Haematological Alterations Due to Typhoid Fever in Enugu Urban- Nigeria

Some specific haematological changes that accompany chronic and severe typhoid fever were investigated in an endemic area of Enugu Urban-Nigeria. The results established that typhoid fever infections led to a statistically significant leucopenia (p < 0.05). In acute, chronic cases, leucopenia is accompanied with significant oligocythaemia, thrombocytopenia, anaemia and lowered haematocrit (p < 0.05). The importance of the results in the diagnosis and treatment of typhoid fever are discussed

Formative Research to Inform COVID-19 Vaccine Education in Mississippi

Background. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine rates in Mississippi are below the national average. Vaccine hesitance is particularly high among rural adults in Mississippi.Purpose. To investigate community members’ beliefs about the COVID-19 vaccine and perceived barriers and enablers of vaccination to inform the development of vaccine education materials.Methods. We conducted in-depth interviews with 20 adult community members in the Appalachian region of Mississippi. Interview notes were analyzed using thematic analysis.Results. Major themes identified were related to barriers and enablers of COVID-19 vaccination. Barriers included safety concerns such as a fear of side effects, fertility issues, death, and distrust of governing bodies. Enablers included a desire to protect individual and community health, as well as a desire to return to social activities. Access to vaccinations were also found to be a non-issue within Mississippi communities. Dominant themes within each concept are reported.Conclusion. Perceptions about the COVID-19 vaccines varied across Mississippi communities; however, the barriers and enablers identified provide significant insight into Mississippians’ attitudes towards vaccination. Messaging focused on the positive aspects of COVID-19 vaccines may contribute to increasing vaccinations in the state. These insights will inform the development of vaccine education and promotion materials in Mississippi

Kinetic Study and Characterization of 1,4-β-Endoglucanase of Aspergillus niger ANL301

Submerged fermentation of Aspergillus niger ANL 301 in basal medium containing cellulose as sole carbon source, yielded crude extracellular proteins with 0.54 ± 0.02 units mg protein-1 of 1,4-β-endoglucanase activity. Partial purification by ammonium sulphate precipitation (80% saturation) and gel filtration on Sephadex 25-300 gave two active fractions of 1,4-β-endoglucanase, which exhibited close activity towards carboxymethyl-cellulose (CMC). The pH profile of the pooled enzyme fractions showed three activity peaks at pH 3.5, 5.5 and 7.0. The enzyme was most active at pH 5.5 and showed optimal activity at 50°C. Vmax of 4.4 ± 0.4 µmol min-1 mg protein-1 and Km of 12.5 ± 0.4 gL-1 was obtained with CMC for the enzyme. Different divalent metal ions and EDTA affected the enzyme activity at 2.0 mM concentrations in different ways. Mn2+ and Fe2+ exhibited 253.4 and 24.0% stimulatory effects, respectively on the enzyme activity. Mg2+, Ca2+, Cu2+, and Zn2+ inhibited the enzyme by between 22.3 and 29.4%, whereas 75.0 and 71.3% inhibition were obtained with Hg2+ and EDTA, respectively. Manganese ion showed an exceptional activation of the 1,4-β-endoglucanase. The organism produced two types of 1,4-β-endoglucanase with different molecular weights

3-TIER E-COMP: A NOVEL E-COMMERCE MANAGEMENT PORTAL BASED ON SECURED SDLC APPROACH

In today’s business world, there is an urgent need to develop a new approach for customer to business owner transactionssecurely. This research develops, implements, and discussed a novel 3 – Tier E-Commerce Management portal. This makesonline business very flexible and secured on the part of business owners and customers. Our proposed system seeks toreplace the conventional E-commerce models on the internet today. We argue that process logic manipulation using SecuredSoftware Development Life Cycle (SSDLCM) on Ecommerce platform is a promising scheme for studying andunderstanding script processing on the new web paradigms. In this research, we define security calculus for 3 Tier EComPwith the aim of eradicating SQL injection possibilities as well as exploiting Software as a service in a dynamic Ecommercedomain. Also, we developed a new access hierarchy for E-commerce comprising of Application layer users, designatedadministrator and super administrators in the 3 – Tier EComP. We developed a new encryption scheme based on XAMPMD5 Random Curve Cryptography (XMD5 – RCC) running on Secure Socket Layer (SSL) which protects the user andadministrators on the Ecommerce platform. The result of encryption scheme randomly generates and secures the logindetails dynamically on the server during the authentication and authorization phases. The programming was accomplishedwith PhP, and MySQL Server. The overall methodology as detailed in the body of the work could serve as good template forapplication developers and other researchers.Keywords: E-Commerce, XMD5-RCC, SSL, Platform, SSDLCM, Software, Servic

Performance of Broiler Marketing in Umuahia Area of Abia State, Nigeria

This study examined the performance of broiler marketing in Abia State of Nigeria.The specific objectives of the study were to examine the performance of broiler marketing in terms of the marketing cost and returns, marketing margin and marketing efficiency, as well as identify factors affecting the income of broiler marketers in the study area. Primary and secondary data were used for this stud. Forty- five respondents from each category; producer-marketers and sole markers were selected both purposively and randomly from the population across the major markets and production areas in Umuahia North and Umuahia South Local Government Areas of the state. The result of the study showed that the business was profitable though with high marketing margin .In terms of economic efficiency, the marketing was efficient. The significant variables influencing the income of the producer-marketers were marketing experience, purchase cost, feed cost, and other variables such as electricity, depreciation and rent. For the sole marketers, the significant variables influencing their income were marketing experience, ages, experience, feed cost and level of formal education. It is recommended that Government should put into consideration the significant variables in policy formulations and provide conducive environment for the private sector to invest in this business in order to address the meat demand of the citizenry

Xylanase production by Aspergillus niger ANL 301 using agro - wastes

Xylanase production by wild-type Aspergillus niger ANL301, newly isolated from wood-waste, was monitored at 24 h intervals for a period 168 h in media containing different carbon sources. The carbon sources were oat-spelt xylan (Fluka) and three agro-wastes (sawdust, sugarcane pulp and wheat bran). Highest xylanase activity of 6.47 units/mL was obtained at 96 h in media containing wheat bran as sole carbon source. Maximum activity value for the media containing sugarcane pulp was 0.95 units/mL obtained also at 96 h. Sawdust and oat spelt xylan gave the peak enzyme activities of 0.65 and 0.80 units/mL respectively at 120 h. High protein yield was obtained in media containing the agro-wastes, with wheat bran giving the highest value of 1.14 mg/mL at 96 h. The maximum specific xylanase activities were 3.86, 3.37, 5.69, and 9.36 units/ mg protein for sawdust, sugarcane pulp, wheat bran and oat spelt xylan, respectively. Out of the three agro-wastes used in this study, wheat bran holds greatest promise for low cost production of the xylanase enzyme

Agro-waste: a potential fermentation substrate for Penicillium chrysogenum

Common agro-wastes found in Lagos, Nigeria (cassava shavings, corncob, sawdust, and sugarcane pulp) were compared with glucose and lactose as fermentation substrates for Penicillium chrysogenum PCL501. Cassava shavings significantly (P<0.001) produced the highest amount of mycelia weight (0.43 ± 0.02 mg/ml) than all the other substrates. This was followed by corncob with peak mycelia weight of 0.33 ± 0.02 mg/ml. Peak mycelia weight of 0.27 ± 0.01 mg/ml was equally obtained with glucose and sugarcane pulp whereas lactose gave a slightly lower peak of 0.25 ± 0.01 mg/ml. Sawdust gave the least mycelia weight of 0.13 ± 0.01 mg/ml. Total sugar content of all the culture media steadily decreased as fungal growth progressed indicating that the organism utilized carbohydrates for growth and mycelia formation. Cultures containing cassava shavings and sawdust gave high protein peaks of 0.84 ± 0.05 and 0.65 ± 0.03 mg/ml respectively. Cultures containing corncob, glucose, lactose and sugarcane pulp yielded lower protein peaks of 0.37 ± 0.02, 0.30 ± 0.02, 0.24 ± 0.02 and 0.18 ± 0.01 mg/ml respectively. The results suggest that cassava shavings, corncob and sugarcane pulp could serve as cheap fermentation substrates for the growth of the fungus. Of all the substrates investigated, cassava shavings have the best potential to serve as substrate for fermentation by Penicillium chrysogenum PCL501. © 2009 International Formulae Group. All rights reserved

Narrowing the Expectation Gap in Auditing: The Role of the Auditing Profession

The study sought to ascertain the role of the auditing profession in narrowing the audit expectation gap. Selfadministered questionnaires were used in the study. The data generated from the responses of the subjects were analyzed using descriptive and statistical analysis through the computer (SPSS 16.0). The result shows that the public is ignorant of the duties of the auditor and this lack of knowledge is responsible for unreasonable expectations of the public from auditors. Based on the findings and conclusion, it was recommended that the public need more education on the duties and responsibilities of the auditor, the standard auditor’s report should be expanded to include disclaimer clauses clearly showing that it is not a certificate or guarantee of the financial soundness of the auditee, it should be clearly stated in the audit report that the auditor is not the Compliance Officer of the audited company and that the auditors report should add that the opinion expressed by the auditor should not be construed to mean a guarantee of accuracy of the financial statement

Benefit Incidence Analysis of Government Spending on Education in Anambra State, Nigeria.

Education services have been identified as one of the most important services the poor need to escape from poverty. Governments generally devote significant portion of her budget to provision of education services in developing countries. This study employed the non-behavioural method of benefit incidence analysis to assess how equitably government expenditure in education has been well targeted across households and gender in Anambra state, Nigeria. The study found that primary and secondary education were absolutely progressive across households, absolute progressive for female and just progressive for male primary education spending, while secondary education spending is just progressive across both sexes. Among other policies, strict implementation of the compulsory free basic education as stated in the National Policy on Education was recommended. Keywords: Benefit incidence analysis, progressivity, concentration curve, public expenditure, education

Xylanase production by Penicillium chrysogenum (PCL501) fermented on cellulosic wastes

Xylanase production by Penicillium chrysogenum PCL501, newly isolated from wood-wastes, was monitored at 24 h intervals for a period 168 h in media containing four different carbon sources (oatspelt xylan, wheat bran, sawdust, and sugarcane pulp). The highest xylanase activity of 6.47 Units mL-1 was obtained at 96 h in media containing wheat bran whereas media containing sugarcane pulp gave a peak value of 1.39 Units mL-1 at 144 h. Sawdust and xylan gave a peak xylanase activity of 1.35 and 0.79 Units mL-1 respectively at 120 h. Maximum protein released in xylan-containing media was 0.38 mg mL-1. Higher protein yield was obtained in media containing the agro-wastes, with wheat bran giving the highest value of 1.14 mg mL-1. The maximum specific xylanase activities were 2.59, 8.52, 16.06, and 9.36 Units mg Protein -1 for sawdust, sugarcane pulp, wheat bran and xylan respectively. Out of the three agro-wastes used in this study, wheat bran holds the greatest promise for cost-effective production of the xylanase enzyme. The carbon source is the highest inducer of the enzyme in the fungus