Prognosis Discussion and Referral to Community Palliative Care Services in Patients with Advanced Pancreatic Cancer Treated in a Tertiary Cancer Centre.

Advanced pancreatic cancer is associated with a poor prognosis, often less than 1 year. Honest prognosis discussions guide early community palliative care services input, facilitating timely advance care planning and improving quality of life. The aims were to assess if patients were offered prognosis discussions and community palliative care services referral.

Case studies of multi-disciplinary team management of atypical gastric cancer: challenges and lessons learned (about two cases).

There is a paradigm shift towards adopting a multidisciplinary team (MDT) model in the care of cancer patients, with increasing evidence to support its effectiveness. Cancers are biologically distinct, patients present in diverse ways and require, different therapeutic approaches in their management. Patient symptoms and treatment side-effects as well as physical and psychological impact vary according to cancer location and treatment plan.

Testicular Volume in Children with Sickle Cell Anaemia in Uyo, a South-South Nigerian City.

Introduction: Sickle cell anaemia (SCA) often presents in early childhood with repeated vaso-occlusive crisis that leads to ischaemia, infarction and fibrosis which may result in a reduction in expected testicular volume (TV) at puberty.

Method: This was a cross-sectional study of 95 children with SCA aged 1-18 years compared with 95 age-matched controls. Participants responded to an interviewer-administered questionnaire, with their anthropometric measurements taken, pubertal maturity assessed by Tanner staging and testicular ultrasonography done.

Why onchocerciasis transmission persists after 15 annual ivermectin mass drug administrations in South-West Cameroon.

Introduction: Onchocerciasis is targeted for elimination mainly with annual community-directed treatment with ivermectin (CDTI). High infection levels have been reported in South-West Cameroon, despite ≥15 years of CDTI. The aim of this study was to assess factors associated with continued onchocerciasis transmission and skin disease.

Vaccination Coverage Under the Expanded Program on Immunization in South West Cameroon.

Background: Inadequate vaccination coverage with increased risk of vaccine preventable disease outbreaks remain a problem in Africa. The aim of this study was to assess the vaccination coverage levels under the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) in a health area and to identify factors that affect vaccination coverage in view of providing valuable data for disease prevention.

Methods: A cross-sectional household survey was conducted in August 2017 in the Mbonge health area, Southwest Cameroon.

Pattern of pubertal changes in Calabar, South South Nigeria.

Introduction: Puberty is an essential physiologic process that is characterized by the appearance of secondary sexual features. Secular changes in puberty occur from one generation to another and need to be documented. The assessment of pubertal stages in a child is only useful if recent and reliable reference data from the same population is available for comparison.

Predicted distribution and burden of podoconiosis in Cameroon.

Introduction: Understanding the number of cases of podoconiosis, its geographical distribution and the population at risk are crucial to estimating the burden of this disease in endemic countries. We assessed each of these using nationwide data on podoconiosis prevalence in Cameroon.

Methods: We analysed data arising from two cross-sectional surveys in Cameroon.

Urinary schistosomiasis in school children of a southern nigerian community 8 years after the provision of potable water.

Background: Urinary schistosomiasis, one of the neglected tropical diseases, is a major infection of public health importance in Nigeria. Control measures include the provision of potable water as the main strategy, population-based chemotherapy and health education.

Aims And Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of the provision of potable water on the prevalence and intensity of infection with Schistosoma haematobium in Adim community, Cross River State, Nigeria.

Mapping the geographical distribution of podoconiosis in Cameroon using parasitological, serological, and clinical evidence to exclude other causes of lymphedema.

Background: Podoconiosis is a non-filarial elephantiasis, which causes massive swelling of the lower legs. It was identified as a neglected tropical disease by WHO in 2011. Understanding of the geographical distribution of the disease is incomplete.

Multi-antibiotic resistant and putative virulence gene signatures in Enterococcus species isolated from pig farms environment.

The continuous misuse of antimicrobials in food animals both orally and subcutaneously as therapeutic and prophylactic agents to bacterial infections could be detrimental and contribute to the dissemination of resistant clones in livestock production. The present study was carried out to determine the antibiogram and virulence gene characteristics of Enterococcus species from pig farms. A total of 300 faecal samples were obtained from two pig farms in Benin City between February and July 2016.

Stray dog trade fuelled by dog meat consumption as a risk factor for rabies infection in Calabar, southern Nigeria.

Background: Rabies is a preventable zoonosis with the highest case fatality of any disease in the world. In the developing world, it is transmitted mainly by dog bites. In parts of southern Nigeria, dog meat is a delicacy.

Junctional epidermolysis bullosa in a female Nigerian child: a case report.

Aim: To report the case of Junctional Epidermolysis bullosa seen in the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar and to draw attention to the existence of this condition among Nigerians.

Subject And Methods: A Nigerian female infant, normal at birth, developed extensive blistering skin eruptions from the age of ten days. The lesions involved the face, neck, shoulders, upper trunk and the buccal mucosa of the lower lip sparing the limbs.

Epidemiology and clinical features of glomerulonephritis in Calabar, Nigeria.

A retrospective study of children with acute glomerulonephritis (AGN) over a 10-year period (January 1997-December 2006) was carried out with the aim to establish the prevalence, the population at risk, and the predisposing factors. Out of a total of 6,026 admissions during the study period, 76 (1.3%) had acute glomerulonephritis.

Relationship between Schistosoma haematobium infection and urinary tract infection among children in South Eastern, Nigeria.

Background: Reports of studies on the relationship between Schistosoma haematobium and urinary tract infection from different regions are conflicting. Hence, the need to determine the situation in each endemic area.

Objective: To determine if S.

Pattern of paediatric renal disease in inpatients in Calabar, Nigeria.

A 10-year retrospective review of inpatients in Calabar showed that of 5641 children admitted,182 (3.2%) had renal disease. The major lesions were acute glomerulonephritis (36.

Potential for HIV transmission through unsafe injections.

We tested for HIV in discarded needles and syringe washes from 191 HIV-infected patients receiving injections in rural Cameroon. HIV-1 RNA was amplified from 34 of 103 intravenous injection syringes and two of 88 intramuscular injection syringes. All 36 strains were HIV-1 group M.

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.

Gonorrhea, Trichomonas and Candida among gravid and nongravid women in cameroon.

A case-control study of 1358 pregnant and nonpregnant women with and without symptoms of a lower genital tract infection were investigated for evidence of venereal disease. The prevalence of gonorrhea, Trichomonas and Candida in pregnancy was 15.0%, 20.