Incidence of Diabetes mellitus at the Federal Medical Centre Katsina, Katsina State, Nigeria: A Retrospective Study

A six-year (2002 – 2007) retrospective study of hospital records (in-patients) was carried out to investigate the incidence of Diabetes Mellitus in Katsina. The records showed that a total of 754 cases were attended within the study period. The study showed yearly increase in the incidence of the disease with the highest incidence of 288 (38.20%) in the year 2007 and the least 65 (8.62%) in the year 2002. More males suffered from the disease 456 (60.48%) than females 298 (39.52%). The incidence was also found to be high 289 (38.33%) in the age range 65 and above, while age range 25 – 34 was least affected 28 (3.71%). Ways on how to live free of Diabetes Mellitus were also recommended.Keywords: Age Range, Diabetes Mellitus, Incidence, Hospita

ACCELERATED STABILITY STUDY AND MICROBIOLOGICAL TESTS ON NEW ORAL MATRIX DELIVERY SYSTEMS FOR DICLOFENAC SODIUM

An accelerated stability study was performed on diclofenac sodium controlled release matrix tablets (MT20,MT33,MT34,MT33p,MT34p ) containing natural gums, semi-synthetic gum , Eudragit L100,and hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC).Drug content was found to be in the range of 90-105% in all the five matrix formulas. Applying out of stability trend rules (OOT), the best formula was found to be MT33 which contained Guar gum 15%, and gum Arabic15%. No changes in physical appearance, or organoleptic properties were observed. Microbiological tests for the five matrix tablets were evaluated (1). No growth (bacteria or fungi) was detected, in preserved or non-preserved formulas despite of the gum content in these controlled release tablet

Evaluation of Madaris Curriculum Integration for Primary Muslim Education in Mindanao: An Assessment of The Influence of Psychology

This study evaluated the Madaris curriculum integration for Muslim primary education in Mindanao. It assessed the psychological effects of such integration on teachers and students in Arabic writing and reading, religiosity, Islamic values, and teacher professional development. This qualitative and quantitative research used a descriptive-evaluative design. The purposive sampling method was used to collect data using a questionnaire which was analyzed statistically. This study showed that the psychological effects of integrating teachers and students to Arabic writing and reading, religiosity, Islamic values, and teacher professional development worked well. Both teachers and students demonstrated the ability to write and read Arabic, values about God, Islam, people, the nation, and the environment

On The Experience Of The Arab Open University With The Standard Deviation Method

The Arab Open University (AOU) has adopted the standard deviation method (SDM) as a grading system in replacement of a fixed scale. Adopting SDM was intended to remedy a problem that has resulted from discrepancies between AOU's graduation requirements and those of its partner, UK Open University. This paper aims mainly at investigating whether SDM has served the purpose for which it was selected. A data set of the final letter grades of students enrolled in 18 licensed courses from UK-OU at Kuwait branch was used. These letter grades were analyzed in comparison with the letter grades that would have been assigned to students had the fixed grading scale been utilized. The results of the comparative analysis revealed that SDM resulted in benefiting 39.4% of all students and lowering the letter grades of 10.4% of the students. Despite its positive results, SDM has not contributed significantly to remedying the problem in question. Thus, a case for withholding the D grade while continuing with using SDM was presented

The principle of double jeopardy versus the principle of condonation: revisiting the Supreme Court’s decision in Nigerian Army v Aminun Kano

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) guarantees the rights of every person in Nigeria, including persons accused of the commission of any crime. These rights are classified as ‘fundamental rights’, and they include: the right not to be subjected to double trial for the same offence, popularly referred to as right against double jeopardy2 and the right not to be tried for an offence for which one has been pardoned.3 These two rights formed the bedrock of the decision of the Supreme Court in Nigerian Army v Aminun Kano.4 This paper critically examines and reviews the decision and observed that had the Supreme Court considered the meaning of double jeopardy under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, on the one hand, and condonation and pardon on the other, the court would have discovered that these triumvirate concepts do not exactly mean the same thing and consequently may have varied legal outcomes when applied, and as such, the court may have provided a different reason for their judgment in the case. This paper finds that since the principle of the right against double jeopardy requires a judicial trial and a judgment to inure, while pardon and condonation is wholly administrative action, the principle of double jeopardy should never have been invoked in the case under review because there was no prior judicial decision that exculpated or incriminated the respondent. The paper recommends that in future, if the Supreme Court is faced with the same scenario, it should make a clear distinction between the principles of right against double jeopardy and pardon and condonation so as to clarify the jurisprudential perspectives of these principles.Keywords: Judicial, Double Jeopardy, Condonation, Pardon, Court Martial, Fundamental Rights, Constitutio

Gamma Ray Spectrometric Analysis of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORMS) in Gold Bearing Soil using NaI (Tl) Technique

In this work, the radioactivity in the gold bearing samples collected from the artisanal mining sites in Birnin Gwari Local Government Area, Kaduna State have been determined, experimental measurements of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K activities concentration in the gold bearing samples have been carried out using a NaI(Ti) gamma ray spectrometer. The measured activity concentration for 226Ra have been found to lie in the specific ranges from 1.0545±0.4983Bq/Kg to 3.8355± 0.3476Bq/Kg while the  mean concentration is 2.383±0.4415Bq/Kg for 232Th, the activity concentration ranges from 9.3501±1.0260Bq/Kg to 66.7047±0.5700Bq/Kg, while the mean activity concentration of 232Th is 32.3644±9.3440Bq/Kg, for 40K,the activity concentration ranges from 120.9953±6.5319Bq/Kg to 815.8631±10.504Bq/Kg, while the mean activity concentration is 383.7924±72.5436Bq/Kg. The mean absorbed dose rate in the study area is 35.7334nGy/hr; while the mean annual effective dose rate is 0.032mSv/year which is lower when compared with tolerable limits of 1mSv/year. Keywords; Natural Radionuclides,Aactivity Concentrations, Absorbed Dose

Petrological and structural evolution of basement rocks around Guga, Katsina State, northwestern Nigeria

Lithological characterization and structural assessments of basement rocks around Guga, Katsina State was carried out to understand their geologic evolution and deformational history better. Field and petrographic studies were utilized in characterizing macrostructural, textural, and mineralogical components. Migmatite, banded and augen gneisses, schist, quartzite, and granite constitute the major lithologic units in the study area. Migmatite and the closely related banded gneiss are recognized as igneous-derived metamorphic rocks of Eburnean to early Pan African. In contrast, the augen gneisses are metamorphosed analogues of earlier banded gneiss that were intensely deformed within a ductile shear zone during the middle stages of the Pan African. Similarly, the schist and interbedded quartzite were emplaced during this period, subsequently forming part of the Malumfashi supracrustal cover, related to simple ensialic graben-like structural development. The granitic intrusions represent the youngest rock units in the mapped area, resulting from the magmatic activity of the Pan-African orogeny. Structural analysis suggests the mapped area was affected by two-phase deformation events (D1 and D2). The D1 deformation represents a regional, fabric-forming compressional event, while D2 is a localized deformational event associated with the development of a local shear zone linked to the Kalangai fault system (KFS)

Suitability of viscosity measurement methods for liquid food variety and applicability in food industry - A review.

Although there are several approaches to measure viscosity of liquid foods in the literature, the successful selected technique depends on the specific product and the functional characteristics that need to be analyzed. Accordingly, it is not an easy task for food technologists to determine the suitable approach to be used. Therefore briefing the existing methods, working principles, advantages, limitations and their successful applications for well known published articles, may enable the researchers to choose the optimum approach. The intensive review revealed that the most commonly used viscosity measurement devices are capillary flow viscometers, orifice type viscometers, falling ball viscometers, and rotational viscometers. Glass capillary viscometers are widely used for measuring low to medium viscosity of Newtonian fluids. In order to measure the viscosity of difficult fluids like those having large particles non-conventional geometries such as mixer viscometry method is used. Tube viscometer method which might be considered as a wide-bore capillary viscometer with a special capability to handle suspensions is currently used to determine rheological behaviour of a product after a thermal treatment. Scraped surface heat exchangers (SSHE) are widely used in food industry for thermal treatment of very viscous food products. Mass detecting capillary viscometer is a new technique to measure the viscosity of milk and soymilk products. In order to measure the viscosity of food stabilizers coaxial viscometers are recommended. Also, possibly the best known of the orifice viscometers in the food industry is the dipping-type Zahn viscometer. Finally, it could be inferred that the viscosity ought to be independent on the instrument, so different instruments will yield the same results, but this is a theoretical concept and different instruments rarely yield identical results

Effect of dried and extrudate of bitter gourd fruit on epithelial microflora in raw chicken legs meat

Plants have been used recently to eliminate bacterial growth in food products. This study was undertaken to test the in vitro sanitizing effect of crude extract from bitter gourd (BG) fruit on the growth of native microorganisms in raw chicken leg meat. Hot air dried BG and extrudate extracts at 1% concentration and exposure times of (5, 10 and 15 min) were used to treat the samples using dilution method. Results showed that BG extrudate had a slightly stronger bactericidal activity against the microflora than the B.G. hot air drying treatment, especially, on E. coli at all exposure time. Overall, there is no significant difference between the treatments; Total Plate Count (TPC), Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus. The best reduction time of microflora by hot air dried extract was at (15 min) except for B. cereus was at (5 min) and for extrudate extract was at (5 min) except for E. coli was at (10 min). In conclusion, bitter gourd extract could be used as an important natural sanitizer for rinsing raw food matrials such chicken meat