ABSTRACT
The incidence of hypertension, diabetes and overweight-obese are emerging health problems, which are increasingly prevalent globally. The objective of the study was to evaluate the prevalence and the relationship between blood pressure, blood glucose and body mass index, and the tendency of developing prehypertension and pre-diabetes in rural adults in the Niger Delta region. A cross-sectional, population-based descriptive design was used. A total sample of 250 subjects aged 20 years and older, that had resided continually in the order of 10 years and above, in the oil and gas extraction environments, were recruited. While body mass index was calculated using internationally accepted standard methods, blood pressure and fasting blood glucose level were recorded also by standard methods, classified and correlated. One-way ANOVA and Pearson’s correlation analyses were used for comparisons between groups. Result showed that although blood pressure and blood glucose measurements increase with age, males had higher prevalence of high blood pressure and raised blood glucose compared with females (p<0.05). Both sexes had almost similar distribution of high body mass index which was not statistically significantly different (p>0.05). In total, overweight coexisted among 14% of participants with normal blood glucose, 19.6% pre-diabetes, 7.6% diabetes, 24% normotensive, 15.4% pre-hypertensive and 1.8% hypertensive. Pre-diabetes coexisted among 9.8% normotensive and pre-hypertensive respectively, while 0.2% normotensive, 5.6% pre-hypertensive, and 18.2% hypertensive had combined diabetes. About 16.4% had both combined diabetes and obesity, and hypertension and obesity. Overall, 19.5% had combined hypertension, obesity and diabetes. In total, the prevalence of obesity was 16.4%, hypertension 18.2%, and diabetes 24.0%. The prevalence of coexisting prehypertension and pre-diabetes, pre-non-communicable and main non-communicable diseases was 17.5%, 21.3%, and 23.7% respectively. Data analysis revealed positive and linear correlation and statistically significantly different (p<0.001) in the varying degree of complex association of blood pressure and blood glucose as well as body mass index. In conclusion, notwithstanding, this study provides baseline population based data establishing that the populations in the oil bearing communities are at high risk of developing hypertension, diabetes, and overweight-obese together with high prevalence of combination of pre-hypertension and pre-diabetes. The coexisting of significantly high prevalence of prehypertension and pre-diabetes with raised body mass index, in particular, have a more adverse effect by progression to full hypertension and diabetes. There is the need for national programme for prevention, control or delay the burden of the risk factors for non-communicable diseases for oil and gas bearing communities.
ABSTRACT
Aims: The aim of this study was to compare the effects on skin condition of a hand cleansing protocol comprising repeated use of alcohol rub supplemented with one of two different antimicrobial hand washes, Dermol Wash (DW) and Hibiscrub (HS) when used for 5 consecutive days. Methodology: Forty females applied the alcoholic rub 24 times and used their allocated antimicrobial wash product 13 times on test days (Days 1, 3 and 5) and applied the alcoholic rub 12 times and used the antimicrobial wash 7 times on intervening days. On test centre visit days, an investigator made visual assessments of skin condition and performed corneometry and pH measurements. Transepidermal water loss (TEWL) was measured at baseline and day 5. Subjects also assessed how their skin felt compared to baseline. Results: Investigator visual assessments of skin dryness barely changed for DW but significantly deteriorated by the end of each test day for HS. Subjects' assessments of how their skin felt significantly deteriorated for HS, with five withdrawals. There was one withdrawal in the DW group. Corneometry measurements significantly improved for DW by 19% over the study, compared to a significant deterioration by 18% for HS. Apparent skin surface pH tended to increase for HS only. TEWL increased in both groups. Conclusion: The use of an appropriate hand wash product, such as DW, even in conjunction with ubiquitous alcohol rubs, can achieve significant benefits- assessed in terms of subjects’ own assessments of how their skin feels, investigator visual assessments of skin dryness and skin hydration measured by corneometry.
ABSTRACT
Este trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar o efeito de diferentes diâmetros de estacas na propagação de Lippia alba. Foram testadas estacas de 25 cm de comprimento, com diâmetros de 0,3-0,5 cm; 0,6-0,9 cm e 1-1,2 cm. Aos 30 e 60 dias após o plantio das estacas foram determinadas as características biométricas, como porcentagem de enraizamento, número de brotos, comprimento dos brotos, massas secas de brotos, estacas, raízes e total. Todos os diâmetros de estacas apresentaram altas taxas de enraizamento aos 30 dias, comprovando que a L. alba é uma espécie de fácil propagação por estaquia. A produção de mudas de L. alba deve ser realizada com estacas entre 1-1,2 cm de diâmetro, que foi superior aos outros diâmetros testados na maioria das características biométricas determinadas.
The aim of this work was to study the effect of different diameters of cuttings on the propagation and growth of Lippia alba. Cuttings of 25 cm length, with three different diameters: 0.3-0.5 cm, 0.6-0.9 cm and 1-1.2 cm, were tested. At 30 and 60 days after the planting of cuttings, the following biometric parameters were determined rooting percentage; number of buds, length of buds; dry matter of buds, cuttings and roots; and total dry matter. All diameters of cuttings presented high rates of rooting after 30 days, confirming that L. alba is an easy-to-root species. L. alba seedling production should use cuttings between 1-1.2 cm diameter, which was better than the others diameters considering most of the tested parameters.