UTILIZAÇÃO DE SERVIÇOS DE SAÚDE PREVENTIVA ENTRE O PESSOAL ACADÊMICO DA UNIVERSIDADE DE MAIDUGURI, ESTADO DE BORNO, NIGÉRIA

This study was conducted to assess utilization of preventive healthcare services among academic staff in University of Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. Two hypotheses guided the study. Descriptive survey research design was used for the study; simple random sampling technique was also used for the study. A sample of 200 academic staff was drawn from seven faculties in the university. Data were collected using self-structured questionnaire with two sections, demographic data and utilization of preventive healthcare services. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentage while inferential statistics of one sample t-test and independent t- test was used to test hypotheses at 0.05 significance level. The result showed among others that there is significance difference in utilization preventive healthcare services and there is significant difference in gender utilization of preventive healthcare services. It was recommended among others that periodic public campaigns should be organized by the department of Physical and Health Education on the need for preventive measures to prevent preventable diseases.Este estudo foi realizado para avaliar a utilização de serviços de saúde preventiva entre o pessoal acadêmico da Universidade de Maiduguri, Estado de Borno, Nigéria. Duas hipóteses orientaram o estudo. O desenho descritivo da pesquisa foi usado para o estudo; a técnica de amostragem aleatória simples também foi usada para o estudo. Uma amostra de 200 funcionários acadêmicos foi retirada de sete faculdades da universidade. Os dados foram coletados usando um questionário auto-estruturado com duas seções, dados demográficos e utilização de serviços de saúde preventiva. Os dados foram analisados usando estatísticas descritivas de contagem de frequência e porcentagem, enquanto estatísticas inferenciais de um teste t de amostra e teste t independente foram usadas para testar hipóteses em nível de significância de 0,05. O resultado mostrou, entre outros, que há diferença significativa na utilização dos serviços de saúde preventiva e que há diferença significativa na utilização dos serviços de saúde preventiva por gênero. Foi recomendado, entre outros, que campanhas públicas periódicas fossem organizadas pelo departamento de Educação Física e Saúde sobre a necessidade de medidas preventivas para prevenir doenças evitáveis

Kinetic and Thermodynamic Study of Oxidative Decolourisation of a Typical Food Dye (Tartrazine) in an Aqueous Environment

The study was carried out to describe the kinetics and thermodynamics of hydrogen peroxide oxidation of a typical food dye (Tartrazine). The effect of different operational factors were investigated spectrophotometricallyat wavelength460 nm under pseudo first order reaction.These included concentration of the oxidant and the dye, the pH, ionic strength and temperature of the reacting medium and the presence of transition metal ion as homogenous catalyst. A complete and smooth decolourisation was observed. The results showed that the rate of oxidation of dye increased with increasing in concentration of substrate and oxidant. Increasing in temperature, ionic strength and pH of the basic reaction medium also raised the reaction rate. The rate of oxidation also increased with increasing in the concentration of Fe (III) ion. Pseudo second order rate constant (k2) obtained was 1.95 x 10-3 M-1s-1 and 3.8 x10-3M-1s-1 in the absence and presence of Fe (III) ion respectively. The Arrhenius activation energy for the oxidation in the absence and presence of Fe (III) ion were 47.23 kJmol-1 and 42kJmol-1 respectively. Other thermodynamic parameters showed entropy of activation (ΔS#), free energy of activation (ΔG#) and Enthalpy of activation of the reaction (ΔH#) in the presence of Fe (III) as -34.7  JK-1mol-1, 48.4 kJmol-1 and 40.30 kJmol-1 respectively. The results in the absence of Fe (III) ion were -24.6 JK-1mol-1, 51.2 kJmol-1 and 44.0 kJmol-1respectively. The relative lower activation energy (Ea),fairly higher negative value of (ΔS#) and higher (ΔG#) , with higher rate constant in the presence of Fe(III) ion showed Fe(III) ion enhancement of rate of decolourisation. Keywords: Tartrazine Food dye, Kinetics, Thermodynamics, Hydrogen Peroxidede colourisation

Monosodium glutamate-induced changes on plasma markers of pancreatic function in adult male Wistar rats

Monosodium glutamate (MSG), one of the most widely used food additives worldwide, has been associated with harmful effects on different organs in animal models and human clinical volunteers. The present study evaluated the median lethal dose (LD50) and the effect of sub-chronic MSG consumption on plasma markers of pancreatic function in adult male Wistar rats. Seventy-six adult Wistar rats weighing 200 ± 50 g were randomly assigned into three groups viz: LD50, n=12, MSG-treated, n=32 and non-MSG-treated control, n=32. At weekly intervals, blood was collected from four randomly selected rats in each group for plasma markers (glucose, insulin, lipase and amylase) assays. Morbidity and mortality were not observed in the LD50 group. The glucose, insulin, lipase and amylase levels of MSG-treated group were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than those of non-MSG-treated control group. These findings suggest that MSG caused changes in the plasma activities of lipase and amylase, the absence of gross and microscopic lesions of congested blood vessel point to possible physiochemical alterations in the pancreatic acini with consequent enzyme leakage.Keywords: LD50, Monosodium glutamate, Pancreas, Plasma, Wistar rat

Physico-chemical and anti-nutritional characterization of the kernels of some mango (Mangifera indica) cultivars grown in Western parts of Nigeria

Ten mango (Mangifera indica) cultivars grown in western parts of Nigeria were identified as Alphonso, Indesina, Julie, Kent, Mabranka, Magadugu, Peach, Peter, Taymour, and Oori. The percentage weight ratio (PWR) of kernel to fruit, seed to fruit and kernel to seed of the mangoes ranged between 2.38 – 10.79%, 6.36 – 17.21% and 36.22 – 63.35% respectively. The PWR of kernel to fruit (10.79%), seed to fruit (17.21%) and kernel to seed (63.35%) of “Oori” cultivar were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than other cultivars, except the values of PWR of kernel to seed of Indesina (60.05%) and Kent (62.72%). Values of Julie cultivar on the parameters measured were significantly lower (p < 0.05) than others. The range of nutrients of the kernels were protein (6.24 – 8.19%), fat (5.92 – 13.50%), fibre (2.22 – 3.95%), ash (0.52 – 3.54%) and carbohydrate (75.02 – 83.04%). The protein of Julie (7.88%), Indesina (8.05%) and Oori (8.19%) and fat of Mabranka (13.10%) and Alphonso (13.50%) were significantly higher (p< 0.05) than other cultivars. The carbohydrates in the mango kernels was high; although values recorded for Mabranka (75.02%) and Alphonso (75.09%) were significantly lower (p< 0.05) than other cultivars. The pH of fresh mango kernels ranged between 4.10 and 5.80, while titratable acidity was between 9.92 – 64.35mg/100g. The anti-nutrients in the mango kernels were tannin, flavonoid, phenolic compound, oxalate and phytate. Tannin (37.30 – 163.33g/kg), phytate (0.442 – 0.897mol/kg) and oxalate (18.74 – 54.24mg/100g) were significantly different (p< 0.05) among the mango cultivars. Tannin and oxalate contents of Oori (157.33; 54.24g/kg), Alphonso (163.33; 49.55g/kg) and Phytate content of Mabranka (0.442mol/kg), Alphonso (0.453mol/kg) and Indesina (0.478mol/kg) respectively were significantly higher (p< 0.05) compared with other cultivars. Key words: Mango cultivars, percentage weight ratio, nutrients, anti-nutrients

A Comparative Study of COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptability and its Determinants among Urban and Rural Community Residents in Ogun State

Background: The success of any COVID-19 vaccination programme will depend on public willingness to receive the vaccination. This is important to  tailor public health messaging appropriately. This study aimed to determine and compare COVID-19 vaccine acceptability and factors influencing it  among rural and urban community members in Ogun State.Methods: The study was a comparative cross-sectional study. Multistage sampling technique was utilized to select 404 and 396 adult residents from  the urban and rural communities, respectively. Data collection was by structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. Descriptive and  inferential statistics were done. Level of significance was set at p<5%.Results: More respondents in urban area 186 (46.0%) were willing to accept COVID-19 vaccine compared to rural respondents 90 (22.7%) (p<0.001). Acceptance that COVID-19 is real (AOR=2.98; 95%CI=1.61-5.51 p<0.001) versus (AOR=2.17; 95CI=1.06- 4.44 p=0.035) predicted acceptability in both  urban and rural areas, respectively. In urban area, being a male (AOR=1.58; 95%CI=1.02-2.44 p=0.041) while in rural area, completion of  immunization (AOR=3.47; 95%CI=1.79-6.72 p<0.001) and fair perceived risk of contracting COVID-19 (AOR=3.05; 95CI:1.55-6.01 p= 0.001) were predictors of acceptability.Conclusion: The study showed there was overall poor acceptability of COVID-19 vaccine among urban and rural residents. Urban residents were  more likely to accept the vaccines compared to rural residents. Therefore, government should do more in terms of health education and promotion  for a right attitude to COVID-19 vaccination

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe

Measurement of the Lambda(b) cross section and the anti-Lambda(b) to Lambda(b) ratio with Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda decays in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The Lambda(b) differential production cross section and the cross section ratio anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) are measured as functions of transverse momentum pt(Lambda(b)) and rapidity abs(y(Lambda(b))) in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The measurements are based on Lambda(b) decays reconstructed in the exclusive final state J/Psi Lambda, with the subsequent decays J/Psi to an opposite-sign muon pair and Lambda to proton pion, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.9 inverse femtobarns. The product of the cross section times the branching ratio for Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda versus pt(Lambda(b)) falls faster than that of b mesons. The measured value of the cross section times the branching ratio for pt(Lambda(b)) > 10 GeV and abs(y(Lambda(b))) < 2.0 is 1.06 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.12 nb, and the integrated cross section ratio for anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) is 1.02 +/- 0.07 +/- 0.09, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Search for new physics in events with opposite-sign leptons, jets, and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search is presented for physics beyond the standard model (BSM) in final states with a pair of opposite-sign isolated leptons accompanied by jets and missing transverse energy. The search uses LHC data recorded at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the CMS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 5 inverse femtobarns. Two complementary search strategies are employed. The first probes models with a specific dilepton production mechanism that leads to a characteristic kinematic edge in the dilepton mass distribution. The second strategy probes models of dilepton production with heavy, colored objects that decay to final states including invisible particles, leading to very large hadronic activity and missing transverse energy. No evidence for an event yield in excess of the standard model expectations is found. Upper limits on the BSM contributions to the signal regions are deduced from the results, which are used to exclude a region of the parameter space of the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Additional information related to detector efficiencies and response is provided to allow testing specific models of BSM physics not considered in this paper.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Measurement of the mass difference between top quark and antiquark in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV

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Measurements of differential production cross sections for a Z boson in association with jets in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV

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