Attitude of a Discrete Group of Nigerian Male Doctors Towards Prostate Cancer Screening

Introduction: Prostate cancer is the commonest cancer among Nigerian males [1]. Screening for prostate cancer is a topical issue among doctors as some studies have not conclusively shown higher survival rate among patients who had their pathology detected early. Taking into consideration the uncertainty surrounding prostate cancer screening, coupled with the fact that doctors are most of the time overwhelmed with solving the problems of their patients while neglecting their personal health. This study assesses the attitude of a discrete group of Nigerian doctors towards prostate cancer screening. Objective: To assess the attitude towards prostate cancer screening of male medical doctors in public hospitals in Benin City, Nigeria. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study carried out over a period of six months at theUniversity of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) and the Central Hospital Benin City. It involved all male doctors, 40 years and above. Data were collected using a well-structured self-administered questionnaire, collated and subjected to statistical analysis.   Result: The study involved 214 male doctors. One hundred and fifty two of them practice in UBTH, while 62 of them practice in Central Hospital. The mean (standard deviation) age of the respondents was 48.5 (6.3) years. Ninety five percent (205) of the respondents had positive attitude towards prostate cancer screening. The main factors indicated by the respondents that affect individual decision to undergo prostate cancer screening were: the cost of screening [151 (70.6%)], lack of awareness [138 (64.5%)], fear of being stigmatized [97 (45.3%)] and fear of having a positive test [91 (42.5%)]. The least indicated was cultural barriers [42 (19.6%)]. Conclusion: The attitude of the respondents for prostate cancer screening isgood despite the challenges with recommendation against community screening by international health management system. The main factors identified by respondents as militating against screening should be given proper attention in order to reduce the scourge of this highly prevalent pathology among Nigerians

Effects of climatic variability on livelihood choices among rural populace in Baringo County, Kenya and Jigawa State, Nigeria

This paper analysed the implication of climatic variability on livelihood assets among the rural populance in Baringo County, Kenya and Jigawa State, Nigeria. Purposive sampling and questionnaires were administered to 338 households in Baringo County, 153 households in Jigawa State were sampled and Focused Group Discussion were organised. Data were analysed using frequency distribution statistics, trend and Multiple Regression analysis. The result shows that age, gender, education level and house hold size are the major determinant of livelihood choices in both locations. In Jigawa State, decreasing rainfall showed positive impacts on livestock keeping, maize and beans cultivation, bee keeping, aquaculture while the increasing temperature was observed to have positive impacts on millet, beans and sorghum farming while it showed negative impact on horticulture, bee keeping and aquaculture, livestock keeping, poultry farming and fruit production both in Baringo County and Jigawa. In Baringo County, drought (̅=3.78), crop pest and diseases (̅=3.65), livestock pest and diseases (̅=3.70), cases of human diseases (̅=4.01) and drying of water bodies (̅=3.53) and in Jigawa, drought (̅=3.95), livestock pest and diseases (̅=3.4670), cases of human diseases (̅=3.46) and drying of water bodies (̅=4.14) were identified as implications of climatic variability respectively. The paper empahasised the need for pro-active measures to avert the negative implications of climatic variability in order to maximize the positive influences. Also relevant governement agencies should act promptly to update the rural populance on the adaption measures especially water management and conservation methods.Keywords: Climatic variability, Livelihood, Rainfall, Temperature, Perceptio

Education for sustainability through academic freedom

Most challenging developments in Nigeria in recent times are the issues of poverty, human right, gender inequality, cultural diversity and education for all. These issues have eaten deep into the society that policy makers and stake-holders in education are worried and are in search for possible solutions. Past researches are of the opinion that education for sustainable development and academic freedom could assist in solving these ethical menaces. Education for sustainable development allows every human being to acquire knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary to shape a sustainable future to make judgments and choices in favor of sustainable lifestyle. In the same vein, academic freedom leads to the expansion and discovery of new ideas of knowledge, transmits and preserves culture developed in the learner’s independent judgment of an environment free from external control and domination. Educational opportunities that Nigerian children would have enjoyed through Education For All to achieve sustainability and self reliance is lacking due to factors enumerated above. In this contribution, we reviewed issues that pertain to how Education For All can be sustained and their goals achieved so that every child in Nigeria could be given equal rights to read and write irrespective of his or her tribe, age, background and gender.KEYWORDS Sustainability, Academic Freedom, Education, Gender, Opportunity

Effects of used engine oil polluted-soil on seeds’ germination and seedlings’ growth characteristics of some tropical crops

The ability of Phaselous vulgaris, Zea mays L., Solanum lycopersium and Sorghum saccharatum to germinate and grow in unpolluted soils, 1% w/w and 2% w/w used engine oil polluted soils were investigated. Twenty (20) seeds of each plant species were sown in the various polluted and unpolluted soils and germination were monitored for 7 days, and subsequent growth for 7 weeks. The numbers of germinated seeds were counted daily from the 2nd to the 7th day, and percentage germination recorded. Plants' growth parameters (shoot heights and leaf area) of the seedlings were assayed and recorded on the 3rd, 5th and 7th week. Percentage germination varied for the various plant seeds. S. saccharatum had the best germination in polluted and unpolluted soil with 100%, 95% and 90% germination as against the least germination 100%, 65% and 25% observed in S. lycopersium in unpolluted, 1% w/w polluted and 2% w/w polluted soils, respectively. In terms of growth, P. vulgaris had the best performance in unpolluted and polluted soils with mean shoot heights of 47.8 cm, 41.3 cm and 28.4 cm as against S. lycopersium with mean shoot heights of 10.8 cm, 5.8 cm and 3.6 cm in unpolluted, 1% w/w and 2% w/w polluted soils, respectively at the end of the study. The results of this study showed that used engine oil inhibited the germination of these seeds in a dose depended manner, and that inhibition of seeds' germination does not connote inhibition of subsequent growth. This highlights the need to prevent agricultural soil pollution with used engine oil

Hidden Consequences of Living in a Wormy World: Nematode‐Induced Immune Suppression Facilitates Tuberculosis Invasion in African Buffalo

Most hosts are infected with multiple parasites, and responses of the immune system to co-occurring parasites may influence disease spread. Helminth infection can bias the host immune response toward a T-helper type 2 (Th2) over a type 1 (Th1) response, impairing the host’s ability to control concurrent intracellular microparasite infections and potentially modifying disease dynamics. In humans, immune-mediated interactions between helminths and microparasites can alter host susceptibility to diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria. However, the extent to which similar processes operate in natural animal populations and influence disease spread remains unknown.We used cross-sectional, experimental, and genetic studies to show that gastrointestinal nematode infection alters immunity to intracellular microparasites in free-ranging African buffalo (Syncerus caffer). Buffalo that were more resistant to nematode infection had weaker Th1 responses, there was significant genotypic variation in nematode resistance, and anthelminthic treatment enhanced Th1 immunity. Using a disease dynamic model parameterized with empirical data, we found that nematode-induced immune suppression can facilitate the invasion of bovine TB in buffalo. In the absence of nematodes, TB failed to invade the system, illustrating the critical role nematodes may play in disease establishment. Our results suggest that helminths, by influencing the likelihood of microparasite invasion, may influence patterns of disease emergence in the wild

Bioassay-guided optimization of lipid-based erythromycin microparticles

Purpose: To optimize erythromycin microparticles by in vitro bioassay methods based on its antibacterial activity. Methods: The microparticles were produced by high shear homogenization. The effects of different lipid-to-surfactant ratios were studied. The hydrodynamic size of the different batches was evaluated using dynamic light scattering while bioactive drug load per batch was assessed in agar using bioassay methods. The antimicrobial activities of selected batches were tested ex vivo by determination of reduction in bacteraemia following administration of the microparticles to infected animals. Results: All batches had particles with hydrodynamic sizes < 8.5 microns. Batch 7 with a 2: 5: 2.5 (drug: surfactant: stearic acid) ratio, represents the optimized batch with a hydrodynamic size of 2281 nm, a bioactive drug loading capacity (BLC) of 4.67 ± 0.70 % and bioactive drug entrapment  efficiency (BEE) of 10.51 %. The “microparticle MIC” against Staphylococcus aureus was 1.74 x 10-3 μg/ml. Despite containing lower amounts of erythromycin than the pure sample, the microparticles achieved comparable reduction in bacteraemia, with the optimized batch exhibiting lower variation in bacteraemia than the pure drug. Conclusion: Erythromycin microparticles have been successfully optimized with the aid of bioassay methods which has the advantage that only the bioactive drug concentration is factored in. This method eliminates problems posed by inadequate or non-discriminating chemical assay methods. Keywords: Microparticles, Erythromycin, Gastrointestinal, Bioavailability Antimicrobial, Bioactivity, Encapsulatio

Evaluation of the Sensitivity and Specificity of an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay for Diagnosing Brucellosis in African Buffalo (Syncerus caffer)

Brucellosis is a disease of veterinary and public health importance worldwide. In sub- Saharan Africa, where this disease has been detected in several free-ranging wildlife species, successful disease control may be dependent on accurate detection in wildlife reservoirs, including African buffalo (Syncerus caffer). This study estimates the sensitivity and specificity of a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (IDEXX, Brucellosis Serum Ab Test) for brucellosis based on a dataset of 571 serum samples from 258 buffalo located within the Kruger National Park, South Africa. We defined a pseudo-gold standard test result as those buffalo that were consistently positive or negative on two additional serological tests, namely the rose bengal test (RBT) and the complement fixation test (CFT). The ELISA’s cut-off value was selected using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis, the pseudo-gold standard, and a threshold criterion that maximizes the total sensitivity and specificity. Then, we estimated the sensitivity and specificity of all three tests using Bayesian inference and latent class analysis. We estimated the ELISA to have a sensitivity of 0.928 (95% BCI from 0.869-0.974) and specificity of 0.870 (95% BCI from 0.836-0.900). Compared to the ELISA, the RBT had a higher estimated sensitivity of 0.986 (95% BCI from 0.928- 0.999), and both the RBT and CFT had higher specificities, estimated to be 0.992 (95% BCI from 0.971 to 0.996) and 0.998 (95% BCI from 0.992 to 0.999), respectively. Therefore, this study shows that no single serological test perfectly diagnosed infection. However, after adjustment of cut-off values for South African conditions, the IDEXX Brucellosis Serum Ab Test may be a valuable additional screening test for brucellosis in Kruger National Park’s African buffalo.This is an author's peer-reviewed final manuscript, as accepted by the publisher. The published article is copyrighted by the Wildlife Disease Association and can be found at: http://www.jwildlifedis.org/,This research was approved by Kruger National Park’s Scientific Services committee and by Oregon State University and University of Georgia IACUC (Protocol numbers OSU: 3822; UGA: A201010-190-A1).Keywords: Bayesian, Sensitivity, Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, Brucellosis, Latent data, African buffalo, Specificit