Community perspective of alternative methods of keeping immunization records in a rural setting of southwest Nigeria

Background: Evaluation of the objectives of immunization programme will be impossible in settings where immunization record keeping and verbal reports may be unreliable like Nigeria. This necessitates a need for improved record keeping. Using end users’ approach to seeking alternative record keeping system might serve as a model on which to plan improvement of immunisation service delivery. This study was conducted to assess other methods of keeping childhood immunization records based on community’s suggestions in a rural setting of Southwest Nigeria.Methodology: A cross-sectional study of mothers/care-givers of under-5-children in a rural community was carried out using a mixed-method approach [questionnaire survey and focus group discussion (FGD)]. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data by thematic approach.Results: Mean age of the respondents was 28.3 ± 5.5 years and 98.5% were  females. Most (65.4%) of the respondents could not think of any other way of  keeping immunisation assessment records. The use of a notebook was the only new method suggested by few (0.4%) of the respondents. From the FGD, participants opined that they had no challenge with the use of the immunisation card as a way of keeping immunisation records and that there were no better ways. However,  suggestions reported revolved around better ways of maintaining the cards such as keeping the cards in the bank or having a duplicate in the health facilities.Conclusion: Respondents in the study area felt the use of immunization card for keeping immunization records should be continued with improved maintenance culture. Keywords: Immunisation, Record keeping, Uptake, Vaccination card, End user

Phytochemical analysis, antioxidant, antibacterial potentials and chemical composition of methanol extract of Oscillatoria sp.

Background: Algae contains some useful phytochemicals and Oscillatoria sp. is a green microalga which has various applicationsObjectives: Phytochemicals, antioxidant, antibacterial potential and chemical composition of methanol extract of Oscillatoria sp. were evaluated.Materials and Methods: Extraction of bioactive compound from Oscillatoria sp., determination of phytochemicals, antioxidant, antibacterial potential and chemical composition of the methanol extract.Results: Saponin, alkaloids and flavonoids were detected in the methanol extract while glycosides and phenols were absent. The scavenging assay for the antioxidant increased in a dose dependent (100 -1000 μg/mL) manner. The DPPH scavenging activity, Total phenolic content, Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power Assay (FRAP) and hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity ranged from 21.8 - 44.9%, 9.09 -21.46%, 0.43 - 42.49% and 19.4 - 74.4% respectively. The methanol extract had inhibitory activity against the test pathogens in which Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 (24.0 mm) had the highest susceptibility. GCMS chromatogram of the methanol extract of Oscillatoria sp. shows fifteen major peaks which indicated the presence of Oleic acid, stearic acid, aracidic acid, methyl laurate, methyl myristate, oxirane and palmitic acid.Conclusion: Oscillatoria sp. methanol extract contain some phytochemicals and some heterocyclic compounds. The extract had good antioxidant capability and appreciable antibacterial activity against the test pathogens.Keywords: Oscillatoria sp.; methanol extract; Phytochemical; Antioxidant; GC-MS; Antibacteria

Orofacial clefts and cardiovascular risk and diseases: The causal relationship and associations

There is a complex interplay between orofacial clefts (OFCs) or cleft of the lip and palate and cardiovascular risk factors and cardiac diseases.  The presence of maternal cardiovascular risk factors serves as a potent predisposing factor to the development of OFCs during foetal development in addition to the fact that various congenital anomalies are associated with OFCs either in syndromic or non-syndrome  relationship. This article narratively explores this complex interplay, which is not uncommon

Hexamethonium produces both twitch and tetanic depression without fade in common African toad (Bufo regularis)

The study was designed to investigate the nature of the cholinoceptors at the sciatic nervegastrocnemius muscle junction of the common African toad (Bufo regularis). Using myographic technique, the twitch properties of the sciatic-gastrocnemius muscle preparation of the common African toad was studied. Both the twitch height and peak tetanic height were measured as a percentage of control. Hexamethonium at a concentratration of 0.1mM significantly (

Community Perceived Attitude on Forest Related Environmental Issues using Mass Media in Osun States, Nigeria

This paper examines community perceived attitude on Forestry Related Environmental Issues (FREI) in Osun state with a view to strengthening mass media use. Data collected from primary and secondary sources were analyzed qualitatively. The pooled data on frequency distribution of perceived attitude on forest related environmental issues reveals that majority of the end users (75percent) agreed minimally that it is important to pay attention to FREI to eco-balance the environment while 60percent respondent said it is a mere threat, that FREI cannot have adverse effect on the stability of the environment. This suggests that attitude to forest related environmental issues with respect to community awareness on forestry mitigation approaches have been ranked very low while more end-users/ farmers considered average mass media efforts as town criers a mere threat, and thus FREI cannot have adverse effect on the stability of the environment. The need to undertake community perceived attitude on FREI in Osun state with a view to strengthening sustainable livelihoods approach using mass media coverage is essential. The results of this study brought into focus the involvement of mass media in disseminating environmental issues as watchdogs for a good environment but that is currently dominated by incidental reporting from actual assessment. Most mass media do not channel feedback to appropriate body such as FRIN for processing, therefore this disposition becomes imperative for collaboration and coordination among government agencies horizontally and vertically. Community forestry awareness supports livelihood assets such as social capital and community organization, as well as diversified livelihoods and the protection of the natural resource base on which they depend. Keywords: perceived attitude; Mass media; Forestry Related Environmental Issues; Mitigation

Behavioural Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic among Nigerians: A Nationwide Survey

Background: COVID-19 being a new disease has been fraught with poor public social responses. This survey described the behavioural responses to  COVID-19 from individuals in a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society like Nigeria. Methods: The study used a web-based descriptive cross-sectional design to recruit Nigerian adults, 18 years and above from all the geopolitical  zones in the country, by snowball sampling technique. A 6-page Google form survey tool was used to administer the questionnaire via emails,  WhatsApp groups and other social media platforms. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics with percentage frequency distribution. Results: A total of 1841 respondents (45.8% females) were finally analyzed. The age range was 18-84years with mean of 31±11years. Overall, 1079  (58.6%) expressed at least one element of fear of disclosing their COVID-19 status. There were 1047 (56.7%) respondents who expressed worry  about being discriminated against if they get COVD-19 and 1087 (59.1%) agreed that family members of COVID-19 patients may be rejected by the  community. Majority 1749 (95%) stated willingness to present to the healthcare facility, though 932 (50.6%) stated they will not be attended to if  suspected to have COVID-19. Of the respondents, 794 (43.1%) indicated that COVID-19 was caused by the Chinese and 1202 (65.3%) indicated that  healthcare workers should be kept in a hotel separate from the rest of the community. Majority 1679 (91.2%) however, disagreed that COVID- 19 was  a death sentence. Conclusion: The study revealed that there were elements of fear of disclosure, with discrimination and stigmatization being the major causes of  concern

Assessment of measures of adiposity that correlate with blood pressure among hypertensive Africans

Background: Studies differ on which anthropometric measure of adiposity shows good correlation with cardiovascular diseases. In this study, we evaluated the effects of common epidemiological measures of adiposity as a correlate of elevated blood pressure in an African population.Methodology: The study was carried out between June 2009 and December 2011 at the medical out-patient department of a tertiary healthcare center in Nigeria. Correlation analysis was used to assess the relationship between blood pressure and body mass index (BMI), waist to height ratio (WHtR), and waist circumference (WC).Results: A total of 1,416 Hypertensives comprising 1090 (77%) adult females recruited over two and half years. Women were significantly older (49.2±8.1 vs. 48.0±10.0 years, p=0.039) and shorter (1.6±6.3 vs 1.7±6.8 meters, p<0.0001) when compared with men. Blood pressure parameters were comparable between women and men. Approximately 1 out of 5 participants had good blood pressure control with no gender difference. Anthropometric measurements showed that 446(32%) were overweight, 404(29%) obese and 40(3%) were morbidly obese. Compared with their male counterparts, females were significantly more likely to be obese (P<0.0001). Similarly, 51.6% of the subjects had abdominal obesity, with female preponderance (P<0.0001). Likewise, a greater proportion of women had substantially higher measured waist circumference risk. Compared with other measures of adiposity, body mass index correlated best with diastolic blood pressure in both gender (P< 0.05).Conclusion: This study adds to the evidence that obesity is a major cardiovascular risk factor. BMI, as a measure of adiposity, was found to correlate best with blood pressure. These findings support other observations in other populations that BMI rather than waist to height ratio (WHtR), and waist circumference (WC) is a better correlate of hypertension

Effect of dietary supplementation with arginine on haematological indices, serum chemistry, carcass yield, gut microflora, and lymphoid organs of growing turkeys

A 8-wk feeding experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation with Arg on haematological indices, serum chemistry, carcass yield, gut microflora, and lymphoid organ weights of growing turkeys. A total of one hundred and eighty 56-d-old male grower turkeys were weighed individually and randomly assigned to 1 of 3 dietary treatments with 6 replicate pens, and 10 turkeys per pen in a completely randomized design. Dietary treatments consisted of basal diets supplemented with 0, 0.5, and 1.0 g Arg/kg. Haematological indices and serum chemistry were measured at 84 and 112 d of study. Carcass yield, relative weights of retail cuts, organ weights, and gut microflora were measured at d 112. Except eosinophil, no effect of Arg supplementation was obtained on haematological indices at d 84. At d 112, finisher turkeys fed the diet supplemented with 0.5 g Arg/kg had the greatest red blood cell (quadratic, P<0.001), lymphocyte (linear, P=0.011; quadratic, P<0.001), and basophil counts (quadratic, P<0.001). In grower turkeys at d 84, total serum protein (quadratic, P=0.030), and serum globulin concentrations (quadratic, P=0.043) increased initially as Arg supplementation increased from 0 to 0.5 g/kg, but decreased with the 1.0 g Arg/kg. Uric acid concentration and alanine aminotransferase activity reduced as Arg supplementation increased from 0 to 0.5 g/kg, but increased with the 1.0 g Arg/kg (quadratic, P=0.002). In finisher turkeys at d 112, total serum protein (linear, P=0.004; quadratic, P=0.002), serum globulin (linear, P=0.008; quadratic, P=0.030), serum albumin (linear, P=0.012; quadratic, P=0.040), and triodosterine concentrations (linear, P=0.025; quadratic, P=0.033) increased with increasing Arg supplementation. At d 112, spleen weights increased linearly (P=0.006), while thymus weights increased quadratically (P=0.003) with increasing dietary Arg supplementation. Salmonella counts in the small intestinal content of turkeys at d 112 reduced quadratically as Arg supplementation increased from 0 to 1.0 g/kg (P=0.029). In conclusion, Arg supplementation increased packed cell volume of finisher turkeys, improved serum chemistry of grower, and finisher turkeys as indicated by increased total serum protein, and reduced serum enzymes with appreciable improvement obtained when included at 0.5 g Arg/kg. Arginine supplementation enhanced the relative weights of thymus, spleen, and reduced Salmonella counts in small intestine of turkeys

Growth performance, nutrient digestibility, metabolizable energy, and intestinal morphology of growing turkeys fed diet supplemented with arginine

A 8-wk feeding experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation with Arg on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, metabolizable energy, and intestinal morphology of growing turkeys. A total of one hundred and eighty 56-d-old male grower turkeys were weighed individually and randomly assigned to 1 of 3 dietary treatments with 6 replicate pens and 10 turkeys per pen in a completely randomized design. Dietary treatments consisted of basal diets supplemented with 0, 0.5, and 1.0 g Arg/kg. Growth response was measured during the grower (d 56–84) and finisher (d 84–112) phases, while nutrient digestibility, metabolizable energy, and intestinal morphology were measured at d 84 and 112. Arginine supplementation had no effect on growth response during the grower phase. During the finisher phase, feed conversion ratio decreased initially as Arg supplementation increased from 0 to 0.5 g/kg, but it increased with the 1.0 g Arg/kg (quadratic, P=0.028). At d 84, grower turkeys fed diets supplemented with 1.0 g Arg/kg had greater (linear, P<0.001) apparent dry matter, crude protein, and ether extract digestibility. At d 84, greatest apparent metabolizable energy, nitrogen corrected apparent metabolizable energy, and true metabolizable energy values were obtained with grower turkeys fed diet supplemented with 0.5 g Arg/kg (quadratic, P<0.001). At d 84, duodenum, and ileum villus height in grower turkeys increased linearly, and quadratically (P<0.001) with increasing Arg supplementation. Dietary supplementation with Arg reduced the apical widths in duodenum (linear, P=0.003; quadratic, P<0.001), jejunum (linear and quadratic, P<0.001), and ileum (linear, P=0.010; quadratic, P=0.004) of grower turkeys. At d 112, jejunum villus height (quadratic, P=0.042), and ileum villus height (linear, P=0.022; quadratic, P=0.042) of finisher turkeys increased, while duodenum apical widths reduced (quadratic, P=0.033) with increasing Arg supplementation. In conclusion, Arg supplementation showed a linear improvement in nutrient digestibility of grower turkeys at d 84, increased nutrient absorption in grower, and finisher turkeys as indicated by increased intestinal villus height at d 84, and 112. Furthermore, dietary supplementation with 0.5 g Arg/kg promoted a quadratic improvement in feed conversion ratio of finisher turkeys, and metabolizable energy values of grower turkeys at d 84

Experimental investigation on post-fire performances of fly ash concrete filled hollow steel column

In structural engineering practice, understanding the performance of composite columns under extreme loading conditions such as high-rise bulding, long span and heavy loads is essential to accuratly predicting of material responses under severe loads such as fires or earthquakes. Hitherto, the combined effect of partial axial loads and subsequent elevated temperatures on the performance of hollow steel column filled fly ash concrete have not been widely investigated. Comprehensive test was carried out to investigate the effect of elevated temperatures on partial axially loaded square hollow steel column filled fly ash concrete as reported in this paper. Four batches of hollow steel column filled fly ash concrete ( 30 percent replacement of fly ash), (HySC) and normal concrete (CFHS) were subjected to four different load levels, nf of 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% based on ultimate column strength. Subsequently, all batches of the partially damage composite columns were exposed to transient elevated temperature up to 250o C, 450o C and 650o C for one hour. The overall stress – strain relationship for both types of composited columns with different concrete fillers were presented for each different partial load levels and elevated temperature exposure. Results show that CFHS column has better performance than HySC at ambient temperature with 1.03 relative difference. However, the residual ultimate compressive strength of HySC subjected to partial axial load and elevated temperature exposure present an improvement compared to CFHS column with percentage difference in range 1.9% to 18.3%. Most of HySC and CFHS column specimens failed due to local buckling at the top and middle section of the column caused by concrete crushing. The columns failed due to global buckling after prolong compression load. After the compression load was lengthened, the columns were found to fail due to global buckling except for HySC0