Enhancement of the feeding value of wheat offal for broiler feeding after its solid state fermentation with Aspergillus niger

The objective of this study was to investigate the changes in in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) of wheat offal (WTO) after its biodegradation with Aspergillus niger and also to determine the effect of degraded WTO on the performance parameters of broiler birds at starter and finisher phases. A. niger was used for the  biodegradation of WTO. There were five dietary treatments of 33 birds each. Having degraded the WTO, it was observed that there was improvement in crude protein value from 2.43 g/100 gDM to 4.00 g/100 gDM (39.25% improvement). The crude fibre had 28.02% reduction after the degradation. At the starter phase, body weight gain was significantly (P<0.05) higher in the birds fed degraded wheat offal (DWTO). At the finisher phase, feed conversion ratio was significantly (P>0.05) lower in birds placed on DWTO. The relative cost benefit (RCB) showed that economically, the birds placed on DWTO gave better profit margin than the ones placed on the undegraded wheat offal (UWTO). The results revealed that A. niger was able to enhance better availability of energy, crude protein and other nutrients which were hitherto encapsulated in the undegraded WTO.Key words: Wheat offal, Aspergillus niger, biodegradation, broiler birds

AfriQA: Cross-lingual Open-Retrieval Question Answering for African Languages

African languages have far less in-language content available digitally, making it challenging for question-answering systems to satisfy the information needs of users. Cross-lingual open-retrieval question answering (XOR QA) systems-those that retrieve answer content from other languages while serving people in their native language-offer a means of filling this gap. To this end, we create AFRIQA, the first cross-lingual QA dataset with a focus on African languages. AFRIQA includes 12,000+ XOR QA examples across 10 African languages. While previous datasets have focused primarily on languages where crosslingual QA augments coverage from the target language, AFRIQA focuses on languages where cross-lingual answer content is the only high-coverage source of answer content. Because of this, we argue that African languages are one of the most important and realistic use cases for XOR QA. Our experiments demonstrate the poor performance of automatic translation and multilingual retrieval methods. Overall, AFRIQA proves challenging for state-of-the-art QA models. We hope that the dataset enables the development of more equitable QA technology

Quality and acceptability of velvet bean (Mucuna pruriens) foliage ensiled with whole plant maize by west Africa dwarf rams

This experiment was conducted to determine the suitability of Velvet Bean Foliage (VBF) and Whole Plant Maize (WPM) silage as dry season feed for ruminants in Southwest of Nigeria. In this study, WPM was ensiled with five levels of VBF (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100%). Physical characteristics, temperature, pH and proximate composition of the silages were assessed after 21 days of ensiling. Preference for the silage by ruminants was determined using twelve West African dwarf (WAD) rams. Results revealed that pH, temperature and physical characteristics of all silages were within acceptable range except for VBF -100 which did not make good silage. The appearance, smell and texture of all the silage mixtures compromised increasing level of VBF while the pH increased. The pH of the silage varied from 3.92-7.98. Dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP) and crude fibre (CF) concentration in the silages ranged from 20.67 – 26.65, 8.02 – 15.77, 26.42 - 1926g/100g, respectively. The DM and CF of the silages reduced with increasing level of VBF in the mixture while the CP increased. Coefficient of preference (CoP) for the silage varied from 0.79 to 1.13 while percentage preference varied from 15.58 - 22.50%. The coefficient of preference (CoP) was above unity for VBF (0, 25, 50 and 75) but less than unity for VBF- 100, showing that rams preferred silage with whole plant maize to sole VBF. This result suggests that quality of Whole plant maize silage improved when velvet bean foliage was added; however, acceptability by WAD rams was compromised.Keywords: Velvet bean foliage, whole plant maize, silage, quality, acceptability, rams

Erectile Dysfunction is Associated with Family Dysfunction among Adult Hypertensive Patients in Family Medicine Clinic University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital Ilorin Kwara State, Nigeria

Hypertension has been reported to be the most common co-morbidity in patients with erectile dysfunction and erectile dysfunction on the other hand has been linked to sexual and family disharmony globally. The prevalence of hypertension is high and is still increasing. It causes loss of sexual satisfaction and negatively impacts on the psychological well-being, social health and family relationships .The aim of this study was to assess the levels of family functioning, association of erectile dysfunction and family functioning together with partner's satisfaction during sexual intercourse among the respondents. The study was conducted at the Family Medicine Department of University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital. It was a cross-sessional hospital based study. Data was collected from 228 Hypertensive patients over a period of three months from June 2016 through August 2016 with the use of structured questionnaires namely the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) and the Family Concern Index questionnaires as well as semi-structured questionnaires. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences SPSS 20. The study showed that the overall prevalence of Erectile dysfunction among Hypertensive was 85.1%,more than half of the respondents (57%) had a functional families. However, all the respondents with dysfunctional families had erectile dysfunction. It was also discovered that two out of every five respondents(40.8%) expressed their partners dissatisfactions during sexual intercourse. There was a statistically significant association between erectile dysfunction, family functioning and partner's satisfaction. Erectile dysfunction has significant association with family dysfunction and partner sexual satisfaction. Hypertensive Patients should be screened for erectile dysfunction, family dysfunction and partner's sexual satisfaction. Keywords : Erectile dysfunction, Family functioning, Hypertension

Fourteen days oral administration of therapeutic dosage of some antibiotics reduced serum testosterone in male rats

Fourteen days oral administration of therapeutic dose of Ampicillin (4mg/100g/day), Cloxacillin (6mg/100g/day) and Tetracycline (12mg/100g/day) separately to healthy adult male albino rats significantly reduced their serum testosterone level as assessed by enzyme immunoassay. The control group received equal volume of the vehicle (Normal saline) throughout the period of the treatment. A significant reduction (

Maintenance of HIV-specific CD4+ T cell help distinguishes HIV-2 from HIV-1 infection.

Unlike HIV-1-infected people, most HIV-2-infected subjects maintain a healthy CD4+ T cell count and a strong HIV-specific CD4+ T cell response. To define the cellular immunological correlates of good prognosis in HIV-2 infection, we conducted a cross-sectional study of HIV Gag-specific T cell function in HIV-1- and HIV-2-infected Gambians. Using cytokine flow cytometry and lymphoproliferation assays, we show that HIV-specific CD4+ T cells from HIV-2-infected individuals maintained proliferative capacity, were not terminally differentiated (CD57-), and more frequently produced IFN-gamma or IL-2 than CD4+ T cells from HIV-1-infected donors. Polyfunctional (IFN-gamma+/IL-2+) HIV-specific CD4+ T cells were found exclusively in HIV-2+ donors. The disparity in CD4+ T cell responses between asymptomatic HIV-1- and HIV-2-infected subjects was not associated with differences in the proliferative capacity of HIV-specific CD8+ T cells. This study demonstrates that HIV-2-infected donors have a well-preserved and functionally heterogeneous HIV-specific memory CD4+ T cell response that is associated with delayed disease progression in the majority of infected people