Appraisal of the Economic Activities of Termites: A Review

Termites can be found through out the world largely in the tropical and sub-tropical countries. They are social insects, feeding on cellulosic materials and live in colonies. Termites comprise the Order Isoptera with six families, 170 genera and 2600 species, of which six species are present in Nigeria. The most striking aspects of termites is their destructive tendency. They feed on wood indiscriminately, and tend to destroy timber and other wooden materials of importance to man, and this brought them into direct competition with man. However, their beneficial aspect to man is very significant. In most countries, where termites exist in abundance they are edible. Their burrowing within the soil increases the rate of percolation of water into the soil, thereby promoting water absorbent of the soil. Their feeding habit includes decomposition of dead trees, and incorporation into the soil, mineral nutrients of these trees. Man in response to the destructive activities of termites, developed various controlled methods towards them, which include the use of pesticides such as DDT ( Dichloro Diphenyl Trichloroethane), BHC ( Benzene Hexachloride ), Aldrin, Dieldrin, soil barrier termiticides, treated zone termiticides, dust and fumigant, and, non chemical control methods such as mud tube removal, debris removal, pathogenic fungi, mechanical barriers, heat, high voltage electricity or electrocution and wood replacement. The control of termites however, does not seek to totally exterminate them, but to bring their activities to a manageable level. The objective of this paper is to appraise the economic activities of termites

Impact of Endocrine Disruptions on Man: The likely Causes and Effects

It is now common knowledge that synthetic chemicals in the environment can find access into the body of humans and wildlife, thereby mimicking the action of endogenous hormones that regulate maintenance of normal growth, metabolism and reproduction. The chemicals able to do this are known as Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) which come from various sources ranging from household items to synthetic products and pharmaceuticals to plant derived estrogens. Although data linking cause and effect of the EDCs is extremely rare in humans owing to the fact that ethical issues would not allow for the use of humans as experimental models, yet a growing body of literature suggests a strong link between either pre- or  postnatal exposure to environmental chemicals and observed adverse health outcomes. This review intends to bring together previous efforts to ascertain the impact of EDCs on human health, the missing research link and the possible precautionary strategies. This is important considering the magnitude of the adverse risks that exposure to endocrine disruptors might cause. Also, scientific uncertainty shall not delay precautionary action in reducing exposure to these chemicals as data available indicates transgenerational effects at population level due to chronic exposure to these chemicals.Keywords: endocrine disruptors, human health, chemicals, environmen

Rare Occurrence of Mix Stromal Tumours: A Case Report Of Gastrointestinal and Extra-Intestinal Stromal Tumour on the Jejunum And Omentum of a Nine Year Old Girl From Adamawa State, Nigeria

Background: Stromal tumors of the jejunum (GIST) and omentum (EGIST) are uncommon and dearth of information still exists on their occurrence concurrently.Case details: Here, we report a nine year old girl that presented with tender abdominal mass measuring 14 x 8 cm associated with features of gastric outlet obstruction and hyponatremia of 115mmol/L. A diagnosis of hyponatremia in a child with gastric outlet obstruction secondary to intraabdominal mass was made for which exploratory laparotomy was carried out. Histology of the tumour revealed stromal spindle epithelioid as well as myxoid cells. Complete resection of the tumour and correction for hyponatremia was done in addition to antibiotics therapy with remarkable improvement.Conclusion: Index case is that of mixed stromal tumours that presented with features of gastric outlet obstruction, and the patient did well after surgery.Keywords: Gastrointestinal/extraintestinal stromal tumors, Jejunum,  Omentum, Paediatrics, Adamawa state, Nigeria

Length-Weight Relationship and Condition Factor of Clarias anguillaris (Family: Claridae) in Kontagora Reservoir, Niger State, Nigeria

Length – weight relationship of Clarias anguillaris (Fam: Claridae) in Kontagora Reservoir, Niger State, Nigeria, was studied from January, 2007 - December, 2007. The fish species was obtained using a fleet of graded gill nets comprising of nine multi filament gill nets mesh sizes. The parameters a and b of the Length – weight relationship of the form W = aLb and Condition factor C.F. = W 100 / L3 are presented for the fish species. The mean monthly condition factor values were high during the rainy season than the dry season, and the b value obtained was 3.477. The b value indicates positive allometric relationship, with the weight of the fish increasing as the fish grow in length. The high mean monthly condition factor of the fish species indicating their well being, shows that Kontagora Reservoir has favourable environment for the survival and growth of the species.Keywords: Length – weight relationship, Condition factor, Clarias anguillaris, Kontagora ReservoirNigerian Journal of Basic and Applied Science (2011), 19(2): 299-30

SCADA Online Product Quality Control

Controlling the quality of the product during the manufacturing phase is the process of analysis, control, management of factors and variables that affect the quality of the final product. Integrating the computer in the industrial manufacturing control will ensure the quality of the product, as well as to provide the necessary data for the production process progress, the ingredients ratio used in each production batch and statistical data of the changes that may occur in the composition of the product. Traditional methods to control the quality of the product are inadequate and inappropriate; they need to be changed to keep pace with the huge development in the field of industrial automation, control systems, industrial quality and computer technology used in various industries as well as clear development in the field of industrial sensors. This study falls into three-research area: integration of SPC and EPC, SCADA batch processes monitoring and control, and concrete batching plant. The objectives of this study are (a) To design a SCADA system for batch process monitoring and quality management, (b) To establish an integrated SPC/EPC methodology for a batch process, and (c) to illustrate the proposed approach with an application of the analysis and monitoring of an industrial concrete batching plant. The concrete batching plant has different batch processing subsystems, but the aggregate batching process has the greatest impact on product quality, unfortunately, this industrial process is poorly automated, in most plants in Gaza strip. The traditional control or even the manual control is still common which leads to uneven mixtures and inconsistent product quality subject to several disturbances. A complete PLC system is designed for full-automated concrete plant, with new aggregate weighing and batching algorithm implemented for adaptive flow rate and feeding speed control. Through this study ,the implemented algorithm and SCADA system , process engineers at the industrial plants are now able to use a valuable decision making tool when the production process is affected by certain disruptions, with obvious consequences on product quality, productivity and competitiveness

Risk factors and birth prevalence of birth defects and inborn errors of metabolism in Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND: Birth defects and inborn errors of metabolism are related to variable poor perinatal and neonatal outcomes. Our aim was to explore the pattern and prevalence of birth defects and metabolic birth errors in Al-Ahsa Governorate in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. METHODS: This retrospective case control study was done from April 2006 to 2009. Children with any birth defect or metabolic errors of metabolism at birth or in the neonatology section were our sample for study. Control group was randomly selected from the cases with normal live births. Blood tests were performed for children suspected to suffer from genetic blood disorders. The principal BD as per the International Classification of Diseases-10 (ICD-10) code was also noted. RESULTS: Out of 38001 live births, birth defects were found in 1.14% and errors of metabolism were detected in 0.17%. The most common birth defects were craniofacial malformations. The 3-methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase deficiency was the most common inborn errors of metabolism. Consanguinity, rural residence and prematurity were associated with significant rise in BDs. On the other hand, consanguinity and low birth weight were associated with significant rise in metabolic errors. CONCLUSION: First cousins consanguinity represented the most significant risk factor for birth defects and inborn errors of metabolism. High degree of inbreeding, consanguinity may exacerbate underlying recessive genetic risk factors

Luminal-Applied Flagellin Is Internalized by Polarized Intestinal Epithelial Cells and Elicits Immune Responses via the TLR5 Dependent Mechanism

Bacteria release flagellin that elicits innate responses via Toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5). Here, we investigated the fate of apically administrated full length flagellin from virulent and avirulent bacteria, along with truncated recombinant flagellin proteins in intestinal epithelial cells and cellular responses. Flagellin was internalized by intestinal epithelial cell (IEC) monolayers of IEC-18. Additionally, apically applied flagellin was internalized by polarized human Caco-2BBe and T-84 cells in a TLR5 dependent mechanism. More, flagellin exposure did not affect the integrity of intestinal monolayers. With immunofluorescent staining, internalized flagellin was detected in both early endosomes as well as lysosomes. We found that apical exposure of polarized Caco-2BBe and T-84 to flagellin from purified Salmonella, Escherichia coli O83:H1 (isolate from Crohn’s lesion) or avirulent E. coli K12 induced comparable levels of basolateral IL-8 secretion. A recombinant protein representing the conserved amino (N) and carboxyl (C) domains (D) of the flagellin protein (ND1/2ECHCD2/1) induced IL-8 secretion from IEC similar to levels elicited by full-length flagellins. However, a recombinant flagellin protein containing only the D3 hypervariable region elicited no IL-8 secretion in both cell lines compared to un-stimulated controls. Silencing or blocking TLR5 in Caco-2BBe cells resulted in a lack of flagellin internalization and decreased IL-8 secretion. Furthermore, apical exposure to flagellin stimulated transepithelial migration of neutrophils and dendritic cells. The novel findings in this study show that luminal-applied flagellin is internalized by normal IEC via TLR5 and co-localizes to endosomal and lysosomal compartments where it is likely degraded as flagellin was not detected on the basolateral side of IEC cultures

Directed self-assembly, symmetry breaking, and electronic modulation of metal oxide clusters by pyramidal heteroanions

Mixed valence/metal polyoxometalate (POM) clusters are one of the most interesting host species showing the ability to incorporate a wide range of heteroatoms of various charges and geometries. We report herein, the incorporation of different pyramidal EO32- heteroanions (E = PH, S, Se, Te) which are responsible not only for directing the templated assembly of a family of mixed-metal POMs but also for the symmetry-breaking of the traditional Dawson architecture and modulation of the electronic characteristics of the cluster's shell. The isolated family of POMs consists of four members: (Me2NH2)5Na2[Mo11V7O52(HPO3)]·MeOH·5H2O (1), (NH4)7[Mo11V7O52(SO3)]·12H2O (2), K7[Mo11V7O52(SeO3)]·31H2O (3), (Me2NH2)6Na[Mo11V7O52(TeO3)]·15H2O (4), and were characterized by X-ray structural analysis, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), UV-vis, IR, elemental and flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (FAAS) analysis, and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopic studies in concert with density functional theoretical (DFT) calculations elucidate the effect of the heteroatom on the electronic properties of the cluster

Medication adherence among diabetic and hypertensive patients in Al-Qassim region of Saudi Arabia

Non-adherence to medication is often an unrecognized risk factor that contributes to failure of the therapeutic plan. The purpose of the study was to identify factors related to high, medium and low medication adherence among adult Saudi patients with hypertension and diabetes mellitus. This study is designed as a descriptive cross sectional survey and was conducted in three tertiary care hospitals of Al-Qassim province of Saudi Arabia. The data was collected using the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) and analyzed by SPSS. Three levels of adherence were considered based on the following scores: 0 to <6 (low); 6 to <8 (medium); 8 (high). Of the 396 patients interviewed, 52% reported low adherence to prescribed medication. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was conducted. Gender, age, literacy level, duration of illness and type of chronic disease were negatively associated with medication adherence. The study shows very high proportion of low and medium adherence on long term medication, which may be responsible for the failure of achieving therapeutic outcome. Further investigation is required to evaluate the applicability of MMAS-8 as a tool of measuring medication adherence among Saudi patients with chronic diseases. Adherence enhancing strategies should also be evaluated in separate patients group