bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Initiation, maintenance and continuation of exclusive breast feeding: Socio-demographic and maternal correlates for abandonment
Authors: Ogbondah BO  
Published: September 2023

Background: Exclusive breast feeding (EBF) has been shown to be an important and effective feeding practice essential for infant development. Initiation, maintenance and continuation of EBF were associated with several maternal and socio-demographic characteristics which influence EBF abandonment.
Methodology: The study is a prospective cross-sectional study conducted at the child health clinic in general hospital Bonny, in Bonny Island. The study population were nursing mothers of infants six months and below. All eligible nursing mothers that presented to the clinic were enlisted into the study until the required sample size was achieved. Study tool was a structured interviewer administered questionnaire. Multinomial regression analysis was done using SPSS with statistical significance set at 0.05.
Result: Results reveal significant statistical association between duration of EBF and some maternal variables such as parity, ante-natal attendance, breast feeding counselling, birth interval, gestational age and mode of delivery. Also, significant association was seen between duration of EBF and socio-demographic characteristics such as maternal occupation, income, education and marital status.
Conclusion: Abandonment of EBF before and its continuation up to six months can be influenced by socio-demographic factors such as maternal occupation, income and marital status. Other maternal variables which also influence EBF include ante-natal care attendance including the number of times of breast-feeding counselling, mode of delivery, gestational age, parity and birth interval.
Sonographic Measurement of the Spleen in the healthy adult Nigerian Population in Enugu State, Nigeria
Authors: Obiozor AA  
Published: September 2023

Context: measurement of the spleen with ultrasound in order to obtain normal lengths (nomogram) is possible because ultrasound is devoid of ionizing radiation, it is real time, readily available, cheap easily reproducible and has high specificity and high sensitivity values.
Aim: Sonographic measurement of the spleen was carried out in 500 healthy adult Nigerians in Enugu State in order to determine the nomogram for the spleen and to correlate the measurements with the sex, age, height, weight and body mass index, so as to find out whether there is a significant difference in the size of this organ as compared to other races in the reviewed literature.
Materials and Methods: Measurement of the spleen was carried out in 500 healthy adult Nigerians comprising 195 males (39%) and 305 females (61%). The individuals were not less than twenty (20) years as at the time of data collection. The data was analyzed using SPSS statistical package version 20.0. The mean, median, variance, standard deviation of the spleen sizes were evaluated and correlated with the age, sex, weight, height and body mass index of the subjects.
Results: the mean splenic length for males was 104.1±14.5mm and 103.3±13.4mm for females with P values of 0.515. The mean splenic width was 62.9±12.8mm for males and 60.3±10.6 for females with P values of 0.013 which is significant showing that males have longer splenic width than females. There was a significant relationship between age and spleen width in both sexes with P values of 0.001. There is also a significant correlation of the spleen dimension with body mass index in both sexes with P values <0.05. Furthermore, the result shows that there was a correlation of the splenic length and width with age. There was also positive correlation of the splenic length with Body Mass Index P values 0.014, height P values 0.000 but not with subject’s weight P values 0.311.
Conclusion: There is significant correlation of the spleen width with height, weight but not with body mass index. Males have greater splenic width than females. There is also a significant correlation of the splenic length and width with age.
Computed tomographic evaluation of head injury patients in Umuahia, Abia State Nigeria
Authors: Obiozor AA  , Imo A  , Aka CK  
Published: September 2023

Background: Trauma to the scalp, skull and brain is defined as head injury. Head injury is a silent killer, especially in patients that have intracranial hemorrhage with mass effect on the brain parenchyma. It is a major health challenge worldwide especially in places where there is lack of medical insurance, ignorance and non availability of the right imaging modality. Before the advent of Computed Tomography (CT), plain radiographs had been the imaging modality available for the evaluation of head injury. Plain radiographs give limited information about head injury because apart from skull fractures, plain radiographs cannot confirm diagnosis of intracranial collections, brain contusions and others. CT scan was chosen because its four dimensional images can be reconstructed with volume rendering, bone details can be evaluated, and with the Hounsfield unit, measurements of collections, haematomas can be evaluated. There are not much reports on head injury findings in Umuahia and hence this study is set to contribute to the data on head injury in and around Umuahia.
Materials and methods: This is a retrospective study of patients with head injury that came for head CT scan examination in Umuahia from January 2022 to December 2022. Patients were scanned with 160 slides Canon Aquilion CT Scanner; patients were made to lie in supine position. 3mm axial slices were taken from the base of the skull to the vertex with reformatted images. No contrast was used because it is contraindicated in traumatic brain injury. Patients gender, age, aetiology of injury and findings of radiologists were collected as data and entered into Microsoft Excel data base and statistically analyzed using statistical package for social sciences for windows (SPSS inc., USA) version 21.0, and results tabulated.
Results: Out of the total population studied (108), 82.4% were males while 17.6% were females. Majority of the cases fell within the age group of 51yrs- 60yrs(20.4%), followed by 21yrs-30yrs(19.4%) and the least being below1yr (1.9%). Road traffic accident was the commonest cause of head injury (64%), followed by fall from height (19.4%), trauma to the head with weapons (13.9%) while glass bottle trauma and unknown causes were the least having (0.9%) and (1%) respectively. CT findings revealed that 52.1% of the cases resulted in hemorrhages, 18.6% resulted in hematoma formations, 6.5% were soft tissue injuries, 5.4% were pneumo-cephalus and 1.6% resulted in cerebral edema.
Conclusions: Computed Tomography (CT) scan is a very useful tool in the evaluation of patients with head injury. The study showed that more males were involved with head injuries than females and that the most common cause of head injury in Umuahia, Abia State, is road traffic accident with intra-cerebral haemorrhage being the commonest CT finding.
retrospective histomorphologic study of meningeal masses in Benin City, Nigeria
Authors: Udoh MO  
Published: September 2023

Background: The rarity of many histologic entities and the common discordance between histologic appearance and biologic behaviour make the diagnosis of meningeal masses challenging. Except for a few common entities like meningioma and meningeal metastases, data on the prevalence of meningeal mass lesions is limited, and most exist as case reports and small case series. This study presents the pattern of meningeal masses in our environment, in the hope of adding to knowledge and awareness of the differential diagnoses of meningeal masses in our environment.
Materials and methods: A retrospective study of meningeal masses histologically diagnosed at the the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin city, Nigeria, based on clinical, demographic and histomorphologic data obtained over a 15-year period.
Results: Total of 140 meningeal masses; 137 neoplastic and 3 non-neoplastic mass lesions. Ages ranged from 3-86 years. Mean age was 45.85 ± 18.16 years. There were 52 males and 88 females with an overall male-female ratio of 1:1.7; but non-meningothelial tumours were more common amongst males. Most common tumour was Meningioma (78.6%), then metastatic tumours (15%), non-meningothelial mesenchymal tumors (4.3%), and hypertrophic pachymeningitis (2.1%). Meningioma, hemangioblastoma and embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma were the most common tumours in children.
Conclusion: Rare histologic entities arising in the meninges, can easily be overlooked in the differential diagnosis of meningeal mass lesions, while the common ones like meningioma and meningeal metastases, are at risk of becoming ‘waste basket’ or ‘safety net’ diagnoses for meningeal tumours. There is need for continuous evaluation and audit of histological diagnoses of meningeal tumours to avoid missing the rare entities that may occasionally be encountered.
Assisted Reproduction in Kano, North-Western Nigeria: A Four-year retrospective study
Authors: Abdullahi HM  , Egwuda K  , Suleiman M  , Warshu IH  , Ladan ZF  , Dayyabu AL  , Miko M  , Yusuf A  , Sheriff A  , Jibril A  
Published: September 2023

Background: Infertility is a global problem and it poses severe physical and mental discomfort to the victims. Although considered a breakthrough, the assisted reproductive treatment of infertility such as in-vitro fertilization has been marred by a high failure rate even in technologically advanced societies.
Objective: This research was conducted to understand some of the factors that influence the outcome of in-vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF & ET) and Intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)
Material and method: It is a 4-year retrospective study (April, 2017 to March 2021) which explored information from case notes of patients who underwent IVF& ET treatment at Getwell Fertility center. Information was collected and summarized using a specially designed proforma.
Results: It was discovered in this study that of the 109 IVF treatment offered, the 2 weeks pregnancy rate was 24 (22.9%), the Live birth rate was 19 (18.29%) and miscarriage was 5 (4.5%). The remaining 77.06% had failed procedures.
Conclusion: This study showed that advanced age above 32 years, and obese level of body mass index BMI, were the independent negative predictors of IVF success.
Comparative evaluation of predictors of dental caries among adult population in a metropolitan city in North West Nigeria: A case-control study
Authors: Sotunde OA  , Iliyasu Z  , Idon PI  , Akinboboye BO  , Ikusika OF  , Makanjuola JO  , Enone LL  , Alalade O  , Igweagu CE  
Published: September 2023

Background: Dental caries as a disease entity has not been eradicated but controlled worldwide. The predictors of dental caries play a significant role in the holistic approach in the management of dental caries. The aim of this study is to evaluate the predictors of dental caries among adult population in North West Nigeria.
Material and Methods: The study populations consist of adults between 20-60 years old, with diagnosis of dental caries (case) and those without dental caries (control), both were confirmed after intraoral examination. A multistage sampling technique was employed to select the study respondents. Mouth mirror and caries explorer (dental probe) were used for intraoral examination to confirm diagnosis of dental caries. An initial calibration of the research assistants was done on intraoral examination by the principal researcher, assessing the same respondents examined by the research assistants. Data was analyzed using SPSS Statistical software version 20.0.
Results: The older age groups were 4% less likely to have caries (p <0.001, AOR= 0.96, 95% CI =0.94-0.98) while participants that took local sweet drinks were 2.8 times more predisposed. Respondents without scaling and polishing were 4.8 times more likely to have caries (p=0.01, AOR= 4.82 95% CI=1.45-16.05) while those who received oral hygiene instructions were 72% less likely to have caries (p<0.001, AOR=0.28 95% CI= 0.11-0.67).
Conclusion: Age, family history, teeth cleaning method, use of fluoride toothpaste and source of oral health maintenance were found to be independent predictors of dental caries.
Compliance with directly-observed therapy short course regimen and recovery from pulmonary tuberculosis among clients of an infectious disease hospital
Authors: Peters GE  , Ekpeyong AU  , Nabuk NM  , Peters EJ  
Published: September 2023

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the compliance with directly-observed therapy short course (DOTS)-regimen and recovery from pulmonary tuberculosis among clients of infectious Diseases Hospital, Ikot Ekpene, Nigeria.
Methods: A descriptive design was used for the study and a total of 100 pulmonary tuberculosis patients who came for medical checkup between August and September 2021 were studied using convenience sampling technique. The instrument used for data collection was a researcher constructed questionnaire with 20 items grouped into sections A and B. Section A, elicited information on the demographic data of the respondents while section B focused on the level of compliance and recovery rate of the patients. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics of percentages on frequency tables and chart while Pearson product Moment Correlation formula was used to analyse the results at 0.05 level of significance.
Results: Findings from the study revealed that majority (72.2%) of the patients had knowledge, 70.6% complied with DOTS regimen and 68.2% recovered from pulmonary tuberculosis. There was no significant relationship between patient’s knowledge of the disease and compliance with DOTS.
Conclusion: It is therefore recommended that adequate information should be given to all pulmonary tuberculosis patients on the need for strict compliance with DOTS in order to recover completely from the infection after treatment.
कालिदास एवं दाम्पत्य
Authors: यादव मोहित कुमार , सिंह सीमा 
Published: September 2023

निखिल कवि चक्रचूड़ामणि कवि कुल गुरू नाटककार कालिदास भारतीय साहित्य के जाज्वल्यमान रत्न हैं। काव्य मर्मज्ञों ने इन्हें कविता कामिनी का विलास कहा है। और प्राचीन कवियों की गणना में इन्हें कनिष्ठकाधिष्ठित बताकर उनकी तुलना में ठहराने वाले किसी अन्य प्रतिस्पर्धी कवि के अस्तित्व की सम्भावना का प्रत्याख्यान किया है-
पुरा कवीनां गणना प्रसंगेकनिष्ठिकाधिष्ठित कालिदासा।
अद्यापि तत्तुल्य कवेरभावादनामिका सार्थवती बभूव।।1
Understanding the context of distance students: Differences in on- and off-campus engagement with an online learning environment
Authors: Palmer Stuart 
Published: September 2023

While a growing number of higher education institutions are providing online modes of study for both on- and off-campus students, there are very real differences in demography, technology experiences, reasons for study, etc. between on- and off-campus students, and research into engagement with online learning environments (OLEs) indicate differences in the way that on- and off-campus students interact with OLEs. In Australia, Deakin University is a major provider of distance and online education, and provides a case study of a higher education institution with a mature and large-scale OLE implementation providing support to both on- and off-campus students. Deakin Studies Online (DSO) is Deakin University’s OLE. Based on a representative sample of 1322 responses to the 2011 DSO evaluation survey, this paper presents a large-scale, up-to-date and fine-grained investigation of impact of mode of study on the student experience of using an OLE. It was found that the primary place of access to DSO for both groups was home, mobile access to DSO seems likely to be of growing importance to both groups, and there was no statistically significant difference in the mean satisfaction ratings between on- and off-campus students for virtually all DSO functions. Off-campus students gave significantly higher mean ratings of importance (though not satisfaction) to a range of DSO functions that could be viewed as ‘value adders’ by off-campus students, enhancing their overall learning experience. For more than half of the DSO functions surveyed, on-campus students reported statistically significant higher mean frequency of access than off-campus students. The finding that elements of the institutional OLE are not universally perceived and used the same way by all students groups challenges the value of standard, one-size-fits-all institutional policies and templates relating to the use of OLEs.
Paradigms, Distance Learning, Education and Philosophy
Authors: Higgins Andrew 
Published: September 2023

The purpose of this article is to illuminate some of the difficulties experienced by distance educators in the philosophical sense. It will show distance learning practice is still a highly pragmatic enterprise that is academically successful. Despite its academic success distance learning is not accepted by the education profession generally because it challenges the most fundamental paradigm of western education, namely, the co-location in time and space of teachers, students and resources. Distance learning challenges the need for a place or institution for study, for example, a school. This appears to disrupt the social and economic imperatives of having a place to work. Finally, distance learning challenges the socialisation purposes used by society through schools to enculture young people.
Social media: A flexible collaborative learning space for teacher professional learning to integrate education for sustainability in schools
Authors: Mostafa Fariba 
Published: September 2023

The importance and need for education for sustainability (EfS) are recognised in the New Zealand Curriculum. Teachers face challenges, however, due to lack of support and professional learning about how to integrate EfS in school curricula. Social media can be used for teacher professional learning (TPL), and communication and resources can be combined to create flexible collaborative learning opportunities. However, there is little evidence to date of social media being used for TPL in EfS. Based on findings from a wider study exploring teachers’ perceptions of professional learning through social media in EfS, this paper focuses on how social media facilitates flexible TPL in EfS.
The study adopted a mixed-methods approach using questionnaires, interviews, and a combination of document analysis and interviews in three phases. Findings from Phases 1 and 2 suggest that participants see TPL through social media as offering flexibility, and being useful for collaborative learning and support for teachers. In Phase 3, these findings are used to design and establish TPL for EfS teachers using Google+ to facilitate synchronous and asynchronous interactions between teachers, EfS experts, and resources. Although participants understood the flexibility of social media for enabling collaboration and providing support opportunities in EfS, the use of social media for professional learning is particularly attractive for teachers who work in rural and remote areas..
Transforming Learning Support in ODFL: The LESS model
Authors: Brice Lynnette Patricia , Harrison Alison , Cadwallader Alan 
Published: September 2023

The purpose of this paper is to share insights gained from the discovery, design, and delivery phases of creating a three-tiered model of non-academic learning support in ODFL, “Learner Engagement & Success Services (LESS),” at Open Polytechnic | Te Pūkenga, New Zealand. Presented as a case-study, this paper discusses the early vision of the model, examines theoretical understandings related to learner support and engagement, and describes the successes and challenges faced in bringing this vision to reality. It outlines challenges related to the emergent use of learning analytics (LA) in identifying “exception” learners, the contestability of ethical use and choices of data, and the rapid evolution and devolution of commercially available solution tools. The tiered model is described as a scalable blend of human and technology enabled interventions and services, underpinned by the values of agency and equity. The component parts of this model are replicable, and its success is measurable.
Self-management skills may be key to helping Community Health Workers cope amid the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Johnson Levona J , Frantz Josè M 
Published: September 2023

Community Health Workers are a key frontline cadre in the Primary Health Care approach to patient-centred care and are well recognised as the link between the communities and the formal health sector. From the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, this cadre’s duties became more critical as they had to assist with COVID-19 screening in communities and to co-ordinate queries around medication delivery in addition to their regular duties. This chapter explores and describes how Community Health Workers coped during the pandemic and whether the skills learnt through a self-management training programme they had attended prior to the COVID-19 outbreak assisted them in managing themselves and others during the pandemic. A qualitative exploratory design using mobile instant-messaging interviews was used to explore and describe the coping methods employed by Community Health Workers and the value of self-management knowledge and skills in their personal and professional capacity during COVID-19. Five themes emerged, namely spirituality, communities of practice, self-care, taking action, and self-efficacy. Self-management skills proved very valuable in empowering Community Health Workers to cope during the epidemic and facilitated their professional and personal resourcefulness and resilience. This strategy should be considered formally as Community Health Workers sustain their contribution to COVID-19 responses, because the effort directed at improving their own-self-care will not only allow them to be maximally available for their job demands, but should also lead to them transferring these skills to the communities and colleagues they engage with daily. This may ultimately lead to a wider improvement of overall health status.
Spontaneous Hematoma of the Rectus Abdominis Muscle During Treatment with Non-vitamin K Oral Anticoagulant: A Rare Clinical Occurrence and Review of the Literature
Authors: Mulendele P. M. , Halim S. , Njie M. , Boutar M. S. , Assklou A. , Haboub M. , Benouna G. M. , Drighil A. , Habbal R. 
Published: September 2023

Vitamin k antagonist anticoagulants (VKAs) and non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (NOACs) are widely used in the treatment of non-valvular atrial fibrillation and other indications, but both classes of medications carry a risk of potentially serious bleeding. Spontaneous hematoma of the rectus abdominis muscle is a rare complication of NOAC treatment. Several risk factors, such as trauma, surgery, anticoagulation, coughing, intense rectus muscle contractions, pregnancy, etc., have been reported to cause rectus sheath hematoma. We report a case of spontaneous hematoma of the rectus abdominis muscle associated with moderate hemoperitoneum in a patient treated with NOAC for non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF). Abdominal ultrasound and computed tomography scan (CT scan) confirmed the diagnosis after clinical assessment. The treatment was generally conservative but in the case of a hemodynamically unstable patient; hemostatic procedures should be considered.