Tenure insecurity and incremental housing development in the peri-urban interface of Ibadan, Nigeria

The increasing urbanization being experienced in countries of Africa exacerbates current housing needs and tenure insecurity. In Ibadan, Nigeria, the urban populace finds it easier to access land in the informal land market because of the strictness of the formal land market. This results in incremental housing development. Based on the self-help theory, the study examined the contribution of tenure insecurity to the development of incremental housing in peri-urban Ibadan. A cross-sectional research design and mixed methods were employed in the study. 248 household heads were selected from 6 LGAs of Ibadan and administered with a structured questionnaire. Ethical protocols were followed and informed consent was obtained. The study revealed that the majority of the incremental developers were illiterates. Factors that accounted for the incremental development included fear of eviction, high housing rent, and lack of funds. The study recommended enhancing access to secure land titles as it has multiplier-effects on housing

Development and feasibility testing of clinical decision support tool to aid physiotherapists with diagnosis of low back pain

Background: The advent of technological innovation is considered a significant improvement in the management of low-back pain (LBP). However, decision support systems (DSS) for patients with LBP remains largely unexplored, despite its potential benefits to service providers and users. A DSS for LBP will help put in order the variety of routine tests and questions the physiotherapist needs to perform and enquire to arrive at a specific diagnosis. The study developed and assessed the feasibility of a clinical decision support tool (CDST) to aid physiotherapists with clinical diagnosis of LBP. Methods: Qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed in this study. The qualitative phase was used for the development of the decision support tool (DST) using a three rounds Modified Delphi approach among purposive respondents including physiotherapists and orthopaedic surgeons. The feasibility testing phase of the developed DST was implemented after a two-week period and outcomes were assessed in terms of engagement, satisfaction, level of motivation and user experience. Descriptive of mean, standard deviation and frequency and inferential statistics of t-test were used to analyse the data. Results: A three-end user (patient, physiotherapist and admin) DST was developed. The most positively rated items were “frequency of usage” (100%), “ease of usage” (60%), “technical support” (60%), and “ease of learning” (60%) System Usability Scale (SUS). The tool had a modified mobile app rating scale (M-MARS) score of 16.5 ± 1.00 before the intervention and 18.3 ± 0.57 after the intervention out of a total of 22.5. Moreover, there were significant differences between participants’ rating of the tool before and after intervention in “information” (22.0 ± 1.87 vs 25.4 ± 1.52; p = 0.04) and “total app quality rating” (16.5 ± 1.00 vs 18.3 ± 0.57; p = 0.04). Conclusion: The findings of this study show that the developed DST for LBP diagnosis has high usability, quality rating, and change in health behaviour. Also, there was a significant increment in participants’ rating of the tool after use. The implication of this study is that DST could potentially assist with diagnosis in the management of LBP. Ethics: Ethical approval was sought from the Health Research Ethics Committee of the Institute of Public Health, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria (Registration number: IPHOAU/12/1396). Funding: There was no funding received in relation to the study

Design and Preliminary Evaluation of a Dry Cowpea Dehuller

Cowpea dehulling is an important operation in the processing of cowpea. Traditional cowpea dehulling methods recognize the soaking of cowpea in water for a significant amount of time before manual abrasion is carried out either through the use of mortar and pestle, hands, or legs. Existing mechanical alternatives also require prolonged soaking of cowpea before dehulling occurs in addition to being expensive and beyond the reach of many rural populations. This study designed and fabricated a dry cowpea dehulling machine using engineering principles and with locally available materials. Components of the machine include the hopper, power transmission drive, dehulling chamber, polishing chamber, sieves, discharge chute, and agitator. Dry cowpea varieties of Brown Drum (15%Mc dB) and Oloyin (17.5%Mc dB) cowpea weighing 500 g each were fed into the machine at a constant speed of 358 rpm. Preliminary tests showed the “Brown Drum” cowpea variety recorded a maximum dehulling efficiency of 97.44% in 7 minutes while the Oloyin variety was completely dehulled in 7 minutes at 98.75% efficiency. The throughput capacity recorded was 450kg/hr and this machine raises the possibility of producing dry dehulled cowpea for domestic and industrial end-users

Contributions of uterine fibroids to infertility at Ile‑Ife, South‑Western Nigeria

Background: Uterine fibroid is the most common tumor of the female genital tract. The benign tumors often grow into large sizes and assume unsightly shapes with concomitant symptoms and signs. Being a predominantly reproductive age disease, concurrent infertility and symptomatic uterine fibroids pose management challenges. Individualization of the patient is thus essential to the success of the reproductive outcome.Objectives: This study determined the prevalence, trend, management modalities, pregnancy outcome, and exposition of factors affecting pregnancy outcome among patients presenting with uterine fibroids and infertility at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex (OAUTHC).Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study of case records of 106 women managed for uterine fibroids and infertility over a 5‑year period (January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2016) at the OAUTHC. The outcome measure is the pregnancy rate among those who had a myomectomy.Results: About a quarter of women with infertility had symptomatic uterine fibroids and this represents about 35%–40% of the overall number of women presenting as uterine fibroid within the study. About 84.9% had uterine size >12 weeks at presentation. Two‑third of the patients had open myomectomy alone with 43.9% achieving conception thereafter. Conception rate for myomectomy with tuboplasty was 31.3% whereas myomectomy with subsequent in vitro fertilization (IVF) was 50%. Pregnancy rate decreased with increasing size of the uterus before myomectomy.Conclusion: Symptomatic fibroid was significantly prevalent among women with infertility. Myomectomy improves fertility potential and success rate of IVF. Uterine fibroid has both direct and indirect effect on infertility and pregnancy rate in this group of the patient can be improved through routine screening for uterine fibroids and early removal of the fibroids before they grow into giants size.Keywords: Infertility; myomectomy; pregnancy outcome; uterine fibroid

Obstructed labour in a Nigerian tertiary health facility: a mixed-method study

Background: Obstructed labour remains a leading cause of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity in sub-Saharan Africa. This study aimed to determine the incidence, causes, complications and outcomes of obstructed labour at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex (OAUTHC), Ile-Ife, Osun state, Nigeria.Methods: A mixed methods approach was employed for this study. A 10-year retrospective review of all cases of obstructed labour managed at the OAUTHC, between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2017, was done. Ten in-depth interviews were conducted for some selected patients. The quantitative data was analysed using SPSS version 24, while the qualitative data was analyzed with NVivo version 12.Results: The incidence of obstructed labour was 1.99%. Most of the patients were unbooked (217, 90.4%), primigravid (138, 57.5%), and either had no formal or only primary/secondary education (120, 50%). Cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD) was the commonest cause of obstructed labour (227, 94.6%). The most common maternal complication was wound infection (48, 20%). There were three maternal deaths, giving a case fatality rate of 1.25%. The most common foetal complication was birth asphyxia (85, 34.7%). The perinatal mortality rate was 18.8 %. From the qualitative arm of the study, reasons given by parturients who suffered obstructed labour, for avoiding hospitals for delivery, included religion, finance, fear of hospitals, faith/belief in mission homes/maternity houses, and proximity.Conclusions: Obstructed labour remains an important obstetric problem in our environment, contributing significantly to the burden of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity.

City Expansion and Agricultural Land Loss within the Peri-Urban Area of Osun State, Nigeria

Urban encroachment into arable land along the peri-urban areas of Osun State, Nigeria prompted this investigation. The study is aimed at determining rate, pattern and effects of uncontrolled spatial expansion in the city. This study examines the trend in eight (8) peri-urban communities in Olorunda and Osogbo LGAs which were purposely selected. A multi-stage sampling technique was adopted in administering 230 questionnaires on randomly selected peri-urban farmers. Primary data collected were analysed using SPSS while Geographical Information Systems (GIS) data acquisition and sources were used to capture vegetation change, with 3 Landsat imageries sourced for the study. Findings revealed that 72% of interviewed farmers had a fear of losing their farmland to developmental projects as 16.1% of farmers had previously lost between 1 and  2 acres of farmland to such projects. Land modelling change detected that settlement/built-up-areas have increased from 978.03 hectares (6.60865%) in 1986 to 2976.39 hectares (20.11178%) in 2014, to the detriment of farmland/vegetative cover. As a result farmland/vegetative cover reduced from 9277.71 hectares (62.69045%) in 1986 to 7995.33 hectares (54.02527%) in 2014. The study discovered that such a degree of city encroachment and expansions into vegetative land cover is greatly impeding agricultural activities and farm production. Thus, the paper advocates that the government and land administrators formulate and implement policies in this direction.

Author Correction: Bacterial communities associated with the surface of fresh sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum) and their potential as biocontrol

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper

Epiphytic Bacteria from Sweet Pepper Antagonistic In Vitro to Ralstonia solanacearum BD 261, a Causative Agent of Bacterial Wilt

Biological control of plant pathogens, particularly using microbial antagonists, is posited as the most effective, environmentally-safe, and sustainable strategy to manage plant diseases. However, the roles of antagonists in controlling bacterial wilt, a disease caused by the most devastating and widely distributed pathogen of sweet peppers (i.e., R. solanacearum), are poorly understood. Here, amplicon sequencing and several microbial function assays were used to depict the identities and the potential antagonistic functions of bacteria isolated from 80 red and green sweet pepper fruit samples, grown under hydroponic and open soil conditions, with some plants, fungicide-treated while others were untreated. Amplicon sequencing revealed the following bacterial strains: Bacillus cereus strain HRT7.7, Enterobacter hormaechei strain SRU4.4, Paenibacillus polymyxa strain SRT9.1, and Serratia marcescens strain SGT5.3, as potential antagonists of R. solanacearum. Optimization studies with different carbon and nitrogen sources revealed that maximum inhibition of the pathogen was produced at 3% (w/v) starch and 2,5% (w/v) tryptone at pH 7 and 30 °C. The mode of action exhibited by the antagonistic isolates includes the production of lytic enzymes (i.e., cellulase and protease enzymes) and siderophores, as well as solubilization of phosphate. Overall, the results demonstrated that the maximum antimicrobial activity of bacterial antagonists could only be achieved under specific environmental conditions (e.g., available carbon and nitrogen sources, pH, and temperature levels), and that bacterial antagonists can also indirectly promote crop growth and development through nutrient cycling and siderophore production