Risk assessment and origin of metals in chicken meat and its organs from a commercial poultry farm in Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria.

Contamination of chicken with metals is on the increase, despite its known attendant health risks to human consumers. The study aimed to evaluate the concentration of some metals in various organs of chicken, their sources, and the health risks they pose to human consumers. Samples of liver, meat, gizzard, borehole water, soil, diets, and droppings were investigated for the presence of some metals (Cr, Co, Mn, Zn, Al, As, Cd, Ni, and Hg), and their sources using principal component analysis (PCA).

COVID pollution: impact of COVID-19 pandemic on global plastic waste footprint.

Plastic products have played significant roles in protecting people during the COVID-19 pandemic. The widespread use of personal protective gear created a massive disruption in the supply chain and waste disposal system. Millions of discarded single-use plastics (masks, gloves, aprons, and bottles of sanitizers) have been added to the terrestrial environment and could cause a surge in plastics washing up the ocean coastlines and littering the seabed.

COVID-19 pandemic and emerging plastic-based personal protective equipment waste pollution and management in Africa.

The threat of plastic waste pollution in African countries is increasing exponentially since the World Health Organisation declared the coronavirus infection as a pandemic. Fundamental to this growing threat are multiple factors, including the increased public consumption for single-use plastics, limited or non-existence of adequate plastic waste management infrastructures, and urbanisation. Plastics-based personal protective equipment including millions of surgical masks, medical gowns, face shields, safety glasses, protective aprons, sanitiser containers, plastics shoes, and gloves have been widely used for the reduction of exposure risk to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

Assessing the public perceptions of treated wastewater reuse: opportunities and implications for urban communities in developing countries.

Wastewater reuse has become an integral part of Integrated Water Resources Management and thus plays a role in securing the water needs for future generations. This study aimed at determining the perceptions of Canaanland, an emerging urban community in Ogun State, Nigeria, on treated wastewater reuse for several purposes. Data were collected through questionnaires administered to the city residents (n = 244).

The impact of Worms and Ladders, an innovative health educational board game on Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis control in Abeokuta, Southwest Nigeria.

In most endemic sub-Saharan African countries, repeated infections with soil-transmitted helminth (STH) occur as early as six weeks after the end of mass drug administration (MDA) with albendazole. In this study, we designed a new health educational board game Worms and Ladders and evaluated its potential to complement MDA with albendazole and reduce reinfection rates through the promotion of good hygiene practices among school-aged children. The evaluation employed a randomized control trial (RCT) design.

Sonographic determination of normal subcutaneous fat thickness in children in Southern Nigeria.

Background: Subcutaneous fat is a highly active metabolic tissue that exerts control on numerous biochemical and physiological processes in health and disease. Children are particularly susceptible to nutritional problems, hence the need to measure subcutaneous fat thickness (SFT) which can be used to determine their body composition. Ultrasonography provides an affordable, noninvasive, available technique of achieving this.

Species composition of grasshoppers (Orthoptera) in open plots and farmlands in calabar metropolis, southern Nigeria.

The grasshoppers are strategic in the welfare of man and may constitute a major threat when its population is not checked. A study on the distribution of grasshoppers in open plots and farmlands was carried out within Calabar Metropolis between August to November, 2010. A total of 295 grasshoppers belonging to 11 species grouped under 3 families (Tettigoniidae, Acrididae and Pyrgomorphidae) were collected from 8 study locations.

Implementing a hospital based injury surveillance system: a case study in Nigeria.

A pilot study of violent injury surveillance was implemented in two hospitals in Kano, Nigeria, in two phases: a formative evaluation including training and arranging the collection of hospital information, followed by a 6 month prospective data collection. Road traffic injuries constituted about 80 per cent of the cases, gunshot injuries were the commonest in victims of interpersonal violence (IPV). The causes and context of IPV, the relationship of victims and perpetrators, and the place, related activities and anatomical site of injuries from IPV are summarized.

Nutritional rickets in Calabar, Nigeria.

The features of 20 cases of nutritional rickets who presented at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar in south-eastern Nigeria over a 9-year period (January 1985-December 1993) are presented. The aim is to compare them with those in the only other reports from Nigeria between 18 and 42 years ago from Ibadan in the west of the country. The ages at presentation ranged between 6 months and 5 years with no sex preponderance.

Radiological observations in the colon of Nigerians with chronic enema abuse.

Barium enema examination performed on the indigenes of Calabar community (the Efiks) demonstrated redundancy (dolichocolon) in various segments of the colon in a high proportion (71%) of habitual enema abusers compared to non-abusers (19%). Comparatively, the descending colon appeared the most vulnerable segment of the gut. The typical features of enema colitis was not found in any of the subjects probably because of the non-corrosive nature of the concoctions they used in clearing their gut.