Evaluation of Heavy Metal Concentrations in Surface and Ground Water Collected from River Challawa, Kumbotso Tannery Dumpsite and their Vicinity, Kano State, Nigeria.

A study was conducted to determine the concentration of heavy metals in surface and ground water collected from river Challawa and Kumbotso tannery dumpsite. The samples were analyzed for the levels of Co, Ni, Pb, Cr, Cu, Cd, Zn, and Fe using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS). The result showed that all the metals exceeded the standard limit in the water. The estimated metal levels in the water were compared with the safe limits laid down by the World Health Organization (WHO).Keywords: AAS, Challawa Industrial Area Effluents, Heavy Metals, Tanner

Religious Diversity and National Integration in Nigeria

Nigeria is a diverse country with about 150 Million people; it is multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious; hugely pluralistic and clearly heterogeneous. In fact, the beauty and strength of its existence as a nation lie in the variety and unity of its set up. Imagine the complexities and divergences that exist in the stretch from Port Harcourt to Sokoto; from Lagos to Maiduguri, or from Enugu to Yola.  The geographical landscape of the country varies, stretching from the Sahel Savannah in the far North to the rain forest down South, just like the people who are also remarkably unique in their individual outlooks and orientations, but united in their humanity. These diversities are evidently manifested in the citizens’ cultural and religious practices. For instance, there are more than 400 documented ethnic groups across the land comprising of millions of people who are adherents of the two major religions of Islam and Christianity and, to a lesser extent, the traditional religion (Albert, 2002). The citizens are religious in profession and even the Constitution is religious, as it begins with the words “UNDER GOD”, though the Nation has not adopted any religion as a State Religion. God is centrally considered in the affairs of the people

Ethno-botanical survey of medicinal plants used traditionally in the treatment of mental disorders in Kano, Nigeria

Purpose: To identify medicinal plants used by traditional medicine practitioners to treat mental disorders within Kano metropolis, Nigeria.Methods: A semi-structured questionnaire was administered. It was made up of demographic information (Section A), description of the medicinal plants (Section B), and the professional experience of the respondents (Section C). The data generated were recorded, processed and analyzed.Results: 255 responses were collected from 127 respondents. Among the participants, 101 (79 %) were male and 26 (21 %) were female. The age groups less than 31 years were 22 (17 %), 31 - 40 years were 29 (23 %), 41 - 50 years were 45 (36 %), and above 51 years were 31 (24 %). The sources of knowledge identified include ancestral (83 %), ancestral/training (9 %), training (6 %), and divination (2 %). Out of the total responses, fifty (50) different medicinal plants with various claims in the treatment of mental disorders were reported. The most commonly stated medicinal plants were Securidaca longepedunculata (8.6 %), Jatropha curcas (7.5 %), Solanum aethiopicum (7.1 %), Artemesia annua (6.7 %), Terminalia macroptera (6.3 %), Aristolochia albida (5.9 %), Nigella sativa (5.5 %), Andira inermis (5.5 %), Calotropis procera (5.1 %), and Burkea africana (4.7 %).Conclusion: This survey revealed fifty medicinal plants used traditionally in the treatment of mental disorders within Kano metropolis

Evaluation of serum Vitamin B12 levels in hormonal contraceptive users in some hospitals in Kano Metropolis

Aim: The aim of the study was to compare the levels of Vitamin B12in hormonal contraceptive users and women not on hormonal contraceptives in Kano. Methods: A total of 90 participants were recruited for the study; 60 were on hormonal contraceptive (HCP) users and served as the study subjects while 30 were apparently healthy non hormonal contraceptive users recruited as control subjects. Serum VitaminB12levels were evaluated for both groups and the mean levels were compared. Results: Among the 60 HCP users that were enrolled in this study, 29 use implants (48.3%), 14 (23.3%) used injectables;11 (18.3%) use oral pills and 6 (10.0%) participants used intrauterine contraceptive devices. Serum vitamin B12 levels of the two groups were determined using human B12 specific ELISA kit. The mean ± standard deviation of vitamin B12 levels in hormonal contraceptive users was 163.33±53.128 pg/ml while that of non-HCP users was 381.33±198.542 pg/ml. Statistical analysis for B12 levels indicated a statistically significant decrease in oral contraceptive users with a p-value of <0.001. The study also found statistically significant negative correlation (r<1) between duration of hormonal contraceptive use and serum vitamin B12 levels of HCPs users with r-value of -0.031 and p-value of 0.020. Conclusion: The present study observed a significant association between hormonal contraceptive use and serum vitamin B12 level. Significantly lower serum vitamin B12 concentrations were observed in HCP users. Therefore, Vitamin B12 supplementation or different contraceptive methods should be considered in women with pre-existing B12deficiency or restrictive dietary habits as the deficiency may be worsened by hormonal contraceptive use. Keywords: Contraception; Combined oral contraceptives; Vitamin B12; Vitamin B12 deficienc

Serum homocysteine level in hormonal contraceptive users in Kano Metropolis

Background: Homocysteine is a sulfur containing amino acid that is normally present in all cells of the body. The homocysteine level is linked to folate and Vitamin B-12 levels. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of hormonal contraceptives (HCPs) on homocysteine levels among healthy women using the HCPs. Method: A total of 90 participants were recruited in this study; 60 women on hormonal contraceptives served as the case group and 30 non-HCP users were considered as control. Blood samples were collected, and serum was analyzed for homocysteine levels in both groups. The mean ± standard deviation of the homocysteine levels were then determined and compared using student t-test. Results: The mean ± standard deviation of Serum Homocysteine in the case group, (14.14 ± 7.56μmol/L, was found to be significantly higher than the mean ± standard deviation of the control group which was 9.59 ± 5.87μmol/L (p-value of 0.005). The study also found statistically significant positive correlation (r<1) between duration of hormonal contraceptives use and serum homocysteine levels of HCPs users with r-value of 0.058. Conclusion: This study observed significant relationship between HCPs and increased serum homocysteine. Significantly increased homocysteine levels were observed in HCPs users compared to non-users. There was also positive correlation between the duration of HCP usage and increased homocysteine levels. Keywords: Contraception; Folate; Homocystinuria; Oral contraceptive

An assessment of the physicochemical quality of some bottle water sold in Kano metropolis, Nigeria

Bottled water like any drinking water used for human consumption should be safe and of standard quality to ensure adequate public health significance. This study is aimed at assessing the physicochemical quality of some bottle water sold in Kano Metropolis. Studies on physicochemical parametric analysis were conducted. A total of 40 samples comprising of 4 different brands were randomly selected from different location. Physicochemical parameters of water samples such as Temperature, pH, Electrical conductivity, Total dissolved solids, turbidity, Magnesium, Calcium, Lead, Copper, Zinc, Bicarbonate, Chloride, Nitrate and Phosphate were analyzed using standard methods of water analysis. The Results of physicochemical parameters were within the drinking water regulatory standard. However, zinc, lead and copper was found to exceed the bottle drinking water standard in the ranges of 3.91 – 6.17Mg/l, 0. 29 – 0. 47Mg/l and 1.54 – 2. 67Mg/l respectively; thereby rendering the water unfit to human consumption. There is the need to embark on routine monitoring and surveillances by the regulatory agencies involved to ensure effective implementation of WHO water safety plans from the catchment source to the consumer. This could be enhanced by replacing old pipes with new ones Bottled water industries should be designated away from heavy metal industries.Keywords: Physicochemical, Bottled water quality, Kano metropoli

Physicochemical and Bacteriological Assessment of Tannery Effluent from Samaru - Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Physicochemical and bacteriological assessment of tannery effluent from Samaru -Zaria was carried out. A total of six (6) tannery effluent samples (from site A- point of discharge, site B- 20m from point of discharge, site C- 40m from point of discharge, site D- 60m from point of discharge, site E- 80m from point of discharge and site F- 100m from point of discharge) were collected from the Nigerian Leather and Science Technology, Samaru - Zaria, Kaduna State in sterile labeled screw capped bottles. Physicochemical and bacteriological analysis was carried out using standard techniques. The physicochemical analysis revealed the appearance of the effluent to be dark-brown with unpleasant odour. the effluent further revealed the presence and at different concentrations of total solids, total suspended solids, total dissolved solids, total hardness, magnesium, sodium, potassium, iron, manganese, nitrite, nitrate, chloride, fluoride, sulphate, phosphate, cadmium, zinc and copper, chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), oil and grease all in mg/L except pH. Bacillus sp had percentage occurrence of 100%, Pseudomonas sp had 83.3%, Flavobacterium, Micrococcus and Staphylococcus sp had 66.7% each, Proteus and Klebsiella sp had 50.0% occurrence each, Streptococcus had 33.3% while Escherichia coli had the least percentage of occurrence of 16.7 from the samples of the tannery effluent analyzed respectively. The highest viable count was observed from site F which is 100m away from the point of discharge and had 4.09 x 107 cfu/ml and the lowest from site A (point of discharge) with 1.2 x 107cfu/ml. The treatment of tannery effluents before discharge into the environment is necessary using biotreatment. This will reduce or eliminate environmental pollutions which could be detrimental to humans, animals and plants.Keywords: Physicochemical, bacteria, COD, BOD, effluen

An assessment of the microbiological quality of some bottle water sold in Kano metropolis, Nigeria

Bottled water like any drinking water used for human consumption should be safe and of standard quality to ensure adequate public health significance. The aim of the study is to assess the quality of some bottle water sold in Kano Metropolis and compare the result with some national and international standards. Studies on the microbiological parametric standards, was conducted. A total of 40 samples comprising of 4 different brands were randomly selected using stratified sampling techniques from different sites of Kano metropolis in northern Nigeria. Samples were analyzed for the presence of bacterial indicators of water quality using pour plate and MPN techniques. The result of Total aerobic Plate counts (APC) ranged from 2.06x102 -3.8x102 cful/ml of the entire brand. All the bottled water brands had a mean (APC) greater than 100cfu/ml of bottled water standard. Total coliform and Eschericia coli were detected in two brands and were above the zero cfu/ per 100milliter of bottled water standard. No pathogenic bacteria were isolated except forStaphylococcus. Effective implementation of WHO water safety plans from the catchment source to the consumer through campaign awareness can reduce level of exposure to stake holders to protect and store bottle water against sunlight exposure, chemicals and cleaning reagents.Key words: Quality, Bottled water, Kano Metropoli

Retrieval and Representation of Nucleotide Sequence of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Cystathionine Gamma-Lyase (CYS3) Gene in Five Formats

Educational programmes all over the world are facing increasing pressure to integrate information technology in the curriculum. Knowledge of bioinformatics is at infancy in Nigeria it is therefore imperative to develop and build the capacity for high-throughput determination and  computational analysis of the nucleotide base sequences of the genomes of organisms. The present communication navigated the ENTREZ Web page and downloaded sequences of Cystathionine gamma- lyase gene from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The sequence is then represented in the five best known database formats namely Plain, FASTA, EMBL, GCG and Genebank thereby making it more visible and available for other research applications such as comparative genomic analysis, evolutionary studies, searching for and identification of regulatory elements and scanning for mutations. The present study highlights data retrieval and representation. Data retrieval is important as it provides the opportunity to engage in data mining for discovery, a convenient alternative to traditional wet  laboratories, providing biological insights, and proficiency to access and use the vast repository of computational and webbased resources which are the most available information in the world today.Keywords: Nucleotide, Database, Genome, GenBank

ANTIFUNGAL EFFECTS OF TAPINANTHUS GLOBIFERUS GROWING ON VITEXDONIANA AGAINST SOME FUNGAL ISOLATES

Objective: Fungal infections are the major cause of many skin diseases, especially in developing countries. Natural products of medicinal value represent a potential source of chemotherapeutic agents. Tapinanthus globiferus has been used extensively in ethnomedicine for the treatment hypertension, ulcer, cancer, diabetes and fungal infections without a scientific basis. This work was aimed at screening the phytochemical constituents and evaluating the antifungal properties of methanol leaf extract its ethyl acetate and n-butanol fractions of T. globiferus against some clinical fungal isolates including Candida albicans, Trychophyton mentagrophytes, Trychophyton  rubrum and Aspergillus niger using agar well diffusion and broth micro-dilution techniques. Methods: Preliminary screening of phytochemical constituents of extract and fractions of T. globiferus indicated the presence of carbohydrates, alkaloids, glycosides, tannins, flavonoids,  saponins, steroids and triterpenes. Results: The methanol extract and its fractions demonstrated significant (P<0.05) antifungal effect  against all the test organisms with mean zone of inhibition ranging from 27.83±0.16 – 14.46±0.29mm which was higher compared to that of the standard drug, Fluconazole (26.1±0.44 –18.49±0.16 mm). The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) of the extract ranged between 6.25 – 25.0 mg/mL; ethyl acetate fraction had 3.13 – 25.0 mg/mL while n-butanol fraction had the least MIC ranging from 0.39-12.5 mg/mL against the test organisms. Conclusion: Study concluded that T. globiferus have good antifungal activity validating the ethnomedicinal claim for the use of the plant in the treating fungal diseases.                           Peer Review History: Received 2 January 2020;   Revised 25 February; Accepted 1 March, Available online 15 March 2020 Academic Editor: Dr. Ali Abdullah Al-yahawi, Al-Razi university, Department of Pharmacy, Yemen, [email protected] UJPR follows the most transparent and toughest ‘Advanced OPEN peer review’ system. The identity of the authors and, reviewers will be known to each other. This transparent process will help to eradicate any possible malicious/purposeful interference by any person (publishing staff, reviewer, editor, author, etc) during peer review. As a result of this unique system, all reviewers will get their due recognition and respect, once their names are published in the papers. We expect that, by publishing peer review reports with published papers, will be helpful to many authors for drafting their article according to the specifications. Auhors will remove any error of their article and they will improve their article(s) according to the previous reports displayed with published article(s). The main purpose of it is ‘to improve the quality of a candidate manuscript’. Our reviewers check the ‘strength and weakness of a manuscript honestly’. There will increase in the perfection, and transparency. Received file:                Reviewer's Comments: Average Peer review marks at initial stage: 6.0/10 Average Peer review marks at publication stage: 7.5/10 Reviewer(s) detail: Dr. Gehan Fawzy Abdel Raoof Kandeel, Pharmacognosy Department, National Research Centre, Dokki, 12622,  Giza, Egypt, [email protected] Prof. Dr. Ali Gamal Ahmed Al-kaf, Sana'a university, Yemen, [email protected] Dr. Mahmut Yıldıztekin, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Turkey, [email protected] Similar Articles: ANTIFUNGAL, CYTOTOXIC AND PHYTOTOXICITY OF AERIAL PART OF RANUNCULUS MURICATUS PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF COLOCASIA ESCULENTA (TARO) MEDICINAL PLANT LEAVES USED IN FOLK MEDICINE FOR TREATMENT OF WOUNDS AND BURNS IN HUFASH DISTRICT AL MAHWEET GOVERNORATE–YEME