Niger J Clin Pract
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Thoracic paravertebral block can be employed as an alternative or an adjunct to general anesthesia (GA) for breast cancer surgery. There is no report of this new lamina technique for catheter placement in our environment. In low-resource settings, potent opioids are lacking and the extended postoperative analgesia it provides makes this regional block an invaluable addition to an anesthetist's armamentarium. ⋯ The patient's vital signs remained stable throughout surgery that lasted 115 min. Pain score charted every 10 min in the postanesthesia care unit using the verbal rating scale was 0. The time to the first request for rescue analgesic was 18 h after surgery for which paracetamol 1 g was adequate.
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Item analysis is an effective method in the evaluation of multiple-choice achievement tests. This study aimed to compare the classical and the latent class models used in item analysis, as well as their efficacy in the evaluation of the examinations of the medical faculty. ⋯ In this study, similar results were obtained by classical and latent methods. IRT can be considered perfect at a mathematical level, and if its assumptions are satisfied, it can easily perform assessments and measurements for most types of complex problems. Classical theory is easy to understand and to apply, while IRT is, on the contrary, sometimes rather difficult to understand and to implement.
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Nigeria is still battling with preventable childhood deaths, being one of the six countries in which 50% of all global child deaths occur. Regular community and health facility audits are needed to determine morbidity and mortality patterns in children which will guide preventive and therapeutic interventions. ⋯ Infectious diseases remain a menace in our environment with the eventual outcome worsened by late presentation to an appropriate health facility. There is an urgent need to create public awareness on the need to seek prompt medical attention for sick children.