Utilization of the teaching strategies among nurse tutors in Malawi nursing colleges

BACKGROUND: There are numerous teaching strategies that suit the pedagogical learning, but not all can yield the desired outcome and be properly applied by nurse tutors in both classroom and clinical area. Therefore, identifying the utilization of the teaching strategy for nurse tutors is very detrimental in nursing education. METHODS: Descriptive exploratory design which utilized both qualitative and sequential quantitative methods was applied to Iterated Purposive Probability Sampling (IPPS) of 10 nursing colleges in Malawi. This was done to 129 student and 82 nurse tutors in two structured questionnaires, 40 in-depth interviews and 10 focus groups. There were 56 variables for the teaching strategy under five ranked Likert scale and the Cronbach’s Alpha was found to be 0.964 without standardisation and it was 0.963 after standardisation. RESULTS: Direct teaching strategies like the lecture method are very common although nurse tutors prefer to combine with other interactive instructions. There is statistical association of use of role play and group discussion methods and nurse tutor work experience with odds ratios of OR ≤ 1.624; CI(0.576 ± 4.579); p ≥ 0.359 and OR ≤ 1.397; CI(0.882 ± 2.306); p ≥ 0.147 respectively. The ability to use different teaching strategies competently is still very limited among nurse tutors in Malawi nursing colleges. This compromises quality of learning among nursing students in the colleges. CONCLUSION: Developing a new teaching strategy that could combine the different attributes in the variety of the teaching instructions can promote the quality of nursing education in Malawi

Challenges of nurse tutor utilization of the teaching aids

INTRODUCTION: Nursing is the largest healthcare profession in Malawi with more than 11,000 registered nurses (RNs), nurse technicians and midwives (NTM) practicing in hospitals and other settings like nursing colleges nationwide. Student preparation is mostly done by nursing tutors in all the nursing colleges using numerous types of teaching aids. METHODS: Descriptive exploratory design which utilized both qualitative and sequential quantitative methods was applied to Iterated Purposive Probability Sampling (IPPS) of 10 nursing colleges in Malawi. This was done to 129 students and 82 nurse tutors in two structured questionnaires, 40 nurse tutors in-depth interviews and 10 students focus groups. There were 32 variables for the teaching aids under five ranked Likert scale and the Cronbach’s Alpha was found to be 0.932 without standardisation and it was 0.952 after standard-disation. RESULTS: Although nurse tutors show that they use manikins to teach (0.011 < p = 0.05), students seem not to agree on the utilization of the manikins during teaching both in class and at the clinical area (0.05; p = 0.05). There is also increased discrepancy between students and nurse tutors on internet utilization as the teaching aid as the Beta Coefficient value was (B = 0.202) for the nurse tutors and (B = 1.061) for the students basing on their experience. Use of patient as a teaching aid is very common in Malawi and both the nurse tutors and students agree that it is the realistic and best way in teaching and has a strong binary logistic regression with a model outcome of (OR = 1.431; 95%CI (0.890 ± 2.304); p = 0.139). CONCLUSION: There is a need to develop the teaching strategies that would be conducive with the current scarcity of the teaching aids. Use of patients if ethically followed remains the most effective and efficient teaching aid in developing countries.Department of HE and Training approved lis

Design and Construction of A Domestic Solar Power Bank in a Convective Environment

Objective: This research seeks to solve the problem of storing solar energy in small scale modules for domestic use. Method: The Solar Power Bank (SPB) was constructed with local materials based on their individual properties. The functionality of the SPB was tested in a convective environment. Davis automatic Weather Station (DWS) was used to get the weather parameters (like solar irradiance, solar energy and temperature) for each day the SPB was tested. The maximum solar irradiance for four days (during the experiment) were 220 W/m2, 208 W/m2, 450 W/m2 and 900 W/m2. The maximum solar energy was 0.33 J, 03 J, 0.64 J and 1.33 J. Result: The maximum voltage and power obtained from the Solar Power Bank (SPB) was 0.18V and 0.065W respectively. The design showed tremendous heat energy entrapment during solar irradiance peak as the temperature in the SPB was about three times the DWS. Conclusion: It was specifically noted that the convection of the heat transfer that is triggered by the glass shield determines the functionality of the thermo-electric module. This is a clear indication that though the power output may be low to charge the batteries, the prospects of the SPB to operate in convective-rural communities (in tropic region) is very hig

The novel choline kinase inhibitor ICL-CCIC-0019 reprograms cellular metabolism and inhibits cancer cell growth.

The glycerophospholipid phosphatidylcholine is the most abundant phospholipid species of eukaryotic membranes and essential for structural integrity and signaling function of cell membranes required for cancer cell growth. Inhibition of choline kinase alpha (CHKA), the first committed step to phosphatidylcholine synthesis, by the selective small-molecule ICL-CCIC-0019, potently suppressed growth of a panel of 60 cancer cell lines with median GI50 of 1.12 μM and inhibited tumor xenograft growth in mice. ICL-CCIC-0019 decreased phosphocholine levels and the fraction of labeled choline in lipids, and induced G1 arrest, endoplasmic reticulum stress and apoptosis. Changes in phosphocholine cellular levels following treatment could be detected non-invasively in tumor xenografts by [18F]-fluoromethyl-[1,2–2H4]-choline positron emission tomography. Herein, we reveal a previously unappreciated effect of choline metabolism on mitochondria function. Comparative metabolomics demonstrated that phosphatidylcholine pathway inhibition leads to a metabolically stressed phenotype analogous to mitochondria toxin treatment but without reactive oxygen species activation. Drug treatment decreased mitochondria function with associated reduction of citrate synthase expression and AMPK activation. Glucose and acetate uptake were increased in an attempt to overcome the metabolic stress. This study indicates that choline pathway pharmacological inhibition critically affects the metabolic function of the cell beyond reduced synthesis of phospholipids

EMPIRICAL STUDY OF PSYCHOTIC DISORDER PATIENTS IN NIGERIA

A study on psychotic disorder ailment was carried out in this research paper where the target population consists of all patients that has any of the following five psychotic disorders: Menial Brain Dysfunction (MBD); Schizophrenia; Vascular Dementia; Bipolar; and Insomnia. The sample consist of five hundred (500) psychotic patients that were selected from the entire number of psychotic patients in the hospital records (files) from January, 2010 to December, 2014. They were selected based on their peculiar ailments with symptoms of psychotic disorders. The main aim of this paper is to examine the possible existence of association among these psychotic disorders. The specific objectives are to: determine the demographic factors that influence the levels of each of these psychotic disorders; propose appropriate model for each psychotic disorder; and determine the level of correct classification using each of these models. We observed that there exist strong association among these psychotic disorders except for MBD and Vascular Demetria. Nearly all the demographic factors under consideration are one way or the other influence the levels of any psychotic disorder except divorce, injury, and genetic. The percentages of correct classification using each of the models proposed ranges between 70.8% and 91.2%

Incidence of aflatoxins, fumonisins, trichothecenes and ochratoxins in Nigerian foods and possible intervention strategies

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites produced by some species of fungi. Aflatoxins, fumonisins, trichothecenes and ochratoxins are the common mycotoxins in Nigeria. Aflatoxin is the most frequently reported in literatures, with trichothecenes being the least, they cause yield loss to farmers as well as constituting major health risk to humans. The occurrence of mycotoxins in food is a serious problem that Nigeria is facing presently, as it continues to pose threat to feed and food safety of animals and humans. There is the need to seek for approaches that would lead to reduction in their toxicity. The practice of good sanitary measures right from the farm to storage, creation of awareness campaign to indicate the toxic effects associated with mycotoxin poisonings in humans and livestock, and proper evaluation of food crops for its presence can go a long way in achieving the target reduction in incidence of mycotoxins in Nigeria

The Effect of Advertising on Corporate Image: a Study of International Breweries Plc. Ilesa, Osun State, Nigeria

This study investigates the effect of advertising on corporate image in manufacturing sector of Nigeria with reference to the stakeholders of International Breweries Plc. Ilesa, Osun State. It is no doubt that business survival depend on the perception of the general public about the firm, thus it will be inappropriate not to supply to the general public necessary information that could provide them with  necessary information otherwise they would be misinformed and build up a wrong perception about the firm. This study therefore, was carried out to investigate the relationship between advertising and corporate image in manufacturing firm. Using the survey method, the study obtained sample of one hundred and twenty (120) respondents’ who are stakeholders of International breweries Ilesa products. The research instrument showed encouraging evidence of reliability and validity. Data were analyzed using simple percentages and chi-square analysis. The study found that effective advertising is a key factor for communicating to firm’s stakeholders about the status of the firm. Furthermore, it was established that there is a strong relationship between advertising and corporate image. The study concluded with the assertion that to have positive and favourable corporate image and reputation firms must employ effective advertisement programmes. Keywords: Advertising, Communication, Corporate Image &amp; Stakeholder