Background: Self ear cleaning with cotton buds and other objects is a common practice. Objective: To determine the sociodemographic characteristics and the prevalence of self ear cleaning habit among patients attending a family medicine clinic in a teaching hospital in Sokoto metropolis. Materials and Methods: This was a 4 weeks prospective study carried out between May and June, 2013 at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital and Specialist Hospital Sokoto. A structured self response questionnaire containing items on sociodemographic characteristics, frequency of administering objects into the ear and complications of self ear cleaning was administered to the respondents after institutional research ethical clearance. The data were analysed using SPSS for windows version 16.0. P-value was considered significantly if less than 0.05. Results: A total of 200 subjects were included in this study, comprising of 93 (46.5%) males and 107 (53.5%) females. Their ages ranged from 18-57 years with the mean age being 30.29 years (±8.70). Eighty percent (160) of the respondents practise self ear cleaning. Types of objects included writing objects and cotton buds. For many of the subjects, the frequency of insertion was once daily and both ears were frequently cleaned. Complications that have arisen due to the practice included otitis externa. Conclusion: Self ear cleaning was prevalent in the subjects. Considering the complications that may arise, ear cleaning is better done by trained health personnel.

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Background: Formaldehyde is commonly used for cadaver preservation in most anatomy laboratories with medical students at risk of acute toxic reactions involving the mucosal surface of the upper respiratory tract. Aım: To assess the nasal induced physical reactions from formaldehyde exposure among pre-clinical medical students. Materials and Method: This is a cross sectional, anonymous questionnaire-based study that included 119 preclinical medical students who took human anatomy laboratory course in the year 2012 at the College of Health Science of the Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria. Results: One hundred and nineteen students responded to the questionnaires. There were 82 males and 37 females with a ratio of 2.2:1. Fifty nine (49.6%) of the respondents had watery rhinorrhea, nose itching 41 (34.5%), excessive sneezing 34 (28.6%), nasal obstruction 32 (26.9%), hyposmia 23 (19.3%) and 6 (5%) epistaxis. Thirty (29.2%) respondents had persistent nasal symptoms throughout the dissection session and nasal obstruction accounted for 40% of those affected. Majority of the respondents 113 (95%) had no knowledge of health hazards and precautions against formaldehyde exposure. Conclusion: Watery rhinorrhea, followed by nasal obstruction were the most common nasal symptoms which were persistent in 36.7% and 40% of the respondents respectively throughout the anatomy dissection sessions. Ninety five percent of the respondents had no knowledge of health hazards and precautions against formaldehyde exposure, therefore we recommend creation of awareness and precautionary measures against formaldehyde exposure in our Nigerian medical schools.

The utmost need for pragmatic combination of surgical sutures and local anaesthetic that would evoke minimal post-surgical stress response and allow uncomplicated healing is essential for successful surgeries. Fifteen Sahel goats were randomly allocated into three groups A, B and C to quantitatively assay (ELISA) serum cortisol profiles following rumenotomy, as markers of surgical stress. Diazepam at 0.2 mg/kg was administered intravenously to groups A and B with subsequent lidocaine HCl and bupivacaine inverted-L block respectively. Group C did not receive any treatment. Chromic catgut (CCG) and polyglycolic acid (PGA) sutures were used for rumen and abdominal muscles closure for groups A and B respectively and nylon for skin closure. Blood samples were taken at post anaesthetic induction (PAI) and post-surgery at 0, 5, 8, 24, 48 and 72 h. The Group A goats expressed serum cortisol that was significantly high 52.76 ± 6.12 ng/mL at 5 h post-surgery. At 8 h post-surgery serum cortisol for both groups A (72.53 ± 3.79 ng/mL) and B (61.59 ± 3.90 ng/mL) were at their peak. Serum cortisol levels compared to the baseline data were significantly different (P < 0.05) at 5, 24, and 48 h for the CCG goats. The serum cortisol levels at 72 h drastically decreased to 20.53 ± 8.74 ng/mL for groups A and 17.59 ± 2.45 ng/mL for group B and were not significantly different (p > 0.05). Cortisol responses unambiguously indicate that diazepam-bupivacaine induce less stress than Diazepam-lidocaine, hence a preferred anesthesia. Moreover, polyglycolic acid sutures are associated with less inflammatory reaction than chromic catgut.

Pneumocephalus is a rare condition that usually arises from severe head and facial trauma, tumours of the skull base and surgical procedures involving the base of the skull. Tension Pneumocephalus (TP) is a clinical condition and a neurological emergency characterised by continuous accumulation of air inside the cranial cavity leading to irregular pressure being exerted on the brain which leads to neurologic deterioration. This is a case of a young motorcyclist who was involved in a Road Traffic Accident (RTA) and presented with deteriorating level of consciousness and plain skull radiograph and Computed Tomography (CT) of the brain showed skull fractures, presence of air in both lateral ventricles and brain parenchyma confirmed the diagnosis of post-traumatic TP, but unfortunately patient was succumbed to death.

Objectives: To determine the quality of chest radiographs of adult patients x-rayed at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH) in accordance with Committee of European Commission (CEC) guidelines on quality criteria and to determine the most common factor that affects the radiographs. Materials and Methods: The data was collected retrospectively from the hospital archives using a data capture sheet. Results: A total of 266 radiographs were assessed and the age of patients whose radiographs participated in the study ranged from 20-80years. Also, a greater number of male patients 147(55.3%) participated in the study than female patients 119(44.7%). Results from the study revealed that 194(72.93%) and 225(84.59%) radiographs had correct placement of patient details and anatomical marker respectively. Adequate inspiration was achieved in 223(83.83%) radiographs with presence of artifacts seen in only 17(6.39%) radiographs. Thrown-off scapulae out of lung fields was seen in 174(65.41%) radiographs while adequate penetration was demonstrated in 209(78.57%) radiographs. Fog was seen in 16(6.02%) radiographs and rotation was recorded in 86(32.33%) radiographs. Additionally, blurring and darkroom processing faults affected 9(3.38%) and 42(15.79%) radiographs respectively. The most common cause of poor quality chest radiographs was found to be inadequate collimation affecting 110(41.35%) radiographs. Conclusion: In terms of overall quality, only about 41(15.41%) radiographs met all criteria for a standard chest radiograph according to committee of European commission.