Mechanism of the extraction of Molybdenum(VI) from diluted HCl and HNO3 solutions with di(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid

The mechanism of extraction of Mo (VI) from diluted HCl and HNO3 solutions with di(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) dissolved in n-hexane has been investigated. The mechanism of extraction from both acids at pH 1.0 – 6.0 was found to be majorly by cation exchange of MoO22+ for H+ of the extractant (H2R2), while at lower pH value, it was observed to be by neutral, unstable isopoly acid, H4Mo8O26 or nMoO3.2H2O and MoO22+. The extraction efficiency was maximal at pH 1.0 for both acids, E% = 84.8 and 80.0 for HCl and HNO3 media respectively. From the method of slope analysis, the number of D2EHPA molecules associated with MoO22+ was found to be two at pH = 1.0.Keywords: Extractant, cation exchange, isopoly acid, slope analysis

Shoulder Pain Syndrome Among Nigerians

Objectives: To identify aetiological causes of shoulder pain syndrome among patients attending a rheumatology clinic, and to highlight the therapeutic options.Design: Retrospective study.Setting: A private rheumatology clinic in Lagos, Nigeria from January 2002 to December 2006.Subjects: Forty female adult patients and 26 male adult patients aged 24-79 years. Main outcome measures: Patient reported outcome in terms of pain relief and increased mobility.Results: Sixty six subjects were seen during the study period. Females were more commonly affected and were mostly middle aged. Adhesive capsulitis was the most common condition while septic arthritis and avascular necrosis were least diagnosed 22.7% of the subjects could not, however, be categorised.Conclusion: Shoulder pain syndrome is common among Nigerians. Diagnosis and management are mostly based on the clinical presentations, especially considering the lack of sensitivity of plain radiographs and the high cost of more sensitive MRI. The treatment of these conditions are standard

Challenges of Pancreatic Cancer Management in a Resource Scarce Setting

Backgrounds: Of all forms of gastrointestinal malignancy, adenocarcinoma of the pancreas is associated with the worst survival. Management of pancreatic cancer is associated with some challenges. This study is aimed at determining the hospital incidence, sociodemographic characteristics, managements and management's outcome of carcinoma of pancreas at our hospital. We also discuss the management challenges encountered with these patients.Material and methods: We reviewed 96 pancreatic cancer patients seen at Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex, Ile –Ife, Nigeria, from July 1989 to July 2007.Results: There were ninety six patients diagnosed with cancer of the pancreas but only 80 patients had histological proof of pancreatic cancer. This account for 2.1% of all malignancies seen and 238/100000 total admissions during the study period. The median age is 55.0. There were 62 (64.6%) male and 34 (35.4%) female with male to female ratio been 2:1. Duration of symptoms in the patients ranges from 4 weeks to 109 weeks. Only three (3.1%) patients has tumor located in a particular anatomical sub site: two head of pancreas and one tail of the pancreas. Other patients had extensive tumor involving the head and body of the pancreas. Two patients had pancreaticoduodenectomy, one had resection of the tumor at the tail of pancreas and 45 patients had triple bypass. Patients with low serum albumin and serum sodium and elevated transaminases at presentation, had poorer prognosis than other patients.Conclusion: Pancreatic cancer is not uncommon in our center with male preponderance. Most patients present with advanced condition only amenable to palliative measures. There are significant challenges in the area of diagnosis, screening, treatment and research

Parental Perception and Attitude to Children’s Violent Acts in Ife Central Local Government Area Secondary Schools

This study identified among others , the level of parental awareness of the violent acts, actions parents will take when their children perpetrate violence and how violent acts can be solved in school. 50 children from 10 senior secondary schools 1 to 3 were chosen randomly and asked to give the questionnaire to their parents in the survey. The results reveal that parents are aware of violent acts that occur in schools and some of the causes are poor supervision by school authorities (82%), peer influence (82.8%), exposure to violent films (85.2%) and emotional instability (79.8%). Children that will report violence to their parents are 84% while 61.4% believed that their children will report to them if they perpetrate violence in schools. Furthermore, 65% of parents would go to schools to approach any child perpetrating violence against their children while 53.8% would go and report to the teacher. In addition (26.2%) would still ask their children to go back to school to retaliate. Opportunity for sports and other recreational activities, games, debate, excursions, club activities, visitation to schools by parents, establishment of Guidance and Counselling units are some of the strategies suggested for solving violent behaviour of children in schools.Key Words: School violence, parents and violence, strategies for curbing violenc

Socio-economic determinants of consumption pattern of fish among households in Ibadan North Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria

The importance of fish in meeting the nutritional requirements of the body for good health and a better standard of living cannot be overemphasized. The average consumption of protein in Nigeria is below 62 gm per day and a larger proportion of this is of plant origin. This has been found to be below the 70 gm minimum recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and hence adequate consumption of fish would go a long way in correcting the protein intake shortfall. This research looked into the consumption pattern of fish among households in Ibadan North Local government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria. This is with a view to examiningthe various factors of social and economic importance affecting the level ofconsumption of fish and other protein foods in the study area. Stratified sampling technique was used to group the 12 wards in the study area into three. Structured questionnaires were used to collect information from the heads of the 40 randomly selected households in each of the three groups. Data collected from 100 fully completed questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics, multiple regression and Chi-Square tests. The descriptive statistics result shows that majority of the consumers were male (67%), with a mean age of 35.5 years. The mean amountof money spent on fish per month by the households was N3, 672.60 ($24.48). The regression result reveals that the total monthly expenditure on fish was positively affected by monthly expenditure on food and total monthly expenditure on animal protein. The coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.682 implies that 68.2% of the variation in the household monthly expenditure on fish was explained by the variables in the regression model while the Chi-Square (X2) calculated value of 77.7234establishes the significant relationship between the respondents’ income and their expenditure on fish. It is expected that with the potentials of wide acceptability of consumption of catfish, fish farmers should take advantage of the market, explore better means of increasing its production and add value to their product. There is also the need for survey on the current level of fish consumption at the states and nationallevels. This could assist in enhancing policy formulation to increase production, sustain and improve on the current level of consumption in order to reduce the incidence of nutrition-induced health problems particularly among the low income consumers in the society

Protection of rats by extracts of some common Nigerian trees against acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity

Extracts of Balanites aegyptiaca, Khaya senegalensis, Prosopis africana and Vitellaria paradoxa were screened for their phytochemical constituents. Stem barks of the species were also investigated for hepatoprotective effects in Wistar albino rats. Different groups of animals were pre-treated with 100 mg/kg body weight of plant extracts for 10 days and administered with paracetamol (2 g/kg) on the 10th day. The effect of the extracts on serum transaminase and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were measured in the rats. The leaf, stem and root extracts of all the plants except Vitellaria paradoxa showed preponderance of saponin and tannin. Phlobatannin, cardiac glycosides and anthraquinones were observed in concentrations ranging between 10 to 100 mg/kg plant material. Stem bark extracts of the four plants produced significant (P < 0.05) hepatoprotective effects by decreasing the activity of serum enzymes. Values recorded for AST, ALT and ALP were significantly lower compared to those recorded for control rats. A higher inhibition of serum level elevation of ALP was observed with the four extracts. From these results, it was suggested that the extracts could protect the liver cells from paracetamolinduced liver damages perhaps by eliminating the deleterious effects of toxic metabolites from the dru

Effects of Thermal and Non-Thermal Pre-Processing Methods on Physical Parameters of Jack bean (Canavalia ensiformis) Seed

Effects of thermal and non-thermal pre-processing methods on the physical parameters of jackbean seed were investigated. The bean was subjected to three pre-processing methods roasting and autoclaving which are thermal and sprouting a non-thermal pre-processing method. The physical parameters evaluated include length, width and thickness which were done by the use of digital venier caliper, sphericity index by the use of formula and aspect ratio which is the ratio between length and width. The results of physical characterization revealed that all the pre-processing methods used had effects on the seed. With roasting, there was decrease in all these parameters except sphericity index: length 19.00– 15.00 mm, width 13.00–11.00 mm, thickness 10.75–10.55 mm and sphericity index 72.88–80.20 %. The aspect ratio decreased with pre-processing time for all the treatments used from 1.46- 1.33. Kernel density (g/cm3), bulk density (g/cm3) and density ratio for the untreated seed were 1.24, 0.73 and 0.59 respectively. However, with autoclaving and sprouting, there was increase in length from 19.00–24.00 mm, width 13.00–18.00 mm, thickness 10.75-11.10 mm but a decrease in sphericity index (72.88- 67.46 %) as the pre-processing time increased. These results are very useful in designing of processing equipment for the jackbean seeds thus, encouraging the industrial utilization of the seed.Keywords: Jackbean, roasting, autoclaving, sproutin

Influences on smoking behaviour of adolescents and young adults in a Nigerian university

The study investigated whether parenting style, parental level of education and smoking peers have any influence on the smoking behaviour of adolescents and young adults. The participants were students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Purposive sampling technique was adopted in the sample selection. Three hundred students who consented participated in the study. A self constructed questionnaire was used to collect the data. The validity of the instrument was determined. The reliability of the instrument was also determined using test retest method. Correlation co-efficient of 0.75 was obtained. This study revealed that there is a significant influence of parenting style on the smoking behaviour of students (x2 = 36.03, df = 6, p ≤ 0.05). It also showed that there is a significant relationship between parents’ educational attainment and students’ smoking behaviour (x2 = 60.40, df = 6, p ≤ 0.05). Finally, it was revealed that there was a significant influence of peers on smoking behaviour (x2 = 19.97, df = 2, p ≤ 0.05). KEY WORDS: Smoking, Behaviour, Parent, Adolescent, Universit

Absence of Serological Evidence of West Nile Virus in Blood Donors in South Western Nigeria

Background: West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-borne virus that circulates among avians, but can also affect other species, particularly humans and horses. The virus is transmissible via blood transfusion. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of the West Nile virus among blood donors in Nigeria.Materials and Methods: Serum samples from 185 blood donors who donated blood at blood bank units of Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching hospitals and Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria were screened for WNV IgM antibody.Results: Out of the 185 donors recruited for the study, 175 (94.6%) were males. The age of the participant ranges from 18 – 65 years with the mean age (SD± 20.3). One hundred and sixty five (89.1%) donors are urban dwellers while twenty (10.8%) donors are rural dwellers. Twenty seven donors (15.4%), out of the urban group regularly use insecticides treated or mosquito repellant nets whereas none of the rural dwellers use insecticides or mosquito net. All the 185 donors screened were negative for West Nile virus- specific IgM antibody.Conclusion: This study reveals that there is no serological evidence of WNV infection in Osun state Nigeria. Although this is only a preliminary report, there would be the need for a more elaborate study cutting across different seasons of the year on the prevalence of WNV in Nigeria.Keywords: West Nile virus, blood donors, serological evidence, IgM antibody, Nigeri

Effect of feeding graded levels of biscuit waste based diet on non-carcass components of Yankasa rams

Five experimental diets B0 (0%, control), B1 (25%), B2 (50%), B3 (75%) and B4 (100%) were formulated with combined biscuit waste and Leucaena leucocephala meals and fed to 20 Yankasa rams for 91 days to evaluate their effects on non-carcass components of the rams. The rams were slaughtered at the expiration of the experiment and non-carcass components were measured which included external and internal offals, blood, bones and diaphragm. The results revealed that there were significant (P &lt; 0.05) differences in the non-carcass components of all the rams fed different diets. It was further observed that diets B1 (25%) and B2 (50%) biscuit waste inclusion had the best (P &lt; 0.05) effects on non-carcass components of the rams followed by diets B3 (75%) and B4 (100%) biscuit waste inclusion in that order compared with control diet B0 (0%) biscuit waste inclusion. It was therefore recommended that diets B1 and B2 be utilized for optimum results if non-carcass variables are desired in&#160; Yankasa rams