HISTOLOGICAL AND HISTOCHEMICAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS OF Archachatina marginata ovum (GASTROPODA: ACHATINIDAE) AT DIFFERENT REPRODUCTIVE STATES

The histological and histochemical variation in association with morphological variation in the repro-ductive system of Archachatina marginata ovum was the target of this investigation. Forty- five snails were dissected and categorized into 5 different reproductive stages (low mating, high mating, high egg, gravid and post reproductive). The reproductive tracts which include: hermaphroditic duct, albu-men gland, spermoviduct and spermatheca and the ovotestis were processed for histological and histochemical staining. There were some variations in the architecture of the reproductive organs be-tween the active (high mating, high egg and gravid) and non active stages (low mating and post repro-ductive) states. The active states were generally associated with colloidal or granular secretions. Gly-cogen and alkaline phosphatase activities were associated together throughout the epithelium of the reproductive system of A. marginata ovum and they were more strongly indicated in tissues that are intimately connected to the growth and development of gametes. It was concluded that morphological variation in the secreting glands of the reproductive system of A. marginata ovum is closely associated with changes in the functional secretory activities of the glands

Growth Performance of Weaned Male Albino Rats Fed on Processed Atlantic Horse Mackerel (Trachurus trachurus)

Trachurus trachurus is a table fish, locally called kote in south-west Nigeria. Fish processing (like poaching and smoking) generates reactive di-carbonyl compounds & poly-aromatic hydrocarbons that affect its digestibility. Study determined the effect of processing methods on growth performance of weaned male albino rats reared on Atlantic horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus). Chemical analyses were carried out on processed fillet; skin, head & bone (SHB) diets under standard conditions. 40 weaned male albino rats were fed with processed fillet or SHB diets for 14 days to assess protein digestibility via: feed intake, weight gain, feed efficiency ratio (FER), feed conversion ratio (FCR), water intake & faecal output. Animals fed on coal smoked fillet diet had the best growth, in terms of weight gained, FCR & FER respectively; followed by the wood smoked SHB diet (p<0.001) compared to the positive control. The best results were obtained from animals fed the smoked fillet / SHB. The SHB could be a significant source of valuable ingredients for animal feeds & human consumption. Keywords: Processing methods; Growth performance; Feed Efficiency Ratio; Feed Conversion Ratio; Trachurus trachurus, Agricultural waste / Discard

Influence of Processing Methods on Protein Quality of Atlantic Horse Mackerel (Trachurus trachurus)

Protein quality is a long-accepted paradigm for human protein needs however the quality is affected with processing methods. The protein and amino acids content of poached or charcoal or wood smoked horse mackerel fish (HMF) were determined using standard methods. Chemical analyses were carried out on the processed fillet and skin, head and bone (SHB) diets under standard conditions. A total of 40 weaned male rats were fed with processed fillet or SHB diets for 12 days to assess protein quality and amino acids digestibility. Fish samples were also analyzed for protein efficiency ratio (PER), net protein ratio (NPR), Protein Digestibility-Corrected Amino Acid Scores (PDCAAS), true and apparent protein digestibility (TPD and APD). Results showed that the wood smoked fillet had the highest PDCAAS regarding to the controls whereas PER, NPR and TPD was highest in SHB. The best results were obtained from animals fed on coal or wood smoked fillet/SHB on protein quality and amino digestibility parameters selective. The SHB could be used as a valuable source of ingredients for animal feeds and human consumption instead of being discarded as agricultural waste. Keywords: Processing methods, protein quality, growth performance; amino acids, Atlantic horse mackerel, agricultural waste/discard

Dental anxiety among patients visiting a University Dental Centre

Objective: Fearful individuals often avoid care despite extensive dental needs and anxious patients feel more pain and of longer duration than less anxious patients. This study was designed to determine the prevalence and factors associated with dental anxiety among patients visiting a University Dental Centre in Nigeria. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted using an anonymous structured questionnaire randomly administered to patients attending the University College Hospital Dental Centre, Ibadan. The questionnaire requested for socio-demographic data, dental visit behaviour, history of traumatic dental treatment and level of apprehension when anticipating a visit to the dentist and physician. The level of dental anxiety was determined using the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS). An MDAS score of 19 and above indicated high dental anxiety. Upon examination, DMFT of each patient was determined. Result: A total of 471 respondents of which 262 (55.6%) were females participated in the study. Only 7.43% of the participants had MDAS score ≥19. About 10% of the females had high dental anxiety compared with 4.94% recorded for the males (p=0.01). Dental anxiety was more common among the younger age group, irregular oral health care seekers and among those with history of traumatic dental treatment. The respondents were more relaxed when anticipating a visit to a physician. Only gender could be used to predict high dental anxiety. Female gender significantly displayed high dental anxiety (odd ratio=3.05 and p=0.04) . The mean DMFT score for the patients was 2.48±3.30. Conclusion: The prevalence of dental anxiety among the respondents in this study was 7.43% and only gender could be used to predict dental anxiety

Impact assessment of wastewater discharge from a textile industry in Lagos, Nigeria

The quality of effluent from a wool and synthetic textile manufacturing company in Nigeria was examined by obtaining triplicate samples per week over a 6-week period. This was done to measure the waste-load and volume from the textile industry. Obtained samples were analyzed for 18 physicochemical parameters such as pH, color, turbidity, total suspended solids, total dissolved solids (TSS), conductivity, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), chloride, nitrates, phosphates, some heavy metals and odor. Heavy metals, phosphate, and color were analyzed using spectrophotometer while dissolved oxygen and BOD were analyzed using azide modification method. The effluents were found to pass the national standard for the effluent limit for 13 parameters but exceeded specified limits for pH in one sample and, COD, TSS, color, turbidity and odor in all samples. Turbidity was found to exceed national limits by 100 to 300%; COD exceeded limits by 20% to 500%; TSS exceeded limits by 10% to 110% in 5 out of 6 samples analyzed. All obtained samples were dark colored and exceeded prescribed limits by 2,000 to 3,000% in all samples. Likewise, all six samples had an offensive odor. It was recommended that strict compliance with stipulated standards was necessary for the protection of public health and the environmen

Variations in the Levels of Total Protein, Urea and Ureate in Weaned Male Albino Rats Fed on Processed Atlantic Horse Mackerel

Trachurus trachurus (locally called kote) is a table fish sold for human consumption in Nigeria. Processing methods like poaching and smoking interfere with nutrients and are potential sources of reactive di-carbonyl compounds (RDCs) and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). This study determined the variations in the levels of total protein, urea and ureate in weaned male albino rats fed on processed fillet; skin, head and bones (SHB), using standard methods. Chemical analyses were carried out on processed fillet & SHB diets under standard conditions. 40 male rats (40.76 ± 2.42g) were fed with processed fillet or SHB diets for 14 days to assay for on total protein, urea and ureate. All data were subjected to analysis of variance by Duncan’s multiple range test and considered significant at a minimum of p < 0.05. Results indicated that levels of serum electrolyte, proteins and urea were insignificant (p>0.05).  Study suggests that coal smoked kote SHB showed great promise as a possible protein substitute in animal feed, if gathered it could be utilized as a form of protein concentrate at little costs thus reducing costs of feeds due to highly priced casein, fish meal, soybean meal and groundnut cake (GNC) in south western Nigeria. Keywords: Processed kote; Full blood count; total protein; Urea and Ureat

Finite Element Analysis to Predict Temperature and Velocity Distribution in Radiator Tubes

Automobile radiators are heat exchangers that are used to transfer thermal energy from automobile engine to the surrounding atmosphere for the purpose of cooling the engine. Over 33% of heat energy generated by the engine through combustion is loss as heat dissipated in the atmosphere. The method of solution employed in this project work to solve the governing equations is the Galerkin-integral weighted-residual method, which is achieved following the steps of transforming the governing equations into Galerkin-integral weighted residual weak form, determination of interpolations functions, determination of element properties, assemblage of elements equations into domain equations and imposition of boundary conditions and solving of the assembled domain equations.          The results showed that for temperature and velocity distributions in the radiator tubes and inlet hose to radiator as the number of elements is increased the more the finite element solution approximates the analytical solutions. Temperature values are observed to decrease, with increase in length, from 150oC to 80oC in the radiator tubes for finite element analysis, analytical, and ANSYS software used; and the finite element solutions exactly approximate analytical solutions at the nodes and agree with the ANSYS result. For velocity distribution in the radiator tube diameter, at the tube walls the no-slip boundary conditions are satisfied with velocity increasing from the wall at velocity of 0 to the midsection at velocity of 50.195m/s; while for the inlet hose diameter, velocity increases from wall at velocity 0 to the maximum at the midsection velocity 669.269m/s. Finally, the finite element analysis method can be used to determine how temperature will be distributed during radiator design stage in order to improve on its efficiency

Serum Electrolytes, Creatinine (CRT) & Hematological (Hg) Indices of Rats Fed on Processed Atlantic Horse Mackerel

Trachurus trachurus (locally called kote) is a low cost table fish in Nigeria. Study determined effect of processed kote fillet; skin, head and bones (SHB), on serum electrolytes (calcium, potassium, chloride, sodium & creatinine) & full blood count in weaned male albino rat using standard methods. Chemical analyses were carried out on processed fillet; skin, head & bone (SHB) diets under standard conditions. 40 male rats (40.76 ± 2.42g) were fed with processed fillet or SHB diets for 14 days to assess. Individual blood samples were analyzed for serum electrolytes & full blood count. All data were subjected to analysis of variance by Duncan’s multiple range test. Levels of calcium, potassium, chloride & sodium of rats fed with the test diets were insignificant (p>0.05) compared to the control groups. Levels of white blood cell & platelet in the wood smoked & poached fillet were elevated (p<0.05) than in the controls. Overall coal smoked fillet and SHB showed improved (p<0.05) levels of serum electrolytes, creatinine and hematological indices, at the expense of mild effects of high levels of processing on red blood count & haemoglobin. Processed kote SHB could be a good substitute for soy meal in animal feed. Keywords: Wood & coal Smoking, Poaching, Full blood count, Serum electrolyte & Trachurus trachuru

Variations in Proximate Composition of Clupea harengus (Fillet & Skin, Head and Bones (SHB)) after Different Heat Treatment

Clupea harengus is a table fish locally called sawa in south west Nigeria. It is among the freshwater fishes that are abundant and economically cheap. Present study assessed the effect of heat treatment on proximate composition and sensory qualities in the fillet and SHB (skin, head and bone) of Clupea harengus; using smoking (wood and coal) and poaching methods. Proximate analysis was done via standard analytical techniques and sensory evaluation of the processed fish was conducted by categorical ranking. All processing methods significantly (p<0.05) increased levels of protein and ash, but (p<0.05) reduced the fat and crude fibre contents in the fillet. Wood smoking of SHB recorded highest protein, ash and crude fiber contents of 55.65±4.20, 15.26± 0.53 and 13.40± 1.14 respectively. Highest protein concentration was obtained for wood & charcoal smoked in both fillet and SHB; but lowest in the poached fish (fillet and SHB). Moisture content was highest (72.07± 1.29%) in the poached SHB; but lowest in charcoal smoked fillet & SHB (44.01± 0.03 & 44.01± 0.00%) respectively. Wood and charcoal smoked fish samples were found most palatable by the panellists. Data obtained from this study demonstrated that processed fillet and SHB could be a veritable source of valuable ingredients for human consumption and animal feeds. Keywords; Heat treatment; Clupea harengus; proximate; sensory evaluation, agricultural waste; discards

Relationship Between Compressive Strength and Splitting Tensile Strength of Palm Kernel Shell Concrete

The use of palm kernel shell (PKS) has gained acceptance in the production of concrete. Compressive strength is the mostly used strength characteristics of concrete. The compressive strength CS of concrete should provide a good basis for predicting the splitting tensile strength STS. The aim of this study is to establish a mathematical relationship between the CS and STS of concrete produced with PKS. In this study, coarse aggregates was fully replaced with PKS at varying water-cement ratios (w/c) for concrete mix ratios 1:1½:3 and 1:2:4. Unit weigth of the PKS, slump, compressive and splitting tesnsile strength were determined. A relationship between CS and STS was developed for the different w/c ratios using exponential function aproximation. Physical property tests carried out on the PKS characterized it as lightweight aggregate with saturated surface dry unit weight of 1.27. The slump revealed that PKS concrete at 0.3 and 0.4 w/c is stiff and not workable. CS and STS at 28day for mix ratio of 1:1½:3 at w/c of 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6 were respectively 3.2 and 1.2; 9.4 and 2.1; 10.8 and 2.6; 9.0 and 2.4 N/mm2. The corresponding values obtained for mix ratio 1:2:4 were 3.0 and 1.0, 1.7 and 1.3, 4.5 and 1.6, 7.7 and 1.9N/mm2, respectively. Equations relating CS and STS at 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6 w/c were established. It was concluded that PKS concrete produced with mix ratios 1:1½:3 and 1:2:4 performed better in compression and splitting tensile strength at w/c of 0.5 and 0.6