Reporting recent medical breakthroughs

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OPINION

By Ronald Eporu

Last Friday, Research Square, a US-based company, posted on its platform a preprint of my recent medical discoveries on new ways for better management of nocturia and nocturnal enuresis using non-drug options.

Nocturia is frequent waking at night for short calls that mostly affects adults.

Nocturnal enuresis (NE) is intermittent bed wetting mostly by children from the age of 5 years and above. My paper was accepted by the editor of the BMC Urology journal in London for peer review, having found its findings to be consistent with the existing body of science. It is titled “Unexpected associations between nocturia and salt intake and postdinner exercise: A case report,” DOI is: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7549533/v1.

At least three other international journals have expressed interest in publishing my report, which speaks to the value and quality of my research output, but I had already submitted it to the BMC Urology journal. It is worth stressing that my manuscript is yet to be peer-reviewed.

To the best of my knowledge, I am the first researcher to report finding slight increments of salt consumed by an adult for dinner were associated with a decrease in the frequency of waking at night for short calls.

I am the first researcher to report finding light-moderate post-dinner exercise by an adult was associated with a decrease in the frequency of waking at night for short calls.

Previously, researchers from Japan reported a finding of 30 minutes of brisk walking in the evening or nighttime by elderly adults reduced episodes of waking at night for short calls, but the non-adherence rate was high, which raised questions about the practicality of their physical exercise model.

Fortunately, my model of physical exercise is more convenient in terms of shorter duration and less intensity. I am the first researcher to observe that slight increments of salt consumed for dinner were associated with the stoppage of bedwetting in a child above 7 years of age.

Nocturia impairs the quality of sleep and may inconvenience bed partners or roommates. Enuresis is more common in male children than in female children by a ratio of 3:1. The prevalence of enuresis is above 10% among 6-year-olds, around 5% among 10-year-olds, and 0.5–1% among teenagers and young adults. Enuresis is a socially stigmatising condition that affects children’s and/or their parents’ quality of life.

It impairs the self-esteem of affected children and compromises their quality of sleep, academic performance, and social life. There are evidence-based solutions for treating enuresis and nocturia, though these are not reflected in the Uganda Clinical Guideline 2023.

I am the founder of Medificwise-SMC Limited, which is a registered social enterprise. Our mission is to conduct extensive reviews of scientific literature and develop evidence-based health education tools for empowering individuals to prevent and control various diseases.

We conduct research and deliver cutting-edge consultancy on non-drug options for the management of infections, autoimmune, metabolic, gynaecological, and obstetric conditions.

I am profoundly thankful to God for making it possible for me to produce globally consumable research on a shoestring budget without obtaining any research grant, which is no mean feat in modern science.

Africa constitutes 15% of the global population but yields only 4% of global research output despite bearing 25% of the global disease burden.

The writer is the CEO of Medificwise-SMC Ltd