Substance abuse and adherence to antiretroviral therapy among patients attending clinic at a specialist hospital in Jos, Nigeria

Substance abuse does not only increase susceptibility to HIV/AIDS through high risk Sexual behaviors but it also hastens the progression of the disease among infected persons than in those who do not abuse drugs. Furthermore, drug use impairs adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) leading to reduction in ART effectiveness and ultimately increased HIV-related mortality. In North Central Nigeria there is a dearth of information concerning the influence of substance abuse on adherence to ART which has substantially altered the fate of HIV-infected people. The objectives of this study therefore, were to determine the type of substances abused by HIV-infected patients attending clinic at Plateau State Specialists Hospital (PSSH) and to determine the effect of substance abuse and sociodemographic factors on adherence to ART among these patients. Ethical approval was obtained before the commencement of the study which was crosssectional in design. The study was carried out at the infectious disease unit of the Plateau State Specialists Hospital, Jos among 160 consecutive patients. The Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) was used for the assessment of the types of substance abused and AIDS Clinical Trials Group(ACTG) adherence instrument was used to assess reasons for non- adherence. The results showed that 61.9% of the patients did not use any substance of abuse, 38.1% either abused one substance or a combination of substances. Substance abuse were (p = 0.0001), alcohol abuse (p = 0.003) and educational status (p = 0.0001) significantly associated with non-adherence to ART while, age (p = 0.954), employment status (p = 0.924) and marital status (p = 0.466) were not. However, logistic regression revealed that only alcohol abuse (B = -1.383, df = 1, p = .002) predicted non adherence to ART. We recommend the screening of patients on ART for substance abuse and a multi-disciplinary approach to the treatment of HIV/AIDS.Keywords: HIV, substance abuse, medication adherenc

Lowland Rice Nutrient Responses for the Guinea and Sudan Savannas of Nigeria

Yield response of irrigated lowland rice (Oryza sativa L.) to nutrient application was determined to improve the information base for fertilizer use in the Sudan and Southern Guinea Savannas of Nigeria. Economically optimal rates (EOR) and agronomic efficiency (AE) were determined. Five N levels and four levels each P, K, and Zn were evaluated with two varieties at two locations. Nitrogen effects varied by variety and location but mean paddy yield with 0 kg ha–1 N was 3.4 Mg ha–1 and was increased by 1.3 Mg ha–1 with 40 kg ha–1 N. The mean EOR of N with fertilizer use cost to paddy price ratios (CP) of 2 to 6 were 56 to 38 kg ha–1 N, respectively. Yield increases with P, K and Zn application were infrequent. Paddy yield was increased in one of four cases with up to 1.5 kg ha–1 Zn. There were no paddy yield increases but some decreases with application of Mg-S-B in addition to N-P-K-Zn. The overall AE of N at EOR with a CP of 4 was 25.3 kg kg–1. The profit potential of N application was greater for Faro 44 compared with Faro 52 at both locations. Financially constrained farmers who opt to apply N at 50 compared with 100% EOR when CP was 4 can expect 16% less yield increase but 67% higher AE and value to cost ratio. Application of fertilizer N, maybe with P at Kadawa, can be highly profitable for irrigated lowland rice in these agroecological zones

Lowland Rice Nutrient Responses for the Guinea and Sudan Savannas of Nigeria

Copyright © 2018 by the American Society of Agronomy This is an open access article doi:10.2134/agronj2017.08.046

Impact of tax fairness and tax knowledge on tax compliance behavior of listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria

Abstract Tax compliance is a major contemporary debate surrounding corporate taxation in the business world. The tax avoidance issue, which remains an ethical problem for companies, has been a general concern in developed and developing countries alike. The main problem of this study is a non-tax compliance behavior of the corporate organization taxpayers in Nigeria. This study examined the influence of tax fairness on the tax compliance behavior of listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria. The paper adopted a survey research method, and four hundred (400) copies of the questionnaire were administered to the selected manufacturing companies of both consumer and industrial goods sectors. The Laffer Curve Theory underpinned this study and Correlation Analysis, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and Multiple Regression Analysis were also employed. The study found that there is a significant level of tax compliance among the listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria. The study also shows that the corporate taxpayer’s perception of fairness of –2.765 (0.006) has a significant impact on corporate taxpayers’ willingness to pay taxes and tax knowledge of 4.601 (0.000) significantly influenced tax compliance. Based on tax knowledge, the study recommends that tax authorities must improve the knowledge of taxpayers and tax collection agents through programs, initiatives, and training on tax awareness

Antimicrobial resistance pattern of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated from sheep and humans in Veterinary Hospital Maiduguri, Nigeria

BACKGROUND AND AIM : Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), an important opportunistic pathogen, is a Gram-positive coccus known to be resistant to β-lactam antibiotics. Its virulence depends on a large range of factors, mainly extracellular proteins, such as enzymes and exotoxins, that contribute to causing a wide range of diseases in human and animal species. The major reasons for the success of this pathogen are its great variability, which enables it to occur and thrive at different periods and places with diverse clonal types and antibiotic resistance patterns within regions and countries. Infections caused by antibiotic-resistant S. aureus bring about serious problems in the general population (humans and animals). Infections with these pathogens can be devastating, particularly for the very young, adults and immunocompromised patients in both humans and animals. This study aimed to determine the presence of MRSA in both apparently healthy and sick sheep brought to the veterinary hospital as well as veterinary staff and students on clinical attachment in the hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS : A total of 200 nasal swab samples were collected aseptically from sheep and humans (100 each) for the isolation of MRSA. The samples were processed by appropriately transporting them to the laboratory, then propagated in nutrient broth at 37°C for 24 h followed by subculturing on mannitol salt agar at 37°C for 24 h, to identify S. aureus. This was followed by biochemical tests (catalase and coagulase tests) and Gram staining. MRSA was isolated using Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI) guideline and confirmed by plating onto Oxacillin (OX) Resistance Screening Agar Base agar. The antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of the MRSA isolates was determined using the disk diffusion method against 12 commonly used antimicrobial agents. RESULTS : The total rate of nasal carriage of S. aureus and MRSA was found to be 51% and 43% in sheep and humans, respectively. The MRSA prevalence in male and female sheep was 18% and 8%, while 9% and 8% were for male and female human samples, respectively. The antimicrobial susceptibility test showed 100% resistance to OX, cefoxitin, oxytetracycline, cephazolin, and penicillin-G (Pen) by MRSA isolates from humans. Conversely, there was 100% susceptibility to ciprofloxacin, imipenem, and gentamicin; for linezolid (LZD), it was 87.5%, norfloxacin (NOR) (71%), and erythromycin (ERY) (50%) susceptibility was recorded. The MRSA isolates from sheep recorded 100% resistance to the same set of drugs used for human MRSA isolates and were equally 100% susceptible to gentamicin, imipenem, LZD, ciprofloxacin, NOR (92%), and ERY (50%). CONCLUSION : This study determined the presence of MRSA in sheep and humans from the Veterinary Hospital, Maiduguri. It appears that certain drugs such as ciprofloxacin, imipenem, and gentamicin will continue to remain effective against MRSA associated with humans and sheep. Reasons for the observed patterns of resistance must be explored to reduce the burdens of MRSA resistance. Furthermore, the present study did not confirm the MRSA resistance genes such as mecA and spa typing to ascertain the polymorphism in the X-region using appropriate molecular techniques. Hence more studies need to be conducted to elucidate these findings using robust techniques.http://www.veterinaryworld.orgam2023Production Animal StudiesVeterinary Tropical Disease

Molecular Detection of Torque Teno Sus Virus and Coinfection with African Swine Fever Virus in Blood Samples of Pigs from Some Slaughterhouses in Nigeria

Torque teno sus virus 1 (TTSuV1a/TTSuV1b) infection is present in pig herds worldwide. This study investigated the prevalence of TTSuV1a/TTSuV1b infections in domestic pigs from some slaughterhouses in Nigeria as well as coinfection with African swine fever virus (ASFV) and described the phylogeny in relation to global strains. One hundred and eighty-one (181) blood samples from four slaughterhouses were used for the study and viral nucleic acid detection was carried out by PCR. Comparative sequence analysis was carried out to infer phylogeny. The overall prevalence of TTSuV1a/b was 17.7%. Prevalence of individual genotypes was 10.5% and 7.2% for TTSuV1a and TTSuV1b, respectively. Coinfection of ASFV/TTSuV1a/b was 7.7% while that of TTSuV1a and TTSuV1b was 1.7%. ASFV alone was detected in 11.91% of the total samples. The Nigerian TTSuV1a and TTSuV1b shared a sequence identity of 91–100% and 95–100%, respectively, among each other. The ASFV sequences were 100% identical to members of genotype 1. This is the first report on the presence of TTSuV1a/b in domestic pigs in Nigeria and coinfection with ASFV. Although the prevalence of TTSuV1a/b in Nigeria was low, we recommend further studies to establish the trend and possible role in the pathogenesis of ASFV

The Degree of Urbanization of a Species Affects How Intensively It Is Studied: A Global Perspective

The expansion of urban areas is currently one of the most important worldwide landscape changes. This process, termed urbanization, has important ecological effects and is known to alter many aspects of the biology of organisms (including birds). However, human-nature interactions can also be affected by this process. We hypothesized that urbanization can particularly affect how intensively we investigate birds. We predict that species living in close proximity to humans will be more easily or preferably studied, thus promoting a bias in research effort toward urban birds. In order to test this hypothesis we have collected a detailed database of urban and non-urban avian communities including information from five biogeographic realms and more than 750 bird species. We obtained four different indicators of research effort (two previously considered and two new ones) as well as information on different confounding factors that are known to affect research effort such as conservation status, body mass, distribution range and phylogeny, in addition to the previously unconsidered historical factor of year of description of the species. We found a positive and significant association between the degree of urbanization of a species and how frequently it is investigated. We also found the expected effect for biogeographic realm, body mass and distribution range, and year of description, but not for conservation status. In addition, we found a strong correlation among all research effort variables which support the use of Google Scholar as a reliable source for these kind of studies. Our findings suggest that urbanization is not only affecting the biology of organisms but also how we study them. These results might have important implications if this research bias is maintained in the long term. Future investigation should aim at exploring the ultimate reasons for this research bias toward urban birds and whether it is also happening for other groups of organisms

Seroprevalence and associated risk factors of human cystic echinococcosis in some parts of Plateau State, Nigeria

Livestock, pets and companion animals in developing nations are plagued with several infectious diseases some of them with zoonotic potentials. Echinococcosis which is a neglected zoonotic parasitic disease is one of such diseases that affect domestic animals and man with serious health and economic impacts. A cross-sectional questionnaire and serological survey was conducted on human subjects from four Local Government Areas (LGA) of Plateau State, Nigeria, to determine knowledge, attitude and practice and their level of exposure to E. granulosus infection. Sera from 181 human subjects recruited for this study were screened for IgG antibodies to E. granulosus using a commercial ELISA kit. Overall, 6 out of the 181 (3.3%) tested sera were positive. Seropositivity was associated with subjects below 10 years (OR=5.6), study location (OR=1.8), and scavenging behaviour of dogs (OR= 1.5), but not with gender of dog owners (OR=0.7), dog ownership (OR=0.6), dog deworming practice (OR=0.3) or the use of slaughter facility and meat inspection (OR=0.6). Ignorance about the transmission cycle of E. granulosus coupled with unhygienic practices are the main risk factors for the perpetuation of the disease in the study-communities. Sensitization, awareness creation and advocacy for hygienic  practises among the communities are recommended, as a short term measure while large scale studies to determine the true prevalence and therisk factors of the disease will form the basis for possible future control measures. Keywords: Seroprevalence; Echinococcus granulosus; antibody; ELISA; human; Plateau State

Lowland Rice Nutrient Responses for the Guinea and Sudan Savannas of Nigeria

Yield response of irrigated lowland rice (Oryza sativa L.) to nutrient application was determined to improve the information base for fertilizer use in the Sudan and Southern Guinea Savannas of Nigeria. Economically optimal rates (EOR) and agronomic efficiency (AE) were determined. Five N levels and four levels each P, K, and Zn were evaluated with two varieties at two locations. Nitrogen effects varied by variety and location but mean paddy yield with 0 kg ha–1 N was 3.4 Mg ha–1 and was increased by 1.3 Mg ha–1 with 40 kg ha–1 N. The mean EOR of N with fertilizer use cost to paddy price ratios (CP) of 2 to 6 were 56 to 38 kg ha–1 N, respectively. Yield increases with P, K and Zn application were infrequent. Paddy yield was increased in one of four cases with up to 1.5 kg ha–1 Zn. There were no paddy yield increases but some decreases with application of Mg-S-B in addition to N-P-K-Zn. The overall AE of N at EOR with a CP of 4 was 25.3 kg kg–1. The profit potential of N application was greater for Faro 44 compared with Faro 52 at both locations. Financially constrained farmers who opt to apply N at 50 compared with 100% EOR when CP was 4 can expect 16% less yield increase but 67% higher AE and value to cost ratio. Application of fertilizer N, maybe with P at Kadawa, can be highly profitable for irrigated lowland rice in these agroecological zones

Lowland Rice Nutrient Responses for the Guinea and Sudan Savannas of Nigeria

Copyright © 2018 by the American Society of Agronomy This is an open access article doi:10.2134/agronj2017.08.046