Influence of Al2O3/ Y-TSZ Mixture as Filler Loading on the Radiopacity of PMMA Denture Base Composites

AbstractThe radiopacity of alumina/yttrium stabilizer zirconia (Al2O3/Y-TSZ) particles with nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) dispersed in PMMA denture base material has been investigated. PMMA matrix without filler was prepared from PMMA powder with 0.5% benzoyl peroxide (PBO) as the control material. The similar PMMA matrix was mixed with Al2O3/Y-TSZ (1:1) together with NBR particles as the reinforcement. The amount of NBR was fixed at 7.5wt %, however, Al2O3/Y-TSZ varied from 1 to 10wt %, respectively. Samples with 4mm thickness for each composition were irradiated using 60 KV, 10mA, 0.4 s to examine their radiopacity. This radiopacity was compared to radiopacity of aluminum plate which having the same thickness. The result shows that the radiopacity (i.e. the lower optical density the higher radiopacity) of reinforced PMMA matrix slightly increased from 1.40 to 1.05, respectively, with the increased of filler loading compared to unreinforced PMMA matrix

Perception of farmers on agroforestry systems adoption in Akinyele Local Government Area, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

The study assessed farmers’ characteristic variables and perception towards the adoption of agroforestry practices in Akinyele Local Government, Ibadan, Oyo State. Multistage Sampling Technique was used for the study. Five Wards which include Ijaye /Ojedeji, Ajibade/Alabata/Elekuru,  Akinyele/Isabiyi/Irepodun, Ojo Emo/Moniya and Ojoo/Ajibode/Laniba were randomly selected from the Local Government Area. Ajeja, Alabata, Akinyele, Moniya and Idowu oko areas were selected from each of the Wards, respectively while ten (10) farmers were selected from each of these areas. Descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage distributions as well as correlational studies were used to analyse the collected data. 34 % of the respondents were involved in the practice of agroforestry according to the study. The correlation (r value) at (p< 0.01) also shows that there is a significant association between respondents’ characteristic variables such as age, educational and marital status and adoption of agroforestry practices, while age, sex, marital and educational status are significant on agroforestry perception. It is recommended that awareness  on benefits of agroforestry should be raised in order to create needed awareness and its importance, adequate technical supports should be  provided for farmers interested in practicing agroforestry and also the efficient use of available farmlands of all types of landholders should be  ensured. Keywords: Farmers’ characteristic variables; Perception; Adoption; Agroforestry practices

Impact of pastoralists-farmers’ conflicts on agroforestry farmers’ psychology and agricultural production in north central Nigeria

The study examined the escalating conflict between the farmers and the pastoralists in the North Central region of Nigeria with regard to its impact on the psychology and productivity of agroforestry farmers. Benue, Nasarawa and Plateau states were reported to be the most affected by farmer- pastoralist conflicts in North Central Nigeria, they were therefore purposively selected for the study. The local governments that are most affected by the conflicts were also selected in each state. 25% of agroforestry farmers in each of the selected local government were randomly selected for the study. A total of one hundred and eighty (180) well-structured questionnaires were administered to farmers. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage while the correlation coefficient (r) was used to draw inferences between the variables of the hypotheses. The study found out that 29% of the respondents were between the ages of 31-40, 75.6% were male, 69.8% were married, 37.2% had secondary education and majority of them (83.8%) were Christians. Also, 67.8% of them take farming as their main occupation. 40% of them has 6-10 acres of farm size. The Spearman’s rho correlation analysis revealed that demographics characteristics [age (r= -0.341; p= 0.000) education status (r= 0.200; p= 0.008) and household size (r= 0.151; p= 0.042)] of the respondents significantly correlated with the impact the conflict had on respondents’ psychology. The correlation coefficient (R)) showed that frequency of conflict is significantly related to respondents’ agricultural loss (r=0.183; p=0.025) and that the conflicts impact on respondents’ psychology is significantly correlated with their agricultural productiity (r=0.1357; p=0.034)

Effects of antibiotic, probiotic and prebiotic supplementation in broiler diets on performance characteristics and apparent nutrient digestibility

A total of 180-day-old Arbor Acres broiler chicks were used to determine the effects of antibiotic, probiotic and prebiotic supplementation in broiler diets on performance characteristics and apparent nutrient digestibility in an 8-week feeding trial. The birds were randomly allotted to 5 dietary treatments including control diet (basal diet without additives), OXYT diet (basal diet with 600 ppm of the antibiotic oxytetracycline), GRO-UP diet (basal diet with 500 ppm probiotic), and MOS-500 or MOS-1000 diets (basal diet with 500 or 1000 ppm mannan oligosaccharide prebiotic, respectively) with 3 replicates of 12 birds each. No significant difference (P>0.05) was observed in the performance of broiler chickens except for reduction in mortality in the birds fed with feed additives. There were significant (P<0.05) differences in the apparent nutrient digestibility at the end of weeks 4 and 8. Inclusion of dietary prebiotic and probiotic had no significant effect on broiler performance but reduced mortality rate and enhanced apparent nutrient digestibility.Keywords: antibiotic, probiotic, prebiotic, broilers, performance, nutrient digestibilit

Effect of cimetidine on some hematological indices of Wistar rats: modulatory role of vitamin c

Introduction: Cimetidine is a drug used in the treatment of dyspepsia, a clinical condition with widespread distribution. Many studies have reported cimetidine to cause many unwanted effects. However, in most of those studies cimetidine was administered at higher than therapeutic doses. Aim: The aim of this study was, therefore, to evaluate the effect of chronic cimetidine treatment at therapeutic dose on some hematological indices and the possible modulatory role of vitamin C on any such effect. Experimental design and Animal grouping: Forty adult male Wistar rats were divided into four groups (n = 10) and treated orally for 60 days with distilled water (control); cimetidine (30 mg kg-1); cimetidine (30 mg kg-1) + vitamin C (25 mg kg-1) and cimetidine (30 mg kg-1) + vitamin C (50 mg kg-1). At the end of the study blood was collected for analysis. Results: Total white blood cell (WBC) count (5.99 ± 0.20 x 103/mm3) of the cimetidine only-treated group was significantly lower than that of the control (7.95 ± 0.29 x 103/mm3).However, the valuesof red blood cell (RBC) count, packed cell volume (PCV), hemoglobin (Hb) concentration, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin(MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), and color index of the experimental groups were not significantly different from that of the control. Treatment with vitamin C modulated the cimetidine-induced decrease in total WBC count. Conclusion: It was concluded that chronic cimetidine administration at therapeutic dose caused a significant decrease in WBC count and this was modulated by vitamin C. Key words: Cimetidine; WBC count; RBC count; hemoglobin and vitamin C

Quasiparticle excitations in superdeformed Hg192

For the first time, two excited superdeformed (SD) bands have been observed in the double closed shell superdeformed nucleus Hg192. One of the SD bands exhibits a pronounced peak in the dynamic moment of inertia which is interpreted as a crossing between two excited SD configurations involving the N=7 intruder and the [512]5/2 orbitals. This is only the second occurrence of such a crossing in a SD nucleus around A=190. The second excited SD band has near identical transition energies to an excited SD band in Hg191

Octupole vibration in superdeformed 66152Dy86

The decay of SD band 6 into the yrast SD band of 125Dy was confirmed and nine linking transitions were identified. As a result, the excitation energy of the lowest level in band 6 was measured to be 14 238 keV. The states in this band were tentatively determined to be negative parity and odd spin. The measured properties are consistent with an interpretation in terms of a rotational band built on a collective octupole vibration