Occult cancer with cervical lymph node metastasis: histologic profile of cervical lymph node and pan-endoscopic biopsies at university college hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria

Background: Occult cervical lymph node metastasis is a relatively rare oncologic disease presenting as a neck lump without an obvious mucosal lesion. Most cases arise from the upper aerodigestive tract and affect all ages. It is often a diagnostic dilemma when there is no facility to carry out a thorough evaluation.Methods: A prospective study of all patients with neck lump with unknown primary tumor site evaluated within the periods, January 2010 to December 2012 at the ENT/Head and Neck Department of University College Hospital, Ibadan. The patients went through clinical, radiological and endoscopic assessments. Fine Needle Aspirate and Cytology (FNAC) of neck node and random pan-endoscopic specimens obtained were cytological and histological analysed.Results: The prevalence of cervical nodal metastasis with unknown primary site was 9.7%. We found no gender predilection in the study. Majority of the patients with occult cervical node metastases were in the third decade of life. The histological yield of pan-endoscopy biopsy specimen was 72%. Undifferentiated nasopharyngeal squamous (39%) cell carcinoma was the commonest diagnosis following random biopsy during pan-endoscopy.Conclusion: Despite limitations arising from lack of FDG PET, the yield from pan-endoscopy biopsy specimen was appreciable. Inadequate immunohistological stains and lack of FDG PET scan may have diminished the histological yield of the blind pan-endoscopy biopsy specimens.Keywords: Cervical nodal metastasis with unknown primary site, pan-endoscopy biopsy, occult cancerJos Journal of Medicine, Volume 7 No.

Development of an Anaerobic Digester for Animal Waste

Advancement in biotechnology and bioengineering has provided ways that resources, which hitherto were classified as wastes, now form the basis for energy production. Anaerobic digestion is a highly promising technology used for processing biomass materials (crop residue, human excreta, animal waste and food) in the absence of oxygen to a methane-rich biogas. This work developed a small-scale anaerobic digester to produce biogas from animal waste. The anaerobic digester consisted of three major components: bioreactor with an incorporated stirrer driven by an electric motor, gas scrubber and gas collector.  Batch feeding operation was adopted while pig waste was used as test material. Lime water was used as a scrubbing medium for methane enrichment.  Loading result revealed that there was seven days delay in gas production from day of loading. The daily temperatures and pH recorded for a period of 50 days were in the range of 29 - 34°C and 5.5 - 7.5 respectively, and the average yield of clean biogas was 0.13 l/kg of slurry/day. Biogas generation increased with days in digester and was a two-stage process with a peak production day between 40 and 45 days.  There was observed reduction in carbon dioxide content and methane enrichment as the days increased confirming the effectiveness of the scrubber. The biogas produced comprised between 55.1 and 74.1% of methane, and a range of 22.5 to 38.2% of carbon dioxide and was combustible after the 10th day of digestion. The results obtained showed the overall functionability of the developed anaerobic digester. The digester could be deployed and adopted in farmsteads as well as household to meet their energy deman

Development and Performance Evaluation of A Low-Cost Hydraulic-Operated Biomass Briquetting Machine

Large quantities of agricultural residues produced in Nigeria can provide an alternative way in meeting her energy demand through briquetting. Biomass briquetting is the process of compacting raw biomass materials (wood, charcoal, crop residues, and animal waste) into standard mini-brick units as solid fuel for improved handling and efficiency. A small scale, 40 bar hydraulic operated piston briquetting machine with a capacity of 120 briquettes per hour was developed. The machine comprised of hydraulic, control, press, power, ejection and frame sections, and adopted the binder-less technology. Sawdust and rice husk were used as sample biomass materials. The compressed biomass obtained from the developed machine in form of briquettes had mean diameter and height of 30 mm ±0.02 and 16 mm ±0.01 respectively. The force, deflection, and Young Modulus at peak were 16.30 N, 3.29 mm and 548.11 N/mm2 for Sawdust Briquettes (SB) respectively, while 12.50 N, 1.49 mm; and 481 N/mm2 were obtained for Rice Husk Briquettes (RHB).  The yield stress for SB and RHB were 12 and 9 N/mm2. The heating values obtained for SB and RHB were 51.0 Kcal/g and 39.4 Kcal/g respectively. The output efficiency of the machine was 88% indicating a satisfactory performance of the machine

Development of an Anaerobic Digester for Animal Waste

Advancement in biotechnology and bioengineering has provided ways that resources, which hitherto were classified as wastes, now form the basis for energy production. Anaerobic digestion is a highly promising technology used for processing biomass materials (crop residue, human excreta, animal waste and food) in the absence of oxygen to a methane-rich biogas. This work developed a small-scale anaerobic digester to produce biogas from animal waste. The anaerobic digester consisted of three major components: bioreactor with an incorporated stirrer driven by an electric motor, gas scrubber and gas collector. Batch feeding operation was adopted while pig waste was used as test material. Lime water was used as a scrubbing medium for methane enrichment. Loading result revealed that there was seven days delay in gas production from day of loading. The daily temperatures and pH recorded for a period of 50 days were in the range of 29 - 34°C and 5.5 - 7.5 respectively, and the average yield of clean biogas was 0.13 l/kg of slurry/day. Biogas generation increased with days in digester and was a two-stage process with a peak production day between 40 and 45 days. There was observed reduction in carbon dioxide content and methane enrichment as the days increased confirming the effectiveness of the scrubber. The biogas produced comprised between 55.1 and 74.1% of methane, and a range of 22.5 to 38.2% of carbon dioxide and was combustible after the 10th day of digestion. The results obtained showed the overall functionability of the developed anaerobic digester. The digester could be deployed and adopted in farmsteads as well as household to meet their energy deman