Academic literature on the topic 'Self-Destructiveness in Southern Benin'

Malaria still remains the main public health problem in Benin. We explored the determinants that influenced malaria treatment as well as protective behaviors, to generate a framework of useful ideas as alternative strategies against malaria. A cross-sectional survey of the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) was conducted at Hozin, Vakon and Agblangandan districts in southern region of Benin. Descriptive statistics were computed and mixed logistic regression helped evaluating the relationship between frequency of each category of severity of malaria and sex group, educational level, treatment, means of self-protection against mosquitoes and identification of the cause of malaria. A significant proportion 750 (81.3%) (p<0.001) of participants stated that malaria was caused by mosquitoes. The respondents who mentioned sun as the cause of malaria, have trivialized more malaria in a proportion of about 59.30% (OR=2.67 [95% CI 1.61-4.44]) followed by those who have reported the cause of body weakness (43.68%) (OR=2.97 [95% CI 1.68-5.28]). Poor knowledge justifies the trivialization of the disease and poor management of malaria control means. National Malaria Control Programs should improve access to education, especially for women and could help improving prevention and control behaviours against malaria in communities.

Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) poses a disproportionate burden on Benin, West Africa. However, no diabetes intervention has yet been developed for Benin’s contexts. This study aimed to explore specific cultural beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and environmental factors to help adapt a diabetes self-management program to patients with T2D from Cotonou, in southern Benin. Methods: Qualitative data were collected through focus group discussions (FDGs) involving 32 patients with T2D, 16 academic partners, and 12 community partners. The FDGs were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim from French to English, and then analyzed thematically with MAXQDA 2020. Results: Healthy food was challenging to obtain due to costs, seasonality, and distance from markets. Other issues discussed were fruits and vegetables as commodities for the poor, perceptions and stigmas surrounding the disease, and the financial burden of medical equipment and treatment. Information about local food selections and recipes as well as social support, particularly for physical activity, were identified, among other needs. When adapting the curriculum, gender dynamics and spirituality were suggested. Conclusions: The study demonstrates the need for culturally sensitive interventions and a motivation-based approach to health (spiritual and emotional support). It also lays the groundwork for addressing T2D contextually in Benin and similar sub-Saharan African countries.

Background: Hospitals may serve as amplifiers of infectious disease rates during outbreak situations. The strict implementation of and compliance with standard precautions (SPs) is the primary strategy for preventing healthcare-associated infections. This study was conducted to assess the knowledge and level of compliance with SPs in a tertiary hospital as a measure of preparedness to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among healthcare workers selected using stratified sampling technique in the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data was collected using an adapted, self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using IBM SPSS version 25.0. Knowledge and compliance with SPs were assessed using six domains each. Statistical measures for analysis were the odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). The level of significance was set at p < 0.05.Results: A total of 524 respondents with mean age 38.1 ± 9.7 years participated in this study. Majority, 432 (84.2%) were female and 467 (89.1%) were clinical staff. Overall, knowledge and compliance of SPs were good in 457 (87.2%) and 293 (60.0%) respondents, respectively. Clinical health workers were 2.5 (95% CI: 1.3 – 5.1) times more likely to have good knowledge while respondents with poor knowledge were 0.5 (95% CI: 0.3 – 0.9) timesless likely to have good compliance with SPs.Conclusion: Knowledge of SPs in the studied population was high and compliance was good. Continued education and behavioural change communication are needed to improve compliance especially in the face of a pandemic.

Background. There is a dire need for paediatric critical care (PCC) services, but their availability in tertiary hospitals in Nigeria is not well defined. Objective. We evaluated self-reported PCC practice, resources, and perceived challenges in various zones of the country, using paediatric residents’ perspective. Methods. This is a descriptive cross-sectional survey, carried out at an Intensive Course in Paediatrics at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. Participants’ PCC practice and perceived adequacy of PCC resources and services were assessed using a 100 mm uncalibrated visual analogue scale (VAS). A comparison between northern and southern zones was done. A 2-sided p value < 0.05 was considered significant. Results. A total of 143 residents participated in the study, 37.1% of them were male, and 62.9% were female. Their mean age was 34.6 ± 3.2 years. They were mainly (86.7%) from federal institutions across the country. Less than a half (46.7%) of the trainees attended to critically ill children daily, but only 4 out of every 10 respondents stated that such severely ill children survived till hospital discharge; 12.1% of the trainees had PICUs in their institutions. Financial constraints hindered PICU admissions. PCC staff were relatively fewer in northern zones than southern zones ( p < 0.05 ). Their perceived adequacy of PCC equipment and services were low (VAS scores 32.7 ± 2.6 and 30.9 ± 2.8, respectively) with a strong positive correlation between the two measurements (r = 0.839; p < 0.001 ). Conclusion. There is an unmet need for PCC practice in Nigerian tertiary hospitals with a resultant low survival rate of critically ill children. PCC training curricula and improved critical care resources are desirable in the setting.

The involvement of the ras oncogenes in tumorigenesis was investigated in keratoacanthomas, which are benign and self-regressing skin tumors, both in humans and in a corresponding animal model system. Keratoacanthomas were induced on rabbit ears by repeated applications of 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene. About 60% of the tumor DNAs produced transformed foci after transfection into NIH 3T3 cells, and in all of them the transforming gene was identified as H-ras by Southern and Northern (RNA) hybridization. Immunoprecipitation experiments suggested that the transforming rabbit H-ras protein carried a mutation in codon 61. In addition, an activated H-ras gene was detected in a human keratoacanthoma by using a nude mouse tumorigenesis assay after transfection of tumor DNA into NIH 3T3 cells. This is the first report of ras activation in a benign human tumor. The transforming human H-ras gene showed a point mutation in codon 61 that would result in leucine instead of the glutamine present in the normal gene product. The finding of ras activation in tumors that are not only benign but also self-regressing indicates that activated ras genes are not sufficient to maintain a neoplastic phenotype, although they likely play a role in early stages of tumorigenesis.

The involvement of the ras oncogenes in tumorigenesis was investigated in keratoacanthomas, which are benign and self-regressing skin tumors, both in humans and in a corresponding animal model system. Keratoacanthomas were induced on rabbit ears by repeated applications of 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene. About 60% of the tumor DNAs produced transformed foci after transfection into NIH 3T3 cells, and in all of them the transforming gene was identified as H-ras by Southern and Northern (RNA) hybridization. Immunoprecipitation experiments suggested that the transforming rabbit H-ras protein carried a mutation in codon 61. In addition, an activated H-ras gene was detected in a human keratoacanthoma by using a nude mouse tumorigenesis assay after transfection of tumor DNA into NIH 3T3 cells. This is the first report of ras activation in a benign human tumor. The transforming human H-ras gene showed a point mutation in codon 61 that would result in leucine instead of the glutamine present in the normal gene product. The finding of ras activation in tumors that are not only benign but also self-regressing indicates that activated ras genes are not sufficient to maintain a neoplastic phenotype, although they likely play a role in early stages of tumorigenesis.

Background HealthMindr is a mobile phone HIV prevention app for men who have sex with men (MSM). In a previous pilot study, HealthMindr was found to be acceptable among users and to demonstrate preliminary effectiveness for increasing pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake among MSM. PrEP is a highly effective HIV prevention intervention; however, uptake remains low. Objective To assess the efficacy of a mobile app for increasing PrEP uptake among MSM in the southern United States. Methods In this randomized controlled trial, we will assess the efficacy of HealthMindr for increasing PrEP uptake among MSM in the following three southern US cities: Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; and Washington, DC. In total, 657 men will be recruited and randomized to intervention and control arms in a 2:1 ratio. Participants in the intervention arm will receive access to the full HealthMindr app, with information and resources about PrEP (eg, frequently asked questions, risk assessment tool, and PrEP provider locator), other HIV prevention information, ability to order free HIV/sexually transmitted infection test kits, and additional resources related to substance use and mental health. Participants in the control arm will use the HealthMindr app but will only have access to the study timeline and a message center to communicate with study staff. Participants will complete quarterly surveys to assess self-reported PrEP uptake over 12 months of follow-up. Self-reported PrEP uptake will be verified by dried blood spot testing and/or uploading a photograph of a PrEP prescription. Results Participant recruitment is expected to begin in January 2020. Conclusions This trial will determine whether the HealthMindr app can increase PrEP uptake among MSM in the southern United States. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03763942; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03763942 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) PRR1-10.2196/16231

Cross-pollination has been associated with improved fruit set, weight, and shortened time to ripening in southern highbush blueberry [SHB (Vaccinium corymbosum interspecific hybrids)]. Because of this, growers commonly plant two or more cultivars in small blocks to facilitate cross-pollination. However, many SHB cultivars may vary in the degree of improvement in each parameter after cross-pollination. Understanding the impacts of cross-pollination on a particular cultivar is crucial to forming planting recommendations, particularly as growers begin to transition to fields designed for machine harvest where large solid blocks would increase the harvest efficiency. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of cross- and self-pollination among 13 commonly planted or newly released SHB cultivars. Cross-pollination typically improved fruit set, fruit weight, and seed number while decreasing the average days to harvest. Cross-pollinated fruit always weighed more than self-pollinated fruit from the same cultivar, which was highly correlated to seed number per fruit. Although there was variation for each trait, interplanting with another unrelated cultivar sharing a similar bloom time remains the best recommendation to ensure early, high yield among these SHB cultivars.

Our final paper in this series reasserts the importance of sequence. Stressing that long barrows, long cairns and associated structures do not appear to have begun before the thirty-eighth century cal. bc in southern Britain, we give estimates for the relative order of construction and use of the five monuments analysed in this programme. The active histories of monuments appear often to be short, and the numbers in use at any one time may have been relatively low; we discuss time in terms of generations and individual lifespans. The dominant mortuary rite may have been the deposition of articulated remains (though there is much diversity); older or ancestral remains are rarely documented, though reference may have been made to ancestors in other ways, not least through architectural style and notions of the past. We relate these results not only to trajectories of monument development, but also to two models of development in the first centuries of the southern British Neolithic as a whole. In the first, monuments emerge as symptomatic of preeminent groups; in the second model, monuments are put in a more gradualist and episodic timescale and related to changing kinds of self-consciousness (involving senses of self, relations with animals and nature, perceptions of the body, awareness of mortality and attitudes to the past). Both more distant and more recent and familiar possible sources of inspiration for monumentalization are considered, and the diversity of situations in which mounds were constructed is stressed. More detailed Neolithic histories can now begin to be written.

En Afrique de l’Ouest, les conduites suicidaires, estimées autrefois rares, sont de plus en plus fréquentes. Dans le Sud Bénin, les études effectuées au centre national hospitalier soulignent non seulement l’augmentation de la fréquence des tentatives de suicide et l’absence de prise en charge psychologique des suicidants, mais aussi la nécessité de prendre en compte des interprétations culturelles. La question du sens et de la prise en charge des actes suicidaires s’y pose donc avec une grande acuité.En conséquence, l’objectif de la présente recherche est d’approcher le sens psychique des tentatives de suicide des jeunes adultes dans le Sud Bénin et d’y évaluer le rôle et la place du psychologue clinicien d’orientation psychanalytique.Il s’agit d’une étude qualitative. La mise en tension des références psychanalytiques avec des éléments d’anthropologie sociale ou des caractéristiques du contexte constitue un des axes principaux de ce travail. La méthodologie adoptée est une recherche-action comprenant l’instauration d’un protocole d’accueil des suicidants et la réalisation de « rencontres anthropologiques » afin de mieux cerner les questions suicidaires dans le contexte béninois.Il ressort de l’analyse que les suicidants sont en proie à une crise identitaire où l’acte, réactionnel, prend la valeur d’une recherche de refondation psychique et répond à un double mouvement de désintrication et réintrication pulsionnelle. Tandis qu’une situation-écran engendre un vécu traumatique qui conduit à l’autodestructivité, l’acte suicidaire s’inscrit dans un processus de réintrication pulsionnelle et de remaniement identitaire. Ce processus, que j’ai nommé ici refondation, est rendu possible par l’accueil fait au suicidant à l’issue de sa tentative de suicide. De cette compréhension découlent un cadre conceptuel pour le clinicien et des dispositifs cliniques pertinents pour la prise en charge des suicidants dans le Sud Bénin
In West Africa, suicidal behaviors, estimated once rare, are increasingly becoming frequent. Yet, in Southern Benin, previous studies at the National University Hospital have noted an increase in young adults’ suicide attempts and the lack of psychological assessment and support to the attempters, but also the need to take cultural interpretations into account. So, the question of the meaning and the care of suicidal acts arises with acuity.It is in this framework that our research is being carried out. The aim is to achieve a better psychodynamic understanding of young adults’ suicide attempts in Southern Benin, and to assess, in this particular context, the role of a psychoanalytically oriented psychologist. This is a qualitative study. The confrontation of psychoanalytic references with social anthropology elements or characteristics of the context is one of the main focuses of this work. The methodological procedure used for data collection includes a clinical intake protocol, which is adapted to the context and implemented to suicide attempters, and «anthropological encounters» as a way to open up local concepts of suicide in order to better identify suicidal issues. It appears from the clinical understanding that attempters are experiencing an identity crisis wherein the suicidal act represents a research of psychic overhaul. One can thus argue that some young adult suicide attempts in Southern Benin meet two movements of drive defusion and fusion. While screen-circumstances produce a traumatic experience which leads to self-destructiveness, the suicidal act is part of a drive fusion process and specific rearrangements in identity processes. This process, which I named here “psychic refondation” or “psychic rebirth”, is made possible by the clinical reception given to attempters after their suicide attempts. From this understanding arises a conceptual framework for clinical psychologists and relevant clinical settings to take care of suicide attempters in Southern Benin