Quality and quantitative morphological changes in the brain of adult mice used as an animal model of fetal alcohol syndrome

A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Johannesburg, 2017We examined the effect of chronic prenatal alcohol exposure on the qualitative and quantitative changes in the brain of C57BL/6J mice once they had reached early adulthood (56 days post-natal). Pregnant mice, and their in utero litters, were exposed to alcohol, through oral gavage, on gestational days 7 – 16, with recorded blood alcohol concentrations averaging 1.84 mg/ml (chronic alcohol, or CA, group). Two control groups, an oral gavage sucrose control group (chronic alcohol control, or CAc, group) and a non-treated control group (NTc group), were also examined. Using appropriate antibodies specific for the neurons or nuclei of interest, the present study compared morphologically and quantified (I) the neuronal cell proliferation and the appearance of immature neurons in the hippocampal adult neurogenesis, (II) the changes in the PMBSF barrel sizes in the somatosensory cortex, (III) the cortical organization, cell number and cell sizes of cerebellar interneurons in the vermal cerebellum, and (IV) the nuclear organization, cell number and cell sizes of four specific clusters of nuclei for the control and regulation of sleep-wake cycle in the brains of all the experimental groups. The stained neurons and nuclei of interest were consistent in all the three experimental groups. The quantitative analyses showed that alcohol, in comparison with the two controls, had (I) no strong effect on the proliferative process but significantly reduced the numbers of immature neurons in the hippocampus, (II) no effect on the barrel sizes from the different measured parameters, despite a reduced barrel size in the alcohol group, but there was significant size reductions in barrel rows D and E, (III) no effect on the cell densities of Nissl and PV+ stained neurons in the molecular layer and the cell sizes of Purkinje cells immunolabelled with CB antibody, and (IV) no effect on the numbers of ChAT+ neurons, TH+ neurons, OxA+ neurons, however there were significantly larger OxA+ neurons and significantly smaller ChAT+ neurons while the TH+ neuron size was not significantly different. Some of these results are consistent with other studies that utilized FAS rodent models thus suggesting the suitability of this mouse model for FAS studies. The significant findings could help explain the reasons for the neurodevelopmental and behavioural problems that are common to FAS subjects. The neuroanatomical evidence presented in this study could open avenues for interventions to improve the quality of life of FAS and FASD children.MT 201

A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of a Yoruba Song-drama

This paper presents a multimodal discourse analysis of a story that has been turned into a Yoruba song-drama, highlighting the ideational, interpersonal and textual aspects of the song-drama. The data is a short song-drama meant to teach children importunity, determination and hard work through persistence. The multimodal and narrative conventions used for analysis according to Kress and van Leeuwen (2001), show the need for cooperation and determination in a world that is characterized by individualism. The study reveals that, at the ideational level, information, anticipation, request and insistence are prominent features. At the interpersonal level, the study reveals that the song-drama is a metaphor for the possibility of a better life for the poor and needy in a society full of oppression and selfishness, while the textual level reveals the distribution of information in the different modes- song, drama, and paralinguistic expressions. The study concludes that pedagogically, storytelling, re-telling, writing and rewriting have the capacity to improve pupils’ vocabulary development. ESL teachers could creatively use video watching (which has replaced story telling), storytelling and retelling to launch the present day ESL learners into 21st century critical thinking and learning activities

Profiles of Problematic Soils and Spatial Distribution: Implication on Foundation Construction in Parts of Kosofe Lagos, Southwestern Nigeria.

Geotechnical data were complemented with geophysical investigation and employed to delineate problematic soils in parts of Kosofe Lagos, Southwestern Nigeria. The study area was chosen because of known issues regarding cracks in buildings and differential settlement of infrastructures founded on soils in the area. The aim is to generate profiles and maps of the spatial distribution of the subsurface soils to aid in foundation planning. Forty eight borehole logs and nine Vertical Electrical Soundings were compiled to delineate the different subsurface lithology which include peat, clay and sand. The results showed that the peat layer has maximum thickness of about 18.25 m but absent in some boreholes. This is underlain by clay unit with thickness ranging between 2.50-28.50 m. Sand unit constitute the third layer delineated with maximum thickness of 14 m. There is a general thickening of peat soils in the northern parts, especially around the streams in the area, which is instructive on the role of stream in the formation of the peat. The clay on the other hand is thickest around the northeastern and southeastern parts. The soil profiles generated reveal that the area is underlain by thick peat and clay having significant lateral, vertical variation and rapidly changing lithological facie over short distances. The extensive occurrence of these poor engineering soils calls for adequate engineering precaution in designs of building foundation

Factors that Influence Men and Women Participation in Microcredit Programme in Lagos State, Nigeria: A Case Study of Cowries Microfinance Bank (CMD)

Financial inclusion is paramount for economic growth, economic development, job creation, and poverty reduction. Evidence has shown that to ensure financial inclusion policy measures and developmental programmes need to be country specific and should be based on individual country's gender gap. Given this, this study examined the factors that determine men and women entrepreneurs’ access to microcredit programme in Lagos State, Nigeria. A total of 359 female micro-entrepreneurs and 191 male microentrepreneurs were selected through a simple random sampling method among the customers of Cowries Microfinance Bank (CMB). Data were analysed with descriptive statistics and logistic regression. The results of the logistic regression show that only four of the variables used in measuring the determinants of participation in the credit programme were significant for the male entrepreneurs while for the female entrepreneurs, almost all the variables were significant except the age variable of the respondents. It is therefore, recommended that policymakers, microfinance banks, NGOs are advised to consider the age, number of years of education, political involvement and experience of the male entrepreneurs when granting loan facility to the male. However, for the female entrepreneurs, policymakers should take cognizance of the marital status, years of education, experience acquired in the business, size of the household, political membership, and level of income when providing credit facilities to the female entrepreneurs. Consequently, this will help to ensure that loan facility is given to the right person so that the gender gap regarding credit accessibility are closed, thereby leading to economic growth and sustainable economic development

Inactivation of pathogens on food and contact surfaces using ozone as a biocidal agent

This study focuses on the inactivation of a range of food borne pathogens using ozone as a biocidal agent. Experiments were carried out using Campylobacter jejuni, E. coli and Salmonella enteritidis in which population size effects and different treatment temperatures were investigate

Isotherms Study of Equilibrium Adsorption of a Quaternary System unto Activated Carbon Derived From Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch

Equilibrium adsorption of four water pollutants (Phenol, Butanol, Butan-2-ol and 2 Methylbutan-2-ol) using activated carbon derived from oil-palm empty fruit bunch was studied. To assess the use of activated carbon to remove the pollutants from aqueous solution, the effect of pollutants initial concentration and adsorbent dose have been evaluated. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm model were also investigated. From the analysis of the results, it was observed that, there was progressive decrease in the concentrations of the adsorbates, thus corresponding decrease in the quantities of adsorbates per specific weights of the adsorbent. For instant, 0.1g of activated carbon adsorbed 1.08, 0.96, 1.08 and 1.0 concentrations (g/l) of phenol, butanol, butan-2-ol and 2-methylbuatan-2-ol respectively. It was also observed that quantity of adsorbates per specific weight of the adsorbent is higher in butanol (qe = 23.95); followed by 2-methyl butan-2-ol (qe =15.10) compared to others. This follows the same decreasing trends to butan-2-ol and phenol respectively. The regression value obtained for each of the components especially butanol which is 0.904 and 2-methylbutan-2-ol which is 0.916 shows that the Freundlich isotherm is a good fit for adsorption experimental data of butanol and 2-methylbutan-2-ol because of their regression values which is very close to 1unlike phenol and butan-2-ol. The regression coefficient obtained for phenol is 0.904, butan-2-ol is 0.919, butanol is 0.979 and 2-methylbutan-2-ol is 0.974. This shows that Langmuir isotherm is a good fit for adsorption experimental data for phenol, butanol, butan-2-ol and 2-methylbutan-2-ol. It was concluded that activated carbon has a high adsorptive capacity to remove phenol, butanol, butan-2-ol and 2-methyl butan-2-ol from the liquid system

Rice Husk as Filler in the Production of Bricks Using Gboko Clay

Rice Husk is a by-product of rice from agricultural processing which is usually disposed in landfill as waste. Farmers and rice millers normally burn the rice husk (RH)as fuel in milling which leads to air pollution. This study looked at ways of converting the husk into materials for the construction industry.  Chemical composition of RH and Gboko clay soil were investigated using X-ray diffraction test. Four grades (75, 150, 300, 425 microns) of ground rice husk were mixed with clay at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10%, by weight. The compressive strength and the lowest water absorption were determined. The chemical composition obtained for the RH showed that the total percentage compositions of Fe2O3, SiO2 and Al2O3 were found to be below 70% (class C) which is the minimum requirement for pozzolans. The compressive strength test showed that test samples of 300 μm gave the highest compressive strength of 5.47 N/ mm2 at 2% admixture with the least water absorption of 0.379%. Thus 2% of rice husk used as replacement for clay soil gave the best result. The study concluded that the use of Rice Husk as filler in production of bricks is suitable in the construction industry.http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v34i4.