Evaluation of the Efficacy of Different Concentrations of Mixed Leaf Powders of Vittallaria Paradoxa and Cassia Occidentalis against Callosobruchus maculates (F.) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae) on Stored Cowpea Seeds

The possibility of controlling cowpea bruchid, C. maculatus with mixture of Cassia Occidentalis (Coffee senna) and Vittallaria paradoxa (Shea butter) leaf powders in the ratios of 50%:50%, was evaluated under ambient condition of temperature and relative humidity laboratory conditions. The mixtures of the leaf powders in the ratios of 1:1 were applied the rate of 2.5.5.0, 7.5 and 10.0w/w into 20g of cowpea seed in 9cm petri dishes. Mortality of adult of the bruchid on treated seeds was assessed at 24hours interval after treatment and was compared with the control treatment. All the treatments recorded higher adult mortality when compared with that recorded on the control treatment and the differences was significant (

Studies on the Efficacy of Leaf Extract of Balanites aegyptiaca on the Oviposition and Survival of Immature Stages (Larvae and Pupae) of Callasobruchus maculates (F.) on Treated Cowpea Seed

The efficacy of Balanite aegyptiaca acetone leaf extract against the survival of Larvae and pupae of Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) on cowpea treated seed was evaluated at the Biological Sciences Department, Bayero University, Kano. Leaf extract from B. aegyptiaca was obtained by extraction using acetone as the solvent and the extract was diluted prior to the experiment. C. maculatus were obtained from IITA in Kano State of Nigeria. The insects were reared in the laboratory. Four different concentrations of the leaf extract (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0g) were separately mixed with twenty gram (20g) of cowpea in separate Petri dishes which correspond to (2.5, 5.0, 7.5, and 10.0w/w) respectively. Control treatment was set along. Ten adult pairs of newly emerged C. maculatus were introduced into each Petri dish. Oviposition of the female insect was significantly (

Laboratory information management in a central Nigerian hospital: non-collected or undelivered reports as quality indicator

Background: Reporting laboratory reports to the requesting physician is one vital component of the clinical laboratory testing process. Poor management of information generated in the laboratory, such as non collection/non-delivery of test reports, can adversely affect patient care and safety.Aim: To determine the proportion and financial impact of some laboratory test reports not collected or delivered to the requesting physician.Methods: A review of laboratory records of requests and collected reports of malaria parasite, urine microscopy, culture and sensitivity, and blood culture from June 2014 to December 2014 was carried out, and data analyzed.Results: A total of 5321 laboratory requests comprising 4506 malaria parasites (MP), 414 urine microscopy, culture and sensitivity (urine m/c/s), and 410 blood culture were made, processed and reports generated. Of these, 1040 (19.6%) were not collected or delivered to the requesting physician. Urine m/c/s with 37.9% (157/414) accounted for the highest test-specific non-collected reports, closely followed by blood culture with 37.7% (151/401) and MP with 16% (732/4506). ICU with 54.6% (18/33) and A&E with 21% (149/710) accounted for the highest department-specific non-collected or undelivered reports. The cost of all non-collected or delivered reports was N1, 442,560 or 29.3% of the cost of the total requests during the study period.Conclusion: The proportion of non-collected or undelivered test reports as seen in this study is huge, and indicates a poor laboratory information management system. There is therefore, need to institute and implement appropriate laboratory quality management system to improve patient care and reduce wastage of resources.Keywords: Information management, Laboratory Report, Central Nigeri

Antibiogram of bacterial agents of lower respiratory tract infections in a central Nigerian hospital

BACKGROUND: Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) are one of the major public health concerns in Nigeria. They are associated with significant morbidity and mortality in children and adults.AIM: To identify bacterial causative agents of lower respiratory tract infections and to determine their antibiotic susceptibility profile to locally available antibiotics.METHODS: This was a retrospective study conducted at National Hospital Abuja (NHA). Laboratory data of processed sputum samples of patients with suspected lower respiratory tract infection at National Hospital Abuja were extracted, reviewed and analyzed from 1st January 2016- 1st December 2016. RESULT: Out of the six hundred and thirteen cases, 89 (14.5%) had an established bacterial cause. The prevalence of LRTIs was higher in males (56.1%) than females. Age group 21-40 (25.8%) had the highest cases of LRTIs followed by those aged 41- 60 (20.2%). Klebsiellapneumoniae (52.8%) was the most predominant isolates, followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (15.7%), Staphylococcus aureus (13.5%), Escherichia coli (7.9%), Enterococcus spp (5.6%) and Proteus spp (4.5%). The predominant bacterial pathogens were generally highly susceptible to fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides and carbapenems.CONCLUSION: Klebsiellapneumoniae was the most common bacterial causative agent of LRTIs in Abuja. Fluroquinolones, aminoglycosides and carbapenemsare antibiotics of good choice for empiric management of this infection in this locality. Regular monitoring of trends of this aetiologic agent and its antimicrobial susceptibility profile is important in effective management of these infections.KEY WORDS: Antibiogram, Bacterial Isolates, LRTIs, National Hospital Abuja, Nigeri

Review on the Application of Ecosystem Models in Biodiversity Analyses

This paper is an exposition with the sole aim of highlighting the relevance of ecosystem models in the analyses of biodiversity. The structure of ecosystem models enables researchers to design and consequently formulate monitoring programs that will be useful to the conservation of biodiversity. Ecosystem theoretical models discussed in the paper include Lotka and Volterra Predator-Prey Model; Constructal Law; Kleiber’s Law; Metabolic Theory of Ecology; Occupancy-Abundance Relationship; Allometry Scaling; Rapoport’s Rule; Ewin’s Sampling Formula; Thorson’s Rule; Rench’s Rule, Unified Neutral Theory of Biodiversity (UNTB), and Ecosystem Forecasting. Lastly Biodiversity Action Plan as one of the applications of Ecosystem Theoretical models project was explained. Keywords: action plan, biodiversity, ecosystem, model

Evaluation of serum Vitamin B12 levels in hormonal contraceptive users in some hospitals in Kano Metropolis

Aim: The aim of the study was to compare the levels of Vitamin B12in hormonal contraceptive users and women not on hormonal contraceptives in Kano. Methods: A total of 90 participants were recruited for the study; 60 were on hormonal contraceptive (HCP) users and served as the study subjects while 30 were apparently healthy non hormonal contraceptive users recruited as control subjects. Serum VitaminB12levels were evaluated for both groups and the mean levels were compared. Results: Among the 60 HCP users that were enrolled in this study, 29 use implants (48.3%), 14 (23.3%) used injectables;11 (18.3%) use oral pills and 6 (10.0%) participants used intrauterine contraceptive devices. Serum vitamin B12 levels of the two groups were determined using human B12 specific ELISA kit. The mean ± standard deviation of vitamin B12 levels in hormonal contraceptive users was 163.33±53.128 pg/ml while that of non-HCP users was 381.33±198.542 pg/ml. Statistical analysis for B12 levels indicated a statistically significant decrease in oral contraceptive users with a p-value of <0.001. The study also found statistically significant negative correlation (r<1) between duration of hormonal contraceptive use and serum vitamin B12 levels of HCPs users with r-value of -0.031 and p-value of 0.020. Conclusion: The present study observed a significant association between hormonal contraceptive use and serum vitamin B12 level. Significantly lower serum vitamin B12 concentrations were observed in HCP users. Therefore, Vitamin B12 supplementation or different contraceptive methods should be considered in women with pre-existing B12deficiency or restrictive dietary habits as the deficiency may be worsened by hormonal contraceptive use. Keywords: Contraception; Combined oral contraceptives; Vitamin B12; Vitamin B12 deficienc

INSECTICIDE RESIDUES IN SOME STORED GRAINS IN MUBI, ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA AND THEIR POTENTIAL HEALTH HAZARDS ON THEIR CONSUMER

The study was conducted to assess the level of residue of permethrin (pifpaf), Aluminium phosphide (cyclone) and Dichlovors (dakshi) in protected grains of cowpea, maize and bambaranut groundnut each stored for 1 month, 3 month, and 6 months in Mubi (10° 16 N, 13° 10 E) Nigeria. Based on grain type and time of storage, the pesticide were extracted from 2g of powdered grains using acetonitrite and methanol (4:1) and then analyzed for the composite fractions using the high performance liquid chromatography technique. The result shows that each of the grains has residues of all the insecticide considered in the study. On average, cowpea had higher levels of insecticide residues while maize had lower over the study period. The lowest residue of any of the insecticide (1.0mg/kg of dakshi, 1.04mg/kg of cyclone and 1.11mg/kg of pifpaf) 6 months after storage was higher than the FAO no-observed adverse effect level, even though residue levels decreased with storage time. The implications of the findings on insecticide based stored grains protected by Nigerian merchants/farmers are discussed.    Â

Retrieval and Representation of Nucleotide Sequence of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Cystathionine Gamma-Lyase (CYS3) Gene in Five Formats

Educational programmes all over the world are facing increasing pressure to integrate information technology in the curriculum. Knowledge of bioinformatics is at infancy in Nigeria it is therefore imperative to develop and build the capacity for high-throughput determination and  computational analysis of the nucleotide base sequences of the genomes of organisms. The present communication navigated the ENTREZ Web page and downloaded sequences of Cystathionine gamma- lyase gene from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The sequence is then represented in the five best known database formats namely Plain, FASTA, EMBL, GCG and Genebank thereby making it more visible and available for other research applications such as comparative genomic analysis, evolutionary studies, searching for and identification of regulatory elements and scanning for mutations. The present study highlights data retrieval and representation. Data retrieval is important as it provides the opportunity to engage in data mining for discovery, a convenient alternative to traditional wet  laboratories, providing biological insights, and proficiency to access and use the vast repository of computational and webbased resources which are the most available information in the world today.Keywords: Nucleotide, Database, Genome, GenBank

Management of obstructive nephropathy in a tertiary hospital in North West Nigeria: A five-year review

Background: Obstructive nephropathy is managed initially with urinary diversion and possibly haemodialysis before definitive therapy. This study was aimed at determining the pattern of presentation, aetiology and management options of obstructive nephropathy in our practice.Methods: This was a five-year retrospective study of the patients managed for obstructive nephropathy at our facility from January 2011-December 2015. Data were collected via a pro forma and analysed using SPSS version 20.0.Results: There were 106 patients managed for obstructive nephropathy with a mean age of 48.3 ± 17. 4 years and age range of 4 months to 85 years. The male: female ratio was 10:1. The most common causes of obstructive nephropathy were bladder cancer (49.1%), benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH, 22.6%), bilateral ureteric stone (5.7%) and bilateral schistosomal lower ureteric obstruction (4.7%). Urethral or suprapubic catheterisation (22.6%), nephrostomy (2.8%) and dialysis (10.4%) were the initial treatments. Chemoradiation was done for the patients with bladder cancer and 17.9% of the patients had operative interventions, which included ureteroneocystostomy, open prostatectomy or transurethral resection of the prostate, and ureteroscopy + lithotripsy. Fifty-two patients (49.1%) died while awaiting dialysis and four patients (3.8%) developed end-stage renal disease.Conclusions: Bladder carcinomas, BPH, ureteric obstruction are the commonest causes of obstructive nephropathy in our practice. The initial treatment includes urinary diversion and or dialysis before definitive treatment.Keywords: obstructive nephropathy; bladder cancer; acute kidney injury; chronic kidney injury; urinary diversion; dialysi

Preliminary Phytochemical Screening of Healthy and Leaf Curl Virus Infected Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum) Leaves

The present investigation deals with the determination of phytochemical constituents of healthy and leaf curl virus infected tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) leaves. Specimens were collected from Koraye in Zaria and transported to the Herbarium unit for proper authentication. Healthy and curl leaves of Solanum lycopersicum were washed thoroughly three times with running tap water and once with sterile distilled water, air dried at temperature on a sterile blotter. After complete drying, young leaves were pulverized. The powdered material was weighed and kept in air tight container in dark place for further extraction procedure. Extraction was done by methanol method, where 100g each of pulverized powder of both healthy and infected Solanum lycopersicum leaves was put in a cornical flask and (1000ml) of measuring cylinder was used to measure 500ml of 70% methanol. The results obtained from the qualitative phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of; Alkaloids, Flavonoids, Tanins, Cardiac glycosides, Phenols and Saponins in both healthy and infected leaves of Solanum lycopersicum and the absence of; Carbohydrates, Steroids and Anthroquinone in both healthy and infected leaves of Solanum lycopersicum. While the quantitative analysis revealed the presence of 8.2% and 3.8% Alkaloids, 49.6% and 48.2% Flavonoids, 30.6% and 19.99%, Tanins 30.6% and 19.9%, Phenols 13.6% and 7.022% Saponins 1.2% and 0.1% in both healthy and infected leaf curl of Solanum lycopersicum. Evidently, from the above investigation there are no reducing sugars in Solanum lycopersicum leaves and there are metabolites in some healthy and infected leaf curl of Solanum lycopersicum leaves