Anti-inflammatory compounds of macro algae origin: A review

Inflammation, occurs frequently in living tissues, and is responsible for numerous death and precursor to some deadly diseases. This review focus on seaweed derived anti-inflammatory compounds, which have attracted interest and promising replacer of current anti-inflammatory drugs. Macro algae have both pro- and anti-inflammatory compounds, the later include sulphated polysaccharides (fucoidans) from brown seaweeds, alkaloids (Caulerpin I, II and III) from red and green seaweeds, polyunsaturated fatty acids (Docosahexaenoic acid: EDA, Eicosapentaenoic acid: EPA, Stearidonic acid: SA and Eicosatrienoic acid: ETA), carotenoids (fucoxanthin and astaxanthin), Pheophytin A and Vidalols A and B. Anti-inflammatory assays include edema, erythema, tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), interleukin (IL 1β, 6, 8), Nitric oxide (NO), inducible Nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), Prostaglandin E (PGE 2 and 3), Cyclooxygenase (COX-2), transcription factor (NF-κB) and leukotrienes (LB 3 and 4). Although, in-vivo and in-vitro studies have been done for crude extracts and specific compounds, but some compounds have not analysed in-vitro, and investigation of their pathway need to be studied

African Peer Review Mechanism and Crisis of Good Governance in Africa

The transformation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) into the African Union (AU) in July 2002 at the Heads of State Summit in Durban, South Africa increased hopes for the African continent as it grappled with a broad range of challenges. These hopes were further bolstered with the adoption of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) as the AU’s framework for development. NEPAD recognises governance, peace and security as central precondition for development. The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) by which African countries are judged on their compliance with stated norms of governance is a remarkable innovation designed to facilitate the delivery not only of good governance but also peace and security. Moreover, security within the context of a new African Union has taken on a broader meaning since the end of the cold war from a traditional state-centric and ideologically- inspired concept to encompassing a human security approach. From this holistic perspective, the threats to human security in Africa remain a challenge for the AU and NEPAD. Similarly, failure to manage Africa’s diverse peoples and resources has resulted in devastating conflicts across the continent. While governance and security are not the only challenges in Africa, it seems clear that the process towards the continent’s renewal would need to proceed on a sound governance and security base. Moreover, as the dominantinstitutions and programmers representing the collective vision of the continent, success in dealing with Africa’s security and governance issue will largely depend on the AU/NEPAD and its programmes that is, APRM. Keywords: NEPAD, peer review mechanism,good governanc

Ensuring good governance through parliamentary control of administrative agencies: A critique

Parliamentary institutions are central to most systems of government but their role within the structure of government varies from one country to another. Not only are there differences in terms of their specific powers, but also in measure of  power/influence exercised within the framework of normative rules or legal system of  a nation to guarantee good governance. The objectives of this paper are to overview parliaments around the world vis-à-vis their control of administrative  agencies, especially in Britain and United States of America and to highlight the forms of control that the Nigerian National Assembly exerts on the administrative  agencies. The writers rely on published and unpublished materials such as  textbooks; articles in journals, conferences and work shop documents, law reports; newspapers; magazine; and internet facility. The paper concluded that the  parliamentary control of administrative agencies depends largely on the type of  parliamentary system being practiced either uni-cameral or bi-cameral legislature or even presidential or parliamentary. It is suggested that care must be taken not only to ensure that the electorates choose their proper representatives to National or State Assembly, but there should equally be good electoral laws to ensure that, the choice of the people are not defeated as a result of electoral fraud because the failure or success of a state depends largely on the nature of its legislators.Key words: Legislature, Good Governance, Oversight, Impeachment, Investigatio

Comparative Evaluation of the Nutritional, Physical and Sensory Properties of Beef, Chicken and Soy Burgers

The sporadic technological advancement witnessed worldwide since the beginning of the twenty first century has encouraged civilization and urbanization culminating into changes in lifestyle from active to sedentary globally. People now prefer instant foods and eating out in different food service units to home cooked meals. Burger is a special delicacy which is seldom prepared at home but commonly purchased from restaurants. The need to encourage human consumption of soybean cannot be over emphasized due to the unrivalled nutritional and health benefits derivable from it especially in combating some communicable diseases, the epidemic of which is becoming alarming globally, hence, harnessing soybean potentials in the production of burger is of pertinent importance. This experimental study was therefore designed to compare the nutritional, physical and sensory properties of soy burger with those of the conventional beef and chicken burgers. Soy cheese was prepared from soybeans using appropriate culinary procedure. Equal portions of minced beef, minced chicken and soy cheese were processed into burgers using basic recipe. Beef, chicken and soy burgers were subjected to proximate, thiamine, riboflavin, cholesterol, colour, texture and sensory evaluation using standard methods. Mean data were compared using Analysis of Variance at p≤0.05. Protein content (Dry Weight Basis) for Beef burger (BB), Chicken Burger (CB) and Soy Burger (SB) were 57.87, 50.36 and 53.89% respectively. In similar sequence fat content were 10.02(BB) 10.15(CB) and 8.58 (SB). SB was significantly higher than the other two samples in crude fibre, riboflavin and niacin while its cholesterol content was negligible. There was no significant difference between SB and CB in lightness and redness while the values for yellowness were 10.60, 25.12 and 18.25 for BB, CB AND SB respectively. In the same vein there was no significant difference in chewiness, cohesiveness and springiness of the three burger samples. For overall acceptability BB was most acceptable followed by SB and then CB. The nutritional, physical and sensory properties of soy burger were comparable to that of beef and chicken burgers, hence, soy burger may compete favourably with the conventional types of burger and is hereby presented as a cholesterol-free alternative with higher health benefits suitable for all even vegans. Household and commercial production and consumption of soy burger is hereby recommended

Effects of Indiscriminate Solid Waste Disposal And Environmental Issues In Ibadan South West Local Government, Oyo State, Nigeria

This study investigates the effect of indiscriminate solid waste disposal and environmental issues associated with the management of solid waste in Ibadan South West Local Government, Nigeria. Primary and Secondary data were used for the study. Primary data were acquired through structured questionnaires administered to a sample of 300 respondents which was randomly selected from the each local government area. The Questionnaire was administered based on the data elicited from the respondents were analyzed through non-parametric method of Chi-square. Three (3) hypotheses were formulated for this study which was all rejected; showing that indiscriminate dump of Solid Waste had significant effects on Environment, Health, people’s attitude and practice. Secondary data were acquired from desk review method; information on environmental issues emanating from poor management of indiscriminate solid waste was obtained from literatures that are relevant to the study. The results of the findings obviously show that several major streets, open spaces, and even water ways are been used as refuse dump sites within the local government. The major environmental issues resulting from improper disposal and poor management of solid waste in Ibadan South West local government are physical nuisance of the waste to the environment. Generally, the study shows that soil, air and water pollution in the study area are caused by both pathogenic and chemical elements from these large amount of solid waste that hit some of the market places, abandoned land/building and major streets. Therefore, this paper recommends that a strong legislation with severe penalty be put in place and there should be a continuous public enlightenment/education on the danger of indiscriminate waste to the general public. It is also recommended that available market be created for these waste that can be recycled. Keywords: Indiscriminate Solid Waste, Non-Parametric, Environmental Issues, Chemical Elements, Harmful, Management, Refuse Dumps

Low Emission, Smoke Free Charcoal from Oil Palm (Elaeis Guineensis) Waste- A Cheap Energy Source for Rural Communities in Nigeria

The use of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) waste as a potential source of soil conditioner in agriculture has long been identified. Its conversion into smokeless and low emission charcoal which is more environmental friendly has not been well investigated. The present study explored conversion of oil palm waste into low emission charcoal. Palm Kernel Fibre (PKF) and Palm Kernel Shell (PKS) were subjected to a pyrolytic process in a Closed Drum Carboniser (CDC). The raw waste and the gaseous emissions that emanated during processing of wastes and during use for cooking were analysed for its mineral composition and emissions of CO, CO2, SO2, NO2 and PM2.5 contents respectively using potable digital gas monitoring equipment and gravimetric PM sampler. The PKS had low nitrogen: (0.02 ± 0.03) Ma.-% and phosphorus: (0.18 ± 0.10) Ma.-% required for plant growth but high in potassium: (3.24 ± 2.49) Ma.-% which can be recovered from charcoal ash. The time taken to convert 25 kg of PKF and PKS into charcoal and their percentage volume reduction were: 1h: 13 min (90.00 Ma.-%) and 1h: 19 min (70 .00 Ma.-%) respectively. The charcoal produced from PKS exhibited higher stove value for cooking 200 g of rice within 25 min using 0.35 kg of the charcoal as against 28 min and 0.40 kg observed for conventional wood charcoal. The study showed that PKF and PKS form viable feed-stock to produce charcoal which emits less smoke and reduce greenhouse gas emissions when used as cooking fuels in households. Keywords: Closed drum carboniser, Low emission charcoal, Elaeis guineensis, Oil palm waste, Pyrolytic process, Stove energy valu

Finogel - halal nanomaterials from fish collagen extracts

Finogel is a gelatin extract from fish (perch) skin. It is 100% protein, nano coil-tubular structures, pure white coloration, high solubility and other functional properties. When reconstituted, it behaves like Newtonian fluid. It is categorized as Type A and B due to its molecular composition. It is in the form of dried powder. Generally, gelatin, one of the most popular biopolymers, is widely used in food (confectionary, dairy products, bakery, low fat spreads, meat product beverages), pharmaceutical (hard capsule, soft capsules, coatings, plasma expanders), wound care (surgical/dental sponges, hydrocolloids dressings) cosmetic , and photographic(silver halide crystal-containing emulsion layer, coating layer, sub-coating layer, antihalogen layers and non-curl layer) applications because of its unique functional and rheological properties. It can act as binder, bioactive carrier for drug delivery, amino acids supplements, encapsulating agent, wound healing, clarification, texturizer, etc. Finogel is an improved product. It is quite distinct from all available fish gelatin due to the intrinsic qualities which make it a direct match with mammalian gelatin. In order to achieve improvement in production of Finogel, the production process was studied, modified and optimized. This lead to the eradication in associated negative qualities of fish gelatin like fishy odour, low gel-strength, low melting point, turbidity and low yield. In fact, Finogel is quite very high in gel-strength. Gel-strength is a very important parameter of gelatin, measured in bloom and determine its market value. High bloom value commands high price and vice versa

Optimization of Production Plan of Hebron Drinks using Operational Research Technique

Manufacturing companies frequently face challenging operational problems. In such business environment, operations that compete for the same resources must be planned in a way that deadlines are met. Certain expertise in optimization is often required for successful solution of these problems. In this paper, we attempted to optimize the production plan of a manufacturing company - Hebron Drinks, by minimizing the Labour hours, Marching hours and Materials used in producing six different types of products. Linear programming technique was use to model the production plan of Hebron Drinks. The resulted model was solved using simplex method with the aid of computer software (LIP Solver 1.11.1 and 1.11.0). The optimal value obtained shows a reduction in the total cost of production for the period considered