Strategic SWOT analysis of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital using Modified Delphi Technique: implications for strengthening national and regional health systems.

Background And Aim: The perennial underperformance of the Nigerian Health System necessitated enhanced advocacy for health to be placed at the centre of a renewed social contract and as a means of bolstering public trust. The hospital management of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) introduced initiatives to improve the hospital's operational environment and service performance in response to the population served. Following these changes, an Organizational Capacity Assessment (OCA) is critical to direct further development in the organization.

Rhabdomyolysis After Prolonged Tourniquet Application Is Associated with Reversible Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) in Rats.

Extremity trauma, including ischemia (e.g., prolonged tourniquet application or crush), is common among battlefield injuries.

Acclimation to a High-Salt Diet Is Sex Dependent.

Background Premenopausal women are less likely to develop hypertension and salt-related complications than are men, yet the impact of sex on mechanisms regulating Na homeostasis during dietary salt challenges is poorly defined. Here, we determined whether female rats have a more efficient capacity to acclimate to increased dietary salt intake challenge. Methods and Results Age-matched male and female Sprague Dawley rats maintained on a normal-salt (NS) diet (0.

Restoration of afferent arteriolar autoregulatory behavior in ischemia-reperfusion injury in rat kidneys.

Renal autoregulation is critical in maintaining stable renal blood flow (RBF) and glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Renal ischemia-reperfusion (IR)-induced kidney injury is characterized by reduced RBF and GFR. The mechanisms contributing to renal microvascular dysfunction in IR have not been fully determined.

Evidence for G-Protein-Coupled Estrogen Receptor as a Pronatriuretic Factor.

Background The novel estrogen receptor, G-protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER), is responsible for rapid estrogen signaling. GPER activation elicits cardiovascular and nephroprotective effects against salt-induced complications, yet there is no direct evidence for GPER control of renal Na handling. We hypothesized that GPER activation in the renal medulla facilitates Na excretion.

Loss of circadian gene in the collecting duct lowers blood pressure in male, but not female, mice.

Kidney function follows a 24-h rhythm subject to regulation by circadian genes including the transcription factor . A high-salt diet induces a phase shift in expression in the renal inner medulla that is dependent on endothelin type B (ET) receptors. Furthermore, ET receptor-mediated natriuresis is sex dependent.

Patient satisfaction with services at a tertiary hospital in south-east Nigeria.

Background: Patients' views of the services they receive in a healthcare service help identify critical areas that may need improvement. This survey set out to determine patients' satisfaction with quality of general services and specifically with staff attitude and the hospital environment, while on admission at a teaching hospital in Enugu, south-east Nigeria.

Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study using a structured self-administered questionnaire on 170 patients (54% females and 46% males, aged between 20 and 65 years), post admission, selected by multistage sampling.

Childhood adversity and mechanistic links to hypertension risk in adulthood.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), defined as traumatic events in childhood that range from various forms of abuse to household challenges and dysfunction, have devastating consequences on adult health. Epidemiological studies in humans and animal models of early life stress (ELS) have revealed a strong association and insight into the mechanistic link between ACEs and increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). This review focuses on the mechanistic links of ACEs in humans and ELS in mice and rats to vasoactive factors and immune mediators associated with CVD and hypertension risk, as well as sex differences in these phenomena.

Maternal separation enhances anticontractile perivascular adipose tissue function in male rats on a high-fat diet.

Clinical studies have shown that obesity negatively impacts large arteries' function. We reported that rats exposed to maternal separation (MatSep), a model of early life stress, display enhanced angiotensin II (ANG II)-induced vasoconstriction in aortic rings cleaned of perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) under normal diet (ND) conditions. We hypothesized that exposure to MatSep promotes a greater loss of PVAT-mediated protective effects on vascular function and loss of blood pressure (BP) rhythm in rats fed a high-fat diet (HFD) when compared with controls.

E-learning readiness from perspectives of medical students: A survey in Nigeria.

Context: Learning in the medical school of the study university is still by the traditional face-to-face approach with minimal e-communication.

Aim: This paper assesses student's perspectives of E-learning readiness, its predictors and presents a model for assessing them.

Settings And Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study of medical students.

Determinants of patterns of maternal and child health service utilization in a rural community in south eastern Nigeria.

Background: Women and children constitute a large proportion of any population. They are the most vulnerable to morbidity and mortality especially in developing countries. In many situations the problem of poor maternal and child health stems from the poor use of available services even when they are not of optimum quality.

Early life stress induces immune priming in kidneys of adult male rats.

Early life stress (ELS) in humans is associated with elevated proinflammatory markers. We hypothesized that ELS induces activation of the immune response in a rat model of ELS, maternal separation (MatSep), in adulthood. MatSep involves separating pups from the dam from postnatal day 2 to postnatal day 14 for 3 h/day.

Epidemiology of congenital anomalies of the central nervous system in children in Enugu, Nigeria: A retrospective study.

Background: Congenital anomalies, including those of the central nervous system (CNS), are among the leading causes of morbidity, mortality, and fetal loss.

Objective: To determine the prevalence and associated factors of CNS congenital anomalies in children.

Methods: A cross-sectional retrospective study of children managed with CNS anomalies was undertaken.

Prevalence of depression among health workers in Enugu, South East Nigeria.

Aims: Determination of the prevalence and distribution of depression among health workers at tertiary level of health care delivery in Enugu South East Nigeria.

Settings And Design: A cross-sectional descriptive survey of depression in health workers at tertiary level.

Subjects And Methods: By proportional quota sampling, the sample size of 309 was used.

Perception of child adoption among parents/care-givers of children attending pediatric outpatients' clinics in Enugu, South East, Nigeria.

Background: There has been an increasing interest by couples in child adoption due to its acceptability in recent times in our locale. The enactment of the Child's Right Act in Nigeria has harmonized child adoption process across the nation. With the rising demand for babies from child care institutions by many Nigerian couples, there is need to ascertain their perception of child adoption.

Iron deficiency among non-anemic under-five children in enugu, South-East, Nigeria.

Background: Iron deficiency has been described as the world most common nutritional deficiency and the commonest cause of nutritional anemia in infancy and childhood. The deleterious behavioral and cognitive deficit associated with iron-deficiency anemia could be irreversible. Therefore, the latter should be prevented by early detection of iron deficiency in the non-anemic groups.

K⁺-dependent ³H-D-glucose transport by hepatopancreatic brush border membrane vesicles of a marine shrimp.

The effects of sodium, potassium, sugar inhibitors, and membrane potential on ³H-D-glucose uptake by hepatopancreatic epithelial brush border membrane vesicles (BBMV) of the Atlantic marine shrimp, Litopenaeus setiferus, were investigated. Brush border membrane vesicles were prepared using a MgCl₂/EGTA precipitation method and uptake experiments were conducted using a high speed filtration technique. ³H-D-Glucose uptake was stimulated by both sodium and potassium and these transport rates were almost doubled in the presence of an inside-negative-induced membrane potential.

Congenital malformations among newborns admitted in the neonatal unit of a tertiary hospital in Enugu, South-East Nigeria--a retrospective study.

Background: Congenital abnormalities are not uncommon among newborns and contribute to neonatal and infant morbidity and mortality. The prevalence and pattern of presentation vary from place to place. Many a time the exact etiology is unknown but genetic and environmental factors tend to be implicated.

Transepithelial D-glucose and D-fructose transport across the American lobster, Homarus americanus, intestine.

Transepithelial transport of dietary D-glucose and d-fructose was examined in the lobster Homarus americanus intestine using D-[(3)H]glucose and D-[(3)H]fructose. Lobster intestines were mounted in a perfusion chamber to determine transepithelial mucosal to serosal (MS) and serosal to mucosal (SM) transport mechanisms of glucose and fructose. Both MS glucose and fructose transport, as functions of luminal sugar concentration, increased in a hyperbolic manner, suggesting the presence of mucosal transport proteins.