Prevalence of hypertension and associated factors in a rural community in Bayelsa State

Background: Hypertension is considered among the most common non-communicable diseases globally with significant morbidity and mortality. Closely related to it is pre-hypertension, a category between hypertension and normotension which is believed to be a forerunner to hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Hypertension has been on the increase in recent times, even in rural communities which were previously less affected. The study was carried during the world health day as a screening exercise to determine the prevalence of hypertension and its associated factors in a rural community.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Ogboloma village, a small rural community in Bayelsa State, Ngeria Consecutive sampling of all eligible participants who presented for the screening exercise was done. Socio-demographic data, clinical history, anthropometry and blood pressure were taken. Data was stored and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0.Results: One hundred and thirty-one participants completed the study. There were 49(37.4%) males. The prevalence of hypertension was 50.4% while pre-hypertension was found in another 41.2%. Factors associated with hypertension on univariate analysis were age (p <0.001) body mass index (p=0.038) waist hip ratio (p=0.008) hyperglycemia (p=0.030) and smoking (p=0.009) However, only age (p=0.004) and smoking (p=0.037) remained significant on multivariate analysis.Conclusions: Hypertension and Pre-hypertension were highly prevalent in this rural community. Age and smoking were significant predictors of hypertension. Hypertension screening and control programmes should therefore target rural communities and smokers

Review of Classical Methods in Supersaturated Designs (SSD) for factor Screening

Supersaturated designs are fractional factorial designs that have too few runs to allow the estimation of the main effects of all the factors in the experiment. There has been a great deal of interest in the development of these designs for factor screening in recent years. A review of supersaturated design is presented, including criteria for design selection, with reference to the popular E(s2) criterion and classical methods for constructing supersaturated designs. Classical methods have been suggested for the analysis of data from supersaturated designs and these are critically reviewed and illustrated. Keywords: Supersaturated, Classical method, Screening, fractional factorial and E(S2

Phytochemical, Proximate and Mineral Analyses of the Leaves of Gossypium hirsutum L. and Momordica charantia L.

The leaves of Gossypium hirsutum L. and Momordica charantia L. were analysed for phytochemical, proximate and mineral compositions. The qualitative phytochemical screening   from the two plants revealed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, tannins and cardiac glycosides whereas terpenoids and steroids were absent. Subsequent quantification analysis revealed that G. hirsutum contained 12.20± 0.28% alkaloids, 2.63±0.04 % saponins, 11.90±0.4 % flavonoids, 2.73 mg/100g tannins and 1.62±0.00 mg/100g total phenol. Momordica charantia contained 13.60±0.00 % alkaloids, 2.30±0.00 % saponins, 7.20±0.00 % flavonoids, 1.37±0.00 mg/100g tannins and 0.74 ±0.00mg/100g total phenol. Proximate analysis revealed that carbohydrate had the highest percentage in G. hirsutum and M. charantia (46.66±0.31% and 57.92± 0.04 % respectively). Crude protein had the lowest percentages of 2.70±0.01% and 2.46 ± 0.03% in G. hirsutum and M. charantia. Mineral analysis revealed that potassium had the highest concentration of 38.61 mg/100g in G. hirsutum and 32.84mg/100g in M. charantia. The least concentration of minerals in G. hirsutum was sodium (3.37mg/100g) while magnesium (5.88mg/100g) recorded the least concentration in M. charantia. The high carbohydrate contents in both plants might justify the potentials of the plants as good source of energy. Keywords: Phytochemical, Gossypium hirsutum, Momordica charantia, Proximate, Mineral analyses

Molluscicidal activities of ethanolic extracts of Calotropis procera and Morinda lucida against Lymnaea natalensis

Snails control is considered the most eff ective method in reducing the transmission of fascioliasis. Chemical molluscicides are reported to be toxic and ineff ective due to snail resistance, hence, the need for safer and eff ective molluscicides. The aim of this study was to assess the molluscicidal activities of two medicinal plants against snail host of Fasciola gigantica. The molluscicidal activity of Morinda lucida and Calotropis procera was investigated against Lymnaea natalensis, the intermediate host of F. gigantica. Ethanolic extract of leaves of the tested plants were evaluated for their lethal activity against the embryos within the egg masses and adult L. natalensis. All the two tested plants exerted toxic lethal eff ect against both the embryos and the adult snails. While M. lucida extract appeared to be more potent at lower concentration on the embryos, the extract of C. procera leaves was signifi cantly more potent than that of M. lucida in adult snails (P<0.05). The LC50 of ethanolic extracts of M. lucida and C. procera was 1.698 mg/ml and 0.500 mg/ml, respectively, at 72 h exposure time of adult L. natalensis. The two tested plants have molluscicidal activities, but these activities could be stage specifi c at certain concentrations

How Effective is the Treatment of Locally Advanced and Metastatic Breast Cancer in Developing Centres?: A Retrospective Review

BACKGROUND: The use of chemotherapy in advanced metastatic breast cancer remains a subject of controversy. The thought of MicKinnon et al (early 1950s) that the course of breast cancer was unaffected by chemotherapy has been refuted by results of treatment in the developed countries. The poor result of treatment in developing centres still compares with prechemotherapy era. Consequently, The McKinnon’s thought may still lurk. We compared the survival of chemotherapy treated with chemotherapy untreated cancer of breast patients.METHOD: Records of breast cancer patients who presented and died between January 2010 and May  2014 were reviewed. The primary outcome was overall survival. Records of patients that received  chemotherapy with or without other tumor directed specific therapy were compared with records of patients who did not receive any tumor directed therapy.RESULT: Thirty-one patients received chemotherapy while 25 patients did not. All were females, more than 90% were of the patients had advanced or metastatic disease. Treatments were not biologically  directed and treatment plans were largely compromised and suboptimal. The overall mean survival was  19.2 ±9.2 months, and the median duration was 17.5 months(range 6-44months). The overall survival  was not statistically different between the two groups (p= 0.230, unequal variance assumed). The  objective of using neoadjuvant chemotherapy for fungating lesions was not achieved.CONCLUSION: In advanced and metastatic breast cancer, outcomes of patients who receive  suboptimal regimen of cytotoxic chemotherapy do not differ from chemotherapy untreated patients.KEYWORDS: breast cancer, suboptimal treatment, untreated, chemotherap

SEISMICITY ANOMALIES OF M 5.0+ EARTHQUAKES IN CHILE DURING 1964-2015

The study of magnitude-frequency distribution of earthquake hazards in a region remains a crucial analysis in seismology. Its significance has varied from seismicity quantification to earthquake prediction. The analysis of seismicity anomalies of magnitude M => 5.0 earthquakes in Chile from 1964 to 2015 was undertaken by the present study with a view of reporting the trend of earthquake occurrences in the region. Chile has an area of about 756, 950 km2 with an extensive coastline of approximately 6,435 kms. It is situated in a highly seismically and volcanically active zone with a long, narrow strip of land between the Andes Mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west.It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east and the Drake Passage in the far south. Of a total of 3,893 earthquakes that have been documented historically, magnitudes Richter 5.0 to 5.9 represent 92.6%, magnitudes 6.0 to 6.9 represent 6.8%, magnitudes 7.0 to 7.9 represent 0.6%, and magnitudes 8.0 to 8.9 about 0.1%. The quantity of earthquakes (a-value) revealed an estimate of 8.4. The b-value was estimated using Gutenberg-Richter (GR) and the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) methods. The estimated b-value using GR and MLE methods are 0.97 and 1.1 respectively, with an estimated average b-value ≈ 1. The present studies supprort the conclusion that Chile is seismically very active and prone to the recurrence of moderateto- great earthquakes in the future

SEISMICITY ANOMALIES OF M 5.0+ EARTHQUAKES IN CHILE DURING 1964-2015

The study of magnitude-frequency distribution of earthquake hazards in a region remains a crucial analysis in seismology. Its significance has varied from seismicity quantification to earthquake prediction. The analysis of seismicity anomalies of magnitude M => 5.0 earthquakes in Chile from 1964 to 2015 was undertaken by the present study with a view of reporting the trend of earthquake occurrences in the region. Chile has an area of about 756, 950 km2 with an extensive coastline of approximately 6,435 kms. It is situated in a highly seismically and volcanically active zone with a long, narrow strip of land between the Andes Mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east and the Drake Passage in the far south. Of a total of 3,893 earthquakes that have been documented historically, magnitudes Richter 5.0 to 5.9 represent 92.6%, magnitudes 6.0 to 6.9 represent 6.8%, magnitudes 7.0 to 7.9 represent 0.6%, and magnitudes 8.0 to 8.9 about 0.1%. The quantity of earthquakes (a-value) revealed an estimate of 8.4. The b-value was estimated using Gutenberg-Richter (GR) and the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) methods. The estimated b-value using GR and MLE methods are 0.97 and 1.1 respectively, with an estimated average b-value ≈ 1. The present studies supprort the conclusion that Chile is seismically very active and prone to the recurrence of moderate- to-great earthquakes in the future

Optimum Angle of Inclination for a Fixed Stand-Alone Photovoltaic: A Review

The optimum angle of tilt for PV system is very important for best performance in the generation of power and other related use of photovoltaic. This work, reviews the best angle of inclination for a stand-alone photovoltaic panel. The consideration of various studies has been looked at in line with some models. It was observed that the yearly fixed angle of tilt is close to or same as the latitude for a given location, although this may not be appropriate for use in other locations. The annual optimal angle of tilt of some locations were closely related in value i.e. 20.50o, 20.50o, 21.50o, 20.20o, 21.30o and 22.40o. The best electrical performance for the PV system was observed to be above 1598kWh/m2 at20o inclination facing south. Hencethe value of the optimum angle of tilt for best electrical performance of an array of stand-alone PV system could vary between 0o and 90o depending on the location latitude

Surveydataonemployees’ perceptionofthe impact ofcommunitydevelopmentinitiativeson the corporateimageofoilandgas firms in Nigeria

Severalsourcesoftoday'spressureonmanagersinstrategic decision-making aredirectlyassociatedwithsocialissuesrather than traditionalstrategicmanagementissues.Itisbelievedthat firms thatinvestincommunitydevelopmentaremorelikelyto operateinharmonyinthesocietyoftheiroperations,assuch reduce interferencefromtheirhostcommunity,thusleadingto enhanced corporateimage.Therefore,itbecomespertinentto present datatoshowtheexistenceorotherwiseofarelationship between communitydevelopmentinitiativesandthe firm's cor- porateimage.Thisdataisgottenfrom336respondentsfromfour top oilandgas firms quotedintheNigerianstockexchange. Responsesweegatheredfromtheemployees’ of the firms, asitis believed theyhave first handinformationonthe firm's corporate social responsibilitypolicies.Thedataispurelydescriptiveand wasgottenthroughquantitativemethods,specifically througha surveyquestionnaire.Thequestionnairehadtwosections;section A containedbackgroundquestions,whilesectionBconsistedof questionsthatwerespecific tocommunitydevelopmentinitiatives and corporateimage.TheCronbachalphainternalconsistency of the questionnairerevealedareliabilitycoefficient of0.732,thus revealingahighconsistencylevel.The field data set is made widely accessible to enable critical investigation into the subject