University of Nigeria, Nsukka

About: University of Nigeria, Nsukka is a education organization based out in Nsukka, Nigeria. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Health care. The organization has 10211 authors who have published 13685 publications receiving 138922 citations.

Percutaneous injuries and accidental blood exposure in surgical residents: awareness and use of prophylaxis in relation to HIV.

Abstract: Objective: To determine the occurrence of percutaneous injuries (PI) and accidental exposure to patients' blood (AEPB) in surgical residents in Enugu, Nigeria, their awareness of universal precautions (UP), and use of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). Materials and Methods: Self-administered semi-structured pre-tested questionnaires were administered to 230 consenting trainee surgeons. Results: The rate of exposure to PI/ABE was 67.5%. The number of exposures ranged from 1 to 5 with a mean of 1.9±0.99. Senior registrars had the highest rate of exposure (76.9%). In 89 exposures (63.6%) needle-prick injuries were reported. Adequate knowledge of the UP and PEP to HIV virus was only 41%. In most cases (72.1%) respondents subsequently disregarded the exposure. Conclusion : The high rate of exposure to PI/ABE, inadequate knowledge and poor practice of UP/PEP seen in this study underscore the need for creating high level of awareness about UP/PEP, the development of clear institutional guideline and the provision of adequate materials and supervision to ensure adherence with the guideline. The practice of UP and PEP in PI and AEPB are life saving and should be emphasized in residency training.

Effect of learning management system on Student’s performance in educational measurement and evaluation

Abstract: This study determined the effect of Learning Management system (LMS) on students performance in educational measurement and evaluation course. A non-equivalent group quasi experimental research design was adopted for the study, using a population of all the undergraduate students in Imo State University, Nigeria. A sample of 232 students was purposively selected comprising of 109 males and 123 females. An instrument titled “Measurement and evaluation Achievement Test (MEAT)” was used for data collection. The internal consistency reliability of the items of the MEAT was estimated to be 0.88 using Kuder-Richardson formula (K-R20) method, while the estimated temporal stability was obtained to be 0.89 using Pearson Product-moment correlation. The Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions while analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that students taught using LMS (Moodle) performed better than those exposed to the CAI4ME Package. It was equally revealed that female students performed better than the males in both the two approaches although the male students recorded a higher gain score. Based on the findings, the researchers recommend that, LMS Packages such as Moodle should be learnt and used by lecturers of Educational Measurement and Evaluation.

Maternal Mortality Trend in South East Nigeria: Less Than a Decade to the Millennium Developmental Goals

Abstract: Background and Objective: Maternal mortality is increasing despite all global efforts to reverse the trend. In our environment, most studies were based on only a single health institution, leading to varying reports of ratios and causes of maternal death. We sought to determine the ratio, causes, and key risk factors of maternal deaths in institutions located at different socioeconomic settings. Methods: A retrospective study was carried out in two tertiary and two secondary healthcare institutions in Ebonyi state, Southeastern Nigeria over the 3-year period January 2003 to December 2005. All facilities had emergency obstetric services. Sociodemographic characteristics, causes of maternal death, and factors that contributed to the deaths were noted. Results: The maternal mortality ratio (MMR) was 902.7/100,000 live births. The ratio increased from 756.8 in 2003 to 897.6 in 2004 and then to 1052.2 in 2005. Major risk factors include grand multiparity, maternal age of ≥35 years, low socioeconomic s...

A heatwave of accretion energy traced by masers in the G358-MM1 high-mass protostar

Abstract: High-mass stars are thought to accumulate much of their mass via short, infrequent bursts of disk-aided accretion. Such accretion events are rare and difficult to observe directly but are known to drive enhanced maser emission. In this Letter we report high-resolution, multi-epoch methanol maser observations toward G358.93-0.03, which reveal an interesting phenomenon: the subluminal propagation of a thermal radiation ‘heatwave’ emanating from an accreting high-mass protostar. The extreme transformation of the maser emission implies a sudden intensification of thermal infrared radiation from within the inner (40-mas, 270-au) region. Subsequently, methanol masers trace the radial passage of thermal radiation through the environment at ≥4% of the speed of light. Such a high translocation rate contrasts with the ≤10 km s-1 physical gas motions of methanol masers typically observed using very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI). The observed scenario can readily be attributed to an accretion event in the high-mass protostar G358.93-0.03-MM1. While being the third case in its class, G358.93-0.03-MM1 exhibits unique attributes hinting at a possible ‘zoo’ of accretion burst types. These results promote the advantages of maser observations in understanding high-mass-star formation, both through single-dish maser monitoring campaigns and via their international cooperation as VLBI arrays.