Search

The effect of five organic mulches (oil palm bunch refuse, oil palm fibre, woodchips, sawdust and multispecies thrash) applied at three different times {at planting, 3 and 6 months after planting (MAP)} at Owerri in the tropical rainforest agro-ecology of southeastern Nigeria were investigated. The experiment was a 3 x 5 factorial experiment laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Mulching of plantain using oil palm bunch refuse produced highest plantain bunch yield (17.68 t ha-1) while mulching with multispecies thrash gave lowest plantain bunch yield (12.02 t ha-1). Mulching of plantain at 3 MAP produced bigger plantain bunch yield (15.79 t ha-1) than mulching of plantain at planting (14.44 t ha-1) and at 6 MAPS (13.21 t ha-1). Mulching of plantain at 3 MAPS with oil palm bunch refuse stimulated early sucker proliferation, conserved soil moisture content, sustained plantain bunch yield and increased number of fingers per bunch in crop plantain and first ratoon bunch yield. These findings are important for the development of effective mulching strategy for rain fed zones in southeast Nigeria.

Arterial venous (AV) fistula is the first choice of vascular access to perform hemodialysis in the vast majority of suitable patients followed by arteriovenous grafts (AVG). An iatrogenic fistula can occur when a second vein adjacent to the graft is punctured and the needle traverses the vein. In normal circumstances, this has no clinical repercussions and does not need correction, and in prior reports, it has helped to maintain the patency of partially occluded grafts but rarely can lead to thrombosis of the graft due to reduced flow and pressure in the graft lumen. We report here what we believe is a unique approach to perform thrombectomy of an occluded graft in a 71-year-old patient on hemodialysis to avoid placement of tunneled hemodialysis catheters and complications associated with catheters. When the outflow of basilic vein in this patient was thrombosed and could not be traversed, we successfully used an iatrogenic fistula as main outflow vein for the graft and created an alternative vein for drainage thus avoiding placement of a tunneled catheter for hemodialysis.

Cutaneous myiasis is a condition that involves an infestation of fly larvae into human tissue, most commonly caused by Dermatobia (D.) hominis or the bot fly. While this is a condition most commonly seen in tropical regions of the globe due to increased travel to endemic regions, physicians must increasingly be aware of this as a potential diagnosis. In addition, there is minimal literature on cutaneous myiasis in the pediatric patient and its potential associated symptoms. This case report thus highlights a toddler that presented to our facility with a raised, erythematous scalp lesion and associated preauricular and occipital lymphadenopathy. Of note, the patient had a recent travel history to Belize, an endemic area where she was likely infected. As there are multiple other differentials for not only scalp swellings in the pediatric population, in addition to regional adenopathy, a high index of suspicion was needed to make the diagnosis. Ultrasound was the imaging modality used to visualize the fly larva, and surgical excision was the mechanism of treatment. Thus, this case highlights a unique presentation of cutaneous myiasis in a toddler and aims to add to the growing body of literature on a condition likely to be encountered by physicians at a greater frequency., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2020, Mensah et al.)