Differentials in the Cassava Seed System among Entrepreneurs in Southern Nigeria: A Gender Situation Analyses

The study analysed gender differentials in the cassava seed system among entrepreneurs in southern Nigeria to proffer policies for growth and sustainable cassava seed systems. A multi-stage and purposive sampling technique was used to select respondents for the study. Village seed entrepreneurs (VSEs) and cassava farmers in the cassava seed network of the BASICS project in 4 States were sampled in the first stage. Data were collected with interview schedules for individual interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGD). The results show that the different gender groups compliment each other in the roles they play. Among the most important drivers of seed demand include; big roots size/ yield (67.56%) and (60.97%) for the male and female cassava farmers respectively), among the male was income generation (17.14%) and yield good gari quality for the female (31.70%), followed by high starch content (17.14%) for male and female (22.85). The profitability analyses show that for every N1.00 spent in cassava seed production, about N0.92 (male) and N0.90 (female) were generated, while N1.50 (male) and N1.32 (female) were generated for root production. The seed flow system shows that both male and female cassava farmers receive seed from various channels but at varying levels. The results call for policy issues targeted at increasing cassava production by advocating for more involvement of the women in seed production and increased access to and control of finance. There is also need to mitigate important constraints militating against cassava seed production for increased participation and production of cassava seed

Financial Decision and Poverty Nexus in Nigeria

The study examines the relationship between poverty and financial decision in Nigeria so as to ascertain if poverty has an impact on the quality of financial decisions taken by the poor and financially vulnerable individuals. The study utilised a unique methodology (truncated regression) and applied a survey data from the Afrobarometer dataset to investigate the quality of loan usage among the extreme poor in Nigeria. We allowed for the inclusion of other policy relevant variables that may likely inform the direction of new generation poverty alleviation policies like gender, education and age of the individuals. We find that the extremely poor group use more of the loans for other non-developmental issues like funeral and marriage celebrations than for productive and poverty alleviating ventures. However, the younger males engage more in this act than the females. Also, as the poor become more educated, they are able to use more of the loan for development-oriented investments like purchase of assets, building houses and even furthering their education. A major policy implication of this result is that loans should be directed towards younger individuals, and education should be a focal priority in selecting who to fund

Clients' perception of the quality of primary health service and its predictors in Rivers State

Introduction: Most patients in Rivers State seek health care from primary health centres which recently had undergone modernization. However not enough is known of their perception on the quality of service delivery. This study assessed perceived quality of primary health care and identified predictors in the context of Rivers State.Method: Cross-sectional survey using multi stage sampling approach. A multi scale instrument - Outpatient Assessment of Health care questionnaire was used to obtain feedback from 423 adult patients visiting three randomly selected primary health centres, representing the three senatorial districts in Rivers State. Outcome measured were patients' satisfaction with doctors and nurses' communication, health care environment, health and medication communication as well as their global rating of the centres. Predictors of perceived quality of PHC were explored using regression analyses with p-value < 0.005 considered significant.Results: Mean age of the respondents was 29.6 ± 5.9 years with majority being female (92.1%), self-employed (47.0%) and married (90.1%). Majority (67.5%) of the respondents were satisfied with the care they received at the health centres, with mean satisfaction scores of 3.41, 3.45, 3.16 and 3.48 out of a possible maximum of 4 for doctors, nurses, environment and consultation domain respectively. Less proportion of the respondents (59.9%) were satisfied with the quality of information about prescribed medications. Predictors of high rating in this study were older age (standardised β = 0.22, 95% CI: 0.14 – 0.29, P<0.001), consultation with doctors (p = 0.001), free health care (p<0.001), higher self rated health status (p < 0.001) and being a first time visitor to the health Centre (p<0.001).Conclusions: Although patients are generally pleased with services at health centres but there is need to improve the clarity of information given on prescribed medications. Some negative predictors which are within the remit of the health system should form the focus for quality improvement.Keywords: Quality assessment, Patients' Perception, Predictors, Primary health care, Rivers state, Nigeri

Financial Decision and Poverty: Examining the Financial Behavior of the Extreme Poor in Nigeria

The study examines the relationship between poverty and finance so as to ascertain if poverty has an impact on the quality of financial decision taken by the poor and financially vulnerable individuals. The study utilised a unique methodology (truncated regression) and applied a survey data to investigate the quality of loan usage among the extreme poor in Nigeria. We allowed for the inclusion of other policy relevant variables that may likely inform the direction of new generation poverty alleviation policies like gender, education and age of the individuals. We find that the extreme poor use more of the loans for other non-developmental issues like funeral and marriage celebrations than for productive and poverty alleviating ventures. However, the younger males engage more in this act than the females. Also, as the poor become more educated, they are able to use more of the loan for development-oriented investments like purchase of assets, building houses and even furthering their education. A major policy implication of this result is that loans should be directed towards younger individuals, and education should be a focal priority in selecting who to fund

Thrombogenic indices in an evaluation of pregnant Nigerian women with pregnancy loss

Background: Pregnancy losses (PLs) are usually a source of pain and psychological stress to the expectant couples. The association between ABO blood groups and some thrombogenic markers with PL among Nigerian women is mostly unknown. Aim: This study investigates the association between ABO blood group, deficiencies of protein C (PC), and protein S (PS) and PL. Patients and Methods: A cross‑sectional study involving 170 pregnant women grouped into two, those with or without a history of clinically‑ or ultrasonographically recognizable PL. ABO blood groups using the tile method, plasma concentrations of free protein S (fPS) antigen, protein C antigen (PCAg) by the enzyme‑linked immunosorbent assay‑based method, and PC activity (PCAc) by PROTAC method was determined.Results: There was no difference in mean values between the two groups for PCAg, PCAc, FPS, and blood group (P > 0.05). The chances of PL were; non‑O blood group (AOR 1.29; 95% CI 0.65‑‑2.54), deficient PCAg (AOR 1.75; 95% CI 0.87‑‑3.54), and deficient PCAc (AOR 1.05;95%CI 0.25‑‑4.13). There was a very poor correlation of miscarriage with FPS (rho 0.04), PCAg (rho 0.09), and PCAc (rho = 0.05).Conclusion: There was no significant association between PLs and ABO blood group phenotypes, PCAg, PCAc, fPS.Key words: Free protein S; Nigerian women; pregnancy loss; protein C antigen; thrombogenic markers

Recall and decay of consent information among parents of infants participating in a randomized controlled clinical trial using an audio-visual tool in The Gambia.

Communicating essential research information to low literacy research participants in Africa is highly challenging, since this population is vulnerable to poor comprehension of consent information. Several supportive materials have been developed to aid participant comprehension in these settings. Within the framework of a pneumococcal vaccine trial in The Gambia, we evaluated the recall and decay of consent information during the trial which used an audio-visual tool called 'Speaking Book', to foster comprehension among parents of participating infants. The Speaking Book was developed in the 2 most widely spoken local languages. Four-hundred and 9 parents of trial infants gave consent to participate in this nested study and were included in the baseline assessment of their knowledge about trial participation. An additional assessment was conducted approximately 90 d later, following completion of the clinical trial protocol. All parents received a Speaking Book at the start of the trial. Trial knowledge was already high at the baseline assessment with no differences related to socio-economic status or education. Knowledge of key trial information was retained at the completion of the study follow-up. The Speaking Book (SB) was well received by the study participants. We hypothesize that the SB may have contributed to the retention of information over the trial follow-up. Further studies evaluating the impact of this innovative tool are thus warranted

Pattern of primary caesarean deliveries in a Nigerian tertiary hospital

Background: Primary caesarean section (CS) has become a major driver of the steadily rising total caesarean rate. This study determined the primary CS rate, pattern and associated factors.Methods: It was a retrospective, hospital-based cross-sectional study of 645 pregnant women who had primary caesarean section over a 3-year period in Lagos state university teaching hospital, Lagos, Nigeria. Data obtained were expressed in frequency and percentages.Results: Primary CS accounted for more than 50% of all the CS done during the study period with a primary CS rate of 16.7% and total CS rate was 30.6%. Primary CS was commonest among women of age group 30-39years (50.1%) and women with no prior parous experience (58.6%). The commonest indication for primary CS was poor progress in labour due to cephalopelvic disproportion, which occurred in 170 women (26.4%), followed by suspected foetal distress in 94 women (14.6%) and hypertensive disease in pregnancy in 91 women (14.1%). Post-operative wound infection and/or dehiscence was the most prevalent post-operative complication occurring in 12.1% of women who had primary CS.Conclusions: Primary CS rate is increasing and relatively more common among primiparous women. Cephalopelvic disproportion, suspected foetal distress and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are the leading indications for primary CS.

Impact of Exchange Rate Deregulation on Manufacturing Sector Performance in Nigeria

The study examined the impact of exchange rate deregulation on manufacturing output performance in Nigeria over the period 1980 to 2016. The normalized co-integration technique was used to test for long-run relationship between exchange rate and manufacturing output while the granger causality test was used to ascertain the direction of causality between them. Also, the error correction mechanism (ECM) was used to calculate the speed of adjustment of the model to short-run disequilibrium condition. The empirical findings revealed that exchange rate has non-significant positive long-run effect on manufacturing industry output. However, unidirectional causal impact of exchange rate on manufacturing output was established using the pairwise granger causality test. Based on the above result, it is recommended that in discharging the mandate of exchange rate management, the monetary authorities should aim at stabilizing exchange rate through the use of appropriate monetary policy tools as well as support export diversification programmes in order to enhance foreign exchange inflow

Bioassay-guided optimization of lipid-based erythromycin microparticles

Purpose: To optimize erythromycin microparticles by in vitro bioassay methods based on its antibacterial activity. Methods: The microparticles were produced by high shear homogenization. The effects of different lipid-to-surfactant ratios were studied. The hydrodynamic size of the different batches was evaluated using dynamic light scattering while bioactive drug load per batch was assessed in agar using bioassay methods. The antimicrobial activities of selected batches were tested ex vivo by determination of reduction in bacteraemia following administration of the microparticles to infected animals. Results: All batches had particles with hydrodynamic sizes < 8.5 microns. Batch 7 with a 2: 5: 2.5 (drug: surfactant: stearic acid) ratio, represents the optimized batch with a hydrodynamic size of 2281 nm, a bioactive drug loading capacity (BLC) of 4.67 ± 0.70 % and bioactive drug entrapment  efficiency (BEE) of 10.51 %. The “microparticle MIC” against Staphylococcus aureus was 1.74 x 10-3 μg/ml. Despite containing lower amounts of erythromycin than the pure sample, the microparticles achieved comparable reduction in bacteraemia, with the optimized batch exhibiting lower variation in bacteraemia than the pure drug. Conclusion: Erythromycin microparticles have been successfully optimized with the aid of bioassay methods which has the advantage that only the bioactive drug concentration is factored in. This method eliminates problems posed by inadequate or non-discriminating chemical assay methods. Keywords: Microparticles, Erythromycin, Gastrointestinal, Bioavailability Antimicrobial, Bioactivity, Encapsulatio