Selected biometric technologies such as iris, face, gait, voice, etc. are widely used for the recognition of individuals. This paper presents a biometric technology perception by members of staff ...from government agencies in Nigeria, namely: the National Identity Management Commission and Joint Admission Matriculation Board, on the use of selected technology for ethnicity recognition. The study was conducted using the quantitative method. Data were collected from the staff of selected agencies. Fingerprint, facial, and iris biometrics were selected for this experiment. Using the modified Technology Acceptance Model framework, results from the experiment showed the perception of staff on selected technologies in ethnicity recognition. Results show that technology enhanced job effectiveness, the majority of respondents agreed that fingerprint and facial biometrics would improve ethnicity detection; hence they were a popular choice for ethnicity recognition. The study showed that determining ethnicity from iris biometric would be difficult as the majority do not see the iris as a means of identifying a particular ethnic group. Five different hypotheses were tested to determine compatibility, ease of use, and attitude towards use (ATU) of the selected technology. Results showed that selected biometrics can effectively determine an ethnic group with a significance value at 0.000.
Trisomy 21 (T21) causes Down syndrome and an early-onset form of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, we used human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) along with CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to ...investigate the contribution of chromosome 21 candidate genes to AD-relevant neuronal phenotypes. We utilized a direct neuronal differentiation protocol to bypass neurodevelopmental cell fate phenotypes caused by T21 followed by unbiased proteomics and western blotting to define the proteins dysregulated in T21 postmitotic neurons. We show that normalization of copy number of APP and DYRK1A each rescue elevated tau phosphorylation in T21 neurons, while reductions of RCAN1 and SYNJ1 do not. To determine the T21 alterations relevant to early-onset AD, we identified common pathways altered in familial Alzheimer's disease neurons and determined which of these were rescued by normalization of APP and DYRK1A copy number in T21 neurons. These studies identified disruptions in T21 neurons in both the axonal cytoskeletal network and presynaptic proteins that play critical roles in axonal transport and synaptic vesicle cycling. These alterations in the proteomic profiles have functional consequences: fAD and T21 neurons exhibit dysregulated axonal trafficking and T21 neurons display enhanced synaptic vesicle release. Taken together, our findings provide insights into the initial molecular alterations within neurons that ultimately lead to synaptic loss and axonal degeneration in Down syndrome and early-onset AD.
The import of superoxide dismutase-2 (SOD2) into mitochondria is vital for the survival of eukaryotic cells. SOD2 is encoded within the nuclear genome and translocated into mitochondria for ...activation after translation in the cytosol. The molecular chaperone Hsp70 modulates SOD2 activity by promoting import of SOD2 into mitochondria. In turn, the activity of Hsp70 is controlled by co-chaperones, particularly CHIP, which directs Hsp70-bound proteins for degradation in the proteasomes. We investigated the mechanisms controlling the activity of SOD2 to signal activation and maintain mitochondrial redox balance. We demonstrate that Akt1 binds to and phosphorylates the C terminus of Hsp70 on Serine631, which inhibits CHIP-mediated SOD2 degradation thereby stabilizing and promoting SOD2 import. Conversely, increased mitochondrial-H2O2 formation disrupts Akt1-mediated phosphorylation of Hsp70, and non-phosphorylatable Hsp70 mutants decrease SOD2 import, resulting in mitochondrial oxidative stress. Our findings identify Hsp70 phosphorylation as a physiological mechanism essential for regulation of mitochondrial redox balance.
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•SOD2 is synthesized in the cytosol and imported into mitochondria for activation•Inducible Hsp70 transports newly made SOD2 to mitochondria for subsequent import•Phosphorylation of the C terminus of Hsp70 by Akt1 facilitates SOD2 import•Hsp70 dephosphorylation promotes SOD2 degradation to terminate SOD2 import
SOD2 is synthesized on free cytosolic ribosomes as an inactive precursor and must be imported into mitochondria for activation. Zemanovic et al. report that the phosphorylation-dephosphorylation cycle of Hsp70 is an essential physiological mechanism controlling SOD2 activity.
Background
Due to the lack of high-quality evidence which has hindered the development of evidence-based guidelines, there is a need to provide general guidance on cranioplasty (CP) following ...traumatic brain injury (TBI), as well as identify areas of ongoing uncertainty via a consensus-based approach.
Methods
The international consensus meeting on post-traumatic CP was held during the International Conference on Recent Advances in Neurotraumatology (ICRAN), in Naples, Italy, in June 2018. This meeting was endorsed by the Neurotrauma Committee of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS), the NIHR Global Health Research Group on Neurotrauma, and several other neurotrauma organizations. Discussions and voting were organized around 5 pre-specified themes: (1) indications and technique, (2) materials, (3) timing, (4) hydrocephalus, and (5) paediatric CP.
Results
The participants discussed published evidence on each topic and proposed consensus statements, which were subject to ratification using anonymous real-time voting. Statements required an agreement threshold of more than 70% for inclusion in the final recommendations.
Conclusions
This document is the first set of practical consensus-based clinical recommendations on post-traumatic CP, focusing on timing, materials, complications, and surgical procedures. Future research directions are also presented.
Background. Birth preparedness and complication readiness (BPACR) has been advocated as a strategy to overcome costly delays in decision-making to seek skilled attendance at delivery, which in turn ...contribute significantly to maternal mortality from obstetric causes.Objective. To assess the determinants of BPACR among pregnant women in a rural community in Edo State, Nigeria.Methods. A descriptive cross-sectional study was done in Anegbette, a rural community in Etsako Central Local Government Area of Edo State. A house-to-house survey was carried out to identify pregnant women and all eligible women in the study area were included in the study.Results. A total of 277 pregnant women participated in the study. The mean age (standard deviation) of respondents was 28.7 (5.8) years. Less than half (134, 48.4%) of the respondents were well prepared while 143 (51.6%) were poorly prepared. After adjustment for confounding effect using binary logistic regression analysis, educational level (odds ratio (OR) 0.653, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.330 - 0.956), occupation (OR 0.384, 95% CI 0.148 - 0.990) and utilisation of antenatal care (OR 3.407, 95% CI 1.830 - 5.074) were significant predictors of BPACR.Conclusion. BPACR was poor among women in the rural community. In order to improve maternal health among rural women in Nigeria, government and donor agency funding for safe motherhood programmes should focus on female empowerment and encourage community participation towards promotion of maternal health.
Measures to facilitate this goal include: the establishment of a framework to monitor and assess the burden of stroke (and its risk factors) and stroke services at a national level; the ...implementation of integrated population-level and individual-level prevention strategies for people at any increased risk of cerebrovascular disease, with emphasis on early detection and control of hypertension; planning and delivery of acute stroke care services, including the establishment of stroke units with access to reperfusion therapies for ischaemic stroke and workforce training and capacity building (and monitoring of quality indicators for these services nationally, regionally, and globally); the promotion of interdisciplinary stroke care services, training for caregivers, and capacity building for community health workers and other health-care providers working in stroke rehabilitation; and the creation of a stroke advocacy and implementation ecosystem that includes all relevant communities, organisations, and stakeholders. Introduction The global burden of stroke is huge: in 2020, stroke was the second leading cause of death (6·6 million deaths) and the third leading cause of disability (responsible for 143 million disability-adjusted life-years DALYs) after neonatal disorders (in children) and ischaemic heart disease (in adults).1,2 Alarmingly, evidence suggests that the incidence of stroke in younger individuals (ie, people younger than 55 years) is increasing worldwide.3 The absolute number of people affected by stroke, which includes those who die or remain disabled, has almost doubled in the past 30 years.1 Most of the contemporary stroke burden—86% of global deaths and 89% of global DALYs lost because of stroke in 2020—is in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs),1 and the burden of stroke is increasing faster in LMICs than in high-income countries (HICs).1 Stroke is also a leading cause of depression and dementia, which are other common non-communicable diseases (NCDs).4,5 Little progress has been made by most countries towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.4—reducing premature mortality from NCDs by a third between 2015 and 2030.6 Achieving SDG 3.4 worldwide, which would in turn facilitate the achievement of nine other SDGs,7 would require an additional US$140 billion of spending on NCD interventions from 2023–30, but could help to avert 39 million deaths and generate $2·7 trillion in net economic benefits (with benefits outweighing costs by a factor of 19:1).6 Given that the incidence of stroke rises with age, the combination of growing populations and ageing demographics is likely to result in large increases in global deaths and disability in the future unless major improvements occur in population prevention programmes that reduce the risk of stroke.8 Thus, pragmatic solutions to reduce the burden of stroke and related NCDs are urgently needed to save lives and improve brain health, quality of life, and socioeconomic productivity globally.8–11 Key messages Multiple factors contribute to the high burden of stroke in low-income and middle-income countries, including undetected and uncontrolled hypertension, lack of easily accessible, high-quality health services, insufficient attention to and investment in prevention, air pollution, population growth, unhealthy lifestyles (eg, poor diet, smoking, sedentary lifestyle, obesity), an earlier age of stroke onset and greater proportion of haemorrhagic strokes than in high-income countries, and the burden of infectious diseases resulting in competition for limited healthcare resources. Major facilitators include professional stroke organisations and networks that could advocate and build capacity for stroke care and research, and universal health coverage that can facilitate population-wide access to evidence-based care (pre-hospital care, acute care, rehabilitation, and prevention).
BackgroundThere is not yet a comprehensive evidence-based epidemiological report on type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Nigeria. We aimed to estimate country-wide and zonal prevalence, hospitalisation ...and mortality rates of T2DM in Nigeria.MethodsWe searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health, Africa Journals Online (AJOL) and Google Scholar for population and hospital-based studies on T2DM in Nigeria. We conducted a random-effects meta-analysis on extracted crude estimates, and applied a meta-regression epidemiological model, using the United Nations demographics for Nigeria in 1990 and 2015 to determine estimates of diabetes in Nigeria for the two years.Results42 studies, with a total population of 91 320, met our selection criteria. Most of the studies selected were of medium quality (90.5%). The age-adjusted prevalence rates of T2DM in Nigeria among persons aged 20–79 years increased from 2.0% (95% CI 1.9% to 2.1%) in 1990 to 5.7% (95% CI 5.5% to 5.8%) in 2015, accounting for over 874 000 and 4.7 million cases, respectively. The pooled prevalence rate of impaired glucose tolerance was 10.0% (95% CI 4.5% to 15.6%), while impaired fasting glucose was 5.8% (95% CI 3.8% to 7.8%). Hospital admission rate for T2DM was 222.6 (95% CI 133.1 to 312.1) per 100 000 population with hyperglycaemic emergencies, diabetic foot and cardiovascular diseases being most common complications. The overall mortality rate was 30.2 (95% CI 14.6 to 45.8) per 100 000 population, with a case fatality rate of 22.0% (95% CI 8.0% to 36.0%).ConclusionOur findings suggest an increasing burden of T2DM in Nigeria with many persons currently undiagnosed, and few known cases on treatment.
Non-adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) favours drug resistance and wastes resources. These have negative implications for personal and public health.
To assess adherence ...levels, the associated factors and its association with increase in CD4 cell count in people living with HIV (PLHIVs).
In a cross-sectional survey, systematically selected adult PLHIVs attending a tertiary hospital in Nigeria self-reported their 28-day adherence to HAART and reasons for missing doses using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Their 6-month difference in CD4 cell count was also assessed.
The participants totalled 425. Their mean age was 38.6 (SD, 10.1) years and 309 (72.7%) had secondary or tertiary education. The 28-day mean adherence level was 96.8% (SD, 7.9%) and 354 (83.3%) participants had optimal adherence (≥ 95%). Socio-demographic characteristics, side effects and having human reminders were not associated with adherence level, but 100% adherence level since placement on HAART was positively associated with a 6-month increase in CD4 cell count (
< 0.01; OR = 1.87, 95%CI = 1.21 - 2.89). Reasons given by 156 respondents for missing doses included being too busy, 100 (64.1%), forgetting, 85 (54.5%) and sleeping off, 42 (26.9%).
Mean adherence was high and the majority of participants had optimal adherence. "Never missing a dose" was associated with improved CD4 cell counts, indicating better prognosis. Socio-demographic factors, side effects and human reminders were not associated with an increase in adherence. However, as there is no evidence that adherence improvement measures are detrimental, their use is still recommended.
None declared.
Background
Two randomised trials assessing the effectiveness of decompressive craniectomy (DC) following traumatic brain injury (TBI) were published in recent years: DECRA in 2011 and RESCUEicp in ...2016. As the results have generated debate amongst clinicians and researchers working in the field of TBI worldwide, it was felt necessary to provide general guidance on the use of DC following TBI and identify areas of ongoing uncertainty via a consensus-based approach.
Methods
The International Consensus Meeting on the Role of Decompressive Craniectomy in the Management of Traumatic Brain Injury took place in Cambridge, UK, on the 28th and 29th September 2017. The meeting was jointly organised by the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS), AO/Global Neuro and the NIHR Global Health Research Group on Neurotrauma. Discussions and voting were organised around six pre-specified themes: (1) primary DC for mass lesions, (2) secondary DC for intracranial hypertension, (3) peri-operative care, (4) surgical technique, (5) cranial reconstruction and (6) DC in low- and middle-income countries.
Results
The invited participants discussed existing published evidence and proposed consensus statements. Statements required an agreement threshold of more than 70% by blinded voting for approval.
Conclusions
In this manuscript, we present the final consensus-based recommendations. We have also identified areas of uncertainty, where further research is required, including the role of primary DC, the role of hinge craniotomy and the optimal timing and material for skull reconstruction.
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