Aromatic Compounds: From Plant to Nutraceuticals—An Example of Capsaicin

The current study is on extraction of capsaicin from capsicum using chromatography. Nuclear magnetic resonance was used to ascertain carbon structures of the extract, with the yield confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance to be 98% pure capsaicin. The chemistry, pharmacological action, and side effects of capsaicin are thereafter discussed

Model for clinical management using body mass index of diabetes patients

from the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital on the management of diabetes. Weight was partitioned into three groups: underweight, normal weight and overweight. Three models were used for comparison: a model that used weight of diabetes patient as a covariate, a second that used both weight and admitting blood sugar reading of diabetes patients as covariates and the third separate models for each of the three weight groups of diabetes patient as covariate. Results showed that the latter model performed better than the earlier two models that were considered on this study based on the adjusted R2. Also our finding revealed that the minimum expected days to bring down the blood sugar level to threshold value are: 8 days for underweight, 12 days for normal weight and 27 days for overweight

Capsaicin: Aromatic Basis and Mechanism of Action: An Example of Positive Inhibition

This work will, in addition to describing the aromatic basis of capsaicin, elucidate its mechanism of action through a positive inhibition of the nerve conduction, which ultimately accounts for the various pharmacological effects of capsaicin on pain control, cardiovascular mechanisms, as well as its effects on genitourinary and gastrointestinal tracts

Comprehensive Audit of The Criteria Used For Scoring Applicants For Consumer Credit

This paper presents a comprehensive audit of the criteria used for scoring applicants for consumer credit. The audit consists of two parts: the first part focuses on the criteria used in customized models, while the second part deals with those used in Fair-Isaac and Co (FICO) or generic models. This paper shows that most of the sets of criteria variables used in lending institutions and in literature are poorly selected and poorly defined

Effective Communication of Patient Information Leaflets (PILs) in Selected Malaria Drugs in Nigeria

Communication is a soul-train that connects the humans of the same speech community. Effective communication is even a larger soul-train that promotes a peaceful co-existence among the humans. It is established that fracas of all sorts ensue when a society debars effective communication; to misunderstand or not know medical inscriptions attracts the worst health catastrophe that a society can ever imagine. It is against this background that this study investigates if the educated Nigerian malaria users understand the instructions contained in selected Nigerian Malaria Drug Patient Information Leaflets (PILs). The study designed a questionnaire, which consisted of nine question items, and administered it on 900 educated Nigerians through the Google Form Online Outlet (GFOO). To analyse the data, the study applied the non-inferential tools of frequency count and percentage in order to draw conclusions from the natures and features of the data obtained for the study. The study presents, among other findings, that the majority of the educated Nigerians do not understand the PILs of the malaria drugs due to the strange or technical nature of the words, and the complex nature of the sentences used to write the leaflets.

On the Use of Posterior Probabilistic Clustering

Bayesian approach to mixture models makes use of Gibbs sampler, the most common of Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC), for estimation of posterior density and subsequent classification of objects into components of mixture, especially for conjugate priors. In practice conjugacy may not exist and when it does, the time required calculating the posterior density will be far too high for the Bayesian approach to be applied in practice (McLachlan and Peel, 2000). Therefore, we developed a clustering procedure that is a result of using non-conjugate prior distribution of product multinomial to obtain posterior distribution that is hypergeometric, for cross-classifying categorical data. The performance of the scheme was examined through a simulation study of observed tables of counts compared with expected generated by assuming product multinomial to obtain posterior distribution under variety of parameter distributions and loadings. We observed that the approach performed well when the component proportions are properly distinguishable. The approach was illustrated using real life data from social science

Physico-thermal and Pasting Properties of Soy-Melon-Enriched “Gari” Semolina from Cassava.

The physical, thermal and pasting properties of “gari”, a fermented and toasted cassava granule, enriched with 10% full fat soy-melon protein supplements, at different processing stages, were studied.  The stages at which the gari meal was enriched were: after fermentation but before toasting (PRT, soak-mix method) and after toasting (AFT, dry-mix method).  Based on the result of the analysis of the physical properties, the swelling index of the samples decreased from 3.79 for the control sample to a range of 3.15-3.34 for the enriched samples.  Wettability values increased from 49 s for the control sample to about 135-148 s for the enriched gari.  A decrease in porosity from 42% for the control sample to 29.33%-32.33% for the enriched samples relative to their moisture contents was observed in the enriched samples.  Enriched “gari” sample of minimum average particle size (AFT) have the highest angle of repose of 37° while the control sample of maximum average particle size have the lowest angle of repose of 29°.  There was an increase in the degree of penetration by cone penetrometer from 19 mm for the control sample to a range of 22.43-23.90 mm for the enriched samples indicating higher gel strength for the control sample.  On the basis of the thermal properties, there was increase in swelling power and the solubility of all the samples with increase in temperature.  The control “gari” had significantly higher swelling power in a range of 5.17-6.68 g/g compared to that of the enriched samples (4.61-5.27 g/g) between the temperature of 45 and 90℃.  The control sample exhibited higher specific heat capacity of 1.222 kJ/(kg·K) than the enriched samples that ranged between 1.085-1.118 kJ/(kg·K).  On the basis of the pasting properties, the control sample had the highest viscosity of 300.92 RVU while the enriched samples had lower viscositiy.  The enriched samples formed paste at lower temperature 79.20-80.05℃ and took shorter time 3.93-4.07 min to gelatinize.  The enriched “gari” sample exhibited high setback and breakdown viscosity values of indicating that its paste will have lower stability against retrogradation than the un-enriched gari samples. Keywords: Physico-thermal, pasting, toasting, enrichment, soy-melon “gari”&nbsp

Multimodal Discourse Analysis of 2012 Governorship Election Campaign Billboards in Ondo State, Nigeria

Billboards are widely used in the world for political purposes. The Ondo State 2012 governorship candidates employed billboards for their campaigns. It is observed that an average viewer of the campaign billboards finds it difficult to attain the exact interpretation of the semiotic devices in the pictures as intended by the producers. The objectives of this paper are: the analyses of the political discourse of the multimodal texts in the billboards and the exploration of the nature of the multimodal texts. This paper adopted the text dimension, the discursive practice dimension and the social practice dimensions of Fairclough’s (1992, 1995) three-dimensional framework. This theoretical framework was used to analyse and discuss the selected campaign billboards. The data collected for this study consisted of three governorship campaign billboards which were purposively selected. The study discovers that colours are meaning signifiers in the selected billboards and that the pictures, colours and verbal anchorages together with the various interpretations given them show the polysemic nature of signs. This paper concludes that visual resources are essential tools employed by campaign billboards’ producers. Finally, the study recommends that producers of campaign billboards should ensure simplicity and relevance of the semiotic resources used in the visuals. Keywords: Governorship elections, Campaign billboards, Multimodality, Verbal anchorages, Colours DOI: 10.7176/NMMC/95-04 Publication date: January 31st 202

Influence of Some Variable Parameters on Horizontal Elliptic Micro-Channels with Internal Longitudinal Fins

The study investigates the laminar flow and heat transfer characteristics in elliptic micro-channels of varying axis ratios and with internal longitudinal fins, operating in a region that is hydrodynamically and thermally fully developed; purposely to determine the effects of some salient fluid and geometry parameters such as Reynolds number, Prandtl number, aspect ratio ( and fin heights on flow pattern and rate of heat transfer. Numerical method using the finite difference technique was adopted for the solution. A code in Quick Basic was developed to generate the results. Results show that fin height of H=0.6 provided the optimum heat transfer enhancement for the configuration of e = 0, e= 0.433 and e=0.714; for e=0.866, fin height of H= 0.4 is tolerable. Result also show that Nusselt number increases with Reynolds number for all axis ratios investigated. However, at Re=200 a slight trough was observed in Nusselt number Versus Reynolds number relationship indicating a critical flow condition. It was also established that at , Nusselt number and bulk fluid temperature, are independent of fluid properties

Prevalence of Arcobacter, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella species in Retail Raw Chicken, Pork, Beef and Goat meat in Osogbo, Nigeria

Three hundred (300) samples of fresh raw chicken, beef, goat and pork meat were screened for Arcobacter species by selective cultural procedures and for Escherichia coli, Salmonella species and Staphylococcus aureus enriched in peptone water and then streaked onto appropriate bacteriological agar. From the 300 samples analysed, S. aureus {138 (46%)} was the most frequently isolated organism, followed by E. coli {78 (26%)}, Arcobacter spp. {57(19%)} and Salmonella spp {6(2%)}. In this study, varying level of resistance of Escherichia coli 66(84.6%), Salmonella 6(100%) and Arcobacter 57(100%) to amoxicillin was observed. The susceptibility pattern indicates that the bacterial isolates exhibited a varying level of resistance to two or more antimicrobial agents with maximum resistance to amoxicillin. The detection of these organisms in meat may constitute a serious public health concern. Hence, there is a need for the implementation of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point System monitoring of critical contamination points used in meat production to ensure food safety in Nigeria. Keywords: Abattoir-hygiene, Antibiotic resistance, Foodborne-pathogens, Nigeri