Pectinase production by Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus bataviensis, and Paenibacillus sp. isolated from decomposing wood residues in the Lagos lagoon

Three wood decomposing bacteria isolated from the Lagos lagoon, Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus bataviensis and Paenibacillus sp. were screened for their pectinase producing abilities using pectin as substrate under submerged fermentation (SMF) conditions. The results showed that all three isolates produced appreciable pectinolytic activities. Paenibacillus sp. showed the highest pectinase activity when compared with the other two isolates. The optimum pH for pectinase activity for both B. megaterium and B. bataviensis was 8.0 while it was 6.5 for Paenibacillus sp., B. bataviensis, and B. megaterium showed optimum pectinase activity at 60°C and Paenibacillus sp. at 40°C. Metal ions such as Na+ and K+ improved the activity of pectinase produced by the three isolates when compared to the effect of Zn2+ and Mn2+. The molecular weights of the enzymes were also estimated by gel filtration as 29,512 da, 32,359 da, and 25,119 da for Paenibacillus sp., B. megaterium and B. bataviensis respectively. The study has provided a platform for further investigation into the biochemical characterization of the enzyme, and optimization of culture conditions to scale up pectinase production for commercial exploitation

Human Body Burden of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Antibiotics Susceptibility Pattern and Presence of Extended Spectrum β-lactamase and Carbapenemase encoding Genes in Lagos State, Nigeria

Pseudomonas aeruginosa, frequently associated with a wide range of community and nosocomial infections, is notorious for being resistant to several classes of antibiotics with only a handful of antibiotics still effective. This study determined the human body burden of P. aeruginosa as well as antibiotics susceptibility pattern and presence of extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) and carbapenemase encoding genes in Lagos state, Nigeria using standard methods. Out of 103 bacterial cultures collected, 31 P. aeruginosa isolates were obtained, mostly originating from wound and urine samples. High rates of antibiotics resistance were observed to fluoroquinolone and cephalosporins with 24 (77.4%) resistant to ciprofloxacin, 19 (61.3) to cefotaxime, and 18 (58.1%) to ceftriaxone as well as amoxicillin clavulanic acid. However, resistance to ceftazidime and meropenem were low with only 6 (19.4%) and 5 (16.1%) resistant isolates respectively. ESBL production was detected in 10 (32.3%) of the isolates with ESBL genes detected in 6 (60%) of the 10 isolates. Ceftazidime and meropenem are viable therapeutic options for P. aeruginosa infections. Selection and dissemination of ESBL producing P. aeruginosa must be curtailed to prevent the loss of efficacy in currently available viable therapeutic options

Oral health-related quality of life: acrylic versus flexible partial dentures

Background: Teeth lost are usually replaced by all-acrylic removable partial dentures (RPD) because of its affordability and ease of fabrication. The all-acrylic RPD is said to cause significant periodontal injury and consequently affect the oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) of denture wearers.Objective: To determine and compare OHRQoL of all-acrylic and flexible RPD wearers at baseline and after use of dentures.Design and setting: Study was quasi-experimental using a cross-over design, involving 30 patients with Kennedy class IV and anterior class III arches. Patient recruitment and review were done over an eight-month period in the Prosthetic Unit of a tertiary health facility. OHRQoL was assessed with the oral health impact profile-14 questionnaire. Data were analysed using descriptive and multivariate analysis at asignificant level of p <.05.Results: Mean age of patients was 33.8 ±10.0 years; at baseline, patient reported occasionally, fairly often or very often for 11(78.6%) OHIP items. However, after using the acrylic and flexible partial dentures, 11(36.6%) patients reported having trouble pronouncing words and 9(30.0%) found it uncomfortable to eat respectively. At baseline,there was a difference in mean OHIP scores with age (p=.02); scores reduced from 12.4 ± 9.8 to 4.8±5.3 (CI= 3.3–12.0, p=.001) after using the all-acrylic denture and 3.8±5.6 (CI= 4.3–13.0, p<.001) with the flexible denture.Conclusion: There was improvement in the OHRQoL of patients with use of flexible partial dentures. Therefore, thermoplastic materials are possible alternative RPD base materials in patient management.Keywords: OHIP-14, Removable partial dentures, Quality of Life, acrylic dentures, flexible denturesFunding: None declare

Health Care Seeking Behavior among Caregivers of Sick Children Who Had Cerebral Malaria in Northwestern Nigeria

Cerebral malaria is a significant cause of childhood morbidity in our region. The challenges of effective management include time and quality of treatment. The study appraised the health care seeking behavior of caregivers of sick children who developed cerebral malaria, in Zaria, northwestern Nigeria. Caregivers indentified were parents 29 (87.9%) and grandparents 4 (12.1%). Most of them were in the upper social classes. Health care options utilized before presentation at our facility were formal health facility 24 (72.7%), patent medicine seller 12 (36.4%), home treatment 10 (30.3%), and herbal concoction 6 (18.2%) with majority 24 (72.7%) using more than one option. Antimalarial therapy was instituted in 25 (75.6%) of the cases. Mortality was significantly associated with the use of herbal concoction, treatment at a formal health facility and patent medicine seller, multiple convulsions, age less than 5 years, and noninstitution of antimalarial therapy before presentation. The study showed use of inappropriate health care options by caregivers and highlighted the need to pursue an awareness drive among caregivers on the use of health care options

HIV Seropositivity in Children with Sickle Cell Disease

Background: Blood transfusion forms an integral part of management of sickle cell disease. Blood transfusion is also established as a route of transmission of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), especially in developing nations that are lacking in properly organized blood transfusion services. Methods: A retrospective study of randomly selected sickle cell anaemia patients screened for HIV antibodies in the paediatric haematology clinic of A.B.U.T.H., Zaria, Nigeria. Results: Twenty-nine (52.7%) males and 26 (47.3%) females were studied. Mean age (\ub1 1 standard deviation) was 68.5 \ub137.0 months. One (1.8%) of 55 patients was HIV-seropositive. The parents of this patient were HIV-seronegative. Twenty-five (45.5%) had positive history of blood transfusion and 22 (40.0%) had intramuscular injections outside the teaching hospital setting. Conclusion: The HIV-seropositive rate in this study is well below national estimates but highlights the continued risks of inadequate blood banking systems.Fond : La transfusion sanguine fait partie int\ue9grale du traitement de la dr\ue9panocytose. La transfusion sanguine est \ue9galement \ue9tablie comme voie de la transmission du virus d'immunod\ue9ficit humain (VIH), particuli\ue8rement dans les pays en voie de d\ue9veloppement qui manquent les services de transfusion sanguine proprement organis\ue9s. M\ue9thode : Une \ue9tude r\ue9trospective des malades dr\ue9panocytose al\ue9atoirement choisis et interview\ue9s pour des anticorps de VIH dans la clinique p\ue9diatrique de h\ue9matologie d'A.B.U.T.H., Zaria, Nig\ue9ria. R\ue9sultats : Vingt-neuf (52,7%) m\ue2les et 26 (47,3%) femelles ont \ue9t\ue9 \ue9tudi\ue9s. L'\ue2ge moyen (\ue9cart type de \ub1 1) \ue9tait de 68,5 \ub137,0 mois. Un (1,8%) de 55 malades \ue9tait VIH-s\ue9ropositif. Les parents de ces malades \ue9taient VIH-s\ue9ropositifs. Vingt-cinq (45,5%) ont eu l'histoire positive de la transfusion sanguine et 22 (40,0%) ont eu des injections intramusculaires \ue0 l'ext\ue9rieur de l'h\uf4pital d'enseignement

Phytoremediation of domestic wastewaters in free water surface constructed wetlands using Azolla pinnata

Two constructed wetlands, one with Azolla pinnata plant (CW1) and the other without (CW2) for treating domestic wastewaters were developed. Fifteen water parameters which include: Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Suspended Solid (TSS), Total Phosphorus (TP), Total Nitrogen (TN), Ammoniacal Nitrogen (NH3N), Turbidity, pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Iron (Fe), Magnesium (Mg), Manganese (Mn), and heavy metals such as Lead (Pb) and Zinc (Zn) were analyzed using standard laboratory procedures. The experiments were conducted in two (dry and wet) seasons simultaneously. Results showed considerable reductions in all parameters and metals including Zn in CW1 compared with CW2 in the two seasons considered while Pb and Mn were not detected throughout the study. Zn concentration levels reduced significantly in both seasons just as removal efficiencies of 70.03% and 64.51% were recorded for CW1 while 35.17% and 33.45% were recorded for CW2 in both seasons. There were no significant differences in the removal efficiencies of Fe in both seasons as 99.55%, 59.09%, 88.89%, and 53.56% were recorded in CW1 and CW2 respectively. Azolla pinnata has proved effective in domestic wastewater phytoremediation studies

Modelling Crop Evapotranspiration and Water Use Efficiency of Maize Using Artificial Neural Network and Linear Regression Models in Biochar and Inorganic Fertilizer-Amended Soil under Varying Water Applications

The deficit irrigation strategy is a well-known approach to optimize crop water use through the estimation of crop water use efficiency (CWUE). However, studies that comprehensively reported the prediction of crop evapotranspiration (ETc) and CWUE under deficit irrigation for improved water resources planning are scarce. The objective of the study is to predict seasonal ETc and CWUE of maize using multiple linear regression (MLR) and artificial neural network (ANN) models under two scenarios, i.e., (1) when only climatic parameters are considered and (2) when combining crop parameter(s) with climatic data in amended soil. Three consecutive field experimentations were carried out with biochar applied at rates of 0, 3, 6, 10 and 20 t/ha, while inorganic fertilizer was applied at rates of 0 and 300 Kg/ha, under three water regimes: 100% Full Irrigation Treatment (FIT), 80% and 60% FIT. Seasonal ETc was determined using the soil water balance method, while growth data were monitored weekly. The CWUE under each treatment was also estimated and modelled. The MLR and ANN models were developed, and their evaluations showed that the ANN model was satisfactory for the predictions of both ETc and CWUE under all soil water conditions and scenarios. However, the MLR model without crop data was poor in predicting CWUE under extreme soil water conditions (60% FIT). The coefficient of determination (R2) increased from 0.03 to 0.67, while root mean-square error (RMSE) decreased from 4.07 to 1.98 mm after the inclusion of crop data. The model evaluation suggests that using a simple model such as MLR, crop water productivity could be accurately predicted under different soil and water management conditions

A MULTILANGUAGE COMPLEXITY MEASUREMENT TOOL FOR CODE QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF SOFTWARE USING CYCLOMATIC COMPLEXITY APPROACH

Code complexity or quality has been a focus point by software stakeholders, and on several occasions, has led to the abandonment of codes that has consumed time and money to develop. However, tools that measure code complexity and predict future maintenance across some development platforms before deployment are inadequate. This study was designed to develop a Complexity Measurement Tool (CMT) for assessing code quality in different platforms and compare its performance with that of an existing complexity tool. McCabe cyclomatic complexity approach was adopted and the CMT was developed using C# language to support four programming languages: C, C++, C# and JavaScript.  The tool adopted source codes written in any of the above-mentioned programming languages as input, scanned through and reported names of each method contained in the source program, their code lines, the complexity of each of the method and also specified the equivalent category of the complexity value. The performance of CMT was compared with Code Metrics (CM), an existing complexity equivalent tool embedded in Visual Studio (VS) environment using System’s Computational Time (SCT) and result representations. The average SCT obtained from CMT and CM for all the codes were 1.0±0.01 and 3.0±0.01 minutes. The complexity measurement tool with cyclomatic complexity category had better speed and result interpretation. This will assist software developers in building quality into their products. The result from the tool can also be used in making critical decisions by software stakeholders.   &nbsp

HIV SEROPOSITIVITY IN CHILDREN WITH SICKLE CELL DISEASE

Background: Blood transfusion forms an integral part of management of sickle cell disease. Blood transfusion is also established as a route of transmission of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), especially in developing nations that are lacking in properly organized blood transfusion services. Methods: A retrospective study of randomly selected sickle cell anaemia patients screened for HIV antibodies in the paediatric haematology clinic of A.B.U.T.H., Zaria, Nigeria. Results: Twenty-nine (52.7%) males and 26 (47.3%) females were studied. Mean age (± 1 standard deviation) was 68.5 ±37.0 months. One (1.8%) of 55 patients was HIV-seropositive. The parents of this patient were HIV-seronegative. Twenty-five (45.5%) had positive history of blood transfusion and 22 (40.0%) had intramuscular injections outside the teaching hospital setting. Conclusion: The HIV-seropositive rate in this study is well below national estimates but highlights the continued risks of inadequate blood banking systems

Pectinase Production by Bacillus and Paenibacillus SP. Isolated From Decomposing Wood Residues in the Lagos Lagoon

Three wood decomposing bacteria isolated from the Lagos lagoon, Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus bataviensis and Paenibacillus sp. were screened for their pectinase producing abilities using pectin as substrate under submerged fermentation (SMF) conditions. The results showed that all three isolates produced appreciable pectinolytic activities. Paenibacillus sp. showed the highest pectinase activity when compared with the other two isolates. The optimum pH for pectinase activity for both B. megaterium and B. bataviensis was 8.0 while it was 6.5 for Paenibacillus sp., B. bataviensis, and B. megaterium showed optimum pectinase activity at 60°C and Paenibacillus sp. at 40°C. Metal ions such as Na+ and K+ improved the activity of pectinase produced by the three isolates when compared to the effect of Zn2+ and Mn2+. The molecular weights of the enzymes were also estimated by gel filtration as 29,512 da, 32,359 da, and 25,119 da for Paenibacillus sp., B. megaterium and B. bataviensis respectively. The study has provided a platform for further investigation into the biochemical characterization of the enzyme, and optimization of culture conditions to scale up pectinase production for commercial exploitation