Correlation Between the Clinical Diagnosis and Sonographic Diagnosis in Women with First-Trimester Vaginal Bleeding.

BACKGROUND: Vaginal bleeding is the most common cause of presentation at the emergency department in the first trimester. Clinical presentation helps determine the likely cause of first-trimester vaginal bleeding. However, ultrasound imaging is required to reach a definitive diagnosis. OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between clinical diagnosis and ultrasonographic findings in women with first-trimester vaginal bleeding. METHODS: A prospective longitudinal study was conducted on 94 pregnant patients with a history of bleeding per vagina (PV) in the first trimester by using transvaginal ultrasound. RESULTS: PV spotting was noted in 64.9% and heavy bleeding in 35.1%. The most common clinically associated symptom was abdominal pain (68, 72.3%), and the least common clinically associated symptom was vesicle expulsion (2.1%). The most common predisposing factor was fever (31, 33.0%). The most frequent clinical diagnosis was threatened abortion (48, 51.1%), and the least common clinical diagnosis was gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) and inevitable abortion (1, 1.1%). The most common ultrasound diagnosis at the initial scan was incomplete abortion (19.2%), while at follow-up scans, it was threatened abortion (48, 51.1%). The overall concordance between clinical diagnosis and ultrasound was 38.8%, with both complete abortion and GTD showing a concordance of 100%. The least concordance was seen in missed abortions (25%). CONCLUSION: Clinical assessment is insufficient in the identification of the cause of vaginal bleeding due to the overall low concordance rate. A combination of clinical assessment and ultrasonography is required for decision-making in every case.

Rotavirus diarrhoea hospitalizations among children under 5 years of age in Nigeria, 2011-2016.

BACKGROUND: The high burden of rotavirus acute gastroenteritis (AGE) is well documented among children under 5 years of age, with the majority of mortality occurring in developing countries. Nigeria ranked second worldwide in the number of rotavirus deaths in 2013. As Nigeria plans to introduce rotavirus vaccine soon, a pre-vaccine documentation of rotavirus disease burden is necessary to determine vaccine impact. METHODS: Routine rotavirus surveillance was conducted during 2011-2016 in 3 sentinel sites in Nigeria using the standard WHO protocol. Children under 5 years of age hospitalized for acute gastroenteritis were enrolled and demographic, clinical and outcome data were collected. A stool sample was subsequently obtained and tested for human rotavirus antigen using the Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: 2694 children with acute gastroenteritis were enrolled during January 2011 to December 2016; of these, 1242 (46%) tested positive for rotavirus. Among the rotavirus positive cases, 66% and 94% were younger than 12 months and 24 months respectively. Marked peaks in rotavirus positivity were seen in January of each year. Vomiting, and use of oral and intravenous fluids occurred more often in rotavirus positive cases as compared to rotavirus negative cases. CONCLUSION: The high prevalence of rotavirus disease highlights the need for urgent introduction of rotavirus vaccine in Nigeria. Additionally, this study provides pre-vaccine introduction disease-burden data that will serve as a baseline for rotavirus vaccine impact-assessment once vaccine has been introduced in the national immunization program.

Genetic Variations in Bionomics of Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae) Mosquito Population in Minna, North Central Nigeria.

The need to have an improved knowledge on the bioecology of Culex quinquefasciatus, a prerequisite in the development of cost-effective control strategies, has informed the present preliminary investigation to put in better perspective variations that exist in the egg rafts of the species. Freshly laid egg rafts were collected and incubated at ambient temperature in well-labeled plastic trays. The results showed overall inconsistency in all indices monitored for the egg rafts. Generally, survivorship was high for the species. All immature stage and adult parameters measured varied significantly among the egg rafts and between/within sexes of the species. Therefore, this study suggests the presence of inherent variation in the bionomics of egg rafts of C. quinquefasciatus, probably influenced by the environment and hence underscores the need for additional studies to further elucidate the roles of genetics and environment in vectorial competence of the species, in order to develop robust sustainable mosquito vector control protocols.

Enhanced Bioremediation of Soil Artificially Contaminated with Petroleum Hydrocarbons after Amendment with Capra aegagrus hircus (Goat) Manure.

This study was carried out to evaluate the biostimulant potentials of Capra aegagrus hircus manure for bioremediation of crude oil contaminated soil (COCS) under tropical conditions. 1 kg of COCS sample was amended with 0.02 kg of C. a. hircus manure and monitored at 14-day intervals for total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH), nutrient content, and changes in microbial counts. At the end of the study period, there was 62.08% decrease in the concentration of TPH in the amended sample compared to 8.15% decrease in the unamended sample, with significant differences (P < 0.05) in TPH concentrations for both samples at different time intervals. Similarly, there was a gradual decrease in the concentrations of total organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in both samples. The culturable hydrocarbon-utilizing bacteria (CHUB) increased steadily from 8.5 × 10(5) cfu/g to 2.70 × 10(6) cfu/g and from 8.0 × 10(5) cfu/g to 1.78 × 10(6) cfu/g for both samples. Acinetobacter, Achromobacter, Bacillus, Flavobacterium, Klebsiella, Micrococcus, Pseudomonas, and Staphylococcus were isolated from amended sample with Pseudomonas being the predominant isolated bacterial genus. This study demonstrated that C. a. hircus manure is a good biostimulant, which enhanced the activities of indigenous hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria resulting in significant decrease in TPH concentration of COCS.