Lithofacies Analysis and Depositional Environments of the Eocene Nanka Sand as Exposed at Alor and Environs, Southeastern Nigeria: Evidence from Field Study and Granulometric Analysis

The genetic relationship between depositional processes and rock properties provide a potentially powerful tool for interpreting ancient depositional environments. Field study and granulometric analysis have been used to detect the lithofacies and depositional environment of the Eocene Nanka Sand. The field data shows Nanka Sand as medium to coarse grain sand that is loose and unconsolidated, with cross bedded white to yellow sand having intercalation of silty sand and clay with bands of fine grained sandstone and sandy clay on top. The granulometric study shows Nanka Sand to be coarse to medium grain and negatively skewed. Sorting is moderately well sorted to poorly sorted, and kurtosis is leptokurtic. The frequency histogram showed both unimodal and bimodal characters. Bivariate results together with linear discrimination functions of the sand samples reveal both shallow agitated marine and fluvial deposits. The paleocurrent shows bimodal - bipolar current directions, while the observed sedimentary structures include reactivation surfaces, clay drapes, flaser and wavy beddings, burrows of Skolithos and Ophiomorpha, with herringbone and planar cross beds, indicative of tidally influenced environment. Three distinct lithofacies observed were heterolithic, cross bedded sand facies, channel sand facies, and clay stone facies, and these has allowed the depositional environment of the Eocene Nanka Sand to be interpreted as a tide dominated estuaries characterized by tidally influenced fluvial to mixed energy environment. Keywords: Granulometric, Lithofacies, Heteroliths, Tides, Paleocurrent, Ichnofacies

Synthesis of new, single-isomer quaternary ammonium derivatives of beta-cyclodextrin for electrophoretic enantiomer separations

The isolation of individual enantiomers of drugs is an important subject of interest in the pharmaceutical and medical fields, because stereochemistry can have a significant effect on the biological activity of the drug. Therefore, it is important to develop enantiomeric separation methods for the determination of the optical purity of drugs, since the undesired enantiomer is regarded as one of the impurities. The available single isomer anionic cyclodextrins (CD) can resolve the enantiomers of only a few weakly acidic analytes. To rectify this problem, the chloride salts of heptakis(6-deoxy-6-morpholinio)-cyclomaltoheptaose (HMBCD), and mono(6- deoxy-6-N,N,N r,N r,N r-pentamethylethylenediammonio)-cyclomaltoheptaose (PEMEDA-BCD), the first members of the permanently charged, single-isomer cationic cyclodextrin family, have been synthesized. The purity of process intermediates and final products was determined by HPLC-ELSD and indirect UV-detection capillary electrophoresis. Structural identity was verified by 1D and 2D NMR and massBoth cationic CD derivatives have been used for the separation of the enantiomers of strong acid, weak acid, weak base, ampholytic, and neutral analytes by capillary electrophoresis. Because the charge state of these cationic chiral resolving agents is independent of the pH of the buffer, separation could be performed in both low and high pH buffers without compromising the charge density of the resolving agent. Contrary to expectation, the multiply charged HMBCD showed poor complexation with the newly synthesized strong electrolyte test analytes. The weak binding between the analytes and HMBCD resulted in separation of enantiomers of only three strong electrolyte analytes. Strong complexation was observed between PEMEDA-BCD and the anionic and nonionic analytes in both low and high pH buffers, though complexation was stronger in the high pH buffer. Due to strong complexation between the anions and PEMEDA-BCD, only low concentrations of the resolving agent were required to effect good enantiomer resolutions. spectrometry

Infant Feeding Practices Among Mothers and Their Infants Attending Maternal And Child Health In Enugu, Nigeria.

Inappropriate feeding of infants has long been observed in our society and it is one of the global problems responsible for about one-third of the cases of malnutrition world wide. The study assessed the Infant feeding Practices among mothers and their infants attending Maternal and child health in Enugu, Nigeria. Samples of 410 infants (0-12 months) and mother pair, were randomly selected from these hospitals: Institute of Child Health University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Poly Clinic Asata, Christ Specialist Hospital Ogui and ESUT Teaching Hospital (Parklane) all in Enugu State of Nigeria. These four hospitals were purposefully selected because of their involvement in maternal and child health. Information  on infant feeding practices, demographic data, socio-economic data, were obtained from the mothers with a structured and pre-tested questionnaire. The data obtained were analyzed with the use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16 to percentages, frequences and reprensented in a descriptive statistic in tables and charts. Results showed that most (43%) mothers were within the age of 26–30 years, 92.2% were married, 41% had secondary education, 45.1% were civil servants, 36.8% earned a monthly salary of less than ?10,000 per month. Majority (97.5%) of the infants were Breastfed, 53% initiated breastfeeding within one hour after birth, 65.3% breastfed on-demand, 62.2% of the infants were exclusive breastfed, only 34.5% were breastfed exclusively for a duration of 5–6 months, 38.8% of mothers practiced prelacteal feeding on their infants, 44% were fed on breastmilk substitute, 72.4% were fed on complementary food, 48.3% initiate complementary feeding at the age of 5 to 6 months, 70% were fed on Pap (Akamu, Ogi) as a complementary food. This study depicted high prevalence of inapropriate infant feeding practices among mothers despite all the nutrition education and promotion of optimal breastfeeding and adequate complementary feeding practices in our maternal and child care institute. Key Word: Infant, Breastfeeding, Exclusive breastfeeding, Complementary Feeding

Exponentiated Inverse Power Pranav distribution: Properties and Application

In this article, we proposed a new distribution known as the Exponentiated Inverse Power Pranav distribution for modeling lifetime data sets with monotone and non-monotone shapes in their hazard rates. Along with some of the basic properties, we however, studied the maximum likelihood estimation of the parameters of the proposed distribution. The model was subjected to life application with a dataset and compared to other sub-models. The new distribution was found to have a best fit more than the competing sub-models. Keywords: Pranav distribution, Inverse Power Pranav distribution, Exponentiated distributions, Maximum Likelihood estimation, Exponentiated Inverse Power Pranav distributio

WHAT WE HEAR AND WHAT WE DO: An analysis of the perceptual influence of child spacing campaigns on the knowledge, attitude and practices of rural women in South-East Nigeria

This study examines the influence of child spacing campaigns on the knowledge, attitude and practices of South-East rural women. Using behavioural change theory as the framework, the study adopted survey method as its research design. A total of 384 respondents drawn from the South-East responded to the copies of the questionnaire designed from six research questions raised in the study. After a thorough analysis, it was found that while the mass media campaigns on child spacing have created serious awareness about child spacing in South-East rural communities, the practice is still very low. Some of the problems found to be associated with this low practice include lack of adequate community health facilitators, lack of information on improved child spacing techniques, urban oriented messages, lack of integration of the rural people in messages/communication meant for their consumption, etc. Based on these findings, it was recommended that, health workers, media researchers, communicators, social workers, guidance counselors and those in the helping profession should take cognizance of those variables that have been found to influence birth spacing practices among couples with the view to correcting them for an informed and healthy society. Keywords: Child spacing ●Campaign● Attitude ● Practices●  Rural wome

Validity and reliability of computerized measurement of lumbar intervertebral disc height and volume from magnetic resonance images

BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Magnetic resonance (MR) examinations of morphologic characteristics of intervertebral discs (IVDs) have been used extensively for biomechanical studies and clinical investigations of the lumbar spine. Traditionally, the morphologic measurements have been performed using time- and expertise-intensive manual segmentation techniques not well suited for analyses of large-scale studies.

A comparison of age-standardised event rates for acute and chronic coronary heart disease in metropolitan and regional/remote Victoria: a retrospective cohort study

Abstract Background Acute and chronic coronary heart disease (CHD) pose different burdens on health-care services and require different prevention and treatment strategies. Trends in acute and chronic CHD event rates can guide service implementation. This study evaluated changes in acute and chronic CHD event rates in metropolitan and regional/remote Victoria. Methods Victorian hospital admitted episodes with a principal diagnosis of acute CHD or chronic CHD were identified from 2005 to 2012. Acute and chronic CHD age-standardised event rates were calculated in metropolitan and regional/remote Victoria. Poisson log-link linear regression was used to estimate annual change in acute and chronic CHD event rates. Results Acute CHD age-standardised event rates decreased annually by 2.9 % (95 % CI, −4.3 to −1.4 %) in metropolitan Victoria and 1.7 % (95 % CI, −3.2 to −0.1 %) in regional/remote Victoria. In comparison, chronic CHD age-standardised event rates increased annually by 4.8 % (95 % CI, +3.0 to +6.5 %) in metropolitan Victoria and 3.1 % (95 % CI, +1.3 to +4.9 %) in regional/remote Victoria. On average, age-standardised event rates for regional/remote Victoria were 30.3 % (95 % CI, 23.5 to 37.2 %) higher for acute CHD and 55.3 % (95 % CI, 47.1 to 63.5 %) higher for chronic CHD compared to metropolitan Victoria from 2005 to 2012. Conclusion Annual decreases in acute CHD age-standardised event rates might reflect improvements in primary prevention, while annual increases in chronic CHD age-standardised event rates suggest a need to improve secondary prevention strategies. Consistently higher acute and chronic CHD age-standardised event rates were evident in regional/remote Victoria compared to metropolitan Victoria from 2005 to 2012

Toxic metal levels in Nigerian electronic waste workers indicate occupational metal toxicity associated with crude electronic waste management practices

The poor management of electronic wastes (e-waste) in Nigeria exposes workers to toxic chemicals in waste electrical and electronic equipment. In this study, we evaluated the toxic metal levels in Nigerians occupationally exposed to e-waste. Whole blood levels of Lead (Pb), Mercury (Hg), Arsenic (As), Cadmium (Cd), and Chromium (Cr) were determined in Nigerian e-waste workers (n=63) and in age-matched non-exposed participants (n=41), using standard electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry methods. The results showed statistically significant (p<0.01) elevated body burden of toxic metals in e-waste workers (Pb, 0.95 ± 0.00 µmol/L; Cr, 405.99 ± 6.34 µmol/L; Cd, 108.54 ± 1.60 nmol/L; As, 10.09 ± 0.01 µmol/L; and Hg, 25.02 ± 0.14 nmol/L) compared with non-exposed group ((Pb, 0.03 ± 0.00 µmol/L; Cr, 178.44 ± 5.99 µmol/L; Cd, 56.99 ± 1.42 nmol/L; As, 1.02 ± 0.0008 µmol/L; and Hg, 1.62 ± 0.0672 nmol/L). These data indicate that the elevated body burden of toxic metals in the e-waste exposed  population is an indication of occupational metal toxicity associated with crude e-waste management practices in Nigeria. In addition, the potential health implications of exposure to these toxic metals, such as chronic kidney disease, cancer; preceded by genome instability and depressed immune response were highlighted.Keywords: Metal toxicity, e-waste, Nigeria, Occupational exposure

Location of the Energy Levels of the Rare-Earth Ion in BaF2 and CdF2

The location of the energy levels of rare-earth (RE) elements in the energy band diagram of BaF2 and CdF2 crystals is determined. The role of RE3+ and RE2+ ions in the capture of charge carriers, luminescence, and the formation of radiation defects is evaluated. It is shown that the substantial difference in the luminescence properties of BaF2:RE and CdF2:RE is associated with the location of the excited energy levels in the band diagram of the crystals

On parton distributions in a photon gas

In some cases it may be useful to know parton distributions in a photon gas. This may be relevant, e.g., for the analysis of interactions of high energy cosmic ray particles with the cosmic microwave background radiation. The latter can be considered as a gas of photons with an almost perfect blackbody spectrum. An approach to finding such parton distributions is described. The survival probability of ultra-high energy neutrinos traveling through this radiation is calculated.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, EPJ style files. Some changes in the text. Two new sections discussing ultra-high energy neutrino damping in the cosmic microwave background radiation are include