Incidence of pediatric long bone fractures at the university college hospital Ibadan

Background: Individuals within the paediatric age group sustain different types of fractures, as such the need to determine the incidence and pattern of long bone fractures among patients 16 years and below admitted through the different wards of admittance of the university college hospital Ibadan.Methods: This was a retrospective hospital-based study involving patients 16 years and below admitted through the accident and emergency department, the children emergency department, the neonatal ward and labour ward of the hospital between January 2013 and December 2018 at the university college hospital Ibadan. Using a proformal completed from the electronically stored data that captured the patient’s history, examination findings, X-ray film and treatment offered which was collected on a weekly basis.Results: 25.13% of the patients reviewed within the study period were paediatric patients. A total of 337 paediatric patients were reviewed. There were 124 female and 213 males with ratio (F:M-1:1.7). The fractures were mostly secondary to fall and road traffic crash accounting for 68.54% and 23.15% respectively. 65.12% of the fractures involve the bone of the upper limbs while 34.98% occur in the bones of the lower limbs. The radius and the ulnar bones are the most affected. Transverse fracture is the most common pattern observed.Conclusions: More than 20% of the reviewed population was in the paediatric age group and the radius and ulnar bones were the most commonly fractured bone in this age group. They usually follow trivial falls

Data on microbial and physicochemical assessment of mixed fruit wine produced from physically damaged fruits

The data described in this article was obtained in an experiment designed for the production of mixed fruit wine using physically damaged fruits in the process of fermentation. Three fruits (watermelon, pineapple and orange) were used in the wine production process. The fermentation process involved two stages; aerobic and anaerobic fermentation. The paper presents the data on microbial and physicochemical analyses carried out to monitor the fermentation and clarification processes

EDXRF analysis of tantalite deposit of Mai-Kabanji, North-western Nigeria

The tantalite deposits of Mai-Kabanji area of Zamfara State Nigeria was studied for the elemental compositions by Energy dispersive x-ray fluoresce (EDXRF) spectrophotometry, physical properties and anionic composition by standard methods. The results indicated high concentrations of tantalum oxide, Ta 2 O 5 (31.990%±0.83) and other valuable oxides of niobium, Nb 2 O 5 (0.029%), titanium, TiO 2 (1.702%±0.42) and iron, Fe 2 O 3 (1.702%±0.30) were also high. Physical properties tested showed high resistance on ignition (LOI 3.00%) and low alkalinity (8.51), grey colour, specific gravity range (7.2 -8.0) and an average size of 0.12 mm. Sample was generally richer in tantalum oxide and other valuable mineral oxides of niobium, titanium, iron and manganese than other samples it was compared with, hence, it is economically valuable for exploration

DEVELOPMENT OF AN IMPROVED GARI FRYER

Traditional frying of cassava mash into gari continues to be an onerous and complex unit operation for food processors. It is highly labor intensive, tedious, unhygienic and low productivity compared with the time and labor invested. The aim of this study was to design, develop a gari fryer, and evaluate its performance efficiency as affected by the mash moisture content. Cassava mash of different moisture contents (44.12, 45, 46.99, 48.99, 50.31, and 54.94 %) were fried, and the performance characteristics including, roasting time, percentage material loss, throughput capacity, and functional efficiency were evaluated. Results obtained indicated that frying cassava mash at 44.12 % wb moisture content produced the best frying condition, as it had the least material loss and frying time of 25 % and 1.17 hr, best throughput capacity and functional efficiency of 6.6 kg/hr and 75 %. The fabricated gari frying does not require technical expertise and can effectively address the challenges associated with traditional gari frying

Chemical treatment enhances skipping of a mutated exon in the dystrophin gene

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a fatal muscle wasting disease caused by a loss of the dystrophin protein. Control of dystrophin mRNA splicing to convert severe DMD to a milder phenotype is attracting much attention. Here we report a dystrophinopathy patient who has a point mutation in exon 31 of the dystrophin gene. Although the mutation generates a stop codon, a small amount of internally deleted, but functional, dystrophin protein is produced in the patient cells. An analysis of the mRNA reveals that the mutation promotes exon skipping and restores the open reading frame of dystrophin. Presumably, the mutation disrupts an exonic splicing enhancer and creates an exonic splicing silencer. Therefore, we searched for small chemicals that enhance exon skipping, and found that TG003 promotes the skipping of exon 31 in the endogenous dystrophin gene in a dose-dependent manner and increases the production of the dystrophin protein in the patient's cells

Pediatric Bacterial Meningitis Surveillance in Nigeria From 2010 to 2016, Prior to and During the Phased Introduction of the 10-Valent Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine.

BACKGROUND: Historically, Nigeria has experienced large bacterial meningitis outbreaks with high mortality in children. Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus), Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcus), and Haemophilus influenzae are major causes of this invasive disease. In collaboration with the World Health Organization, we conducted longitudinal surveillance in sentinel hospitals within Nigeria to establish the burden of pediatric bacterial meningitis (PBM). METHODS: From 2010 to 2016, cerebrospinal fluid was collected from children <5 years of age, admitted to 5 sentinel hospitals in 5 Nigerian states. Microbiological and latex agglutination techniques were performed to detect the presence of pneumococcus, meningococcus, and H. influenzae. Species-specific polymerase chain reaction and serotyping/grouping were conducted to determine specific causative agents of PBM. RESULTS: A total of 5134 children with suspected meningitis were enrolled at the participating hospitals; of these 153 (2.9%) were confirmed PBM cases. The mortality rate for those infected was 15.0% (23/153). The dominant pathogen was pneumococcus (46.4%: 71/153) followed by meningococcus (34.6%: 53/153) and H. influenzae (19.0%: 29/153). Nearly half the pneumococcal meningitis cases successfully serotyped (46.4%: 13/28) were caused by serotypes that are included in the 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. The most prevalent meningococcal and H. influenzae strains were serogroup W and serotype b, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Vaccine-type bacterial meningitis continues to be common among children <5 years in Nigeria. Challenges with vaccine introduction and coverage may explain some of these finding. Continued surveillance is needed to determine the distribution of serotypes/groups of meningeal pathogens across Nigeria and help inform and sustain vaccination policies in the country

Comparison of Water Adsorption Characteristics of Plantain and Cocoyam in a Controlled Storage Condition.

This investigation was conducted to study the behaviour of dehydrated products of cocoyam and plantain in a controlled storage environment at temperature range of 25 and 40oC. Salt solutions were used to achieve water activity that ranged from 0.08 to 0.97. Equilibrium moisture content obtained was used to produce sorption isotherms at these temperatures. Sorption models of Halsey, Chung Pfost, and Henderson were evaluated on the experimental data as well as modified versions of Halsey and Henderson. Co-efficient of determination ranged from 0.80 to 0.97 in all the models. Most equilibrium moisture content obtained during the experiment reflected adsorption except for very low water activity. Chung Pfost equation gave the best fit for the absorption characteristics of these crops having the least residual mean square within 0.03 to 0.11%. Plantain exhibited higher affinity for water than cocoyam in all the relative humidity range. Least moisture content derived for storage stability of these crops varied from 6.5 to 8.2 and 6.3 to 8.2 % in cocoyam and plantain respectively. The region of local isotherm II of relative humidity between 23 and 65 % was identified as the region for optimum storage

Comparative Studies of Physico-chemical Properties of Some Selected Cements in Nigeria

The aim of this study was to evaluate some physico-chemical properties of four major general purpose cement (As, Br, De and Sk) sold in Nigerian market using standard methods; due to the persistent collapse of buildings. The results showed that Br cement recorded the least CaO content (56.17%) while De cement had the highest CaO content being 63.48%. All the samples have Al2O3, SiO2 and Fe2O3 contents within the acceptable limits with the exception of De with SiO2 content being below the required standard. The MgO and SO3 compositions were generally below the recommended limit; C3S content in De was above the recommended limit while it was below the standard in As. The C3A, C4AF, LSR, AR and SR of all the brands of cement were within the recommended standards for general purpose cement, with the exception of SR in As. The longest setting time for the cement samples was recorded in Br; LOI and IR were significantly high in all the samples. Sk and Br cements had the highest compressive strength of 50.42 and 50.43 N/mm2 respectively after 28 days. The results indicate that the properties of the four brands of cement are comparable and are all of good quality

Effect of coir fibre and clayey soil on the strength of unglazed roofing tiles

Agricultural waste based roofing materials can be useful in the construction of farm structures and green buildings. This study evaluated the transverse breaking strength, flexural strength and Water Absorption properties of concrete roofing tile replacing the conventionally used sisal fiber which provides transverse strength with coir fiber and plaster sand with clay soil. Five roofing tile samples of different mix design were produced. The result attained for the flexural test and transverse breaking strength for all roofing tile samples at 28 days test showed that roofing tile replace with 100% coir fiber can also be used commercially although it is not as strong as the roofing tile with 100% coir fiber. The result attained for water absorption was within the acceptable value according to ASTM C1492