The ageing eye” functional changes from cradle to gray: A review

Ageaffects the structure and functions of both eyes equally.With increasing age the eyes' axial lengths increase, mean refracting power decrease, lens power decreases and visual acuity increases. Hyperopia increases, stabilizes and then decreases but increases again from age 45 while myopia shows up from age 7 and increases linearly with increasing age till age 20 and then levels off.Accommodative amplitude on the other hand decreases with age while contrast sensitivity improve and is at its maximum between ages 20 and 30 after which it decreases as a function of age, colour vision and visual fields also diminish with age

Telehealth Coaching to Improve Exercise Self-Efficacy in Diabetics

Abstract Background and Review of Literature: Exercise is essential to the self-management of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). The literature reveals that many patients with difficulty in the self-management of exercise improve with coaching. The literature also reveals that an adequate exercise routine results in improved blood glucose control and the prevention of complications. Purpose: This DNP project aims to demonstrate the positive effect of low-cost telehealth coaching to improve self-efficacy in an exercise regimen for T2DM patients. Methods: A one-group pretest-posttest design was used in this project. Telephone calls and text messaging were used to coach patients to improve exercise self-efficacy A self-efficacy scale was used to measure the pre- and post-intervention self-efficacy. Implementation plan/Procedure: This project was implemented by recruiting participants from the community and administering three weeks of remote coaching via phone calls and text messaging. Implication/Conclusion: Evidence from the literature supports the positive effect of telehealth coaching in improving self-efficacy in patients with T2DM. The project’s outcome was a significant improvement in exercise self-efficacy in the participants which far exceeded 5% on the self-efficacy scale after three weeks of coaching. The results showed that telehealth coaching via phone calls and text messaging is an effective, low-cost means of helping T2DM patients improve self-efficacy in maintaining an exercise routine due to the behavior modification that occurred from the intervention. Keywords: Type 2 diabetes, diabetes and exercise, remote health coaching, blood glucose control, telehealth, behavior change in chronic disease, exercise self-efficacy, telephone coaching

Effect of Stake Length and NPK Fiertilizer on White Yam (Dioscorea rotundata) Minisett in Umudike, South-East, Nigeria

Staking and soil fertility are critical factors that affect yam production in the humid forest zone of South-East, Nigeria; where high rainfalls and cloud cover are prevalent. Field experiments were conducted at Umudike, South-East, Nigeria in the 2016 and 2017 cropping seasons, to study the effects of stake length and NPK fertilizer on the minisett of white yam cultivar Yandu. The experiment was laid out as a 4× 5 factorial in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates. Treatments consist of four levels of stake length (0, 1, 2 and 3m) and five levels of NPK (15:15:15) fertilizer (0, 200, 400, 600 and 800kg/ha). Stake of 2 and 3m lengths had significantly longer vine lengths at 3 and 4 months after planting  (MAP) and leaf area index at 3MAP than no staking. Averaged across the two cropping seasons, staking did not affect tuber yield, but the 2 or 3m stakes in 2016 had significant higher tuber yields than the yields obtained in 2017 regardless of stake length. NPK fertilizer application did not significantly influence vine length, leaf area index, and tuber yield, but the application of fertilizer at 200kg/ha increased the number of tubers per plant in 2017. The non-significant effects of staking and NPK fertilizer on tuber yield were ascribed to high rainfall that caused flooding and leaching of nutrients

Agromorphological characterization of twelve okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench) genotypes from south-western Nigeria

As part of efforts to expand and document the horticultural germplasm repository at the National Horticultural Research Institute (NIHORT), Ibadan, eleven okra genotypes collected from farmers’ fields in south-west Nigeria were characterized alongside one improved variety in an open field experiment for eight important agro-morphological characters: plant height, number of days to flowering, pod length, pod width, fruit pedicel length, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, and 1000-seed weight. Significant variations were observed among cultivars for most of the traits except days to flowering and number of seeds per pod. Moderate to high heritability estimates in the broad sense recorded for seven of the eight traits; suggest that environmental influence on the traits were minimal. Number of pods per plant had moderate to high positive genotypic and phenotypic correlations with plant height, pod length and pedicel length. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that the first three principal components accounted for 87.45% of the total variation based on the eight characters observed. The PCA suggested that pod width, number of seeds per pod, plant height, fruit pedicel length, number of pods per plant, pod length, 1000-seed weight and days to flowering contributed significantly to the total variation observed. This study reveals the potential of the genotypes to enhance NIHORT’s okra improvement and genetic conservation research.Keywords: Okra, genotypic correlation, phenotypic correlation, principal component analysis, genetic conservatio

Mathematical modelling of the statistics of communication in social networks

PhDChat rooms are of enormous interest to social network researchers as they are one of the most interactive internet areas. To understand the behaviour of users in a chat room, there have been studies on the analysis of the Response Waiting Time (RWT) based on traditional approaches of aggregating the network contacts. However, real social networks are dynamic and properties such as RWT change over time. Unfortunately, the traditional approach focuses only on static network and neglecting the temporal variation in RWT which may have lead to misrepresentation of the true nature of RWT. In order to determine the true nature of RWT, we analyse and compare the RWT of three online chat room logs (Walford, IRC and T-REX) putting into consideration the dynamic nature of RWT. Our research shows that the distribution of the RWT exhibits multi-scaling behaviour, which signi cantly a ects the current views on the nature of RWT. This is a shift from simple power-law distribution to a more complex pattern. The previous study on users RWT between pairs of people claims that the RWT has a power-law distribution with an exponent of 1. However, our research shows that multi-scaling behaviour and the exponent has a wider range of values which depend on the environment and time of day. The di erent exponents observed on di erent time scales suggest that the time context or environment has a signi cant in uence on users RWT. Furthermore, using the chat characterise, we predicted the factors which could minimize response waiting time and improving the friendship connection during online chat sessions. We apply our ndings to design an algorithm for chat thread detection. Here, we proposed two variations of cluster algorithm. The rst algorithm involves the traditional approach while in the second one, the temporal variations in RWT was taken into consideration to capture the dynamic nature of a text stream. An advantage of our proposed method over the previous models is that previous models have involved highly computationally intensive methods and often lead to deterioration in the accuracy of the result whereas our proposed approach uses a simple and e ective sequential thread detection method, which is less computationally intensiveSAS Graduate Research Fellowshi

External eye infections and personal hygiene practices among patients attending optometry teaching Clinic Federal University of Technology, Owerri

External eye infections occur when harmful microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, protozoan and viruses invade any part of the anterior outer part of the eyeball. This study was carried out to between January 2016 and December 2016 to investigate the external eye infections and personal hygiene practices among patients attending Optometry Teaching Clinic at Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria. A total of 217 patients with external eye infections who came to the clinic during this period were used for this study. A well-structured questionnaire was used to obtain information on their personal hygiene practices. Swabs collected from the infected eyes were taken to the laboratory for isolation and identification of causative organisms. Ocular examination results showed that bacterial conjunctivitis was the most prevalent external eye infection and was seen in146 (67.28%) patients. Information on hygiene practices showed that 29 (13.36%) of the patients wash their hands with soap and water before eating and 42 (19.35%) wash their hands with soap and water after toilet use. Laboratory results showed that the major causative organism was Staphylococcus aureus, isolated in 91 (41.94%) samples. Statistical analysis showed that there was no significant difference in both the gender variations (P > 0.05) and age variations (P > 0.05) of pathogenic organisms implicated in the external eye infections. Optometrists should educate their patients on the need for good personal hygiene as this will help in preventing external eye infections which can occur from contaminated fingers that come in contact with the eyes.Keywords: External eye infections, Personal hygiene, Microorganisms, Hand washin

Assessment of foveal and extra-foveal photostress recovery time in primary open angle glaucoma

Photostress recovery time (PSRT) is a clinical procedure that measures the amount of time required for the macular to return to its normal level of function after being exposed to a bright light source. This study was a case control clinical study carried out to measure the foveal and extra-foveal photo stress recovery time in participants with primary open angle glaucoma. Fifty five subjects, 24 with primary open angle glaucoma with a mean age of 34.38±12.19 and 31 control subjects with a mean age of 26.58±7.23 were used in this study. The mean photostress recovery time measured on the fovea, 7o nasal, temporal, inferior and superior to the fovea were, 62.38±4.67, 8.71±7.19, 11.23±10.96, 12.08±8.96 and 12.44±9.30 respectively for subjects with primary open angle glaucoma. For the control subjects, the mean photostress recovery time measured on the fovea, 7o nasal, temporal, inferior and superior to the fovea were 23.29±1.63 11.89±8.62, 11.53±8.19, 12.89±8.67 and 13.60±8.36 respectively. Analysis with SPSS version 21 using the two factor ANOVA showed a significant difference (P<0.05) in photostress recovery time 7o nasally, temporally, inferiorly and superior to the fovea between primary open angle glaucoma subjects and a control group. Data analysis with the independent sample t-test also showed a significant difference (P<0.05) in photostress recovery time on the fovea between primary open angle glaucoma subjects and a control group. In conclusion, primary open angle glaucoma alters the photostress recovery time, both on the fovea and extra-foveal region of the retina. Photostress recovery test should be included in the routine eye examination of patients.Keywords: Primary Open angle glaucoma, Photostress recovery time, foveal, extra-fovea

Isolation and Characterization of Soft Rot pathogen of Yam (Dioscorea spp) in Nigeria-A Review

Yam (Dioscorea spp) is a tuber crop belonging to the family Dioscoreaceae. The species of economic importance include Dioscorea rotundata, Dioscorea alata, Dioscorea cayenensis, Dioscorea dumetorum, Dioscorea bulbifera and Dioscorea esculentus. In West Africa, Dioscorea rotundata is also refered to as white yam or white guinea yam. It is the most widely cultivated. It is the most important food and income source for millions of producers, processors and consumers in West Africa. A pathogen or infectious agent is a biological agent that causes disease or illness to its host and it can infect unicellular organisms from all of the biological kingdoms. In the oldest and broadest sense, it is anything that can produce disease, a term which came into use in the 1880s ("Pathogen". Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House ; Casadevall, Arturo; Pirofski, Liise-anne 2014). It is used to describe an infectious agent like the following: virus, bacterium, prion, fungus, viroid, or parasite that causes disease in its host. The host may be a human, an animal, a plant, a fungus, or even another micro-organism (Alberts B et al., 2002; MetaPathogen, 2015). There are different types of pathogens which include the following: Bacterial, Viral, Fungal, Prionic Protozoa, Viroids and Human Parasite. Isolation It is defined as the complete separation from others of a person or plant suffering from contagious or infectious disease; quarantine. It is very damaging, and there is no way to ameliorate it and isolation of pathogen is the process whereby pathogens of yam are treated. This is the process where rotted yam tubers were rinsed in distilled water, surface sterilized with 70% ethanol and cut open with a sterilized knife and it is now treated

In vivo antimalarial activity of methanol leaf extract of Bombax buonopozense in mice infected with Plasmodium berghei

Bombax buonopozense is used in ethnomedical practice for the treatment of fever. The methanol leaf extract of this plant was evaluated for in vivo antiplasmodial activity against chloroquine sensitive plasmodium berghei in mice. The antiplasmodial effect during early and established infections was investigated. The extract (200-600 mg/kg, p.o) exhibited significant (P<0.05) antimalarial activity both in four-day early and in an established infection tests. The LD50 of the extract was established to be greater than 5000 mg/kg, p.o in mice. The result suggests that B. buonopozense leaf extract possesses significant (P< 0.05) antiplasmodial activity thus confirming its traditional use in malarial therapy.Keywords: Bombax buonopozense; Herbal medicine; Plasmodium berghei berghei; Mic

Lower uterine segment scar thickness as a predictor of successful vaginal birth after caesarean section at the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa: a prospective cohort study

Background: Successful conduct of vaginal birth after caesarean section is dependent on a number of foetal and maternal factors including integrity of the previous caesarean section scar. The objective of this study was to determine the average lower uterine segment (LUS) scar thickness for women being planned for VBAC.Methods: This was a prospective cohort study of pregnant women with one previous caesarean section, who were recruited to undergo transvaginal ultrasound scan in preparation for VBAC at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Yenagoa. It was conducted between May, 2018 and September 2019. The women were allocated into three groups A (<2.5mm), B (2.5-3.4 mm) and C (≥3.5 mm) according to the thickness of the LUS scar. Data analysis was done using the statistical product and service solutions version 22.0, p<0.05 was taken as statistically significant.Results: The range of lower uterine segment thickness in the study was 1.5 mm to 6.8 mm (mean 3.89±0.95 mm). With cut-off value of 3.5 mm, the sensitivity for successful VBAC was 78.8%, specificity was 55.4%, PPV was 78.1%, NPV was 62.0% and accuracy was 71%. The rate of uterine defect increased as the lower uterine segment thickness decreased from 3.5 mm (p=0.001).Conclusions: This research has clearly shown that full LUS thickness of ≥3.5 mm at 36 weeks of gestation is associated with an increased chance of successful VBAC while LUS thickness of <3.5 mm is at increased risk of uterine rupture and uterine dehiscence during a Trial of VBAC.