Willingness of Nigerians to donate a kidney.

BACKGROUND: Kidney transplantation is a popular modality of RRT in the developed world. OBJECTIVE: To assess the willingness of the general population of Nigerians across the country to donate a kidney METHODS: This is a multiregional, cross sectional, questionnaire based study. One thousand Three hundred respondents participated in the study. This study was carried out in four major Towns and cities across Nigeria between January 2009 and December 2010. The locations are Birnin Kebbi in the north, Ilorin in the middle belt, Iddo Ekiti in the south and Lagos, the economic capital of Nigeria. The respondents were randomly selected within the four localities. Those below the age of 16 or above the age of 65 years were excluded from the study RESULTS: There were 727 (55.9%) males. The mean age (S.D) of respondents was 39.5 (10.7) years. The largest population of participants, 494 (38.3%) were non health workers and 692 (53.2%) of them were Muslims. Eight hundred and fifty eight (66%) of the participants were willing to donate a kidney. Twenty five percent (25% were not willing and 115 (8.9%) were not sure. Majority of those who were unwilling to donate a kidney, 325 (99.4%) will not change their minds even if they were to be given incentives CONCLUSION: Nigerians are willing to donate a kidney irrespective of geographical location, religion or gender and many are willing to do so altruistically.

Delayed diagnosis of intersex state: surgical outcome of cases seen and review of current concepts.

BACKGROUND: Sexual ambiguity is said to occur when the gender of the baby cannot be determined at birth. The gender of an individual is in question because the genitals do not appear clearly as that of male or female. It is traumatizing to the family. It also causes confusion and problems in determining the sex, in which a child would be reared. The abnormality is relatively uncommon. Disorders of sexual differentiation can arise from abnormalities in chromosomes, gonadal development or hormonal production or activity. The orderly development process may also be affected by various environmental factors. Some of these factors may ultimately lead to the development of ambiguous external genitalia. CASE PRESENTATIONS AND MANAGEMENT: Three of such patients with ambiguous genitalia are presented, in which the initial diagnosis proved to be incorrect. The various investigations that were carried out and surgical management are discussed. CONCLUSION: Arguments which led to the ultimate choice of the sex of a child ranged from strict medical, to psychosocial and even cultural considerations. Expert examination shortly after birth would allow an early and definite decision, avoiding more serious problems with sexual ambiguity in later life.

Comparing the specificity and sensitivity of nitrate and leucocyte tests on multistick in screening for urinary tract infections amongst pregnant women at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital Ikeja, Nigeria.

OBJECTIVE: This study was carried out to determine a very reliable and rapid screening test using multistick (or multistix), microscopy, and culture methods for urinary tract infections (UTI) in pregnant women attending the antenatal booking clinic (ANC) of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Nigeria. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A group of 352 pregnant women were randomly selected at the antenatal booking clinic and evaluated for urinary tract infections (UTI) using the above mentioned screening test methods. The ages of patients ranged from 20 to 40 years, with the 31-35 age range accounting for over 42% of the study population, and two-thirds of them being multigravidae. RESULTS: Positive urine culture with significant bacteriuria was found in 163 patients which was 46.3%. One hundred and thirty three (133) of this number did not present with urinary symptoms at all, although pair urine culture was positive with significant bacteriuria. Also, eleven patients of the study population has urinary symptoms but their urine culture did not yield any significant growth, after 48 hours of incubation. CONCLUSION: It was found in this study that leucocyte dipstick test has excellent specificity (90.5%) but not a very good sensitivity (28.8%), when compared with nitrite dipstick which has a specificity of 78.8% and sensitivity of 56.4%.