Pattern and associated factors of psychoactive substance use among undergraduate students in a North-eastern Nigerian University

Objective: There is an increased trend in the use of psychoactive substances among youths in Northern Nigeria. Youths use substances to enhance  performances. Studies have shown associations between drug use and psychiatric morbidity. This study examined the use of psychoactive  substances among undergraduates. It also assessed the presence of psychiatric morbidity among the users and nonusers of psychoactive drugs. Method: The study was a cross-sectional study using WHO Student Drug Use Survey Questionnaire and GHQ-12 for 983 undergraduates of a northern Nigeria university. Results: The prevalence rate of psychoactive substance use was 36.5%. Tobacco, stimulants and alcohol were commonly used drugs. Parental separation and fathers' use of drugs were factors associated with the use of psychoactive substances. Psychiatric morbidity among substance users and non-users were 31.0% and 11.8% Conclusion: The study found high rate for the use of psychoactive substances among the students with correspondingly high rate of psychiatric morbidity among the users of psychoactive substances. Keywords: Psychoactive substance; Psychiatric morbidity; undergraduate students

Anxiety and depressive disorders among infertile women attending clinic in a Nigeria teaching hospital

Children are highly valued, and childlessness is culturally not acceptable in any typical sub-Saharan African community. Involuntary infertility is associated with significant distress and psychological disturbances, and different psychiatric disorders have been reported among women undergoing fertility treatment. This study aimed to determine prevalence of anxiety and depressive disorders and factors that were predictive of these disorders among women with infertility problem that were attending clinic at a Northeastern Nigerian Teaching Hospital. The study was a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based survey of two hundred and seven adult women on treatment for infertility. Their sociodemographic variables were obtained by the use of pro formal questionnaire and clinical parameters were obtained from their case notes. Hospital anxiety and depression scale was used to determine the presence of anxiety and/or depression using cut-off point of 11. Eighty-five respondents had anxiety and/or depressive disorders which constituted 41.1% of the studied population. Fifty-seven respondents (27.5%) had anxiety disorders while fifty-three (25.6%) had depression and thirty-seven-people (17.9%) had co-morbidity for both disorders. The factors that were predictive of depression were: previous marriage, lack of support, stigmatizing behaviours, tuba-uterine factor as the cause of infertility and surgical method of treatment. Similarly, factors that were predictive of anxiety disorder were: stigmatizing behaviours and lack of supports. Others were long duration of infertility treatment and surgical treatment for infertility as against medical treatment. This study found high prevalence of depression and anxiety disorders among women on treatment for infertility and recommend that more attention be paid to their mental health.Keywords: infertility, anxiety disorder, depression, NigeriaAfr. J. Biomed. Res. Vol. 22 (May, 2019); 157- 16

Human-Hippo Relationship in Selected Communities around Kainji Dam in New-Bussa, Niger State, Nigeria

Human-wildlife conflicts have become a significant issue in conservation and land management of a protected area. The study examines Hippo-Human relationship in selected communities around Kainji dam in New Bussa, Niger State, Nigeria. Data for the study was collected through pre tested structured questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Findings from the results revealed that male Hippopotamus is the highest with 75.0% and that 37% were 50 years and above. Majority of the respondents had no formal education (42.0%). 79% of the respondents recorded that Hippopotamus was present in the study area while 82.0% have had to encounter Hippopotamus attack. The crops that are mostly grown by the respondents in the study area are Maize, Beans, Millet, Guinea corn, Rice and Groundnut. In which maize is the mostly grown and raided by Hippopotamus. The findings revealed that 69.0% of the respondents state that crop raiding is the major conflict. Various preventive measures undertaken include: fire and smoke, watch guarding, trapping, scare crow, thorn fencing and hunting, with fire and smoke being the most preferred by the respondents. The victims of these attacks are willing to prevent the attacks with fire and smoke as against killing the Hippopotamus, they should be encourage by factoring compensation into conservation policy to promote the conservation of this species in the study area

Seroprevalence of syphilis among blood donors in Ilorin

Background: One of the greatest values of serological test for syphilis is as a surrogate marker for lifestyle known to be associated with high risk of HIV and HCV infections. This study was designed to determine the prevalence of syphilis among blood donors in Ilorin and also the relationship between seropositivity and lifestyle known to be associated with high risk for HIV and Hepatitis infection.Method: This was a hospital based cross sectional study involving 350 consenting blood donors. The socio-demographic details (e.g., age, sex, occupation, risk behavior etc) were obtained using a structured questionnaire designed for the study. Screening for syphilis was carried out using the DiaSpot Rapid Diagnostic Test kit (DS 401- Syphilis test strips; lot: SYP2070028) according to the manufacturer's (Sam Tech Diagnostics) instructions.Result: The seroprevalence of syphilis among the blood donors was 1.1%. None of the seropositive donors was a homosexual, commercial sex worker or intravenous drug user. None of them had history of blood transfusion. Only one out of the 4 seropositive donors engaged in extramarital sex.Conclusion: The seroprevalence of syphilis among blood donors in Ilorin was low and therefore the relationship between syphilis seropositivity and high risk lifestyle could not be determined. A prospective study design where cases and controls are appropriately matched to exclude confounders would be more appropriate. The relationship of syphilis seropositivity and high risk lifestyle can therefore be better studied among patients attending Sexually Transmitted Infection clinic and using seronegative patients as controls.Keywords: syphilis, blood donors, risky lifestyl

Rhinometry: Spectrum of nasal profile among Nigerian Africans

Nasal parameters measurements are useful in anthropology to distinguish people into racial and ethnic groups. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional survey among Nigerians aged 18 to 70 years of Nigerian parentage randomly selected at the ENT Clinic of the University of Ilorin teaching hospital (U.I.T.H.), Ilorin, Nigeria without gender discrimination had measurement of their nasal parameters done using a sliding caliper: Nasal height, width, tip protrusion, alar thickness, nasal septal thickness and nares diameter. Results: 105 subjects were seen, the age range 18 to 70 years (mean of 28.63 + 13.06 years). There was 58 males and 47 females with a male/female ratio of 1.2:1. The mean nasal width/height (Nasal index -NI) was 90.7 in males and 88.2 in females. Males had a higher NI compared to female (p < 0.03). The commonest type of nasal variability is Type A (70.5%), Platyrrhine nose, Type B (26.7%) especially in females (mesorrhine) and Type C (leptorrhine) (2.8%). Conclusions: There is significant association between the sex of an individual and type of Nose. Platyrrhine nose, among males and mesorrhine among females, only 2.8% being leptorrhine. The nasal indices were higher in males than in females

A Survey on the Security and the Evolution of Osmotic and Catalytic Computing for 5G Networks

The 5G networks have the capability to provide high compatibility for the new applications, industries, and business models. These networks can tremendously improve the quality of life by enabling various use cases that require high data-rate, low latency, and continuous connectivity for applications pertaining to eHealth, automatic vehicles, smart cities, smart grid, and the Internet of Things (IoT). However, these applications need secure servicing as well as resource policing for effective network formations. There have been a lot of studies, which emphasized the security aspects of 5G networks while focusing only on the adaptability features of these networks. However, there is a gap in the literature which particularly needs to follow recent computing paradigms as alternative mechanisms for the enhancement of security. To cover this, a detailed description of the security for the 5G networks is presented in this article along with the discussions on the evolution of osmotic and catalytic computing-based security modules. The taxonomy on the basis of security requirements is presented, which also includes the comparison of the existing state-of-the-art solutions. This article also provides a security model, "CATMOSIS", which idealizes the incorporation of security features on the basis of catalytic and osmotic computing in the 5G networks. Finally, various security challenges and open issues are discussed to emphasize the works to follow in this direction of research.Comment: 34 pages, 7 tables, 7 figures, Published In 5G Enabled Secure Wireless Networks, pp. 69-102. Springer, Cham, 201

Detection of Psychiatric Disorders by Physicians Attending to People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in a Nigeria University Teaching Hospital

People living with HIV/AIDS were found to have high co-morbid psychiatric disorders. These are usually not detected by managing non-psychiatrist physicians. The aim of this study was to determine the rate of detection of psychiatric disorders among People Living with HIV/AIDS attending outpatient clinics by their primary physicians. This study was carried out at the HIV clinics of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin among 300 consenting adult HIV positive patients. Physicians attending to these patients were requested to fill a form to indicate if these patients had psychiatric disorders and the types, during their routine review of the patients in the clinic. These patients were also assessed for the presence of psychiatric disorders by the researchers using Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). Diagnoses of psychiatric disorders were based on DSM-IV diagnostic criteria. The psychiatric morbidity rate in the studied population was found to be 38.3% (115 psychiatric cases) using MINI interview and DSM-IV diagnostic criteria. Diagnoses of psychiatric disorders were however correctly made in only 39 (13%) of the patients by the attending physicians (X2 = 47.96; p-value= &lt; 0.000). Overall, 66.1% of patients with psychiatric disorders were not detected by the managing physicians. None of the cases detected by the attending physicians was offered psychological intervention and no case was referred to the psychiatric unit for management of associated psychiatric disorders. Psychiatric disorders among PLWHA were under-diagnosed by their primary doctors. There is need to improve the ability of the doctors to detect and manage common mental health problems usually found among people living with HIV/AIDS. Keywords: Psychiatric morbidity; PLWHA; Primary care physician; Nigeria

Mania as complication of HIV infection: case reports

Organic mood disorder, manic episode, is a rare complication of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/ Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) infection especially as the disease progresses to late stage. In this paper, two cases of AIDS mania were presented: First was a 47 year old HIV positive woman and the second case was a 42 year old HIV positive man that presented as cases of manic episode and were managed in a tertiary referral health institution in a North-East town of Nigeria. These case reports highlight the fact that organic mood disorder, manic episode, in HIV infection AIDS might not be uncommon in this part of the world. Patients present with irritable mood rather than euphoria and they respond rapidly to psychotropic medications. Key words: Manic episode, HIV infection; Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)