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Biomedical subjects

O O Bassey

Publications and source records attributed to O O Bassey.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Gunshot injuries in Calabar, Nigeria: an indication of increasing societal violence and police brutality.

BACKGROUND: Gunshot injuries were rare in Calabar before the Nigerian civil war. This has changed in subsequent years and has reached a near epidemic proportion in the last three years. These are caused by civil violence, police brutality and armed robberies. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the incidence, pattern and causes of gunshot injuries in this region and draw the attention of Nigerians and the Government to the above problems for a possible solution. METHODOLOGY: Records of patients admitted into the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) with gunshot wounds between April 2002 and May 2004 were extracted. Parameters analyzed included patients' biodata, sources of injury, anatomical site (s) of injury, modalities of treatment and the outcome RESULT: There were 51 injuries in 49 patients as follows: The lower limbs 25 (51'), upper limbs 6 (12.4'), upper limbs/ chest 2 (4.1'), chest 4 (8.2'), abdomen 7(14.1') and head/neck 5(10.2'). Male/female ratio was 48:1. Twenty-four (49') sustained their injuries from either accidental discharge or deliberate shooting by the police while armed robbers wounded 10 (20.4') and cultists, 2 (4.1'). Two patients had amputations and mortality was 8.2'. CONCLUSION/RECOMMENDATIONS: The police should be cautious with guns;they and the Government should be alert to the menace of robbery, political violence, cultism and communal clashes. Good Governance, creation of employment, eradication of corruption and political violence may help.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Pregnancy heartburn in Nigerians and Caucasians with theories about aetiology based on manometric recordings from the oesophagus and stomach.

A study by questionnaire of the incidence of pregnancy heartburn in two groups of Nigerians and one group of Caucasians showed an incidence of 9-8 per cent in all Nigerians as against 78-8 per cent in Caucasians. The difference was highly significant (chi 2 = 102-75; P less than 0-0001). An oesophageal manometric study of the lower esophageal sphincter in 12 non-pregnant women and in 12 pregnant Nigerians (10 without heartburn and 2 with heartburn) showed that the mean lower oesophageal sphincter pressure (+/- SD) in the pregnant patients without heartburn was 20-1 +/- 7-0 mm Hg as against 17-9 +/- 7-0 in the non-pregnant women. While one pregnant subject without heartburn had a lower oesophageal sphincter which was partially displaced into the thorax, none of the non-pregnant women had such sphincter displacement. The two pregnant women with heartburn had low resting sphincter pressures and in both of them the sphincters were partially in the thorax. It is argued that pregnancy heartburn is due to the displacement of the lower oesophageal sphincter into the negative pressure environment of the thorax where the sphincter is less capable of resisting reflux. It is also argued that pregnancy heartburn is commoner in Caucasians that in Nigerians because the spincter in non-pregnant Caucasians is often partly intrathoracic and is thus more easily displaced completely into the thorax by the pregnant uterus.

Black or African American↗
PubMed1977

Incidence of hiatus hernia and gastro-oesophageal reflux in 1030 prospective barium meal examinations in adult Nigerians.

A prospective study to determine the incidence of hiatus hernia and gastro-oesophageal reflux in 1030 consecutive symptomatic adult Nigerian patients undergoing barium meal examination is reported. The results show a very low incidence of hiatus hernia (0-39%) and an equally low incidence of gastro-oesophageal reflux (2-2%) when compared with similar studies in Europe and America. There was a high incidence of duodenal ulcer (23-3%) and a low incidence of gastric ulcer (1-8%), the duodenal/gastric ulcer ratio of 12-1:1 being much higher than in Europe.

Barium Sulfate↗