Growth Rate from Birth to Three Months of Breastfed and Non-Breastfed Infants Delivered in Hospitals at Owo Metropolis

The growth rate from birth to three months of some breastfed and non-breastfed infants age 0 – 12 weeks delivered in hospitals at Owo metropolis was evaluated with a view to know the effect of breastfeeding on growth rate. A total of one hundred (100) breastfed and non-breastfed neonates were purposely selected in the neonatal sections of three hospitals in Owo, March 2012. Anthropometry measurement was used to assess growth rate for length, weight, head and mid upper arm circumference of the infants on weekly basis using standard length board, digital weighing scale and shakir tape for twelve weeks. Epi-info 2008 nutritional software was used to determine length for – age z-score, weight for – age z-score, Head and mid-upper arm for age z – scores. Data were analyzed using SPSS soft ware (version 17.0). Results show that the rate of growth in length per week ranged between 0.5 – 1.0cm within 4th to 12th weeks of growth while an average rate of growth in weight of 100 – 400g was discovered between 2nd to 6th weeks of growth among both breastfed and non-breastfed infants. Observation shows that between birth to 4th week formula fed babies tend to be leaner in weight compared to their breastfed counterpart which maintained stable weight within this period. The study shows that breastfeeding significantly (P> 0.05) affect rate of growth among the breastfed infants. Growth pattern of infant skewed toward – 2 and 0 when compared with the NCHS/CDC reference population growth curve. In all, 2% of the breastfed and 8% of non-breastfed were severely underweight. There is no alternative to breastfeeding at this critical stage of life for optimum growth of infants. Therefore, mothers should be encouraged to breastfeed exclusively for 6th months in order to achieve optimum growth and development

Dietary habits, lifestyles and anthropometric characteristics of police officers in Owo Local Government Area Ondo State, Nigeria

Background: Poor nutritional status couples with sedentary lifestyles are some of the risk factors that hindered optimum health not only among individual but also the Nigeria police officers. Objectives: This study aimed at assessing the dietary habits, lifestyles practices and anthropometric status of police officers in Owo local government area of Ondo state. Method: The study was a descriptive cross-sectional study, which involved 200 (140 male and 60 female) police officers who were randomly selected from seven (7) police divisional stations in Owo local government area of Ondo state. Information on socio-demographic characteristics, medical and lifestyle was obtained using a self-administered questionnaire. Food consumption data was obtained using the World Food Programme (WFP)'s standard food consumption score questionnaire. Obesity was assessed using Body Mass Index (BMI), Waist –Hip Ratio (WHR) and Waist Circumference (WC). Statistical Product Service Solution (SPSS) version 20.0 was used in data analysis. Coded data were analyzed using descriptive and statistics results presented in frequencies and percentage Result: Finding shows that nearly half (46%) of them were of 30-49yrs. More (70%) male police officers participated than female police officers (30%). One third (33%) had parents that were suffering from chronic diseases while 38% were hypertensive. About (60%) drink alcohol, 67% smoke cigarette, 23% did not engage in physical exercise. Large number (66%) always adds vegetables to their diet, 30% took orange fruit been the most widely consumed and 16% skipped meal. On food consumption score, 50% met the acceptable consumption score for calorie level Prevalence of underweight and Overweight/Obesity as determined by abnormal values for BMI, WC, and WHR, 17%, 30%, 35% and 16% respectively. Conclusion: This study observed high prevalence of obesity, poor dietary practices and higher consumption of alcohol and cigarette among the police officers in Owo

A REVIEW OF LEAN CONCEPT AND ITS APPLICATION TO SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION IN THE UK

The UK Government has recognised the importance of the construction industry in achieving the overall goals of sustainable development. Therefore the Government has put several policies and strategies in place to achieve a more sustainable construction. Sustainable construction is considered as the application of sustainable practices and sustainable development principles to the activities of the construction sector. Lean construction is a new production philosophy which has the potential of bringing innovative changes in the construction industry. The Lean principles focus on the minimisation of both material and process wastes which in turn contribute to sustainable construction in terms of energy consumption and improvement in health and safety etc. This study aims at exploring the concept of sustainable construction and examines how the lean approach can impact on the sustainability practices within the construction industry. The study uses literature review to achieve the stated aim. The findings revealed that the application of lean construction principle, tools and methods have direct contributions to the attainment of sustainable practices within the construction industry. However, the study postulates that the better understanding of lean concept, proper implementation and integration of lean and sustainability concepts are required for lean construction to contribute to sustainable construction. Keywords: Lean construction, Sustainable Construction, Sustainabilit

Multi-criteria contractor selection – a practical application of analytic hierarchy process

The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has been proposed by several authors as a method of contractor selection that eliminates the shortcomings of the ‘lowest bidder’ approach commonly used in the construction industry. Most authors only demonstrate the conceptual model for using AHP in contractor selection with hypothetical data. The objective of this study was to take the process a step further by using real-life project data. The study also sought to compare the ranking of contractors with the ‘lowest bidder’ method and AHP. The study concluded that the ranking of the contractors by AHP differed from their ‘lowest bidder’ ranking for most of the contractors (about 68%). This suggests that the extra effort required using AHP compared to using the ‘lowest bidder’ method is justified. However,the reliability of these results is limited by the fact that they are based on a single case onl

Anthropometric indices and factors affecting dietary practices of diabetics attending Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Southwest, Nigeria

Background: Nutritional care is an important part of the overall medical management of patients with diabetes which plays a key role in the improvement, prevention and control of blood glucose level.Objective: The study assessed the dietary practices, and anthropometric status of type 2 diabetics attending Federal Medical Centre Owo.Methods: A random sampling method was used to select 70 respondents whose socio-demographic characteristics, dietary habits and factors affecting dietary practices were obtained via structured questionnaire. Anthropometric measurements were taken and used to calculate Body Mass Index (BMI), and Waist Hip Ratio (WHR). Descriptive and inferential statistics were analysed using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Significance was accepted at p < 0.05.Results: A total of 35.7% of the respondents were in-patients while 64.3% were out-patients. More than half (60%) of the male respondents were diabetics. The feeding frequency per day for majority (54.3%) of the respondents (in- patients and out-patients) was three times; breakfast and lunch were consumed by 34.3% and 45.7%, respectively. Fruits and vegetables were mostly consumed in-between meal, 36.1% and 30%, respectively. Only 17.1% of the respondents skipped breakfast. More than half (61.4%) forgot to plan their meal, 41.4% missed the previous day diet planning, 68.6% forgot to comply to diet regimen while 62.9% stopped diet plan. A total of 45.7% and 7.1% of the participants were overweight and obese, respectively.Conclusion: To improve nutritional care in hospitals, effective nutrition training and continuing education for all staff involved in nutritional care of patients must be prioritized.Keywords: Diabetes care, dietary practices, anthropometry, meal skippin

Effect of addition of multi-enzyme and varying levels of toasted African yam bean seed meal on carcass characteristics and internal organs of broiler starter

African yam bean seed is one of the underutilized legumes and a prospective feed ingredient in poultry diet. This study was carried out to examine carcass characteristics and internal organs of broiler starter fed partial replacement of toasted African yam bean seed meal supplemented with multi-enzyme (TAYBSM+E). There were five treatments: treatment one (T1) served as control without TAYBSM+E while T2, T3, T4 and T5 contained 20%, 40%, 60% and 80% TAYBSM+E, respectively and supplied experimental broiler birds for four weeks. Each treatment was randomly assigned to one of the five experimental diets in a completely randomized designed. Two hundred birds were allotted to five treatments replicated four times with 10 birds per replicate. At four weeks of age, experimental birds were starved for 12 hours; one bird was sacrificed per replicate (four per treatments), defeathered and cut into different parts. Carcass cuts and vital organs were carefully collected and weighed with sensitive scale. All parameters in the carcass cuts and internal organs weight examined were not statistically (P>0.05) influenced except intestine, lungs and thigh that significantly (P<0.05) different. It is concluded that toasted African yam bean seed meal supplemented with multi-enzyme is a good source of protein that can be used in broiler feeds safely up to 80% inclusion level to give satisfactory results

Nutrient and phytochemical composition of two traditional soups used by malaria patients and post partum mothers in Owo, Ondo State

Background: Indigenous tribes in Nigeria have been using herbal mixture such as soups for therapeutic purpose with limited knowledge on their nutrients and phytochemical components.Objective: The nutrients and phytochemicals composition of two soups consumed by postpartum mothers and malaria patients in Owo were investigated.Methods: Ingredients such as cotton seed, beef, fish, black pepper, calabash nutmeg, turmeric, scent leaf, garlic, palm oil, back of mahogany tree and octomeles sumatrana 'erima' seed were procured, processed and prepared according to local methods into two samples of soups. The ingredients for the cotton seed soup and scent leaf soup samples were similar except for sample cotton seed soup that contain, back of mahogany tree and cotton seeds. One hundred grammes of each soup samples were subjected to proximate, phytochemical and instrumental analyses (AAS for minerals and Vitamins with Gc-HP 6890 powered with HP chemstation Rev. A09.01 (1206) software. Descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation were used to analyze data generated and t-test was used in Separation of meansResults: Findings showed that the protein content was significantly (P>0.05) higher in Scent leaf soup (21.85%) than in cotton seed soup (20.63%). No significant difference was observed in the minerals composition of the soups except for iron content of cotton seed soup (23.75mg/100g) that was significantly higher (P>0.05) than that of sent leaf soup (20.85mg/100g). There were significant differences (P>0.05) in the values of vitamin C (14.85 vs 3.04mg/100g), vitamin E (5.72 vs 8.72mg/100g), and vitamin B1 (8.61 vs 9.72mg/100g) of cotton seed and sent leaf soups. Phytate (8.24%) and alkaloid (1.61%) were significantly higher in scent leaf and cotton seed soup respectively.Conclusion: The high nutrients diversity and phytochemicals in the two soups might be responsible for their therapeutic effect on postpartum mothers and malaria treatment.Keywords: Traditional soups, Nutrients Composition, Postpartum, Malari

Data on the thermal properties of soil and its moisture content

The dataset contains thermal properties of soil such as thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, temperature and specific heat capacity in an agricultural farm within the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. The data were acquired in forty (40) sampling points using thermal analyzer called KD-2 Pro. Soil samples taken at these sampling points were analyzed in the laboratory for their moisture content following the standard reference of American Association of State Highway and Transport Officials (AASHTO) T265. The data were acquired within the first and second weeks in the month of April, 2012. Statistical analyses were performed on the data set to understand the data. The data is made available publicly because thermal properties of soils have significant role in understanding the water retention capacity of soil and could be helpful for proper irrigation water management