Exploring COVID-19 from the perspectives of healthcare personnel in Malawi.

Background: The Coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) brought many healthcare systems around the world to the point of collapse all the while putting the lives of healthcare workers at risk. This study forgoes an institutional look at healthcare to center individual healthcare personnel in Malawi to better understand (1) how the worldviews of healthcare workers impact their work in the context of COVID-19, (2) how COVID-19 impacted healthcare workers, and (3) the unique conditions faced by being a healthcare worker in a low-income nation.

Methods: This research uses a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to qualitative methodology involving in-depth interviews ( = 15) with healthcare workers, traditional healers, and hospital leadership.

Clopidogrel-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura: a case report.

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is a rare variant of thrombotic microangiopathy. We report a case of TTP in a Nigerian chronic kidney disease (CKD) patient who was previously on clopidogrel. The features of TTP resolved soon after clopidogrel was withdrawn.

[Cross-cultural adaptation of a tool for measuring nurses’ opinions and beliefs with regard to continuing professional development: French-Canadian version of Q-PDN].

Introduction: The continuing professional development of nurses remains a key issue within the health context.

Context: The Questionnaire - Professional Development Nurses (Q-PDN) was developed to understand the opinions and beliefs of nurses regarding continuing professional development is essential to improving the quality of care and optimizing job satisfaction. With this in mind, researchers from the Netherlands developed the Questionnaire – Professional Development Nurses (Q-PDN).

Awareness, Use, and Opinions of Individual Fit Testing of Hearing Protection Devices Among Practicing Michigan Occupational and Environmental Medicine Association Health Care Providers.

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the awareness, opinions, and use of individual fit testing of hearing protection devices (HPDs) among occupational medicine practitioners.

Methods: Members of the Michigan Occupational and Environmental Medicine Association completed a 21-question survey on individual fit testing of HPDs.

Results: The survey response rate was 67%, 53% reported having heard of individual fit testing of HPDs, and 24% reported that their clinic/site performed the testing.

The importance of chronic pain education and awareness amongst occupational safety and health professionals.

Occupational safety and health (OSH) professionals are often the point of contact for health and safety policies derived in the workplace, and the handling of incidents in their aftermath. As chronic pain affects 20% of people, many pain-awareness campaigns and educational activities target healthcare professionals. However, initiatives directed toward OSH professionals are also important to aid in prevention and rehabilitation efforts.

A curious case of persistently relapsing hyperkalemia in an ESRD patient on maintenance hemodialysis following bioprosthetic aortic valve replacement - a potential case for the use of the new agent, patiromer, for hyperkalemia management.

Hyperkalemia is not uncommon in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on maintenance hemodialysis, often related to dietary indiscretion, following the prolonged inter-dialytic weekend interval in patients on thrice weekly hemodialysis treatments, and sometimes the adverse effects of medications such as RAAS blocking agents. Moreover, hyperkalemia following extended cardiac surgery can result from the use of high-potassium containing cardioplegic solutions used during cardiopulmonary bypass. Nevertheless, different from the foregoing, in the nephrology literature, there have been very rare reports of potentially life-threatening hyperkalemia following cardiac valve replacement procedure.

The Canadian minimum dataset for chronic low back pain research: a cross-cultural adaptation of the National Institutes of Health Task Force Research Standards.

Background: To better standardize clinical and epidemiological studies about the prevalence, risk factors, prognosis, impact and treatment of chronic low back pain, a minimum data set was developed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Task Force on Research Standards for Chronic Low Back Pain. The aim of the present study was to develop a culturally adapted questionnaire that could be used for chronic low back pain research among French-speaking populations in Canada.

Methods: The adaptation of the French Canadian version of the minimum data set was achieved according to guidelines for the cross-cultural adaptation of self-reported measures (double forward-backward translation, expert committee, pretest among 35 patients with pain in the low back region).

Pleuritic chest pain from portal hypertensive gastropathy in ESRD patient with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease misdiagnosed as pericarditis.

Portal hypertensive gastropathy (PHG) is a gastric mucosal lesion complicating portal hypertension, with higher prevalence in decompensated cirrhosis. PHG can sometimes complicate autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) due to the presence of multiple liver cysts. Besides, PHG is known to present as chest pain, with or without hematemesis.

Medication errors with antituberculosis therapy in an inpatient, academic setting: forgotten but not gone.

What Is Known And Objective: Tuberculosis, an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis, has significant public health implications. Despite the decreasing prevalence of tuberculosis cases and the availability of well-established treatment guidelines, errors with antituberculosis medications remain a concern as clinician experience with the infection has waned and the goal of eradicating tuberculosis has remained unfulfilled. Whereas inappropriate use of other anti-infective classes has been extensively studied, the evaluation of medication errors associated with antituberculosis therapy has been limited to a small number of studies conducted more than two decades ago.

The prevalence of chronic kidney disease in apparently healthy retired subjects in asaba, Nigeria.

Background: The prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is increasing globally. Studies on this subject, especially in the older age groups are difficult to come by in developing countries like Nigeria.

Aim: The aim of this study, therefore, is to estimate the prevalence of CKD in retired and elderly Nigerian subjects.

Prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen seropositivity among HIV-infected and non-infected individuals in Nnewi, Nigeria.

Background: Co-infection of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) is common as both viruses share common routes of transmission. HIV significantly affects the natural history of HBV, hence the need to determine the prevalence of co-infection.

Materials And Methods: This was a retrospective study between 2005 and 2009, in which is a total of 2018 subjects who reported at our University Teaching Hospital blood bank and human immunodeficiency virus clinic were studied.

Dyslipidemia in Nigeria: prevalence and pattern.

Background: Dyslipidemia is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Data are scanty on the prevalence and pattern of dyslipidemia in Nigeria. However, some studies on the subject are now becoming available.

Armillifer armillatus infection.

We report a case of human pentastomiasis in a 70-year-old retired long-distance driver/farmer whose diagnosis was made incidentally while being investigated for a 1-month history of cough and abdominal pain. The chest X-ray revealed multiple comma-shaped and rounded opacities in keeping with Armillifer infection, most likely Armillifer armillatus. The patient made an uneventful recovery after a 10-day course of mebendazole (an antihelminthic) tablet and ciprofloxacin (antibiotic) capsules and was discharged home.

Evaluation of the effect of duration of diabetes mellitus on peripheral neuropathy using the United Kingdom screening test scoring system, bio-thesiometry and aesthesiometry.

Background And Objectives: Risk factors predisposing to foot ulceration in diabetic subjects are multiple. Long duration of diabetes mellitus is a major risk factor, likewise peripheral neuropathy (PN), which globally, is recognized as the commonest risk factor for foot disease in diabetic subjects.

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of duration of diabetes mellitus on peripheral neuropathy using the United Kingdom Screening Test (UKST) Scoring System, Bio-thesiometry and Aesthesiometry, in Nigerian diabetic subjects without current or previous foot ulceration.

Pattern of medical admissions at the Federal Medical Centre, Asaba-a two year review.

Objective: A two-year retrospective evaluation of the pattern of medical admissions at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria.

Methodology: Case notes of all admissions and deaths in the medical wards between November 2005 and October 2007 were retrieved and reviewed. The mean, standard deviation and percentages of relevant data were derived and presented in simple descriptive statistics.

Are the symptoms of diabetic peripheral neuropathy in Nigerian patients objective? An evaluation using the United Kingdom Screening Test (UKST) and Bio-Thesiometry.

Background: Symptoms suggestive of peripheral neuropathy (PN) in diabetes mellitus (DM) do not always indicate presence ofunderlying PN.

Objective: A pioneering study among Nigerian diabetic subjects to evaluate the objectivity of their symptoms of PN using two objective diagnostic instruments for PN the United Kingdom Screening Test (UKST) and Bio-Thesiometry.

Subjects And Methods: One hundred and twenty diabetic participants and a similar number of non-diabetic controls were screened for symptoms of PN using the UKST symptoms score and subsequently separated into two groups those with symptoms ofPN and those without.

Evaluation of "care of the foot" as a risk factor for diabetic foot ulceration: the role of internal physicians.

Background And Objectives: Several risk factors predispose the diabetic patient to foot ulceration, including "inadequate care of the foot". This risk factor for foot ulceration has not been previously evaluated among Nigeria diabetic patients and is the objective of this study.

Subjects And Methods: One hundred and twenty (120) diabetic patients with and without symptoms of peripheral neuropathy receiving care at the medical outpatient department (MOPD) and the diabetic clinic of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital Nnewi were recruited consecutively as they presented.

Prevalence of dyslipidaemia in apparently healthy professionals in Asaba, South South Nigeria.

Background: Hypercholesterolaemia is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD) especially in industrialized societies. Coronary heart disease is becoming an increasing cause of death even in the developing world.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of dyslipidaemia in apparently healthy professionals in a developing economy.

Is asymptomatic peripheral neuropathy present in Nigerian diabetic patients? An assessment using the United Kingdom screening test (UKST) and bio-thesiometry.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is commonly complicated by peripheral neuropathy (PN). Symptoms suggestive of peripheral neuropathy (PN) in diabetes mellitus (DM) do not always indicate presence of underlying PN, while absence of symptoms does not rule out presence of underlying PN. To determine the prevalence of asymptomatic PN in diabetic patients using two methods--the United Kingdom Screening Test (UKST) and Bio-Thesiometry.