Social Status, Traditional Food Taboos and Food Security: A Study of Igbo Women in Imo State, Nigeria

A study was conducted to examine adherence to traditional food taboos by women in Imo State, and relate that to social status and food security. Data was collected from 72 women across the three agricultural zones of the State. It was found that age, income and education are some factors affecting adherence to these taboos. This is further evidence of the need to raise women education and income levels as well as providing them employment opportunities. About twenty-five (25) such taboos were identified. These include non-consumption of some crop and livestock products. It was found that these are important sources of calorie, protein, vitamins and minerals. They were also found to be commonly available and within the purchasing power of the women. Prohibiting women from consuming those products denied the potential contribution of those items to women food security denied, apparently for no nutritional reasons. However, enforcement of these taboos is by the women themselves. It is suggested that extension, Nutritionists and dieticians embark on subtle campaigns to reverse these. Journal of Agriculture and Food Sciences Vol. 4 (2) 2006: pp. 139-14

Preliminary comparative analysis of cocoa yield under three treatments in combination with oilpalm in Nigeria

No abstract

Effect of ethanol extract of Pyrenacantha staudtii leaves on carbontetrachloride induced hepatotoxicity in rats

The effect of ethanol extract of Pyrenacantha staudtii leaves on carbontetrachloride (CCl4) induced hepatotoxicity in rats was studied. Sixteen male wistar rats of 100-170g body weight divided into four groups of four rats each, designated – group I, II, III and IV were used. Groups II, III and IV were injected intraperitoneally with 5ml/kg body weight of CCl4; control was injected with 5ml/kg body weight corn oil. After 48hrs, groups III and IV were administered with 750mg/kg and 1500mg/kg body weight of the extract respectively and the rats sacrificed after 5 days. Phytochemical analysis of the extract revealed the presence of alkaloids, glycosides, saponnins, carbohydrates, tannins, flavonoids and resin. Result from the study showed that bothconcentrations of the extract (750mg/kg and 1500mg/kg body weight) significantly reduced (

AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION into the IMPACTS of VARYING the CIRCUMFERENTIAL EXTENT of TIP-LOW TOTAL PRESSURE DISTORTION on FAN STABILITY

Abstract Future jet engines with shorter and thinner intakes present a greater risk of intake separation. This leads to a complex tip-low total pressure distortion pattern of varying circumferential extent. In this paper, an experimental study has been completed to determine the impact of such distortion patterns on the operating range and stalling behaviour of a low-speed fan rig. Unsteady casing static pressure measurements have been made during stall events in 11 circumferential extents of tip-low distortion. The performance has been measured and detailed area traverses have been performed at rotor inlet and outlet in 3 of these cases — clean, axisymmetric tip-low and half-annulus tip-low distortion. Axisymmetric tip-low distortion is found to reduce stall margin by 8%. It does not change the stalling mechanism compared to clean inflow. In both cases, high incidence at the tip combined with growth of the casing boundary layer drive instability. In contrast, half-annulus tip-low distortion is found to reduce stall margin by only 4% through a different mechanism. The distortion causes disturbances in the measured casing pressure signals to grow circumferentially in regions of high incidence. Stall occurs when these disturbances do not decay fully in the undistorted region. As the extent of the distorted sector is increased, the stability margin is found to reduce continuously. However, the maximum disturbance size before stall inception is found to occur at intermediate values of distorted sector extent. This corresponds to distortion patterns that provide sufficient circumferential length of undistorted region for disturbances to decay fully before they return to the distorted sector. It is found that as the extent of the tip-low distortion sector is increased, the circumferential size of the stall cell that develops is reduced. However, its speed is found to remain approximately constant at 50% of the rotor blade speed.</jats:p

The Prevalence of Bacteriospermia in Patients with Clinically Diagnosed HIV/AIDS in Port Harcourt

Purpose: To investigate the prevalence of bacteriospermia in male patients with clinically proven HIV/AIDS in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.Methods: Using standard methods, sperm samples were collected by masturbation after 3 days of abstinence from 120 male patients with clinically diagnosed HIV/AIDS aged 18-57 with a mean age of 39.5; this included 65 single and 55 married men and analyzed for sperm quality and bacteriological profile.Results: Of the 120 patients tested, 90 (75%) had bacteriospermia with at least one pathogen (Staphylococcus aureus, 30%, Staphylococcus  saprophyticus, 13%, Escherichia coli, 20%, Proteus mirabilis, 10%, Proteusvulgaris, 10%, Klebsiella spp., 10% and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 7%). The prevalence of bacteriospermia was higher in singles 60 (50%) compared to married 30 (25%) and significantly (P=0.05) higher in  subjects 28-37 and 38-47 years age group (both 30%) followed by the 18-27 years age group (15%).Conclusion: A relatively high rate of prevalence of bacteriospermia has been identified among HIV/AIDS patients studied. This is dependent of age and marital status of the patients.Keywords: Sperm quality, Infertility, Bacteria profile, Viral infection,  Immunity, Prevention, Public health

Cystercercus Larva in the Anterior Chamber of the Eye of a 7- year-old Nigerian Girl

The case of a 7 year old Nigerian girl with features of traumatic uveitis which was later found to have anterior chamber cestode larva infestation is presented. Though uncommon, ocular cestode larva infestation should be considered when children present with features of ocular inflammation

Energy metabolism in human pluripotent stem cells and their differentiated counterparts

Background: Human pluripotent stem cells have the ability to generate all cell types present in the adult organism, therefore harboring great potential for the in vitro study of differentiation and for the development of cell-based therapies. Nonetheless their use may prove challenging as incomplete differentiation of these cells might lead to tumoregenicity. Interestingly, many cancer types have been reported to display metabolic modifications with features that might be similar to stem cells. Understanding the metabolic properties of human pluripotent stem cells when compared to their differentiated counterparts can thus be of crucial importance. Furthermore recent data has stressed distinct features of different human pluripotent cells lines, namely when comparing embryo-derived human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs) reprogrammed from somatic cells. Methodology/Principal Findings: We compared the energy metabolism of hESCs, IPSCs, and their somatic counterparts. Focusing on mitochondria, we tracked organelle localization and morphology. Furthermore we performed gene expression analysis of several pathways related to the glucose metabolism, including glycolysis, the pentose phosphate pathway and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. In addition we determined oxygen consumption rates (OCR) using a metabolic extracellular flux analyzer, as well as total intracellular ATP levels by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Finally we explored the expression of key proteins involved in the regulation of glucose metabolism. Conclusions/Findings: Our results demonstrate that, although the metabolic signature of IPSCs is not identical to that of hESCs, nonetheless they cluster with hESCs rather than with their somatic counterparts. ATP levels, lactate production and OCR revealed that human pluripotent cells rely mostly on glycolysis to meet their energy demands. Furthermore, our work points to some of the strategies which human pluripotent stem cells may use to maintain high glycolytic rates, such as high levels of hexokinase II and inactive pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH). © 2011 Varum et al

New distinguished classes of spectral spaces: a survey

In the present survey paper, we present several new classes of Hochster's spectral spaces "occurring in nature", actually in multiplicative ideal theory, and not linked to or realized in an explicit way by prime spectra of rings. The general setting is the space of the semistar operations (of finite type), endowed with a Zariski-like topology, which turns out to be a natural topological extension of the space of the overrings of an integral domain, endowed with a topology introduced by Zariski. One of the key tool is a recent characterization of spectral spaces, based on the ultrafilter topology, given in a paper by C. Finocchiaro in Comm. Algebra 2014. Several applications are also discussed

The relationship between fragility, configurational entropy and the potential energy landscape of glass forming liquids

Glass is a microscopically disordered, solid form of matter that results when a fluid is cooled or compressed in such a fashion that it does not crystallise. Almost all types of materials are capable of glass formation -- polymers, metal alloys, and molten salts, to name a few. Given such diversity, organising principles which systematise data concerning glass formation are invaluable. One such principle is the classification of glass formers according to their fragility\cite{fragility}. Fragility measures the rapidity with which a liquid's properties such as viscosity change as the glassy state is approached. Although the relationship between features of the energy landscape of a glass former, its configurational entropy and fragility have been analysed previously (e. g.,\cite{speedyfr}), an understanding of the origins of fragility in these features is far from being well established. Results for a model liquid, whose fragility depends on its bulk density, are presented in this letter. Analysis of the relationship between fragility and quantitative measures of the energy landscape (the complicated dependence of energy on configuration) reveal that the fragility depends on changes in the vibrational properties of individual energy basins, in addition to the total number of such basins present, and their spread in energy. A thermodynamic expression for fragility is derived, which is in quantitative agreement with {\it kinetic} fragilities obtained from the liquid's diffusivity.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

In vitro synergy and enhanced murine brain penetration of saquinavir coadministered with mefloquine.

Highly active antiretroviral therapy has substantially improved prognosis in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). However, the integration of proviral DNA, development of viral resistance, and lack of permeability of drugs into sanctuary sites (e.g., brain and lymphocyte) are major limitations to current regimens. Previous studies have indicated that the antimalarial drug chloroquine (CQ) has antiviral efficacy and a synergism with HIV protease inhibitors. We have screened a panel of antimalarial compounds for activity against HIV-1 in vitro. A limited efficacy was observed for CQ, mefloquine (MQ), and mepacrine (MC). However, marked synergy was observed between MQ and saquinavir (SQV), but not CQ in U937 cells. Furthermore, enhancement of the antiviral activity of SQV and four other protease inhibitors (PIs) by MQ was observed in MT4 cells, indicating a class specific rather than a drug-specific phenomenon. We demonstrate that these observations are a result of inhibition of multiple drug efflux proteins by MQ and that MQ also displaces SQV from orosomucoid in vitro. Finally, coadministration of MQ and SQV in CD-1 mice dramatically altered the tissue distribution of SQV, resulting in a >3-fold and >2-fold increase in the tissue/blood ratio for brain and testis, respectively. This pharmacological enhancement of in vitro antiviral activity of PIs by MQ now warrants further examination in vivo