MICROBIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF STREAM WATER FOR DOMESTIC USE IN RURAL AREAS: A CASE STUDY OF IJEBU NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT, OGUN STATE. NIGERIA

This study aimed at evaluating the microbial quality of stream water sources for domestic purposes by rural communities in Ijebu North Local Government to determine their fitness for human consumption. The evaluated streams include Erilobinla, Imosun, Okenugbo, Odoralamo, Odoye, loji,  Mamu and Tekunle oga. Physicochemical parameters were determined; pour plate method using selective media were employed to determine the enteric bacteria present in water samples. Bacterial isolates were characterized adopting the standard methods, and isolates were further subjected to antimicrobial sensitivity testing using the disc diffusion technique. The result of physicochemical parameters showed that temperature value varied from 25 - 290C, pH varied from 7.30 - 8.50, and total dissolved solid (TDS) of samples were not in agreement with WHO standards. Two of the eight streams analysed had odour, three had taste and two had colour . The total bacteria count revealed that Erilobinla stream water had the highest total bacteria count of 9.0 x 104 cfu/ml while Okenugbo and Odoye had the lowest total bacteria count of 1.0 x 101 cfu/ml. The microorganisms isolated were Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, Campylobacter species, Salmonella species, Klebsiella species, Proteus species and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The antimicrobial sensitivity testing showed that these organisms were resistant to some antimicrobials. In conclusion, most of the stream waters are unsafe for drinking as they are of low quality thresholds. Thus, the stream waters require further purification to ensure suitability for human consumption and there is urgent need for provision of potable water to prevent outbreak of waterborne diseases.Â

Challenges of Utilizing Agricultural Information Sources by Small Scale Farmers in Nasarawa State, Nigeria

This paper discusses the challenges of utilizing agricultural sources by small-scale farmers in Nasarawa State of Central Nigeria.  Poorly trained extension workers contribute significantly to inadequacy of interpersonal communication strategy which lent cognizance to the use of mass media support in conducting information dissemination to farmers in the area.  It was discovered that mass media strategy in the absence of education, material resources, appropriate infrastructure and technical skills was unlikely to eradicate inaccessibility and ineffective information utilization among rural farming community.  There is need for extension managers to improve both the quality and quantity of their extension personnel through continued staff recruitment and training. Keywords: Inter-personal channels; mass media, dissemination of information, persuasion, Johari windows, process of communication

SELECTED WELFARE PARAMETERS OF BROILER CHICKENS ON DIFFERENT FEED QUANTITY AND TIME

This study was conducted to determine welfare of broiler chickens fed ad libitum and restricted feed during early (08.00hour) and late (16:00hour) of the day. One hundred and eighty (21d old) broiler chickens were randomly allocated to 4 treatments in a 2x2 factorial arrangement comprising of ad libitum and restricted feeding (75% of ad libitum) quantity at 8 and 16 hours feeding time in three replicates. Data were collected on leg problem, dust bathing, body temperature, mortality and haematology. Result revealed that neither feed quantity nor time had significant (P>0.05) effect on leg problem, dust bathing and mortality of broiler chickens. Broiler chickens under ad lib feed quantity and 16:00hours feeding time had (P<0.05) highest body temperature (40.93oC) while those under ad libitum morning (08:00hours) recorded the least (40.75°C). Pack Cell Volume had similar (P>0.05) increase from 26.75% at the beginning (21d) to 31.25 (%) at 56d with broiler chickens under restricted feeding and fed at 16:00hours feeding time. Basophil count reduced from a range of 0.5-2% (P<0.05) to 1% (P>0.05) with restricted feeding. Also eosinophil reduced from 2-4% (P<0.05) range to 0-2.5% (P>0.05) with restricted feeding while birds under ad lib increased from 0-1% (P<0.05) at 21d to 2.75% (P>0.05) at 56d. Better welfare (good body temperature) of broiler chicken could be achieved with early feeding time irrespective of quantity. However, restricted feeding could be explored in broiler production where reduced basophil, eosinophil and stress are vital for enhanced welfare and performance.   &nbsp

Growth Pattern of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in different wastewater media

Restaurant wastewater are a major cause of environmental pollution with the indiscriminate release of the effluent to the environment resulting in blocking of drainages and eutrophication thereby causing serious threat to aquatic life. The growth pattern of a dietary rich oily wastewater degrading bacteria strain, Pseudomonas aeruginosa in different wastewater media composed to mimic the possible constituents of restaurant wastewater was investigated in this study. There was noticeable microbial growth in the synthetic and domestic wastewaters after 48h while the detergent wastewater and heated oil-detergent wastewater did not support the strain's growth. The decrease in the fat content with a corresponding increase in the ash content after 120h was due to the test strain's metabolic activity, which is slightly higher in domestic wastewater than the heated oil-detergent solution. Also, the potassium (K+), Mg2+, Fe2+ and Ca2+ contents increased within the same period in both media except in the domestic wastewater where the Ca2+ content reduced. Protease enzyme activity (46.440mM/min) was considerably higher in the domestic wastewater than lipase (3.322mM/min) and amylase activity (14.244mM/min) after 72 hours of incubation. The pristine genetic properties of Pseudomonas aeruginosa altered when cultured in various wastewaters probably due to variation in the composition of the substrates

Estimation of Human Health Risk Due to Heavy Metals around Schools and Auto-Mobile Workshops near Frequented Roads in Kaduna State, Nigeria

Heavy metals are widely known for their potential to cause carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks. In this work, the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks associated with heavy metals in the vicinity of schools and auto mechanic workshops close to busy roads in Kaduna state was assessed using NEX CG EDXRF MODEL with brand name RIGAKU situated at a UTM Laboratory, Malaysia. The obtained heavy metals concentrations were used to estimate the health effects that might result from exposure to carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic chemicals for both the population ages using US EPA methodology. Findings indicated that in some locations the carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic hazards associated with exposure for residents was greater than the US EPA acceptable thresholds of 10-4 and 1 respectively. This indicated that the heavy metals may result to unacceptable carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks, which is an issue of concern in public health especially looking at the way school children play around these areas. The present study therefore provides scientific basis for strategies required to protect human and environmental health in schools and automobile workshops

Development and Performance Evaluation of a Rubber and Canvas Strip Fingers Defeathering Machine

Human labour requirement in poultry products processing has continued to increase and more demanding, especially defeathering which is faced with faced challenges such as lacerations and hygiene in handling. To solve these challenges, mechanical defeathering proffered a solution, which further posed a problem of equipment cost and efficiency of operation. This paper investigated a developed a low-cost axial-loading (horizontal) defeathering with dual fingers for small and medium-scale poultry processors. This study reported the development of a defeathering machine which comprises of an axial defeathering drum with strip fingers, which flaps on the carcass to pluck off feathers in motion. The machine is electrically powered with a defeathering power requirement of 0.304 kW and at a power rating of 0.269 kW. The performance evaluation carried out with a broiler, cockerel and layer birds at a soaking temperature of 80 degree Celsius for an average time of 1 minutes showed that the efficiency and the effectiveness of the machine varies with respect to the quality of cleaned carcass produced. It was also observed that it takes the machine about 60 seconds to completely defeather a broiler of 2.4 kg weight, 70 seconds to defeather an old layer breed of bird of about 1.2 kg weight and 105 seconds to defeather a 1.3 kg weight of local chicken. However, test carried out on local birds showed that the machine was less effective defeathering local chicken at low temperature, because of the toughness of the skin. Comparatively, canvass (leather) fingers have the highest defeathering efficiency while rubber strip fingers produced the least defeathering efficiency. Therefore, canvas (leather) strip finger performed better than rubber strip fingers

Drug resistance in B and non-B subtypes amongst subjects recently diagnosed as primary/recent or chronic HIV-infected over the period 2013–2016: Impact on susceptibility to first-line strategies including integrase strand-transfer inhibitors

Objectives To characterize the prevalence of transmitted drug resistance mutations (TDRMs) by plasma analysis of 750 patients at the time of HIV diagnosis from January 1, 2013 to November 16, 2016 in the Veneto region (Italy), where all drugs included in the recommended first line therapies were prescribed, included integrase strand transfer inhibitors (InNSTI). Methods TDRMs were defined according to the Stanford HIV database algorithm. Results Subtype B was the most prevalent HIV clade (67.3%). A total of 92 patients (12.3%) were expected to be resistant to one drug at least, most with a single class mutation (60/68–88.2% in subtype B infected subjectsand 23/24–95.8% in non-B subjects) and affecting mainly NNRTIs. No significant differences were observed between the prevalence rates of TDRMs involving one or more drugs, except for the presence of E138A quite only in patients with B subtype and other NNRTI in subjects with non-B infection. The diagnosis of primary/recent infection was made in 73 patients (9.7%): they had almost only TDRMs involving a single class. Resistance to InSTI was studied in 484 subjects (53 with primary-recent infection), one patient had 143C in 2016, a total of thirteen 157Q mutations were detected (only one in primary/recent infection). Conclusions Only one major InSTI-TDRM was identified but monitoring of TDRMs should continue in the light of continuing presence of NNRTI-related mutation amongst newly diagnosed subjects, sometime impacting also to modern NNRTI drugs recommended in first-line therapy

Acoustic Events in the Solar Atmosphere from Hinode/SOT NFI observations

We investigate the properties of acoustic events (AEs), defined as spatially concentrated and short duration energy flux, in the quiet sun using observations of a 2D field of view (FOV) with high spatial and temporal resolution provided by the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) onboard \textit{Hinode}. Line profiles of Fe \textsc{i} 557.6 nm were recorded by the Narrow band Filter Imager (NFI) on a $82" \times 82"$ FOV during 75 min with a time step of 28.75 s and 0.08$"$ pixel size. Vertical velocities were computed at three atmospheric levels (80, 130 and 180 km) using the bisector technique allowing the determination of energy flux in the range 3-10 mHz using two complementary methods (Hilbert transform and Fourier power spectra). Horizontal velocities were computed using local correlation tracking (LCT) of continuum intensities providing divergences. The net energy flux is upward. In the range 3-10 mHz, a full FOV space and time averaged flux of 2700 W m$^{-2}$ (lower layer 80-130 km) and 2000 W m$^{-2}$ (upper layer 130-180 km) is concentrated in less than 1% of the solar surface in the form of narrow (0.3$"$) AE. Their total duration (including rise and decay) is of the order of $10^{3}$ s. Inside each AE, the mean flux is $1.6 10^{5}$ W m$^{-2}$ (lower layer) and $1.2 10^{5}$ W m$^{-2}$ (upper). Each event carries an average energy (flux integrated over space and time) of $2.5 10^{19}$ J (lower layer) to $1.9 10^{19}$ J (upper). More than $10^{6}$ events could exist permanently on the Sun, with a birth and decay rate of 3500 s$^{-1}$. Most events occur in intergranular lanes, downward velocity regions, and areas of converging motions.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figure

Ground-plane screening of Coulomb interactions in two-dimensional systems: How effectively can one two-dimensional system screen interactions in another?

The use of a nearby metallic ground-plane to limit the range of the Coulomb interactions between carriers is a useful approach in studying the physics of two-dimensional (2D) systems. This approach has been used to study Wigner crystallization of electrons on the surface of liquid helium, and most recently, the insulating and metallic states of semiconductor-based two-dimensional systems. In this paper, we perform calculations of the screening effect of one 2D system on another and show that a 2D system is at least as effective as a metal in screening Coulomb interactions. We also show that the recent observation of the reduced effect of the ground-plane when the 2D system is in the metallic regime is due to intralayer screening.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures Accepted in PR