Bacterial contamination of operating theatres: a case study of a hospital in Northern Nigeria

Microbial contamination of the Operating Theatre (OT) has continued to increase the prevalence of nosocomial infections. This study assessed the level of microbial contamination and the antimicrobial pattern of the bacterial isolates. Swab plate method was used to collect samples from surfaces and other articles in the major OT. Collected samples were transported and microbiologically processed using standard procedures. Three hundred and fifty (350) swab specimens were collected from various inanimate objects and surfaces in the operating theatre. Of the three hundred and fifty specimens collected, two hundred and five (205=58.6 %) swab specimens had bacterial growth. The total of 393 bacterial pathogens were recovered from all specimens processed during the study. Among these, 245(62.3 %) were Gram-positive and 148(37.7 %) were Gram-negative bacteria. The bacteria isolates were, Staphylococcus aureus 50(57.5 %), Coagulase negative Staphylococci 19(21.8 %), Bacillus species 9(10.3 %), Enterobacter species 6(3.8 %), Micrococcus species 6(6.9 %), Streptococcus species 3(4.4 %). Proteus species 128(86.5 %), E. coli 13(8.8 %), and Salmonella species 7(4.7 %). Antibiotic susceptibility pattern of bacterial pathogens showed overall sensitivity of 95 % to Rocephin. 3(100 %). Erythromycin and Gentamycin were resistant to the tested organisms. In general, the results indicate that Staphylococcus aureus, coagulase-negative Staphylococci and Proteus species were the major species contaminating the surfaces in the operating rooms. This may be due to Staphylococci been of human origin. Microbiological surveillance of operating theatres can play an important role in reducing bacterial contamination consequently preoperative infectious episodes can be reduced considerably

Knowledge of awareness about HIV/AIDS among the people of Lake Chad basin of Borno State, Nigeria

A cross sectional quantitative survey that obtained information on the behavioural characteristics of the general population and the vulnerable groups with respect to knowledge of awareness of HIV/AIDS in Lake Chad Basin of Borno State was carried out among 1,790 volunteers. The respondents, who had ever heard about HIV/AIDS, were disaggregated by target groups. 78.7% of prison inmates, 76.8% of commercial sex workers, 75.2% transporters, 64.5% of uniform service men/women and 58.7% of Island population have heard about HIV/AIDS, while the percentage among traders and Household stood at 56.4% and 45.5% each. On disaggregation by gender, 63.9% of males and 49.8% of the females have heard about HIV/AIDS. 60.4% of the urban and 59.3% of the rural communities reported to have heard about HIV/AIDS. On the knowledge of transmission of the HIV/AIDS, there was 45% awareness on unprotected sexual intercourse, 40% on blood and blood products, 6% on mother to child transmission, 1% on sharp objects while 8% does not know how the virus is transmitted. On HIV/AIDS prevention tools, 34% were aware of abstinence, 32% use of condoms, 13% faithfulness, 8% reported other methods while 13% did not know. The knowledge of awareness about HIV/AIDS though cut across both the general and vulnerable populations, there is need for more awareness to curb this dreaded disease

Potentials for the commercialization of Cocoyam in Oyun Local Government Area, Kwara State, Nigeria

Despite the nutritional and other advantages of cocoyam over some tuber crops, it remains neglected, underutilised, and non-commercialized in many parts of Nigeria. The study assessed the potentials for the commercialisation of cocoyam. Specifically, it assessed farmers’ awareness of the uses of cocoyam, level of cocoyam cultivation, farmers’ attitude towards its commercialisation, and the constraints to its commercialisation. Two-stage random sampling technique produced 154 respondents and an interview schedule was administered to collect data. Descriptive statistics and the multiple regression analysis were used for data analysis. Results revealed that farmers’ mean age, farming experience and farm size were 53.9  years, 22 years, and 4.3 acres respectively. The level of awarenessof the uses of cocoyam was high (73.52%) and had an averagely positive attitude (mean score = 2.38) towards its commercialisation. Cultivation of cocoyam was mostly on a subsistence level among the farmers (97.3%). High susceptibility to pests and diseases (MS = 3.13) and a higher preference for other tuber crops (MS = 3.09) were the major constraints to the  commercialisation of cocoyam. Farmers’ age (β = –0.008), level of education (β = –0.046), household size (β = –0.012), and frequency of extension contact (β = 0.018) determined farmers’ attitude towards its commercialisation. The study concluded that the potentials for the commercialization of cocoyam was appreciable in the study area. Findings underscore the need for research on cocoyam pest and diseases control as well as breeding ofimproved varieties of the plant by National Root Crops Research Institutes. Key words: attitude, commercialization, neglected, under-utilized and cocoyam&nbsp

Assessing attitudes and high-risk practices to HIV/AIDS infection among the people of Lake Chad basin, Borno State, Nigeria

A cross sectional quantitative survey that obtained information on high risk behaviours which expose individuals to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) especially HIV was carried out in Lake Chad Basin of Borno among 1,790 volunteers. A well-structured questionnaire was developed and used to collect the desired baseline sociodemographic characteristics by direct interview of respondents in their houses among the populations living in the ordinary households, the mobile population and vulnerable population group (VPG) not living in the households were interviewed in their places of abode with discretion. The mean age range of the participants was 32.5 years (SD + 2.21) ranging from 15 to 49 years. 1,234 (68.9%) of the respondents were males while 556 (31.1%) were females. The prison inmates had the highest prevalence of STIs, 37% of the respondents didn’t know that they were at risk of contracting HIV. The knowledge of HIV status was higher among the males (80.2%) than the females (19.3%). The use of male and female condom was higher among the rural (19.2%) than the urban (10.8%) respondents. This study revealed high risk practices among the respondents even though there is tremendous HIV test intake across both the general and vulnerable populations, there is need for more awareness as rate of risk perception is very low

Study the Efficiency of Two Concentrations from Algae Cladophora glomerata Extract on the Giardia lamblia parasite

خلال الدراسة الحالية تم عزل طفيلي Giardia lamblia من عينات البراز لمرضى مصابين باسهال Giardiasis  حيث تم عزل الطفيلي و تنميته باستخدام وسط HSP . استعان الباحثون بفئران تجريبيه بواقع اربع مجاميع من الفئران وذلك لتقييم فعالية تركيزين (128,256)ملغم /مل من مستخلص كلوروفورم للطحالب الخضراء Cladophora glomerata ضد الطفيلي المعزول ومقارنة بالعلاج التجاري للطفيلي) (Flagyl وذلك بقياس بعض المؤشرات مثل انزيمات الكبد GPTand GOT)) , مستوى تراكيز الصوديوم والبوتاسيوم والحديد بالدم اضافة الى تعداد اكياس الطفيلي لبراز كل مجموعة من مجاميع الفئران المستخدمة خلال التجربة , اظهرت النتائج انحدار في مستويات انزيمات الكبد بعد معالجة الفئران المصابة بالطفيلي بمستخلص الطحالب. بينما اشرت قياسات مستوى الصوديوم والبوتاسيوم و الحديد زيادة بعد العلاج بمستخلص الطحلب .وبالنسبة لتعداد اكياس الطفيلي فقد قل تعدادها في براز الفئران المصابة بعد تجريعها فمويا بمستخلص الطحلب مقارنة بالعلاج التجاري .واخيرا تم الكشف عن المركبات الفعالة في مستخلص الطحالب المدروسة باجراء فحص  GC-Mass حيث اظهرت نتائج الفحص وجود العديد من المركبات ذات فعالية بايولوجية متنوعة . تعتبر هذه الدراسة الاولى على مستوى العالم لبيان امكانية استخدام المركبات الفعالة بايولوجيا الموجوده في طحلب Cladophora glomerata كعلاج مناسب وبديل عن العلاج المصنع للقضاء على اصابات الطفيلي Giardia.Giardia lamblia parasite was isolated from the diarrhea samples of patients with Giardiasis dysentery and was developed in HSP media, four mice groups have been used to find in vivo efficacy of two concentrations (128,256) mg/ml of chlorophorm extracts from Cladophora glomerata algae against Giardia lamblia parasite  as compared with (Flagyl) by measuring several biochemical markers as ( GPT and GOT) enzymes ,sodium ,potassium and iron concentration as well as counting the number of parasitic cysts in each mice groups. The results demonstrate that levels of GPTA GOT enzymes have been decreased in mice treated with algal extract. As for the concentration of the Sodium, Potassium and Iron increased in mice treated with algal extract. The number of the Giardia cyst is also reduced in orally inoculated mice with both concentrations of algal extract as compared with positive control and the Flagyl treated group. In terms of bioactive compounds, GC-Mass results indicate the presence of many phytochemicals with different biologically active properties This study represents the first attempt to use Cladophora glomerata derived from phytochemicals to treat giardiasis in vivo

Exploring consumer knowledge, understanding and use of food and nutrition label information in the tamale metropolis of Ghana

The perception that consumers in low Income Countries have poor knowledge and understanding of food or nutrition labels and, therefore, do not rely on them at the point of purchase is rife. This study was aimed at assessing consumer knowledge and understanding and its influence on food label usage in the Tamale Metropolis of Ghana. An analytical cross-sectional study design was employed and mainly literate adults aged 15 to 60 years were conveniently selected and interviewed at various points-of-purchase including supermarkets, provision shops and other trading outlets. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for windows (version 19.0). Percentages were calculated and reported for descriptive statistics whilst chi-square tests of significance and regression analysis were employed to measure relationships between variables. Statistically significant differences were accepted at p<0.05. Out of the 384 consumers interviewed, 98.4% (n=378) were aware of food labels, yet, only 66.7 % (n=256) claimed they understood the labels. A large proportion (95.8%) also claimed they checked but just about 51.9% said they did so “always”. Most (89.3%) claimed they are influenced by key factors on the labels with the level of influence being highest with nutrition content, followed by expiry date, health-claim, price and advertisement respectively. However, at the point-of-purchase most (79.4) revealed they looked out for expiry date. Socio-demographic characteristics including gender (p=0.009), age (p=0.017), occupation (p=0.042), educational level (p=0.022) and income (p=0.051) were significantly associated with consumers’ understanding of the labels, with gender remaining the only significant predictor. Furthermore, age (p=0.054), occupation (p=0.0.007) and educational level (p<0.001) showed significant associations with food label usage. Education level (Tertiary) emerged the only significant predictor of food label usage. The level of knowledge and use of nutrition information on food packages among predominantly literate consumers in the Tamale Metropolis of Ghana can be compared to that of consumers in other parts of the world. These results may inform the need for developing an approach towards future information and education strategies for health professionals and other stakeholders interested in consumer awareness activities.Keywords: Nutrition label, food Label, Consumer, Point-of-purchase, Nutrition information, Tamal

Characterisation of the effects of mutation of the caldesmon sequence 691glu-trp-leu-thr-lys-thr696 to pro-gly-his-tyr-asn-asn on caldesmon-calmodulin interaction

AbstractWe have investigated the functional properties of a mutant (Cg1) derived from the C-terminal 99 amino acids of chicken caldesmon, 658–756 (658C) where the sequence 691glu-trp-leu-thr-lys-thr696 is changed to pro-gly-his-tyr-asn-asn. Cg1 bound Ca2+-calmodulin with (1/7)th of the affinity as compared to 658C or whole caldesmon. NMR titrations indicate that the contacts of Ca2+-calmodulin with the Trp-722 region of the peptide are retained but that those at the mutated site are lost. Most importantly Ca2+-calmodulin is not able to reverse the Cg1-induced inhibition. We conclude that the interaction of calmodulin with this caldesmon sequence is crucial for the reversal of caldesmon inhibition of actin-tropomyosin activation of myosin ATPase. The results are interpreted in terms of multi-site attachment of actin and Ca2+-calmodulin to overlapping sequences in caldesmon domain 4b

Adaptive threshold techniques for cognitive radio‐based low power wide area network

Some low power wide area network (LPWAN) developers such as Sigfox, Weightless, and Nwave, have recently commenced the integration of cognitive radio (CR) techniques in their respective LPWAN technologies, generally termed CR‐LPWAN systems. Their objective is to overcome specific limitations associated with LPWANs such as spectra congestion and interference, which in turn will improve the performance of many Internet of Things (IoT)‐based applications. However, in order to be effective under dynamic sensing conditions, CR‐LPWAN systems are typically required to adopt adaptive threshold techniques (ATTs) in order to improve their sensing performance. Consequently, in this article, we have investigated some of these notable ATTs to determine their suitability for CR‐LPWAN systems. To accomplish this goal, first, we describe a network architecture and physical layer model suitable for the effective integration of CR in LPWAN. Then, some specific ATTs were investigated following this model based on an experimental setup constructed using the B200 Universal Software Radio Peripheral kit. Several tests were conducted, and our findings suggest that no single ATT was able to perform best under all sensing conditions. Thus, CR‐LPWAN developers may be required to select a suitable ATT only based on the specific condition(s) for which the IoT application is designed. Nevertheless, some ATTs such as the forward consecutive mean excision algorithm, the histogram partitioning algorithm and the nonparametric amplitude quantization method achieved noteworthy performances under a broad range of tested conditions. Our findings will be beneficial to developers who may be interested in deploying effective ATTs for CR‐LPWAN systems.http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/ett2021-04-01hj2020Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineerin

Amplitude quantization method for autonomous threshold estimation in self-reconfigurable cognitive radio systems

Self-adaptive threshold adjustment algorithms (SATAs) are required to reconfigure their parameters autonomously (i.e. to achieve self-parameter adjustment) at runtime and during online use for effective signal detection in cognitive radio (CR) applications. In this regard, a CR system embedded with the functionality of a SATA is termed a self-reconfigurable CR system. However, SATAs are challenging to develop owing to a lack of methods for self-parameter adjustment. Thus, a plausible approach towards realizing a functional SATA may involve developing effective non-parametric methods, which are often pliable to achieve self-parameter adjustment since they are distribution-free methods. In this article, we introduce such a method termed the non-parametric amplitude quantization method (NPAQM) designed to improve primary user signal detection in CR without requiring its parameters to be manually fine-tuned. The NPAQM works by quantizing the amplitude of an input signal and then evaluating each quantized value based on the principle of discriminant analysis. Then, the algorithm searches for an effective threshold value that maximally separates noise from signal elements in the input signal sample. Further, we propose a new heuristic, which is an algorithm designed based on a new corollary derived from the Otsu’s algorithm towards improving the NPAQM’s performance under noise-only regimes. We applied our method to the case of the energy detector and compared the NPAQM with other autonomous methods. We show that the NPAQM provides improved performance as against known methods, particularly in terms of maintaining a low probability of false alarm under different test conditions.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/phycomhj2022Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineerin