Prevention of the onset of hyperglycaemia by extracts of Aloe barbadensis in rabbits treated with alloxan

The ability of a home-made aqueous extract of Aloe barbadensis to prevent the onset of alloxaninduced hyperglycaemia was examined and compared with that of a factory-produced gel. Three groupsof animals were administered 200 mg/kg body weight of alloxan intraperitoneally. A fourth group of animals was left uninjected. Animals in group 2 also received a uniform administration of 1 mg/ml twicedaily oral intake of Aloe gel (the home-made extract) commenced at the same time the alloxan was administered and continued thereafter for the next six days. Animals in group 3 were administered the factory-produced extract in a similar way as was done for animals in group 2. Plasma glucose levels at the end of the experiment were 142.50±6.28, 82.50±2.72, 88.17±1.92 and 94.17±1.51mg/dl for animals in groups 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Alloxan administration possibly resulted in an increase of 51% in the plasma glucose level of animals in group 1 relative to animals in group 4 (

Small-Scale Energy Generation for Remote Rural Areas using Solar-Powered Compressed Air Storage System

Energy reach in the rural areas is still of major concern today especially in developing nations. Small-scale energy generation with stored compressed air is the focus of this work towards solving the energy deficit in remote rural environments through renewable sources. The method involves an experimental setup that harnessed energy from the sun through solar PV for isothermal compression and expansion of an air storage system to gain the advantages of low cost, longevity, and environmental friendliness of air storage in small scale electrical power generators. Results from a small, scalable, artificial air storage system of 360m3 show that one charge results in approximate temperature loss of 29oC for compression and 10oC for expansion (in a single cycle). A pressure charge of about 6bars from a compressor speed of 300rpm was also obtained and was able to maintain a constant alternator speed of 2500rpm on no load to produce electricity at 230Vac during expansion.  When advanced and standardized, the air storage could provide a medium for cheap electrical energy storage for small scale renewable sources and a means for electrical energy availability in remote rural environments

Cadmium, lead, arsenic and selenium levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

There is accumulating evidence that the metabolism of several trace metals are altered in diabetes mellitus and these micronutrients might have specific roles in the pathogenesis and progression of the disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the level of toxic elements: lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) levels in whole blood and selenium (Se) (an antioxidant element) in serum of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Fifty diabetic patients and 40 apparently healthy non-diabetic individuals were recruited into this study. After an overnight fasting, blood was collected from each subject and blood/serum concentrations of these elements were measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometer after acid digestion. The mean value of Pb and Cd were significantly higher in the serum of diabetic patients when compared with the control (p < 0.01) but there was no significant difference in the concentration of As (p > 0.05). The serum concentration of Se was significantly lower in diabetic patients than in healthy control group (P < 0.01). Also, the concentration of the toxic elements showed positive correlation with fasting plasma glucose (Cd r = 0.378, Pb r = 0.425, p < 0.01) and inverse correlation with serum selenium (r = -0.599, p < 0.01). This study showed that, increased toxic metals are associated with diabetes mellitus. Thus, these elements may play a role in the development and pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus. In addition, depression in antioxidant concentration (especially, Se) may further aggravate this effect.Key words: Toxic elements, antioxidant, diabetes mellitus, adult Nigerians

Histology and ultrastructure of the uterus of African giant rat (Cricetomys Gambianus, Waterhouse) during oestrous cycle

This study describes histology and ultrastructure of uterus in the African giant rat during oestrous cycle. Endometrial histology displayed glandular mucosa consisting of lamina epithelialis and lamina propria mucosae. Its epithelium varied between simple and pseudostratified columnar. The myometrium consisted of inner circular and outer longitudinal smooth muscles with medium sized arteries and veins in-between. The perimetrium contained simple squamous epithelium. Endometrial ultrastructures were variable during oestrous cycle. At mid oestrus, hemidesmosomes anchored undulating basement membrane of the mucosal epithelium. Preponderance spherical mitochondria, lipofuscin granules concentration, flocculent homogenous materials and indented nuclei were displayed. At mid metoestrus, late metoestrus/early dioestrus and mid dioestrus, the base of the mucosal columnar epithelium lain on relatively straight basement membrane and their cytoplasmic ultrastructure displayed variation to mid oestrus. Epithelial apex showed intermediate filament, microvilli and junctional complexes. The uterine glands occurred in variable numbers and sizes during oestrous cycle and shared similar ultrastructure. Mid dioestrus showed cell ultrastructure of uterine glands having apical accumulation of secretory vesicles. Some actively secreting uterine glands were lined by simple ciliated columnar epithelium mingled with pseudostratified epithelium. The findings of the study indicate that giant rat endometrial ultrastructure varies during oestrous cycle and glandular secretion is merocrine.

Design and implementation of a digital thermometer with clock

In this paper, the design of a digital thermometer with clock is presented. The design was achieved using ATMEGA 328P PU Microcontroller Unit, MLX90614 Infrared Sensor for achieving contactless measurement (wireless) and the DS1307 Real Time Clock (RTC) for accurate time keeping during the measurement of this parameter.The MLX90614 is factory calibrated in wide temperature ranges from - 40 ºC to 125ºC for the ambient temperature and -70 ºC to 382.19ºC for object temperature, while the DS1307 is a low-power clock/calendar with 56 bytes of battery-backed serial random access memory (SRAM). Power is supplied using a regulated 9 V DC battery. The microcontrollers and RTC chip are powered by 5 V DC. The temperature sensor and liquid crystal display (LCD) require 3.3 V DC for operation and are supplied by passing the 5 V DC through a variable resistor. The sensors output values are both fed into the microcontroller. While monitoring temperature and telling time, the microcontroller sends the measurements in form of digital signal to the LCDs for display.This design was compared with a standard infrared thermometer by taking the body temperature measurements of two individuals at different times of the day. It was observed from the results that the difference between the temperature readings of the two thermometers ranges from 0 to 1 °CKeywords: Infrared sensor, digital thermometer, microcontroller, real time clock, temperatur

Mathematical model to evaluate the effect of carbon monoxide exposure as a function of gender, age and height

This study develops and solves mathematical models using a time-dependent Fick’s law of diffusion with the tools of non-Newtonian mechanics specifically the power-law fluid model with appropriate boundary conditions to predict the concentration profiles of carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) species in the human bloodstream from carbon monoxide (CO) inhaled over some time. The concentration of CO and the length of exposure determines how much harm it does to the body. The model developed prediction compares favourably with experimental results and other models in the literature. The standard error obtained when compared with the experiment is 1.02. The results show that the height of individuals has a significant effect on COHb and CO concentration in both adult male and female such that taller individuals are more susceptible to CO poisoning than shorter ones, but height has no significant effect in children. Similarly, the male is at a higher risk of CO poisoning than the female counterpart of the same age and height.Keywords: CO poisoning, concentration, exposure time,  carboxyhemoglobi

Politics and Politicking: The Organizational Perspective

The totality of our community, society, the whole world and even the entire universe is an organization. Organizing involves developing a structure of roles for effective performance and it requires a network of decision and communication for coordinating efforts towards group and enterprise goals. For effectiveness an organizational structure must be understood and principles and policies must be put into practice through the structural organizational politics. Power and politics are interrelated and interwoven with the fabric of an organization. Politics, power and politicizing are necessary, unavoidable and inevitable. The paper therefore examined the features of organizational structure, sources of power, leadership styles, features and tactics of organizational politics. The paper equally examined the mistakes in organizational setting and way out. It was then concluded that effective managers need to be fully aware of the existence of political tactics, have the required wisdom, knowledge, skill and should learn how best to manage the organizational politics for the efficacy of the organizational setting. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p105

Assessment of Factors Responsible for the Choice of Contractors’ Prequalification Criteria for Civil Engineering Project: Consultants’ Perspective

It is not uncommon, during contractor selection process, for prequalifier's decisions to be informed by certain parameters. In the light of this, the choice of the criteria to be eventually adopted depends on factors that play complimentary role when the contractor is to be selected. Therefore, this study assesses the factors that determine the choice of contractors' prequalification criteria for civil engineering project. The purpose is to bring the unrecognised factors into limelight by establishing the degree of their relevance on the choice of contractor's prequalification criteria as well as ascertaining their importance to meeting stakeholder's objectives. The objectives include identifying the factors which determine the choice of contractors' prequalification criteria for civil engineering project and assess the importance of the factors to meeting stakeholders' expectation. The study employ well-structured questionnaire distributed to various category of respondents comprising Civil/Structural Engineers, Quantity Surveyors and Architects engaging in civil engineering project. It adopts percentile, mean item score (MIS) and relative importance index (RII) in the analysis of the data derived from the retrieved questionnaire. Result indicates that, apart from Civil/Structural Engineers, employment into civil engineering organizations favours Quantity Surveyors than Architects. Construction of building is paramount among civil engineering organizations with little involvement in railway project. The choice of contractors' prequalification criteria for civil engineering project is dictated by a number of factors with project type emerging the most influential. Importance of the factors touches the client, consultants and contractor. It recommends that Quantity Surveyors should embrace continuous professional development. Factors influencing the choice of contractors' prequalification criteria must be duly considered before taking final decision on the criterion/criteria to adopt in choosing the contractor for civil engineering project prioritizing project type

The Use Of Rap-PCR In Studying Mycobacterium tuberculosis Intracellular Gene During Macrophage Infection

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the second leading cause of death from infectious agent. This study sought to detect M. tuberculosis genes, which were specifically expressed, or upregulated during intracellular infection ofJ774 murine macrophages; as such genes may be potential targets for novel drug action. J774 murine macrophage cell line was infected with M. tuberculosis (H37Rv strain) at 10:1 multiplicity of infection (MOI). RNA wasdifferentially extracted from M. tuberculosis infecting J774 macrophage cell line. The control in this case was RNA from extracellular broth grown bacteria. Approximately 50 ng of RNA from intracellular derived bacteria and extracellular derived bacteria (control) were subjected to random arbitrarily primed PCR (RAP-PCR) using 50 primer combinations. Eleven differential RAP-PCR products were observed. All RAP-PCR products were cloned into pCR®2.1 and sequenced in order to determine the identity of the products. Four of the eleven products were derived from macrophage genes and another 4 products were derived from the M. tuberculosis rRNA genes (three 23S and one 16S rRNA). The 3 remaining RAP-PCR products were found to be mycobacterial genes other than ribosomal genes. The three products were genes encoding enzyme involving in a shikimate pathway, a putative carboxyphosphonoenolpyruvate phosphonomutase and a serine protease with homology to HtrA. Of the 3 mycobacterial genes other than ribosomal genes detected, none were specifically expressed during intracellular infection but competitive RT-PCR showed that aroF gene was upregulated two-fold in intracellular derived bacilli

Development of oil-in-water (o/w) nanoemulsion formulations for spontaneous transdermal delivery of ciprofloxacin

Nanoemulsions have attracted attention in delivery of therapeutically active agents since most of the new chemical entities are hydrophobic in nature and the delivery of poor water soluble drugs is a challenge. This study was carried out to adopt nanoemulsion as a means of entrapping ciprofloxacin in the oil phase of the emulsion for transdermal drug delivery. Nanoemulsions were formulated as oil in water (O/W) type and prepared by self-mild mechanical nanoemulsification method. The formulation consisted of Sandbox (Huracrepitan) and Sesame seed (Sesamumindicum) as the organic phase of the emulsion, Polyethylene (20) sorbitanmonooleate (Tween 80) and Polyethylene (20) sorbitanmonolaurate (Tween 20) as the surfactants and Polyehtylene glycol (PEG 400) as co-surfactant. The formulations were tested and characterized. Ciprofloxacin (0.075 g) was incorporated into the oil phase of the most stable nanoemulsion formulation prior emulsification and tested on Escherichia coli. Transdermal application was done on male Wister rats (R) followed by biopsification. The result showed the zones of inhibition of HCa3+Ciprofloxacin (Ciprofloxacin-loaded, Huracrpitan oil based nanoemulsion) and SSA3+Ciprofloxacin (Ciprofloxacin-loaded, Sesame oil based nanoemulsion) to be 26.00 and 25.00 mm respectively. The HPLC results showed that, out of 75000 µg of ciprofloxacin loaded in the oil phases of HCa3 and SSA3 formulations, 6.0076 (R2), 0.4112 (R3) and 6.7241 µg (R6) were absorbed in HCa3 while 1.9519 (R1), 1.2631 (R4) and 2.1801 µg (R5) were absorbed in SSA3. The SEM images revealed an encapsulation with globule size diameter of 94 and 63 nm respectively. The findings of this work showed that sandbox and Sesame seedoil based nanoemulsions are effective for transdermal drug delivery