Farmers Adaptation Strategies to the Effect of Climate Variation on Yam Production: A case study In Ekiti State, Nigeria

The study investigated farmers adaptation strategies to the effect of climate variation on yam production in Ekiti State with the specific objectives of assessing the socio-economic characteristics of farmers, farmers’ climate related constraints, the adaptation strategies employed by farmers, and yam farmers’ level of production across the years 2008, 2009 and 2010. A three - stage multistage sampling technique was used to select one hundred and fifty one respondents from the list of contact farmers obtained from the state Agricultural Development Programme (ADP). Data collected through questionnaire were analysed using frequency counts, percentages, Chi-square, Pearson Product Moment Correlation and ANOVA. Results obtained showed that farmers in the study area were mostly males with a mean age of 53.9 years. Chi-square analysis revealed that there was a significant relationship between secondary occupation (χ2 = 14.068), farm size (χ2 = 99.597) and the level of production of yam farmers. Pearson product moment correlation indicated that there were significant and positive relationships between age (r = 0.160), adaptation strategies (r = 0.158) and level of production, while negative relationship was found between constraints (r = -0.173) and the level of yam production. ANOVA showed a significant difference in the level of production of farmers across the years; 2008, 2009 and 2010 (F= 212.7). Therefore, efforts should be geared towards developing and making available, yam setts that are tolerant to change in climate elements and weather extremes like flood and drought. This study also suggests the need for prompt weather information, increased research and development of innovation for sustainable yam cropping in the face of climate variation.Key words: Climate variation, Constraints, Adaptatio

OPTIMIZATION OF NICKEL (II) AND CHROMIUM (III) REMOVAL FROM CONTAMINATED WATER USING SORGHUM BICOLOR

A central composite design (CCD) under the response surface methodology (RSM)was used to study the effect of three adsorption variables (pH, initial concentration, and adsorbent dosage) in order to determine the optimum process conditions for the adsorptions of Ni (II) and Cr (III) onto sulphuric acid modified sorghum bicolor activated carbon (SBAC).This study yielded removal efficiency of 98.89 % for Ni (II) and 94.27 % for Cr (III) ion under optimal conditions of pH (8), initial metal ion concentration (25 mg/L), adsorbent dosage (10 mg) and pH (7), initial metal ion concentration (5 mg/L), dosage (15 mg);respectively. Statistical analysis of variance results showed a good correlation existed between the experimental and predicted data with R2 values of 0.99 for Ni and 0.98 for Cr. The equilibrium data for Ni (II) adsorption was best described using Freundlich model while Langmuir model best fit Cr (III) adsorption. The mechanism of adsorption for both Ni and Cr adsorptions on SBAC followed Pseudo second order kinetic model.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v36i3.4

Cancer mortality patterns in Ghana: a 10-year review of autopsies and hospital mortality

BACKGROUND: Cancer mortality pattern in Ghana has not been reviewed since 1953, and there are no population-based data available for cancer morbidity and mortality patterns in Ghana due to the absence of a population-based cancer registry anywhere in the country. METHODS: A retrospective review of autopsy records of Department of Pathology, and medical certificate of cause of death books from all the wards of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), Accra, Ghana during the 10-year period 1991–2000 was done. RESULTS: The present study reviews 3659 cancer deaths at the KBTH over the 10-year period. The male-to-female ratio was 1.2:1. The mean age for females was 46.5 [Standard Deviation (SD), 20.8] years, whilst that of males was 47.8 (SD, 22.2) years. The median age was 48 years for females and 50 years for males.Both sexes showed a first peak in childhood, a drop in adolescence and young adulthood, and a second peak in the middle ages followed by a fall in the elderly, with the second peak occurring a decade earlier in females than in males. The commonest cause of cancer death in females was malignancies of the breast [Age-Standardized Cancer Ratio (ASCAR), 17.24%], followed closely by haematopoietic organs (14.69%), liver (10.97%) and cervix (8.47%). Whilst in males, the highest mortality was from the liver (21.15%), followed by prostate (17.35%), haematopoietic organs (15.57%), and stomach (7.26%). CONCLUSION: Considering the little information available on cancer patterns in Ghana, this combined autopsy and death certification data from the largest tertiary hospital is of considerable value in providing reliable information on the cancer patterns in Ghana

Unexpected removal of the most neutral cationic pharmaceutical in river waters

Contamination of surface waters by pharmaceuticals is now widespread. There are few data on their environmental behaviour, particularly for those which are cationic at typical surface water pH. As the external surfaces of bacterio-plankton cells are hydrophilic with a net negative charge, it was anticipated that bacterio-plankton in surface-waters would preferentially remove the most extensively-ionised cation at a given pH. To test this hypothesis, the persistence of four, widely-used, cationic pharmaceuticals, chloroquine, quinine, fluphenazine and levamisole, was assessed in batch microcosms, comprising water and bacterio-plankton, to which pharmaceuticals were added and incubated for 21 days. Results show that levamisole concentrations decreased by 19 % in microcosms containing bacterio-plankton, and by 13 % in a parallel microcosm containing tripeptide as a priming agent. In contrast to levamisole, concentrations of quinine, chloroquine and fluphenazine were unchanged over 21 days in microcosms containing bacterio-plankton. At the river-water pH, levamisole is 28 % cationic, while quinine is 91–98 % cationic, chloroquine 99 % cationic and fluphenazine 72–86 % cationic. Thus, the most neutral compound, levamisole, showed greatest removal, contradicting the expected bacterio-plankton preference for ionised molecules. However, levamisole was the most hydrophilic molecule, based on its octanol–water solubility coefficient (K ow). Overall, the pattern of pharmaceutical behaviour within the incubations did not reflect the relative hydrophilicity of the pharmaceuticals predicted by the octanol–water distribution coefficient, D ow, suggesting that improved predictive power, with respect to modelling bioaccumulation, may be needed to develop robust environmental risk assessments for cationic pharmaceuticals

Fibroblastic Variant of Osteosarcoma in a Male Alsatian Dog - A Case Report

No Abstract

Economic assessment of tillage systems and weed control methods in maize (Zea mays L.) cultivation in southwestern Nigeria

This study was conducted to appraise the economics of different land preparation systems and weed management options in maize cultivation in three ecological zones (Ikenne, Ibadan and Ilorin) of southwestern Nigeria. Four tillage systems as main treatments and six weed control methods as sub-treatments were accommodated in a split-block arrangement of randomized complete block design with three replications. The main treatments were no-tillage (NT), ploughing and harrowing (PH), ploughing twice (PP), ploughing twice and harrowing (PPH) while the sub-treatments were atrazine plus metolachlor (Primextra) at 2.5 and 3.5 kg a.i. ha-1, atrazine plus pendimethalin at 1.25 + 0.83 and 1.75 + 1.16 kg a.i. ha-1, handweeded and unweeded checks. Net benefits achieved from no-tillage system were lower than that of mechanical tillage in all the locations. Greater net returns were obtained from PPH and PH treatments where handweeding or chemical weeding was used. Increased herbicide rate was not economical under the mechanical tillage systems. Any of the mechanical tillage methods can be employed in the three locations. Atrazine plus metolachlor or atrazine plus pendimethalin mixtures are profitable for maize production in Ikenne and Ibadan while the latter is profitable in Ilorin. Keywords: Tillage; weed control; economic; herbicides; maizeMoor Journal of Agricultural Research Vol. 7 (1&2) 2006 pp. 15-2

Some of the Effects of Aqueous Leaf Extract of Cnidoscolous aconitifolius (Euphorbiaceae) on the Morphology and Histology of the Kidney and Liver of Sprague Dawley Rat.

Cnidoscolus aconitifolius belongs to a group of arbrescent shrubs. It has continued to be used as food, medicine and ornamental plant till date.Awide variety of claims have been made for its medicinal efficacy as atreatment for numerous ailments ranging from its ability to strengthen fingernails and darken gray hair to curing alcoholism, insomnia, gout, and scorpion stings. This study was to elucidate the effect of aqueous leafextract of Cnidoscolus aconitifolius commonly used as food supplement on the kidney and liver of Sprague Dawley rats. Thirty-two Sprague Dawley rats of both sexes (with an average weight of 235g) were randomlyassigned into one control group (n=8) designated as A, while the extract treated groups consists of 3 subgroups and were designated as B, C, and D. the animals in the extract treated groups B, C and D were administered600mg/kg, 400mg/kg and 200mg/kg bwt of the extract respectively, while the control group received equal volume of phosphate buffered saline (PBS). The administration was done orally using an orogastric tubefor seven days (7d). Twenty-four hours after the last administration, all the animals were sacrificed by cervical dislocation. Laparatomy was performed and the liver and kidney excised, trimmed free of fat, rinsedin cold phosphate buffered saline solution. The liver was quickly fixed in 10% formolsaline, while the kidney was fixed in Bouin's fluid for histological processing. The histological findings after Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) staining showed that the extract treated sections the Kidney and Liver has no compromising effect on the cellular integrity of thestudied organs. There were no degenerative changes and no intercellular vacuolations in the renal cortex and liver parenchyma. These findings indicate that the administration of aqueous leaf extract of Cnidoscolusaconitifolius has no adverse effects on hepatic and renal morphology of the treated Sprague Dawley rats. It is therefore recommended that further studies at corroborating these observations be carried out

A comparative study of the physico-chemical properties and methylene blue adsorption behaviour of fly ash, nano-oxides and the composite materials of nano-oxides and fly ash.

In this present study, composite materials involving fly ash produced from coal combustion and nano-oxides were prepared. The nature, morphology and properties of the precursors and the composite materials were determined by modern instrumental analytical techniques such as carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen (CNH) analysis, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area and porosity analysis, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, and x-ray diffraction. Particle size distribution, ash content, pH and point of zero charge were also investigated. The adsorption kinetics of methylene blue (MB) onto these adsorbents was examined. Experimental results showed that the composition of fly ash and nano-oxides contributed to the development of intergranular voids and crevices with high surface and micropore areas that enhanced the adsorption of MB from an aqueous solution. The adsorption of MB onto the precursors and the composite materials follow the pseudo-second order kinetic model