Heavy Metals in Soils and Tomatoes Grown in Urban Fringe Environment in Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria

Pb, Cu, Ni, Zn, Cr, Mn and Fe in soils and tomato leaves and fruits from peri-urban environments in Asaba, Delta State were determined after acid digestion by using atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS). The concentrations of metals in the soil samples were 10.14, 2.28, 3.96, 7.88, 0.15, 14.53 and 66.00 mg/kg site A; 7.01, 2.01, 2.03, 5.53, 0.16, 12.15, and 70.12 mg/kg site B, and 9.12, 2.24, 3.01, 4.35, 0.01, 11.52, and 61.22 mg/kg site C for Pb, Cu, Ni, Zn, Cr, Mn and Fe respectively. The concentrations of metals in the tomato leaves samples were 4.01, 1.91, 1.83, 4.89, 0.16, 4.51 and 7.13 mg/kg in site A; 3.84, 1.56, 2.07, 4.00, 0.41, 4.48 and 8.15mg/kg in site B, and 4.03, 1.75, 2.01, 4.52, 0.01, 4.42 and 8.11 mg/kg in site C for Pb, Cu, Ni, Zn, Cr, Mn and Fe respectively while in the tomato fruits, the concentrations of metals in mg/kg were 2.96, 0.41, 1.35, 3.33, 0.01, 3.83 and 6.38 mg/kg in site A; 3.01, 1.35, 1.88, 2.98, 0.15, 3.01 and 5.09 mg/kg in site B, and 3.92, 1.44, 1.82, 3.73, 0.01, 3.05 and 6.00 mg/kg in site C for Pb, Cu, Ni, Zn, Cr, Mn and Fe respectively. These values obtained in the soils for all sites were below the given values for naturally occurring metals in soil and Department of Petroleum Resources target and intervention values for metals in soil while the values recorded for tomatoes leaves and fruit are below the levels recommended by WHO/FAO and NAFDAC for metals in foods and vegetables but are within the normal range of metals in plants. There was positive correlation among metals except Pb/Cr, Cr/Mn and Cr/Fe. The values of transfer factor (tf) obtained for all the metals except Fe in leaves and fruits for all the sites were above 0.2 indicating anthropogenic contamination of the sites and also high take up and accumulation of the metals from the soil by the tomatoes thus the need for environmental monitoring of the area.Key words: Heavy metals, tomato, anthropogenic, contamination, pollutio

Preparation and use of plant medicines for farmers' health in Southwest Nigeria: socio-cultural, magico-religious and economic aspects

Agrarian rural dwellers in Nigeria produce about 95% of locally grown food commodities. The low accessibility to and affordability of orthodox medicine by rural dwellers and their need to keep healthy to be economically productive, have led to their dependence on traditional medicine. This paper posits an increasing acceptance of traditional medicine country-wide and advanced reasons for this trend. The fact that traditional medicine practitioners' concept of disease is on a wider plane vis-à-vis orthodox medicine practitioners' has culminated in some socio-cultural and magico-religious practices observed in preparation and use of plant medicines for farmers' health management. Possible scientific reasons were advanced for some of these practices to show the nexus between traditional medicine and orthodox medicine. The paper concludes that the psychological aspect of traditional medicine are reflected in its socio-cultural and magico-religious practices and suggests that government should fund research into traditional medicine to identify components of it that can be integrated into the national health system

Preliminary studies on the lithostratigraphy and depositional environment of the oil shale deposits of Abakaliki anticlinorium, southeastern Nigeria

21 cm

Antihyperglycemic and antihyperlipidemic properties of aqueous root extract of Icacina senegalensis in alloxan induced diabetic rats

Objective: To evaluate the antidiabetic and hypolipidemic activity of aqueous root extract of Icacina senegalensis (I. senegalensis) in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Method: Blood glucose levels of alloxan-induced diabetic rats were monitored after the administration of I. senegalensis extract (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg) to diabetic rats for 14 d. Different biochemical parameters, serum cholesterol, serum triglyceride, high density lipoprotein, low density lipoprotein and very low density lipoprotein were also examined. Results: Treatment of alloxan diabetic rats with the extract showed significant (P<0.05) activity. The activity of the extract was comparable to that of the standard drug, glinbeclamide. Conclusions: The results suggest that the root extract of I. senegalensis possesses antidiabetic and hypolipidemic properties, which might be a potential source for isolation of new orally active agent in the treatment of diabetes and its associated complications

Prevalence and pattern of birth defects in a tertiary health facility in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria

Mkpe Abbey,1 Olufemi A Oloyede,2 Goddy Bassey,1 Benjamin M Kejeh,3 Barbara E Otaigbe,4 Peace I Opara,4 Austa U Eneh,4 Chris I Akani1 1Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, 2Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, 3Department of Surgery, 4Department of Paediatrics, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria Objective: To ascertain the prevalence and pattern of congenital abnormalities that are peculiar to the Niger Delta area of Nigeria. Methods: This is a descriptive retrospective cross-sectional study. It involved data from the labor ward and neonatal birth registers of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital on the total number of births and the babies that were delivered with major birth defects between August 2011 and December 2014. We also conducted a statistical comparison of the prevalence of congenital abnormalities in the Niger Delta with that in other regions of Nigeria and the developed world of Europe. Results: Out of the 7,670 deliveries that occurred, 159 maternities had babies with major birth defects giving a prevalence of 20.73 cases per 1,000 live births. This figure is far more than that which was obtained in other regions of Nigeria &ndash;4.15:cases per 1,000 live births in the South East (P&lt;0.001), 15.84:1,000 in the South West (P&lt;0.01), and 5.51:1,000 in the North East (P&lt;0.001). Eighty-five (53.46%) of the defects occurred in 1,681 unbooked patients, while 74 (46.54%) happened in 5,989 booked maternities (P&lt;0.001). The predominant abnormalities were those of the central nervous system at 27.0%, gastrointestinal system 11.95%, cardiovascular system 10.69%, anterior abdominal wall 8.18%, skeleton 6.29%, and chromosomal abnormalities at 5.66%. Conclusion: The prevalence of major birth defects at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital was 20.73 cases per 1,000 live births and it was more in the unbooked than the booked maternities. All body systems were affected with those of the central nervous system predominating at 27.0% of the total diagnosed defects. Keywords: maternity, congenital abnormalities, birth defects, unbooked, booked, Niger Delta, Port Harcour

Electrochemical Performance of Anthocleista djalonensis on Steel-Reinforcement Corrosion in Concrete Immersed in Saline/Marine Simulating-Environment

In this paper, electrochemical techniques were employed to study performance of different concentrations of Anthocleista djalonensis leaf-extract admixtures on the corrosion of steel-reinforcement in concrete immersed in 3.5 % NaCl, for simulating saline/marine environment. Analysed test-results showed that the corrosion rate correlated directly with admixture concentration and inversely with cube of the ratio of standard deviations of corrosion potential and corrosion current. The 0.4167 % A. djalonensis (per weight of cement) exhibited optimal inhibition efficiency, g = 97.43 ± 1.20 %, from analysed experimental data, or 94.80 ± 3.39 %, from predicted correlation model, on steel-reinforcement corrosion in the medium. The other admixture concentrations also exhibited high efficiencies at inhibiting steel-reinforcement corrosion in the chloride contaminated environment. Isotherm fittings of he experimental and predicted performance suggest that they both obeyed the Langmuir adsorption model. Evaluated parameters from the isotherm model indicated favourable adsorption and predominant chemisorption mechanism by this environmentally-friendly inhibitor of steel-reinforcement corrosion in the saline/marine simulating- environment. © 2014, The Indian Institute of Metals - IIM