Asymmetric oil prices and trade imbalances: does the source of the oil shock matter?

We examine the asymmetric effects of oil supply shocks, shocks to global real economic activity, and oil-specific demand shocks on the oil, non-oil and overall trade balances of a large sample of oil exporters and oil importers. Our empirical strategy accounts for endogenous oil prices, heterogeneous parameters, and error cross section dependence within a panel framework. We find that the pattern of asymmetries in the oil price-trade balance relationship depends on the source of the shock. For both oil exporters and oil importers, oil supply expansions are more important than oil supply disruptions; we discuss the role that Saudi Arabia plays in limiting the global effects of oil supply disruptions. Although increases in global demand deteriorate trade balances for oil importers and improve them for oil exporters, decreases in global demand have a similar, rather than an opposite effect. Our results corroborate the existing evidence that oil price increases only generate large global imbalances if they result from demand-side shocks; and we present new evidence that oil price decreases only benefit oil importers if they result from supply-side shocks

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

Polymerase chain reaction detection of haemolysin D gene (hlyD) in uropathogenic Escherichia coli as a novel diagnostic test for urinary tract infection

Background: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a common and sometime serious infectious disease diagnosed using conventional urine culture as the ‘gold standard’ for identifying Escherichia coli, the most common causative agent. However, due to the slow turn-around-time and other challenges of urine culture, this study explores the use of a novel biomolecular polymerase chain reaction (PCR) approach to detect the presence of haemolysin D gene (hlyD) that encodes a unique virulence factor of uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) for its rapid identification in UTI. Methodology: Primers from UPEC CFT073 and non-pathogenic E. coli K-12 MG1655 strains provided by Nottingham Trent University, England, UK were used to investigate the presence of haemolysin D gene (hlyD) in UPEC. The hlyD primers were developed from hlyD with locus number C_RS01660 on UPEC CFT073 strain using the NCBI, virulence finder, and Island viewer, and used in a PCR assay to target the hlyD in UPEC. Three sets of PCR templates were designed (UPEC, E. coli, and “No template”), each with internal and external controls amplified in a multiplex PCR assay, and agarose gel electrophoresis was used to separate the amplicons, and determine the specificity of hlyD for UPEC. Results: The UPEC genome PCR assays were positive for hlyD and UPEC positive control, and similarly, PCR was positive for E. coli genome positive control, but negative for hlyD. Moreover, the “No template” PCR assay was clean with no amplification product, confirming the absence of PCR contaminations. Conclusion: The hlyD is a unique virulence gene specific for UPEC. PCR assay of this gene is a promising specific and rapid biomolecular diagnostic test that can overcome the limitations of the traditional approaches for detection of UPEC in UTI

PERFORMANCE OF MULTIPLE LINEAR REGRESSION AND AUTOREGRESSIVE INTEGRATED MOVING AVERAGE MODELS IN PREDICTING ANNUAL TEMPERATURES OF OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

The performance of Autoregressive Moving Average and Multiple Linear Regression Models in predicting minimum and maximum temperatures of Ogun State is herein reported. Maximum and Minimum temperatures data covering a period of 29 years (1982 -2009) obtained from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Abeokuta office, Nigeria, were used for the analyses. The data were first processed and aggregated into annual time series. Mann-Kendal non-parametric test and spectral analysis were carried out to detect whether there is trend, seasonal pattern, and either short or long memory in the time series. Mann-Kendal Z-values obtained are –0.47 and –2.03 for minimum and maximum temperatures respectively, indicating no trend, though the plot shows a slight change. The Lo’s R/S Q(N,q) values for minimum and maximum temperatures are 3.67 and 4.43, which are not within the range 0.809 and 1.862, thus signifying presence of long memory. The data was divided into two and the first 20 years data was used for model development, while the remaining was used for validation. Autoregressive Moving Average (ARMA) model of order (5, 3) and Autoregressive (AR) model of order 2 are found best for predicting minimum and maximum temperatures respectively. Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) model with 4 features (moving average, exponential moving average, rate of change and oscillator) were fitted for both temperatures. The ARMA and AR models were found to perform better with Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) values of -2.89 and -1.37 for minimum and maximum temperatures, compared with the Multiple Linear Regression Models with MAPE values of 141 and 876 respectively. Results of ARMA model can be relied on in generating forecast of temperature of the study area because of their minimal error values. However, it is recommended other climatic elements that were not captured in this paper due to unavailability of information be considered too in order to see which model is best for them. &nbsp

Bioassay-guided isolation of antioxidants and ?-Glucosidase inhibitors from the root of cassia sieberiana D.C. (fabaceae)

Bioassay-guided isolation was used to investigate the antioxidants and α-glucosidase inhibitors from extract of root of Cassia sieberiana. The ethyl acetate fraction demonstrated strong free radical scavenging (DPPH and ABTS+) and potent α-glucosidase inhibition. The subsequent fractionation and purification of the ethyl acetate fraction using silica gel chromatography and Sephadex LH-20, yielded; islandicin (1), chrysophanol (2), physcion (3), emodin (4), quercetin (5), kaempferol (6), dihydrokaempferol (7), and piceatannol (8). Quercetin (5) showed the most active antioxidant activity with IC50 values of 1.58 mM and 1.30 mM against DPPH and ABTS+ radicals, followed by piceatannol (8) with IC50 values of 3.96 mM and 3.28 mM, which is better than the standard BHT (with IC50 value 8.93 mM) and trolox (with IC50 value 8.25 mM), for DPPH and ABTS+ radicals scavenging activities, respectively. For the α-glucosidase inhibitory assay, quercetin (5) and piceatannol (8) showed higher potency against α-glucosidase with IC50 values of 5.73 μM and 7.37 μM respectively, than standard quercetin with IC50 value of 9.20 μM and acarbose with IC50 value of 14.12 μM. This study presents the first report on the α-glucosidase inhibitors from root of C. sieberiana and all the compounds are isolated from this source for the first time

Effects of micronutrients on oxidative stress in HIV positive patients taking highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in a tertiary health care facility in Kano, northwest Nigeria

The study examined the effects of micronutrients supplementation on oxidative stress markers in HIV positive patients on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), attending Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) Kano-Nigeria. Fifty four (54) HIV positive individuals already taking HAART were placed on a daily dose of a multivitamin supplement for a period of three months. Another 54 HIV positive subjects who were already on HAART served as the control group for the same period of time. Prior to the multivitamin supplementation, the baseline mean serum vitamin A, C, and E, selenium, zinc, malondehaldehyde (MDA), albumin, total protein, and CD4+ count values were established. With the exception of mean serum vitamin C, the mean serum values for the studied parameters after the supplementation period increased significantly (P<0.05) in the non supplemented group compared to their baseline values. The mean serum vitamin A, C, and E, Se, total protein and CD4+ count of the supplemented group increased significantly when compared to their baseline values. Mean serum MDA was significantly decreased (P<0.05) in the multivitamin supplemented group compared to their baseline. No significant difference (P<0.05) was seen in the mean serum vitamin C and albumin of the multivitamin supplemented group as compared to their baseline. The mean serum vitamins A, C, and E and the CD4+ count of the multivitamins supplemented subjects significantly increased (P<0.05) when compared to that of the non supplemented subjects. Mean serum selenium and zinc increased significantly (P<0.05) in the non supplemented subjects but not in the supplemented subjects. The serum thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARs) in the form of malondialdehyde (MDA), for the supplemented subjects was found to reduce significantly (P<0.05) compared to that of the non supplemented subjects. Statistical analysis showed no significant difference between the supplemented and the non supplemented subjects in their serum total protein and albumin. Among the supplemented Subjects, vitamin A and C increased significantly (P<0.05) in the ARV treatment naïve sub group. Vitamin E, selenium and zinc increased significantly (P<0.05) in the ARV treated sub group, while MDA decreased significantly (P<0.05) in this sub group. Micronutrient supplementation was therefore shown to reduce oxidative stress in HIV positive patients on HAART and could possibly be very helpful as an adjunct in the treatment of this disease.Key Words: Antiretroviral, micronutrients, malondialdehyde, ART naïve, reactive oxygen species, supplementation

Determination of Some Selected Physical Properties of Different Maize Varieties (Zea Mays) Related to Design of Processing Machines of Nigeria

Abstract: The design related physical properties of six-selected Improved Institute for Agricultural Research Maize varieties were investigated. The properties will enhance design and development of production, processing and storage equipment for the crop. The mean results obtained for the different collections ranged from 7.42 to 15.63%, 8.2mm to 10.4mm, 7.1 to 9.1mm, 4.0mm to 5.0mm, 6.6mm to 7.2mm, 133mm2to 161mm2, 0.62% to 0.81%, 0.46% to0.82%, 692.42kg/m3to 747.86kg/m3, 1162.54kg/m3 to1447.7kg/m3,37.79%to 46.69%, 203.62g to 306.86g, 170.09mm3to 234.59mm3, 35.8

Development of Reporting Guidelines for Animal Health Surveillance—AHSURED

With the current trend in animal health surveillance toward risk-based designs and a gradual transition to output-based standards, greater flexibility in surveillance design is both required and allowed. However, the increase in flexibility requires more transparency regarding surveillance, its activities, design and implementation. Such transparency allows stakeholders, trade partners, decision-makers and risk assessors to accurately interpret the validity of the surveillance outcomes. This paper presents the first version of the Animal Health Surveillance Reporting Guidelines (AHSURED) and the process by which they have been developed. The goal of AHSURED was to produce a set of reporting guidelines that supports communication of surveillance activities in the form of narrative descriptions. Reporting guidelines come from the field of evidence-based medicine and their aim is to improve consistency and quality of information reported in scientific journals. They usually consist of a checklist of items to be reported, a description/definition of each item, and an explanation and elaboration document. Examples of well-reported items are frequently provided. Additionally, it is common to make available a website where the guidelines are documented and maintained. This first version of the AHSURED guidelines consists of a checklist of 40 items organized in 11 sections (i.e., surveillance system building blocks), which is available as a wiki at https://github.com/SVA-SE/AHSURED/wiki. The choice of a wiki format will allow for further inputs from surveillance experts who were not involved in the earlier stages of development. This will promote an up-to-date refined guideline document

Composition and Distribution of Mosquito Vectors in a Peri-Urban Community Surrounding an Institution of Learning in Lafia Metropolis, Nasarawa State, Central Nigeria

Vector surveillance is very key in solving mosquito-borne health problems in Nigeria. To this end, the composition and distribution of mosquito vectors in a peri-urban community surrounding an institution of learning in Lafia metropolis, Nasarawa State, Central Nigeria was carried out between December 2016 and June 2017. The Prokopack Aspirator was used to collect indoor resting mosquitoes between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. from 30 randomly selected houses. Mosquitoes collected were knocked down and transferred into a well labelled petri-dish and taken to the laboratory for processing. A total of 664 mosquitoes were collected which spread across Culex quinquefasciatus 572 (86.14%), Anopheles gambiae 88 (13.25%) and Aedes aegypti 4 (0.60%). The abundance of mosquitoes in relation to seasons, species, sex, abdominal conditions as well as transmission indices across seasons significantly varied (P 0.05). The inhabitants of the area should ensure that all drainages flow through so as to reduce mosquito breeding grounds. Also, members of the community should always protect themselves by sleeping under insecticide treated bed nets