Land use correlates of street children in Ogbomoso, Nigeria

Following the observation of increasing incidence of street children phenomenon in Nigerian urban centers, this study examines the relationship between land use and street children in Ogbomoso. Data on incidence of street children were obtained through the method of direct counting which was done on four different days of the week within defined Data Delineated Areas (DDAs) purposively selected across the residential zones of the city. The study employs z scores to compare the intensity of the problem across the selected DDAs. Data were also analyzed using pie chart, bar chart, graph and percentages. The study reveals that the incidence and categories of street children varies with land uses. It recommends, therefore that urban planners, governments as well as individuals have roles to play in proffering solutions to the menace. It also calls for more research works on the problem of street children.Keywords: street children, land use, child hawkers, child beggarsRésumé:Suite à l’observation de l’incidence croissante de la rue phénomène des enfants dans les centres urbains du Nigeria, cette étude examine la relation entre l’utilisation des terres et les enfants des rues dans Ogbomoso. Les données sur l’incidence des enfants des rues ont été obtenues par la méthode de comptage direct qui a été fait sur quatre jours différents de la semaine dans les zones définies données délimitées choisis à dessein dans les zones résidentielles de la ville. L’étude emploie z-scores pour comparer l’intensité du problème à travers les DDA sélectionnés. Les données ont également été analysées à l’aide camembert, histogramme, graphique et pourcentages. L’étude révèle que l’incidence et les catégories d’enfants des rues varie avec l’utilisation des terres. Il recommande donc que les planificateurs urbains, les gouvernements ainsi que les individus ont un rôle à jouer dans proférer des solutions à la menace. Il appelle également à plus de travaux de recherche sur le problème des enfants des rues. Mots-clés: enfants des rues, l’utilisation des terres, les colporteurs de l’enfant, les enfants mendiant

Female adolescents and the future of female genital mutilation/cutting: a report from an endemic area

Background: Despite collaborative efforts aimed at its eradication, Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) continuesin endemic areas. Objective: To evaluate the experience and preparedness of female adolescents to protect their future daughters from FGM/C. Methods: A cross-sectional survey involving adolescent secondary school girls in North Central Nigeria. Participants were secondary school students who completed the study’s self-administered questionnaire after informed parental or participant’s consent. Data management was with SPSS 20.0 (IBM, USA), P-value <0.05 was significant. Results: There were 2000 participants aged 13-19 years (mean 15.56±1.75), prevalence of FGM/C was 35.0%, awareness was 86.1%, mutilation was performed between infancy and eight years of age (mean 3.85±3.24 years), 644(32.2%) desire to mutilatetheir future daughters, 722(36.1%) expressed support for FGM/C and 63.1% of victims of FM/C reported adverse post-mutilation experiences. Support for FGM/C was associated with low social class (P0.0010), opinion that FGM/C has benefit (P0.001) and desire to mutilate future daughters (P0.001) while awareness of efforts to eradicate FMG/C was 813(40.7%). Conclusion: FGM/C remains prevalent with potential support for its continuation among female adolescents despite reported adverse post-mutilation experiences. The multi-pronged approach to eradicate FGM/C should prioritize re-orientation for adolescent girls, rehabilitation of mutilated girls and girl child formal education. Keywords: Female genital mutilation/cutting; female circumcision, harmful traditional practices, adverse childhood experiences

Determinants of the decision-to-delivery interval and the effect on perinatal outcome after emergency caesarean delivery: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundPreventing prolongation of the decision-to-delivery interval (DDI) for emergency caesarean delivery (CD) remains central to improving perinatal health. This study evaluated the effects of the DDI on perinatal outcome following emergency CD. MethodsA prospective cross-sectional study involving 205 consenting women who had emergency CD at a tertiary hospital in Nigeria was conducted. The time–motion documentation of events from decision to delivery was documented; the outcome measures were perinatal morbidity (neonatal resuscitation, 5-minute Apgar score, neonatal intensive admission) and mortality. Data analysis was performed with IBM SPSS Statistics version 20.0, and P<0.05 was considered significant.ResultsThe overall mean DDI was 233.99±132.61 minutes (range 44–725 minutes); the mean DDI was shortest for cord prolapse (86.25±86.25 minutes) and was shorter for booked participants compared with unbooked participants (207.19±13.88 minutes vs 249.25±12.05 minutes; P=0.030) and for general anaesthesia compared with spinal anaesthesia (219.48±128.60 minutes vs 236.19±133.42 minutes; P=0.543). All neonatal parameters were significantly worse for unbooked women compared with booked women, including perinatal mortality (10.8% vs 1.3%; P=0.012). Neonatal morbidity increased with DDI for clinical indications, UK National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and Robson classification for CDs; perinatal mortality was 73.2 per 1000 live births, all were category 1 CDs and all except one occurred with DDI greater than 90 minutes. Severe preeclampsia/eclampsia, obstructed labour and placenta praevia tolerated DDI greater than 90 minutes compared with abruptio placentae and umbilical cord prolapse. However, logistic regression showed no statistical correlation between the DDI and neonatal outcomes. ConclusionPerinatal morbidity and mortality increased with DDI relative to the clinical urgency but perinatal deaths were increased with DDI greater than 90 minutes. For no category of emergency CD should the DDI exceed 90 minutes, while patient and institutional factors should be addressed to reduce the DDI

Near-Infrared Reflectance Spectrophotometry (NIRS) application in the amino acid profiling of Quality Protein Maize (QPM)

Open Access JournalThe accurate quantification of amino acids in maize breeding programs is challenging due to the high cost of analysis using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and other conventional methods. Using the Near-Infrared Spectroscopic (NIRS) method in breeding to screen many genotypes has proven to be a fast, cost-effective, and non-destructive method. Thus, this study aimed to develop and apply the NIRS prediction models for quantifying amino acids in biofortified quality protein maize (QPM). Sixty-three (63) QPM maize genotypes were used as the calibration set, and another twenty (20) genotypes were used as the validation set. The microwave hydrolysis system coupled with post-column derivatization with 6-amino-quinoline-succinimidyl-carbamate as the derivatization reagent and the HPLC method were used to generate the reference data set used for the calibration development. The calibration models were developed for essential and non-essential amino acids using WINSI Foss software. Good coefficients of determination in calibration (R2cal) of 0.91, 0.93, 0.93, and 0.91 and low standard errors in calibrations (SEC) of 0.62, 0.71, 0.26, and 1.75 were obtained for glutamic acids, alanine, proline, and leucine, respectively, while aspartic acids, serine, glycine, arginine, tyrosine, valines, and phenylalanine had fairly good R2Cal values of 0.86, 0.71, 0.81, 0.78, 0.68, 0.79, and 0.75. In contrast, poor (R2cal) was obtained for histidine (0.07), cystine (0.09), methionine (0.09), lysine (0.20), threonine (0.51), and isoleucine (0.09), respectively. The models’ prediction performances (R2pred) and standard error of prediction (SEP) were reasonably good for certain amino acids such as aspartic acid (0.90), glycine (0.80), arginine (0.94), alanine (0.90), proline (0.80), tyrosine (0.83), valine (0.82), leucine (0.90), and phenylalanine (0.88) with SEP values of 0.24, 0.39,0.24, 0.93, 0.47,0.34, 0.78, 2.20, and 0.77, respectively. However, certain amino acids had their R2pred below 0.50, which could be improved to become useful for screening purposes for those amino acids. Further work is recommended by including a training set representing the sample population’s variance to improve the model’s performance

Assessment of the effects of genotype, location, and planting season on the nutritional composition and the metabolizable energy of advanced twenty-five maize hybrids

Open Access ArticleThis study investigated the effects of genotype, location, and planting season on the proximate composition and metabolizable energy of advanced maize hybrids. Twenty-five hybrid maize and a local variety as control were harvested from five locations 100 days after planting for two seasons. The maize samples were sorted, cleaned, and pulverized using a laboratory mill and were analyzed for nutritional composition and metabolizable energy (ME) using standard laboratory methods. Moisture content, ash, fat, and protein had mean ± SD of 8.97 ± 0.40%, 1.48 ± 0.05%, 4.31 ± 0.19, and 8.88 ± 0.18%, respectively. ME had a mean ± SD of 379.77 ± 2.17 kJ, and total carbohydrates had values ranging from 74.68 and 77.20%, with an average of 76.68%. Results showed that most of the variations expressed in the proximate compositions of the maize hybrids were not significantly (p > 0.05) dependent on the genotypes. In contrast, locations significantly affected the maize hybrids’ proximate composition and metabolizable energy (p 0.05) of location by genotype interaction on the proximate composition and ME of the maize samples. The planting season also exhibited a significant (p < 0.001) difference for all the proximate parameters. Fourteen out of the twenty-five maize hybrids were similar to the local variety in terms of proximate composition and metabolizable energy. Therefore, they could be recommended for advancement in the breeding stages for release for household and industrial uses

Pre-and-post-operative aversion among men whose partners had caesarean delivery in a patriarchal setting.

Objectives: The study evaluated pre and post-operative perception and aversion to caesarean delivery (CD) among men whose partners underwent the procedure.Design: A multicentre cross-sectional study.Setting: Two tertiary and two secondary health facilities.Participants: Men whose partners underwent CD at the study sites.Methods: Participants were recruited by purposive sampling, data collection was through interaction via an interviewer-administered questionnaire first immediately the decision for CD was made and thereafter on the third postoperative day. Men whose partners had vaginal delivery were excluded from the study and data management was with SPSS version 21.0 while p&lt;0.05 was significant.Results: Awareness about CD was 84.0% mainly through the healthcare workers (42.1%) and the female partner (34.1%); 88.0% of participants recommended CD for medically-indicated reasons. The greatest influence on consent was the male partner (48.8%). The major pre-operative concerns were limitation of family size (34.7%) and fear of repeat CD (34.0%). Pre-operative perceptions of CD included being expensive (60.7%), fear of the procedure (48.0%), fear of complications (45.3%) and longer hospital stay (44.0%). Aversion to CD was 30.0% pre and 5.3% post-operation; predictors of aversion were history of previous surgery among male or female partner and awareness about CD. However, there were reductions in negative perception and aversion post-operation.Conclusion: The high negative perception and aversion to CD among male partners were reduced post-operation. Healthcare workers should address the concerns and negative perceptions about CD and prioritize patient-friendly experiences during surgical operations

Assessment of biochemical, cooking, sensory and textural properties of the boiled food product of white yam (D. rotundata) genotypes grown at different locations

Specific biochemical properties and textural attributes determine the final quality and acceptability of yam food products. This study assessed the flour and cooking qualities (boiled yam) of sixteen elite white yam genotypes (D. rotundata) grown in three locations. Fresh yam samples were cut into regular-shaped pieces and boiled using the standard procedure. Sub-samples were oven-dried at 65 °C for 72 h and milled to flour. The biochemical profiling for the yam flour showed, on average, 61.35 ± 5.15% starch, 5.35 ± 0.15% sugar, 1.55 ± 0.24% crude fiber, 1.91 ± 0.31% ash, 5.65 ± 0.66% protein, 0.33 ± 0.02% fat and 34.87 ± 1.94% amylose content. The boiled yam's water absorption and cooking time ranged from 0.35 to 5.17% and 7.00–18 min, with an average of 2.74% and 10.64 min, respectively. The hardness of boiled yam from the sensory assay correlated positively with the hardness of instrumental texture analysis (p<0.001, r=0.47). In contrast, the hardness of instrumental texture had a significant negative correlation with the chewiness of sensory profile analysis (p < 0.05, r = 0.37). Likewise, water absorption correlated positively and significantly (p<0.05, r=0.43) with the chewiness of the sensory analysis. The study shows that the sensory attributes that determine the acceptability of boiled yam could be determined using instrumental measurements to save time and cost