Internet Usage among Broadcast Media Practitioners in Nigeria

The study investigates internet usage among broadcast media practitioners in Nigeria. All the media practitioners in NTA, Peace PM and Ray Power stations in Maiduguri, totaling 91, were administered with questionnaire. The study finds out that majority 31(34.07%) of the respondents said they used the internet daily, while minority 6(6.59%) of the respondents said they never used the internet. Majority 32(35.16%) of the respondents said they used internet for news reporting, while minority 9(9.89%) of the respondents said they used the internet for advertising. Also 38(41.76%) of the respondents said websites enhanced their work as broadcast media practitioners, while minority 7(7.69%) of the respondents said You Tube enhanced their work as a broadcast media practitioner. The study also find out that challenges encountered by broadcast media practitioners while using the internet include; erratic power supply, lack of access to internet, low internet connectivity and hash weather conditions. The study recommended among other things that media owners should provide computers for their organizations and also provide same to their staff as loan to enable them access internet not only in office but also at home. The study then concluded that broadcast media practitioners in Nigeria can not afford to be left behind in the use of internet, if they must perform their duties of informing, educating and entertaining their listeners and viewers. Keyword: Broadcasting, Broadcast media, Electronic Communication, Internet, New media Technolog

Groundwater quality in shallow unconfined sedimentary aquifers in Bida, Nigeria

A study on the water quality of unconfined shallow aquifers was conducted with the aim of assessing physicochemical and bacteriological contamination of groundwater as a result of poor design of water and sanitation facilities in Bida, Nigeria. The study was conducted using a grid-based approach on wells, boreholes, surface water and households. The water has a high Total Dissolved Solids. Slightly acidic pH and mean distance of wells to waste disposal facilities is 12m. Chemical parameters that occur in high concentrations are sulphates, chlorides, nitrates and sodium and total coliform is very high. Contamination of deeper sources of water from the dug wells is both lateral and vertical with contamination plume spreading to better planned areas. Surface water has the least contamination and is proposed for water supply. Sanitation facilities should be upgraded from pit to ventilated improved pit latrines

Scientific and technical guidance for the preparation and presentation of a dossier for evaluation of an infant and/or follow-on formula manufactured from protein hydrolysates (Revision 1)

Following a request from the European Commission, EFSA was asked to provide scientific and technical guidance for the preparation and presentation of a dossierfor evaluation of an infant and/or follow-on formula manufactured from protein hydrolysates. This guidance document addresses the information and data to be submitted to EFSA on infant and follow-on formulae manufactured from protein hydrolysates with respect to the nutritional safety and suitability of the specific formula and/or the formula's efficacy in reducing the risk of developing allergy to milk proteins. The guidance will be further reviewed and updated with the experience gained from the evaluation of specificdossiers, and in the light of applicable Unionguidelines and legislation. The guidance was adopted by the Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies on 5 April 2017.Upon request from the European Commission in 2020, it has been revised to inform food business operators of the new provisions in the pre-submission phase and in the procedure set out in the General Food Law, as amended by the Transparency Regulation. This revised guidance applies to all dossiers submitted as of 27 March 2021 and shall be consulted for the preparation of dossiers intended to be submitted from that date onwards. For dossiers submitted prior to 27 March 2021, the previous guidance, published in May 2017 remains applicable

The participatory turn in radioactive waste management:Deliberation and the social-technical divide

National policies for long-term management of radioactive waste have for decades been driven by technical experts. The pursuit of these technocratic policies led in many countries to conflict with affected communities. Since the late 1990s, however, there has been a turn to more participatory approaches. This participatory turn reflects widespread acknowledgement in the discourse of policy actors and implementing organisations of the importance of social aspects of radioactive waste management and the need to involve citizens and their representatives in the process. This appears to be an important move towards democratisation of this particular field of technological decision making but, despite these developments, technical aspects are still most often brought into the public arena only after technical experts have defined the ‘problem’ and decided upon a ‘solution’. This maintains a notional divide between the treatment of technical and social aspects of radioactive waste management and raises pressing questions about the kind of choice affected communities are given if they are not able to debate fully the technical options. The article aims to contribute to better understanding and addressing this situation by exploring the complex entanglement of the social and the technical in radioactive waste management policy and practice, analysing the contingent configurations that emerge as sociotechnical combinations. Drawing upon empirical examples from four countries that have taken the participatory turn - Belgium, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom – the article describes the different ways in which sociotechnical combinations have been constructed, and discusses their implications for future practice

European micronutrient recommendations aligned: a general framework developed by EURRECA

Background: In Europe, micronutrient recommendations have been established by (inter)national committees of experts and are used by public health-policy decision makers to monitor and assess the adequacy of the diets of population groups. Current micronutrient recommendations are, however, heterogeneous, whereas the scientific basis for this is not obvious. Alignment of setting micronutrient recommendations is necessary to improve the transparency of the process, the objectivity and reliability of recommendations that are derived by diverse regional and (inter)national bodies. Objective: This call for alignment of micronutrient recommendations is a direct result of the current sociopolitical climate in Europe and uncovers the need for an institutional architecture. There is a need for evidence-based policy making, transparent decision making, stakeholder involvement and alignment of policies across Europe. Results: In this paper, we propose a General Framework that describes the process leading from assessing nutritional requirements to policy applications, based on evidence from science, stakeholder interests and the sociopolitical context. The framework envisions the derivation of nutrient recommendations as scientific methodology, embedded in a policy-making process that also includes consumer issues, and acknowledges the influences of the wider sociopolitical context by distinguishing the principal components of the framework: (a) defining the nutrient requirements for health, (b) setting nutrient recommendations, (c) policy options and (d) policy applications. Conclusion: The General Framework can serve as a basis for a systematic and transparent approach to the development and review of micronutrient requirements in Europe, as well as the decision making of scientific advisory bodies, policy makers and stakeholders involved in this process of assessing, developing and translating these recommendations into public health nutrition policy. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (201 0) 64, S2-510; doi:10.1038/ejcn.2010.5

Assessment of a self-reported Drinks Diary for the estimation of drinks intake by care home residents: Fluid Intake Study in the Elderly (FISE)

Objectives: We evaluated the accuracy of a newly developed self-completed Drinks Diary in care home residents and compared it with direct observation and fluid intake charts. Design: Observational study. Setting: Residential care homes in Norfolk, UK. Participants: 22 elderly people (18 women, mean age 86.6 years SD 8.6, 12 with MMSE scores <27). Measurements: Participants recorded their own drinks intake over 24 hours using the Drinks Diary while care staff used the homes’ usual fluid intake chart to record drinks intake. These records were compared with drinks intake assessed by researcher direct observation (reference method), during waking hours (6am to 10pm), while drinks taken from 10pm to 6am were self-reported and checked with staff. Results: Drinks intake assessed by the Drinks Diary was highly correlated with researcher direct observation (Pearson correlation coefficient r=0.93, p<0.001, mean difference -163ml/day) while few staff-completed fluid charts were returned and correlation was low (r=0.122, p=0.818, mean difference 702ml/day). The Drinks Diary classified 19 of 22 participants correctly as drinking enough or not using both the European Food Safety Authority and US recommendations. Conclusion: The Drinks Diary estimate of drinks intake was comparable with direct observation and more accurate (and reliably completed) than staff records. The Drinks Diary can provide a reliable estimate of drinks intake in elderly care home residents physically and cognitively able to complete it. It may be useful for researchers, care staff and practitioners needing to monitor drinks intake of elderly people, to help them avoid dehydration

Nutritional safety and suitability of a specific protein hydrolysate derived from whey protein concentrate and used in an infant and follow-on formula manufactured from hydrolysed protein by Danone Trading ELN B.V.

The European Commission asked EFSA to deliver an opinion on the nutritional safety and suitability of a specific protein hydrolysate. It is derived from whey protein concentrate and used in an infant and follow-on formula by Danone Trading ELN B.V, which submitted a dossier to the European Commission to request an amendment of Regulation (EU) 2016/127 with respect to the protein sources that may be used in the manufacture of infant and/or follow-on formula. This opinion does not cover the assessment of the safety of the food enzymes used in the manufacture of the protein hydrolysate. The protein hydrolysate under evaluation is sufficiently characterised with respect to the fraction of the hydrolysed protein. In the pertinent intervention study provided, an infant formula manufactured from the protein hydrolysate with a protein content of 2.3 g/100 kcal and consumed as the sole source of nutrition by infants for 3.5 months led to growth equivalent to a formula manufactured from intact cow's milk protein (2 g protein/100 kcal). No experimental data have been provided on the nutritional safety and suitability of this protein source in follow-on formula. However, given that it is consumed with complementary foods and the protein source is considered nutritionally safe and suitable in an infant formula that is the sole source of nutrition of infants, the Panel considers that the protein hydrolysate is also a nutritionally safe and suitable protein source for use in follow-on formula. The Panel concludes that the protein hydrolysate under evaluation is a nutritionally safe and suitable protein source for use in infant and follow-on formula, as long as the formula in which it is used contains a minimum of 2.3 g/100 kcal protein and complies with the compositional criteria of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/127 and the amino acid pattern in its Annex IIIA

EFSA NDA Panel (EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies), 2013. Scientific Opinion on nutrient requirements and dietary intakes of infants and young children in the European Union.

Following a request from the European Commission, the EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) was asked to deliver a Scientific Opinion on the nutrient requirements and dietary intakes of infants and young children in the European Union. This Opinion describes the dietary requirements of infants and young children, compares dietary intakes and requirements in infants and young children in Europe and, based on these findings, concludes on the potential role of young-child formulae in the diets of infants and young children, including whether they have any nutritional benefits when compared with other foods that may be included in the normal diet of infants and young children. The Panel concluded on the levels of nutrient and energy intakes that are considered adequate for the majority of infants and young children, and evaluated the risk of inadequate nutrient intakes in infants and young children in living Europe. Dietary intakes of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), iron, vitamin D and iodine (in some European countries) are low in infants and young children living in Europe, and particular attention should be paid to ensuring an appropriate supply of ALA, DHA, iron, vitamin D and iodine in infants and young children with inadequate or at risk of inadequate status of these nutrients. No unique role of young -child formulae with respect to the provision of critical nutrients in the diet of infants and young children living in Europe can be identified, so that they cannot be considered as a necessity to satisfy the nutritional requirements of young children when compared with other foods that may be included in the normal diet of young children (such as breast milk, infant formulae, follow-on formulae and cow\u2018s milk)

A multi-targeted approach to suppress tumor-promoting inflammation

Cancers harbor significant genetic heterogeneity and patterns of relapse following many therapies are due to evolved resistance to treatment. While efforts have been made to combine targeted therapies, significant levels of toxicity have stymied efforts to effectively treat cancer with multi-drug combinations using currently approved therapeutics. We discuss the relationship between tumor-promoting inflammation and cancer as part of a larger effort to develop a broad-spectrum therapeutic approach aimed at a wide range of targets to address this heterogeneity. Specifically, macrophage migration inhibitory factor, cyclooxygenase-2, transcription factor nuclear factor-κB, tumor necrosis factor alpha, inducible nitric oxide synthase, protein kinase B, and CXC chemokines are reviewed as important antiinflammatory targets while curcumin, resveratrol, epigallocatechin gallate, genistein, lycopene, and anthocyanins are reviewed as low-cost, low toxicity means by which these targets might all be reached simultaneously. Future translational work will need to assess the resulting synergies of rationally designed antiinflammatory mixtures (employing low-toxicity constituents), and then combine this with similar approaches targeting the most important pathways across the range of cancer hallmark phenotypes

Investigating the use of 3-D full-waveform inversion to characterize the host rock at a geological disposal site

The U.K. government has a policy to dispose of higher activity radioactive waste in a geological disposal facility (GDF), which will have multiple protective barriers to keep the waste isolated and to ensure no harmful quantities of radioactivity are able to reach the surface. Currently no specific GDF site in the United Kingdom has been chosen but, once it has, the site is likely to be investigated using seismic methods. In this study, we explore whether 3-D full-waveform inversion (FWI) of seismic data can be used to map changes in physical properties caused by the construction of the site, specifically tunnel-induced fracturing. We have built a synthetic model for a GDF located in granite at 1000 m depth below the surface, since granite is one of the candidate host rocks due to its high strength and low permeability and the GDF could be located at such a depth. We use an effective medium model to predict changes in P-wave velocity associated with tunnel-induced fracturing, within the spatial limits of an excavated disturbed zone (EdZ), modelled here as an increase in fracture density around the tunnel. We then generate synthetic seismic data using a number of different experimental geometries to investigate how they affect the performance of FWI in recovering subsurface P-wave velocity structure. We find that the location and velocity of the EdZ are recovered well, especially when data recorded on tunnel receivers are included in the inversion. Our findings show that 3-D FWI could be a useful tool for characterizing the subsurface and changes in fracture properties caused during construction, and make a suite of suggestions on how to proceed once a potential GDF site has been identified and the geological setting is known