Tissue Necrosis: A Burden of Pentazocine Abuse in South East Nigeria.

Background: Tissue necrosis from pentazocine abuse is becoming a burden in our environment. Pentazocine is an opioid of the benzomorphan class. It is commonly used for post-traumatic and postoperative pain and vaso-occlusive pain of sickle cell disease (SCD).

Experience with Abdominoplasty at National Orthopedic Hospital, Enugu, South-East, Nigeria.

Background: Abdominoplasty is a body contouring surgical procedure designed to improve the contour of the lower trunk. It is one the most commonly performed cosmetic procedures in developed countries. In developing nations such as ours, it constitutes a small percentage of aesthetic procedures performed.

Nerve conduction study findings and their predictors in clinically diagnosed patients with carpal tunnel syndrome in a Saudi population.

Background: Despite the reports of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) being commonplace in Saudi Arabia, there is scarcity of cross-sectional or prospective studies detailing the profile of nerve conduction study (NCS) findings in patients with CTS.

Objective: The study aimed to evaluate the neurophysiologic profile of CTS with the view to finding the determinant of abnormal findings in clinically diagnosed cases of CTS in a population of Saudis.

Methods: Nerve conduction study was performed on consecutive patients with clinically diagnosed CTS.

Paediatric burn injuries in Enugu, South-East Nigeria: A 7-year multi-centre retrospective review.

Unlabelled: Burn injuries contribute significantly to childhood morbidity and mortality. This study was designed to document the pattern of presentation and outcome of pediatric burn injury in Enugu.

Methods: All children with burn injuries over a 7-year period (June 2011 to May 2018) and were managed at three tertiary health institutions, were studied.

Study of electroencephalography in people with generalized epilepsy in a Saudi population.

Background: Electroencephalography (EEG) remains a vital tool in the diagnostic evaluation of patients with epilepsy (GE), however, there is scarcity of information on the yield and potential clinical variables that are associated with EEG abnormalities in people with GE.

Objective: The study aimed to evaluate the yield and pattern of EEG abnormalities in patients with GE with the view to determining factors that are independently associated with abnormal EEG in them.

Methods: We characterized EEG features and evaluated associated factors in a sample of people with GE in a Saudi population.

Experience with use of improvised negative pressure wound therapy in the management of wounds with exposed bone.

Wounds with exposed bone pose a significant challenge in healing. Negative pressure wound therapy has simplified reconstructive options. In economically constrained regions, this has been modified with materials that are affordable.

Physician burnout in Nigeria: a multicentre, cross-sectional study.

Background: Healthcare workers are a burnout-prone occupational group and the prevalence is particularly high among physicians. With the prevailing low physician-patient ratio in Nigeria which has worsened with the recent wave of physician emigration, among other socio-economic constraints; a setting for high physician burnout may have been nurtured. Our survey set out to determine the prevalence of burnout among physicians practicing in Nigeria, ascertain the factors that were associated with the development of burnout and evaluate the respondents' perceived impact of physician burnout on patient safety.

APOE polymorphism is associated with risk of severe sepsis in surgical patients.

Objective: To test for an association between apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotypes and the occurrence of severe sepsis in an elective surgical cohort.

Design: Prospective, observational, single cohort study.

Setting: Sixteen-bed surgical intensive care unit (ICU) at a university hospital.

Combined effects of temperature changes and radiation absorption on living tissue.

Background: The need for the development of criteria for the referral of patients for radiographic examinations, especially in the face of the results of separate studies on temperature and radiation effects, formed the background to this study. The aim of this study is to determine the possible consequences of low dose radiation to living tissue in the presence of elevated temperatures, with a view to developing referral criteria for patients scheduled for radiodiagnostic examinations.

Method: A two part procedure in the form of x-irradiation of water phantom at temperatures ranging from 25 and 45 degrees Celsius, to assess absorbed dose with temperature variation, as well as histological study of living tissue extracted from the skin and lungs of experimental animals, exposed to x-radiation at kilovoltage range between 50 and 90 and temperature values between 25 and 45 degrees Celsius.