PREVALENCE OF URINARY SCHISTOSOMIASIS IN PART OF OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

The current study is to apply molecular techniques in producing data on the prevalence of urinary Schistosomiasis in parts of Ogun state, Nigeria. This study evaluated the prevalence of S. haematobium in urine samples collected from 250 primary school pupils in 8 communities of 8 local government areas (LGAs). The number of pupils selected are 48 from Ijebu Ogbere ((Ijebu East LGA), 20 from Fidiwo (Obafemi Owode LGA), 40 from Sabo (Shagamu LGA), 22 from Iweke (Yewa South LGA), 20 from Ketu/Adiowe (Ado Odo/Ota LGA), 36 from Abule-titun (Odeda LGA), 24 from Itori (Ewekoro LGA) and 40 from Ijoun (Yewa North LGA) of Ogun State, Nigeria Urine samples from 250 pupils were screened for Schistosomiasis using haematuria and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of schistosoma Dra1repeat. Heamaturia revealed 28.8% prevalence rate among the pupils while PCR showed 45.6%. Results revealed a cumulative prevalence of 29% and 46% S. haematobium infection in the pupils as detected by haematuria and PCR techniques respectively. Ijebu Ogbere recorded the highest prevalence of 83.0% and 64.5% PCR and haematuria respectively. This was followed by Abule titun (66.6%) and (33.3%), Ijoun (55%) and (27.5%), Shagamu (35%) and (25.0%), Iweke (27.2%) and (13.6%), Itori (25%) and (16.6%) and Fidiwo recorded the least prevalence of 10% and 5.0% respectively. The mean prevalence of schistosomiasis for PCR and haematuria dip stick were 37.7% and 23.2% respectively.  The proportion of males infected using haematuria were 16% when compared to females 13%, whereas the ratio by PCR was males (22%) and females (23%). There was a high prevalence of Schistosoma haematobium infection among the participants. PCR was able to detect infection in cases otherwise shown to be negative by haematuria, thereby making possible for all the infected participants to receive treatment. Key Words:PCR-RFLP;  Urinary schistosomiasis; Prevalence; Pupils; Ijebu east;

An Autonomous Obstacle Avoidance Robot Using Ultrasonic Sensor

The use of robot and its enormous technological applications in today‟s era of industrial and intelligent systems has been seen to be highly impactful. The ability of these robots to move freely with minimal control is posing a real challenge. In this paper, the development of an autonomous obstacle avoidance robot using ultrasonic sensors is presented. In the design, the ultrasonic sensor serves as the eye of the robot to aid its autonomous movement. The robot is a wheeled type which can either be control using a dedicated control application (Android App) or autonomously. The control application was an added feature in case there is need to manually control the robot. The accuracy of the robot obstacle avoidance is highly encouraging scoring 87.5%, although, there are other challenges which are noted for further study. Keywords: Robotic, Obstacle avoidance, Autonomous system, Ultrasonic sensor