility to infection, and the nature of which depends on the anatomical site involved. (e unique diversity of the human microbiota accounts for the specific metabolic activities and functions of these microorganisms within each body site. It is therefore important to understand the microbial composition and activities of the human microbiome as they contribute to health and disease

Financial Inclusion in Nigeria: A Gender Gap Approach

Ability to have access and use financial goods and services such as bank and mobile money accounts indicates the overall financial inclusion level of an economy and the higher the indices are in any economy, the better that economy is. Financial inclusion is important to realize inclusive growth in any country. It has direct impacts on the level of growth and development experienced by any economy. It can however, be skewed along gender lines as noticed overtime in the Nigerian economy and other developing economies. This study examined financial inclusion in Nigeria: a gender gap approach. It also determined the factors responsible for the gender gaps. The Global Findex (2014) dataset of Nigeria from World Bank database was used to analyse the aims of the study. In the study, 61% of the men were financially included, while only 43% of the female were financially included, with 18% gap. The gap in endowments accounted for the huge difference of the gap in outcomes as males seemed to be more naturally favoured by society than females. The level of education, wealth quintile, saved in past 12 months for farm/business purposes, sent domestic remittances in the past 12 months, paid utility bills in the past 12 months, and received wage payments in the past 12 months are the factors explaining the gender gaps in Nigeria. Thus the government and other relevant stakeholders should encourage females along these factors

The Impact of Money Supply on Nigeria Economy: A Comparison of Mixed Data Sampling (MIDAS) and ARDL Approach

The study investigated the long and short run relationships between broad money supply and real aggregate output (GDP) in Nigeria from 1981 to 2015. This study set to investigate the perplexity whether or not money supply as the major monetary policy measures actually impact on the Nigerian economy. This work made use of data of different frequencies (yearly and quarterly) in order to reveal some hidden facts that data of the same frequency might fail to show. An unrestricted version of Mixed Data Sampling (U-MIDAS) technique and Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) technique were employed. The ADF unit root test revealed that the yearly real GDP and quarterly broad money supply contained a unit root and this permit the testing of cointegration among the variables. The U-MIDAS results affirm the existence of a long and short-run relationship between yearly real GDP and quarterly broad money supply at different season while the ARDL result affirm that money supply impacted significantly on real GDP in the long run only. The study concluded that the disequilibrium correction terms from the two analytical approaches showed the evidence that there is a tendency for growth targeting in Nigeria which is one of the major objectives of Nigeria economy though at a slower rate. It was therefore recommended that monetary authority should maintain the level of inflation targeting in the economy and the volume of money to be supply should be monitored as too much money supply in the economy will lead to skyrocketing inflation and also the periodic money multiplier should be made efficient by supplying the money into the circulation regularly so as to co-trend with the real GDP growth by making cash available for business transactions and other economic activities, this will by means improve the real GDP of Nigeria economy. &nbsp