Formulation of a mathematical model for the analysis of the emission of carbon dioxide from gaseous fuel using least square method

In this paper we formulate a model for the emission of Carbon Dioxide from gaseous fuel in Nigeria. We considered a third degree polynomial model using a least square method using the actual data set of twenty one years on State level Carbon Dioxide emissions in Nigeria from 1994-2014. The residual analysis was used to predict the short and medium term total Carbon Dioxide emissions trend. From the results the state of affairs of Carbon Dioxide Emission for subsequent years was forecast and this will help the Government to take control measures in curtailing the emission of Carbon Dioxide in the country.Keywords: Gaseous fuel, Automobile, Fossil fuels, Pollutants, Carbon Dioxide, Emission

Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B Virus and Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection among students in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) are endemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Evidence on HBV co-infection rates with HIV infection among individuals remains conflicting. The study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence of HBV and HIV infections and the possible potential risk factors among students of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Nigeria. Blood samples were collected from 600 consenting consecutive students aged between 16 and 40 years old at the University Health Services, ABU, Zaria. The sera were screened for HBsAg, anti-HBs, HBeAg, anti-HBe and anti-HBc using diagnostic kits and for Human Immunodeficiency Virus using DetermineTMHIV-1/2 kits. Reactive sera for HBsAg were further confirmed using ELISA kits. For HBsAg, 9.2% (55/600) tested positive among which, none had detectable anti-HBs antibodies, indicating recent infection. About 7.3%, 36.4% and 94.5% were positive for HBeAg, anti-HBe and anti-HBc respectively. Seroprevalence of HIV infection was 2.8% (17/600). One (0.2%) of the student was infected with both HBV and HIV. There was a significant association between age group (p=0.016), gender (p=0.049), family history of HBV infection (p=0.000), and seroprevalence of HBsAg. While for HIV, only menial jobs (p = 0.001) was significantly associated with the infection. The results showed close contact among family members to be a predisposing factor to these viral infections. A total of 314 students were ignorant of HBV and four of them were infectious. The seroprevalence of HBsAg obtained in this study indicates high endemicity according to WHO classification. However, seroprevalence of HIV and its co-infection rate with HBV were very low. This was encouraging and it indicates that the campaign on HIV is yielding the desired result. Therefore similar campaign should be extended to Hepatitis B.Keywords: Seroprevalence; HIV; HBsAg; Serological markers; Students; Nigeri

Characterization and phylogeny of fungi isolated from industrial wastewater using multiple genes

The aim of this study was the isolation and molecular characterization of fungi from untreated refinery effluent by using multiple conserved genes. The Fungi isolated were characterized based on PCR amplification and genomic sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS), partial β-tubulin (BenA), calmodulin (CaM), and RNA polymerase second large subunit (RPB2) genes, along with morphological characterization. The obtained sequences were subjected to BLAST analysis and the corresponding fungal isolates were assigned species names after comparison with representative sequences available in GenBank. Fifteen (15) Fungi species belonging to four genera of Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium, and Trichoderma with Aspergillus as the predominant genus were identified. Therefore these genes should be used as molecular markers for species level identification of fungi (especially Aspergillus and Penicillium as proven in this study

Global Retinoblastoma Presentation and Analysis by National Income Level

Importance: Early diagnosis of retinoblastoma, the most common intraocular cancer, can save both a child's life and vision. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that many children across the world are diagnosed late. To our knowledge, the clinical presentation of retinoblastoma has never been assessed on a global scale. Objectives: To report the retinoblastoma stage at diagnosis in patients across the world during a single year, to investigate associations between clinical variables and national income level, and to investigate risk factors for advanced disease at diagnosis. Design, Setting, and Participants: A total of 278 retinoblastoma treatment centers were recruited from June 2017 through December 2018 to participate in a cross-sectional analysis of treatment-naive patients with retinoblastoma who were diagnosed in 2017. Main Outcomes and Measures: Age at presentation, proportion of familial history of retinoblastoma, and tumor stage and metastasis. Results: The cohort included 4351 new patients from 153 countries; the median age at diagnosis was 30.5 (interquartile range, 18.3-45.9) months, and 1976 patients (45.4) were female. Most patients (n = 3685 84.7%) were from low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Globally, the most common indication for referral was leukocoria (n = 2638 62.8%), followed by strabismus (n = 429 10.2%) and proptosis (n = 309 7.4%). Patients from high-income countries (HICs) were diagnosed at a median age of 14.1 months, with 656 of 666 (98.5%) patients having intraocular retinoblastoma and 2 (0.3%) having metastasis. Patients from low-income countries were diagnosed at a median age of 30.5 months, with 256 of 521 (49.1%) having extraocular retinoblastoma and 94 of 498 (18.9%) having metastasis. Lower national income level was associated with older presentation age, higher proportion of locally advanced disease and distant metastasis, and smaller proportion of familial history of retinoblastoma. Advanced disease at diagnosis was more common in LMICs even after adjusting for age (odds ratio for low-income countries vs upper-middle-income countries and HICs, 17.92 95% CI, 12.94-24.80, and for lower-middle-income countries vs upper-middle-income countries and HICs, 5.74 95% CI, 4.30-7.68). Conclusions and Relevance: This study is estimated to have included more than half of all new retinoblastoma cases worldwide in 2017. Children from LMICs, where the main global retinoblastoma burden lies, presented at an older age with more advanced disease and demonstrated a smaller proportion of familial history of retinoblastoma, likely because many do not reach a childbearing age. Given that retinoblastoma is curable, these data are concerning and mandate intervention at national and international levels. Further studies are needed to investigate factors, other than age at presentation, that may be associated with advanced disease in LMICs. © 2020 American Medical Association. All rights reserved

Genetic Variability, Heritability and Genetic Advancefor Quantitative Traits in Ginger

Genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance were studied in twenty five ginger accessions for eight quantitative traits during the rainy season of 2015 at the Research Farm of School of Agricultural Technology, Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Zaria, SamaruKataf Campus. The experiment was laid out using 5 x 5 simple lattice design with three replications. Wide genetic variation was observed for all accessions for plant height, leaf length, number of tillers per plant, number of primary fingers per rhizome and number of secondary fingers per rhizome and fresh rhizome yield. The accession Kch-Zo4 recorded the highest number of primary and secondary fingers per rhizome. It also produced the highest fresh rhizome yield of 19.59 tons/ha than all the other accessions tested. Considering genetic parameters, genotypic coefficient of variation and phenotypic coefficient of variation were of high (>20%) for fresh rhizome yield (22.98%, 28.30%) and moderate (10-20%) for number of tillers per plant (13.46%, 15.75%), leaf length (10.07%, 10.84%) and number of primary fingers per rhizome (12.96%, 14.41%). In all cases, phenotypic variances and phenotypic coefficient of variation were higher than the corresponding genotypic variances and genotypic coefficient of variation. Based on high heritability coupled with high genetic advance as percentage of mean, the traits number of tillers per plant (73.10%, 23.71%), number of primary fingers per rhizome (80.79%, 23.99) and fresh rhizome yield (65.92%, 38.44%) were found as superior and representing additive gene action. Effective selection would be made considering these traits

A mathematical model to study resistance and non-resistance strains of influenza

Recently, cases of influenza virus resistance are being observed. Resistance is deadly and can cause many pandemics in future. That is why, here we investigate the situation on which the strains exist side – by – side and the difference in their mode of transmission. This paper studies two strain (resistance and non - resistance) flu model. The non-resistant strain mutates to give the resistant strain. These strains are differentiated by their incidence rates which are; bilinear and saturated for the non-resistant and saturated resistant strain respectively. This will help in studying the difference in the mode of transmission of the two strains. Equilibrium solutions are computed and Lyapunov functions are used to show their global stability. It is clear from the analysis that disease – free equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable if maxRR,RN1. Any strain with biggest basic reproduction ratio out performs the other. In order to support the analytic results some numerical simulations are carried out

Prevalence and molecular identification of Mycobacteria isolated from animals slaughtered at Sokoto modern abattoir, Sokoto State, Nigeria

This study investigated the molecular epidemiology of Mycobacteria isolated from animals slaughtered at Sokoto modern abattoir. During meat inspection, 104 suspected tuberculosis lesions were sampled from a total of 102,681 animals slaughtered between November 2016 and January 2018. These samples were subjected to Ziehl Neelsen staining, followed by culture on Lowenstein-Jensen media. Subsequently, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing of the 65KDa heat shock protein (hsp65) gene were performed to identify and phylogenetically characterize the cultured organisms. Because sequencing of the hsp65 gene was unable to distinguish between Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) and M. tuberculosis, PCR was performed to amplify a genomic region-specific to M. bovis in order to differentiate them from M. tuberculosis. Results showed that, 14 samples yielded growth after culture. Furthermore, hsp65 was detected in 9 out of the 14 isolates screened, 5 of the amplicons were successfully sequenced. Similarity search using NCBI BLAST tool showed the five sequences to share highest identities with Mycobacterium novocastrense (95.99%), M. canettii (94.54%), and M. tuberculosis/M. bovis (100%). Two out of the 5 isolates were confirmed to be M. bovis after PCR amplification using M. bovis specific primers. Phylogenetic tree further confirmed the identity of these isolates by placing them close to species of their kind. Further studies should be conducted to establish the transmission dynamics of the zoonotic Mycobacteria between animals and their owners, to facilitate control and eradication of tuberculosis

Global Retinoblastoma Presentation and Analysis by National Income Level

This cross-sectional analysis reports the retinoblastoma stage at diagnosis across the world during a single year, investigates associations between clinical variables and national income level, and investigates risk factors for advanced disease at diagnosis. Key PointsQuestionIs the income level of a country of residence associated with the clinical stage of presentation of patients with retinoblastoma? FindingsIn this cross-sectional analysis that included 4351 patients with newly diagnosed retinoblastoma, approximately half of all new retinoblastoma cases worldwide in 2017, 49.1\% of patients from low-income countries had extraocular tumor at time of diagnosis compared with 1.5\% of patients from high-income countries. MeaningThe clinical stage of presentation of retinoblastoma, which has a major influence on survival, significantly differs among patients from low-income and high-income countries, which may warrant intervention on national and international levels. ImportanceEarly diagnosis of retinoblastoma, the most common intraocular cancer, can save both a child's life and vision. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that many children across the world are diagnosed late. To our knowledge, the clinical presentation of retinoblastoma has never been assessed on a global scale. ObjectivesTo report the retinoblastoma stage at diagnosis in patients across the world during a single year, to investigate associations between clinical variables and national income level, and to investigate risk factors for advanced disease at diagnosis. Design, Setting, and ParticipantsA total of 278 retinoblastoma treatment centers were recruited from June 2017 through December 2018 to participate in a cross-sectional analysis of treatment-naive patients with retinoblastoma who were diagnosed in 2017. Main Outcomes and MeasuresAge at presentation, proportion of familial history of retinoblastoma, and tumor stage and metastasis. ResultsThe cohort included 4351 new patients from 153 countries; the median age at diagnosis was 30.5 (interquartile range, 18.3-45.9) months, and 1976 patients (45.4\%) were female. Most patients (n=3685 {[}84.7\%]) were from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Globally, the most common indication for referral was leukocoria (n=2638 {[}62.8\%]), followed by strabismus (n=429 {[}10.2\%]) and proptosis (n=309 {[}7.4\%]). Patients from high-income countries (HICs) were diagnosed at a median age of 14.1 months, with 656 of 666 (98.5\%) patients having intraocular retinoblastoma and 2 (0.3\%) having metastasis. Patients from low-income countries were diagnosed at a median age of 30.5 months, with 256 of 521 (49.1\%) having extraocular retinoblastoma and 94 of 498 (18.9\%) having metastasis. Lower national income level was associated with older presentation age, higher proportion of locally advanced disease and distant metastasis, and smaller proportion of familial history of retinoblastoma. Advanced disease at diagnosis was more common in LMICs even after adjusting for age (odds ratio for low-income countries vs upper-middle-income countries and HICs, 17.92 {[}95\% CI, 12.94-24.80], and for lower-middle-income countries vs upper-middle-income countries and HICs, 5.74 {[}95\% CI, 4.30-7.68]). Conclusions and RelevanceThis study is estimated to have included more than half of all new retinoblastoma cases worldwide in 2017. Children from LMICs, where the main global retinoblastoma burden lies, presented at an older age with more advanced disease and demonstrated a smaller proportion of familial history of retinoblastoma, likely because many do not reach a childbearing age. Given that retinoblastoma is curable, these data are concerning and mandate intervention at national and international levels. Further studies are needed to investigate factors, other than age at presentation, that may be associated with advanced disease in LMICs