AN ASSESSMENT OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF SOME SELECTED PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS

This study investigated the relationship of reliability and validity. Three standardised psychological tests were administered on 268 Nigerian secondary students spread over forms one, three and five. The tests were administered twice within a period of six weeks to allow for the computation of test-retest reliability. The Cronbach's r, the Split-half r, the Spearman-Brown r and the Kuder-Richardson (KR) 20 r were also derived. Content and construct validities were established through Z-test, t-test, factor analysis and correlation coefficient. It was concluded that when it is said that valid tests are reliable, it is the internal consistency reliability that is being referred to rather than the test-retest reliability. In essence, not all valid tests will necessarily furnish indices of reliability on all types of reliability coefficients. Apart from raising some issues for further study, the finding, has important implications for psychological tests' development and usage

Histomorphormetric studies on lactational lead intoxication in testes of Sprague Dawley rats

Childhood lead poisoning has been established to cause a lot of health challenges, of which reproductive health perturbation is not least. This research work was designed to investigate the impact of lactational lead exposure on the developing testes in Sprague-Dawley rat pups. 12 female rats were used in the experiment and 23 offspring for the analysis of lactational lead intoxication. The offspring were divided into four groups. Groups B, C and D were administered 10 mg/dL, 30 mg/dL and 70 mg/dL of lead acetate respectively, via drinking water for 21 days while group A was control. The animal was firstly sedated using a chloroform-damped cotton wool in a vacuum (air-tight chamber). The sedated animal was weighed on a weighing balance and figure recorded. The animal was then perfused to clear blood from the organs before the organs were harvested, the testes of the pups exposed via lactation were observed via histological methods. Statistical analysis showed the total body weight and left testicular weight appeared to be significantly (p <0.05) lower in groups B, C and D when compared to the control group. Right testicular weight, tubular diameter, tubular radius and luminal area were significantly (p < 0.05) higher in groups B, C and D when compared to the control. Testicular distortion was observed during histological findings. Care must be taken by a lactating mother to avoid being exposed to lead during gestation and lactation.Keywords: Histomorphormetry; Lactation; Testes; Lead-intoxicatio

Prevalence and clusters of modifiable cardiovascular disease risk factors among intra- city commercial motor vehicle drivers in a Nigerian metropolitan city

Background: Commercial motor vehicle drivers (CMVDs) have worst health profiles among different occupations, yet the presence of clusters of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in this group have not been described in a resource-limited setting.Objectives: The prevalence of CVD risk factors and the clusters among CMVDs was evaluated.Design: A cross-sectional descriptive study.Setting: Four motor parks in three local government areas of Ibadan city, Nigeria.Participants: Consented and conveniently sampled 152 intra-city CMVDs aged ≥ 18 years. Main outcome measures: Prevalence of CVD risk factors (hypertension, diabetes, high triglyceride, low HDLc, high waist-hip ratio, central obesity, physical inactivity, smoking, alcohol, and overweight/obesity) and their clusters were determined.Results: All participants were male from 20 – 77 years old. Most of the CMVDs were physically inactive (80, 52.6%), take alcohol (78, 51.3%), and few smokes (35, 12.4%). The prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, hypertriglyceridemia,obesity, and central obesity were 36.2%, 5.9%, 23.7%, 4.6%, and 5.3%, respectively. Four clusters of CVD risk factors in the CMVDs with the prevalence of 36.2%. 33.5%, 17.1% and 13.2% were identified with significant differences (p<0.05) in the risk factors.Conclusion: The prevalence of diabetes, obesity, central obesity, and smoking was low while the prevalence of hypertension and hypertriglyceridemia was moderate among the CMVDs, but the prevalence of alcohol intake and physical inactivity were high. Four distinct clusters of CVD risk factors were observed among the drivers.Keywords: Cardiovascular diseases, Risk factors, Motor vehicles, Commercial vehicle drivers, Nigeria.Funding: The study was self-funded

Ethnic and religious crises in Nigeria: A specific analysis upon identities (1999–2013)

Today, Africa is laced with some of the most obstinate conf licts, most of them constructed from differences in religious and ethnic identities. Religious and ethnic nationalism has led to conf licts about control of state power, unequal allocation of resources, citizenship issues, state collapse, economic decline and ethno-religious clashes. Nigeria has been pushed hither and thither by recurrent crises of regional or state illegitimacy, often impairing efforts at economic transformation, democratisation, national cohesion and stability (Osaghae and Suberu 2005:4). With this continental background in mind, this research paper seeks to examine the relationship between religion, ethnicity and conf lict in Nigeria, focusing mainly on issues in the North of the country. The question is: To what extent are conf licts emerging from ethnic or religious sources? This paper also looks at the notion of Identity and how it explains the crisis of development and complexities in modern Nigeria.Keywords: ethnic conf lict, religious conf lict, identity, Nigeri

DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF COVENANT GERONTOLOGY SCALE: SCREENING TOOL FOR COUNSELLING PURPOSE

As it applies in the medical world, professional psychological counselling is hardly complete without adequate assessment with relevant standardized psychological instruments. The objective of this study, therefore, was to develop and validate a Gerontology Scale that could empirically measure the psychological and physical wellbeing of elderly people. The emphasis of this preliminary study was on internal consistency reliability, content validity and construct validity. Seventy-two people with age ranging from 40 to 80 years served as study sample. Their responses were subjected to descriptive statistics [frequency count, percentages and charts] and parametric statistics [t-test and regression]. The core findings were: the CGS has acceptable internal consistency reliability (r = 0.84); the CGS further furnished evidence of discriminant validity in being able to differentiate the health status of middle aged and elderly respondents. It was therefore recommended that Counselling Psychologists, Gerontologists and related professionals should regularly administer a standardized gerontology scale of this nature to allow for timely preventive interventions that would facilitate the health and overall wellbeing of the aged in our communities

Modulatory Role of Severe Hypoxia in Orofacial Mesenchymal Stem Cell (OFMSC) Plasticity

Osteoradionecrosis (ORN) of the jaw is a late and major complication of radiation therapy for head and neck cancers. The pathogenesis of ORN is yet to be fully clarified, which has put limitations on effective prevention and treatment of this condition. Radiation induced tissue hypoxia has been associated with development of ORN based on the previously proposed ‘hypoxia-hypocellularhypovascular’ theory of ORN pathophysiology. This indicates that radiation cycles during head and neck cancer therapy cause sustained hypoxia leading to death of bone cells. Therefore, we hypothesized that severe hypoxia tested at 0.1% oxygen tension alters plasticity of jaw mesenchymal stem cells, the essential osteoprogenitors vital for bone healing. We assessed the effect of severe hypoxia (0.1% oxygen) on responsiveness of human orofacial mesenchymal stem cells (hOFMSCs) isolated from the jaw based on post-hypoxic survival and in vitro/in vivo multilineage differentiation of surviving cells. The effects of hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) and Endoplasmic reticulum stress response (ERSR) signaling pathways on activation of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) by OFMSCs in response to severe hypoxia were also assessed. We found that OFMSCs succumbed to severe hypoxia because hypoxia depleted osteoprogenitor pools of OFMSCs. However residual surviving OFMSCs retained appreciable multilineage differentiation capacity. We also found that activation of both HIF-1α and ERSR signaling pathways in response to severe hypoxia coregulate downstream activation of VEGF to support recovery actions of residual OFMSCs from severe hypoxia. These results indicate that hypoxia plays a role in the pathogenesis of ORN and that resilience of OFMSCs to severe hypoxia can be further explored for tissue regeneration in irradiated jaw bone

Antifungal Activities of Ethanol and Aqueous Crude Extracts of Four Nigerian Chewing Sticks

The antifungal activities of the ethanol and aqueous crude extracts of four Nigerian chewing sticks were investigated. Also a preliminary phytochemical analysis of the plants was done. The chewing sticks include Anogeissus schimperi, Distemonanthus benthmianus, Vernonia amagdalina and Xanthoxylum zanthoxyloides. All the plants tested, except Anogeissus Schimperi, displayed antifungal activities, zone of inhibition above the 10 mm standard mark. The ethanol crude extracts of the chewing sticks had a greater zone of inhibition in comparison with the aqueous extract. Among the individual plant extracts, D. benthmianus had the highest antifungal activity against Candida albicans, Aspergillus flavus and Microsporium gypseum and Trichophyton metagrophytes. The chewing sticks contain antifungal agents, though the concentration and composition of the bioactive substances may differ amongst the plants. Distemonath benthmianus exhibited a better antifungal activity and thus made it more suitable for better dental care. Flavonoid was present in all the plant extracts. Tannin was present in all the plant extract, except that of Anogeissus schimperi. Alkaloids were absent in all the plant extract. The ethanolic extracts had more phytochemical compounds than the aqueous extracts