Effects of Sowing Date on Yield and Yield Parameters of Some Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) Cultivar Under Rainfed Condition in Ogbomoso, Nigeria

The study examined the variation in number of flowers, number of nodules, number of pods and seed yield of some groundnut cultivar as affected by planting date in Ogbomoso, Oyo state, Nigeria under rainfed condition. This is necessary to determine when moisture availability will be at optimum starting from the onset of rainfall, to avert loss which could arise from improper timing of planting. Teaching and Research Farm of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Ogbomoso with average annual rainfall of 1000 mm and temperature ranging from 28 to 33 ºC was used for the experiment. A 4 by 4 factorial experiment with four varieties of groundnut (three improved varieties Samnut-10, Samnut-23, Samnut-22 and Kampala (local variety)) and four planting dates of a week interval (29th April, 6th May, 13th May and 20th May, 2016) were tried without chemical amendment. All the parameters evaluated were affected by the planting date.  Samnut-23 and Samnut-10 planted on 29th April produced the highest mean number of flowers (15.67) and number of nodules (116.00) respectively which were significantly higher than others. Cultivar type did not have significant influence (p≤0.05) on the growth parameters. However, number of pods and seed yield was influenced by the cultivar. The highest number of pods (103.00) from this study was produced by Samnut-23 planted on 29th April. It was observed that the high number of pods produced by Samnut-23 did not translate to seed yield because Kampala produced the highest seed yield (73.51 g/plot) which was significantly higher than yield from other cultivars tried. Groundnut cultivars responded differently to planting date tried, with best planting period being early month of May. It was observed that all the cultivars produced their least seed yield when planted towards the end of month of May, therefore, should be discouraged for the tried cultivars at the trial location. KEYWORDS: Sowing date, Rainfed, Pod, Seed yield and Groundnut Production DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/9-18-06 Publication date:September 30th 201

Sexual harassment and victimization of students: a case study of a higher education institution in South Africa

Introduction: Sexual harassment has been identified as a major public health problem that is hidden in most institutions/orga- nizations.Objective: This study assessed sexual harassment and victimization of students in a higher institution in South Africa.Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional descriptive design was used in this study. The target population was registered stu- dents of the higher education institution and the sample size was 342. Questionnaire was used for data collection and data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 23.0 program. The basic principles of ethics were duly observed and the ethical clearance certificate was obtained prior to data collection.Results: The findings revealed that 27 (17.3%) of the male and 47 (25.5%) of the female respondents (P = 0.047) had personally experienced unwanted touching. Two (1.3%) male and 5 (2.7%) female students admitted that they have been raped. Seventeen (10.8%) of the males and 19 (10.2%) of the females had been coerced to comply with a sexual relationship on campus.Conclusion:  This study shows that both male and female students on campus are experiencing different forms of sexual ha- rassment.Keywords: Students, sexual harassment, higher education institution

Patients' views on improving sickle cell disease management in primary care: focus group discussion.

OBJECTIVES: To assess sickle cell disease (SCD) patient and carer perspectives on the primary care services related to SCD that they receive from their general practitioner (GP). DESIGN: A focus group discussion was used to elicit the views of patients about the quality of care they receive from their primary health-care providers and what they thought was the role of primary care in SCD management. The focus group discussion was video recorded. The recording was then examined by the project team and recurring themes were identified. A comparison was made with notes made by two scribes also present at the discussion. SETTING: Sickle Cell Society in Brent, UK. PARTICIPANTS: Ten participants with SCD or caring for someone with SCD from Northwest London, UK. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Patients perceptions about the primary care services they received, and a list of key themes and suggestions. RESULTS: Patients and carers often bypassed GPs for acute problems but felt that GPs had an important role to play around repeat prescriptions and general health care. These service users believed SCD is often ignored and deemed unimportant by GPs. CONCLUSION: Participants wanted the health service to support primary health-care providers to improve their knowledge and understanding of SCD. Key themes and suggestions from this focus group have been used to help develop an educational intervention for general practice services that will be used to improve SCD management in primary care

Views of patients about sickle cell disease management in primary care: a questionnaire-based pilot study.

OBJECTIVES: To determine how patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) perceive the quality of care that they receive from their primary healthcare providers. DESIGN: A questionnaire-based pilot study was used to elicit the views of patients about the quality of care they have been receiving from their primary healthcare providers and what they thought was the role of primary care in SCD management. SETTING: Sickle Cell Society and Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Centre, in the London Borough of Brent. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred questionnaires were distributed to potential participants with SCD between November 2010 and July 2011 of which 40 participants responded. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Analysis of 40 patient questionnaires collected over a nine-month period. RESULTS: Most patients are generally not satisfied with the quality of care that they are receiving from their primary healthcare providers for SCD. Most do not make use of general practitioner (GP) services for management of their SCD. Collecting prescriptions was the reason most cited for visiting the GP. CONCLUSION: GPs could help improve the day-to-day management of patients with SCD. This could be facilitated by local quality improvement schemes in areas with high disease prevalence. The results of the survey have been used to help develop a GP education intervention and a local enhanced service to support primary healthcare clinicians with SCDs ongoing management

Exploring Social Networking and University Students Academic Performance

The subscription to Online Social Networking Services (OSNs) and the frequency of usage by the student population group continue to be on the increase. There are contrasting opinions in literature by researchers on the impact of OSNs on students' academic performance. Some argued that there is a statistically significant negative relationship between OSN s and academic performance and vice-versa. The focus of this study is to validate the different opinions expressed in literature on the impact of OSNs and academic performance. A smvey of students of a large private mriversity was conducted. The smvey results were amlyzed with Structural Equation Mode hug (SEM) usiug Partial Least Squares (PLS) approach. The findiugs revealed negative effect of OSN services on students' academic performance. Students who spend considerable amormt of time in OSNs on average usually have lower Grade Point Average (GPA) than non-users of OSNs during academic session. The implication of the findings is for policy makers to find a way of mitigating the impact of OSNs on students' academic performance

PERSiST: a flexible rainfall-runoff modelling toolkit for use with the INCA family of models

Runoff generation processes and pathways vary widely between catchments. Credible simulations of solute and pollutant transport in surface waters are dependent on models which facilitate appropriate, catchment-specific representations of perceptual models of the runoff generation process. Here, we present a flexible, semi-distributed landscape-scale rainfall-runoff modelling toolkit suitable for simulating a broad range of user-specified perceptual models of runoff generation and stream flow occurring in different climatic regions and landscape types. PERSiST (the Precipitation, Evapotranspiration and Runoff Simulator for Solute Transport) is designed for simulating present-day hydrology; projecting possible future effects of climate or land use change on runoff and catchment water storage; and generating hydrologic inputs for the Integrated Catchments (INCA) family of models. PERSiST has limited data requirements and is calibrated using observed time series of precipitation, air temperature and runoff at one or more points in a river network. Here, we apply PERSiST to the river Thames in the UK and describe a Monte Carlo tool for model calibration, sensitivity and uncertainty analysi

Sexual harassment and victimization of students: a case study of a higher education institution in South Africa

Introduction: Sexual harassment has been identified as a major public health problem that is hidden in most institutions/organizations. Objective: This study assessed sexual harassment and victimization of students in a higher institution in South Africa. Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional descriptive design was used in this study. The target population was registered students of the higher education institution and the sample size was 342. Questionnaire was used for data collection and data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 23.0 program. The basic principles of ethics were duly observed and the ethical clearance certificate was obtained prior to data collection. Results: The findings revealed that 27 (17.3%) of the male and 47 (25.5%) of the female respondents (P = 0.047) had personally experienced unwanted touching. Two (1.3%) male and 5 (2.7%) female students admitted that they have been raped. Seventeen (10.8%) of the males and 19 (10.2%) of the females had been coerced to comply with a sexual relationship on campus. Conclusion: This study shows that both male and female students on campus are experiencing different forms of sexual harassment. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ahs.v19i1.21 Cite as: Oni HT, Tshitangano TG, Akinsola HA. Sexual harassment and victimization of students: a case study of a higher education institution in South Africa. Afri Health Sci. 2019;19(1). 1478-1485. https:// dx.doi. org/10.4314/ ahs. v19i1.2

ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE IN ENTEROBACTERIACEAE FROM INTENSIVELY-REARED APPARENTLY HEALTHY AND DISEASED POULTRY IN ABEOKUTA, NIGERIA

The emergence and wide-spread dissemination of antimicrobial resistant bacteria strains is a global phenomenon of great public health and economic implications. Antimicrobial resistance was investigated in enterobacteriaceae isolated from apparently healthy and diseased poultry birds using the broth micro-dilution method to determine antimicrobial minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). In all, 504 bacterial isolates including Escherichia coli (471), Klebsiella spp (28) and Salmonella enterica isolates (5) were studied. The isolates were resistant to ampicillin (88.5%), chloramphenicol (62.3%), ciprofloxacin (74.8%), enrofloxacin (81.0%), neomycin (83.9%), norfloxacin (78.8%), streptomycin (91.3%) and tetracycline (83.3%). The geometric mean MIC (µg/µL) of tested antimicrobials for enterobacteriaceae is as follows: ampicillin (102.5), chloramphenicol (48.4), ciprofloxacin (19.1), enrofloxacin (34.5), neomycin (47.7), norfloxacin (24.5), streptomycin (142.2) and tetracycline (62.5). Although rates of resistance to ampillin, streptomycin and tetracycline were similar among isolates from apparently healthy and diseases birds, resistance to chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, enrofloxacin, neomycin and norfloxacin were significantly higher (p<0.05) in isolates from diseased chickens than in those from apparently healthy chickens. The high rates of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria may contribute to the persistence of pathogens in poultry flock and ineffectiveness of antimicrobial chemotherapy during disease outbreaks.Â

The current use of proteomics and metabolomics in glomerulonephritis: a systematic literature review

BACKGROUND: Glomerulonephritis inherently leads to the development of chronic kidney disease. It is the second most common diagnosis in patients requiring renal replacement therapy in the United Kingdom. Metabolomics and proteomics can characterise, identify and quantify an individual's protein and metabolite make-up. These techniques have been optimised and can be performed on samples including kidney tissue, blood and urine. Utilising omic techniques in nephrology can uncover disease pathophysiology and transform the diagnostics and treatment options for glomerulonephritis. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the utility of metabolomics and proteomics using mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance in glomerulonephritis. METHODS: The systematic review was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42023442092). Standard and extensive Cochrane search methods were used. The latest search date was March 2023. Participants were of any age with a histological diagnosis of glomerulonephritis. Descriptive analysis was performed, and data presented in tabular form. An area under the curve or p-value was presented for potential biomarkers discovered. RESULTS: Twenty-seven studies were included (metabolomics (n = 9)), and (proteomics (n = 18)) with 1818 participants. The samples analysed were urine (n = 19) blood (n = 4) and biopsy (n = 6). The typical outcome themes were potential biomarkers, disease phenotype, risk of progression and treatment response. CONCLUSION: This review shows the potential of metabolomic and proteomic analysis to discover new disease biomarkers that may influence diagnostics and disease management. Further larger-scale research is required to establish the validity of the study outcomes, including the several proposed biomarkers