<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Many studies across the globe have reported the prevalence of low back pain (LBP) among office workers. This study aimed to find out the prevalence of LBP and associated factors among office workers in Kano city, Nigeria.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> A cross-sectional type of study was conducted among the office workers in Kano metropolitan from September to December 2019. A total of 300 office workers were selected using a convenience sampling technique. The data was collected from the respondents by face-to-face interview technique using a semi-structured questionnaire and all the data collected were analyzed using statistical software (SPSS version 22.0).</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> In this study, the mean age of the respondents was 38.6±9.6 years and 72.7% of them were male. More than half (54.7%) of the respondents had a bachelor's degree and above. About 71.3% of the respondents had a familial history of LBP. About 68.0% of the respondents had suffered musculoskeletal disorder in the past and the majority (54.4%) mentioned they suffered hip pain. Only 33.7% of the respondents were maintaining the proper posture and 37.7% of the respondents were using an ergonomic chair.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> The findings of this study found a 65.3% prevalence of low back pain among the office workers in Kano metropolitan. Office workers should be encouraged to maintain proper postures at work and there is a need for more educational programs regarding the prevention measures of low back pain.</p>

Background: Drugs and substance abuse is one of the commonest emerging public health problems among both adults and adolescents in developing countries. This study aimed to assess the level of knowledge and prevalence of drugs and substance abuse among the students of a selected tertiary health institution in Kano, Nigeria.Methods: A multistage sampling technique was used during selection of the participants and the study was conducted for a period of 4 months (July to November, 2019). A total of 151 students from school of health technology Kano, Nigeria were recruited and the data was collected using a self-administered semi-structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed by the use of statistical software (SPSS version 20.0) and the results were presented in the form of figures and tables with frequencies and percentage. In addition, a statistical test of significance (x2 test) was applied to determine the significant associations between variables, p≤0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: The mean age of study participants was 27.2±6.3 years and majority of them (64.2%) were between 20-25 years. More than nine-tenths (94.0%) of the respondents were Hausa/Fulani, and 32.5% of the respondents were SCHEW students. Little above half (53.6%) of the respondents were earning less than 11000 naira per month and 62.3% of the respondents sourced the information regarding drugs and substance abuse from their friends. All the respondents have seen cigarettes before and 57.6% have seen inhalants (such as glue, petrol etc). Regarding the reason for substance/drug abuse; about 68.9% stated that it’s an addiction and based to the factors enhancing drugs and substance abuse; 72.7% mentioned that it was due to peer pressure, and 72.2% mentioned unemployment. Based on societal factors that promotes drugs and substance abuse; more than three-fifths (64.9%) mentioned that it was reluctant attitude of people and 20.5% mentioned it was some cultural factors.Conclusions: The prevalence of drug and substance abuse was 18.5%. Nevertheless more than three-fifths of them had good level of knowledge regarding drug and substance abuse. The ethnicity of the respondents was found significantly associated with level of knowledge regarding drug and substance abuse. There is need for more focused attention by parents, teachers, government and general public on the problem of drug and substance use.

Background: Bone setting practices contribute largely to alternative medicine almost all over the world. It’s commonly accessible in large parts of rural populations. The aim of the study was to determine the pattern of traditional and modern bone settings among the people in a selected community in Kano, Nigeria.Methods: The study was a descriptive cross-sectional type of study carried out from January to May 2019 to determine the pattern of traditional and modern bone (TBS and MBS) settings among the people residing in Kano, Nigeria. A simple random sampling technique was used to select a total of 222 study participants from the selected community. In this study, a face-to-face interview technique was used to collect the information from the study participants using a semi-structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using a statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) 22.0 version.Results: In this study, about 34.7% were between 31-35 years and most of the respondents (28.4%) had secondary school level of education. Slightly above nine-tenths (90.1%) of the respondents stated that TBS is more preferable than MBS and the reason for preference were fear of amputation/operation (51.0%), lack of knowledge (32.0%), the attitude of health personnel (28.0%) and fear of the application of plaster of paris (25.0%).Conclusions: The finding of this study reveals more than half of the respondents had enough knowledge of both traditional and modern bone settings. The public should be educated about the modern method of bone setting and the complications of traditional bone setting.

Background: Surgical Site Infection (SSI) due to spinal surgeries is relatively frequent complication with significant morbidity that results in a prolonged stay in the hospital, need for reproaches, prolonged chances of recovery, and loss of instrumentation. This study was conducted on the patients who underwent a spinal fusion with antibiotic powder wound application compared to a control group. Case Presentation: A retrospective study involving spinal fusion was conducted between March and August 2018 in which antibiotic powder was used and all spinal fusion in the previous six months as control. Data was gathered from patients’ case notes. Fifty-eight patients underwent a spinal fusion with antibiotic powder wound application between March and August 2018. While 68 patients had spinal fusion between August 2017 and February 2018, in which antibiotic powder was not applied to the wound during closure. Thirty-six (62.0%) surgeries were performed in the cervical spine, while 22 (38.0%) for the thoracolumbar spine were in the antibiotic group. In the group without antibiotic use, 39 (57.0%) were cervical spine surgeries, while 29 (43.0%) were thoracolumbar surgeries. Conclusion: Our study showed that the rate of SSI was nonexistent in patients with antibiotic powder during wound closure compared to the control, which recorded a 7.4% rate of SSI. However, a study on a larger population of patients is required to ascertain whether this procedure should be promoted.