Indole -3- Butyric Acid Induces Plant Regeneration From Stem Cuttings Of Three Medicinal Plants

Field regeneration of three (3) medicinal plants - Securidaca longepedunculata (violet tree), Ocimum gratissimum (scent leaf) and Pterocarpus mildebraedii by means of rooting of stem cuttings at different lengths of 10 -15 cm and 15 -20 cm were studied. The effect of the plant hormone Indole-3-Butyric acid (IBA) at 5g/l was tested on rooting, bud sprout and leaf formation of the rooted stem cuttings of the plant species as well as the effect of the length of the stem cuttings on their growth and survival rates. The results of the study revealed that stem cuttings of O. gratissimum treated with IBA and the control treatment sprouted within 5 - 8 days. The treated O. gratissimum stem cuttings produced a slightly higher number of buds (2.58 ± 0.86) when compared to the control (2.00 ± 0.89) with no significant difference at P ≤ 0.05. Stem cuttings of the treated P. mildbraedii cuttings sprouted within 8 -10 days with 1.40 ± 0.37 number of buds, with the control showing no sprouts. Consequently, IBA application produced more leaves (13.00 ± 5.58) and roots (1.33 ± 0.01) than the control. However, O. gratissimum stem cuttings had the highest leaf (13.08 ± 4.47) and root numbers (135.00 ± 13.45) followed by the control with values- 13.00 ± 5.58 for leaf development and 61.66 ± 2.34 for root number respectively. Irrespective of the treatments, none of the stem cuttings of S. longepedunculata sprouted. This study showed that exogenous application of IBA to stem cuttings of the tested plants, except S. Longepedunculata, improved the root number, number of leaves and number of buds. Keywords: Stem cuttings, Indole-3-Butyric acid (IBA), Rootin

Assessment of the effectiveness of water hyacinth (E. crassipes) in the biosorption of heavy metals from Aluminium extruding company effluents

Biosorption technique was used to assess the effectiveness of water hyacinth in the removal of heavy metal from effluents obtained from an Aluminium extruding company. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques were used to characterize the water hyacinth materials before and after adsorption. A batch experiment was set up using water hyacinth (E. crassipes) ash as absorbent. The effects of contact time, absorbent dose, pH and temperature on the heavy metal removal efficiency were determined. The experimental data were analysed by the Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin models of adsorption. The FTIR results showed a reduction in the intensity of the adsorption bands for all the metal ions. The optimal percentage removal of the metal occurred at 30 minutes except Cd which had highest percentage removal at 20 minutes while optimal pH was at 6.0 except Pb which had its optimal removal at pH 4.0. Increase in biosorbent dosage increased the percentage removal of the metal ions with Zn (96% at 1.0 g) having the highest percentage removal of the five metal ions studied. The results revealed that Langmuir and Temkin Isotherms were the best model for the metal ions adsorption onto water hyacinth. Langmuir model had a better fit for Fe (R2 = 0.78), Ni (R2 = 0.82) and Pb (R2 = 0.78), while Temkin model fitted best for Cd (R2 = 0.92) and Zn (R2 = 0.96). The E. crassipes, therefore, could serve as effective, low-cost and environmentally friendly adsorbents

Workplace Fire Safety: Knowledge and Preparedness in a Public Tertiary Healthcare Facility in Abia State, South East Nigeria

Background: Fire outbreak in a healthcare facility presents enormous challenge and a need for rapid response. The purpose of this study was to  examine fire safety (FS) knowledge of workers and preparedness measures in Federal Medical Centre Umuahia, Nigeria.Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 27 buildings and 310 employees from different units and departments, recruited by convenient non-  probability sampling technique. A walk-through observational checklist and self-administered questionnaire were used to collect data which was  analysed with SPSS software, version 20. Association between knowledge of FS and respondents’ working experience and FS training was measured  using χ2- test. P ≤0.05 was assumed to be statistically significantResults: The highest proportion of participants were administrative staff 93 (30%), followed by medical doctors 80 (25.8%) and nurses 63 (20.3%).  Only 28 (9.0%) had received training on FS, 109 (35.2%) knew how to operate a fire extinguisher, while 139 (41.9%) had knowledge of the location of  fire extinguisher in their workplaces. Twenty-six (8.4%) knew the emergency number(s) to call if fire occurs. Only 107 (34.5%) of them had good  knowledge of fire safety. Training on FS was significantly associated with knowledge of fire safety (p=0.026). All the buildings lacked necessary measures for FS.Conclusion: FS knowledge and level of preparedness were unsatisfactory in the hospital, which may constitute serious threat to the safety of  workers and patients. The hospital management should implement regular FS training programmes for the workers to improve their knowledge, as  well as put in place other FS measures

Additively manufactured heterogeneous substrates for three-dimensional control of local permittivity

The concept of using additive manufacturing as a method to construct heterogeneous substrates from a single building material via stereolithography is introduced. The dynamic variation of air cavities within the bulk material is used to control the effective permittivity of the host medium. The digitally driven layer process enables full three-dimensional variation of the local permittivity. The high resolution of stereolithography enables sub-millimetre control of air inclusion features. Measurements of the effective permittivity with different air fractions have been compared to analytical results

Composite materials for microwave devices using additive manufacturing

This paper is a preprint of a paper accepted by Electronics Letters and is subject to Institution of Engineering and Technology Copyright. When the final version is published, the copy of record will be available at IET Digital Library.Additive manufacturing has been combined with commercially available RF materials to synthesize composite materials whose relative permittivity can be controlled. A design equation for predicting the effective permittivity of these composite materials has also been presented. The relative permittivity of the composite materials was measured by fabricating patch antennas using these materials as the substrate. It has been demonstrated that by using Taconic, PLA and air, three materials with different dielectric constants, a large and nearly continuous range of relative permittivity values, from 1.47 to 6.00, can be realised

Sonografski prikaz dimenzija bubrega u bolesnika s esencijalnom hipertenzijom u sveučilišnoj bolnici Abubakar Tafawa Balewa u gradu Bauchi u Nigeriji

Introduction: Hypertension is one of the commonest non-communicable diseases worldwide; it is the second most common cause of end-stage renal disease. Objective: To evaluate the renal dimensions and volume of essential hypertension patients in Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi and to compare the dimensions with that of apparently healthy volunteers. Materials and Methods: A total of two hundred and eleven individuals (comprising 121 females and 90 males) with essential hypertension attending an outpatient clinic in Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital Bauchi, and an equal number of healthy volunteers (comprising of 172 females and 49 males) were studied as controls. Both the healthy volunteers and the Hypertensive patients’ renal length, renal width, antero-posterior diameter, and parenchymal thickness were assessed. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 20.0) was used for data analysis. Results: Study show the mean renal length for hypertensive patients to be 9.1 ± 0.79 cm and 9.1 ± 0.73 cm, the mean renal width of 3.5 ± 0.48 cm and 3.8 ± 0.68 cm, and mean renal volume of 87.22 ± 19.58 cm3 and 95.08 ± 22.93 cm3 for the right and left kidneys respectively. Results equally show statistically significant difference in anteroposterior diameter (p<0.05), parenchymal thickness (p<0.05) and renal volume (p<0.05) between the hypertensive group and the volunteer group for both right and left kidneys. Conclusion: This study has established baseline renal dimensions for hypertensive in our population (Bauchi Metropolis). The hypertensive subjects showed a decrease in renal anteroposterior diameter, parenchymal thickness and volume compared to control group.Uvod: Hipertenzija je jedna od najčešćih nezaraznih bolesti u svijetu; drugi je najčešći uzrok završnog stadija bubrežne bolesti. Cilj: Procijeniti dimenzije bubrega i bubrežni volumen kod hipertenzivnih bolesnika u Sveučilišnoj bolnici Abubakar Tafawa Balewa u gradu Bauchi i usporediti ih s dimenzijama kod naizgled zdravih ispitanika koji su se dobrovoljno javili za sudjelovanje u istraživanju. Materijali i metode: Uzorak se sastojao od dvjesto jedanaest ispitanika (121 žena i 90 muškaraca) koji boluju od esencijalne hipertenzije i na ambulantnom su liječenju u Sveučilišnoj bolnici Abubakar Tafawa Balewa u gradu Bauchi i jednakog broja zdravih ispitanika (172 žene i 49 muškaraca), koji su bili kontrolna skupina. Proučavana je duljina i širina bubrega, anteroposteriorni promjer i debljina parenhima kod ispitanika s hipertenzijom i kod zdravih ispitanika. Za analizu podataka primijenjen je statistički paket za društvene znanosti (SPSS verzija 20.0). Rezultati: Studija pokazuje da je prosječna dužina bubrega kod hipertenzivnih bolesnika 9,1 ± 0,79 cm i 9,1 ± 0,73 cm, prosječna bubrežna širina 3,5 ± 0,48 cm i 3,8 ± 0,68 cm, a prosječni bubrežni volumen 87,22 ± 19,58 cm3 i 95,08 ± 22,93 cm3 za desni i lijevi bubreg pojedinačno. Rezultati također pokazuju statistički značajnu razliku u anteroposteriornom promjeru (p < 0,05), debljini parenhima (p < 0,05) i bubrežnom volumenu (p < 0,05) između hipertenzivne skupine i kontrolne skupine za desni i lijevi bubreg. Zaključak: Ovom su studijom utvrđene osnovne bubrežne dimenzije kod hipertenzivnih bolesnika u populaciji grada Bauchi, glavnog grada Savezne države Bauchi u Nigeriji. Kod ispitanika koji boluju od hipertenzije ustanovljeno je smanjenje anteroposteriornog promjera bubrega, debljine parenhima i bubrežnog volumena u usporedbi s kontrolnom skupinom

Additively manufactured artificial materials with metallic meta‐atoms

This is an Open Access Article. It is published by IET under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/The paper presents the analysis and fabrication of artificial materials with metallic cuboid inclusions (termed here as meta-atoms) in a dielectric host material. These synthetic materials or metamaterials have been additively manufactured with a fused deposition modelling (FDM) 3D-printer. The effective permittivity and permeability have been numerically analyzed using the Maxwell-Garnett and Lewin’s approximation. Simulations and measurements have shown good agreement with analytical calculations. The anisotropy of the heterogeneous mixture due to the orientation of the meta-atoms has been demonstrated. The effective permittivity has been increased by the presence of the meta-atoms, which has the potential of producing 3D-printing metamaterials with tailored electromagnetic properties

The practice of hepatocellular cancer surveillance in Nigeria

Background: Hepatocellular cancer is a disease of global and public health importance due to the widespread distribution of risk factors and associated high case fatality. Hepatocellular Cancer (HCC) in Sub-Saharan Africa is commonly seen among the younger age groups (&lt;45 years) who present mostly in the terminal stage, when the disease is not amenable to any curative therapy. Hepatocellular Carcinoma surveillance employs the use of simple, cheap and readily available investigations, to detect early curable cancer in individuals with risk factors for HCC.Objectives:The aim of this study is to assess the practice of hepatocellular cancer screening among physicians.Methodolgy:This is a nationwide online survey carried out among physicians who care for patients with HCC. A questionnaire was sent out via a web link to all consenting doctors in Nigeria. The responses were collated in a cloud-based application and data was analysed using Epi-info version 20.Results:Atotal of 218 respondents, 142 were males (65.1 %) with a mean age of 37.6 ± 5.7 years. The modal age group was 31-40 years 153 (69.5%). The main factors considered as a hindrance to surveillance were; the cost of the tests (57.7%), failure of return of patients (50.5%) and not being aware of a surveillance program (45.2 %). The majority of the respondents were Gastroenterologists and Family Physicians. 54% of the gastroenterologists and 64% of the family physicians have never offered HCC surveillance to their patients.Conclusion:This survey highlights a knowledge gap in HCC surveillance among physicians. There is a need to make HCCsurveillance a daily routine among patients at risk by all physicians. Keywords: Surveillance, Hepatocellular Carcinoma, HBV, HCV, Cancer screening

Relativistic energies and information entropy of the inversely quadratic Hellmann potential

The solutions to the Dirac equation are obtained in the spin and pseudospin symmetry limits are presented using the parametric Nikiforov-Uvarov (pNU) method with the inversely quadratic Hellman (IQH) potential. In the exact non-relativistic spin symmetry limit, the energy and wave function of the IQH potential are obtained and used to investigate the Shannon information entropy of the system. Numerical results of the relativistic energies of the spin and pseudospin symmetry limits of the Dirac equation with the IQH potential are presented and observed to exhibit degeneracy. Also, the results of the Shannon entropy for six states (n = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) show that the momentum space wave function and probability density are better localized than the position space wave function. Also, the Bialynicki-Birula and Mycielski (BBM) inequality is verified for the system. Our results are found to be consistent with those previously reported in the literature