Gender, age and religion as determinants of eating habit of youth in ikenne local government of Ogun state, Nigeria.

The study examined the influence of Age, Gender and Religion on eating habit of youth. It made use of simple random technique in selecting 400 youths within Ikenne local government of Ogun State, Nigeria. The age range of the respondents was between 15 years and 40 years with the mean age of 25.2 and standard deviation of 3.291. The ex-post facto research design was employed. A 20 item questions by Snell &Johnson (1997) named psychology of eating questionnaire (PEQ) was adopted with four subscales and used in generating data for the study. Data analysis involved the use of analysis of variance, and independent t-test. The results indicated that the three variables age, gender and religion taken together accounted for 30.2% of the variance in eating habit pattern and were found to the significant with {F3.397} = 5.214 . On the basis of this finding, it is then suggested that: Eating habit is affected by gender and age, nutritionist, social workers and those concerned with health should create more awareness on the poor eating habit as regards to healthy living. Key words: Gender, Age, Religion, and eating habi

Heavy Metal Concentrations in Road Side Soils from Selected Locations in the Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria

Assessing the concentration of potentially harmful heavy metals in road side soils in Lagos metropolis is imperative in order to evaluate the potential risks to people and the environment. This is due to rapid increase in the use of vehicles for day to day transportation coupled with lack of emission standards which has raised serious concern about vehicular pollution. This paper reports the results of the investigation of heavy metal concentration in road side soils of selected areas in Lagos metropolis as a result of vehicular pollution. Locations considered were motor parks, garages and roadsides in Alimosho-, Agege-, Ikeja-, and Oshodi/Isolo-LGA of Lagos State. Seven locations that spans across the four local governments were selected on the basis of their high concentration of vehicular traffic. Three sites with low traffic concentration were also selected outside the seven locations to act as control sites. Soil samples were collected at each location for a period of three months in the dry season. The concentrations of six heavy metals (manganese, nickel, lead, chromium, zinc, and iron) in the samples were determined with an atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS). All the monitored heavy metal pollutants where compared with European Union (EU) regulatory standard. Results show that the concentrations of heavy metals in the soil samples from the seven locations were within safe limits though higher than in the control sites. It is evident that as time goes on, these heavy metals may pose health hazards. The study reveals that vehicular-related pollution in Lagos metropolis is indeed significant with possible severe health consequences

Building a Computer-Based Expert System for Malaria Environmental Diagnosis: An Alternative Malaria Control Strategy

As a predominant environmental health problem in Africa, malaria constitutes a great threat to the existence of many communities. The harmful effects of malaria parasites to the human body cannot be underestimated. In this paper, an expert system for malaria environmental diagnosis was presented for providing decision support to malaria researchers, institutes and other healthcare practitioners in malaria endemic regions of the world. The motivation behind this work was due to the insufficient malaria control measures in existence and the need to provide novel approaches towards malaria control. A malaria expert system prototype was developed that involved a knowledge component, the application component (AC), the database system component (DC), the Graphical User Interface (GUI) component and the User component (UC). The User interface component was implemented using the Java Programming language. The application component was implemented using the Java Expert System Shell (JESS) and the Java IDE of Netbeans while the database component was implemented using SQL Server

Digital Literacy Skills of Undergraduate Students in Nigeria Universities

Influence of digital technology in our educational system cannot be overemphasized. Hardly can any undergraduate student survive in tertiary institution without basic skills and knowledge of digital technology. The composite skills require for student to fit into digital environment in achieving his/her academic pursuit is digital literacy skill. This prompted the study on the digital literacy skills of undergraduate students of Federal Universities in Southwest, Nigeria. Research design employed for this study was the descriptive survey design. The population for this study was 60,997 undergraduate students of Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Ibadan and University of Lagos. However, multiple stage sampling technique was used to arrive at 595 sampling size for the study. The instrument used was a questionnaire. Data was analyzed using frequency distribution tables; percentage, mean scores and standard deviation on Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Finding of the study revealed that majority of the students admitted that they are confident on their level of information Literacy Skills, especially in using other people’s work (found online) without committing plagiarism. The students also indicated confidence in their level of Information and Communication Technology literacy skills, significantly when writing online on a web page for private use. Likewise, a high percentage of respondents were confident on their level of media literacy skill when using media-capture devices, e.g. recording on video. The study concluded that lecturers should encourage students to engage in academic research using electronic information resources on the web without committing plagiarism. Also, undergraduates ICT skills should be enhanced by encouraging them to open and operate online Blog for public access and lastly, lecturers and other academic staff should use electronic media resources in delivering lectures in order to challenge the confident level of undergraduates in using electronic media

Theology of Arcavatara and the Eucharist: A Comparative Study

The diversity in the world today is undeniable and quite imposing. The claim to uniqueness and universality of faith in each religious system cannot be sustained without factoring the implications and impacts of this claim on the well-being of humanity and reality hermeneutics. The postmodern world favors pluralism and encourages mutual respect for particular opinion, praxis, faith, theology and all forms of epistemology as they exist in the individual culture, religion and society. With this in mind, this work is a comparative analysis of the notion of avatars in Vaishnavism, a religious sect in Hinduism and the concept of the Eucharist in the Roman Catholic tradition. Among the five auspicious forms of avatars in Vaishnavism, arcavatara is compared with the Eucharist. Vishnu manifests himself in the consecrated images found in the homes and temples of the Vaishnavas to demonstrate his love, to protect them from evil and to increase righteousness. God manifests Himself too in the Eucharist as a gift of presence and love. ‘Bhakti’ and reverence to the Eucharist and Vishnu yields union with God. The understanding of God’s presence and love are similar in Vaishnavism and Catholicism. These and other points are analyzed comparatively in this work. Vishnu: Supreme Being, Arcavatara: image-descent of Vishnu, Eucharist: Sacramental Body and blood of Jesus, Avatar: Vishnu’s manifestations, bhakti: devotion, Arca: image

Disease profiles of sheep and goats in two groups of villages in southwest Nigeria

Reports on 12-month observations on the animal health picture in West African Dwarf goats & sheep flocks in the villages of Badeku & Ipire in southwest Nigeria, detailing changes in morbidity & mortality following interventions to control peste des petits ruminants & sarcoptic mange, their major causes

Cyclodextrin supramolecular systems for oral antiretroviral drug delivery

The global pandemic of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is responsible for the death of more than 39 million people. Currently, about 37 million people are infected with an estimated rate of 2.1 million new cases and 1.2 million HIV related deaths per annum. Over the past three decades, Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) has significantly improved HIV prognosis and health related quality of life. However, HIV still remains a significant public health and socio-economic concern due to the inability to cure or completely eradicate both long-lived latently infected cells and replication competent provirus from anatomical and lymphatic reservoirs. This has necessitated lifelong pharmacotherapy in order to keep the viral loads below detection and prevent progression of the infection to full blown Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Presently, antiretroviral (ARVs) drugs used in the management of HIV are administered orally due to the volume and ambulatory nature of the lifelong therapeutic interventions. However, poor oral bioavailability, inadequate biodistribution and adverse side effects of many ARVs continue to preclude optimal therapeutic outcomes. In recent years, there has been an increased interest in the development of ARV delivery systems specifically tailored to improve HIV's therapeutic outcomes. Within this context, cyclodextrins (CyD) based drug delivery systems offer several possibilities for constructing an ARV drug delivery system with enhanced bioavailability, biodistribution and therapeutic performance. The traditional role of cyclodextrins (CyDs) in the pharmaceutical industry has been to enhance the aqueous solubility, physicochemical and physiological stability, the deliverability and therapeutic performance, and reduce the adverse side effects of several active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Also, CyDs have been reported to modulate cytochrome P450 (CYP450) metabolism and p-glycoprotein (P-gp) efflux transport for enhanced drug pharmacokinetic profiles. Thus, this study was designed to explore the utility of CyD supramolecular systems in the development of an oral ARV delivery system with enhanced pharmacokinetic properties. Lopinavir (LPV), a potent inhibitor of HIV-1 protease and a Class 4 Biopharmaceutical Classification System (BSC) drug with poor oral bioavailability was chosen as our model drug. LPV's poor bioavailability is a combined effect of low aqueous solubility, P-gp efflux transport/low gastric permeability and CYP450 3A metabolism. Presently, LPV is clinically available as a co-formulation with suboptimal doses of ritonavir (RTV) which enhances oral bioavailability by inhibiting LPV's metabolism. The adverse side effects associated with RTV has made necessary the development of a RTV free LPV formulation. Also, paediatric formulations of LPV (even with RTV) is fraught with problems such as the presence of high quantities of ethanol and propylene glycol in the commercially available oral solution. Therefore, an in silico method was developed an validated experimentally (using ibuprofen as model drug) to study the host-guest molecular interaction between LPV and CyD, and to predict the best CyD molecule for developing a CyD based LPV delivery system. The predicted derivative of (2-hydroxyl)propyl-gamma-cyclodextrin (HP-γ-CyD) with a high degree of substitution (DS) that is, HP17-γ-CyD, was synthesized and evaluated comparatively with parent γ-CyD and commercially available HP-γ-CyD. The applicability of supercritical assisted spray drying (SASD), a non-toxic and cheap method for enhancing CyD complex formation was also evaluated. Then, polymer CyD (pCyD) sub-microcarriers were synthesized, loaded with LPV and evaluated for its ability to modulate drug release and enhance antiviral activity. The results suggests the application of in silico methodologies is a feasible approach for the rational and/or deductive development of CyD based drug delivery systems. The predicted HP17-γ-CyD facilitated a higher LPV amorphization and solubilization relative to the parent γ-CyD and commercially available HP-γ-CyD. Also, the application of SASD technique for preparing LPV-CyD complexes enhanced drug solubilization and complexation. With regards to the sub-microcarrier, results indicate the successful synthesis of a water soluble p(CyD) based on (2-hydroxyl)propyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CyD) and methyl-beta-cyclodextrin (M-β-CyD) as monomers, and pyromellitic dianhydride as crosslinker. The physicochemical analysis of the LPV loaded pCyD revealed the successful preparation of sub-micron sized particles with good encapsulation efficiencies, a pCyD mediated amorphization of LPV and a significant increase in LPV solubilization and release. In vitro cytotoxicity of the pCyD and their LPV formulations revealed good safety profiles in Caco-2 and Sup-T1 cell lines. Results obtained from the in vitro antiviral assays revealed a dose independent HIV-1 inhibition by the synthesized pCyD and a CyD monomer dependent synergistic antiviral activity in their formulations. Overall, the study contributed to a better understanding of in silico methodologies as predictive tools for CyD selection in drug development. It was possible to completely avoid the tedious and time/resource consuming traditional approach of selecting CyD by calculating association constants from phase solubility studies or isothermal titration calorimetry. The application of SASD for drug-CyD complexation seems an interesting alternative to conventional spray drying and other methods of CyD solid complex formation. Also, considering the potential for drug dose reduction without a compromise on antiretroviral activity, the synthesized pCyDs represent a promising approach for formulating new alternatives to clinically available antiretroviral drugs. In conclusion, all the results obtained in this experimental work showed the interest of CyDs as promising vehicles for the development of ARV drug delivery systems with enhanced pharmacokinetic profiles

The Thesis and Synthesis of Production Philosophy in the African Literary Theatre Directing

What type of production is this? Is the performance a tragedy or comedy? Is this performance a revival of the neo-classical theatre or a little to classicism? This production to me has no clear-cut directorial concept or am I wrong? The four questions above are the product of dramatic curiosity and theatrical dissatisfaction on the part of the critical theatre audience. The failure and lack of good production philosophy in play directing, an art humbly led by the play director is, therefore, partly responsible for bad and artistically unsatisfactory performances. Considering the dramatic and theatrical relevance of production philosophy in the theatre, this paper, through the deductive and analytical methods examines the thesis and synthesis of production philosophy in the African literary theatre directing. We observe that a performance will make meaning to members of the audience if it is critically articulated within a well – thought out philosophy other than the ‘fancy of imagination’ of the artistic director and that the thesis (theoretical idiosyncrasies) and synthesis (practical realities) of any production should be understood and merged together in the director’s creative interpretation. We conclude by emphasizing the imperativeness of production philosophy in the making of the African literary theatre directing

Limb length discrepancy and gait parameters of amateur football players in Lagos State, Nigeria

Background: Football is a widely played sport globally. Limb length discrepancies have been found to be common among football players and these may lead to abnormal gait. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between limb length discrepancy (LLD) and gait parameters of amateur football players in Lagos State, Nigeria. Methods: Eighty-nine amateur football players participated in the cross-sectional study. They were recruited from different stadia in Lagos State. Limb length and gait parameters were measured using tape and footprint measurements. Results: The prevalence of real limb length discrepancy among the participants was 75% (n = 67). The results of this study showed that the right leg was the shorter leg in 60% (n = 53) of the participants. There was no significant correlation between gait parameters and limb length measurement. Conclusion: Although limb length discrepancy is common among amateur football players in Lagos State, the relationship between limb length and gait parameters is weak

Collaborative learning method: effects of ability levels and school-type on the junior secondary students’ business studies achievement in Edo State

This study investigated collaborative learning method: effects of ability levels and school-type on the junior secondary students’ business studies achievement in Edo state, Nigeria. Two research questions were raised, and two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Quasi-experimental research design of non-randomized pre-test, post-test was employed. The population of the study was Business Studies students in Junior Secondary Schools in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State. The study sample was made up of 160 intact group classes of Junior Secondary 11 (J.S.2) students. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed. The instrument for data collection was 50 items multiple choice use in Business Studies. The reliability of the instrument was determine using test re-test method which gave a coefficient value of 0.78. The data collected were analyzed using Mean, Standard Deviation, ANCOVA and independent t-test. The findings revealed that there was a significant difference in the mean academic achievement scores based on the ability level of the students exposed to collaborative teaching method, which occurred between the high and low ability level students. There was no significant difference between the mean academic achievement scores of students in public and private schools exposed to collaborative teaching in Business Studies. It was concluded that that private school students performed better than the public school students when exposed to collaborative learning. It was recommended among others that collaborative learning method should be used as a method of teaching Business Studies in Junior Secondary Schools since it leads to exchange of ideas and better understanding among students.Keywords: Collaborative learning, Academic Achievement, Business Studies, Public and Private School