Perspectives of health care professionals on artificial insemination of donor semen: appraising their knowledge and perceptions: a single institution study in Nigeria

Background: Artificial inseminations of donor semen (AID) involve use of heterologous donated semen for conception in infertile couple when indicated or in a single woman desirous of pregnancy. Its practice often requires regulation to address possible ethical and legal issues which may arise. In formulating acceptable guidelines/policies, the perspectives of health professionals and the participants should be considered. Therefore, we sought to explore the knowledge and perception of semen donation for artificial insemination among health professionals.Methods: A cross sectional study conducted on consenting health workers in a single health institution using a structured questionnaire to assess their knowledge and perception on artificial insemination of donor semen (AID). Descriptive and analytical statistics were applied to the data collected with a statistically significant value of <0.05.Results: One hundred and twenty-one health professionals completed the questionnaires. The mean age of the respondents was 27.58±5.5years. Sixty of the respondents were males while 61 were females. Eighty-four of the respondents (69.4%) demonstrated good knowledge of AID while 37 (30.6%) had poor knowledge. Cadre of health professionals and marital status influenced the knowledge of respondents. Perceptions on AID varied among the respondents mostly influenced by psycho-social factors and possible legal disputes on third party reproductive process. None of the male respondents has ever donated semen and willingness to donate semen was low; with anonymity preferred by the willing donors.Conclusions: Substantial knowledge gap of AIDS existed among health professionals which were influenced by cadre and marital status. Psycho-social factors and possible legal disputes influenced their perceptions of AID

Effect of Technology-Enabled Video Instruction on Senior Secondary School Students’ Performance in Selected Technical Drawing Concept in Ilorin

The study examined the effect of technology-enabled video instruction (TEVI) on senior secondary school students’ performance in selected technical drawing (TD) concepts in Ilorin. The sample for this study consists of an intact class in a senior secondary school in Ilorin. The research adopted a mixed method of quantitative and qualitative research, pre-experimental research of one-group pretest-posttest design. Technology-Enabled Video was used for data collection. The findings from the study revealed that TEVI had a positive effect on the academic performance of students taught selected TD concept, (63.1˃ 51.5), there was a significant difference in the pretest and posttest performance of students taught selected technical drawing concept using TEVI i.e. (df=15, t=-565, p=.000˂0.05). The study concluded that technology-enabled video instruction which is an improvised instructional aid did enhance the academic performance of the students. The study implies that proper integration of technology-based packages like TEVI for instructional delivery will adequately enhance students’ performance. The study Recommended that TEVI should be encouraged among teachers and students, as this will help to boost learners’ interest and provide learners the ability to learn in a direct, self-paced, and individualistic manner, which will, in turn, translate to better academic performance

Combined effects of exogenous enzymes and probiotic on Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) growth, intestinal morphology and microbiome

A study was carried out to investigate the combined effect of exogenous enzymes and probiotic supplementation on tilapia growth, intestinal morphology and microbiome composition. Tilapia (34.56 ± 0.05 g) were fed one of four diets (35% protein, 5% lipid); one of which was a control and the remaining three diets were supplemented with either enzymes (containing phytase, protease and xylanase), probiotic (containing Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus pumilus) or enz-pro (the combination of the enzymes and probiotic). Tilapia fed diet supplemented with enz-pro performed better (P < 0.05) than tilapia fed the control and probiotic supplemented diets in terms of final body weight (FBW), specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER). The dietary treatments did not affect somatic indices. The serum lysozyme activity was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in tilapia fed the probiotic supplemented diet than of those fed the remaining experimental diets. The intestinal perimeter ratio was higher (P < 0.05) in tilapia fed enz-pro supplemented diet when compared to those fed with the control and probiotic supplemented diets. Goblet cells abundance, microvilli diameter and total enterocyte absorptive surface was higher (P < 0.05) in tilapia fed diet supplemented with enz-pro than those fed the control diet. High-throughput sequencing revealed that majority of reads derived from the tilapia digesta belonged to members of Fusobacteria (predominantly Cetobacterium) distantly followed by Proteobacteria and Firmicutes. The alpha and beta diversities did not differ among dietary treatments indicating that the overall microbial community was not modified to a large extent by dietary treatment. In conclusion, supplementation of the diet with a combination of enzymes and probiotic is capable of improving tilapia growth and intestinal morphology without deleterious effect on the intestinal microbial composition

Production of glass ceramic from rice husk and periwinkle shells

Abstract Glass ceramic was produced by replacing the major glass forming materials, silica and calcium oxide, with derivates from rice husk and periwinkle shells respectively. Glass formulation comprising of silica extracted from the rice husk and calcium oxide from powdered calcined periwinkle shells were compounded with analytical grade sodium carbonate. Silica was extracted from rice husk and characterized using XRD. SEM/EDS of the periwinkle shell revealed a structure dominated by calcium and oxygen; however, there was a significant presence of magnesium. Glass ceramic was produced by melting the mixture at 1300 °C followed by melt quenching. FTIR of the material showed the presence of the carbonyl functional group, calcium oxide, magnesium oxide and various bond configurations of silica. SEM of the glass ceramic showed sparsely distributed particles of the crystalline phase, while XRD revealed the presence of 55% amorphous phase. Several crystalline phases were present, dominated by polymorphs of silica such as quartz (22.15 wt.%) and cristobalite (5.68 wt.%). Also present are mullite (5.58 wt.%), calcite (1.95 wt.%) and Wollastonite (6.86 wt.%). Noticeable in the crystalline phase is Whitlockite (2.33 wt.%), a magnesium and phosphorus rich animal-source bio ceramic, traceable to the periwinkle which may impart some bioactivity to the material