Colonic fermentation – more than meets the nose

Fermentation of undigested foods in the colon by its resident bacteria affects not only colonic health (protection against inflammation and tumour formation) but also influences metabolic health. Studying fermentation directly is difficult for lack of access. We hypothesise that the anatomical structure of the colon is suited to act as a fermenting chamber with the gaseous molecules (VOCs) emitted having direct effects on the colonocytes as well as gut neural and metabolic effects. We refer to this complex system as the ‘fermentome’, and further hypothesise that alteration in the ‘fermentome’ through dietary modification will have a direct impact on colonic as well as metabolic health and disease. The VOCs emitted may play a role in bacterial chemical signalling within the colon but importantly could also function as a ‘gas’ biomarker. Measurement of such VOCs through non-invasive methods would have important application as a hypothesis-generating tool with subsequent clinical application

Comparative Effects of Demonstration Method and Blending Learning on Academic Achievement and Interest of Agricultural Science Students in Nsukka Education Zone of Nigeria

The study focused on the comparative effects of demonstration method and blended learning on the achievement and interest of Agricultural Secondary School Student in Nsukka. Two research questions guided the study while two hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. Quasi experimental design, specifically pre-test and post-test group was adopted. The sample for the study was 80 SSII Students comprised of males and females from intact class. The two classes were randomly assigned experimental group I and II. The experimental group one was taught with demonstration method while experimental group II were taught with blended learning and. The treatment lasted for four weeks. The instruments for data collection were Agricultural Achievement Test (AAT) comprising thirty questions and Interest Inventory. The two instruments used for data collection were validated by three experts all from Department of Agricultural Education.The reliability of the instruments was established using Cronbach alpha for AAT and Kudder-Richardson 20 for AII. AAT and AII yielded a coefficient of 0.74 and 0.77 respectively. Mean, standard deviation and Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were used to analyze the data collected for the study. Findings of the study revealed that blended learning enhanced students’ achievement and interest in Agricultural science more than demonstration method. Furthermore, the tested hypotheses revealed that there was significant different between the effects of demonstration and blended learning on students’ interest in Agricultural science. Hence, the study recommended amongst others that; that the federal ministry of education should provide internet facilities in secondary schools to ensure blended learning is incorporated as to improve achievement and interest of students and also state government should organize workshops, in-service training programme for teachers so that they would be conversant in the use of blended learning