Health Personnel’s Perception On The Use Of Social Media In Healthcare Delivery System In Rural and Urban Communities of Oyo State, Nigeria

The study examined health personnel’s perception on the use of social media in healthcare delivery system in rural and urban communities of Oyo state, Nigeria. Randomly, 2 Local Government Area (LGA) each were selected from rural and urban LGA that represents 12% of LGA in the state, these are Ibarapa East, Iseyin, Ibadan North and Ogbomosho North.  Purposively, medical centres were sampled based on the concentration of health practitioners in selected health centres. A total of three medical centres each from Ibarapa East and Iseyin, while three medical centres were selected from Ibadan North and Ogbomoso North. In all, 112 health personnel were used from the 124 personnel sampled. A good number of the respondents were below 50 years, data obtained indicated that there were more female medical personnel (66.1%) than male (33.9%). All the respondents had more than one year of working experience with 33.9% of them having less than five years work experience. Majority (58.9%) are aware of social media and had the mean score of 16.70 ± 3.19.  Respondents have a high knowledge of social media (13.3± 2.67), favourably disposed to the use of social media in healthcare delivery (84.34±13.20). There exist a significant relationship between respondents’ knowledge (r = 0.267; p<0.05) and the perception of health personnel on the use of social media for health care delivery, while there is no significant difference ((F=0.956; p>0.05) in respondents’ perception of health personnel on the use of social media for health care delivery across the medical personnel interviewed. Social media encourages youth participation and consequently can promote energies of rural youths for innovative effort to use social media to bring healthcare to rural communities. Keywords: Social Media, Health personnel, Perception, Rural and Urban Communitie

Comparative biocidal activities of some crude plant species powders against the cowpea weevil (Callosobrochus maculatus (F.)(Coleoptera: bruchidae))

Callosobruchus maculatus is one of the most important pests of cowpea in storage causing severe economic damage to the grain. This study investigated the efficacies of three plant materials (Azadirachta indica, Calotropis procera and Chromolaena odorata) leaves against the cowpea weevil. Concentrations of 0.1, 0.25 and 0.5g of the plant powders were used on 10g of grains with 10 adult weevils in each and a Control (untreated) in triplicates. The results showed significant (P< 0.05) negatively effects of the plant materials on the survival of C. maculatus at the highest concentration. In all trails, mean daily mortality in adult C. maculatus were significantly(p<0.05) increased. All plant powder type were effective but concentration-dependent, with C. procera recording significantly (P < 0.05) higher mortality at the various concentrations while C. odorata, elicited the least mean daily mortality. The lowest LD50 (0.63g) was obtained with C. procera. These plants materials were found to also affect the egg-laying capacity of C. maculatus. Treatment with C. odorata recorded significantly(P<0.05) higher number of eggs laid at all concentrations, though the egg-laying capacity was also concentration-dependent; whereas C. procera recorded the least number of eggs laid. All the three plants powders tested demonstrated significant insecticidal potency on stored cowpea weevils, with C. procera and C. odorata showing significantly higher and lower insecticidal potentials respectively. These findings will help in solving problem associated with food security especially with respect to stored produce

Awareness and risk burden of glaucoma among adults in selected rural and urban communities of Kwara State, North – Central Nigeria

Glaucoma-related blindness constitutes a major public health problem. In addition to the high risk burden, inadequate awareness and late diagnosis have been attributed as the major causes of blindness in glaucoma. This study aimed to assess and compare the awareness and risk burden of glaucoma among adults in selected rural and urban communities of Kwara State, Nigeria.This study was a cross-sectional comparative study. The respondents were selected through multi-stage sampling technique.  Interviewer- administered structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Data were analysed using SPSS version 15. Level of statistical significance was set at p<0.05.Less than a quarter, 109 (24.2%), of the rural respondents are aware of glaucoma compared with almost half, 212 (46.1%) of the urban respondents (p<0.001). More than three-quarters, 187 (88.2%), of the urban respondents in the age group 40-59 years had awareness of glaucoma compared with older respondents (p<0.05).There were more hypertensive subjects in the urban compared with the rural areas (OR=0.2; 95%CI=0.14-0.26; p<0.001). More than three quarters, 339 (75.3%), of the rural respondents had complete eye exam more than two years ago compared with the urban respondents (OR=2.7; 95%CI=2.0-3.6; p<0.001).Inadequate awareness and high risk burden of glaucoma have been demonstrated among the respondents in both rural and urban communities in this study. This gap is inimical to the efforts towards reduction of burden of glaucoma-related blindness. There is need for the Government to scale-up efforts at increasing the awareness of the public and institute measures to reduce risk burden of glaucoma. Keywords: Glaucoma, awareness, risk burden, Nigeri

Gastrointestinal parasites of fish as bio-indicators of the ecology of Chanchaga River, Minna, Niger State

Fish parasites are of particular interest in relation not only to fish health but also in the understanding of ecological problems. A study of the gastrointestinal parasites of fish as bio-indicators of heavy metal pollution in Chanchaga River was carried out from May-August, 2014. A total of 100 specimens were sampled which comprises of 4 species; Tilapia zilli, Auchenoglanis occidentalis, Clarias gariepinus and Mormyrus rume (25 samples each). The intestinal contents of the samples were analyzed, parasites found were the Nematodes, 52.00% and mean intensity of 57.03, Cestodes, 28.00%with 4.14 mean intensity and some unidentified species of insects and Copepods were 12.00% and a mean intensity of 7.85. The concentration of the metals (Fe, Zn, Cu, Cr&Mn) were determined using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). Result showed no significant (P>0.05) difference in the heavy metal accumulation in the muscle of both the infected fishes and the uninfected ones, but there was a significant (P<0.05) difference in the metal concentration in the intestines amongst the fish species for Cu in T. zilli (0.83±0.01mg/g) and in A. occidentalis(0.02±0.01 mg/g). Among the species sampled for heavy metal in fish muscle M. rume had the lowest mean concentration (0.27±0.01 mg/g) while C. gariepinus had the highest (0.45±0.03 mg/g). This study has established the presence of gastrointestinal parasites in fish from Chanchaga River and also presence of heavy metal though in low quantity in the fish from the River thereby indicating that the river is slightly polluted.Keywords: Fish parasites, Heavy metals, Gastrointestinal and Chanchaga Rive

Microwave-assisted extraction proof-of-concept for phenolic phytochemical recovery from Allium Sativum L. (Amaryllidaceous): Optimal process condition evaluation, scale-up computer-aided simulation and profitability risk analysis

Allium Sativum L. (ASL) extract is one of the medicinal and aromatic products used in pharmaceutical, food, cosmetic and perfumery industries. The scientific literature bibliography regarding process scale-up simulation and techno-economics of phenolic extract from ASL Microwave-Assisted Extraction (MAE) is seldom reported. This study presented optimization and techno-economics of phenolic recovery from ASL extraction. Box-benken design extraction experiment was conducted at irradiation power (520 W – 1040 W), extraction time (2- 10 min) and solid-liquid ratio (0.4 – 1 g/100 ml). The extraction conditions that optimized experimental extractible yield and Total Phenolic Content (TPC) evaluated in Box-benken desirability of Response Surface Methodology. Bioactive finger printing of the extract was analyzed using High Performance Liquid Chromatograph (HPLC). Aspen Batch Process Developer was used for the process techno-economic analysis; profitability uncertainty was analyzed using Monte-Carlo Simulation (MCS). Optimal extractible yield (28.62%) and TPC (76.8 mgGAE/g dry extract) were obtained at irradiation time 7.62 min, microwave power 826.67 Watt (63.6%) with solid-liquid ratio 0.55g/100 ml. The HPLC fingerprint revealed bentulinic acid, galic acid, chlorogenic acid, ellagic acid and ferulic acid. Cost of Manufacturing (COM) for 5L, 50L and 500L extractors gave US$1,480, US$ 220 and US$56 respectively. Techno-economic results of 500L extraction capacity with 900 kg/year design gave batch size (0.25 kg), production rate (2 kg/min), cycle time (125 min), discounted net present value (38,133 US$), rate of return (34%) and pay back time (2.94yrs). MCS results show high certainties of achieving base case profitability indices. The study shows that MAE of garlic powder is economically feasible