Health state utilities of a population of Nigerian hypertensive patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Establishment of the health impact of hypertension on quality of life of Nigerians is a step towards controlling the disease. The study aimed to provide a Nigerian specific reference list of utility scores of hypertensive patients with various interacting conditions.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>An interviewer-based, cross-sectional study was conducted using hypertensive patients in two purposively selected tertiary hospitals located in South-Eastern Nigeria. Health Utility Index Mark 3 (HUI3) was used.</p> <p>A total of 384 participants with either hypertension alone or with hypertension-associated complications were interviewed in the two tertiary hospitals.</p> <p>The overall mean utility score was 0.35 +/- 0.42. Patients with hypertension alone had the highest overall mean utility score (0.57 +/- 0.29) while hypertensive patients with stroke had the lowest overall mean score (0.04 +/- 0.36). Being a male, increase in age and mean arterial blood pressure, emergency visit and loss of work due to illness were associated with significant decrease in overall utility scores.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study presented a reference for health state utilities of a population of Nigerian hypertensive patients.</p

Effect of water yam (Dioscorea alata) flour fortified with distillers spent grain on nutritional, chemical, and functional properties

It was envisaged that the inclusion of treated distiller ’ s spent grain ( DSG ) to yam fl our might increase its nutritional value, with the aim of reducing nutritional diseases in communities consuming yam as a staple. Hence, yam fl our was fortifi ed with DSG at 5–35%. The effects of this fortifi cation on the nutritional, chemical, and functional properties of yam fl our were investigated. The result showed a signifi cant increase ( P 0.001) in fat, ash, protein, total amino acids, total dietary fi ber, and insoluble dietary fi ber contents of the blends as DSG increased except for starch and soluble dietary fi ber contents, which decreased. The functional properties showed a signifi cant ( P 0.001) reduction with DSG inclusion. The inclusion of DSG increased both the tryptophan and methionine contents of the blends. Therefore, the DSG fortifi ed yam fl our could contribute to quality protein intake in populations consuming yam as a staple, due to its indispensible amino acid content

Nutritional Compositions and Sensory Properties of Composite Flour from FARO 44 Rice (Oryza sativa)-TMS 8082 Cassava (Manihot esculenta) and Its Paste

This study was carried out to investigate the nutritional properties of unsoaked and soaked FARO 44 flour with their blends with cassava flour and the sensory evaluation of their thick paste. FAR0 44 and cassava flour were blended in the ratio of 75:25 (Unsoaked Rice and Cassava) sample, 50:50 (Unsoaked Rice and Cassava) sample, 25:75 (Unsoaked Rice and Cassava) sample, 75:25 (Soaked rice and Cassava) sample, 50:50 (Soaked rice and Cassava) sample, 25:75 (Soaked rice and Cassava) sample, 100% (cassava) sample 100% (Unsoaked Rice) sample&nbsp; 100% (Soaked rice) sample. The proximate analysis and mineral composition of the flour blends were conducted. Proximate composition data indicated an increased level of protein, fat, ash, crude fibre and carbohydrate (2.47-16.73%, 1.11-1.78%, 4.13-8.27%, 0.44-5.27% and 58.72-73.35%) respectively. The unsoaked and soaked rice flours and their blends where their ratios were high had higher protein content. There was a significant different (P&lt;0.05) in the mineral content of the composites samples. Data of these study shows that the rice and cassava samples had good mineral content and the raw and soaked rice did not significantly affect the mineral content of the samples. The result indicates that vitamins A and C were significantly different (P&lt;0.05) in the samples except for samples 100 UR and 100 SR where vitamin A was not detected. The thick paste prepared for the sensory evaluation shows that samples with 100 SR, 75 SR 25 C, 50 SR 50 C were most accepted in appearance than the other sample as compared favourably with sample 100 C. The results also show that the under-utilized cereal crop like FARO 44 rice flour and their composites with cassava are nutritionally adequate for consumption for adult and children, as well as the production of baby foods and the lot

Using a Modified Quality Control Charts on Academic Grades of Tertiary Institutions Students

Quality of products or services has different meaning by different Authors. Quality of academic processes in Nigeria is measured mainly by the standard set by regulatory bodies of Educational Institutions. There are a number of factors that affects quality assurance and students’ academic performance in Nigeria. This study is on the application of statistical quality control techniques on the academic performance of students. The study was aimed to investigate the performance of both National Diploma (ND) and Higher National Diploma (HND) students of the Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnic (WUFP) Birnin Kebbi, Nigeria, using a modified version of the Shewhart’s quality control charts. Nine (9) departments from a total of 32 departments of the institution were selected. A total of 720 student’s records of Cumulative Grade Point Averages (CGPAs) were studied. Twenty student’s records each were selected per session and per programme. The results showed that the overall performance of students of the Institution is within the average standard expected of each graduand of the Polytechnic as provided by the regulatory body, the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE)

Twin Synchronous Motor Grinding Mill Drives: Performance Comparison of Two Options

The major challenge of twin synchronous motor drives, as seen in the large grinding mills of the mineral and cement industries are motor overheating and gear wearing, due to certain inevitable manufacturing errors/tolerances on the gear which prevents the two motors from sharing the mill load equally. This paper models a typical gear-driven grinding mill load which accommodates the manufacturing error located on the girth gear circumference, and applies it to two twin synchronous motor drive configurations, namely two three-phase series-connected six-winding synchronous motors (Drive A) and two conventional three-phase synchronous motors (Drive B). The motor equations were mentioned, and the drives simulated in the MATLAB/SIMULINK environment. Results obtained for the two configurations were compared. It was observed that while the risk of motor overheating was removed in Drive A, it was obvious in Drive B. However there is a risk of motor shaft breakage due to the mechanical coupling of the motor