Torsion of an Ovarian Cyst in Pregnancy

Torsion of the ovary is the partial or total rotation of the ovary over its pedicle. It is unusual for it to occur in the second trimester. We report a case  of a 35year old G10P9+0A7 at 17weeks gestation who presented with acute severe abdominal pain. She was found to have an ovarian cyst in pregnancy. She had Exploratory Laparotomy where a huge gangrenous cyst was found and Salpingoophorectomy was performed. The pregnancy continued without any problems. The histology report showed a Simple Cyst. Key words: Torsion, Ovarian Cyst, Pregnanc

Rural Women Processing Cassava in Doma Local Government Area of Central Nigeria Deserve Technical Assistance

The study was conducted in Doma Local Government Area (DLGA), of Nasarawa State in Central Nigeria.  The local government area is prominent for the production of cassava tubers and is made up of five districts.  There are a total of 10 villages in the five districts.  Ten women participating in cassava processing in each village were randomly selected making a total of 100 respondents for the study but only 73 of them were finally used for the study.  Data were subjected to descriptive statistics involving means, frequencies and percentages.  The finding of the study was that 84.0 percent of the respondents claimed non-existence of modern processing technologies recommendation in the study area.  Efforts should be intensified by relevant authority to persuade researchers to develop appropriate processing technologies commensurate with literacy level, skills of the processors and for the extension system organization to develop appropriate work-plan for the women processors with the view to minimizing their most pressing constraints. Keywords: Doma Local Government; cassava chips, flour, Gari, Starch, flow chart

Synthesis, characterization, in-vitro anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial screening of metal(II) mixed diclofenac and acetaminophen complexes

Mixed ligand complexes derived from diclofenac potassium salt (Kdc) and acetaminophen (ace) has been synthesized and proposed to have a general formula [MB] where M = Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+ and Zn2+and B = (ace)(dc)(H2O)2 except for Mn2+ complex which exists as [Mn(ace)(dc)OH2]. The complexes were characterized by solubility, melting point, conductivity, elemental analyses, UV-Vis, FT-IR spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) study and magnetic susceptibility measurement. Electronic absorption spectra data are characteristic of octahedral structures for [MB]. The IR spectra revealed a bidentate coordination mode. In acetaminophen, the nitrogen and carbonyl-O atoms of the amide group were involved while the carboxylate oxygen atoms of potassium diclofenac were used; typical of a carboxylic acid derivative. The compounds were screened for in-vitro anti-inflammatory activity by inhibition of albumin denaturation assay and antimicrobial activity against bacteria strains: Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus anthrax, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi and a fungus Aspergillus niger. Some of the tested compounds showed moderate anti-inflammatory activity when compared to the standard drug diclofenac potassium salt. The in-vitro antimicrobial screening revealed an increased activity of the complexes against the bacteria isolates compared to the free ligands.                     KEY WORDS: Metal(II) ion, NSAIDs, Anti-inflammatory activity, Diclofenac potassium salt, XRPD, Antimicrobial activity   Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2021, 35(1), 77-86. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v35i1.

Review of Agricultural Waste Utilization as Improvement Additives for Residual Tropical Soils

The development of a nation partially depends on sustainable materials obtained from agricultural products. Increased agricultural products could increase the amount of waste generated yearly. This paper presents a review on the use of agricultural waste with pozzolanic properties (rice husk ash, Locust bean waste ash, Palm oil fuel ash, Banana leaf ash, Bagasse ash, Coconut shell ash, Bamboo leaf ash, Corn cob ash, Cassava peel ash and Palm kernel shell ash) in various geotechnical engineering applications. Interestingly, these wastes were subjected to various laboratory tests such as (particle size distribution, Compaction, Atterberg, unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and California bearing ratio (CBR)) to assess their effectiveness in soil improvement. In all these, the percentages of the materials required for soil improvement were discussed. The reports from various researchers have shown that agricultural waste having pozzolanic properties improves the engineering properties of soil. For instance, palm oil fuel ash (POFA) is mostly used as an admixture in concrete as reported elsewhere. Few studies have been carried out on the use of banana leaf ash and palm oil fuel ash as soil improvement materials. It is recommended that further researches should focus on the possibility of using other agricultural waste from Cocoyam, Yam peel, maize trunk, Cashew and Guava that have limited reporting researches for use as soil improvement materials

Level densities and thermodynamical properties of Pt and Au isotopes

The nuclear level densities of $^{194-196}$Pt and $^{197,198}$Au below the neutron separation energy have been measured using transfer and scattering reactions. All the level density distributions follow the constant-temperature description. Each group of isotopes is characterized by the same temperature above the energy threshold corresponding to the breaking of the first Cooper pair. A constant entropy excess $\Delta S=1.9$ and $1.1$ $k_B$ is observed in $^{195}$Pt and $^{198}$Au with respect to $^{196}$Pt and $^{197}$Au, respectively, giving information on the available single-particle level space for the last unpaired valence neutron. The breaking of nucleon Cooper pairs is revealed by sequential peaks in the microcanonical caloric curve

The GREGOR Fabry-P\'erot Interferometer

The GREGOR Fabry-P\'erot Interferometer (GFPI) is one of three first-light instruments of the German 1.5-meter GREGOR solar telescope at the Observatorio del Teide, Tenerife, Spain. The GFPI uses two tunable etalons in collimated mounting. Thanks to its large-format, high-cadence CCD detectors with sophisticated computer hard- and software it is capable of scanning spectral lines with a cadence that is sufficient to capture the dynamic evolution of the solar atmosphere. The field-of-view (FOV) of 50" x 38" is well suited for quiet Sun and sunspot observations. However, in the vector spectropolarimetric mode the FOV reduces to 25" x 38". The spectral coverage in the spectroscopic mode extends from 530-860 nm with a theoretical spectral resolution R of about 250,000, whereas in the vector spectropolarimetric mode the wavelength range is at present limited to 580-660 nm. The combination of fast narrow-band imaging and post-factum image restoration has the potential for discovery science concerning the dynamic Sun and its magnetic field at spatial scales down to about 50 km on the solar surface.Comment: 14 pages, 17 figures, 4 tables; pre-print of AN 333, p.880-893, 2012 (AN special issue to GREGOR

Development, Implementation, and Process Evaluation of a Theory-Based Nutrition Education Programme for Adults Living With HIV in Abeokuta, Nigeria

Introduction: Healthy diets play a role in the management and care for adults living with HIV/AIDS (ALH). Appropriate nutrition education (NE) is necessary to equip ALH with relevant knowledge and skills for healthy eating. A needs assessment identified the need for a nutrition education programme (NEP) as part of the nutrition service for ALH in Abeokuta, Nigeria. The aim of this study was to design a theory-based NEP and to evaluate the implementation process among ALH attending selected federal and state hospitals in Abeokuta as out-patients.Materials and Methods: An exploratory descriptive needs assessment in the qualitative and quantitative domains was conducted among a convenient sample of ALH (N = 243) at the selected hospitals. The quantitative needs assessment identified needs for improvement in the primary outcome [quality of life (QoL)] and the secondary outcomes [quality of dietary intake, nutrition knowledge, attitudes, and practice (KAP), and anthropometric status]. Participants' perceptions of the NEP were obtained using an interviewer administered questionnaire among 70 ALH who attended the implementation of the NEP and process evaluation thereof at the intervention hospital.Results: The qualitative results identified a lack of knowledge on planning varied meals with limited resources. The identified needs, existing guidelines and literature were integrated with appropriate constructs of the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and the Health Belief Model (HBM) into the NEP. The NE manual, participant's work book, flipcharts, and the brochure were tailored to address the identified challenges.Discussion: The process evaluation showed that the NEP was implemented as planned and that the participants' perceptions were positive. The use of the NE manual, participant's work book, flipcharts, and brochure demonstrated the practicality of incorporating behavioral theories in NE for ALH

Structural Modification of Cellulosic Fabric via Esterification Using Jatropha curcas Seed Oil

This paper presents the results of x-ray diffraction of a cellulose fabric treated with oils extracted from the seed of Jatropha curcas; the oils were extracted with hexane under reflux while the fabric was purified by scouring, bleaching and mercerization to remove dirt and coloring matter in order to make it suitable for esterification. Apart from the controlled sample which was un-esterified, other samples of the same fabric were treated with different volume and concentration of the oil under the same temperature. The x-ray diffraction analysis carried out on all samples showed that while the control sample had a sharp single peak at 24.033° all the esterified samples showed broad split peaks at angles ranging from 20.308o to 22.809o; also while the control sample had inter-atomic (or d-spacing) of 3.702 Å those of the treated sample ranged from 3.8984 Å to 4.3727 Å, in addition to these the peak width increased from 1.5o in the control sample to between 1.9o to 2.8o in the treated samples. Other significant results showed that the peaks intensity increased from 5489 to highest value 8313 in the sample treated with 20 cm3 of oil. Crystallinity was observed to reduce from 65% in the control to about 63% for esterified fabrics samples and lastly, crystallite size reduced from 9.9 nm to between 5.3 nm to 7.7 nm. The observed structural modifications in treated fabric may have direct influence on the physical, mechanical properties as well as dye-ability of the treated samples. The result of water Imbibition also revealed structural modification as there was a decrease in the amount of water imbibed by esterified fabric, indicating a reduction in the number of OH groups in the new cellulose derivative as revealed in the x – ray analysis. Hence the esterified fabric will be less susceptible to microbial attack during storage

Structural Modification of Cellulosic Fabric via Esterification Using Balanites aegyptiaca Seed Oil

Cellulose fabrics were esterified by using varying volume of Balanites aegyptiaca seed oil. X-ray diffraction analysis was carried on the esterified fabrics and unesterified fabric. The crystallographs of all esterified fabrics gave almost the same profile different from that of control fabric. The control fabric gave a sharp single peak at 24.033º diffractometer angle. Esterified fabrics gave a slightly broad split peaks at lower diffractometer angles which ranged from 20.080 – 22.690º, suggesting that there was structural modification of cellulose. The inter-atomic distance (d-spacing) for control fabric was 3.7027 Å. There was increase in d-spacing which ranged from 3.9192 – 4.4216 Å for esterified fabric. The peak width increased from 1.5º (control) to range of 1.6 – 2.8º (esterified) fabrics. The peaks intensity increased from 5489 (control) to highest value (7798) for 30 cm3 of oil esterified fabric. The crystallite size reduced from 9.9 nm (control) to a maximum value (9.2 nm) for 40 cm3 and to minimum value (5.3 nm) for 10 cm3 oil esterified fabrics. The percentage crystallinity reduced from 65% (control) to a range of 62–63% for esterified fabrics. From the results obtained, it can be concluded that reduction in crystallite size, increase in d-spacing, intensity and peak width were due to the presence of a bulky ester group in the cellulose chain; this may also have led to the observed decrease in percentage crystallinity of the esterified fabrics. This structural modification is expected to have direct consequences on the physical and mechanical properties as well as the dyeing properties of the esterified fabrics