THE PERIODICITY OF BUILDING HONEY COMBS BY HONEY BEES AND PEST INFESTATION IN TWO APIARIES IN OGUN STATE, SOUTH WESTERN NIGERIA

The study examined the periodicity of comb building by Honey bee, Apis mellifera in some hivesin Ogun State and pest of the honey bee in hives for twenty weeks. Four Kenya top bars hives wereeach placed in two apiaries located in University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (UNAAB), Ogun State, Nigeriaand Olupakun village in Abeokuta North Local Government Area, Ogun State, Nigeria. Each of the22 top bars and the flight entrances were smeared with honey as bait to attract bees to the hive. Datawere collected weekly from two colonized hives in each apiary on: number of honey combs built, sizeof newly built honey combs along and across the bars and pest infestation. The results indicated thatthe bees initiated comb building as early as first week after colonization. In the first week, two combsbuilt in hives at UNAAB had mean size of 8.61cm2 and one and half combs built in hives at Olupakunmeasured 1.65 cm2. As at the 20th week, seven and half combs measuring 662.71 cm2 and eightcombs measuring 352.28cm2 were built at UNAAB and Olupakun respectively. Although, higher numbersof combs were built at Olupakun; they were of relatively smaller sizes than combs built in hives atUNAAB. The pests encountered in the hives were greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella), grass hopper(Zonocerus variegatus), termites (Macrotermites nigeriense), Cockroach (Periplanata americana),snakes, Lizard (Agama agama) and Praying mantis (Stanomantis spp.

Volunteerism in a Health Care Delivery System in Nigeria: A Cottage Hospital Experience

Introduction: The need for volunteerism in the implementation of National Programmes is becoming more obvious now than before, especially in resource poor countries. The activities of volunteers are required in all aspects of life, especially in the developed countries, and they cut across age groups, gender, occupation and geographical barriers. Unfortunately there is paucity of information on the activities and constraints of volunteers in developing countries.Aim: To evaluate the contribution of volunteer staff involved in implementing the Community Health Insurance Scheme of a cottage hospital in Southern Nigeria.Method: The study design involved a descriptive analysis of all volunteering activities at Obio Cottage Hospital in Port Harcourt, Rivers State South-south Nigeria, from January 1, 2011 till December 31, 2011. Primary and secondary sources of data were used.Results: The total number of applicants who wished to volunteer during the period was 131, thirty-four of these were selected as 'Participants' in the programme. Women were more likely to volunteer than men, and highly educated Nigerians, including medical doctors and degree holders participated. Obio Cottage Hospital benefitted from the scheme in financial terms to the tune of more than 4 million Naira. (about 27 thousand US Dollars) within the one year of study while the participants all agreed that the scheme assisted them in actualizing their career and positioned them to getting paid jobs. The clinical output of the hospital more than doubled during the period.Conclusion: Organized volunteerism is of great benefit to the participants, institution, community and country and should be encouraged.Keywords: Volunteer, Obio Cottage Hospital, Participants, Nigeri

How Unsafe is Myomectomy at Caesarean Section?

Objective: To provide evidence on the safety or otherwise of the practice of myomectomy during Caesarean section.Methods: This was a prospective, randomized, case controlled study conducted at the Obio Cottage Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria, between November 2011 and October 2012. 42 Caesarean section patients, who also had myomectomy, were compared with those who had Caesarean section alone. The Caesarean myomectomy cases also had the number, location and size of the fibroids removed analyzed.Results: 446 women were delivered by Caesarean section and 42 of these had Caesarean myomectomy. The mean ages were similar. Between 1 and 23, uterine fibroids were removed. The mean blood loss from the  Caesarean myomectomy and Caesarean section was 584.72 and  695.71mls respectively. There was no statistical difference in the blood loss, Hematocrit deficit and length of hospital stay (p values of 0.053, 0.299 and 0.334 respectively) while the duration of surgery and number of sutures used were statistically different between the two groups (p value < 0.001 in both). The post-operative complications were similar.Conclusions: This study found that Caesarean myomectomy is a safe procedure in experienced hands and has obvious advantages to the patient.Keywords: Caesarean section, Myomectomy, Blood loss, Port Harcourt

Assessment of Occupational Health, Safety and Environment (OHSE) of small and Medium Scale Chemical Manufacturing Enterprises (SMCMES) in Enugu Metropolis Nigeria

Background: There is increasing emphasis on safety and health at workplaces since work-related injuries and ill health can ruin lives and affect businesses. The study was aimed at assessing occupational health, safety and environment practices among the Small and Medium scale Chemical Manufacturing Enterprises (SMCME) in Enugu metropolis, Nigeria.Method: A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out among 382 respondents randomly selected from SMCMEs in Enugu metropolis. Semi-structured questionnaire was used to assess the nature of work processes, environmental conditions and prevalence of workplace chemical injury/disease in the last 12 months.Results: Most of the respondents operated both manual and mechanical (77%) process in their work activities. The workplace hazards observed were chemical hazards (33%), ergonomic hazards (21%), mechanical hazards (15%), physical hazards (14%) and psychosocial hazards (14%). Some common health problems were hand injury (12%) and respiratory tract infection (10%) and overall annual prevalence rate was 338 injuries/diseases per 1000 workers.Conclusion/Recommendation: Workers in SMCME ar exposed to hazards due to their poor nature of work process. There is therefore high prevalence rate of preventable work related injuries/diseases. Employers should focus on training and installing safer work environment and government should enforce the practice of OHSE in SMCME.Keywords: Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SME), Occupational Health, Safety, Environment, Hazards, Chemicals, Prevalence, Enug

Evaluation of indigenous Trichoderma isolates from Manipur as biocontrol agent against Pythium aphanidermatum on common beans

Pythium aphanidermatum is one of the common causal pathogen of damping-off disease of beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) grown in Manipur. A total of 110 indigenous Trichoderma isolates obtained from North east India were screened for their biocontrol activity which can inhibit the mycelial growth of P. aphanidermatum, the causal organism of damping-off in beans. Out of the total isolates, 32% of them showed strong antagonistic activity against P. aphanidermatum under in vitro condition and subsequently 20 best isolates were selected based on their mycelial inhibition capacity against P. aphanidermatum for further analysis. Different biocontrol mechanisms such as protease, chitinase, β-1,3-glucanase activity, cellulase and production of volatile and non-volatile compounds were also assayed. Based on their relative biocontrol potency, only three indigenous Trichoderma isolates (T73, T80 and T105) were selected for pot culture experiment against damping-off diseases in common beans. In greenhouse experiment, Trichoderma isolates T-105 significantly reduced the pre- and post-emergence damping-off disease incidence under artificial infection with P. aphanidermatum and showed highest disease control percentage

Emergence and spread of two SARS-CoV-2 variants of interest in Nigeria.

Identifying the dissemination patterns and impacts of a virus of economic or health importance during a pandemic is crucial, as it informs the public on policies for containment in order to reduce the spread of the virus. In this study, we integrated genomic and travel data to investigate the emergence and spread of the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.318 and B.1.525 (Eta) variants of interest in Nigeria and the wider Africa region. By integrating travel data and phylogeographic reconstructions, we find that these two variants that arose during the second wave in Nigeria emerged from within Africa, with the B.1.525 from Nigeria, and then spread to other parts of the world. Data from this study show how regional connectivity of Nigeria drove the spread of these variants of interest to surrounding countries and those connected by air-traffic. Our findings demonstrate the power of genomic analysis when combined with mobility and epidemiological data to identify the drivers of transmission, as bidirectional transmission within and between African nations are grossly underestimated as seen in our import risk index estimates

Visual Recovery after Cataract Surgery in Children

No Abstract. Nigerian Journal of Opthalmology Vol. 14 (2) 2006: pp. 46-5

Use of seatbelts by vehicle occupants in University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria

No Abstract.Annals of Ibadan Postgraduate Medicine Vol. 3 (2) 2005: pp. 57-6