Assessing Issues in Constitutional and Institutional Principles for Managing Inter-Group Relations in Nigeria: The Federal Character Principle and Power Sharing Formula in Focus

The Nigerian state has been bedeviled with the challenge of managing its convoluted and discombobulated inter-group relationship. Governments in Nigeria have deployed certain principles to manage the nation’s heterogeneous ethnic composition. Therefore, the thrust of this paper is an appraisal of the institutional and public policy mechanisms put in place to integrate the convoluting federal system. The paper is divided into a number of sections. With an introductory overview, the paper proceeds to dwell on the contending paradigms in the extant literature on constitutional and institutional principles deployed to manage the plural and deeply divided Nigerian state. The study went on to analyse the provisions of quota system and federal character principle as enshrined in the constitution on management of inter-group relations in a Nigeria. The study further examined how this constitutional principle has helped since returning to democratic rule in 1999 how beleaguered the polity has been since then. The study also critique the problem associated with this principle and infers with the observation that federal character principles and other similar accommodative and integrative policies in our institutional designs have been directed mainly at the elite, ignoring the masses of the people simply because this approach is more hinged on Western bourgeoisie theory of social stability and elite stability, not institutional or state stability. Whereas, the masses of the people too; needs to be targeted for conflict resolution when crafting the principles of law to address the problem. This study’s ultimate conclusion and recommendation of this article therefore is that the federal character principle in our constitution needs to be rejigged to actually meet the need of the masses of the people for it to achieve communal stability which is badly required in the Nigerian state today. Keywords: Constitutional and Institutional Principles, Inter-group Relations, Federal Character Principle, Power Sharing Formul

Absolute properties of the binary system BB pegasi

We present ground-based photometry of the low-temperature contact binary BB Peg. We collected all the times of mid-eclipse available in the literature and combined them with those obtained in this study. Analyses of the data indicate a period increase of (3.0 ± 0.1) × 10-8 days yr -1. This period increase of BB Peg can be interpreted in terms of the mass transfer 2.4 × 10-8 M⊙ yr-1 from the less massive to the more massive component. The physical parameters have been determined as Mc = 1.42M⊙, Mh = 0.53 M⊙, Rc = 1.29 R⊙, Rh, = 0.83 R⊙, Lc = 1.86 L⊙, and L h = 0.94 L⊙ through simultaneous solutions of light and of the radial velocity curves. The orbital parameters of the third body, which orbits the contact system in an eccentric orbit, were obtained from the period variation analysis. The system is compared to the similar binaries in the Hertzsprung-Russell and mass-radius diagrams.Ege University Research Fund and TÜBİTAK National Observator

Gestion intégrée de Maruca vitrata (FABRICIUS, 1787) et Megalurothrips sjostedti (TRYBOM, 1908), deux insectes ravageurs majeurs du niébé au Niger

Le niébé, Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. est la principale légumineuse cultivée au Niger. C’est une culture d’importance économique, sociale et alimentaire. Sa productivité est faible eu égard entre autres à la forte pression des bioagresseurs. La gestion intégrée des ravageurs est l’une des stratégies adoptées pour accroître la productivité du niébé. L’objectif de l’étude est de proposer un système de gestion intégrée de Maruca vitrata et de Megalurothrips sjostedti, principaux ravageurs du niébé au Niger. L’essai est conduit sur deux différentes variétés du niébé: la TN5-78 et la KVX908-1. Le dispositif expérimental utilisé est un split plot avec quatre traitements et quatre répétitions. Le résultat du suivi des effectifs des deux insectes a montré une prédominance de Megalurothrips sjostedti par rapport à Maruca vitrata sur la TN5-78 (607,25 et 15,25 individus, respectivement). Il en est de même sur la KVX908-1, avec respectivement 307,25 et 17,5 individus. La comparaison de la densité des populations des ravageurs étudiés, montre qu’elle est plus faible dans les parcelles traitées au Super-Diforce par rapport aux parcelles traitées avec le Neem et la préparation virale (MaviNPV). Dans l’ensemble, le dispositif permet de réduire de façon significative la densité de Maruca vitrata et de Megalurothrips sjostedti. L’efficacité de la stratégie se traduit par l’obtention des rendements de 1,02 à 2,169 t/ha pour la variété TN5-78 et 1,96 à 3,06t/ha pour la KVX908-1.Mots clés : Lutte intégrée, Maruca vitrata, Megalurothrips sjostedti, Vigna unguiculata, MaviNPV, Neem, insecticide chimiqu

Predicting sexual problems in women: The relevance of sexual excitation and sexual inhibition

This is the post-print version of the article. The official published version can be obtained from the link below.Data from a non-clinical sample of 540 heterosexual women were used to examine the relationships between scores on the Sexual Excitation/Sexual Inhibition Inventory for Women (SESII-W) and ratings of current sexual problems, lifetime arousal difficulty, lifetime orgasm difficulty, and lifetime problems with low sexual interest. Multiple regression analyses also included several demographic/background variables as predictors: age, full-time employment, completed college, children in household, married, health ratings, importance of sex, and whether the woman was in a sexual relationship. The strongest statistical predictors of both current and lifetime sexual problems were the SESII-W inhibition factors Arousal Contingency and Concerns about Sexual Function. Demographic factors did not feature largely in any of the models predicting sexual problems even when statistically significant relationships were found. If future research supports the predictive utility of the SESII-W in identifying women who are more likely to experience sexual difficulties, these scales may be used as prognostic factors in treatment studies.This study was funded, in part, by a grant from the Lilly Centre for Women's Health

Facteurs prédictifs de décès au cours de la TB pulmonaire chez les PvVIH au CNHU Fann de Dakar

Objectives: In sub-Saharan Africa, tuberculosis is the first pulmonary-located opportunistic infection and the leading cause of death among people living with HIV (PLWHA). This paper focuses on studying the predictive factors of death in people co-infected with pulmonary tuberculosis and HIV at the Ibrahima DIOP MAR clinic for infectious and tropical diseases at the CHNU Fann in Dakar. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective, descriptive, and analytical study conducted from 1st January 1998 to 31st December 2009. It has been of interest to all patients with a successful pulmonary tuberculosis diagnosis and positive HIV status. Epidemiological, clinical, para-clinical, and progressive parameters were studied. Results: A total of 665 cases of tuberculosis/HIV co-infection were observed during the study period, of which 207 deaths or lethality (31.37%) was recorded. The average age of patients was 39±9 years with extremes of 5 and 74 years. The average length of hospitalization was 31.67 ± 20.67 with extremes of 4 and 312 days for surviving patients compared to 19.00 ± 16.42 with extremes of 1 to 90 days for deceased patients. Immunosuppression was significantly associated with death (p=0.001) with a median CD4 of 32.50 elts/mm3. Lethality was significantly elevated in the presence of dyspnea (p= 0, 00014), consciousness disorder (p=10-6 ), motor deficit (p= 0.008), and hemoptysis (p= 0.03). Conclusion: Tuberculosis/HIV co-infection is a common association in Africa. Here, we are talking about a deadly duo. Taking it requires a good knowledge of the factors of poor prognosis and a good integration of the two programs

Artifactual measurement of low serum HDL-cholesterol due to paraproteinemia

High levels of serum low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and low levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) are well-known risk factors for premature atherosclerotic vascular disease [1, 2]. They are targets for primary and secondary prevention. Interpreting lipid profiles is part of the daily routine for a cardiologist. The most common cause of low HDL-C in western society is metabolic syndrome. More rare are primary lipid disorders (e.g., Tangier syndrome due to an ABCA transporter deficiency or deficiency of apolipoprotein A1) and secondary causes like (ab)use of androgens (Table 1). Extremely low serum HDL levels are associated with an increased risk of death, sepsis and malignancy [3]. A rare but important cause is interference in the biochemical assay by paraproteins, yielding an artifactually low HDL-C measurement result. We present the case of a patient who had his lipid profile repeatedly tested over the course of 4 years and had progressive decline in HDL-C measurements

Genome-Wide Association Meta-Analysis of Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms and Symptomatic Venous Thromboembolism during Therapy for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Lymphoma in Caucasian Children

Symptomatic venous thromboembolism (VTE) occurs in five percent of children treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), but whether a genetic predisposition exists across different ALL treatment regimens has not been well studied. Methods: We undertook a genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis for VTE in consecutively treated children in the Nordic/Baltic acute lymphoblastic leukemia 2008 (ALL2008) cohort and the Australian Evaluation of Risk of ALL Treatment-Related Side-Effects (ERASE) cohort. A total of 92 cases and 1481 controls of European ancestry were included. Results: No SNPs reached genome-wide significance (p <5 x 10(-8)) in either cohort. Among the top 34 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (p <1 x 10(-6)), two loci had concordant effects in both cohorts: ALOX15B (rs1804772) (MAF: 1%; p = 3.95 x 10(-7)) that influences arachidonic acid metabolism and thus platelet aggregation, and KALRN (rs570684) (MAF: 1%; p = 4.34 x 10(-7)) that has been previously associated with risk of ischemic stroke, atherosclerosis, and early-onset coronary artery disease. Conclusion: This represents the largest GWAS meta-analysis conducted to date associating SNPs to VTE in children and adolescents treated on childhood ALL protocols. Validation of these findings is needed and may then lead to patient stratification for VTE preventive interventions. As VTE hemostasis involves multiple pathways, a more powerful GWAS is needed to detect combination of variants associated with VTE.Peer reviewe