ADOPTION OF INTEGRATED TRANSPORT SYSTEM FOR SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

The importance of addressing urban mobility problems is increasingly being emphasized in the Fourth Industrial Era. This shift towards creating a smart and inclusive cities represents a major milestone towards improving policies and urban mobility processes in both developed and developing cities. One approach to tackle this is the adoption of an integrated active/public transport system for urban mobility. Building on this, the study reviewed the need for an integrated transport system and means to achieve a safe, efficient, accessible, and affordable transport system for all members of society. The study revealed that good modal interchanges are central to creating a better transport network aimed at improving the transportation planning of a country. To achieve this, a well-planned and integrated transport infrastructure and services are needed and should be provided to facilitate and enhance smart mobility for all members of the society irrespective of their status or spatial location. Without planning and investment in better interchanges, the absence of affordable, efficient, and easy to use alternatives will mean those with access to a private car continue to rely on them while those without it will continue to be doubly disadvantaged by the negative social and environmental impacts of over-reliance on private cars. Thus, there is a clear and pressing need for bette

Prevalence of renal tuberculosis among patients presenting with active pulmonary tuberculosis in Ilorin - Nigeria

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major healthproblem world-wide, especially in tropicaldeveloping countries involving major organs in thebody. The kidney is usually affected throughhaematogenous spread from a primary focus. Renaltuberculosis is the commonest form of extrapulmonary TB particularly among the Caucasians butthought to be rare in Blacks. Due to the paucity ofdata on the prevalence of renal TB. A prospectivestudy was undertaken to investigate the prevalence ofrenal TB in cases of active pulmonary TB (PTB) inllorin - Nigeria.Confirmed cases of active PTB patients wereconsecutively recruited from the Pulmonary Clinicand the PTB Ward over a one year period. Theinclusion criteria were sputum acid fast baccili (AFB)positivity on two or more occasions and radiologicalevidence of PTB. Patients fullfilling the abovecriteria were investigated by urine analysis for sterileacid pyuria, Z-N stain, plain abdominal x-rays, renalultrasound, intravenous urogram and renal biopsy.A total of 148 acti ve PTB patients were studied (91males, 57 females). Male to female ratio was 3:2.The mean age of the males and females with renal TBwas 40 and 29 years respectively.The prevalence rates of AFB in urine and sterile acidpyuria were 9.5% and 8.8% respectively. Only 2.7%had both AFB in urine and sterile pyuria.Renal histology was abnormal in 70% of the biopsiedkidneys with sterile pyuria. The combination of AFBin urine and histologic evidence of renal TBincreased the prevalence of renal TB to 14% in thestudy.The study shows that renal TB in active PTB may be similar in Black and White populations. The diagnosis is difficult and a high index of clinical suspicion with combined diagnostic tools are required to identify the lesion

Reputation Risk from a Stakeholder Management Perspective

Stakeholders face many different risks that arise from any business activity. The stakeholder management approach is the process by which is organised, monitored and improved relationships with business stakeholders. It involves systematically identifying stakeholders; analysing their needs, expectations; planning and implementing various tasks to engage with them. Most definitions of stakeholder management tend to focus around the idea of how could stakeholders be managed in order to get them to do what is equired. The emphasis is placed on creating a stakeholder management plan that maps the level of interest and influence of stakeholders and list various levels of engagement for the different groups. This paper applies a case study methodology presenting the Wal-Mart case and the Malden Mills case to reflect the implications of stakeholder management in companies. The findings indicate the positive but also the negative implications which result when various stakeholders are neglected, and, conversely, the benefits when stakeholders are effectively engaged in corporate activities. It concludes that effective stakeholder management contributes to risk management and reputation management, as well as, to corporate social responsibility

Studies of behavioural and analgesic properties of Treculia africana in mice

Treculia africana was claimed to be useful in the treatment of mental illness. The present work was carried out to evaluate the neurobiology and analgesic properties of Treculia africana in mice. The neurobiology and analgesic properties of Treculia africana was investigated by using head dip, elevated plus maze, Y-maze, tail immersion and acetic acid-induced abdominal constriction tests in mice. The results showed that Treculia africana reduced head dips, produced anxiogenic effect, reduced locomotor activity without effect on learning and memory and produced analgesic effect peripherally. It was concluded that Treculia africana possessed sedative and strong analgesic properties. © 2010 International Formulae Group. All rights reserved.Keywords: Head dip, elevated plus maze, Y-Maze, tail immersion, abdominal constrictio

Knowledge, Practice and Willingness to Participate in Community Health Insurance Scheme among Households in Nigerian Capital City

Background: Health insurance is a social security system that guarantees the provision of needed health services to persons on the payment of token contributions at regular intervals. The objective of the survey was to determine knowledge, practice and willingness of households in Nigerian Capital City to pay and participate in Community Health Insurance Scheme.Materials and Methods: This descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study was carried out using the multistage cluster sampling technique to obtain data from 300 selected household heads or main financial decision makers. The data was analyzed using EPI-INFO software package. Statistical significance of p < 0.05 and confidence limit of 95% was used.Results: The major findings showed that the level of awareness (13%) concerning Community Health Insurance (CHI) was found to be very low among the respondents. The general principles of CHI were also poorly understood by the respondents. Attitude to the programme was positive as many showed interest in participating and enrolling themselves (97.0%), some family members (96.3%) and entire family members (90.3%).  Borrowing money to settle medical bills in this study has occurred in 30% of instances. Majority of respondents were willing to pay premiums ranging from N450 (96.6%) to N1200 (72.5%) for simple packages that do not include surgery and hospitalization.Conclusions: The community members were willing to participate and enrol if the programme is brought to them. There is a need to adequately subsidize the premiums that respondents were willing to pay in order to meet up with the cost of treatment.Key Words: Willingness, Participate, Community Health Insurance

Algorithm for Determining the Parameters of a Two-Layer Soil Model

—The parameters of a two-layer soil can be determined by processing resistivity data obtained from resistivity measurements carried out on the soil of interest. The processing usually entails applying the resistivity data as inputs to an optimisation function. This paper proposes an algorithm which utilises the square error as an optimisation function. Resistivity data from previous works were applied to test the accuracy of the new algorithm developed and the result obtained conforms significantly to results from previous works

Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Noise in Selected Areas of Oyo Township

Noise is an important environmental problem in major cities of tropical African countries with Nigeria not exempted. The study adopted a quantitative measurement of noise at selected sites having heterogeneous spatial characteristics. The data collected were analyzed using totals, means, t-test and a two-way ANOVA. The study showed that noise is a feedback mechanism stemming from myriads of urbanization and industrialization processes, poor urban planning, social functions, vehicular activities (hooting), household activities, hawking and other commercial activities of the recent times. The study also showed that noise level is functionally related to temporal and spatial characteristics of places. All these have resulted in vulnerability and exposure of the cities dwellers to noise related health impairment despite the presence of some health care centres. The immediate responses known to have followed excessive noise in these areas are hearing loss, sleeping disorder, annoyance, communication impairment, health related problems like cardiovascular diseases, temporary or permanent deafness and the likes. It is hereby recommended that adequate and timely environmental education be organized for people to have a change of attitude towards noise level reduction in particular and environmental pollution in general

Potential Natural Egg Colourant in Laying Chickens

A six-week study involving two hundred and fifty (250) Harco Black layer birds at point of lay was carried out to investigate the effects of potential natural colorant on performance and egg quality traits. The birds were assigned to five (5) dietary treatments, each containing supplements either of control, Baobab Leaf (BL), Waterleaf (WL), Red Pepper (RP), Canthaxanthin (CTX) at 40 g/kg feed and 50mg/kg feed of natural and commercial colorants, respectively. Performance records shows no significant (p>0.05) difference in feed intake across supplements of Red pepper, Water leaf, Canthaxanthin and control diet, however Baobab leaf treatment had a significantly lower (p < 0.05) intake value (94.07 g) when compared with other treatments. Body weight gain and Hen Day Production was not significant influenced (p>0.05) by the dietary treatments, though Baobab leaf supplement had lowest mean HDP of 48.80%, Red pepper and Water leaf supplement averaging 52.79%. There was no significant effect (p > 0.05) of colorants on egg external traits, compared with the control; Canthaxanthin treatment had higher mean egg weight (51.79g), egg length (4.55g), egg breadth (3.29 g); Red pepper treatment had highest mean shell thickness (0.29g), however these differences were not significant (p>0.05). Yolk height, Albumen height, Yolk index, and Haugh unit were not significantly affected (p > 0.05) across treatments. Yolk width was lowest (p < 0.05) in Baobab leaf treatment (2.54cm); Red pepper, Water leaf and Canthaxanthin (2.89, 2.62 and 2.89 cm respectively) were not significantly (p > 0.05) different from the control (2.73cm). Yolk colour score was significantly highest (p < 0.05) in Red pepper treatment (7.50); Water leaf, Baobab leaf and Canthaxanthin ranged between 2.25- 3.31 on the DSM yolk colour fan, Control treatment had the lowest yolk colour score (p < 0.05) of 1.31. The study showed Red pepper as a worthy alternative to commercial yolk colorant. Water leaf and baobab are not good substitutes for canthaxanthin as a yolk colourant.Key words: Egg colourant, Chickens, Livestock

Nutritional knowledge, dietary habits and nutritional status of diabetic patients attending teaching hospitals in Lagos, Nigeria

Background: This study assessed the nutritional knowledge, dietary habits and nutritional status of adult diabetic patients attending teaching hospitals in Lagos State, Nigeria.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among adult diabetic patients attending the out-patient clinics of the two Teaching Hospitals in Lagos. Respondents were recruited from the clinics consecutively until the desired sample size (342) was obtained. A pre-tested interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Dietary habits were assessed using food frequency questionnaire and BMI was assessed following standard procedure and compared with the World Health Organization (WHO) standards. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS (Version 20). Chi-square and fisher’s exact probability test were used to determine the association between variables. The level of significance was set at p-value less than 5%.Results: The mean age of the respondents was 59.6 + 13.0 years. Only 125 (37%) of the respondents had good nutritional knowledge. Majority ate three meals every day, 237 (69.3%) and have had dietary counseling, 255 (74.6%). More than half of the respondents, 202 (59.1%) skipped meals, 80 (23.4%) consumed alcohol while only 42 (12.3%) ate fruits and vegetables daily. The commonest food consumed was processed cereals. Majority of the respondents were overweight or obese (74%). Obesity was associated with being female and not having dietary counseling.Conclusion: Nutritional knowledge and dietary habits were poor while overweight and obesity were high. Dietary counseling will be necessary to improve the dietary pattern and nutritional status of the diabetic patients.Keywords: Nutritional knowledge; Dietary pattern; Body Mass Index; Diabetic patients; Teaching hospitals; Lago

Central Nervous System Depressant Properties of Treculia africana Decne

The study was carried out to investigate the central nervous system activity of Treculia africana. The central nervous system depressant properties of Treculia africana were determined using: Novelty –Induced Rearing and Grooming, Locomotor activity, Ketamine-induced sleeping time and effect on rectal body temperature. The crude extract produced decrease in rearing, grooming and locomotor activity. It also potentiated ketamineinduced sleeping time and produced hypothermic effect in mice. The crude extract possessed sedative effect, which may be through increase in the activity of GABA in the brain