A Review of the Impacts of Changing Land Use on Land Degradation in Anyigba, Nigeria

Abstract: This study is aimed at having an insight into the changes in land use that has occured in Anyigba between 2006 and 2009 and their consequent impacts on land degradation in the town. Field observation was used in determining the current situation and also, secondary data was used to update initial data generated some years ago. It was revealed that there was still an increase in the size of vacant land and built up areas, while cultivated land, vegetation, and water body decreased. These changes in land use has resulted into erosion (run-off), blocked drainages, dried grounds becoming marshy (in rainy seasons), deforestation, etc. This is as a result of increase in built-up areas, non-compliance to planning standards, quest for vacant land, as well as indiscriminate waste disposal. Thus, there is need to ensure a general policy implementaion through conformity with planning standards, increase enforcment of environmental compliance, as well as encourage community participation in sanitation practices. Key words: Land use; Land Degradation; Planning; Environmental compliance Résumé: Cette étude vise à avoir un aperçu des changements dans l'utilisation des terres qui ont eu lieu à Anyigba entre 2006 et 2009 et leurs impacts sur la dégradation de terre dans la ville. L’observation sur le terrain a été utilisée pour déterminer la situation actuelle et des données secondaires ont été utilisées pour mettre à jour les données initiales générées il y a quelques années. Il a été révélé qu'il y avait encore une augmentation de la superficie des terrains vacants et des zones bâties, alors que les terres cultivées, la végétation et les eaux ont diminué. Ces changements de l'utilisation des terres ont eu pour résultat l'érosion (run-off), le drainage bloqué, la transformation de terrain séché en marécage (en saisons des pluies), la déforestation, etc. Ce sont les conséquences de l'augmentation des zones bâties, de la non-conformité aux normes de planification, de la recherche de terrains vacants, ainsi que de l'élimination des déchets sans discernement. Ainsi, il est nécessaire d'assurer une implémentation de politique générale en conformité avec les normes de planification, de renforcer le respect de l'environnement, ainsi que d'encourager la participation communautaire dans les pratiques d'assainissement. Mots clés: L’utilisation des terres; La dégradation de terre; De planification; Le respect de l'environnemen

Effects of Tractorization and Organic Manure on Physical Properties of Sandy Loam Soil in Abeokuta, Nigeria

Soil compaction has effect on soil physical properties which could affect crop growth and yield. This study was conducted to determine the influence of incorporating organic materials and load application (tractorization) on the physical properties of sandy loamy soil in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria. Organic materials were cow dung, poultry and swine manure. Application rates of organic manures were 0 (control), 5 and 10 tonnes per hectare. Forty-five plots measuring 5 by 3 m were established in a complete randomized block experimental design with three replications making a total of 135 plots. Load application was done using an MF 435 tractor coupled with a 20-disc harrow at 0 (control), 5, 10, 15 and 20 passes. Penetration resistance, bulk density, gravimetric moisture content andporosity were determined using standard procedures. Penetrometer resistance at these passes were 392.2, 293.3, 285.0, 302.0 and 224.9 kPa respectively with significant differences between treatments (P≤0.05). Mean bulk density for the passes were 1.21, 1.26, 1.31, 1.27 and 1.29 g/cm3 respectively and bulk density increased with tractor passes. The effect of tractor passes, and manure incorporation rate did not have any significant effect on gravimetric moisture content. Poultry manure increased bulk density and penetrometer resistance on plots than swine manure and cow dung hence poultry manure at 10 t/ha can be incorporated on a sandy loam soil to enhance soil fertility and sustainability. Keywords: Tractorization, organic manure, sandy loam, penetration resistance, bulk densit

Evaluation of Physical and Chemical Properties of Maikunkele Stream for Irrigation Purpose Using Water Quality Index

Abstract- The study is aimed at using water quality index (WQI) as a standard for determining the suitability of the surface water for irrigation purpose within the Maikunkele Fadama area in Niger State, Nigeria by monitoring five sampling points for five months. The samples were analyzed for includes nitrate (NO3), phosphate (PO4), sodium (Na), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and iron (Fe), besides other general parameters (pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), alkalinity, total hardness, dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), turbidity). The WQI for the parameters under investigation were determined and values compared international standards. The mean temperature value ranged between 29.5 and 30.4oC, while pH values of 7.18 maximum and 5.95 minimum were observed for the study location. The electrical conductivity ranged between 174 and 274 μScm-1. The mean concentration of calcium ion ranged between 3.68 and 4.44 mgL-1. The concentration of Fe was 0.13 mgL-1 and 1.48 mgL-1. The minimum and maximum values of Zn are 0.01 mgL-1 and 0.17 mgL-1 respectively. The Maikunkele Fadama stream had WQI value ranging from 43.469 to 47.120 which fall under good water category, these also conforms to the results obtained from the analysis carried out. It is therefore concluded that the stream water feeding the Maikunkele Fadama farm is fit to be used as irrigation water for the study area as Fadama stream had WQI value ranging from 43.469 to 47.120 thus falling under good water category as far as water quality for irrigation purpose is concerned. Hence, the stream water feeding the Maikunkele fadama farm is fit to be used as irrigation water

Phytochemistry of methanol seed extract of Abrus precatorius and its effect on spermatogenesis in rats

The methanol seed extract of Abrus precatorius was studied for its acute toxicity and its effect on spermatogenesis in rats as well as its phytochemical constituents. The results of this investigation showed that the LD50 of the methanol seed extract following oral administration was above 5000 mg/kg showing low toxicity. Histological studies of the liver, kidneys and testes of the rats treated with the various oral doses (10 - 5000 mg/kg body weight) showed no remarkable changes in the hepatocytes, kidney cells and testes compared to the control. The effects on sperm cells did not show any significant increase in total sperm head counts. The Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of pharmacologically active compounds such as reducing sugars, tannins, cardiac glycosides, terpenoids, saponins and flavonoids. In conclusion, the methanol seed extract of Abrus precatorius contain important phytochemical constituents possessing pharmacological activities and it is relatively safe but has no effects on sperm cell production.Keywords: Abrus precatorius, acute toxicity, phytochemical constituents, spermatogenesi

Nosocomial infections and the challenges of control in developing countries.

Nosocomial infection is a recognized public health problem world-wide with a prevalence rate of 3.0-20.7% and an incidence rate of 5-10%. It has become increasingly obvious that infections acquired in the hospital lead to increased morbidity and mortality which has added noticeably to economic burden. However, after about three decades of nosocomial infection surveillance and control world-wide, it still remains an important problem for hospitals today. Studies have shown that most hospitals in developing countries especially Africa, have no effective infection control programme due to lack of awareness of the problem, lack of personnel, poor water supply, erratic electricity supply, ineffective antibiotic policies with emergence of multiply antibiotic resistant microbes, poor laboratory backup, poor funding and non-adherence to safe practices by health workers. It is recommended that the cost of hospital infection control programme should be included in the health budget of the country and fund allocated for the infection control committee for routine control purposes and to bear the cost of outbreaks. There is need for adequate staffing and continuous education of staff on the principles of infection control, especially hand washing which is the single most important effective measure to reduce the risks of cross infection.

Infectious diseases co-morbidities among patients attending Kogi State University Teaching Hospital: a ten-year retrospective study

Background: Co-existence of more than one acute or chronic infectious diseases in a person either concurrently or sequentially with consequent economic burden varies differently from one part of the world to another, with regional and population specific patterns. This study aims to provide co-morbid patho-epidemiological pattern of six infectious diseases; HIV, tuberculosis (TB), malaria, syphilis, hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus infections. Methodology: This research is a ten-year retrospective review of records of patients admitted at various wards of Kogi State University Teaching hospital and referred to the Laboratory Department of the hospital for investigations between June 2012 and July 2021. HIV was screened using the national serial algorithm, TB was diagnosed with the GeneXpert MTB, malaria parasite was identified by blood film microscopy, and syphilis, hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses were screened using rapid diagnostic kits. Data were analysed with SPSS version 23.0 and association of variables with respect to gender and age group was determined using Chi square, with p< 0.05 considered to be statistically significant. Results: A total of 223 patients were retrospectively reviewed with 102 (45.7%) males and 121 (54.3%) females. Co-morbidities occurred most frequently among age groups 21-30 years (34.1%), 31-40 years (39.0%) and 41-50 years (16.6%). The most frequent co-morbidity pattern was HIV/TB (81.6%) followed by HBV/MP (4.5%), HIV/HBV (4.0%), HIV/MP (3.1%), TB/MP (2.7%), HBV/HCV (2.2%) while HCV/MP, TB/HCV, HCV/syphilis, and TB/HBV were (0.4%) each. There was no significant difference in the frequency of co-morbidity with respect to gender and age groups of patients (p>0.05). Conclusion: Co-existence of chronic infectious disease in a person increases the risk of morbidities and mortalities. Therefore, diagnosis, and concurrent treatment and management of co-morbid infectious diseases should be incorporated into our routine healthcare system and appropriate resources should be allotted for this in health plans.   Frebch title: Co-morbidités des maladies infectieuses chez les patients fréquentant l'hôpital universitaire de l'État de Kogi: une étude rétrospective sur dix ans Contexte: La coexistence de plusieurs maladies infectieuses aiguës ou chroniques chez une personne, simultanément ou séquentiellement, avec un fardeau économique conséquent, varie différemment d'une partie du monde à l'autre, avec des schémas régionaux et spécifiques à la population. Cette étude vise à fournir le schéma patho-épidémiologique comorbide de six maladies infectieuses; VIH, tuberculose (TB), paludisme, syphilis, infections par le virus de l'hépatite B et de l'hépatite C. Méthodologie: Cette recherche est un examen rétrospectif sur dix ans des dossiers de patients admis dans divers services de l'hôpital universitaire de l'État de Kogi et référés au département de laboratoire de l'hôpital pour des enquêtes entre juin 2012 et juillet 2021. Le VIH a été dépisté à l'aide de la série nationale algorithme, la tuberculose a été diagnostiquée avec le GeneXpert MTB, le parasite du paludisme a été identifié par microscopie de frottis sanguin et les virus de la syphilis, de l'hépatite B et de l'hépatite C ont été dépistés à l'aide de kits de diagnostic rapide. Les données ont été analysées avec SPSS version 23.0 et l'association des variables par rapport au sexe et au groupe d'âge a été déterminée à l'aide du Chi carré, avec p<0,05 considéré comme statistiquement significatif. Résultats: Un total de 223 patients ont été revus rétrospectivement avec 102 (45,7%) hommes et 121 (54,3%) femmes. Les comorbidités sont survenues le plus fréquemment dans les groupes d'âge 21-30 ans (34,1 %), 31-40 ans (39,0%) et 41-50 ans (16,6%). Le schéma de comorbidité le plus fréquent était le VIH/TB (81,6%), suivi du VHB/MP (4,5%), du VIH/VHB (4,0%), du VIH/MP (3,1%), de la TB/MP (2,7%), du VHB/VHC (2,2%) tandis que VHC/MP, TB/VHC, VHC/syphilis et TB/VHB étaient (0,4%) chacun. Il n'y avait pas de différence significative dans la fréquence des comorbidités en fonction du sexe et des tranches d'âge des patients (p>0,05). Conclusion: La coexistence de maladies infectieuses chroniques chez une personne augmente le risque de morbidité et de mortalité. Par conséquent, le diagnostic, le traitement et la gestion concomitants des maladies infectieuses comorbides doivent être intégrés à notre système de soins de santé de routine et des ressources appropriées doivent être allouées à cet effet dans les plans de santé

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

Haematological changes in Wistar rats experimentally infected with Trypanosoma congolense and Trypanosoma brucei brucei obtained from North-west Nigeria

This study determined haematological changes in Wistar rats experimentally infected with local strains of Trypanosoma congolense and Trypanosoma brucei brucei. Forty-five Wistar rats between 10 – 12 weeks old weighing between 210 – 240 g were used. The Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups (A, B, C and D), with the infected groups (B, C and D) having 10 rats each, while the uninfected control group (A) had 15 rats. Group A rats were not infected and served as the control, group B were infected with Trypanosoma congolense, group C were infected with Trypanosoma brucei brucei and group D were co-infected with Trypanosoma congolense and Trypanosoma brucei brucei. Infection was achieved using 0.1mL of blood containing approximately 1 × 103 trypanosomes intraperitoneally into each Wistar rat in the infected groups. Clinical signs were observed. The changes in the blood cells were assayed in the groups post-infection. Duncan’s Least Square Deviation showed significantly (p<0.05) higher parasitaemia in infected groups. However, group D showed a higher significant (p<0.05) difference in parasitaemia when compared to groups B and C. The pattern of mean parasitaemia for the infected groups, revealed a positive correlation with days of post-infection (p<0.05) before the decline. The packed cell volume, total red blood cell count and haemoglobin concentration were significantly (p<0.05) lower in infected groups B, C and D. The total white blood cell count, platelet counts and differential leucocyte count were significantly (p<0.05) lower in infected groups when compared to the uninfected group. These findings suggest that co-infection with Trypanosoma congolense and Trypanosoma brucei brucei obtained from Wurno and Ngaski in Sokoto and Kebbi States respectively produced a more damaging effect on haematological parameters

Principal component and stepwise discriminant analysis of the morphometric traits of three dual-purpose breeds of chicken

Using the principal component procedure of SAS, 10 variables; body weight (BW), body length (BL), breast girth (BG), shank length (SL), thigh length (TL), comb length (CL), comb height (CH), wing length (WL), wattle length (WAL) and wattle thickness (WT) obtained from three dual-purpose chicken breeds (Shika, Kuroiler, and Sasso), variables were separated. Similarly, stepwise discriminant analsis procedure of the SAS software was employed to evaluate variables that contribute to the overall differences in breeds. Results showed three principal components (PC1, PC2 and PC3) were extracted for all the breeds and pooled data. 45.60% of total variance was accounted for by PC1, 28.17% by PC2 and 16.22% by PC3. The principal components partitioning of total variance were 50.80, 15.10 and 9.70%, 50.82, 19.90 and 14.90%, and 48.63, 14.00 and 12.67% for Shika, Kuroiler, and Sasso breeds respectively, with different factor loadings. Communalities ranged from 0.43-0.97, 0.45-0.83, 0.45-0.88 and 0.45-0.90, indicating that a good amount of variance was accounted for. Stepwise discriminant analysis indicated that seven morphometric traits, TL, SL, WAL, WL, CL, CH and BL, contributed significantly (P<0.001) to the separation of the birds into breeds. TL and SL, however, indicated higher discriminating power compared to others. The principal component analysis allowed for better understanding of the complex correlations among traits and reduced the number of traits along with high communalities, using only PC1, PC2 and PC3the first three PCs, without loss of information. Summary of stepwise discriminant analysis shows that lengthwise measures of long bones of the body of chickens, such as thigh and shank, are viable metrics for phenotypic differentiation of birds in the studied population.Keywords: Principal Component, Stepwise discriminant Analysis, Morphometric traits, chicken

Mapping geographical inequalities in childhood diarrhoeal morbidity and mortality in low-income and middle-income countries, 2000–17 : analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background Across low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), one in ten deaths in children younger than 5 years is attributable to diarrhoea. The substantial between-country variation in both diarrhoea incidence and mortality is attributable to interventions that protect children, prevent infection, and treat disease. Identifying subnational regions with the highest burden and mapping associated risk factors can aid in reducing preventable childhood diarrhoea. Methods We used Bayesian model-based geostatistics and a geolocated dataset comprising 15 072 746 children younger than 5 years from 466 surveys in 94 LMICs, in combination with findings of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017, to estimate posterior distributions of diarrhoea prevalence, incidence, and mortality from 2000 to 2017. From these data, we estimated the burden of diarrhoea at varying subnational levels (termed units) by spatially aggregating draws, and we investigated the drivers of subnational patterns by creating aggregated risk factor estimates. Findings The greatest declines in diarrhoeal mortality were seen in south and southeast Asia and South America, where 54·0% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 38·1–65·8), 17·4% (7·7–28·4), and 59·5% (34·2–86·9) of units, respectively, recorded decreases in deaths from diarrhoea greater than 10%. Although children in much of Africa remain at high risk of death due to diarrhoea, regions with the most deaths were outside Africa, with the highest mortality units located in Pakistan. Indonesia showed the greatest within-country geographical inequality; some regions had mortality rates nearly four times the average country rate. Reductions in mortality were correlated to improvements in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) or reductions in child growth failure (CGF). Similarly, most high-risk areas had poor WASH, high CGF, or low oral rehydration therapy coverage. Interpretation By co-analysing geospatial trends in diarrhoeal burden and its key risk factors, we could assess candidate drivers of subnational death reduction. Further, by doing a counterfactual analysis of the remaining disease burden using key risk factors, we identified potential intervention strategies for vulnerable populations. In view of the demands for limited resources in LMICs, accurately quantifying the burden of diarrhoea and its drivers is important for precision public health