GIANT PSEUDOANEURYSM OF A SPLANCHNIC ARTERY; A Case Report.

A true aneurysm is defined as an enlargement of an artery resulting in a diameter more than 1.5 times the anatomic size. It can be fusiform when it covers the entire perimeter of the vessel, or saccular when it bulges on one side of the artery. The pseudoaneurysm is a pulsating encapsulated haematoma in communication with the lumen of the ruptured vessel,which affects the the intima and the media and which is stopped from developing by the adventitia and the surrounding connective tissue. Geographically, aneurysm can be broadly divided into intracranial and extracranial types.While the neurosurgeon manages the intracranial types, the vascular surgeon manages the extracranial types. Vascular surgeons also do divide the extracranial types into central (abdominal-aorto-iliac, thoracic including ascending, transverse aortic arch and descending), peripheral (extremities) and visceral (splanchnic arteries). Splanchnic artery aneurysm includes the coeliac, superior mesenteric, inferior mesenteric arteries including their branches. Of all intra-abdominal aneurysms, only around 5% are due to the splanchnic arteries,which could be either true or pseudo. The prevalence has been estimated at 0.1-0.2%.

Pattern of cardiothoracic surgical diseases in a new cardiothoracic surgery unit in Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Cardiothoracic surgical pathologies are available in all geographical regions of the world. Human and material resources are necessary for prompt diagnosis and proper treatment of these cases. METHODOLOGY: Retrospective analysis of cardiothoracic surgical cases in the first five years of our new cardiothoracic surgery unit was done. RESULTS: A total of 714 cases were seen during the study period with age range one month to 76 years with mean age of 37.12 +/- 11.24 and male female ratio of 2:1. The yearly admissions from 2007 to 2011 were 14%, 17%, 21%, 21% and 26% respectively. Cardiovascular diseases occurred in 22.30%, with 6% of children suffering from congenital heart defect and 6% of men suffering from acquired vascular disease. Surgical complications of pleuropulmonary tuberculosis occurred in 21.4% while thoracic trauma occurred in upto 21% of the patients. Aerodigestive tract foreign bodies were encountered in 10.1% of cases and Pyogenic diseases occurred in 8.68%. Oesophageal lesions were diagnosed in 6.4% of the patients, pulmonary tumours including primary and secondary tumours were found in 4.3% while nontraumatic chest wall pathologies which included chest wall tumours, congenital deformities and chronic osteomyelities accounted for 3.2%. Mediastinal pathologies occurred in 0.98% and in the remaining 1.5% rare diseases were diagnosed such as third degree heart block, pulmonary embolism and thoracic endometriosis syndrome. CONCLUSION: This study shows that cardiothoracic surgical pathologies are common in our centre with predominance of thoracic pathologies, and therefore need to prioritize and ensure manpower development for treatment of all kinds of thoracic pathologies.

Stop and Go: Barriers and Facilitators to Care Home Research.

Barriers to care home research have always existed, but have been thrown into sharp relief by the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing infrastructure failed to deliver the research, or outcomes, which care home residents deserved and we need to look, again, at how these barriers can be taken down. Barriers can be categorised as procedural (encountered before research starts), system (encountered during research) or resident-specific. To tackle these, research regulatory bodies need to adopt a standardised approach to how care home research is developed and designed, reviewed and regulated, and how such approaches can enable recruitment of as wide a range of residents and their representatives as possible, including those without the mental capacity to consent for research. Establishment of local, inter-disciplinary collaborations between universities, general practices, health and social care providers and care homes is another priority. This should be based on pre-existing models such as the 'Living lab' model developed in The Netherlands and now being implemented in the UK and Austria. These changes are critical to develop a sustainable research model. If well designed this will deliver better outcomes for residents and align with the individual and organisational priorities of those who care for them.

Sustainable plastic waste management in a circular economy.

The discovery of plastics as useful materials for human existence, providing comfort and ease has now turned into a menace in the society and a pain in the neck as plastics have also become co-habitat of the human ecosystem. Plastics were made by men, but plastics now live way longer than the men who gave them the privilege of existence. Since these colonies of materials cannot be eradicated, it is very pertinent to discover possible ways of useful diversion through recycling by converting plastic bottle waste into useful raw materials for other sectors of the economy. This paper has stirred the pool of relevant literature to extract some of the innovative efforts that have been deployed into redirecting the potential of plastic waste into useful applications like engineering and building construction, horticulture in agriculture, and the most advanced application is the 3D printing using plastics as filaments. Following the trend of technology, 3D printing is a grey area of plastic recycling, it is quite expensive however, it worth exploring.

Elemental analysis of limestone samples from Obajana and Mfamosing limestone deposits, Nigeria, using nuclear techniques.

Six limestone samples were picked from three different points at the Obajana and Mfamosing limestone deposits. The limestone samples were subjected to elemental analysis by Proton-Induced X-Ray Emission (PIXE) analysis. The samples were irradiated by a 4mm diameter beam of protons with energy of 2.5 MeV and beam current of 0.2nA for 0.9 ms. The analysis was carried out with the 1.7MV Tandem accelerator at the Centre for Energy Research and Development (CERD), Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. The NIST geology standard NIST 278 was analysed for quality assurance. The elemental composition and concentration of 14 elements were determined in the two locations. Ten elements were found at the Obajana deposit while 13 elements were found at the Mfamosing deposits. The elements: Mg, Al, Ca and Mn do not differ much at both deposits while others differ. The major elements (Ca, Fe, Al, Si and K) present in the limestones were also found in airborne particulate matter studied by earlier researchers. These observations suggest that all particulate emissions and wastes from the Limestone deposit should be closely monitored to reduce their cumulative effects on both health and the environment.

Oral candidiasis.

Oral candidiasis is a common opportunistic infection of the oral cavity caused by an overgrowth of Candida species, the commonest being Candida albicans. The incidence varies depending on age and certain predisposing factors. There are three broad groupings consisting of acute candidiasis, chronic candidiasis, and angular cheilitis. Risk factors include impaired salivary gland function, drugs, dentures, high carbohydrate diet, and extremes of life, smoking, diabetes mellitus, Cushing's syndrome, malignancies, and immunosuppressive conditions. Management involves taking a history, an examination, and appropriate antifungal treatment with a few requiring samples to be taken for laboratory analysis. In certain high risk groups antifungal prophylaxis reduces the incidence and severity of infections. The prognosis is good in the great majority of cases.

Culture of human dermal fibroblasts in collagen gels: modulation of interleukin 1-induced prostaglandin E2 synthesis by an extracellular matrix.

Human dermal fibroblasts, cultured as suspensions in collagen gels and as monolayers, were stimulated with recombinant human interleukin-1 beta (rIL 1 beta) at 72 h, and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) was assayed 24 h later. Fibroblasts in gels were less responsive to rIL 1 beta than monolayers, PGE2 synthesis increasing from less than 1 ng/microgram DNA without rIL 1 beta to maxima of 11.3 and 32.9 ng/micrograms DNA, with half maximal release occurring at 7.47 and 0.75 pM rIL 1 beta for the gel and monolayer cultures, respectively. Increased PGE2 was first detected 4 h after addition of rIL 1 beta to gels and was inhibited by 10(-5) M indomethacin. The amount of PGE2 synthesized per fibroblast increased with the time the gels had been in culture when stimulated with rIL 1 beta and was proportional to the number of fibroblasts in the gels, but inversely related to the collagen concentration. A common feature of these experiments was significantly greater induction of PGE2 synthesis at higher cell densities in collagen gels. Exogenous 10(-4) M arachidonic acid further increased PGE2 synthesis by rIL 1 beta-stimulated fibroblasts, but the differential in the amount of PGE2 released from fibroblasts at high and low population densities in the gels was maintained. These results are consistent with interleukin 1 (IL 1) stimulating PGE2 synthesis in dermal fibroblasts by increasing cyclooxygenase activity. Furthermore, the results show that dermal fibroblasts have an additional regulatory mechanism, related to the cell population densities or their interactions with an extracellular matrix, to finely modulate the amount of PGE2 synthesized in response to IL 1.