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.

Using Economic Evidence to Set Healthcare Priorities in Low‐Income and Lower‐Middle‐Income Countries: A Systematic Review of Methodological Frameworks

Abstract: Policy makers in low-income and lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) are increasingly looking to develop 'evidence-based' frameworks for identifying priority health interventions. This paper synthesises and appraises the literature on methodological frameworks--which incorporate economic evaluation evidence--for the purpose of setting healthcare priorities in LMICs. A systematic search of Embase, MEDLINE, Econlit and PubMed identified 3968 articles with a further 21 articles identified through manual searching. A total of 36 papers were eligible for inclusion. These covered a wide range of health interventions with only two studies including health systems strengthening interventions related to financing, governance and human resources. A little under half of the studies (39%) included multiple criteria for priority setting, most commonly equity, feasibility and disease severity. Most studies (91%) specified a measure of 'efficiency' defined as cost per disability-adjusted life year averted. Ranking of health interventions using multi-criteria decision analysis and generalised cost-effectiveness were the most common frameworks for identifying priority health interventions. Approximately a third of studies discussed the affordability of priority interventions. Only one study identified priority areas for the release or redeployment of resources. The paper concludes by highlighting the need for local capacity to conduct evaluations (including economic analysis) and empowerment of local decision-makers to act on this evidence.

Foot infections due to Hendersonula toruloidea and Scytalidium hyalinum in coal miners

Abstract: A total of 250 coal miners were screened for mycotic skin infections. Sixty-six (34·8%) miners had clinical lesions on their feet which proved to be of mycotic etiology by direct microscopy and culture. Hendersonula toruloidea, the commonest etiological agent, was the sole agent recovered from 23 (34·8%) of the positive cases and was also isolated from three (4·5%) cases of mixed infection with dermatophytes (two cases with Trichophyton rubrum and one with Trichophyton mentagrophytes var. mentagrophytes). Scytalidium hyalinum was recovered as the sole causal agent in four (6·1%) patients and from one case of mixed infection with T. mentagrophytes var. mentagrophytes. The dermatophytes isolated as sole etiological agents included T. mentagrophytes var. mentagrophytes (13 isolates) T. rubrum (10), Trichophyton tonsurans (5), Epidermophyton floccosum (4) and Microsporum gypseum (3). The toe web was invariably involved in all cases of H. toruloidea and S. hyalinum infection and was also the commonest site of ...

Iterative method with inertial for variational inequalities in Hilbert spaces

Abstract: Strong convergence property for Halpern-type iterative method with inertial terms for solving variational inequalities in real Hilbert spaces is investigated under mild assumptions in this paper. Our proposed method requires only one projection onto the feasible set per iteration, the underline operator is monotone and uniformly continuous which is more applicable than most existing methods for which strong convergence is achieved and our method includes the inertial extrapolation step which is believed to increase the rate of convergence. Numerical comparisons of our proposed method with some other related methods in the literature are given.

Influence of PVA, PVP and PEG doping on the optical, structural, morphological and magnetic properties of zinc ferrite nanoparticles produced by thermal method

Abstract: This work demonstrated an in-depth investigation of the effect of surface doping by three different polymers on the synthesis of zinc ferrite nanostructures by a thermal method. The zinc ferrites were doped with 20% concentration by mass of Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and Polyethylene glycol (PEG) to enhance its properties. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) confirmed the incorporation of the polymers in the lattice with an obvious increase in the crystallite size, functional groups, spherical morphology, and superparamagnetic behavior respectively. It is noteworthy that the cubic crystalline structure, favorable particle size and magnetic properties of the doped samples gave the NPs a controllable and improved properties for sundry applications in the medical fields such as Hyperthermia and drug delivery with PEG dopant showing a towering leverage on the properties of the ZF with 11% polydispersity Index (PDI).