Studies of magnetic alloys by diffuse neutron scattering

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Determination of Selected Metals in Leaf and Root Bark of Malva Parviflora

In Ethiopia, Malva parviflora (family: Malvaceae) leaf is used as a vegetable and its root bark is used to treat furuncles, carbuncles, wound infections and other related ailments. However, no research has been done to analyze essential and toxic metals in leaf part and the metals having antibacterial and wound healing activities in root bark of this plant. Thus, the present study was aimed to determine concentration of K, Na, Mg, Ca, Fe, Zn, Cu, Cd, Pb, and Ni in leaf par; and Mg, Ca, Fe, Zn, Cu, Cd, Pb, Ni, and Co in root bark of Malva parviflora. The results revealed that the leaf part contains high amounts of Na, K, Mg, and Ca. Similarly, high concentrations of Mg and Ca were detected in the root bark. Appreciable amounts of Fe and Zn, and low amount of Cu were detected in both leaf part and root bark. Concentrations of Co, Ni, Cd, and Pb were below the method detection limit. Thus, leaf of Malva parviflora is a good source of essential nutrients (Na, K, Mg, Ca, Fe, and Zn) and the presence of Mg, Ca, Fe, Zn and Cu might contribute to the therapeutic action of root bark of Malva parviflora. Keywords: Malva parviflora, Vegetable, Medicinal plants, Metals DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/9-6-01 Publication date:March 31st 201

Women as Iconic Paradox The Ebira-Ekuechi Facekuerade Performance Example

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Stir Bar Sorption Extraction (SBSE) and Its Application for Analysis of Organic Compounds in Aqueous Samples: A Review

Sample preparation is one of the crucial steps in any chemical analysis because most samples are not ready to introduce directly into analytical instruments. This step is very important to eliminate interferences, isolate and preconcentration of analytes of interest from the matrix and makes them more suitable for separation and detection. The extraction of analytes from aqueous matrices can be traditional and nontraditional techniques. Miniaturized techniques are simple, solventless or solvent-reduced techniques allowing the extraction and concentration in a single step on a micro scale approach. Stir Bar Sorptive Extraction (SBSE) is a relatively new solventless sample preparation method for the extraction and concentration of organic compounds from aqueous matrices of environmental, food and biological samples. In SBSE, a stir bar coated with Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) phase is added to a vial containing the sample. The sample is then stirred until analytes partition equilibrium time reached with sorbent. The extracts can be introduced quantitatively into the analytical system by thermal or liquid desorption. The efficiency of extraction of SBSE in terms of the amount extracted and the equilibrium is affected by extraction time, stirring speed, temperature of the sample, pH, salting and sample volume. The most important limitation of SBSE is the only commercial availability of PDMS coating material exists at present. Besides, due to the non-polar character of PDMS, SBSE technique is mainly applied to extract non-polar and weakly polar compounds but failed in extraction of strongly polar compounds. Keywords: Stir Bar Sorptive Extraction, Polydimethylsiloxane, Sample Preparation, Organic Compounds DOI: 10.7176/CMR/13-1-01 Publication date: January 31st 202

Rainfall Intensity Analysis for Synoptic Stations in Northern Nigeria

With the large inter-annual variability of rainfall in Northern Nigeria, a zone subject to frequent dry spells which often result in severe and widespread droughts, the need for intense study of rainfall and accurate forecast of rainfall intensity duration frequency (IDF) curves cannot be over emphasized. The Intensity Duration Frequency relationship is a mathematical relationship between the rainfall intensity and rainfall duration for given return periods. Using a subset of the network of fifteen continuous auto recording rain gauges available in Northern Nigeria, a total of seven different time durations ranging from 12 minutes to 24 hours were developed for return periods of 2, 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 years. The maximum data series so obtained was fitted to Gumbel’s Extreme Value Type 1 distribution. Linear Regression Analysis was then used to obtain the intensity-duration relationships for the various locations from which Intensity-Duration Frequency (IDF) curves were generated using Microsoft Excel for various return periods. Keywords:  Extreme rainfall, intensity, duration, frequency, Northern Nigeri

Malignant Ovarian Tumours in South-East Nigeria

This research aims to describe the clinico-pathologic characteristics of ovarian tumors in Owerri and classify the tumors according to WHO classification of ovarian tumors. The archives of the Department of Pathology, FMC Owerri were the sources of the data used for this study. The period under review was between September 2010 and October 2016. A total of 32 ovarian tumors were received in the department within the period under review. The mean age was 40.65±12.05 years with a range of 6 to 70 years. The commonest ovarian malignancy was the surface epithelial tumors which made up 46.87% (15 cases) followed by the germ cell tumors which constituted 34.37% (11 cases), sex-cord stromal tumors 12.5% (4 cases) and metastatic carcinoma 6.25% (2). The commonest symptom was abdominal mass or swelling which was present in 90.62% (29 cases) followed by abdominal pain 59.37% (19 cases). The mean size was 7.63cm with a range of 2.6 to 23cm. Keywords: Ovary, Malignancy, Owerr

Uptake of post‑abortion contraception among women who had manual vacuum aspiration at Federal Medical Centre, Owerri: A 5‑year review

Background: Unexpected or unplanned pregnancy poses a major public health challenge in women of reproductive age, especially in low resource countries. Post‑abortion contraception is one of the key methods of reducing maternal mortality globally.Objectives: This study was conducted to determine the uptake of contraception among women who received post‑abortion care following spontaneous or induced abortion at the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri.Materials and Methods: This study was a 5‑year retrospective study that involved 480 women who received post‑abortion care from January 1st 2009 to December 31st 2013 in the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri.Results: The overall uptake of contraception among the study population was 79.8%. This was found to be 78.7% among nulliparous women whereas an uptake of 80.9% was seen among parous women. The age range was from 15 to 46 years with a mean age of 28.5 ± 3.5 years. Women aged between 20 and 39 years accounted for 94% of the study population. While 77.9% accepted to use the barrier method, 20.2% did not accept any method of contraception. Incomplete abortion contributed to 81.3% of the total cases.Conclusion: The uptake of contraception was high at the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri. It was found to be higher with the parous women than nulliparous women. Most of the women were between 20 and 39 years and were highly sexually active; therefore, reinforcing the importance of contraception from time to time among this age group will help reduce the incidence of unplanned/unwanted pregnancies, and thus, the morbidities and mortality associated with abortion.Keywords: Abortion; contraception; manual vacuum aspiratio

Prevalence of vaginal group-b-streptococcus, antibiotic and antigen sensitivity amongst parturients at the Federal Medical Center Owerri, Nigeria

Background: Group B streptococcus (GBS) is one of the principal agents of early onset neonatal sepsis, pneumonia and meningitis with significant morbidity for newborns and parturients.Aim: This study was done to determine the prevalence of vaginal group B streptococcus amongst parturients in FMC Owerri. It also aimed to elucidate the antibiotic sensitivity of the strains of GBS isolated while comparing the sensitivity of antigen detection tests of GBS to culture.Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was done at the labour ward and lying-in units of the Federal Medical Center, Owerri,from February 2015 to October, 2015. It involved one hundred and eighty (180) women recruited systematically. Two swab samples, high vaginal and rectal were collected from the parturients intrapartum and cultured. The babies were examined and weighed immediately after delivery, seen on the second and tenth days after delivery for features of fever or any other complaints.Results: The overall prevalence of GBS amongst parturients was found to be 6.1%. Prevalence of vaginal colonization was 3.3% and that of the rectum was 2.8%, (2c=0.1282, df=1,p=0.502). Neonates with colonized mothers all had complaints of fever postpartum which was statistically significant (=55.86, df=1, p<0.001). All the microbes showed 100% sensitivity to penicillin G, erythromycin, gentamycin and ceftriaxone. Antibiotic resistance was discovered in augmentin (67%), Cloxacillin (55.6%) and ofloxacin (33.3%). Antigen detection tests gave Sensitivity=100%, specificity=96.4%, positive predictive value (PPV) = 64.7%, negative predictive value (NPV) =100%. Detection in both vaginal (=60.290,p=0.000) and rectal (=50.799,p=0.000) samples were statistically significant.Conclusion: The prevalence of GBS in parturients in the Centre is low. Strains of GBS isolated amongst the sampled population in FMC Owerri had a high sensitivity to penicillin G, erythromycin, gentamycin and 3rd generation cephalosporins. Antigen detection method for screening of GBS though very sensitive is however not specific with a significant false positive detection rate due to antigen cross reaction. It is however recommended that antigen detection be employed as intrapartum measure in high risk cases to reduce turnover time whilst supported by culture results later. There was associated significant neonatal sequaelae and further research to establish causal relationship will be advised.Keywords: Prevalence, Group B streptococcus, colonization, antibiotic, antigen sensitivit

Vitamin E in Human Health and Oxidative Stress Related Diseases

Oxidative stress characterized by an imbalance in the production and degradation of radical species has been implicated in the onset and progression of several diseases. The efficacy of antioxidants acting via the inhibition of radical chain reactions, scavenging of free radicals, direct donation of electrons to radical species and chelation of metal ions have been reported to attenuate the oxidative process. Vitamin E is an effective antioxidant and its hydrophobic nature and membrane permeability offer some benefits to application and bioavailability. This chapter highlights the following; structural differences in the vitamin family, biosynthesis in plants and the native biological role, antioxidant mechanisms of vitamin E, an overview of the prophylactic action of vitamin E as well as the effect on the oxidative process in some diseases

New model to estimate daily global solar radiation over Nigeria

This study focussed on developing an appropriate model for estimating daily global solar radiation for any location in Nigeria. Data for the study were obtained from the Nigeria Meteorological Agency, covering 12 sites, spread across the six geopolitical zones, for a period between 1987 and 2010. Various statistical methods were employed to determine the performance and accuracy of the model. A multivariate model that expresses global solar irradiance in terms of location latitude, daily relative sunshine, maximum daily temperature, daily average relative humidity, and cosine of day number was developed. The inclusion of the maximum daily temperature and daily mean relative humidity makes the model much more sensitive to climatic and weather changes. Also, the seasonal fluctuations of the humid tropical region are also well captured in the model. The analysis showed a good agreement between the measured data and computed results. Thus the model can be used to predict the global solar irradiance over Nigeria with minimum error. Further to this, the global solar radiation intensity values produced by this approach can be used in the design and estimation of the performance of solar applications