Knowledge, fear, and willingness to accept covid-19 vaccine among residents of Gere lga, Borno state, Nigeria

Background: Coronavirus (COVID-19) which emerged from Wuhan, Hubei province, China has gained tremendous attention. It has caused huge morbidity and mortality as well as a visible psychological burden on communities across the globe. Knowledge, fear, and willingness to accept COVID-19 Vaccine are reported to be serious factors in the fight against the disease in many communities for which Jere LGA, Maiduguri, Borno State, may not be an exception. Objectives: To determine the Knowledge, fear, and willingness to accept the COVID-19 Vaccine among the residents of Jere LGA, Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. Methodology:Adescriptive cross-sectional study design was adopted for this study. Atotal of 384 questionnaires were administered in this study. However, only 367 questionnaires were retrieved for analysis. The sampling technique adopted for this study was multistate sampling techniques. Results: The findings of the study revealed that the majority (67.8%) of the respondents had poor knowledge of the COVID-19 vaccine. On the question of COVID-19 fear, 50.1% had moderate fear. Regarding the vaccination status of the respondents, 93.5% did not receive the COVID-19 vaccine jab and 6.5% did receive the vaccine as of the time of this study. Of the 367 respondents, 78.2% were unwilling to accept the COVID-19 vaccine, if made available to them. Conclusions: The study concluded that there is poor knowledge, and moderate fear and the majority of respondents were unwilling to receive or accept the COVID-19 vaccine in the study area. Therefore, this study recommends a comprehensive awareness campaign on the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine at the community level.

Diabetic Retinopathy: An Overview of Treatments.

Diabetic retinopathy (DR), substantially impacts the quality of life of diabetic patients, it remains, in developed countries, the leading cause of vision loss in working-age adults (20-65 years). Currently, about 90 million diabetics suffer from DR. DR is a silent complication that in its early stages is asymptomatic. However, over time, chronic hyperglycemia can lead to sensitive retinal damage, leading to fluid accumulation and retinal haemorrhage (HM), resulting in cloudy or blurred vision. It can, therefore, lead to severe visual impairment or even blindness if left untreated. It can be classified into nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). NPDR is featured with intraretinal microvasculature changes and can be further divided into mild, moderate, and severe stages that may associate with diabetic macular oedema (DME). PDR involves the formation and growth of new blood vessels (retinal neovascularisation) under low oxygen conditions. Early identification and treatment are key priorities for reducing the morbidity of diabetic eye disease. In the early stages of DR, a tight control of glycemia, blood pressure, plasma lipids, and regular monitoring can help prevent its progression to more advanced stages. In advanced stages, the main treatments of DR include intraocular injections of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) antibodies, laser treatments, and vitrectomy. The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the published literature pertaining to the latest progress in the treatment of DR.

Causes of blindness in children attending a school for the blind in Mali.

INTRODUCTION: Among the 1.4 million blind children in the world, 300,000 live in Africa. The causes of blindness vary from one country to another. The purpose of our study was to report the causes of childhood blindness and visual impairment in children attending the only school for the blind in Mali (National Institute for the Blind in Mali, INAM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: All children attending the INAM were examined. Blindness was defined as visual acuity less than 3/60 (20/400 or 0.05). Visual impairment was moderate when the visual acuity was less than 6/18 (20/70 or 0.30), but greater than or equal to 6/60 (20/200 or 0.1), and severe when visual acuity was less than 6/60 (20/200 or 0.1), but greater than or equal to 3/60 (20/400 or 0.05). RESULTS: The study included a total of 104 children. The average age of our patients was 12 years with a M/F sex-ratio of 1.12. In all, 85.6 % of the children were blind and 14.4 % visually impaired. The main causes of blindness were corneal opacities (26 %), and whole globe lesions and conditions (19.2 %). Ametropia accounted for 60 % of visual impairment. DISCUSSION: According to WHO, corneal and retinal damage are the leading cause of blindness (50.6 %) in children. In our series, corneal diseases were the leading cause, following by damage to the whole globe. CONCLUSION: The results of our study indicate that avoidable and treatable causes of childhood blindness are the leading causes of blindness of children at INAM.

Knowledge of venomous snakes, snakebite first aid, treatment, and prevention among clinicians in northern Nigeria: a cross-sectional multicentre study.

Background: Snakebite envenoming causes considerable morbidity and mortality in northern Nigeria. The clinician's knowledge of snakebite impacts outcome. We assessed clinicians' knowledge of snakebite envenoming to highlight knowledge and practice gaps for possible intervention to improve snakebite outcomes. Methods: This was a cross-sectional multicentre study of 374 doctors selected from the accident and emergency, internal medicine, family medicine/general outpatient, paediatrics and surgery departments of nine tertiary hospitals in northern Nigeria using a multistage sampling technique. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess their sociodemographics, knowledge of common venomous snakes, snakebite first aid, snake antivenom treatment and prevention. Results: The respondents' mean age was 35.6±5.8 y. They were predominantly males (70.6%) from urban hospitals (71.9%), from the northwest region (35.3%), in family medicine/general outpatient departments (33.4%), of <10 years working experience (66.3%) and had previous experience in snakebite management (78.3%). Although their mean overall knowledge score was 70.2±12.6%, only 52.9% had an adequate overall knowledge score. Most had adequate knowledge of snakebite clinical features (62.3%), first aid (75.7%) and preventive measures (97.1%), but only 50.8% and 25.1% had adequate knowledge of snake species that caused most injuries/deaths and anti-snake venom treatment, respectively. Overall knowledge predictors were ≥10 y working experience (odd ratio [OR] 1.72 [95% confidence interval {CI} 1.07 to 2.76]), urban hospital setting (OR 0.58 [95% CI 0.35 to 0.96]), surgery department (OR 0.44 [95% CI 0.24 to 0.81]), northwest/north-central region (OR 2.36 [95% CI 1.46 to 3.82]) and previous experience in snakebite management (OR 2.55 [95% CI 1.49 to 4.36]). Conclusions: Overall knowledge was low. Improvements in overall knowledge may require clinicians' exposure to snakebite management and training of accident and emergency clinicians in the region.

Testicular and paratesticular non- neoplastic lesions in university of maiduguri teaching hospital: a 10-year retrospective review

Objectives: The present study is undertaken to describe the spectrum of histopathological features and age distribution of non-neoplastic testicular and paratesticular lesions in the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH). Materials and methods: A retrospective descriptive study of 70 testicular and paratesticular nonneoplastic lesions was conducted over a period of 10 years; between January-2005 and December2014 in the Department of Histopathology, UMTH. Histopathological examination was done after routine processing and staining with Haematoxylin and Eosin. Special stain (Ziehl-Neelsen stain) was done to confirm the presence of acid fast bacilli in cases of tuberculous epididymoorchitis. Results: There were of which (24.3%) followed by testicular torsion and infarction (14.3%). The youngest patient was 2 years old and the oldest was 80 years of age. The highest incidence occurred in the age range of 30 ­ 59 years with a total of 25 cases representing 35.7%. The lowest incidence was observed in the elderly (= 60 years) with a total of 21 cases (30%). Conclusion: This study shows that inflammatory disorders are the predominant causes of the testicular and paratesticular non-neoplastic lesions capable of interfering with fertility and mimicking malignancy. There is also the need to emphasise the necessity of proper evaluation and treatment of acute orchitis and microabscess to avoid unnecessary orchidectomy.70 cases of non-neoplastic testicular and paratesticular lesions the majority were inflammatory disorders accounting for 53 cases (75.7%). They included acute orchitis (4.3%), tuberculosis (12.9%), schistosomiasis (8.6%), hydrocoele (24.3%), chronic orchitis (10.0%), epididymal cyst (11.4%) and tumoral calcinosis (4.3%). Other categories of the lesions included congenital abnormalities (10.0%) and traumatic disorder (14.3%). Long-standing hydrocoele was the commonest lesion

Contracts between patients and healthcare practitioners for improving patients' adherence to treatment, prevention and health promotion activities.

BACKGROUND: Contracts are a verbal or written agreement that a patient makes with themselves, with healthcare practitioners, or with carers, where participants commit to a set of behaviours related to the care of a patient. Contracts aim to improve the patients' adherence to treatment or health promotion programmes. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of contracts between patients and healthcare practitioners on patients' adherence to treatment, prevention and health promotion activities, the stated health or behaviour aims in the contract, patient satisfaction or other relevant outcomes, including health practitioner behaviour and views, health status, reported harms, costs, or denial of treatment as a result of the contract. SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched: the Cochrane Consumers and Communication Review Group's Specialised Register (in May 2004); the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), (The Cochrane Library 2004, issue 1); MEDLINE 1966 to May 2004); EMBASE (1980 to May 2004); PsycINFO (1966 to May 2004); CINAHL (1982 to May 2004); Dissertation Abstracts. A: Humanities and Social Sciences (1966 to May 2004); Sociological Abstracts (1963 to May 2004); UK National Research Register (2000 to May 2004); and C2-SPECTR, Campbell Collaboration (1950 to May 2004). SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomised controlled trials comparing the effects of contracts between healthcare practitioners and patients or their carers on patient adherence, applied to diagnostic procedures, therapeutic regimens or any health promotion or illness prevention initiative for patients. Contracts had to specify at least one activity to be observed and a commitment of adherence to it. We included trials comparing contracts with routine care or any other intervention. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Selection and quality assessment of trials were conducted independently by two review authors; single data extraction was checked by a statistician. We present the data as a narrative summary, given the wide range of interventions, participants, settings and outcomes, grouped by the health problem being addressed. MAIN RESULTS: We included thirty trials, all conducted in high income countries, involving 4691 participants. Median sample size per group was 21. We examined the quality of each trial against eight standard criteria, and all trials were inadequate in relation to three or more of these standards. Trials evaluated contracts in addiction (10 trials), hypertension (4 trials), weight control (3 trials) and a variety of other areas (13 trials). Sixteen trials reported at least one outcome that showed statistically significant differences favouring the contracts group, five trials reported at least one outcome that showed differences favouring the control group and 26 trials reported at least one outcome without differences between groups. Effects on adherence were not detected when measured over longer periods. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There is limited evidence that contracts can potentially contribute to improving adherence, but there is insufficient evidence from large, good quality studies to routinely recommend contracts for improving adherence to treatment or preventive health regimens.