Dynamics of limnological features of two man-made lakes in relation to fish production

Limnological features of Oyan and Asejire lakes, South-Western Nigeria, were investigated between July 2000 and December 2001. Rainy season (April-October) mean monthly rainfall values of 120.3 ±52.4 mm and 15.9 ± 10.3 were recorded for Oyan and Asejire lakes respectively, while corresponding dry season (November-March) values were 18.2 ± 34.7 and 4.2 ± 3.81 mm, respectively.. The mean surface water temperature, transparency, dissolved oxygen content and pH were 29.9 ± 2.34°C, 1.5 ±0.19 m, 7.1 ± 0.96 mg/L and 7.4 ± 0.43, respectively, in Oyan lake and for Asejire lake the values were 28.5 ± 1.91°C, 1.3 ± 0.35 m, 6.9 ± 1.33 mg/L and 7.4± 0.54, respectively. The physicochemical properties of the two lakes vary with seasonal changes in the rainfall of the drainage area. Oyan and Asejire lakesexhibited features that are typical of tropical environment. The high dissolved oxygen content values indicate that the water bodies can successfully support aquatic life including fis

Toxicity of Parkia biglobosa and Raphia vinifera extracts on Clarias gariepinus juveniles

Acute toxicity tests were carried out with aqueous and ethanolic extracts of two botanicals on Clarias gariepinus juveniles. 96-h LC50 values for Parkia biglobosa aqueous (AEPB) and ethanolic extracts (EEPB) were 2.8 and 2.4 ppm, respectively. While for Raphia vinifera aqueous (AERV) and ethanolic extracts (EERV), the values were 3.4 and 3.2 ppm, respectively. The resulting 96-h LC50 values showed that extracts of P. biglobosa were more potent than the extracts of R. vinifera and that EEPB was the most toxic. Histopathological changes in liver and gill of exposed fish showed subtle cellular damages like necrosis, lesions, oedema and hepatocytes. Key Words: Botanicals, toxicity, juveniles, Clarias gariepinus. African Journal of Biotechnology Vol.3(11) 2004: 627-63

Electrodiagnostic evaluation of median nerve conduction in Type II diabetes mellitus patients that were asymptomatic for peripheral neuropathy: a case control study

Background: Diabetic neuropathy (DN) is a potentially debilitating complication of diabetes mellitus but many of the diabetic patients are often asymptomatic of DN, thereby, placing them at high risk of developing debilitating complications like diabetic hand and foot.Aim: The study was designed to evaluate median nerve conduction of T2DM patients that were asymptomatic for neuropathy and compare their findings with age and sex-matched healthy individuals.Methods: The median motor and sensory nerve conduction study was conducted on 100 type 2 diabetic (T2DM) patients and 100 healthy volunteers, matched for age and sex-matched control. Median nerve motor and sensory proximal and Distal latency (DL), Amplitude and Conduction Velocity (CV) as well as motor f-reponse were measured using Nihoen Kohden EMG Machine and standardized techniques of measurement in the course of the study were adhered to.Results: On comparison of the median nerve motor and sensory parameters, the median nerve (motor and sensory) distal latencies and f-responses were significantly lower in the control group while the median nerve conduction velocities and amplitudes were significantly higher in the T2DM group. Conclusion: The study showed significant impairment of median nerve conduction parameters in T2DM patients who did not have any feature suggestive of peripheral neuropathy when compared with apparently healthy individuals. Thus high index of suspicion as well as early screening for peripheral neuropathy in diabetes is further emphasized.Keywords: Median nerve, diabetic neuropathy, electrodiagnostic evaluation, conduction velocity, latenc

Evaluation of the concentration of toxic metals in cosmetic products in Nigeria

It has been shown that heavy metals toxicity to humans is as a result of long term or high level exposure to pollutants common in the environment including the air, water, food and numerous consumer products such as the cosmetics and toiletries. In this study, we assessed the levels of toxic metals in different cosmetic products sold at local shops in Lagos, Nigeria. The cosmetic items included thirty creams and twenty lipsticks and lip glosses. These items were purchased from various shops at different locations in Lagos. The cosmetics were analyzed for heavy metals (arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury and nickel) after digestion with concentrated acids HNO3: H2SO4: HClO4 in ratio 2:2:1. The concentrations of the selected toxic heavy metals were determined in duplicate using a Buck 205 flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer. All the samples analyzed contained a detectable amount of all the metals of interest. The concentration of the heavy metals in the samples ranged from 0.006 to 0.207 ppm. It is obvious from the present study that the use of some cosmetic products exposes users to low concentrations of toxic heavy metals which could constitute potential health risk to users since it has been known that heavy metals can accumulate in the biological system over time and are known to induce skin problems or diseases such as cancer. Further research to better understand the sources of heavy metals in cosmetic products is recommended.Key words: Toxic heavy metals, cosmetics, atomic absorption spectrophotometer, environment

Nutrition status of children in a well-child clinic in Lagos Nigeria

The burden of malnutrition is evident around the world and more pronounced in developing countries affecting vulnerable groups such as infants, children under five years of age and pregnant women. This study assessed the nutritional status of infants and children aged 9-59 months who visited a well-child clinic at a teaching hospital in Lagos Nigeria. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 207 children consecutively recruited at a well-child clinic in 2013. Data was collected using structured interviewer-administered questionnaires. Information collected includes the sociodemographic details of each child and caregiver. In addition, selected anthropometric measurements, biochemical tests comprising serum ferritin and total blood protein levels as well as dietary information for each child participant were obtained by trained data collectors. The sampled children were aged 9-59 months, with slightly over half (53.6%) being 12 months old and above. There were more female children and the number of Fathers 84.1%who had attained tertiary education was higher (84.1%) than that of mothers (76.3%). Serum protein and ferritin levels were less than the normal reference values in 1.8% and 26.2% of the children respectively, while the prevalence of underweight children was 4.9% and 8.1% of the children were overweight based on weight-for-age z-scores. Results from the dietary survey showed that the children consumed fewer proteins than carbohydrates. Furthermore, only 18.8% and 12.6% of parents reported feeding their children fruits and vegetables. Significantly more mothers (97.5%) with tertiary education had children with normal weight for age (P<0.05). Despite the low prevalence of malnutrition among the sampled population, it was found that consumption of fruits and vegetables was low, yet these are major sources of vital micronutrients. Results indicated that the prevalence of malnutrition among the study group was generally low. Therefore, steps must be taken to ensure nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive intervention programs aimed at improving the nutritional status of childrenKey words: Nutritional status, assessment, children, weight, ferritin, protein, diet, malnutrition, clini

Memory-efficient deep learning for botnet attack detection in IoT networks

Cyber attackers exploit a network of compromised computing devices, known as a botnet, to attack Internet-of-Things (IoT) networks. Recent research works have recommended the use of Deep Recurrent Neural Network (DRNN) for botnet attack detection in IoT networks. However, for high feature dimensionality in the training data, high network bandwidth and a large memory space will be needed to transmit and store the data, respectively in IoT back-end server or cloud platform for Deep Learning (DL). Furthermore, given highly imbalanced network traffic data, the DRNN model produces low classification performance in minority classes. In this paper, we exploit the joint advantages of Long Short-Term Memory Autoencoder (LAE), Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE), and DRNN to develop a memory-efficient DL method, named LS-DRNN. The effectiveness of this method is evaluated with the Bot-IoT dataset. Results show that the LAE method reduced the dimensionality of network traffic features in the training set from 37 to 10, and this consequently reduced the memory space required for data storage by 86.49%. SMOTE method helped the LS-DRNN model to achieve high classification performance in minority classes, and the overall detection rate increased by 10.94%. Furthermore, the LS-DRNN model outperformed state-of-the-art models

Intercalated theophylline-smectite hybrid for pH-mediated delivery

On the basis of their large specific surface areas, high adsorption and cation exchange capacities, swelling potential and low toxicity, natural smectite clays are attractive substrates for the gastric protection of neutral and cationic drugs. Theophylline is an amphoteric xanthine derivative that is widely used as a bronchodilator in the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This study considers the in vitro uptake and release characteristics of the binary theophylline-smectite system. The cationic form of theophylline was readily ion exchanged into smectite clay at pH 1.2 with a maximum uptake of 67±2 mg g−1. Characterisation of the drug-clay hybrid system by powder X-ray diffraction analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and scanning electron microscopy confirmed that the theophylline had been exclusively intercalated into the clay system in an amorphous form. The drug remained bound within the clay under simulated gastric conditions at pH 1.2; and the prolonged release of approximately 40% of the drug was observed in simulated intestinal fluid at pH 6.8 and 7.4 within a 2-h timeframe. The incomplete reversibility of the intercalation process was attributed to chemisorption of the drug within the clay lattice. These findings indicate that smectite clay is a potentially suitable vehicle for the safe passage of theophylline into the duodenum. Protection from absorption in the stomach and subsequent prolonged release in the small intestine are advantageous in reducing fluctuations in serum concentration which may impact therapeutic effect and toxicit

Median Nerve Conduction in Healthy Nigerians: Normative Data

Background: Because of lack of local normative data, electrodiagnostic laboratories in Nigeria apply standard values generated in the USA and Europe to diagnose different median nerve abnormalities. Aim: To develop normative values for motor and sensory median nerve conduction studies (NCSs) in Nigerian population. Subjects and Methods: In a cross‑sectional study design, a total of 200 healthy volunteers were selected after clinical evaluation to exclude systemic or neuromuscular disorders. NCS of the median nerves was conducted on all the healthy volunteers according to a standardized protocol. The data included in the final analysis were amplitude, latency, and nerve conduction velocity. Ethical approval was obtained for the study. Results: The reference range for median nerve (motor) velocity, distal latency, and amplitude were 49.48–66.92, 1.95–4.52, and 4.3–11.3, respectively. The reference range for median nerve F‑wave latency was 44.8–70.5. The reference range for median nerve (sensory) velocity, distal latency, and amplitude were 44.8–70.5, 1.98–4.52, and 16.6–58.4, respectively. Conclusion: Reference values for the nerve conduction parameters of the median (motor and sensory) in the study population were similar to those obtained in the literature.Keywords: Median nerve, Nerve conduction studies, Normal value

Spatial Scheme for Groundwater Flow and Physical Properties Distribution in Ilaro, Southwestern Nigeria

Spatial flow patterns and quality trends for groundwater in Southwestern Nigeria have been undertaken with inadequate depth of interpretation. In this study, the geographical locations of wells and respective elevation were recorded using a Global Positioning System (GPS).  Well depth and water level measurements were also obtained using measuring tape. Electronic meters were employed to determine temperature, salinity, hydrogen ion concentration (pH), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and electrical conductivity of 109 raw water samples. Geographical Information System (GIS) softwares (Arc View 3.3 and Surfer 8) were employed in the spatial data analyses. Results show that the groundwater flows towards the Southwest and Lower Mission in the Northwest, Orita in the East and Orita-TREM in the West. The pH ranges from 6.5 to 9.5 while TDS varies between 4.81 and 483.55 mg/l. The use GIS has proved to more precise in terms of positional accuracy, than the conventional map analysis

Towards Improving Local Government Administration on the Rural Poor in Nigeria: The Role of Women and Private Media

One of the basic objectives of establishing local governments in Nigeria is to bring about development and improvement in the standard of living of the people at the local level. Though many calls have been made on the issue of decentralization of authority at this level, the fact remains that most of the activities of this arm of government in their present semi-autonomous state are urban focused, thus increasing the concern on further marginalisation of poverty stricken rural communities. This study, therefore, examined the role of women and private media in the design, execution, monitoring and evaluation of local government projects/development programmes in Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling was used: this involved dividing Oyo State into regions where Ifedapo representing Oke-Ogun was purposively selected. Using a threshold population of less than 20,000 rural areas in the region were identified and ten communities were randomly selected from the marginalised communities in terms of social and economic development using interview guide and direct observation. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The result of the study indicated that most of the empowerment programmes and development projects of the government eluded the selected communities due to political interference. The rural communities were also not privileged to have access to information about most of the projects and the activities of the private media were not extended to these communities in this regard. The study therefore concluded that participatory local governance be given priority. It was recommended that the rural women and the private media should collaborate and be involved in the design, execution, monitoring and evaluation of local government projects and development activities. Keywords: Rural poverty, marginalisation, women, private media, empowermen