Influence Of Social Studies Education On Students’ Response To Corrupt Practices

This study investigated the responses of Social Studies and non Social Studies students to corrupt practices in Nigeria. The sample consisted of 439 final year B.Ed. students of six selected tertiary institutions covering the four geo-political zones in Nigeria. The major instruments employed were an unstructured interview and a set of questionnaire whose items covered the following areas: giving and taking of bribes, fraudulent practices, election and examination mal-practices, and reporting of lost and found properties to the appropriate authorities. Frequency counts, percentages and T- test were used to analyze the data. The result revealed that there was no significant difference between the two groups in their tendency toward corrupt practices. One of the recommendations was the need to integrate citizenship education into the Social Studies curriculum at all levels of education. Anti – corruption clubs should be established in all schools to help in curbing corrupt tendencies of students.     &nbsp

Influence of counselling on career preference among secondary school students in Ekiti State,

ABSTRAC

Development and Evaluation of a Combined Castor Seed Roaster-Oil Expeller

This study evaluated optimal process parameters for mechanical oil expression from castor seeds after designing a castor seed roaster-expeller. The effect of input variables (Moisture Content at 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10% db; Roasting Temperature at 80, 90, 100,110 and 120oC and Applied Pressure at 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 MPa) on the oil yield, expression efficiency, expression loss and energy used were determined using Central Composite Design in Response Surface Methodology for the optimization and modelling. Analysis of Variance was employed to determine the level of significance (P≤ 0.05). The optimum expression efficiency, expression loss and minimum energy used were 72.86%, 0.63% and 584.19 Watts obtained at experimental conditions of 15.00 MPa applied pressure, 6% moisture content and 85.52°C heating temperature respectively. The R2 values of the developed models ranged from 0.813 to 0.982 at 95% confidence level. The developed combined castor seed roaster-oil expeller was found to be efficient and developed models showed adequate prediction with good relationships between dependent and independent variables. Keywords: castor seed, oil extraction, modeling, optimization DOI: 10.7176/ISDE/11-1-07 Publication date: January 31st 2020

Outcome of clubfoot treatment in the pre-ponseti period in a Nigerian teaching hospital: a 14 year review

Background: Congenital Talipes Equinovarus (CTEV) is a common musculoskeletal congenital disorder. Historically, surgical treatment of various types was popular; however, currently the gold standard of treatment is non-operative care using the Ponseti method. This work evaluates the outcome of this former method of managing CTEV before author adopted the Ponseti Method and compares it with the reported outcomes of the Ponseti method in published literature.Methods: A retrospective review of this data from January 1990 to December 2003 was done, the patients demographics, treatment given, duration and outcome of care were analysed using descriptive statistics. This finding was then compared with outcomes of Ponseti method in literature.Results: Here, 145 patients had initial non operative care; eighteen of those patients (12.4%), eventually require either a posteromedial release, a combined posteromedial and posterolateral releases or a triple arthrodesis.Conclusions: The study shows that the success rate of this method of manipulation preceding the adoption of the Ponseti method is 87.6%. This outcome is inferior when compared to the outcome of Ponseti method in published literature. Also, the extensive nature of eventual surgical intervention required to achieve correction is in contrast to the minimal surgeries needed achieve correction of residual deformities following the use of the Ponseti method

Stem cell delivery to kidney via minimally invasive ultrasound-guided renal artery injection in mice

Cell-based therapies are promising treatments for various kidney diseases. However, the major hurdle in initiating therapeutic responses is the inefficiency of injection routes to deliver cells to the kidney parenchyma. Systemic injection, such as intravenous injection only delivers a small proportion of cells to the kidney. Whereas direct delivery, such as renal artery injection requires surgical procedures. A minimally invasive renal artery injection was therefore developed to enhance cell delivery to kidney. In this study, luciferase expressing human adipocyte derived stem cells (ADSC) were labelled with gold nanorods (GNR) and injected into the renal artery using ultrasound guidance. The ADSCs were tracked using bioluminescence and photoacoustic imaging serially over 7 days. Imaging confirmed that the majority of signal was within the kidney, indicative of successful injection and that the cells remained viable for 3 days. Histology showed co-localization of GNRs with ADSC staining throughout the kidney with no indication of injury caused by injection. These findings demonstrate that ultrasound-guided renal artery injection is feasible in mice and can successfully deliver a large proportion of cells which are retained within the kidney for 3 days. Therefore, the techniques developed here will be useful for optimising cell therapy in kidney diseases

Ultrafast laser-scanning optical resolution photoacoustic microscopy at up to 2 million A-lines per second

The imaging speed of optical resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM) using pulsed excitation is fundamentally limited by the range ambiguity condition, which defines the maximum laser pulse repetition frequency (PRF). To operate at this theoretical upper limit and maximize acquisition speed, a custom-built fiber laser capable of operating at a PRF of up to 2 MHz was combined with a fast laser scanning optical OR-PAM system based on a stationary fiber-optic ultrasound sensor. A large area (10 mm × 10 mm) of the mouse ear was imaged within 8 s, when acquiring 16 million A-lines and operating the laser at a PRF of 2 MHz. This corresponds to a factor of four improvement in imaging speed compared to the fastest OR-PAM system previously reported. The ability to operate at high-imaging frame rates also allows the capture of hemodynamic events such as blood flow. It is considered that this system offers opportunities for high throughput imaging and visualizing dynamic physiological events using OR-PAM

Monitoring neovascularization and integration of decellularized human scaffolds using photoacoustic imaging

Tissue engineering is a branch of regenerative medicine that aims to manipulate cells and scaffolds to create bioartificial tissues and organs for patients. A major challenge lies in monitoring the blood supply to the new tissue following transplantation: the integration and neovascularization of scaffolds in vivo is critical to their functionality. Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) is a laser-generated ultrasound-based technique that is particularly well suited to visualising microvasculature due to the high optical absorption of haemoglobin. Here, we describe an early proof-of-concept study in which PAI in widefield tomography mode is used to image biological, decellularized human tracheal scaffolds. We found that PAI allowed the longitudinal tracking of scaffold integration into subcutaneous murine tissue with high spatial resolution at depth over an extended period of time. The results of the study were consistent with post-imaging histological analyses, demonstrating that PAI can be used to non-invasively monitor the extent of vascularization in biological tissue-engineered scaffolds. We propose that this technique may be a valuable tool for studies designed to test interventions aimed at improving the speed and extent of scaffold neovascularization in tissue engineering. With technological refinement, it could also permit in vivo monitoring of revascularization in patients, for example to determine timing of heterotopic graft transfer

Imagining an Imperial Modernity: Universities and the West African Roots of Colonial Development

© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis GroupThis article takes the formation and work of the ‘Elliot’ Commission on Higher Education in West Africa (1943–45) to reconsider the roots of British colonial development. Late colonial universities were major development projects, although they have rarely been considered as such. Focusing particularly on the Nigerian experience and the controversy over Yaba Higher College (founded 1934), the article contends that late colonial plans for universities were not produced in Britain and then exported to West African colonies. Rather, they were formed through interactions between agendas and ideas with roots in West Africa, Britain and elsewhere. These debates exhibited asymmetries of power but produced some consensus about university development. African and British actors conceptualised modern education by combining their local concerns with a variety of supra-local geographical frames for development, which included the British Empire and the individual colony. The British Empire did not in this case forestall development, but shaped the ways in which development was conceived

Prevalence and Predictors of Tuberculosis Coinfection among HIV-Seropositive Patients Attending the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Northern Nigeria

Background: The HIV/AIDS epidemic has been accompanied by a severe epidemic of tuberculosis (TB), although the prevalence of coinfection is largely unknown, especially in developing countries, including Nigeria. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and predictors of TB coinfection among HIV-seropositive Nigerians. Methods: The case files of HIV/AIDS patients attending Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Nigeria from January to December 2006 were reviewed. Results: A total of 1320 HIV/AIDS patients had complete records and were reviewed, among which 138 (10.5%) were coinfected with TB (95% CI, 8.9% to 12.2%). Pulmonary TB was diagnosed in 103 (74.6%) patients, among whom only 18 (17.5%) were sputum-positive. Fifty (36.2%) coinfected patients had some type of extrapulmonary TB (EPTB); 15 had both pulmonary TB and EPTB. Among the 35 patients with EPTB only, 20 (57.1%) had abdominal TB, 5 (14.3%) had TB adenitis, 5 (14.3%) had spinal TB, 3 (8.6%) were being monitored for tuberculous meningitis, and 1 (2.9%) each had renal TB and tuberculous adrenalitis. The highest prevalence of TB, 13.7% (n = 28), was seen among patients aged 41–50 years. TB coinfection was significantly associated with marital status, WHO clinical stage, and CD4 count. Marital status (OR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.28–3.59; P = 0.04), WHO clinical stage at presentation (4.81; 1.42–8.34; P = 0.001), and baseline CD4 count (2.71; 1.51–6.21; P = 0.02) remained significant predictors after adjustment for confounding. Conclusions: The moderately high prevalence of TB among HIV-seropositive patients underscores the urgent need for strategies that lead to rapid identification and treatment of coinfection with active or latent TB