A Laboratory Bioassay of the Potential Effect of Rubber Extract (Hevea brasiliensis) on the Survival of Fingerlings of Oreochromis niloticus

The potential effects of Hevea brasiliensis on the survival of fingerlings of Oreochromis niloticus were investigated in duplicate (A and B) using the water soluble fraction of the latex under laboratory conditions for 96 hours. The WSF of Hevea brasiliensis was tested against Oreochromis niloticus at 0, 8, 16, 24, 32 and 40mg/l in glass aquaria stocked with ten animals for 96 hours under observation for changes. Behavioural pattern exhibited by the fish include, loss of balance, restlessness, attempt at jumping out and hemorrhaged gills, respiratory difficulties and mortalities were observed in the WSF exposure groups, but not in the controls. LC50 values were estimated at 28. 50 ± 0.2mg/l. There was significant difference in mortalities between the replicate group (p < 0.05), leading to conclusion that the organism in each batch responded differently to the toxic effect of WSF of Hevea brasiliensis latex

A Machine Learning Framework for Length of Stay Minimization in Healthcare Emergency Department

The emergency departments (EDs) in most hospitals, especially in middle-and-low-income countries, need techniques for minimizing the waiting time of patients. The application and utilization of appropriate methods can enhance the number of patients treated, improve patients’ satisfaction, reduce healthcare costs, and lower morbidity and mortality rates which are often associated with poor healthcare facilities, overcrowding, and low availability of healthcare professionals.  Modeling the length of stay (LOS) of patients in healthcare systems is a challenge that must be addressed for sound decision-making regarding capacity planning and resource allocation. This paper presents a machine learning (ML) framework for predicting a patient’s LOS within the ED. A study of the services in the ED of a tertiary healthcare facility in Uyo, Nigeria was conducted to gain insights into its operational procedures and evaluate the impact of certain parameters on LOS. Then, a computer simulation of the system was performed in R programming language using data obtained from records in the hospital. Finally, the performance of four ML classifiers involved in patients’ LOS prediction: Classification and Regression Tree (CART), Random Forest (RF), K-Nearest Neighbour (K-NN), and Support Vector Machine (SVM), were evaluated and results indicate that SVM outperforms others with the highest coefficient of determination (R2) score of 0.986984 and least mean square error (MSE) value of 0.358594. The result demonstrates the capability of ML techniques to effectively assess the performance of healthcare systems and accurately predict patients’ LOS to mitigate the low physician-patient ratio and improve throughput

Effect of Lethal Concentrations of Rubber Extract (Hevea brasiliensis) on the Survival on Fingerlings of Clarias gariepinus under Laboratory Condition.

The water soluble fraction (WSF) of Hevea brasiliensis was tested against Clarias garienpinus, at 0, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70mg/l in glass aquaria stocked with ten animals for 96 hours under observation for changes. Moribund swimming, restlessness, respiratory difficulties, depigmentation and mortalities were observed in the WSF exposure groups, but not in the controls. LC50 values were estimated at 50.12mg/l. There was no significant difference in mortalities between the replicate group (P>0.05), leading to the conclusion that the WSF of Hevea brasiliensis had same toxic effects on both batches of the test organism

The Exceptional Role of Women as Primary Caregivers for People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, West Africa

In Africa, women play an indispensable role in family life. The normative roles of women extend from reproductive role to the raising of children and caring for sick family members. These roles are very unique and are dictated by culture, religion and beliefs. Despite these, their contributions in caregiving remain unrecognized except by the beneficiaries. Caregivers of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) experience high level of burden due to the expanded role and inadequate preparation for the caregiver’s duty. A descriptive cross-sectional research design was utilized to elicit data from 260 participants in Calabar municipality, Nigeria. Caring for PLWHA is an exceptional service due to exacerbation of symptoms and co-morbidities peculiar to terminal phase of HIV. The study revealed gender inequalities in burden levels. Significant relationships (p < 0.05) also existed between burden of care, availability of support and duration of care during this study. Despite the perceived consequences, the family care givers were still determined to continue caregiving role. This informs the need for governmental support to ameliorate the negative consequences of caregiving by female caregivers

Surface Mixed Layer Profile of Physical and Biogeochemical Variables in the Subpolar North-West and -East Atlantic Ocean: A Data-Model Comparison Study

This paper presents a study of physical and biogeochemical variables using numerical model and mixed layer oceanographic data from a 2 - 3 year in situ measurements in the Northwestern and Northeastern sites of the Atlantic Ocean. Model outputs are presented and indicated that very good estimates may be obtained. The outputs showed considerable agreement in reproducing seasonal distributions of pCO2, pCO2-T, pCO2-nonT, mixed layer temperature, and chlorophyll-a in both winter and summer, and therefore provide useful physical and theoretical understanding of their biogeochemistry. The model pCO2 indicated a distinct temporal variability with seasonal changes coinciding with the change in sea surface temperature. It also provides an agreement that there is a strong seasonal cycle of mixed layer parameters filliped by nonthermal and physical factors. As an outgrowth of this work, the pCO2 model outputs affirm the North Atlantic Ocean capacity as an important oceanographic sink for anthropogenic carbon dioxid

Automatic lineaments mapping and extraction in relationship to natural hydrocarbon seepage in Ugwueme, South-Eastern Nigeria

The study focus on the integration of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System for identification and delineation of lineaments in relation to natural hydrocarbon seepage, which occur in Ugwueme, South-Eastern Nigeria. To achieve this objective, remotely sensed data (ASTER Digital Elevation Model and Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS) were used to depict the surface expression of faults, folds and fractures which are expressed in the form of lineaments.  The global positioning system (GPS) was also used for ground verification. The geology map of the study area, which is elucidated in the geology of Nigeria was used to show the distribution of rocks and other geologic structures. The delineation of lineament features was done automatically with the PCI Geomatica while the Rock ware was used to generate the Rose diagram for demonstration of the direction of the extracted lineaments. The classification of the lineaments density and the lineaments intersection analysis were categorized as very low, low, moderate, high and very high classes respectively. Areas classified as very high to high lineaments density are potential zone, which act as conduits for hydrocarbon seepage. The result shows that a total lineament frequency of 947 km and a total lineament length of 946 km were delineated from the satellite data. The result further shows that areas with high lineaments density are concentrated in the southwest, south, central and northern part of the study area while areas with low lineament density were found within the eastern part of Ugwueme. The Rose diagram highlight the major trend in the (NE-SW), (N-S) and (NW-SE) directions, and the minor trend in the (W-E) direction.  These directional trends depict the directions of lineaments which act as conduits zones for hydrocarbon seepage in the region.  The overall findings of the study shows that lineament density, lineament intersection and rose diagrams are concepts applicable in hydrocarbon oil and gas seepages

Review

Previous surgical procedures devised for intractable pain are the excision of painful area of the skin, peripheral neurotomy, intraspinal or intracranial posterior rhizotomies, anterolateral spinal cordotomy, spinothalamic tractotomy at medulla and mesencephalon for the pain of organic origin, and the prefrontal lobotomy for psychogenic pain. Unfortunately, these procedures are followed either by disturbance of physiologic sensory function or by changes of affect and personality. Partial gasserian gangliolysis successfully alleviated the trigeminal neuralgia without significant sensory disturbance of the face. Recent advances in stereotaxic technique has enabled us to attack the thalamus and other deep subcortical centers. This new method, together with recent neuroanatomico-physiological progress in regard to pain tract through intralaminar nuclear complex, resulted in discovery of thalamotomy destroying the nucleus centrum medianum with or without adjacent intralaminar nuclei, which eliminates the organic pain without any detectable sensory deficit. Anterior cingulectomy or cingulumotomy has developed to alleviate the psychogenic pain without psychological changes. These are the ideal pain-relieving procedures. A new method of percutaneous cervical cordotomy can be safely used for the debilitated patients with terminal malignant diseases

Impact of the citizen science project COLLECT on ocean literacy and well-being within a north/west African and south-east Asian context

Plastic pollution is both a societal and environmental problem and citizen science has shown to be a useful tool to engage both the public and professionals in addressing it. However, knowledge on the educational and behavioral impacts of citizen science projects focusing on marine litter remains limited. Our preregistered study investigates the impact of the citizen science project Citizen Observation of Local Litter in coastal ECosysTems (COLLECT) on the participants' ocean literacy, pro-environmental intentions and attitudes, well-being, and nature connectedness, using a pretest-posttest design. A total of 410 secondary school students from seven countries, in Africa (Benin, Cabo Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria) and Asia (Malaysia) were trained to sample plastics on sandy beaches and to analyze their collection in the classroom. Non-parametric statistical tests (n = 239 matched participants) demonstrate that the COLLECT project positively impacted ocean literacy (i.e., awareness and knowledge of marine litter, self-reported litter-reducing behaviors, attitudes towards beach litter removal). The COLLECT project also led to higher pro-environmental behavioral intentions for students in Benin and Ghana (implying a positive spillover effect) and higher well-being and nature connectedness for students in Benin. Results are interpreted in consideration of a high baseline in awareness and attitudes towards marine litter, a low internal consistency of pro-environmental attitudes, the cultural context of the participating countries, and the unique settings of the project's implementation. Our study highlights the benefits and challenges of understanding how citizen science impacts the perceptions and behaviors towards marine litter in youth from the respective regions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio