Production, purification, and characterization of α-amylase from Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus and Penicillium expansum using cassava peels as substrate

Cassava peels are waste generated from cassava processing and are mostly disposed of in Nigeria by dumping indiscriminately in landfills/waste dumps where they remain as huge mounds and constitute nuisance to the environment. This study was carried out using cassava peels as substrate for the production of α – amylase from three fungi (Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger and Penicillium expansum) selected from twelve microbial isolates obtained from biodegrading cassava peels. The fungi were isolated using cassava peel agar medium and the α – amylase was produced by the solid state fermentation process. The α – amylase was assayed by measuring the decrease in staining power of starch with iodine reagent at 620nm and purified by using Sephadex G-100 and Sephadex C-50. The α – amylase was characterized by examining the effect of temperature, stability at 70oC, pH, substrate concentration, metal ions and EDTA. The results show that the purification fold and specific activity were 95.727, 1.053 Units/mg protein; 81.830, 0.982 Units/mg protein and 85.784, 0.686 Units/mg protein for A. flavus, A. niger and P. expansum respectively. The optimum temperature and pH were 45oC and 4.5 respectively. It was observed that the α – amylase still retained some activity after heating at 70oC for 35 min. The α – amylase activity increased with increase in substrate concentration and metal ion concentration (Na+, K+, Mg2+ and Ca2+) but decreased with increase in heavy metal ion concentration (Hg2+ and Pb2+) and EDTA. Key words: Cassava peels, α – amylase, fungi, starch and Sephadex C – 50

Safety, Efficacy and Acceptability of Implanon a Single Rod Implantable Contraceptive (Etonogestrel) in University of Benin Teaching Hospital

The study evaluated the safety, efficacy and acceptability of Implanon (etonogestrel) subdermal implant contraceptive amongst its acceptors. This was part of an on going prospective longitudinal study that involved 32 women out of 46 sexually active healthy informed volunteers recruited from our family planning clinic between February and March 2007. All the subjects received the single rod subdermal implant Implanon which contains 68mg etonogestrel. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, menstrual pattern, haematological indices, weight, blood pressure, side effects and user's satisfaction were collected and analysed. The subjects served as their own control. Themean age and paritywere 33.9 ± 5.2 years and 3.1 ± 1.7 respectively.Themeanweightwas 71.4 ± 12.0kg at pre-insertion. At 6 months the weight reduced to a non significant (p < 0.13) mean value of 70.0 ± 10.5kg and increased to a non significant (p < 0.88) mean value of 71.5 ± 11.6kg at 12 months. The mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures did not show statistical significant changes at 6 months follow up (

Heavy metal levels, physicochemical properties and microbial diversity of soil matrix from university solid waste collection sites in Benin City, Nigeria

This study was carried out to assess the microbial, physicochemical and heavy metal characteristics of soil samples from five different waste collection sites within the University of Benin, Benin City and evaluated using standard analytical and classical microbiological methods. The heavy metal concentration includes Zn (4.45±0.00 - 5.76±0.02 mg g−l); Cd (1.59±0.00 - 2.54±0.00 mg g−l); and Fe (1.02±0.02 - 1.07±0.00 mg g−l). The physicochemical properties include pH (4.91±0.01 - 5.82±0.04); TOC (6.49±0.01 - 7.65±0.02 %); NO2 − (29.32±0.07 - 32.81±0.11 mg g−l); and SO4 2− (47.30±0.12 - 63.25±0.04 mg g−l). The mean of culturable heterotrophic and coliform bacteria ranged from 4.03×107 ± 0.35 - 4.51×108 ± 0.12 CFU/g and 1.02×104 ± 0.12 - 3.10×105 ± 0.02 CFU/g respectively. At p-value &lt; 0.01 level EC significantly correlates total heterotrophic bacteria (r= 0.971); coliform bacteria significantly correlate NO3 − (r= 0.989); while clay significantly but negatively correlates coliform bacteria (r= -0.989). Some of the bacteria isolated and identified from the waste collection sites include Klebsiella oxytoca, Enterobacter aerogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas putida, and Bacillus macerans. Findings from this study reveal that the municipal solid waste on the collection sites has impacts on the indicator variables of the resident soil as well as serving as breeding sites for pathogenic organisms.Keywords: solid waste, environmental hazard, soil quality, pathogen

Experience with norplant at a Nigerian Teaching Hospital

Objectives: To determine the acceptance of Norplant implants while it was in use and share our experience with other Norplant providers.Design: Retrospective descriptive study.Setting: The family planning clinic of the Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos, Nigeria.Results: During the 21-year period, January 1985 to December 2005, a total of eighteen thousand, two hundred and ninety one (18,291) new clients accepted various modern contraceptive methods in the family planning clinic of Jos University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. Norplant was accepted by 1,333 clients (4.9%) as against the intrauterinedevices (IUDs) 25.4%, and Oral Contraceptive Pills (OCP) 22.9%. Female sterilisation was a contraceptive method of choice in 21.2%, the injectables in 13.9%, and the male condom in 9.3%. Failure rate was 0.37% and continuity rate was high among users. The Norplant contraceptive implant was accepted by women of mean age of 29.6 years and women of all parity. The acceptance pattern demonstrated a multi-nodalpattern from the time of introduction in 1985 to December 2005 when supply came to an abrupt stop. The greatest barriers to Norplant use were non- availability and high cost of the commodity.Conclusion: Norplant implants provided contraceptive protection with high reliability, safety, independence from user compliance, rapid return of pre-existing fertility after removal, good tolerability, and relatively simple and quick insertion and removal. The capsules will definitely be used as a reference for similar contraceptive products in the contraceptive market

Capital market development and economic growth in Nigeria

The paper examined the impact of capital market development on economic growth using time series data from Nigeria for the period 1981-2016. The co-integration and error correction model was employed for the empirical analysis and selected variables were found to be co-integrated. The empirical result revealed that capital market development has significant and positive impact on economic growth in Nigeria both in the short run and in the long run. Other significant variables in the empirical result were interest rate, money supply and investment level. The paper, thus, recommended that the government should inject much fund into the capital market and implement appropriate reform policies aimed at ensuring reliable, efficient and stable stock market in Nigeria.Keywords: Capital market development, Economic growth, Interest rate, Money supply and Capital formatio

Could Imports Be Beneficial to Economic Growth in Nigeria?

The study examined the impact of import on economic growth using annual time series data from Nigeria for the period 1981 – 2017. Import was disaggregated into consumer goods, manufactured goods, capital goods, raw materials and refined fuel. The impact of each component was estimated separately using the autoregressive distributed lagged model. The aim was to ascertain the economic growth potential of each component of import. The statistical analysis revealed that there was a change in the import composition of Nigeria during the period under study. In the 1980’s, capital good dominated the import basket of Nigeria, with refined fuel constituting less than 1% of total import. However, in the current period, consumer good and refined fuel is dominant with refined fuel constituting 23% of total import in 2017.The empirical results revealed that importation of capital good is growth enhancing, while importation of refined fuel is a drain on the country’s economic growth process. Importation of consumer goods was found not to be a serious growth enhancing import in Nigeria. Human capital development, money supply and export were found to also have significant impact on economic growth in Nigeria. The impact of government expenditure though significant, negatively affect economic growth in Nigeria. It was therefore recommended that strategic policy framework be put in place to encourage the importation of capital goods, accompanied with serious effort at improving the technical base of the labour force. It was also recommended that local refining of fuel should be a deliberate policy of the government. &nbsp

Onchocerciasis Amongst Children Of An Endemic Community In Edo State, Nigeria

Onchocerciasis among 278 children (0-15yrs) of Ekpan village, a hyperendemic community in Uhunmwode Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria was investigated using the prevalence of nodules as index. The overall prevalence of palpable nodules was 26.3%. Nodule prevalence increased with age and the association was found to be statistically significant (

Enhancing the biodegradation process of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) peels in dump site

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) peels have been implicated in serious environmental pollution. This study was aimed at investigating the effect of N.P.K (15:15:15) and microbial inoculants on the biodegradation process of cassava peels. Fresh cassava peels were subjected to biodegradation process for twenty weeks. The process was monitored by determining the moisture content, starch and total lipid using the official method of analysis of A.O.A.C, total protein by Kjeldahl method, total soluble carbohydrate by the modified Anthrone method, cellulose by the Nitric acid method, total cyanide by the modified alkaline picric acid method and pH using a Jowrey 3020 pH meter. The results of unsupplemented cassava peels and cassava peels supplemented with inorganic fertilizer N.P.K. (15:15:15) in experimental waste dump sites in which combinations of pure microbial cultures were used to inoculate cassava peels showed that pH increased from 5.89 to 7.03, total soluble carbohydrate concentrations decreased from 2.23% to 0.02%, protein from 5.54% to 0.78%, lipids from 3.00% to 0.1%, starch from 9.65% to 0.02%, cyanide from 0.11% to non-detectable level and cellulose from 8.80% to 0.20% at the end of the 20 weeks of investigation. This is an indication that the addition of inorganic fertilizer or microbial inoculants, or both enhanced the rate of biodegradation of cassava peels.Keywords: Biodegradation, Cassava peels, Dump site, Environmental pollution, Microbial Inoculan

Amphibian diversity in urban and peri-urban landscapes of Benin City, a Southern Nigerian City in the rainforest biotope

Benin City, the capital of Edo State of Nigeria has undergone tremendous changes in recent times, especially with the aggressive rate of urbanisation in the last two decades. This has invariably resulted in habitat loss and fragmentation for the amphibian community of the city and its environs. In order to determine the effect of urbanization on the amphibian diversity of the area, a survey was undertaken between July 2009 and July 2010 using Visual and Acoustic Encounter Survey method. Higher species diversity and richness was observed from the peri-urban compared to the urban areas. However, the abundance of amphibian in the urban zone was significantly higher than that of the peri-urban zone (p&lt;0.05). Hyperolius concolor phases A and C, H. sylvaticus, Afrixalus nigeriensis and A. vittiger were restricted to the peri-urban area while Ptychadena pumilio and Sclerophrys maculata occurred more in the urban areas. The most dominant species was S. maculata (26.6%) while the least dominant species was A. vittiger (0.22%). Peri-urban areas contributed 53% while the urban zone contributed 47% to total abundance. More tree frogs were collected from the peri-urban than the urban sites, which could be due to the reduced vegetation cover in the latter. However, the paucity of tree frogs in the urban zone did not have any significant impact on the taxa differences between the two zones. The abundance of P. pumilio and P. mascareniensis, which are typical savanna frogs is an indication of the degraded nature of the study area. The low records of A. poecilonotus, A. vittiger and H. concolor phase A and the complete absence of forest-dependent species could be due to their inability to tolerate human influence on the environment. There is need for balance in the use of land resources for urbanization and amphibian conservation