A review on perception of genetically modified foods in Nigeria

Genetically modified foods (GMFs )), GMOs or engineered foods refer to foods produced from genetic ally modified plants or animal s who se DNA have undergone modifications either by an inherent or a foreign DNA (transgenes) for improvement of the targeted o rganism. Genetically modified foods were introduced to  Nigeria by National Biotechno logy Development Agency ( to combat food security issues and other agricultural challenges . After the introduction, the Nigerian Government believed that the products can be release d to the m arket. This brought persistent argument s by Nigerians on the perception and acceptance of the GM foods. The basis for the arguments were made on factors such as safety , environmental threat, price , means of colonization, food security, family size, potentiality , awareness of GM foods. These arguments were by individuals and organizations within various areas /fields in Nigeria. The perception led to the division of Nigerians to protagonists and antagonist s with regards to GMOs. The article reviewed the introduction, perceptions and views of factors on GMFs acceptance among Nigerians

Financial sanctions and the share of US dollar in global reserve currencies:evidence from the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) model

The decline in the dollar’s share in global reserve currencies has generated debate on the effect of the United States’ financial sanctions. This study examines the effect of US financial sanctions on the dollar’s share in global reserve currencies by employing the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selector Operator (LASSO) model. The estimates suggest that the imposition of financial sanctions by the US reduces the dollar’s share in global reserve currencies. This implies that although the US dollar remains the foremost global reserve currency, the imposition of financial sanctions may weaken its dominance

HIV/AIDS-related non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas and confounders: preliminary report of the Sub-Saharan Africa Lymphoma Consortium (SSALC)

CITATION: Ayers, L.W. et al. 2012. HIV/AIDS-related non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas and confounders : preliminary report of the Sub-Saharan Africa Lymphoma Consortium (SSALC). Infectious Agents and Cancer, 7(Suppl 1):P11, doi:10.1186/1750-9378-7-S1-P11.The original publication is available at http://infectagentscancer.biomedcentral.comSSALC was established to characterize HIV/AIDS-related lymphoma and the indigenous background of malignant lymphomas (ML) in sub-Saharan Africa. Because WHO classified lymphoma subgroups can vary in prevalence African, Asian or European ancestry, we surveyed lymphoma heterogeneity in geographically diverse East, South and West sub-Saharan populations, particularly for HIV/AIDS associated immunophenotypes.http://infectagentscancer.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1750-9378-7-S1-P11Publisher's versio

Need and scope of global partnership on public health research

BACKGROUND:A large and growing body of "big data" is generated by internet search engines, such as Google. Because people often search for information about public health and medical issues, researchers may be able to use search engine data to monitor and predict public health problems, such as HIV. We sought to assess the feasibility of using Google search data to analyze and predict new HIV diagnoses cases in the United States. METHODS AND FINDINGS:From 2007 to 2014, we collected search volume data on HIV-related Google search keywords across the United States. State-level new HIV diagnoses data were collected from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and AIDSVu.org. We developed a negative binomial model to predict HIV cases using a subset of significant predictor keywords identified by LASSO. The Google search data were combined with state-level HIV case reports provided by the CDC. We use historical data to train the model and predict new HIV diagnoses from 2011 to 2014, with an average R2 value of 0.99 between predicted versus actual cases, and average root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 108.75. CONCLUSIONS:Results indicate that Google Trends is a feasible tool to predict new cases of HIV at the state level. We discuss the implications of integrating visualization maps and tools based on these models into public health and HIV monitoring and surveillance

New ‘stimuli-enriched’ laboratory bioassay used to identify improved botanical repellent treatment, Lem-ocimum, to control the stored-grain pest Tribolium castaneum

A laboratory study of Tribolium castaneum, a major pest of stored grain, was conducted to develop a more efficient and effective ‘choice’ bioassay for identification of new repellent botanical treatments. Standard bioassays to test the repellency of candidate plants include pit-fall traps and open arena choice tests, environments lacking in some of the most important natural stimuli that guide the movement of food-searching beetles, e.g., 1) materials they can burrow through, which stimulate ‘positive thigmotaxis’, 2) a range of light and dark areas, which stimulate ‘negative phototaxis’ and 3) three-dimensional habitats, which stimulate ‘positive geotaxis.’ The lack of these stimuli can lead to two common problems; ‘low efficiency’ (high proportion of beetles remain in the area that surrounds treatments without making a ‘choice’), and ‘low efficacy’ (high variability in proportions found in control and treated samples). The new ‘stimuli-enriched’ bioassay, which included all three of the above stimuli, was significantly more efficient (P < 0.0001) and effective than three standard bioassays. The stimuli-enriched bioassay was used to compare the repellency of four candidate plants; Ocimum basilicum (Sweet Basil) and Cymbopogon nardus (Lemongrass) were significantly more repellent than Vernonia amygdalina or Nauclea diderrichii (Tukey Contrasts; P < 0.01). A novel method of applying repellent material (a paste of repellent plant is applied between the layers of double bagged grain) was tested on the most promising repellent plants materials; a combination of C. nardus and O. basilicum (‘Lem-ocimum’) at 0.5% w/w of each was significantly more effective than O. basilicum on its own (Tukey Contrasts; P < 0.05). These results show that the stimuli-enriched bioassay provides more consistent and accurate assessments than the standard bioassays of the repellency of candidate botanicals, and that Lem-ocimum treated double-bags are a promising new method of protecting sorghum from T. castaneum

Causal attribution of mental illness in south-eastern Nigeria

Background: Understanding of mental illness in sub-Saharan Africa has remained under-researched in spite of the high and increasing neuropsychiatric burden of disease in the region. Aims: This study investigated the causal beliefs that the Igbo people of south-eastern Nigeria hold about schizophrenia, with a view to establishing the extent to which the population makes psychosocial, biological and supernatural attributions. Method: Multi-stage sampling was used to select participants (N = 200) to which questionnaires were administered. Results: Mean comparison of the three causal models revealed a significant endorsement of supernatural causation. Logistic regressions revealed significant contributions of old age and female gender to supernatural attribution; old age, high education and Catholic religious denomination to psychosocial attributions; and high education to biological attributions. Conclusions: It is hoped that the findings would enlighten, augment literature and enhance mental health care service delivery

Quantum walks: a comprehensive review

Quantum walks, the quantum mechanical counterpart of classical random walks, is an advanced tool for building quantum algorithms that has been recently shown to constitute a universal model of quantum computation. Quantum walks is now a solid field of research of quantum computation full of exciting open problems for physicists, computer scientists, mathematicians and engineers. In this paper we review theoretical advances on the foundations of both discrete- and continuous-time quantum walks, together with the role that randomness plays in quantum walks, the connections between the mathematical models of coined discrete quantum walks and continuous quantum walks, the quantumness of quantum walks, a summary of papers published on discrete quantum walks and entanglement as well as a succinct review of experimental proposals and realizations of discrete-time quantum walks. Furthermore, we have reviewed several algorithms based on both discrete- and continuous-time quantum walks as well as a most important result: the computational universality of both continuous- and discrete- time quantum walks.Comment: Paper accepted for publication in Quantum Information Processing Journa

Factors Associated with Negative Direct Sputum Examination in Asian and African HIV-Infected Patients with Tuberculosis (ANRS 1260)

OBJECTIVE: To identify factors associated with negative direct sputum examination among African and Cambodian patients co-infected by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and HIV. DESIGN: Prospective multicenter study (ANRS1260) conducted in Cambodia, Senegal and Central African Republic. METHODS: Univariate and multivariate analyses (logistic regression) were used to identify clinical and radiological features associated with negative direct sputum examination in HIV-infected patients with positive M. tuberculosis culture on Lowenstein-Jensen medium. RESULTS: Between September 2002 and December 2005, 175 co-infected patients were hospitalized with at least one respiratory symptom and pulmonary radiographic anomaly. Acid-fast bacillus (AFB) examination was positive in sputum samples from 110 subjects (63%) and negative in 65 patients (37%). Most patients were at an advanced stage of HIV disease (92% at stage III or IV of the WHO classification) with a median CD4 cell count of 36/mm³. In this context, we found that sputum AFB negativity was more frequent in co-infected subjects with associated respiratory tract infections (OR = 2.8 [95%CI:1.1-7.0]), dyspnea (OR = 2.5 [95%CI:1.1-5.6]), and localized interstitial opacities (OR = 3.1 [95%CI:1.3-7.6]), but was less frequent with CD4 ≤ 50/mm³ (OR = 0.4 [95%CI:0.2-0.90), adenopathies (OR = 0.4 [95%CI:0.2-0.93]) and cavitation (OR = 0.1 [95%CI:0.03-0.6]). CONCLUSIONS: One novel finding of this study is the association between concomitant respiratory tract infection and negative sputum AFB, particularly in Cambodia. This finding suggests that repeating AFB testing in AFB-negative patients should be conducted when broad spectrum antibiotic treatment does not lead to complete recovery from respiratory symptoms. In HIV-infected patients with a CD4 cell count below 50/mm3 without an identified cause of pneumonia, systematic AFB direct sputum examination is justified because of atypical clinical features (without cavitation) and high pulmonary mycobacterial burden

Explaining Adherence Success in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Ethnographic Study

Using ethnographic data from Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda, Norma Ware and colleagues examine why levels of adherence to HIV/AIDS drugs are so much higher in sub-Saharan Africa than in North America

Male involvement in birth preparedness and complication readiness for emergency obstetric referrals in rural Uganda

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Every pregnant woman faces risk of life-threatening obstetric complications. A birth-preparedness package promotes active preparation and assists in decision-making for healthcare seeking in case of such complications. The aim was to assess factors associated with birth preparedness and complication-readiness as well as the level of male participation in the birth plan among emergency obstetric referrals in rural Uganda.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This was a cross-sectional study conducted at Kabale regional hospital maternity ward among 140 women admitted as emergency obstetric referrals in antenatal, labor or the postpartum period. Data was collected on socio-demographics and birth preparedness and what roles spouses were involved in during developing the birth plan. Any woman who attended antenatal care at least 4 times, received health education on pregnancy and childbirth danger signs, saved money for emergencies, made a plan of where to deliver from and made preparations for a birth companion, was deemed as having made a birth plan. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to analyze factors that were independently associated with having a birth plan.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean age was 26.8 ± 6.6 years, while mean age of the spouse was 32.8 ± 8.3 years. Over 100 (73.8%) women and 75 (55.2%) of their spouses had no formal education or only primary level of education respectively. On multivariable analysis, Primigravidae compared to multigravidae, OR 1.8 95%CI (1.0-3.0), education level of spouse of secondary or higher versus primary level or none, OR 3.8 95%CI (1.2-11.0), formal occupation versus informal occupation of spouse, OR 1.6 95%CI (1.1-2.5), presence of pregnancy complications OR 1.4 95%CI (1.1-2.0) and the anticipated mode of delivery of caesarean section versus vaginal delivery, OR 1.6 95%CI (1.0-2.4) were associated with having a birth plan.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Individual women, families and communities need to be empowered to contribute positively to making pregnancy safer by making a birth plan.</p