Etiologic Pattern, Severity, and Outcome of Pericardial Effusion Among Children Seen Over Ten Years at a Tertiary Hospital in Sokoto, Northwest Nigeria.

Introduction: Pericardial effusion (PE) is an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the pericardial space, which, if severe, is associated with high mortality. The causes are diverse, including infective and non-infective. Few studies have looked at the spectrum of severity and causes in Northern Nigeria.

Combined toxicity of perfluoroalkyl substances and microplastics on the sentinel species Daphnia magna: Implications for freshwater ecosystems.

Persistent chemicals from industrial processes, particularly perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), have become pervasive in the environment due to their persistence, long half-lives, and bioaccumulative properties. Used globally for their thermal resistance and repellence to water and oil, PFAS have led to widespread environmental contamination. These compounds pose significant health risks with exposure through food, water, and dermal contact.

Single-stage Open Lobectomy and Modified Ravitch Procedure in an Infant with Coexisting Severe Pectus Excavatum and Congenital Cystic Adenomatous Malformation.

Coexisting congenital cystic adenomatous malformation of the lungs and severe pectus excavatum (PE) is an uncommon presentation that poses significant management challenges. Conventionally managed in a staged manner, there are increasing reports of superior outcomes with single-staged concurrent repair with minimally invasive techniques (video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery [VATS] and minimally invasive repair of PE [MIRPE]). The outcome of a single-stage open repair for both anomalies has not been previously reported to the best of our search.

Examining Public Sector Availability and Supply Chain Management Practices for Malaria Commodities: Findings From Northern Nigeria.

Background: Nigeria accounts for substantial proportions of global malaria infections and deaths, with children aged younger than 5 years being the most affected group. This suggests that access to lifesaving malaria interventions could be suboptimal, especially at public health facilities where most rural dwellers seek health care. We conducted this study to ascertain if public health facilities have the commodities and the robust supply chain management (SCM) system required to deliver malaria interventions to children younger than 5 years.

Evaluation of traditional and machine learning approaches for modeling volatile fatty acid concentrations in anaerobic digestion of sludge: potential and challenges.

This study evaluates models for predicting volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations in sludge processing, ranging from classical statistical methods (Gaussian and Surge) to diverse machine learning algorithms (MLAs) such as Decision Tree, XGBoost, CatBoost, LightGBM, Multiple linear regression (MLR), Support vector regression (SVR), AdaBoost, and GradientBoosting. Anaerobic bio-methane potential tests were carried out using domestic wastewater treatment primary and secondary sludge. The tests were monitored over 40 days for variations in pH and VFA concentrations under different experimental conditions.

The influence of various chemical oxygen demands on microbial fuel cells performance using leachate as a substrate.

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs), hailed as a promising technology, hold the potential to combat various wastewater pollutants while simultaneously converting their chemical energy into electricity through biocatalysts. This study explores the applicability of a dual compartment MFC (DC-MFC) under varying conditions, targeting the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) from landfill leachate and electricity generation. In this setup, anaerobic sludge from a wastewater treatment plant serves as the inoculum in the anode compartment of the MFC, with a Nafion117 membrane acting as the separator between MFC units.

Assessment of Legibility of Handwritten Prescriptions and Adherence to W.H.O. Prescription Writing Guidelines in Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital Zaria - Kaduna State, Nigeria.

The issues of incorrectness and incompleteness for written prescriptions may result to dispensing errors and unintended outcomes of care. The objective of the study was to assess the legibility of handwritten prescriptions and adherence to W.H.

Imperatives of Mathematical Model of Arterial Blood Dynamics for Interpretation of Doppler Velocimetry: A Narrative Review.

Clinicians frequently study arterial Doppler velocimetric waveforms depicted by Doppler sonography of the kidneys, the heart, the brain, and the feto-maternal circulation to assess the well-being of the aforementioned vital organs. The waveform interpretation of the Doppler indices can be studied using a mathematical model. The developed models serve as teaching tools and for easy comprehension of the regulatory mechanism of the organs.

Update on Wild Poliovirus Type 1 Outbreak - Southeastern Africa, 2021-2022.

Since the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) began in 1988, the number of wild poliovirus (WPV) cases has declined by >99.99%. Five of the six World Health Organization (WHO) regions have been certified free of indigenous WPV, and WPV serotypes 2 and 3 have been declared eradicated globally (1).

Routine Ultrasonography for Intensified Tuberculosis Case Finding in High Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Tuberculosis (TB) Burdened Countries: A Proposed Frame Work.

Sonography has proven to be valuable diagnostic imaging equipment in the work-up of patients infected with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and tuberculosis (TB) coinfection. An extensive literature search was conducted between 1994 and 2021 for original peer-reviewed articles in the English language on ultrasound application in the diagnosis of extrapulmonary TB (EPTB), ultrasound application in infectious diseases in resource-constrained settings, point-of-care ultrasound in resource-scarce settings among others, across various electronic databases including MEDLINE, PubMed, POPLINE, Scopus and Google Scholar, among others and some gray literature were also retrieved. Emerging themes were identified by their recurrence in literature.

Classification of Breast Cancer Histopathological Images Using DenseNet and Transfer Learning.

Breast cancer is one of the most common invading cancers in women. Analyzing breast cancer is nontrivial and may lead to disagreements among experts. Although deep learning methods achieved an excellent performance in classification tasks including breast cancer histopathological images, the existing state-of-the-art methods are computationally expensive and may overfit due to extracting features from in-distribution images.

Thoracic impalement injury by the barrel of a locally fabricated gun in 2 patients: case report.

Thoracic impalement injuries are uncommon among civilians. When it occurs, it´s usually a severe and dramatic form of chest injury that requires immediate operative intervention. The common mechanisms usually encountered involves either a patient falling from a height onto a pole, being driven into a pole following ejection during a road traffic accident or being impaled when a spear/an arrow is thrown at the patient or from long fragments following a blast.

On-Demand Charging Management Model and Its Optimization for Wireless Renewable Sensor Networks.

Nowadays, wireless energy transfer (WET) is a new strategy that has the potential to essentially resolve energy and lifespan issues in a wireless sensor network (WSN). We investigate the process of a wireless energy transfer-based wireless sensor network via a wireless mobile charging device (WMCD) and develop a periodic charging scheme to keep the network operative. This paper aims to reduce the overall system energy consumption and total distance traveled, and increase the ratio of charging device vacation time.

A Brief Insight on Magnetic Resonance Conditional Neurosurgery Robots.

The brain is a delicate organ in the human body that requires extreme care. Brain-related diseases are unavoidable. Perse, neurosurgery is a complicated procedure that demands high precision and accuracy.

Use of geographic information systems web mapping application to support active case search to guide public health and social measures in the context of COVID-19 in Zimbabwe: a preliminary report to guide replication of methods in similar resource settings.

Introduction: the new coronavirus (COVID-19) that emerged from Wuhan, Hubei Province of China in December 2019, causing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has fast spread across the entire globe, with most countries struggling to slow and reduce the spread of the virus through rapid screening, testing, isolation, case management, contact tracing, implementing social distancing and lockdowns. This has been shown to be a major factor in countries that have been successful in containing COVID-19 transmission. Early detection of cases is important, and the use of geospatial technology can support to detect and easily identify potential hotspots that will require timely response.

The Effect of Real Time Integrated Supportive Supervision Visits on the Performance of Health Workers in Zambia.

The use of online Integrated Supportive Supervision (ISS) is aimed to improve the quality of services provided by front line health workers. This work is aimed to document the effects of ISS on the performance of health workers in Zambia using selected key surveillance and immunization process indicators. ISS data on WHO ODK server of all Integrated Supportive Supervisory (ISS) visits that were conducted in Zambia between 1 January 2018 to 30 September 2018 were analysed to determine the Percentage point difference between the first and the most recent ISS visits in order to determine whether an observed gap during first ISS visit had persisted during the most recent ISS visit.

Implementation of Mobile Phone Data Collection in the Conduct EPI Comprehensive Review in East and Southern African Countries.

Mobile phone data collection tools are increasingly becoming very usable collecting, collating and analysing data in the health sector. In this paper, we documented the experiences with mobile phone data collection, collation and analysis in 5 countries of the East and Southern African, using Open Data Kit (ODK), where questionnaires were designed and coded on an XML form, uploaded and data collected using Android-Based mobile phones, with a web-based system to monitor data in real-time during EPI comprehensive review. The ODK interface supports in real-time monitoring of the flow of data, detection of missing or incomplete data, coordinate location of all locations visited, embedded charts for basic analysis.

Polymorphism Analysis of and from Isolates in Northwestern Nigeria Revealed the Major Markers Associated with Antimalarial Resistance.

Suspicion of failure in the effectiveness of artemisinin-based combination therapies (currently the first-line treatment of malaria, worldwide) is leading to the unofficial use of alternative antimalarials, including chloroquine and sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine, across northern Nigeria. To facilitate evidence-based resistance management, antimalarial resistance mutations were investigated in () and (), in isolates from Kano, northwestern Nigeria. Out of the 88 samples genotyped for N86Y mutation using PCR/restriction fragment length polymorphism, one sample contained the 86Y mutation (86Y = 1.

Identification of Mutations in Antimalarial Resistance Gene from Isolates in Kano, Nigeria.

Malaria control relies on first-line treatments that use artemisinin-combination therapies (ACT). Unfortunately, mutations in the gene result in delayed parasite clearance. Research on what is causing ACT failure is non-existent in northwestern Nigeria.

Impact of physical activity and traumatic exposure on occurrence of gestational hypertension: a survey of pregnant women in an armed-conflict region in Nigeria.

Objective: To compare physical activity level and traumatic exposure between normotensive and hypertensive pregnant women in an armed conflict region of Nigeria.

Methods: 130 normotensives and hypertensive pregnant women comprising of 65 participants per group participated in the study. Harvard Trauma Questionnaire and Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire were used to assess traumatic events and physical activity respectively.

Mandibular reconstruction with autogenous non-vascularised bone graft.

Background: Reconstruction of mandibular defects can be challenging because an acceptable aesthetic and functional outcome must be achieved simultaneously.

Aim: To evaluate the pattern of mandibulectomy and reconstruction materials used in the reconstruction of mandibular defects.

Materials And Methods: This was a retrospective study of mandibulectomies with reconstruction in Sokoto, Nigeria between 2012 and 2016.