Moringa oleifera as a Source of Economic Empowerment for Farmers in Kaduna State: a Case Study of Bomo Village, Sabon Gari Local Government Area

The study investigated the use of Moringa oleifera as a source of economic empowerment for farmers in Bomo Village, Sabon Gari Local Government Area of Kaduna State. Twenty farmers whose previous knowledge of the tree was first investigated through oral discussion were randomly selected to participate in the study. Specifically, the study identified the farmers' socio economic characteristics, awareness level about the tree and their willingness to go into the commercial cultivation of Moringa.Group discussion, oral interview as well as self administered structured questionnaires were used to obtain information from the farmers. Simple descriptive statistical techniques such as frequency counts and percentages were equally used to summarize the data collected. Gross margin analysis that was used indicated that for every hectare of Moringa plantation established, the farmer stands to realize an average income of two hundred and thirty seven thousand, four hundred naira (N237, 400) which is more profitable when compared to other arable crops being cultivated in the study area.The study also revealed that most of the farmers were not aware of the modern ways of propagating Moringa oleifera and its uses while the vast majority representing 95% of the group indicated their readiness to go into the commercial cultivation of Moringa oleifera after being trained.Key words: Moringa oleifera, economic empowerment

Bridging the Divide: Connecting Urban and Rural Care Through the Right! From the Start Initiative

Disparities in health and barriers to healthcare are prominent in rural areas, particularly in the Delta region of Mississippi where high rates of premature births, infant mortality, low weight births, and maternal mortality exacerbate the dearth of access to care. Extending the reach of healthcare providers and services between urban and rural areas is of utmost importance in improving the landscape of maternal and child health. Community health workers (CHWs), trusted individuals in the community, play a valuable role in this through social support. This research note delineates the importance of community health workers as connectors in establishing a trusted continuum between the urban Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) setting and rural community health centers through the Right! From the Start NICU Breastfeeding Initiative in Mississippi

Community Perceived Attitude on Forest Related Environmental Issues using Mass Media in Osun States, Nigeria

This paper examines community perceived attitude on Forestry Related Environmental Issues (FREI) in Osun state with a view to strengthening mass media use. Data collected from primary and secondary sources were analyzed qualitatively. The pooled data on frequency distribution of perceived attitude on forest related environmental issues reveals that majority of the end users (75percent) agreed minimally that it is important to pay attention to FREI to eco-balance the environment while 60percent respondent said it is a mere threat, that FREI cannot have adverse effect on the stability of the environment. This suggests that attitude to forest related environmental issues with respect to community awareness on forestry mitigation approaches have been ranked very low while more end-users/ farmers considered average mass media efforts as town criers a mere threat, and thus FREI cannot have adverse effect on the stability of the environment. The need to undertake community perceived attitude on FREI in Osun state with a view to strengthening sustainable livelihoods approach using mass media coverage is essential. The results of this study brought into focus the involvement of mass media in disseminating environmental issues as watchdogs for a good environment but that is currently dominated by incidental reporting from actual assessment. Most mass media do not channel feedback to appropriate body such as FRIN for processing, therefore this disposition becomes imperative for collaboration and coordination among government agencies horizontally and vertically. Community forestry awareness supports livelihood assets such as social capital and community organization, as well as diversified livelihoods and the protection of the natural resource base on which they depend. Keywords: perceived attitude; Mass media; Forestry Related Environmental Issues; Mitigation

Antibacterial and antibiofilm activity of selected medicinal plant leaf extracts against pathogens implicated in poultry diseases

Antimicrobial resistant poultry pathogens are responsible for treatment failure and economic losses, and can also be a source of resistant zoonotic infections representing a risk to human health. In 2006 the European Union banned the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in farm animals and other regions are likely to follow suit. Alternative products and strategies are sought to help maintain animal gut health to reduce the prevalence of pathogens in the food chain. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of organic and aqueous leaf extracts of Alchornea laxiflora, Ficus exasperata, Morinda lucida, Jatropha gossypiifolia, Ocimum gratissimum, and Acalypha wilkesiana were tested against bacterial poultry pathogens including Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli, Campylobacter spp., and fungal species (Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus flavus, and Candida albicans) using a 2-fold serial microdilution method. Activity of extracts against biofilms of the pathogens was done using a modified crystal violet staining in vitro assay. The safety of extracts was determined against Vero and Caco-2 cells using a tetrazolium-based in vitro assay. Acetone and cold water extracts of M. lucida had the best activity against three bacteria (MIC = 0.05–0.07 mg/ml) and two fungal (MIC = 0.03–0.15 mg/ml) organisms, respectively. The E. coli isolate and A. flavus were the most susceptible bacteria and fungi, respectively. Caco-2 cells generally displayed higher selectivity index (SI) values compared to Vero cells and average SI values against Vero and Caco-2 cells for both bacteria and fungi ranged from 0.01 to 4.48 and 0.005 to 16.41, respectively. All plant extracts had good anti-biofilm activity (>50%) against at least one organism. The disruption of established biofilm growth by the plant samples proved to be more difficult to achieve than efficacy against planktonic forms of bacteria. This study shows that some of the plant species are potential candidates as alternative feed additives in poultry production. In the future, a poultry feed trial to evaluate their in vivo efficacy as herbal feed additives will be conducted.The National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa and the University of Pretoria.https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-sciencedm2022Paraclinical Science

Socioeconomic Uses of Non-Timber Forest Products among Urban Dwellers in Oyo State, Nigeria.

This study assessed the socioeconomic importance of   Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) among  the urban dwellers  in Oyo State. Two hundred and thirty (230) structured questionnaires were administered at household level. Both random and proportionate sampling techniques were adopted. Data were sourced on the basis of senatorial districts. The three senatorial districts are Oyo South, Oyo Central and Oyo North with a population size of 1,764,217, 1,906,814 and 1,909,863 respectively. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents; the multiple regression analysis was employed to determine the factors affecting the utilization of NTFPs. The result of the multiple regression coefficient of 0.79 indicates that 79% of the independent variables explain the dependent variable. Therefore educational level, marital status, household size and household income explain significant variation in the level of utilization of NTFPs in the study area, while variables such as age and sex were not significant in determining the variation in the level of the utilization of NTFPs. Some of the reasons given by the respondents for using the NTFPs include cheapness, availability and accessibility and some of the sources where they obtain the NTFPs were given as market, hawkers, forest and friends. Efforts should therefore be made by government and relevant research institutes to train the people on the domestication of these NTFPs to achieve sustainability, Pharmaceutical involvement to make more refine herbal or medicinal products, and  create more awareness about efficacy of  NTFPs in nutrition and  medicine. Keywords: Nontimber forest products, Utilization, Urban Dwellers

Secondary Metabolite Profile and Pharmacological Opportunities of Lettuce Plants following Selenium and Sulfur Enhancement

Selenium (Se) is an essential trace nutrient for humans and animals owing to its role in redox regulation, thyroid hormone control factors, immunity, inflammatory reactions, brain activities, and carbohydrate regulation. It is also important to support muscle development, as well as for reproductive and cardiovascular well-being. Furthermore, sulfur is known to be a healing element, due to the remarkable function of specialized and secondary S-containing compounds. The scope of the current study was to determine the impact of Se and S enrichment on the secondary metabolite accumulation and antibacterial and NO inhibition activities in green and red leaf lettuce (V1 and V2, respectively) As with antibacterial activity, the acetone extract of green (V1) lettuce treated with adequate (S1) and higher S (S2) under Se-limiting conditions showed the ability to inhibit nitric oxide (NO) release from macrophages. NO production by macrophages was inhibited by 50% at respective concentrations of 106.1 ± 2.4 and 101.0 ± 0.6 μg/mL with no toxic effect on the cells, in response to S1 and S2, respectively, under Se-deficient conditions (Se0). Furthermore, the red cultivar (V2) exhibited the same effect as the green cultivar (V1) regarding NO inhibition, with IC50 = 113.0 ± 4.2 μg/mL, in response to S1/Se2 treatments. Collectively, the promising NO inhibitory effect and antibacterial activity of red lettuce under the above-mentioned conditions might be attributed to the production of flavonoid glycosides and phenylpropanoic acid esters under the same condition. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to show the novel approach of the NO inhibitory effect of Se and S enrichment in food crops, as an indicator for the potential of Se and S as natural anti-inflammatory agents

Selenium Enrichment of Green and Red Lettuce and the Induction of Radical Scavenging Potential

Selenium (Se)-enriched vegetables are promising dietary sources of Se, which provides beneficial biological effects in humans. In this study, we investigated the effects of foliar application of Se on hydroponically grown multi-leaf green (V1) and red (V2) lettuce plants. Three selenate (SeIV) amendment levels were evaluated for their influence on plant growth, elemental composition and radical scavenging capacity. Lettuce heads biofortified with 0.598 mg Se plant−1 accumulated 19.6–23.6 and 14.9–17.6 μg Se g−1 DM in the multi-leaf green (V1) and red (V2) lettuce plants, respectively. The accumulated Se levels can contribute significantly to the recommended dietary allowance of 70 µg day−1 for adult men and 60 µg day−1 for adult women. Accordingly, both V1 and V2 lettuce cultivars grown under the Se3 foliar application condition can cover the daily requirement for adult men by approximately 100% and 85% to 100%, respectively, by consuming 75–90 g or 100 g fresh weight from V1 or V2, respectively. The ABTS radical scavenging potential of green lettuce was induced at Se2 and Se3 foliar application levels, where the IC50 was 1.124 ± 0.09 μg mL−1 at Se0 and improved to 0.795 ± 0.03 and 0.697 ± 0.01 μg mL−1, respectively. There was no cytotoxicity against Vero kidney cells among all treated lettuce plants at the highest concentration tested of 1 mg/mL. Finally, a further focused investigation of the metabolic profile of lettuce plants under varied Se levels needs to be investigated in future studie

Biofilm expression and antimicrobial resistance patterns of Streptococcus uberis isolated from milk samples of dairy cows in South Africa

The research described in this Research Communication addresses the hypothesis that intramammary infections with Streptococcus uberis (S. uberis) are associated with biofilm formation, which limits antibiotic efficacy. This retrospective study investigated biofilm expression and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) patterns of 172 S. uberis infections. Isolates were recovered from milk samples of subclinical, clinical, and intramammary infection cases on 30 commercial dairy herds. We determined the presence and intensity of biofilm expression of S. uberis isolates in vitro in three somatic cell count categories to recognise their AMR patterns. An automated minimum inhibitory concentration system with a commercially available panel of 23 antimicrobial agents evaluated AMR, while biofilm determination was conducted using a microplate method. The study established that all the S. uberis isolates assessed expressed biofilm with the following varying degrees of intensities: 30 (17.8%) strong, 59 (34.9%) medium and 80 (47.3%) weak biofilms. The newly registered UBAC mastitis vaccine containing biofilm adhesion components may, therefore, be a viable option for proactive mastitis management under field conditions. No differences were identified between biofilm intensity and the three somatic cell count groups. Most S. uberis isolates indicated a high-level sensitivity to the antimicrobial agents tested. Resistances were present in 8.7, 8.1 and 7.0% cases to rifampin, minocycline and tetracycline, respectively. Multidrug resistance was observed in 6.4%, emphasising AMR to antibiotics used in human medicine only. The low overall resistance suggests that farmers adhere to the prudent use of antimicrobials in the dairy industry.The National Research Foundation and Milk South Africa.https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-dairy-researchhj2023Paraclinical SciencesProduction Animal Studie

Neonatal ethics and the ANNP: Providing high quality practical support for neonatal intensive care teams

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Elsevier in Journal of Neonatal Nursing on 10/11/2020, available online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnn.2020.11.006 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version