Analysis of Informal Credit Operations among Farmers In Atisbo Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria

The study explored the operations, (savings and loan procurement), as well as the problems and prospects of the informal financial institutions in ATISBO Local Government Area of Oyo State, Southwest Nigeria. The sampling technique used was Stratified Random Sampling to select threevillages from the area and Systematic Random Sampling of respondents was conducted to select 120 respondents. With a mean age of 41.4 years, most of the respondents’ ages fell between 40 and 60 years. Some of the respondents (16.7%) had no formal education though they were managingfairly large household sizes, with a mean of 10 members/ household). 72.5% have no formal education, though the vast farming experience of the respondents; (mean 21.5 years) has been a facilitating factor in productivity improvement in the locality. Savings mobilized per year rangedfrom N 96,000 to N115, 000.00 with a mean saving of N 72,840.00. The results showed that the age, years of residency in the locality, education of the farmers, farm size and gender, all have significant relationships at 5 % with the volume of loan procured by the respondents. R2 value and adjusted R2 were 67% and 64%, F values were calculated as 13.2 respectively. The Linear function was selected as the equation of best fit. From the estimated linear lead equation, F-value was significant at 1% level of confidence, implying that the variables all have collective impact on the volume of savings mobilized from the informal sources by the respondents, hence the goodness of fit of the selected function. Some of the problems discovered on the operation of the informal services were short term expectation on loans repayment, inhibiting attitudes of group members, unsynchronized contributions to savings due to non-aligned cash flow in farming, elusive attitudes of money collectors and group coordinators and simultaneous requests by members for funds (loans), due to specific timing in farm operations and domestic requirements. The prospects of the informal financial services and groups in Nigeria could be improved if relevant policies are formulated and geared towards support for agricultural sectors and increase in the net farm income of farmers in such a way that the marginal propensity to save and invest more on farming could increase. The need to implement policies to ensure sustainable integration of the indigenous savings institutions into the operations of the Community Banks through the mobile rural banking strategies was suggested. Intensive use of extension services to facilitate adult literacy and learning among rural dwellers; especially farmers, to reduce illiteracy and empower farmers for savings, investment on agriculture as well as improved livelihood were also suggested.Key words: Informal Credit Operation, Savings, ATISBO L.G.A, farmers, Oyo State

Pattern of Malocclusion at the Orthodontic Unit, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Lagos Nigeria

Objective The aim of this study was to determine the pattern of malocclusion among patients attending the orthodontic clinic, Dental department, of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital. Method A retrospective study of one hundred and sixty nine patients who attended the orthodontic clinic, LASUTH from January 2007 to December 2008 was conducted. Information regarding age, sex, and type of malocclusion and index of orthodontic treatment need (The dental health component) was obtained from the patients’ record files. Results The patients’ ages ranged from 4 to 34 years with a mean age of 14.08 ± 5.80. There were 95 (55.9%) females and 74 (44.1%) males. The commonest type of malocclusion was Angle’s class 1 seen in 136 (80%), while Class 2 and Class 3 accounted for 26 (15.4%) and 7 (4.1%) respectively. Crowding was noted in 64 (38.1%) patients while 73 (42.3%) had spacing. Only 14 (8.2%) had associated oral habits such as thumb-sucking, lip sucking, tongue sucking and tongue thrusting. No crowding, spacing or associated oral habit was observed in 18 (11.4%)of the patients. Assessment of need for treatment ,using the dental health component of the index of orthodontic treatment (IOTN), showed 62 (36.7%) had mild need, 76 (45.0%) moderate need , 24 (14.2%) severe treatment need and 7 (4.1%) extreme need for treatment. The degree of need for treatment was not significantly related to patient’s age or gender (p-value>0.005). Conclusion The pattern of malocclusion seen among patients attending orthodontic clinic, LASUTH is comparable to the outcome of previous studies done in other centers in Nigeria. There also seems to be an increasing number of adult patients seeking orthodontic treatment. Majority of the patients require mild to moderate orthodontic intervention. Keywords: malocclusion, Angles classification, oral habits, index of orthodontic treatment nee

Knowledge and awareness of orthodontics among Nigerian school children in selected private and public schools in Lagos

Objective: This study sought to assess the knowledge and awareness of Nigerian adolescents concerning orthodontics, to determine possible factors influencing their knowledge of orthodontics as well as to find out if socioeconomic status has any effect on their knowledge and awareness. Method: This cross-sectional descriptive questionnaire based study was conducted in two secondary schools (one private and one public) in Lagos State. Result: A total of 408 students, participated in the study of which only 98 (24.0%) had ever heard the term ‘orthodontics’, and of this number only 16 could correctly explain the meaning of the term orthodontics. Majority of the respondents with correct responses attended a private school. Significantly more of the private school students correctly identified that orthodontists are involved in rearranging the teeth (p=0.006) and not involved in cleaning the teeth (p=0.008). There was a significant difference in the knowledge of the students from the public and private school concerning the impact of malocclusion on speech (p=0.002) and appearance (p=0.000). The overall orthodontic knowledge is deficient. However knowledge was better among the children from the private school compared to those from the public school. The results obtained from this study, clearly show that there is need to provide oral health education especially to improve the orthodontic knowledge of these adolescents especially about malocclusion and its consequences. It is expected that this would improve their knowledge and consequently increase the demand for and the uptake of the available orthodontic services.Nig Dent J Vol 20 No. 1 Jan - June 201

Codiversification of gut microbiota with humans

The gut microbiomes of human populations worldwide have many core microbial species in common. However, within a species, some strains can show remarkable population specificity. The question is whether such specificity arises from a shared evolutionary history (codiversification) between humans and their microbes. To test for codiversification of host and microbiota, we analyzed paired gut metagenomes and human genomes for 1225 individuals in Europe, Asia, and Africa, including mothers and their children. Between and within countries, a parallel evolutionary history was evident for humans and their gut microbes. Moreover, species displaying the strongest codiversification independently evolved traits characteristic of host dependency, including reduced genomes and oxygen and temperature sensitivity. These findings all point to the importance of understanding the potential role of population-specific microbial strains in microbiome-mediated disease phenotypes

Codiversification of gut microbiota with humans

International audienceThe gut microbiomes of human populations worldwide have many core microbial species in common. However, within a species, some strains can show remarkable population specificity. The question is whether such specificity arises from a shared evolutionary history (codiversification) between humans and their microbes. To test for codiversification of host and microbiota, we analyzed paired gut metagenomes and human genomes for 1225 individuals in Europe, Asia, and Africa, including mothers and their children. Between and within countries, a parallel evolutionary history was evident for humans and their gut microbes. Moreover, species displaying the strongest codiversification independently evolved traits characteristic of host dependency, including reduced genomes and oxygen and temperature sensitivity. These findings all point to the importance of understanding the potential role of population-specific microbial strains in microbiome-mediated disease phenotypes

One stop shop: backbones trees for important phytopathogenic genera: I (2014)

Many fungi are pathogenic on plants and cause significant damage in agriculture and forestry. They are also part of the natural ecosystem and may play a role in regulating plant numbers/density. Morphological identification and analysis of plant pathogenic fungi, while important, is often hampered by the scarcity of discriminatory taxonomic characters and the endophytic or inconspicuous nature of these fungi. Molecular (DNA sequence) data for plant pathogenic fungi have emerged as key information for diagnostic and classification studies, although hampered in part by non-standard laboratory practices and analytical methods. To facilitate current and future research, this study provides phylogenetic synopses for 25 groups of plant pathogenic fungi in the Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Mucormycotina (Fungi), and Oomycota, using recent molecular data, up-to-date names, and the latest taxonomic insights. Lineage-specific laboratory protocols together with advice on their application, as well as general observations, are also provided. We hope to maintain updated backbone trees of these fungal lineages over time and to publish them jointly as new data emerge. Researchers of plant pathogenic fungi not covered by the present study are invited to join this future effort. Bipolaris, Botryosphaeriaceae, Botryosphaeria, Botrytis, Choanephora, Colletotrichum, Curvularia, Diaporthe, Diplodia, Dothiorella, Fusarium, Gilbertella, Lasiodiplodia, Mucor, Neofusicoccum, Pestalotiopsis, Phyllosticta, Phytophthora, Puccinia, Pyrenophora, Pythium, Rhizopus, Stagonosporopsis, Ustilago and Verticillium are dealt with in this paper