Microbial population of Staphyloccous aureus from inanimate surfaces in a general hospital environment in Rivers State, Nigeria

The isolation of Staphylococus aureus from inanimate objects in a General hospital in Rivers State was studied. Swabs were obtained from different sources comprising of; toilet seat, floor, switch, side rail bed, side rail chair, door handle, sink tap, bed spread, pillow case, and locker using the swab technique. High frequency of S. aureus was observed in toilet seat with perecentage distribution of 78%, followed by floor with percentage distribution of 70% and locker with percentage distribution of 65% and the lowest frequency occurence was observed in switch with percentage distribution of 30%. Frequency occurrence of S. aureus was 48.9% out of 50 isolates, indicating that antibiotics resistance pool especially betalactamase is to be widely available in the hospital environment and poor hygyine practices.Keywords: Inanimate surfaces, Staphyloccous aureus, Vancomycin –resistan

Plasmid Curing in Multi-Drug Resistant Hospital and Community Uropathogenic Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli is the most prevalent organism responsible for urinary tract infections (UTIs) in hospital and community sources. The present study was carried out to detect multi drug resistant (MDR) E coli from urine samples and the role of plasmids in drug resistance. One hundred urine samples were collected from the hospital and community within the University of Port Harcourt. Microscopic and chemical examination was carried out on the urine samples. E coli were isolated and antibiotic sensitivity test was carried out on the isolates, the resistant E. coli were cured by acridine orange and further subjected susceptibility testing. Result obtained from the study showed 35% E. coli recovered from community samples and 65% from hospital samples. Antibiotic sensitivity testing before plasmid curing showed high level of resistance to Augmentin (99%), Cefuroxime (92%), Ceftazidime (78%) and Cefixime (71%). The lowest level of resistance was reported in Gentamicin (15%) and Nitrofurantoin (19%). All the isolates were resistant to Augmentin but upon plasmid curing the resistant rate ofisolates to eight antibiotics reduced. Our findings showed that Augmentin and Cefuroxime (62 and 31%) were still resistant after the plasmids of the isolates were cured. For hospital and community sources Nitrofurantoin (1; 0%), Ceftazidime (3; 8%), Ciprofloxacin (1%), Gentamicin (10%) and Ofloxacin (10%). Sixty-two (62) percent of the hospital isolates were resistant to three or more antibiotics while 60% of the community isolates were multidrug resistant. Our study thus concludes that plasmids alone are not responsible for the resistance to antibiotics exhibited by E,coli from urine samples. Antibiotics should be produced to target genes that are responsible for resistance to prevent the spread of drug resistant organisms.Keywords: Antibiotics, Escherichia coli, Multidrug resistant, Plasmi

Chromosome number and cytomorphological characterization of a polyploid Abrus

Chromosome counts from natural populations of Abrus pulchellus in Nigeria were carried out. Tetraploid (2n = 44) chromosome number was constant in all the samples investigated. The 44 chromosomes fall into three cytomorphological categories: eight metacentric and eight submetacentric pairs, and six acrocentric pairs. The chromosomes are relatively small in length ranging from 0.5 to 1.4m. The polyploid (tetraploid) cytotype is reported for the first time for this taxon.African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (7), pp. 607-610, 200

Checklist of weeds in University of Port Harcourt and its environs

We took inventory of the weeds in and around the University of Port Harcourt to determine their family, genus and species compositions and thereby generate their checklist. Three hundred and twenty-two (322) species of weeds belonging to 172 genera and 45 families were identified. Among these weed species, the grasses (Poaceae) having 72 species and 40 genera was the dominant weed identified. This is followed by Fabaceae (25 species in 16 genera), Cyperaceae (53 species in 14 genera), Asteraceae (15 species in 12 genera) and Commelinaceae (20 species in 8 genera). Others include Tiliaceae (7 species in 6 genera), Euphorbiaceae (13 species in 7 genera), Amaranthaceae (5 species in 4 genera), Rubiaceae (6 species in 5), Convolvulaceae (10 species in 4 genera), Solanaceae (8 species in 4 genera), Cucurbitaceae (5 species in 4 genera), Malvaceae (7 species 3 genera) and Verbenaceae (5 species in 3 genera). Anacardiaceae, Asclepiadaceae, Boraginaceae, Crassulaceae, Hydrophyllaceae, Loganiceae, Lythraceae, Melastomataceae, Sapinaceae, Sapindaceae, Selaginellaceae, Sphenocleaceae, Sterculiaceae and Urticaceae with one species in one genus were the least dominant families. These weeds are found in wet or dry land (open fields, cultivated Lands, abandoned fallow and lawns) but predominantly found in open fields. The Perennials (54.98%) are the dominant weeds followed by annuals (42.42%) while bi-annuals (2.60%) were the least. The broad leaves were the dominant weeds and constituted 76.47% of the weeds identified, followed by grasses 14.03% and sedges 9.50%. This finding, therefore, presents the first comprehensive inventory of weeds in the University of Port Harcourt.Keywords: weed, Poaceae, Loganiceae, Melastomatacea

Physicochemical Characteristics of Soil from Selected Solid Waste Dump Sites in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria

This study examined the nutrient status and textural characteristics of soil from solid waste dumpsites in the city of Port Harcourt. The study was carried out in five solid waste dump sites alongside their respective controls located at Iwofe, Eliozu, Choba, Rumuokwuta and Ozuoba within the city of Port Harcourt for two seasons (wet and dry). A systematic sampling technique was employed for field sampling. Soil sample was collected with soil auger and analysis was done using standard methods. Results showed mean pH value (4.86±0.18 – 7.66±0.44) and; cation exchange capacity (2.2±0.3 -18.11±0.8 meq/100g). The mean electrical conductivity indicated higher conductivity in the control sites (125±5.5 - 492±16 μs/cm) than the dump sites (32.06±2.5 – 299.5±1.5μs/cm).There was high nutrient concentrations in the dump site soils of total nitrogen (0.04±0.01 – 0.62±0.13%); phosphorus (0.041±0.01 – 4.07±0.02mg/kg); potassium (9.19±2.5 – 326±51.91mg/kg) than the controls. On the contrary, there was no significant difference between the soil particle size distribution of the dump site soil and their respective controls. The soil particle size distribution indicated an average of 83% sand, 11% clay and 5% silt, while the soil texture was loamy sandy for all the dump sites except the dump site located at Iwofe. Therefore, solid dumps alter the soil nutrient contents with no significant change in the textural nature of soil. Key words: Solid wastes, Soil, Particle size, Nitrogen, Nutrient, Dump site

Anti-Hepatitis B Surface Antibody (Anti-HBsAb) in a Representative Population of Ozuoba in Rivers State, Nigeria

Background: Hepatitis B infection is a foremost worldwide health issue of public health significance and chief origin of chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). There are vaccines available for hepatitis B infection which can be used for prevention before infection. In an effort to prevent and control HBV, the Nigeria Government in 2004 made HBV vaccine as part of national immunization programme. This definitely is an essential procedure to minimize the occurrence of HBV in many countries. Thus, our study was designed to investigate the seroprevalence of hepatitis B surface antibody (HBsAb) in a representative population of Ozuoba in Rivers State, Nigeria following the incorporation of HBV vaccine into NPI schedule.Methods: Ninety (90) blood samples were obtained from a male and female population of Ozuoba community in Rivers State, Nigeria. Questionnaires were distributed to obtain demographic profile of participants. ELISA (DIA.PRO Diagnostic Bioprobes, Milano-Italy) was employed for the qualitative and quantitative evaluation of HBsAb in sera and plasma of representative population of Ozuoba in Rivers State, Nigeria. The serological evaluation and result interpretation were carried out as stipulated by the kit’s manufacturers. We engaged Fisher's exact test and Chi-square test to estimate variances amid groups at p < 0.05 significance.Results: Of the 90 participants evaluated, nine tested seropositive for HBsAb giving a general prevalence of 10.0% and a seronegativity of 90.0%. The sex-related prevalence was males (7.1%) and females (12.5%). Sex and age had no effect in hepatitis B surface antibody (p-value >0.05). The age-specific prevalence was 7.7% for age group 13-19 years, 10.2% for 20-35 years of age and 10.7% for 36 years and above.Conclusion: This study revealed that the presence of HBsAb was low (10.0%). Our outcomes indicted that seropositivity and seronegativity of HBsAb have no significant relationship with age and sex. It further showed that 90.0% were HBsAb seronegative and hence, more susceptible to HBV infection. Vaccination programme must be strengthened further to grasp those continuing at highest risk

Utilization of conserved genic SSR markers for phylogenetic analysis of Nigerian Ipomoea species

Ipomoea, with enormous economic importance, is a large genus with species that are highly evolutionarily diverged. There is dearth of information regarding the phylogenetic relationships of the Nigerian species of the genus Ipomoea. It is therefore imperative to use contemporary taxonomic evidences to understand the diversity of its distribution in a region and provide enhanced delimitation of the taxa. In this study, 6 genic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers whose cross transferability have been established among the plant species were selected to appraise their level of polymorphism and used to study the phylogenetic relationships among 11 indigenous Nigerian Ipomoea species. The 6 SSR loci showed varying levels of polymorphism among the genotypes of all 11 species assessed and demonstrated 100% polymorphism when examined across the 11 species. A total of 55 alleles were produced. The PIC of the primers ranged between 0.2223 and 0.874 with an average value of 0.71885. Phylogenetic analysis clustered species into 3 major and 6 sub clusters wherein the species were clearly separated. This study has shown the effectiveness of developed genic SSR markers for establishing phylogenetic relationship in Ipomoea species

Factors affecting stakeholders’ preferences for cowpea grains in selected parts of Nigeria

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.Walp) is an important food security crop. It provides food and income for many small-holder farmers in Africa. As a food source, the grains contain large quantities of protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, and fiber. In spite of the high nutritional value of cowpea, the crop is underutilized in most households and commercial eating houses in Nigeria. Several factors have been reported as constraints affecting the consumption and utilization of the crop in Nigeria, but have not been documented. This research was conducted to identify the factors affecting the utilization of the crop and determine the stakeholders’ preferences that will increase the demand and consumption of cowpea grains in Nigeria. The study was carried out in Ibadan in Oyo State and Zaria in Kaduna State in Nigeria, with a total of 318 respondents. A descriptive research design was used to collect data which were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) IBM version 20 and Microsoft Excel spread sheet. From the social demography result, the respondents were from six different category of stakeholders in the cowpea value chain mainly from breeders (3.7%), farmers (36.0%), marketers (12.7%), food vendors (6.7%), nutritionists (2.6%) and consumers (38.9%). This implies that the respondents were knowledgeable about the factors affecting the cowpea utilization. The two factors identified to affect the utilization of cowpea were culinary qualities (63.0% of respondents) and removing dirt (37.0% of respondents). Among the culinary qualities, the major quality preferred was reducing the cooking time (42.9% of respondents), followed by improved taste (31.7% of respondents), and value added products such as cowpea in powdered form (19.0% of respondents), and canned cowpea (6.4% of respondents). A total of 47.2% of respondents preferred the duration for cooking cowpea for 21-30 minutes as against the 40-60 minutes most cowpea varieties cook for.  These findings indicate that cooking time is still the major factor affecting the utilization of cowpea grains. Therefore, improving this quality and other utilization attributes will increase the demand and consumption of cowpea grains

Socio-Economic and Profitability Analysis of Honey Marketing in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria

Honey marketing can generate up to 10 billion USD, since the cumulative values are a function of it and other hive products. Considering its current domestic consumption rate in Nigeria being 380, 000 tonnes with a global price of about 4.5 billion dollars, less of it has been offered into the market against the heavy demand for it taking into consideration that the competition for it is increasingly becoming intense. There is therefore no significant reduction in the demand for honey.  Hence, the essence of the study is to analyse the profitability of marketing honey in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. The study therefore, examined the socio-economic characteristics of honey marketers; measured the profitability analysis of the honey marketers; identified as well as the honey marketing channels; determined the effect of the socio-economic characteristics on the profitability of honey marketing; and ascertained the constraints to honey marketing in the study area. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 100 honey marketers. Data were presented and analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentages, frequency distribution, budgetary (or gross margin) analysis and regression Analysis. The results indicated that 68% of the marketers were female, 92% received formal education and 39% of the respondents were between the ages of 31 – 40. Majority (48%) of the respondents had household size between 1–5 persons. The highest marketing experience was between 11 – 15years at 45%. Majority (44%) of the respondents indicated that they were married, while 33% started with capital ranging from N 21, 000 to N30, 000. Results show that majority (100%) of the respondents were confronted with the problem of inadequate honey supply. More so, majority (67%) of the respondents were retailers. The study further indicated that honey marketing enterprise was profitable with an average gross margin of N18, 223.3 per month. Regression analysis results showed that variables such as start-up capital, marketing experience, age and household size had significant influence on the profitability of honey marketing.  It was recommended that the government should ensure that road networks become efficient and pliable through the construction of new roads and rehabilitation of bad roads to better facilitates honey marketing mechanism. Keywords: Honey, marketing, margins, profitability, Nigeria DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-6-01 Publication date:March 31st 202

Antibacterial potential components of Bacillus species and antibiotics residues in branded and unbranded honey samples from Nigeria

Honey is a sweet viscous liquid produced by honey bee, Apis mellifera from the nectar of plants. Honey is a natural product that has been used from ancient times till now as food and for medicinal purpose. This study was carried out to determine the mode of action of Bacillus species and antibiotics residues in branded and unbranded honey samples from Nigeria. Bacilli spp. count was carried out by initially heating diluted honey samples in water bath set at 80°C for 15 min, while total bacterial count was carried out using the pour plate method. Antibacterial activity of identified Bacillus spp on Micrococcus was determined using well-in agar method while the mode of action was carried out by reporter assay method. Detection of tetracycline, gentamycin and streptomycin was analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) column oven L-2300 and Column intensil ODS-3C18 (250 x 4.6 mm). Honey samples (2 g) were extracted for HPLC by deprotenizing using acetonitrile and methanol with flow rate of 1 mL/min and RID detector was used to detect antibiotic residue. Bacilli from honey were characterized physiologically, morphologically and biochemically, they were tentatively identified as Bacilli licheniformis, Bacilli subtilis, Bacilli coagulans, Bacilli cirulans, Bacilli pumilis and Bacilli badius. The most prevalent Bacillus spp. were B. licheniformis and B. subtilis. Total bacteria count for branded honey ranged from 2.2 x 102 to 5.5 x 103 cfu/g, while Bacilli count ranged from nil to 6.2 x 102 cfu/g. For unbranded honey samples, total bacteria count ranged from 7.0 x 103 to 3.5 x 102 cfu/g, while Bacilli count ranged from 5 x 101 to 1.6 x 103 cfu/g. Four of the isolates representing branded (SF2 and RW2) and unbranded honey samples (EH2 and TC2) exhibited antibacterial activity against Micrococcus; one isolate (SF2) showed cell wall causing antibacterial activity. Tetracycline was detected more in the unbranded honey samples while gentamycin and streptomycin were detected in just two unbranded honey samples, indicating that tetracycline is used frequently for the treatment of bee diseases that is why it is detected as residue in the finished honey product.Key words: Antibiotics, Bacillus, health benefit honey, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), residues