Educational building conditions and the health of users

In order to maintain a healthy learning environment, diagnosis and management of defects in the educational facility are paramount. The preliminary results of the ongoing research reported here seek to identify defects associated with educational buildings and their effects on the health of polytechnic students and staff in Nigeria. A questionnaire survey, including 34 defects based on a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) was used to establish relationships with the health of polytechnic students and staff. Two hundred (200) respondents were randomly selected based on their schools (faculty) within Lagos State Polytechnic. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analysis of the collected data. The results of the study indicate that defects such as plumbing and dampness problems, cobwebs and dust, are prominent in the institution. Also the relationship between building conditions (defects) and health problems was established, with the predictors of the health problems. Based on the findings, it is important for designers and managers of facilities within tertiary institutions to develop and implement design and maintenance policies targeted at minimizing the likelihood of plumbing, dampness, electrical, cobweb and dust problems in educational buildings due to the health risks induced by the defects. It is evident that effective maintenance schedules and policies should be put in place to ensure that facilities are not left to decay before replacement

Breast cancer receptor status assessment and clinicopathological association in Nigerian women: A retrospective analysis

Background: Breast cancer markers are becoming increasingly important in breast cancer research due to their impact on prognosis, treatment and survival. The present retrospective study was carried out to quantify the proportion of estrogen (ER), progesterone (PR), and human epithelial receptor 2 (HER2) expressions and their association with tumour grade, age, and tumour size in breast cancer patients in Nigeria. Materials and methods: The paraffin embedded tissue sections were analysed for breast cancer markers using monoclonal antibody SP1 for ER and SP2 for PR and polyclonal antibody ErbB2 for HER2. Results: A total of 286 breast cancer paraffin wax tissue sections were analysed for ER, PR and HER2 expression. Of all the tissue samples examined, 20 (7%) were ER-positive, 6 (2.1%) were PR-positive, 11 (3.8%) were HER2-positive whereas 248 (87%) were triple-negative breast carcinoma. ER- and PR-positivity was associated with early grade I and II tumours (P 50mm (P < 0.0001). Conclusion: A small proportion of Nigerian women with breast cancer are ER/PR-positive which are associated with less aggressive, better prognosis and benefit from endocrine therapy. An even smaller proportion of patients with aggressive tumors were HER2-posivite but responsive to Herceptin treatment. Unfortunately, a very high proportion of cases were triple-negative which is associated with very aggressive tumours and no targeted treatment, which may explain the high mortality rates from breast cancer in Nigeri

Abundances of Nitrates and Coliform with Regards to Water Quality. In Some Parts of lbadan, Southwest, Nigeria.

Water pollution has been reported throughout the world and Nigeria is not an exception. A very wide range of pollutants have been recognized, including Nitrogen species and bacteria. Nitrate (NO.) is the main form of Nitrogen which occurs in water and is becoming increasingly widespread because of agriculture activities, the disposal of sewage and wastes. This study thus focused on the assessment of the water samples in Ibadan, .Southwest, Nigeria based on these two pollutants (NO,) and. Colform) and possibility of natural denitrification in the study area. The surface and groundwater in Ibadan h:w e been polluted by municipal, industrial wastewater, agricultural activities among others. 1 he nitrate and coliform concentrations at thirty sampling points with in Tbadan ranged from 5.89 to 250mg/l and 74-IOOOcfu/ lOOmg/1 respectively. The concentration of nitrate and califom1 exceeded the WHO limit of I Omg/1 and Ocfu/ lOOmg!r'in 93% and 1OQ% of the sampled locations respectively. High nitrate and califom1 ·levels were observed in water from wells from the undeveloped part of the smdv area. The decrease in nitrate concentration viz a viz an increase in both HCO,- and pH along the groundwater flow direction confirmed the possibility of nitrate removal or natural denitrification in the study area

Multiphase CFD modeling to evaluate and to improve mixing in Chinese dome digester

Household or domestic biogas plants constitute a growing sub-sector of the anaerobic digestion industry worldwide, but had received low research attention for improvements. The Chinese dome digester (CDD), a major type of domestic biogas plant, is a naturally mixed, unheated and low tech system that is mainly used in rural areas. In this study, a multiphase computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was applied to evaluate and subsequently improve mixing in a lab scale Chinese dome digester. The normal Chinese dome digester (CDD1) and two baffle configurations were investigated to improve the hydraulic mixing in the digester (CDD2 and CDD3 respectively) . 2-D time dependent numerical simulations were done with the three-phase, phase field model in COMSOL Multiphysics in a CDD geometry. Residence time distribution (RTD) curves were derived for all the configurations to evaluate and compare performances. In addition, three hydraulic indicators were also studied to evaluate mixing improvement. The Anaerobic digestion model No. 1 (ADM1) was used to evaluate biogas production. The effects of the addition of baffles to the CDDs did not significantly improve mixing, however about 16 % of dead zones was reduced in the two-baffle configuration