Plasmodium falciparium parasitemia in pregnancy in relation to maternal anaemia

This study was aimed at examining existing relationship between peripheral parasitaemia of Plasmodium falciparum and anemia among pregnant women in a secondary hospital and a tertiary hospital in Osogbo, South-Western, Nigeria. Two hundred and twenty five (225) patients were enrolled into this study, one hundred and fifty (150) from Asubiaro General Hospital, Osogbo and seventy five (75) from LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Osogbo. A total of 30 (13.3%) women carrying the first pregnancy (primigravida), and 195 (86.6%) multiparous women (2-5) were enrolled. Mean age of recruited women was 31.511± SD 1.03, mean gestational age was 2.4267 ± SD 0.72 and mean packed cell volume was also 26.889 ± SD 0.43. Overall prevalence of malaria parasitemia was 63.6% while mean malaria parasite density was 461.33 among women infected with malaria parasite. Prevalence of malaria in pregnancy was highest amongst women with first pregnancy and in the age bracket 26 – 30 years (26.7%) and least among women greater than 40 years. Parasitemia decreased as parity increased, as women acquire immunity to malaria progressively with multiple pregnancies. Mild to moderate anaemia was also found to be prevalent among primigravida (11.6%) and this was associated with malaria parasitemia among these women .No correlated relationship was established between malaria parasitemia and age, gravidity, trimester of pregnancy, and Packed cell volume. Malaria chemoprophylaxis and other methods of malaria control should be sustained and advocacy for inclusion of malaria treatment in safe motherhood should be continued because of its beneficial potentials. Key words: Malaria, Pregnancy, anaemia

Effects of Fish Feed Carbohydrate Sources on the Floatation and Water Stability of Fish Feed Pellets

Three feeds were formulated to carry out a study on the floatation test and water stability tests of fish pellets. The feeds were formulated using different sources of carbohydrate (Maize, Guinea corn and Wheat). After 30 minutes of exposure to water, Guinea corn maintained 90% of floating pellets while the other two sources had 80% floating pellets respectively. There were significant differences in the percentage number of pellets floating between 0 and 30 minutes (P<0.05). There were also significant differences in the water stability of the pellets, between 10 and 30 minutes. Wheat had the highest water stability of 87.8% while Maize had 75.4% water stability and Guinea corn had the lowest percentage of 71.6% but after 50 minutes Maize had the highest percentage of 61.8% and Guinea corn had the lowest percentage of 52.4%. Keywords: Carbohydrate sources, Floating ability and Water stability. DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/9-18-06 Publication date:September 30th 2019

Efficacy of plant extracts in the control of rodent infestations and their effects on the nutritional contents of sweet potato tuber

The use of plant extracts has been described as credible alternative to synthetic insecticides in the protection of field crops. This research work was conducted at Teaching and Research Farm, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology during the planting seasons of 2015 and 2016 to determine the efficacy of plant extracts – Tephrosia vogelii, Moringa oleiferia, Petiveria alliacea and Annona squamosa in the control of rodent infestation. The experiment was arranged in a randomized complete block design and each treatment was replicated three times. Synthetic insecticide (Lambdachyalothrin) and control were included in the experiment for comparison. Data were collected on plant stands attacked, vine length, yield and nutritional components of sweet potato tuber. The result showed that plant extracts treated sweet potato plants had significant lower rodent infestations when compared with unsprayed plant stands. Also, applied treatments had no negative effect on the vine length meanwhile yield obtained from botanical insecticides treated plants was two times higher than that of untreated plants which had the least tuber yield (0.90 t/ha). The tested plant extracts significantly improved the proximate contents of the harvested sweet potato tubers. Therefore, these plant extracts can be used in the field management of rodent infestation without any adverse effects on the nutritional components of the sweet potato tuber

Modulatory effect of fermented Tetracarpidium conophorum (African walnut) supplemented diet on cadmium-induced toxicity in rats

Tetracarpidium conophorum (African Walnut) is a plant with acclaimed multi-therapeutic properties in different parts of the plant. This research investigated the effect of fermented walnut supplemented diet on cadmium-induced toxicity in the liver and brain of rats. Twenty male Wistar rats were divided into four groups of five animals each weighing between 90-140 g. Group 1 received 5 mg/kg body weight cadmium chloride (CdCl 2) and normal rat feed. Group 2 received a normal rat diet while groups 3 and 4 received 5 mg/kg body weight of cadmium chloride, and 5% and 10% walnut supplemented feed respectively. Cadmium (Cd) was administered daily for 6 weeks by oral intubation. Rats were sacrificed 24 hrs after the final treatment. Cd exposure elicited increased activities of Acetylcholinesterase, Superoxide dismutase, Catalase as well as elevated Glutathione levels. In addition, Cd exposure caused increases in rat plasma cholesterol and triglyceride concentration. The fermented walnut supplemented diet restored some rats' biochemical parameter to near normal comparable to control. Our study shows that walnut supplemented food could substantially moderate Cd-induced toxicity in rat liver and brain while providing health and nutritional benefits. Hence, it could be useful for occupationally exposed individuals as a dietary intervention to reduce adverse health effects

Efficacy of botanical insecticides on insect infestation and fruit yield of eggplants (Solanum melongena L.) in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria

Field trials were conducted during 2016 and 2017 raining seasons at the Teaching and Research Farm, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, to determine the effects of leaf extracts of Pawpaw, Tobacco and Cashew leaves on insect pests of three selected eggplant varieties (Solanum depressum; Solanum escullantum and Solanum serpentium). Synthetic insecticide (Lambda-cyhalothrin) and untreated plants were included in the experiment for comparison and each treatment was replicated three times at 20% v/v. The experiments were laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design. Data were collected on insect pests variations and fruit yield. Four major insect pests of eggplant – Zonocerus variegatus, Spodoptera litoralis, Leucinodes ornabalis and Epilachna species were observed. Among the tested varieties, S. depressum had the least significant (P< 0.05) infestation (6 - 13%). All the tested leaf plant extracts were effective in the control of the observed insect pests when compared with the level of insect pest attack on untreated plants. However, cashew extract had highest insecticidal efficacy (55%) compared with other tested plant extracts while insecticidal potential of pawpaw extract was comparable to tobacco extracts. Meanwhile, none of the tested plant leaf extracts was as effective as Lambda-cyhalothrin in the control of the observed insect pests. Among the tested varieties, Solanum depressum had highest fruit yield (3.45 - 3.88 t/ha) and least fruit damage

Inhibitory potentials of five botanicals on associated fungi in relation to germination and morphological characters of Cucumis sativus Linn

The in vitro assay of the leaf extracts of selected botanicals was carried out to assess the inhibitory potentials of the extracts on fungal growth, seed germination, seedling growth characters and frequency of seed-borne fungi. selected plants include: Azadirachta. indica, Moringa oleifera, Vernonia amygdalina, Tithonia diversifolia and Carica papaya. Fungal isolates characterized from Cucumis sativus were Fusarium oxysporum, Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, Trichoderma viride and Nigrospora sphaerica. Azadirachta indica had the highest percentage inhibitory effect at p ≤ 0.01 on F. oxysporum (82.21%), while Moringa oleifera had the highest inhibition of 68.72% on T. viride, but not significantly different from T. diversifolia. Seeds treated with C. papaya extract produced the highest seedling length, germination and seedling vigour, while control was least. Concentration of 10% produced significant highest seedling (17.72cm), root length (11.59cm), percentage germination (82.67%) and seedling vigour (1469.08). Seedling length is positive and strongly correlated with shoot length, root length and seedlingvigour with r = 0.87, 0.67 and 0.89 respectively. Seedling vigour is positive and strongly associated with seedling length (0.89), shoot length (0.72) and root length (0.67). Keywords: botanical extracts, Cucumis sativus, fungi, growth respons

Orofacial cancers: pattern and management in Ibadan, Nigeria

Background: Orofacial cancers remain a significant health burden globally, especially in the developing countries where the incidence is higher and appears to be increasing. This study aims to document the pattern, management and survivorship of patients with orofacial cancers as seen at a tertiary healthcare facilityin Nigeria.Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study of patients who presented at our centre with orofacial cancers in the period between January 2010 and December. Patients' demographics, location of lesion, histopathological diagnosis, treatment given and follow-up events were extracted from the records. Patient with insufficient data for analysis were excluded. Data was analysed using IBM SPSS version 21.Results: 21,090 patients were seen during the study period and 228 of the 1,029 biopsies done were malignant. The study included 213 patients (121 males and 92 females. mean age 48.2 years) with orofacial cancers. The commonest sites were the jaws (48.8%), palate (13.1%) and the tongue (7.5%).Carcinomas constituted 71.8% and were the commonest malignancies. All patients presented in stages III (34.6%) or IV (65.4%). 39.4% of patients  had no treatment instituted and surgery alone (21.9%) was the commonest treatment provided. The mean interval between treatment and recurrence was 3.0 months while mean expiration period was 13.5 months.Conclusion: Treatment conferred a higher probability of survival. Patients treated with surgery (and radiotherapy/chemotherapy) survived better than those treated non-aggressively. In general, about a third (30.8%) of orofacial cancer patients were alive at 5 years post presentation and about 50% of these survivors were living with the disease.Keywords: Orofacial cancer; outcome; survival; Nigeri