On the Number of Nilpotent Conjugacy Classes of the Symmetric Inverse Transformation Semigroup

From the conjugacy classes in the Symmetric inverse transformation semigroup, we obtained its nilpotent conjugacy classes.A general expression was obtained for the number of nilpotent conjugacy classes in the Symmetric inverse transformationsemigroup.Keywords: Nilpotent conjugacy classes, Symmetric inverse transformation semigrou

Breast cancer receptor status assessment and clinicopathological association in Nigerian women: A retrospective analysis

Background: Breast cancer markers are becoming increasingly important in breast cancer research due to their impact on prognosis, treatment and survival. The present retrospective study was carried out to quantify the proportion of estrogen (ER), progesterone (PR), and human epithelial receptor 2 (HER2) expressions and their association with tumour grade, age, and tumour size in breast cancer patients in Nigeria. Materials and methods: The paraffin embedded tissue sections were analysed for breast cancer markers using monoclonal antibody SP1 for ER and SP2 for PR and polyclonal antibody ErbB2 for HER2. Results: A total of 286 breast cancer paraffin wax tissue sections were analysed for ER, PR and HER2 expression. Of all the tissue samples examined, 20 (7%) were ER-positive, 6 (2.1%) were PR-positive, 11 (3.8%) were HER2-positive whereas 248 (87%) were triple-negative breast carcinoma. ER- and PR-positivity was associated with early grade I and II tumours (P 50mm (P < 0.0001). Conclusion: A small proportion of Nigerian women with breast cancer are ER/PR-positive which are associated with less aggressive, better prognosis and benefit from endocrine therapy. An even smaller proportion of patients with aggressive tumors were HER2-posivite but responsive to Herceptin treatment. Unfortunately, a very high proportion of cases were triple-negative which is associated with very aggressive tumours and no targeted treatment, which may explain the high mortality rates from breast cancer in Nigeri

NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF CHICKEN OFFAL AS REPLACEMENT FOR LOCAL FISH MEAL IN GROWING SNAILS

A total of ninety six growing snails of mean weight 91.23±2.4g were used to determine the effects of partial or total replacement of local fish meal, a source of protein but expensive to a less expensive, alternative source, chicken offal in the diet of growing snails. Completely randomized design was used for the study. The feeding trial had four treatments, C1, C2, C3 and C4 in which fish meal fraction of the diets was replaced at 0, 50, 75 and 100% with chicken offal respectively. The parameters taken were weight gain, feed intake. Feed conversion ratio, total feed cost, and cost per weight gain were calculated. The trial lasted for twelve weeks. Significant differences were not observed in the mean weekly feed intake of the snails in all the treatments. The mean weight gain in all the treatments were not significantly influenced by the inclusion of chicken offal in the diet (P&gt;0.005). Total feed cost and cost/weight gain reduced as the level of the chicken offal increased while the lowest cost/weight gain was observed in C4. The inclusion of Chicken offal in all the diets had no detrimental effect on the snails in all the treatments. Based on the present results chicken offal could replace local fish meal in the diet of growing snail up to 100% and hereby reduce feed cos

Evaluation of SpinTor™ Dust in the Protection of dried Tilapia niloticus against Dermestes maculatus (De geer) (Coleoptera: Dermestidae)

Introduction: Dermestes maculatus is a major pest of stored fish in Nigeria causing as high as 50% weight loss. Fishermen spray insecticides injudiciously which include Gamallin 20 which constitute danger to human health. SpinTor dust (Spinosad) is a commercially reduced-risk pesticide that is naturally derived from the fermentation from a soil bacterium, Saccharopolyspora spinosa. Objectives: No reference data on its efficacy in suppressing major insect pest of stored fish have been published. This paper therefore evaluated the efficacy and residual effect of SpinTor dust against Dermestes maculatus on dried Tilapia fish, Tilapia nilotica. Methods: Disinfested Tilapia was treated with 0.125, 0.25, and 0.5 percent Spintor dust. D. maculatus was introduced into containers holding 50g of untreated and treated fish.  Residual effect of Spintor was evaluated at 30 and 60 days after treatment (DAT). Results: SpinTor dust was more toxic on adults D. maculatus with LD50 of 2.338 than on the larvae with LD50 of 2.693. Adult mortality was highest in the dried Tilapia niloticus treated 0.5% SpinTor dust and least in the control. No larva developed in 0.5% concentration while 629 larvae developed in the control. A significant higher number of F1 adults that emerged from (0.5% concentration) treated adults died when compared with all the other treatments and control. Histopathological test on the liver of mice showed no significant weight gain in mice fed on treated fish and the control after three months. The histopathological test of the liver of the control treated  mice had no alterations in their hepatic lobes. Conclusion: Spintor dust can be used to protect dried fish against D. maculatus Key words Toxicity, Spinosad, Dried fish, Mortality, LD50, Residue, liver and Mice

Effects of work attitudes of design team on the service delivery of quantity surveyors

The dynamism of the construction industry everywhere in the world requires no other skill, for stringent cost control and effective cost management in providing value for money for construction clients, than the skills of the professional quantity surveyor. The effectiveness in delivering quantity surveying service efficiently to meeting clients’ requirements is entirely dependent on the products of designers in the design team. This research work assesses the effects of work attitudes put on by the design team and how it affects the service delivered by quantity surveyors. Primary data were collected via well-structured close-ended questionnaire. Percentile and mean item score were employed in the analysis using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). The study revealed that the design team is a well-structured and organized team for quantity surveyors to perform their professional obligations, but designers’ work attitudes reflected from their design products create a mundane and frustrating atmosphere for the quantity surveyors. The study finally recommended a need for personal improvement by the architects and the engineers in order to enhance a proficient service of the design team.Keywords: Construction Industry, Design Team, Quantity Surveyor, Service, Work Attitud

Comparative study of cervical-vaginal microbial flora changes in women using Cu-T380A contraceptive device and LNG-IUS in Ibadan: a two-centre clinical COHORT study

Background: Intrauterine devices cause various changes in the female genital tract which might result in altered microbial flora and risk of genital infections. The aim of this study was to determine the change in bacterial flora of women using Copper-bearing T380A and levonorgestrel intrauterine system and the risk of genital infections.Methods: This was a two-center clinical cohort study of women using Cu-T380A IUD and LNG-IUS in Ibadan, Nigeria. The study was conducted from March to August, 2016 and it involved 130 women (66 Cu-T380A and 64 LNG-IUS) at 2 family planning clinics in Ibadan, Nigeria. The clients were clinically assessed before admission into the study and high vaginal and endocervical swabs were taken before insertion of the devices, and at 3 and 6months after insertion.Results: Fifty-seven clients with LNG and 63 with copper T380A completed the study. The mean age in LNG-IUS was 34.4years (SD= 6.3) and Cu-T380A was 35.4 years (SD=5.6). All participants had one sexual partner. There was no previous or current STIs/PID at recruitment. The organisms isolated included coagulase negative Staphylococcus (CNS), Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus spp, Escherichia coli, Candida spp, Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Klebsiella spp. Cu-T380A women had an increase or persistence of CNS, Staphylococci, Klebsiella and Candida at 3 months while in the LNG-IUS group only CNS increased. The HVS revealed that participants with Cu-T380A had higher risks (33.3%) for asymptomatic genital infections than the LNG-IUS (5.3%) group at 6 months (p value <0.001).Conclusions: Cu-T380A has a higher likelihood of altering the microbial flora in the cervix and vagina and therefore encouraging the growth of a variety of other organisms compared to LNG-IUS

Toxicity of powder and extracts of Zanthoxylum zanthoxyloides Lam (Rutaceae) root bark from Nigeria to three storage beetles

The root of Zanthoxylum zanthoxyloides Lam is used as antibacterial toothbrush in southwestern Nigeria. The root bark was therefore screened as powder, aqueous and ethanolic extracts for toxicity to adult Callosobruchus maculatus F. (Coleoptera: Bruchidae), Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) and the effects of the test extracts on oviposition and progeny development of C. maculatus in laboratory tests. A small scale field trial was also carried out to test the efficacy of test powder as a protectant of cowpea, Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walpers and maize, Zea mays L. grains against insect infestation. Results of the acute toxicity tests showed that all the formulations were toxic to the insects. The 48 h median lethal concentration (LC50) values obtained for the test powder against C. maculatus, S. zeamais and T. castaneum are 0.05 g kg-1, 0.01g kg-1 and 0.04 g kg-1, respectively. For the aqueous extracts the LC50 values are 0.83 g L-1, 0.34 g L-1 and 0.38 g L-1 against C. maculatus, S. zeamais and T. castaneum, respectively while the values are 0.02 g L-1, 0.04 g L-1 and 0.09 g L-1, respectively for ethanolic extract, indicating higher toxicity against the test insects relative to the water-based extract. The ethanolic extract demonstrated residual property, the toxicity to C. maculatus remaining fairly constant over a total post-treatment time of 336 h. Cowpea grain treatment with test plant ethanolic extract resulted in reduction of the number of eggs laid from 93.30 ± 3.46 in the control to 21.00 ± 4.57 in grain treated with 0.10 g L-1 extract without significant difference in the number of adult emergence from the treated grains. Field trials showed that cowpea and maize grains treated with test plant powder respectively were protected from insect infestation for 180 d. These results demonstrate the potentials of Z. zanthoxyloides for protecting cowpea and maize grains against storage insects.Keywords: Zanthoxylum zanthoxyloides, Callosobruchus maculatus, Sitophilus zeamais, Tribolium castaneum, Toxicit

Applicability of single-step genomic evaluation with a random regression model for reproductive traits in turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo).

Fertility and hatchability are economically important traits due to their effect on poult output coming from the turkey hatchery. Traditionally, fertility is recorded as the number of fertile eggs set in the incubator (FERT), defined at a time point during incubation by the identification of a developing embryo. Hatchability is recorded as either the number of fertile eggs that hatched (hatch of fertile, HOF) or the number hatched from all the eggs set (hatch of set, HOS). These traits are collected throughout the productive life of the bird and are conventionally cumulated, resulting in each bird having a single record per trait. Genetic evaluations of these traits have been estimated using pedigree relationships. However, the longitudinal nature of the traits and the availability of genomic information have renewed interest in using random regression (RR) to capture the differences in repeatedly recorded traits, as well as in the incorporation of genomic relationships. Therefore, the objectives of this study were: 1) to compare the applicability of a RR model with a cumulative model (CUM) using both pedigree and genomic information for genetic evaluation of FERT, HOF, and HOS and 2) to estimate and compare predictability from the models. For this study, a total of 63,935 biweekly FERT, HOF, and HOS records from 7,211 hens mated to 1,524 toms were available for a maternal turkey line. In total, 4,832 animals had genotypic records, and pedigree information on 11,191 animals was available. Estimated heritability from the CUM model using pedigree information was 0.11 0.02, 0.24 0.02, and 0.24 0.02 for FERT, HOF, and HOS, respectively. With random regression using pedigree relationships, heritability estimates were in the range of 0.04-0.09, 0.11-0.17, and 0.09-0.18 for FERT, HOF, and HOS, respectively. The incorporation of genomic information increased the heritability by an average of 28 and 23% for CUM and RR models, respectively. In addition, the incorporation of genomic information caused predictability to increase by approximately 11 and 7% for HOF and HOS, respectively; however, a decrease in predictability of about 12% was observed for FERT. Our findings suggest that RR models using pedigree and genomic relationships simultaneously will achieve a higher predictability than the traditional CUM model

Genome-wide association study reveals candidate genes relevant to body weight in female turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo).

The underlying genetic mechanisms affecting turkey growth traits have not been widely investigated. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) is a powerful approach to identify candidate regions associated with complex phenotypes and diseases in livestock. In the present study, we performed GWAS to identify regions associated with 18-week body weight in a turkey population. The data included body weight observations for 24,989 female turkeys genotyped based on a 65K SNP panel. The analysis was carried out using a univariate mixed linear model with hatch-week-year and the 2 top principal components fitted as fixed effects and the accumulated polygenic effect of all markers captured by the genomic relationship matrix as random. Thirty-three significant markers were observed on 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 and 12 chromosomes, while 26 showed strong linkage disequilibrium extending up to 410 kb. These significant markers were mapped to 37 genes, of which 13 were novel. Interestingly, many of the investigated genes are known to be involved in growth and body weight. For instance, genes AKR1D1, PARP12, BOC, NCOA1, ADCY3 and CHCHD7 regulate growth, body weight, metabolism, digestion, bile acid biosynthetic and development of muscle cells. In summary, the results of our study revealed novel candidate genomic regions and candidate genes that could be managed within a turkey breeding program and adapted in fine mapping of quantitative trait loci to enhance genetic improvement in this species