27 research outputs found
Stock Market and Economic Growth: The Nigerian Experience
The study examined stock market-economic growth nexus in the Nigerian economy. It specifically investigates the effects and the causal relationship between the two variables in Nigeria. This was with the view to providing empirical evidence for stock market operation to stimulate economic growth with maximising the welfare of the people. The study employed annual time series data from 1981 to 2008 collected from various issues of Central Bank of Nigeria’s Statistical Bulletin and Annual Report and statement of Account of Nigeria Stock Exchange 2009 edition. An Error Correction Mechanism (ECM) Model was adopted in the analyses of the interaction between stock market and economic growth. The granger causality pairwise test was conducted in determining the causal relationship among the variables. The empirical results showed that, there was unidirectional causality between stock market and economic growth, which ran from economic growth (GDP) to stock market (MCAP) at 5 percent significant level., stock market has negative effect on economic growth in the short run but positive effect in the long run with (t=1.6, P>0.05) and (t = 4.6, P<0.05) respectively. However, the effect was statistically significant at 5% level of significance only in the long run. The study concludes that, the Nigerian stock market is no exception to other developing countries which are working towards reforming and deepening their financial systems through the expansion of its stock markets in order to improve their ability to mobilize resources and efficiently allocate them to the most productive sectors of the economy so as to enhance economic growth. Keywords: Market Capitalization, Total Value of Transactions, Total New Issues, Gross Domestic Product and Bank Total Asse
Synchronous Presentation of Autoimmune Hepatitis and Multiple Myeloma
Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a rare immune-mediated disease predominantly seen in women and triggered by various environmental factors. Rarely, AIH can be triggered by an underlying malignancy. We report a woman in her 60s who presented with markedly abnormal liver biochemical tests. Serology was positive for anti-smooth muscle antibodies and a liver biopsy confirmed AIH. During the hospital course, she developed sepsis and acute renal failure requiring dialysis support. Serum protein electrophoresis (SPEP) showed a monoclonal IgG kappa protein of 1.92 g/dL and a bone marrow biopsy revealed 7% clonal plasma cells. She had lytic lesions on skeletal survey confirming the diagnosis of a coexisting multiple myeloma (MM). Given her markedly abnormal liver chemistries, we decided to treat the AIH first and use the steroids (an important anti-myeloma therapy) as a bridge to the specific treatment of the MM once her clinical condition improved. She was treated with oral prednisone and azathioprine for AIH. One month later, a marked improvement in liver biochemical test results was noted and she was started on oral ixazomib, lenalidomide and dexamethasone. She received palliative radiotherapy to the lumbar spine (L2), left femur, and ischium lesions. This case highlights a rare co-occurrence of AIH and MM, the underlying mechanism of which is unknown
Impact of repeated NeemAzal®-treated blood meals on the fitness of Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes
Background: Herbal remedies are widely used in many malaria endemic countries to treat patients, in particular in the absence of anti-malarial drugs and in some settings to prevent the disease. Herbal medicines may be specifically designed for prophylaxis and/or for blocking malaria transmission to benefit both, the individual consumer and the community at
large. Neem represents a good candidate for this purpose due to its inhibitory effects on the parasite stages that cause
the clinical manifestations of malaria and on those responsible for infection in the vector. Furthermore, neem secondary metabolites have been shown to interfere with various physiological processes in insect vectors. This study was undertaken to assess the impact of the standardised neem extract NeemAzal® on the fitness of the malaria
vector Anopheles stephensi following repeated exposure to the product through consecutive blood meals on
treated mice.
Methods: Batches of An. stephensi mosquitoes were offered 5 consecutive blood meals on female BALB/c mice treated with NeemAzal® at an azadirachtin A concentration of 60, 105 or 150 mg/kg. The blood feeding
capacity was estimated by measuring the haematin content of the rectal fluid excreted by the mosquitoes
during feeding. The number of eggs laid was estimated by image analysis and their hatchability assessed by direct observations.
Results: A dose and frequency dependent impact of NeemAzal® treatment on the mosquito feeding capacity,
oviposition and egg hatchability was demonstrated. In the 150 mg/kg treatment group, the mosquito feeding
capacity was reduced by 50% already at the second blood meal and by 50 to 80% in all treatment groups at the fifth blood meal. Consequently, a 50 – 65% reduction in the number of eggs laid per female mosquito was observed after the fifth blood meal in all treatment groups. Similarly, after the fifth treated blood meal
exposure, hatchability was found to be reduced by 62% and 70% in the 105 and 150 mg/kg group respectively.
Conclusions: The findings of this study, taken together with the accumulated knowledge on neem open the challenging prospects of designing neem-based formulations as multi-target phytomedicines exhibiting
preventive, parasite transmission-blocking as well as anti-vectorial properties.
Keywords: Malaria, Vectors, Neem, Azadirachtin, Transmission-blocking, Anti-vectoria
hospital waste management as a potential hazard in selected primary healthcare centres in zaria nigeria
The operations of health facilities generate waste; a common characteristic of hospitals and Primary Healthcare centres. However, improper handling of hospital waste constitutes potential risks to the environment and human health. Unfortunately, hospital waste management is not yet carried out with a satisfactory level of safety in many parts of the globe, especially in the underdeveloped world. This study was carried out with the aim of assessing hospital waste management practices among selected Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) in Zaria, Nigeria. A cross sectional descriptive study was carried out between October 2012 and March, 2013 using staff of the PHCs and an interviewer-administered questionnaire, checklist and participant observations. Majority of the staff of the PHCs were nurses (37%) and the knowledge score of all the staff was 5 out of 10 (50%). About 73% had training on hospital waste management 31% had reported injury by sharps. Also, 66% use protective hand gloves while doing their work. Wheel barrow was the commonest method of transporting waste and open burning was the final method of waste disposal by the PHCs. There is a need for safer means of waste disposal among the medical facilities visited. It was, therefore, recommended among others that funds should be made available to the PHCs. This is to ensure the acquisition of all facilities needed in hospital waste management and disposal. There should be training and re-training of health staff on current hospital waste management to meet global best practices. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v33i2.1
ISSN 2141-2618 ©2010 Academic Journals
Socio-demographic characteristics of patients presenting pulmonary tuberculosis in a primary healt
Hospital Waste Management as a Potential Hazard in Selected Primary Healthcare Centres in Zaria, Nigeria
The operations of health facilities generate waste; a common characteristic of hospitals and Primary Healthcare centres. However, improper handling of hospital waste constitutes potential risks to the environment and human health. Unfortunately, hospital waste management is not yet carried out with a satisfactory level of safety in many parts of the globe, especially in the underdeveloped world. This study was carried out with the aim of assessing hospital waste management practices among selected Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) in Zaria, Nigeria. A cross sectional descriptive study was carried out between October 2012 and March, 2013 using staff of the PHCs and an interviewer-administered questionnaire, checklist and participant observations. Majority of the staff of the PHCs were nurses (37%) and the knowledge score of all the staff was 5 out of 10 (50%). About 73% had training on hospital waste management 31% had reported injury by sharps. Also, 66% use protective hand gloves while doing their work. Wheel barrow was the commonest method of transporting waste and open burning was the final method of waste disposal by the PHCs. There is a need for safer means of waste disposal among the medical facilities visited. It was, therefore, recommended among others that funds should be made available to the PHCs. This is to ensure the acquisition of all facilities needed in hospital waste management and disposal. There should be training and re-training of health staff on current hospital waste management to meet global best practices.http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v33i2.1
In vitro and in vivo activity of NeemAzal® and azadirachtin A against early spoogonic stages of Plasmodium berghei.
High bandwidth investigations of a baseband linearization approach formulated in the envelope domain under modulated stimulus
Baseband injection provides a useful approach for use in linearizing power amplifiers. The challenge is the determination of the required baseband signal. In [6] a generalized formulation quantifying the baseband voltage signal, injected at the output bias port, to linearize the device behavior was introduced. This envelope domain based solution requires the determination of only a small number of linearizing coefficients. More importantly these coefficients should be stimulus, hence bandwidth independent. This property has been experimentally investigated using a 10W Cree GaN HEMT device under a 3-tone modulated stimulus at 1.5dB of compression. It will be shown that the linearization coefficients were invariant when varying the modulation bandwidth from 2MHz to 20MHz