Impact of 10-Day Fulbright Specialist Program and Project Pink Blue Education Sessions on Medical Oncology Knowledge Among Physicians Who Treat Cancer in Nigeria.

Despite an estimated population of over 201 million and over 115,950 yearly diagnosed new cases of cancer, Nigeria does not have dedicated medical oncologists. Most oncology care is delivered through surgical and clinical oncologists, who are trained in both radiation and medical oncology and they number fewer than 50 in the country. With a limited number of oncology professionals, cancer patients in Nigeria experience poor health outcomes, with an estimated cancer mortality rate of 75,000 deaths per year.

Negative Marking and the Student Physician--A Descriptive Study of Nigerian Medical Schools.

Background: There is considerable debate about the two most commonly used scoring methods, namely, the formula scoring (popularly referred to as negative marking method in our environment) and number right scoring methods. Although the negative marking scoring system attempts to discourage students from guessing in order to increase test reliability and validity, there is the view that it is an excessive and unfair penalty that also increases anxiety. Feedback from students is part of the education process; thus, this study assessed the perception of medical students about negative marking method for multiple choice question (MCQ) examination formats and also the effect of gender and risk-taking behavior on scores obtained with this assessment method.

Transition planning for youth with sickle cell disease: embedding neuropsychological assessment into comprehensive care.

Objective: Sickle cell disease (SCD) conveys a high risk of neuropsychological impairment due to chronic anemia, hypoxemia, cerebrovascular ischemia and stroke, in addition to causing pain and other biomedical complications. Few families accessed neuropsychological testing via the traditional referral system. In this paper, we describe a successful alternative strategy for addressing cognitive and behavioral needs of youth with SCD.

Inhaled carbon monoxide reduces leukocytosis in a murine model of sickle cell disease.

Carbon monoxide (CO) has anti-inflammatory properties. We previously reported that acute treatments with inhaled CO inhibit vascular inflammation and hypoxia-induced vasoocclusion in sickle cell disease mouse models. Therefore, we hypothesized that chronic CO inhalation would decrease vascular inflammation and organ pathology in a sickle cell disease mouse model.