Local Aetiology and Pathways to Care in Malaria among the Ibibio of South-coastal Nigeria

There is a parallel between local and bio-medical perceptions of malaria among the Ibibio people of South-coastal Nigeria, as in many other societies of sub-Saharan Africa where malaria is endemic. Despite the fact that this accounts for resilience of the disease, earlier studies on malaria in Africa focused on causes, prevalence and socio-environmental factors. Local meanings of malaria and their influence on therapeutic choices have been largely ignored. This study examines local perceptions of malaria among the Ibibio and explains how attitudes are generated from indigenous meanings. It also examines how such attitudes inform a local aetiology of malaria. Similarly, our study examines how local meanings of, and attitudes towards malaria, set the pathway of care in malaria management among the Ibibio. Through qualitative and descriptive ethnography, Key Informant Interview (KII), Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and the textual analysis of documents, our study seeks to establish that malaria is caused by parasites–protozoa. 83% of the respondents held that malaria is due to witchcraft, exposure to sunlight and eating of yellowish food items such as yellow maize, paw-paw, orange and red oil. These local perceptions are drawn from local conceptions which in turn encourage malaria patients to seek assistance outside modern health care facilities. This also discourages local communities from attending health education workshops that link malaria with germ theory and care. Treatment of malaria is thus mostly home-based where a wide variety of traditional remedies is practiced. Our study concludes that the lack of convergence between local knowledge-contents and bio-medical explanations account for a high prevalence rate and the lack of effective management. For proper management of malaria, there is a need to understand local knowledge and indigenous concepts in order to establish a convergence between bio-medical explanations and indigenous perceptions. Only then can a community acceptable means of changing bio-medical perceptions of the disease be facilitated

Fortification of dough with moringa, coriander, and amaranth improves the nutritional composition, health-benefiting properties, and sensory attributes of Nigerian wheat bread

Consumption of bread can be associated with some health issues, which can be improved by fortifying it with plants that are good sources of nutrients and bioactive compounds. This study investigated the effects of fortifying bread with 3 leafy vegetables on the quality of Nigerian wheat bread. Leave powders of coriander, moringa, and amaranths were added to wheat dough at 0% (control), 1%, 3%, 5%, or 7%, and the blends obtained were used to bake vegetable breads, which were then analyzed for proximate, minerals, total phenolics, antioxidant activity, reducing sugars, glycemic index, and sensory evaluation. Results showed that vegetable fortification significantly increased bread ash (from 0.84% in control up to 1.93% in fortified bread), crude fiber (from 1.68% to 3.29%), and nutritionally important minerals Ca, Mg, P, Fe, and Zn (up to 5.2-fold, 5.1-fold, 18.1-fold, 4.1-fold, and 14.0-fold, respectively); it reduced carbohydrates (from 65.65% down to 43.16%), crude lipids (from 2.25% down to 0.44%), and caloric value (from 1239.65 down to 1125.19 kJ/100 g), with little or no effect on proteins and moisture content. The fortification also improved the bioactive properties of the bread, as evidenced by a considerably higher phenolic content (from 0.40 up to 13.95 mg/100 g GAE) and increased antioxidant activities. There was a significant 1.1-to 3.4-fold decrease in the reducing sugars of composite breads with 5% and 7% vegetable powder, and the selected bread formulation with Moringa 7% lowered the glycemic index of rats by 3.5-fold. Fortification did not generally affect the appearance and taste of the breads but decreased other sensory parameters and overall acceptability; the bread sample enriched with 1% amaranth received the highest general acceptance. In conclusion, fortifying wheat bread with the 3 vegetables improves its nutritional quality and can be recommended as a new pathway for the development of more nutritious and healthy bread

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY ANALYSIS OF NIGERIAN ROAD TRANSPORTATION SECTOR: EFFECTS OF INFLUENCED FUEL DEMAND PATTERNS

Petrol and diesel utilisations in the Nigerian road transportation sector have been assessed, using exergy efficiency and improvement potential as parameters. The mean petrol engine exergy efficiency was 13.05%, while that of diesel engines was 10.79%. The average improvement potential of petrol engines was 2.07×1011 MJ, which was 75.6% of average input exergy. Diesel engines had an average improvement potential of 5.15×1010 MJ, which was 69.2% of average input exergy. Practical constancy of the exergy efficiencies of the engines left input exergy values as the sole determining factors of improvement potentials of the systems. Petrol fuel was found to be utilised, away from sustainable path, more than diesel fuel. This observation was found attributable to subsidisation of petrol downstream sector and simultaneous deregulation of the diesel downstream sector as well as the preponderance of petrol engines in the road transportation sector. In conclusion, it was recommended that a mechanism be put in place to check the unsustainable petrol fuel utilisation in the transport sector

Parâmetros fisiológicos do estresse e lesões de suínos suplementados com ractopamina em condições de produção comercial.

bitstream/item/50856/1/publicacao-487.pdfProjeto: 02.09.07.007

Microclima e conforto térmico em distintas formas de sombreamento no cerrado brasileiro.

Comissão organizadora: Grácia Maria Soares Rosinha, Alexandra Rocha de Oliveir, Rodrigo Carvalho Alva

Antifungal activity of ampicillin-chitosan-magnetite nanoparticles

It is known that broad spectrum antibiotics can cause dysbiosis and candidiasis as side effects. The question is how to preserve the antibacterial properties of these agents and at the same time to prevent the development of fungal infections. Most often, this is achieved by combining with antifungal agents, but there are other possibilities, including those related to iron oxide (II, III), or magnetite, nanoparticles (NPs)