Effect of climate change on human health and some adaptive strategies – a review

The impact of human-induced climate change and ozone depletion are now observed to compromise the sustainability of human development as it threatens the ecological support system on which life depends. Evidences abound to show that there is climate change and ozone layer depletion in the last 2-4 decades. The Earth is warming, the warming is accelerating, and human actions are responsible. If the current climate change and warming trends remain uncontrolled, humanity will face more injury, disease and death related to natural disasters and heat waves; higher rates of food-borne, water-borne and vector-borne illnesses; and death that is more premature and disease related to air pollution. Moreover, in many parts of the world, large populations will be displaced by rising sea level, and many others will be affected by drought and famine. As glaciers melt, the hydrological cycle shifts and the productivity of arable land will change. That is the bad news. Nevertheless, the good news is that through increased interdisciplinary and intersectoral collaboration, and rapid deployment of mitigation strategies to stabilize climate change as well as development of proactive adaptation programmes to minimize health impact of climate change, the global community will be better prepared to cope with the challenges of protecting health from the impact of climate change. Key Words: Climate Change, Human Health, Adaptive Strategie

Bootstrap Method for Estimating Error Rate in Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA)

This paper proposes a Bootstrap algorithm for linear discriminant analysis. The apparent error rate in the Linear discriminant method and the proposed bootstrap method were compared. From the result, it is evident that the proposed Bootstrap method compares favorably with the Linear discriminant method with a reduced error rate. Keywords: bootstrap, linear discriminant, apparent error, multivariate, algorith

Epidemiological Assessment of Vesical Schistosomiasis in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, Nigeria

A survey was carried out between January and July 2002 to determine the prevalence of vesical schistosomiasis in Bende Local government area of Abia State. A total of 2406 persons in eleven communities aged between 6 and 60 years were examined. Prevalence rates in the eleven communities ranged between 25.5% and 52.3% with an overall prevalence of 41.5%. More males (42.6%) than females (39.4%) were infected in all the age groups, and high rate of haematuria (78.2%) was observed among the infected subjects. Infection prevalence was significantly higher (65.3%) among those in the age group of 11 - 20 years (P < 0.05) than those above 60 years. More than 70% of those infected excreted above 50 eggs/10ml urine. Malacological studies conducted along water bodies in the study area indicated that infection was localised. Bulinus globosus is implicated as the potential disease intermediate host. @JASE

Malaria knowledge and agricultural practices that promote mosquito breeding in two rural farming communities in Oyo State, Nigeria

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Agricultural practices such as the use of irrigation during rice cultivation, the use of ponds for fish farming and the storage of water in tanks for livestock provide suitable breeding grounds for anthropophylic mosquitoes. The most common anthropophylic mosquito in Nigeria which causes much of the morbidity and mortality associated with malaria is the anopheles mosquito. Farmers are therefore at high risk of malaria - a disease which seriously impacts on agricultural productivity. Unfortunately information relating to agricultural practices and farmers' behavioural antecedent factors that could assist malaria programmers plan and implement interventions to reduce risk of infections among farmers is scanty. Farmers' knowledge about malaria and agricultural practices which favour the breeding of mosquitoes in Fashola and Soku, two rural farming communities in Oyo State were therefore assessed in two rural farming communities in Oyo State.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This descriptive cross-sectional study involved the collection of data through the use of eight Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and the interview of 403 randomly selected farmers using semi-structured questionnaires. These sets of information were supplemented with observations of agricultural practices made in 40 randomly selected farms. The FGD data were recorded on audio-tapes, transcribed and subjected to content analysis while the quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Most respondents in the two communities had low level of knowledge of malaria causation as only 12.4% stated that mosquito bite could transmit the disease. Less than half (46.7%) correctly mentioned the signs and symptoms of malaria as high body temperature, body pains, headache, body weakness and cold/fever. The reported main methods for preventing mosquito bites in the farming communities included removal of heaps of cassava tuber peelings (62.3%), bush burning/clearing (54.6%) and clearing of ditches (33.7%). The dumping of cassava tuber peelings which allows the collection of pools of water in the farms storage of peeled cassava tubers soaked in water in uncovered plastic containers, digging of trenches, irrigation of farms and the presence of fish ponds were the observed major agricultural practices that favoured mosquito breeding on the farms. A significant association was observed between respondents' knowledge about malaria and agricultural practices which promote mosquito breeding. Respondents' wealth quintile level was also seen to be associated with respondents' knowledge about malaria and agricultural practices which promote mosquito breeding.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Farmers' knowledge of malaria causation and signs and symptoms was low, while agricultural practices which favour mosquito breeding in the farming communities were common. There is an urgent need to engage farmers in meaningful dialogue on malaria reduction initiatives including the modification of agricultural practices which favour mosquito breeding. Multiple intervention strategies are needed to tackle the factors related to malaria prevalence and mosquito abundance in the communities.</p

Comprehensive Review of the Effects of Vibrations on Wind Turbine During Energy Generation Operation, Its Structural Challenges and Way Forward

The effects of vibration cannot be overemphasized when it comes to generating energy via wind turbine. Vibration is one of the major challenges faced by the wind turbine, due to the complexity of the structure and the area of installation. This research work focuses on a compressive review of the effects of vibration occurrence on wind turbine during energy generation operations and its economical challenges’. Therefore, this research paper has reviewed various aspects of vibration effects in horizontal wind turbine such as the blades region, tower structure, nacelles compartment, and condition monitoring along with fault diagnosis models. The result from this study has shown that, there are needs to develop and implement a good reliability model, fatigue assessment process, and a well-developed monitoring model for wind turbine during operation. When these things are properly put in place, it will help to reduce unwanted vibration occurrence, eliminate unexpected failure of the wind turbine in operations, and hence sustainable energy generation from wind turbine

The practice of female genetical mutilation in modern societies with special reference to humman immunodeficiency virus transmission

No Abstract. IJONAS Vol. 3 (2) 2007: pp. 269-27

Impact of Home Type, Age and Gender on The Antisocial Behaviour of Secondary School Students.

The study investigated the influence of home type, age and gender on the antisocial behaviour of secondary school students. Participants were 1000 secondary school male and female secondary schools students sampled from ten schools in Abuja. Participants were junior secondary three (JSS.111, age 13-15) and senior secondary three (SSS.111 age 16-18 years), 100 participants were sampled from each school, 50 (JSS111) and 50 (SS111). 25 boys and 25 girls from each class. An instrument developed by Nwoke (1998) called Influence of the home on students' school performance (IHSSP) was used. The design was 3x2x2 factorial. The major statistic used was the ANOVA. Results showed that home had significant effect on the antisocial behaviour of secondary school students. (F2, 98)= 18.81

The challenge of human migration in onchocerciasis elimination in Africa

No abstract