Evaluation of Breastfeeding Interventions to Improve Duration in Women at Risk of Breastfeeding Attrition

Breastfeeding has numerous health benefits for infants, children, and mothers. These benefits are dependent on the duration of breastfeeding. To attain these benefits, the World Health Organization and the CDC recommends mothers exclusively breastfeed for the first six months of the infant’s life and to continue breastfeeding while introducing complementary food until the infant is at least one year old. Research studies have reported a strong positive correlation between breastfeeding and reduced infant morbidity and mortality. Optimal breastfeeding practice could help prevent 823,000 child deaths. Globally, not breastfeeding or premature cessation of breastfeeding is estimated to result in economic losses of about $302 billion annually. There are advances in breastfeeding initiation in the world including the United States, but the cessation of breastfeeding less than the recommended duration is prevalent worldwide. The purpose of this project was to identify women at risk for early breastfeeding cessation, provide this at-risk group with breastfeeding support then evaluate the effect on breastfeeding duration. The goal is to increase breastfeeding duration so that its health benefits may be fully attained

Pentocin KCA1: a novel circular bacteriocin gene encoded in the genome of Lactobacillus pentosus KCA1 with putative basic property

Background: The use of bacteriocin and bacterial strains that produces the antimicrobial peptide has shown to possess potential applications in the conferment of health benefits on the host. We isolated and carried out comprehensive genome sequence analysis of the first Lactobacillus pentosus KCA1 of human origin encoding genes for the biosynthesis of antimicrobial bacteriocin peptide. Due to the growing number of antimicrobial resistance, the need for developing alternatives to traditional antibiotics is now more germane.Aims: To describe the first circular bacteriocin predicted in the genome sequence of Lactobacillus pentosus KCA1 isolated from the vagina of a healthy Nigerian Ibo woman using in silico bioinformatic tools.Methods: The translated open reading frame (ORF) coding pentocin KCA1 was compared with the non-redundant database (nrdb) using BLASTp for protein similarity search. Clustalw algorithm was used for alignment with other published circular bacteriocins.Results: The genome of L. pentosus KCA1 contains a 7-gene cluster, chromosomally encoded for biosynthesis of a predicted circular bacteriocin. The bacteriocin designated as “pentocin KCA1” is synthesized as a precursor gene consisting of 273 nucleotide base sequence encoding the translated product of pentocin KCA1 with 91 amino acid residues in length. The peptide is cleaved off between asparagine (Asn33) and isoleucine (Ile34) to produce the 58 amino acid pentocin KCA1 as an outer membrane peptide. The mature pentocin KCA1 has a high proportion of basic (positively charged-Lysine, Histidine and Asparagine) to acidic (negatively charged-Glutamate and Aspartate) amino acids in the ratio of 8:0.Conclusions: Off the 11 circular bacteriocins known to date, amino acid residue asparagine (8.62%) is utilized more in the biosynthesis of pentocin KCA1. The mature putative circular pentocin KCA1 consists of four alpha-helical structures and has a high proportion of basic amino acid residues when compared with other circular bacteriocins, thereby suggesting that pentocin KCA1 is a circular bacteriocin peptide with strong basic property. The relevance of this basic property lends credence for investigation in subsequent functional studies.Keywords: Circular bacteriocin, Pentocin KCA1, Lactobacilli, Antimicrobial peptid

Managing urban water resources in a developing economy: The case of Owerri, Nigeria

Projections indicate that the disparity in population numbers will widen further by the year 2025 when the global population is expected to be 8.5 billion, and at that time about 84% will be living in the developing countries (World Resources Institute, 1992). The greatest proportional increase will occur in Africa, where the population is projected to nearly triple, from a 1990 level of 642 million to 1.6 billion in 2025. In 1997, the population of Nigeria alone was about 100 million, making it the largest country, in terms of population, in Africa. From 1960 to 1990, the average annual population growth in the urban areas of Nigeria was 6.3% and in rural areas was 2.2%. Such rapid urbanization places enormous strain on developing countries to provide the infrastructure necessary to support their expanding populations. The negative impacts of urbanization on freshwater resources are more acute in the developing countries, particularly in Africa, where the human and material resources, including institutional mechanisms, needed to cope with these growing problems are grossly inadequate. The World Bank has stated that Nigeria alone, the lack of water resources integrity threatens to place about 40 million of the population at risk, and that it would cost in excess of US $1 billion annually to correct if ground and surface water contamination continues to go unchecked. Balancing the needs of urban development, economic growth, and environmental protection is a formidable challenge in Nigerian cities. Meeting this challenge is the only way the country can ensure the health of its citizens, and at the same time avoid a social and economic crisis in many of her major cities. The main objective of the research is to examine the human and institutional interactions in urban water resources management in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the impacts on the resource. The study has three specific objectives: (1) to investigate in detail at a city level, using Owerri (a Nigerian city) as a case study, the human and institutional interactions in urban water resources management, and the impacts on the resource; (2) to examine the institutional arrangements and mechanisms for water resources management in Nigeria, particularly those relevant to urban areas; and, (3) to develop a framework for institutional and management arrangements for urban water resources management in Owerri, which might also be applied to other cities in Nigeria, and in other African cities with similar characteristics. For each objective, a specific research question and a number of sub-questions were developed to help generate and elicit relevant data in the context of the issues and concepts the study addressed. This study used primarily a qualitative approach. It involved the combination and integration of many different kinds of information and data. The methods and procedures are essentially a descriptive survey method, and the techniques are from rapid assessment methods, which are adaptive (and rapid) and have tailored to the local situation. They include particularly participant-observation, semi-structured interviews and participatory social mapping. The analysis of the results is presented using the case method. The cases take the form of short descriptive details put together as a coherent whole, within the context of specific theoretical points, to illustrate the underlying themes and issues emerging from the study. There is a strong cultural perspective used in this study. Contexts, processes and interactions are examined. At the state and the city level, the overall poor urban water resources management in Owerri is largely due to lack of funds for operation and maintenance, inadequate skilled labor, inefficient billing and collection of water revenues, lack of inter-agency coordination, weak enforcement of relevant laws and regulations, the problem of institutional gridlock, and absence of public participation. The institutional arrangements at the federal level have been greatly impeded by lack of continuity and poor implementation of water programs due to incessant and abrupt changes in government and policies, lack of integration and coordination among the relevant government agencies, and the tribalism and corruption within the bureaucratic system. In general, there is a serious problem of scarcity and degradation of the urban water resources, and the institutional arrangements for effective management of the resource are grossly inadequate. The thesis proposes a new planning approach for urban water resources management in Owerri. The method—the CAM Approach—is a combination of collaborative, adaptive and mixed scanning planning theories. The thesis also develops an institutional framework for creating a viable urban water resources management system in Owerri using the planned change concept. This framework is recommended for testing and adoption. Because of the diversity of the country some cities will demonstrate wide differences in climate, hydrology, size, political arrangements, economic and social structure. However, the framework and recommendations presented in this thesis can be adopted by other Nigerian cities, and other cities in Africa with the same characteristics as Owerri, with some modifications to suit their peculiar needs and situations. This study concluded that reforming and transforming urban water resources management in Owerri will come through a planned change process with multiple strategies and clearly defined actions aimed at the organizational system, and some specifically at the cultural, human, managerial, and technological subsystems, of the Imo State Water Corporation (ISWC). The change agent must be external. It should be in the form of an independent task force appointed by the government and granted sufficient powers to initiate and implement change. The task force should also include highly qualified experts with adequate information and knowledge about the organization and its subsystems

Development of a Novel Probiotic Yogurt “PENTOYO” with a Fully Sequenced Lactobacillus pentosus KCA1 and its Survival during Storage at 4 oC

Purpose: To determine whether L. pentosus KCA1 can be used to create a new probiotic yogurt and the organism’s duration of survival when stored at 4 oC.Methods: Mother cultures of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus and L. pentosus KCA1 were prepared and subsequently added to a suspension of pasteurized milk. It was then incubated at 37 oC for 6 h, after which it was removed and placed in arefrigerator at 4 oC. Survival test was determined in MRS agar plate supplemented with 30 ìg of tetracycline for the selective enumeration of L. pentosus KCA1 at predetermined intervals over a period of 63 days at 4 oC.Results: pH decreased both in normal yogurt and probiotic yogurt and there was no significant difference (p > 0.05) in the pH of the two preparations. The strain showed higher viability for 49 days, indicating the presence of a sufficient number of viable bacterial cells at 4 oC. There were only 3 log cycle losses in the number of cells surviving from day 1 (5.6 x 109 cfu/ml) to day 49 (5.5 x 106 cfu/ml).Conclusion: This study shows that yogurt has the potential to deliver biotherapeutic benefits associated with probiotic bacteria to consumers adequately.Keywords: Probiotics, Lactobacillus pentosus KCA1, Yogurt, Health benefi

Bioinformatic analysis of dihydrofolate reductase predicted in the genome sequence of Lactobacillus pentosus KCA1

 Physiologic studies of Lactobacillus species show that some species cannot synthesize folate de novo, which is required for growth. Folate plays a critical role in regulating the amount of tetrahydrofolate in the cell that is utilized for DNA replication, and proliferation of the erythropoietic system. We recently sequenced the genome of Lactobacillus pentosus KCA1, isolated from a Nigerian subject. The genome has open reading frames coding for the complete genes required for folate biosynthesis. Our previous study shows that rats fed with L. pentosus KCA1 led to enhancement of haematological parameters. Bioinformatic tool such as ClustalW algorithm was used to analyze dihydrofolate reductase (folA/dfrA) encoded in the genome sequence of L. pentosus KCA1 for comparative multiple sequence alignments. I-TASSER was used to predict the 3-D model structure of the protein and potential active binding site residues. Result show that two unique amino acid substitutions were found in KCA1_1610 sequence at position 85 with alanine (A-Ala85), while other strains have aspartic acid (D-Asp) for other L. pentosus and threonine (T-Thr) for L. plantarum strains at the same position. The result suggests that dihydrofolate reductase can be used as a distinguishing marker between L. pentosus KCA1 and other pentosus including L. plantarum strains. The secondary structure prediction with I-TASSER revealed 5 alpha helices and 8 beta-strands. Twelve binding site residues were predicted in KCA1_1610 relative to the template protein 2zzaA in protein database (PDB). The predicted structure of KCA1_1610 dihydrofolate reductase can serve as a new template as an addition to structural genomics and generation of models for use in drug screening and physiological function inference.Keywords: Lactobacillus pentosus, folate biosynthesis, dihydrofolate reductase, probiotic

Mechanism of kolaviron-induced relaxation of rabbit aortic smooth muscle

There is a considerable evidence linking kolaviron (KV), a biflavanoid-complex of Garcinia kola Heckel seed (gKola) to smooth muscle relaxation. The present study was designed to characterize the mechanism of kolaviron-induced relaxation on contractile responses in ring preparations of vascular smooth muscle (VSM) of the rabbit aorta in vitro, in standard laboratory organ bath procedure. Following Phenylephrine (PE) (10-7M), or high-K+ (80 mMK+) PSS induced contraction, KV (6, 12, 25, 50 100,200 & 400 μg/mL) was added cumulatively and relaxation responses determined in intact (+E) and endothelium-denuded (- E) aortic rings. Mechanism of KV-induced relaxation was further examined in PE or high-K+ precontracted +E and -E rings following 20 minutes exposures in methylene blue (MB) or ouabain (OB). To examine KV effect on extracellular Ca2+, tissues were exposed to a Ca2+- free 40 mM K+ depolarizing solution and Ca2+ as in CaCl2 response curve constructed.The results showed that KV causes concentration-dependent relaxation in VSM of the aorta and KV-induced relaxation was not significantly different in PE or high K+ mediated responses. However, relaxation was significantly different and more potent in -E compared to +E rings in PE or high-K+ precontractions. KV-mediated relaxation was abolished in MB and OB incubated and precontracted rings. Ca2+- dependent contractions in K+- depolarized PSS was significantly attenuated by KV. Mechanisms of KV-induced relaxation in VSM rabbit aorta is non-specific but linked to interference in calcium exchange as well as guanylate cyclase enzyme and Na+-K+ ATPase cellular activity. Keywords: Kolaviron, Vascular smooth muscle, rabbit aorta, phenylephrine, high-K

Growth response, hematology and serum biochemistry of finisher broilers fed blended bovine blood plasma and soya bean hull as replacement for fish and soyabean meal

A 28-day feeding trial was conducted to investigate the growth response, hematology and serum biochemistry of finisher broiler chickens fed blended bovine blood plasma (BBP) and soyabean hull (SBH) mix. Four diets containing 0, 50, 75% and 100% mixture of bovine blood plasma and soya bean hull (BBP/SBH) coded T1, T2, T3 and T4 respectively were fed to 120 Anak broiler finisher birds. The birds were divided into 4 groups of 30 broilers per treatment replicated 3 times with 10 birds per replicate. The treatment diets were randomly assigned to the birds in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Performance data showed that the test ingredient significantly affected the daily feed intake, feed conversion ratio and daily weight gain of broiler birds. The results showed that hematological values like the Hemoglobin (Hb), Packed cell volume (PCV), Red blood cells (RBC) and white blood cells (WBC) decreased significantly (P<0.05) as the levels of BBP/SBH in the diets increases while the mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and clotting time increased proportionally. Serum biochemical parameters like Creatinine and Glucose increased as dietary BBP/SBH mixture increased in the treatment diets. Based on the above result, treatment 3(75%) mixture of BBP/SBH) is recommended to livestock farmers for optimum meat production and for profit maximization

16S rRNA gene sequence and phylogenetic tree of lactobacillus species from the vagina of healthy Nigerian women

Lactobacilli are ubiquitous in nature and in humans they play a very significant role in the general health maintenance of the host. Identification of lactobacilli has previously been based on culturedependent methods and recently molecular techniques involving gene sequencing are now the ‘gold standard’. Scarce information exists in Africa on the real identity of Lactobacillus species, albeit phylogenetic distances among the species present in the human vagina. In this study, 185 vaginal swabs were collected from healthy premenopausal women (18 to 48 years). Bacterial DNA was extracted, amplified using PCR, with group specific Lactobacillus primers, and processed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Phylogenetic tree was constructed with the sequencesof the V2-V3 region of 16S rRNA gene. Results show two distinct divisions among the Lactobacillus species. The study presents a new understanding of the nature of the Lactobacillus vaginal microbiota of women in Nigeria, which may lead to the design of probiotic-lactobacilli for biotherapy

Performance evaluation of growing pigs fed graded levels of pineapple (Ananas comosus) wine sediment

This experiment was conducted to boost animal protein consumption in the Nigerian populace using an unconventional feedstuff–pineapple wine sediment meal (PWSM) which is a waste product of the winery. In the study, PWSM was used to evaluate the growth performance of grower pigs using 32 large white x landrace strains of pigs with average initial weight of 32 ± 0.07kg. Four treatment diets coded T1, T2, T3 and T4 replicated 3 times were formulated to replace maize at 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% levels respectively and the study lasted for 35 days. The result of the experiment indicated that PWSM enhanced the palatability and feed intake of the growing pigs because of the proteolytic enzyme, bromelain which stimulated healthy metabolism. It was established from the result that PWSM could replace maize partially up to 10% dietary levels for optimum performance of grower pigs and that at higher levels of 20% despite positive impacts on the economy of production; growth rate and feed conversion are negatively affected. Hence, 10% inclusion level is recommended for optimum productivity and for maximization of profit in the industr