Managing Stress At Work

Stress is a reality and an inevitable part of our lives, especially at work, and to be free from stress or to have a stress free life is not a possibility. However, people need to be aware of its existence and its side effect as well as learn to live with it without suffering its effects. This paper examines the concept of stress, its nature, its consequences in the organisation, and how it could be managed both at the organisational and individual levels. African Research Review Vol. 1 (1) 2007: pp. 111-12

Teacher Education in Nigeria: An Overview

The paper stresses the importance of teacher education and briefly examined the development of teacher in Nigeria. The (NCE) National Certificate in Education is seen as an important and basic requirement for teachers to practice. The objectives of teacher education and the role of Commission for Colleges of Education as well as the Curriculum of the NCE were examined by the paper. African Research Review Vol. 1 (2) 2007: pp. 130-14

A Review of Stream Regimes Manipulation System Effects on Drainage Basin and Remedies

Naturally, a drainage basin harbours stream flow and channel characteristics in an open system. Urbanization effects on hydrological cycles and on stream morphology and dynamics, as in Anderson (1970) causes naturalized changes in channel characteristics as explained (Mrowka, 1974; Sehumm1977) and flood plain characteristics. These man’s efforts and their consequences draw several attentions to changing channel morphology and hydraulic geometry of stream channels by studies such as in Troxell and Leopold(1971), Hammer(1972), Knox(1977), Knight(1979), Morisawa and Vemure (1976), Morisawa and Laflurem(1979), Ebisemijiu (1989). Such situation reviewed in this paper have disturbed the entire watershed and channels as emaciated in the works of Simon (1992), Simon and Hupp (1992), Oyegun (1994), Church (1992), Pizzuto (1994), Elliot and  Gyetuai (1999)

Proximate and Elemental Analysis of Cowpea, Kidney and Sweet Cowpea Beans Sold in Kawo Market, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Beans are one of the most popular and essential foods in Africa, especially in Nigeria they are highly recommended for its numerous health benefits and nutritional values. The objective of this paper is to assess the proximate and elemental compositions of three (3) varieties of beans (cowpea, kidney and sweet cowpea beans) marketed in Kawo, Kaduna State, Nigeria using standard procedures and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). The results from this study indicated that the highest results obtained for proximate and elemental analysis in the four (4) samples with the exception of fibre in sweet cowpea beans (2.082%), were found to be: moisture (13.250%), protein (21.420%), Lipids (1.025%), ash (4.814%) in kidney beans while in the case of elemental analysis, the highest concentrations (88.0mg/kg) of Zn was found in (Cowpea bean), (52.5mg/kg) of Mg in sweet cowpea, (75.0mg/kg) of Cu in cowpea beans while Fe (99.5mg/kg) and Ca (99.5mg/kg) were found in kidney beans. All the beans samples analyzed for proximate and elemental analysis from Kawo market are highly nutritious, hence good for human and livestock consumption

A Study of Job Satisfaction of Secondary School Administrators in Kano State, Nigeria

This paper was concerned with studying the job satisfaction of secondary school administrators in Kano state, Nigeria. Survey design was used and a random sampling was used to select the study sample of 421 subjects used for the study. The Job Descriptive Index was used to collect data. Five hypotheses were raised in the study and the data collected was analysed using t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Findings of the study showed that there was no significant difference in male and female; public and private; rural and urban administrators' level of job satisfaction. Also, the study found that there was a significant difference in the level of satisfaction with years of experience as well as with age, marital status, school size and educational qualification.African Research Review Vol. 2 (2) 2008 pp. 94-10

Compliance to medication among hypertensive patients in Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital, Kano, Nigeria

Background: Non-compliance to blood pressure-lowering medication is a major reason for poor control of hypertension worldwide. We assessed the level of compliance to anti-hypertensive therapy and identified factors contributing to poor compliance among hypertensives in Kano. Methodology: Three hundred and sixty outpatients were interviewed using a pre-tested, structured, mostly closed ended questionnaire in Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital in Kano, Nigeria. Results: Good compliance with drug treatment was observed in 54.2% of the respondents and poor compliance among the remainder. Poor compliance was found to be mainly due to ignorance on need for regular treatment (32.7%), lack of funds to purchase drugs (32.7%) and side effects of drugs (12.1%). Patients with formal education, and higher monthly income were more compliant to treatment. In addition, those on single drugs were more compliant compared to those on two or more drugs. Poor compliance was found to be mainly due to ignorance and lack of funds to purchase drugs. Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, there is a need for launching a comprehensive approach involving health care providers, patients and the general public to educating patients on the need to take their drugs regularly and in the manner prescribed. Doctors should consider the financial status of their patients in prescribing antihypertensive drugs to enable affordability. Prices of anti-hypertensive drugs should be subsidized where possible. Prescribing an effective, inexpensive, single dose daily medication with minimal side effects will improve patient compliance considerably. Key Words: Hypertension; Medication; Compliance; Kano Journal of Community Medicine & Primary Health Care Vol.16(1) 2004: 16-2

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Towards Sexually Transmitted Diseases among Undergraduate Students in Ahmadu Bello University, Main Campus, Samaru, Zaria.

Background: Worldwide, over a million people acquire a sexually transmitted infection (STI) daily. Young individuals of 16-24years age group are more prone to STIs because they lack adequate knowledge about STIs and tend to have wrong perceptions towards sex. Aim: This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice towards sexually transmitted diseases among undergraduate students of ABU main campus, Samaru, Zaria. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was used, in which 440 questionnaires were administered for the study among which 411(93%) were retrieved and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 23. Results: Results obtained showed that 77% of the respondents had good knowledge, attitudes of the respondents were found to be positive with an aggregate mean of 4.12 and 67% uses a condom for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. Conclusion: From the findings of the study, it was concluded that undergraduate students in Ahmadu Bello University Zaria had good knowledge, positive attitudes, and good preventive practices towards sexually transmitted diseases

Sesame (sesamun indicum L) Market Structure in Jigawa State, Nigeria

Poor marketing structures among others have been identified to be one of the major issues limiting agricultural productivity in Nigeria. Sesame market structure in Jigawa state of Nigeria was examined by studying four sesame markets and also traders and selling agents. Two of the markets were rural (Suletankarkar and Kargo) while the other two were urban (Gumel and Maigatari).The markets were selected using a purposive random sampling. A non recurring survey was conducted in the selected markets in which 117 traders and 39 selling agents were interviewed from the list of their respective associations using a simple random sampling procedure. Questionnaires used as instrument of data collection were pre-tested. Times series data for sesame recorded for the period of 2000-2012 by Jigawa A.D.P. were also used. The data were analysed using Gini ratio analysis.  The Gini ratio for business concentration of rural selling agents and urban selling agents were 0.6013 and 0.5360 respectively. The Gini ratio for rural traders and urban traders were 0.3664 and 0.7838 respectively. The market structure analysis revealed that urban selling agents and rural traders command greater influence. The markets function with some level of imperfection. Market structure could be improved by breaking the dominance of the sesame market by few selling agents. This could take the form of making credits available to the traders and policy intervention in the form of incentives for value addition to sesame local purchasers

Molecular Epidemiology of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Complex at Nekemte Municipality Abattoir, Western Ethiopia

A cross-sectional study was conducted at Nekemte Manicipality Abattoir from September 2009 to May 2010 to estimate the prevalence of bovine tuberculosis (BTB), and characterize its causative agents. Post mortem examination, bacteriological culturing, Zeihl Neelsen staining, multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and region of difference-4 (RD4) deletion typing were used for investigation. Cattles (1168) were recruited for the study and the prevalence was found to be 5.9% (70/1186) on the basis of gross lesion. 70% of the gross lesion was detected in the thoracic cavity while 25% of the lesion was found in the abdominal cavity. Only 31.4% (22/70) of the suspicious lesions yielded colonies of which 19 were acid-fast positive. Further identification of these 19 isolates using multiplex PCR revealed that 17 isolates belong to the Genus Mycobacterium while the remaining two isolates did not show signal to the Genus. Of the 17 isolates that showed signal to the Genus Mycobacterium, 7 were members of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) complex while the remaining 10 isolates were members of the non-M. tuberculosis complex. Further identification and characterization of the M. tuberculosis complex members using RD4 deletion typing identified four isolates with intact RD4 which could be either M. tuberculosis or M. africanum and three isolates with deleted RD4 thus confirmed to be M. bovis. In conclusion, TB lesions were caused by both the members of M. tuberculosis complex and the non-M. tuberculosis complex Mycobacteria. Hence, as the majority of the isolates was the non-M. tuberculosis complex members, the pathogenecity of these members in cattle needs further study.Keywords: Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Molecular epidemiology; Cattle; Western Ethiopia; Nekemte; PC