Prevalence of intestinal parasitic protozoan infections among female HIV/Aids patients attending Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, Kano State, Nigeria

Intestinal protozoan parasites are the major cause of morbidity and mortality killing millions of patients with HIV/AIDS each year; causing diarrhea especially in infants and immunocompromised people worldwide. HIV infection has been modifying both the epidemiology and outcome of parasitic infections. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasitic protozoan infections among women patients with HIV/AIDS attending Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), Kano from October - December, 2016. Stool samples from 82 HIV/AIDS women patients were analyzed for protozoan parasite using direct wet mount, formol-ether concentration techniques and modified Ziehl-Neelson staining techniques whereas the blood samples collected were analyzed for CD4+ T-cell estimation using flow cytometry. Sociodemographic variables were collected by using questionnaire. Chi-square test was used to test the associations between CD4+ T-cell count and protozoan infections. A total of three (3) protozoan parasites were encountered among the HIV- positive individuals. These include Giardia intestinalis (33.4%), Entamoeba histolytica (27.8%) and E. coli (22.2%). The result indicated that the parasitic infection with Giardiaintestinalis was significantly higher among HIV-positive women (P>0.05). The age group with the highest prevalence was that of 40-49 years (29.2%). There was no significant difference in the prevalence of intestinal parasitic protozoan infection with regard to age, CD4+ count, job type of the patients (P>0.05) but there was a significant association between the residence area, pregnancy status and intestinal parasitic protozoan infection (P<0.05). Prevalence was also significantly higher in the rural areas (39.1%) than in the urban areas (11.4%). Routine screening for intestinal parasites in HIV-positive patients among others are advocated in the study area.Keywords: AKTH; CD4+ count; HIV/AIDS; Immunocompromised; Intestinal Protozoa; Prevalenc

An Empirical Analysis of Factors Influencing the Career Choice of Undergraduates in Secretarial Option of Business Education Programme in Nigeria Universities

Secretarial occupation has always been an enviable profession.  This is because it is recognized to the extent that no office or establishment can function without the services of secretaries. As indispensable as it is, it has been observed that not many undergraduate students of business education in Nigeria universities opt to study secretarial education. This study is necessitated by the low preference many undergraduate students of business education in Nigeria universities have for secretarial education. This trend is posing a lot of threats for the future of the secretarial profession in the 21st Century, Nigeria. The objective of the study, therefore, was to investigate the determinants of secretarial option among business education students in Nigeria universities. The survey research design was adopted for the study.  Three research questions were raised to guide the study and three null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance.  The entire one hundred and eighty (180) 200 level students of accounting, marketing and secretarial education from some selected Nigerian universities offering business education programme were used for the study. One hundred and sixty nine copies of questionnaire, representing 94% which were properly completed were retrieved and subjected to statistical analyses. Weighted Mean was used to answer the research questions. Weighted mean of 2.5 and above was used as benchmark for agree while weighted mean of less than 2.5 represented disagree category.  Simple regression was used to test all the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed among others that the society perceives that secretarial profession is still feministic and therefore attracts low prestige among men in the society as compare to other professions.  Based on the findings, the study concluded that secretarial option of business education in Nigeria universities is still very unpopular to the society, prospective students and business education undergraduate students. In view of this, the study recommends that the Association of Business Educators of Nigeria (ABEN), Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) and National Association of Professional Secretarial Staff of Nigeria (NAPSSON) in collaboration with the guidance and counselors  should make adequate and sustained publicity in the primary and secondary schools across the nation in order to increase the awareness of both the society and students on the benefits of secretarial education to the society and the practitioners with the intention to popularize the profession. Key words: Career choice and secretarial educatio

Stresses induced by a demolition agent in non-explosive rock fracturing

Stresses induced by a demolition agent in non-explosive rock fracturing was analysed using the theory of elasticity and the thick-walled cylinder principle. Circumferential and radial stresses in rock induced by an internally pressurized hole was first analysed under plane strain condition. Stresses perpendicular to the line connecting two adjacent holes were calculated based on coordinate transformation. A parametric study was carried out to investigate the influence of spacing and size of hole on the stress distribution. The analytical model provides a method to determine the optimum hole spacing and size as well as the time needed for fracturing rocks with properties similar to those employed to determine the pressure-time function of the demolition agent. It is found that tensile stress decreased dramatically with the increasing of hole spacing, while it increased with increment of hole size but the influence of spacing on stress changes was more significant than that of hole size. It is also concluded from the study that tensile stress in the middle of two holes decreased dramatically with a logarithmic distribution when solely increasing hole spacing. As can be anticipated more time is required for rock fracturing and breaking when hole spacing is increased for both soft and hard rocks

Pharmacognostic and Acute Toxicity Study of Burkea Africana Root

Burkea africana is a plant that belongs to then family Fabaceae; it is widely spread in tropical Africa including Nigeria. It is of valuable in  ethnomedicine especially in the treatment of antidote for venomous stings and bites, cutaneous and sub cutaneous parasitic infection, convulsion and pulmonary troubles. Despite the fact that roots of Burkea africana have several medicinal properties, no standardization parameter has been  assessed. Due to lack of standard parameters, proper identification and ascertaining quality and purity in the events of adulteration has been thwarted. The objective of the study was to establish some important pharmacognostic profile and safety margin of Burkea africana root with the hope of assisting in its standardization for quality, purity and safety. Elemental analysis was carried out using acid digestion method and phytochemical composition of the plants was evaluated using standard method. Acute toxicity was achieved using Lorke method to determine the LD50. Chemomicroscopical evaluation revealed the presence of cellulose, tannins, starch, lignin, calcium oxalate, suberin, aleurone grain and mucilage with the exception of calcium carbonate. The average moisture contents, total ash, acid insoluble, water soluble ash, alcohol extractive value and water extractive values in the powdered plant material were 3.8%, 7.5%, 4.43%, 8.07%, 25.0% and 20.33% respectively. In addition, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Cd and Cu were found to be within the safety limit. Phytochemicals which include alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, carbohydrates and triterpenes were detected in both aqueous and methanolic extracts. The LD50 of Burkea africana was found to be greater than 5000 mg /kg and could be considered safe for consumption. Keywords: Elemental analysis, Burkea africana, Pharmacognostic, Phytochemica

Feeding strategies and energy to protein ratio on tambaqui performance and physiology

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of feed deprivation and refeeding with diets containing different energy to protein ratios (E/P) on the performance and physiology of juvenile tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum). A 4x2 factorial arrangement with three replicates was used, with four E/P ratios (11.5, 10.5, 9.5, and 8.5 kcal g-1 digestible energy per protein) and two feeding regimens (with and without deprivation), during 60 days. Fish from the food-deprived group were fasted for 14 days and refed from the fifteenth to the sixtieth day, whereas the remaining fish were fed for 60 days. At the end of the experimental period, weight of fish subjected to food deprivation was lower than that of those continuously fed; however, this condition did not influence the physiological parameters analyzed. Tambaqui fed 11.5 kcal g-1 achieved lower final weight than those fed with the other diets, in both regimens. Among the physiological parameters, only plasma protein presented significant increase in fish fed 8.5 kcal g-1, in both feeding regimens, probably due to the higher dietary protein concentration. These results indicate that fish show a partial compensatory growth, and that 10.5 kcal g-1 can be recommended for the diet of juvenile tambaqui

Effect of Height Variation for the Determination of Accurate Focal Zone for a Thin Foil L-Shaped Parabolic Reflector

The use of concentrators in forms of solar energy collector in order to concentrate sun rays for better usage is on the increase worldwide. This paper presents the effect of height variations for the determination of accurate focal zone for three different parabolic reflectors. The system was constructed using locally available materials with design parameters. The thermal performance experiments were conducted (water boiling test) to evaluate the performance evaluation of the reflector at different height. The experimental test results showed that the systems when set at 65 cm height from cooking vessel performed better than at 45 cm and 55 cm heights respectively. Similarly the temperature profile of the systems showed highest result of 94.1 oC at a height of 65 cm

Effects of Oral Supplementation with Manganese chloride on the severity of Trypanosoma brucei and Trypanasoma congolonse infections in rats

Eighty healthy adult albino rats of both sexes were used in two experiments to study the effect of Manganese chloride supplementation on the severity of Trypanosoma brucei brucei and Trypanasoma congolonse infections. In each experiment, forty rats were divided into four groups of 10 rats each, namely; A, unsupplemented control; B, supplemented control; C, infected supplemented and D, infected unsupplemented. Aqueous solution (10%) of MnCl2 was administered daily using stomach tube to each rat at 100mg/kg in groups B and C from 10 days before infection and during the course of the infection. Each rat in groups C and D was infected by intraperitoneal injection of 1 x 106 trypanosomes (T. b. brucei or T. congolense) in phosphate buffered saline diluted donor blood. The prepatent periods were shorter (P < 0.05) in T. brucei than T. congolense infections and shorter (P < 0.05) in infected unsupplemented than infected supplemented rats. The infected unsupplemented groups had higher (P<0.05) parasitaemia, more severe anaemia (P<0.05) and hepatic and renal damage than infected supplemented groups. Therefore, oral Manganese chloride supplementation in rats appeared to reduce the severity of trypanosome infections by delaying the onset of parasitaemia, reducing the levels of parasitaemia and accompanying anaemia and organ damage