Biodiesel Washing Water Treatment Using Zeolite and Activated Carbon as Adsorbents

Biodiesel production was produced from the transesterification of palm oil and methanol using KOH catalyst. The process variables considered are methanol to oil mole ratio of 4 – 6 and catalyst concentration of 0.2 – 1.0 wt/wt% Oil, at constant reaction temperature of 60℃ and constant reaction time of 60 minutes. Response surface plot showed that maximum yield of biodiesel (92 %) was obtained at 0.4 wt/wt% catalyst concentration and methanol/oil mole ratio of 7. The conventional activated carbon and zeolite produced were used separately as adsorbents in the treatment of biodiesel washing water. Comparatively, zeolite produced displayed better adsorption property compared to the conventional activated carbon in removing the six heavy metals considered from the biodiesel washing water. For instance, Chromium concentration of 0.0096 mg/L was reduced to 0.0023 mg/L after adsorption treatment with activated carbon (76 % efficiency), while the concentration was reduced to 0.0010 mg/L after the adsorption treatment with zeolite (89 % efficiency)

Prevalence of significant bacteriuria among symptomatic and asymptomatic homozygous sickle cell disease patients in a tertiary hospital in Lagos, Nigeria

Background: Patients with sickle cell disease have an amplified vulnerability to urinary tract infection, because of abnormally dilute and alkaline urine, which favors bacterial proliferation. This is due to altered blood flow in the renal vasculature, which causes papillary necrosis and loss of urinary concentrating and acidifying ability of the nephrons. Asymptomatic bacteriuria is common, but the prevalence in populations varies widely with age, gender, sexual activity and the presence of genitourinary abnormalities. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of significant bacteriuria in symptomatic and asymptomatic sickle cell patients in Lagos.Materials and Methods: This was a cross‑sectional study of patients attending the sickle cell clinics of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja. Single voided aseptically collected mid‑stream urine was obtained from each patient and all samples processed immediately, were sent for urinalysis and culture. Isolates were considered significant if there were ≥105 colony forming units per milliliter (CFU/ml) with two or less isolates, doubtful significance if ≤105 CFU/ml. Significant isolates were selected for identification. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, Ill).Results: A total of 100 consenting participants were recruited into the study. The mean age was: 23.42 ± 8.31 years and a range of 14‑50 years. Only 9% (9/100) had significant bacteriuria while 44.4% (4/9) participants who had significant bacteriuria were asymptomatic. Escherichia coli was isolated in 66.6% (6/9) participants who had significant bacteriuria while Klebsiella oxytoca, Klebsiella pneumonia and Staphylococcus aureus (11.11%) was isolated in each of the remaining three participants.Conclusions: Significant bacteriuria is found in only one‑tenth of sickle cell patients, nearly half of the participants who had significant growth had asymptomatic bacteriuria.Key words: Asymptomatic bacteriuria, prevalence, screening, sickle cell disease patients, significant bacteriuri

Comparison of Conventional Schlumberger and Modified Schlumberger Arrays in Estimating Aquifer Parameters in A Typical Basement Complex, Southwestern Nigeria

This study compared the interpretation results of the Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) data acquired using the conventional Schlumberger and modified Schlumberger arrays with a view to assessing the effectiveness of the modified Schlumberger arrays of VES as alternatives to the conventional Schlumberger array at sites with space constraint during geophysical exploration. A total of thirty (30) VES data for both conventional Schlumberger and modified Schlumberger arrays were collected across different rock units within Federal University Oye-Ekiti campus and Irare estate in Oye-Ekiti metropolis, south-western Nigeria, with electrode spacing

Direct current electrical resistivity forward modeling using comsol multiphysics

Forward modeling of direct current (DC) resistivity is very important for the inversion of the resistivity data to obtain the true resistivity of the subsurface. In this study, we demonstrated finite‐element forward modeling of DC resistivity method with point electric source using COMSOL Multiphysics. We employed the AC/DC module in COMSOL which often provides comparatively easy implementation of models and permits exterior boundaries to be placed at infinity, a boundary condition often experienced in most geophysical problems. The validity and effectiveness of the results of numerical simulation using COMSOL Multiphysics were evaluated by comparing the output of the numerical simulations with the calculated analytic solutions. The result reveals that the numerical simulation is in agreement with the analytic solution. This study shows that COMSOL Multiphysics can be used to simulate the distribution of electrical potentials of point source in 3D space in real life and the information from this study can be used for further studies, such as DC resistivity inversions

Biodiesel Washing Water Treatment using Zeolite and Activated Carbon as Adsorbents

Biodiesel production was produced from the transesterification of palm oil and methanol using KOH catalyst. The process variables considered are methanol to oil mole ratio of 4 – 6 and catalyst concentration of 0.2 – 1.0 wt/wt% Oil, at constant reaction temperature of 60℃ and constant reaction time of 60 minutes. Response surface plot showed that maximum yield of biodiesel (92 %) was obtained at 0.4 wt/wt% catalyst concentration and methanol/oil mole ratio of 7. The conventional activated carbon and zeolite produced were used separately as adsorbents in the treatment of biodiesel washing water. Comparatively, zeolite produced displayed better adsorption property compared to the conventional activated carbon in removing the six heavy metals considered from the biodiesel washing water. For instance, Chromium concentration of 0.0096 mg/L was reduced to 0.0023 mg/L after adsorption treatment with activated carbon (76 % efficiency), while the concentration was reduced to 0.0010 mg/L after the adsorption treatment with zeolite (89 % efficiency)

Assessment of mortality rate in tuberculosis / human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfected patient

Prior to the discovery of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the pattern of tuberculosis (TB) prevalence witnessed a gradual drawdown and the mode of presentation was usually pulmonary. This study assesses the mortality rates of TB and HIV co-infected patients in a directly observed therapy (DOT) centre in Nigeria. The retrospective study retrieved 18 months of data from 197 patients on the TB register of a centralized DOT centre in the Ogun State, Nigeria. Data collected included age, sex, and HIV status, with TB results obtained from Genexpert. The data obtained from 197 TB patients were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square. Out of the 197 TB patients, 67.0% were males and 33.0% were females. A majority of the patients (41.6%) were within the age category of 43 years and above. This was followed by 35 – 42 years (25.4%) and 27 – 34 years (19.8%), while the lowest proportion of patients (0.5%) falls within the age brackets of 3 - 10 years. Furthermore, 92.9% of the patients were HIV negative. Using Chi-squared test, no significant difference was seen in TB occurrence to sex (p>0.05) while age contribute significantly to mortality. Co-infection of HIV/TB was 7.1% while mortality rate in this group was 28.6%. as observed in the age group 43 and above. Overall, the mortality rate in the TB patients was 2.0%. Results showed that the age was a significant contributor (p<0.05) to HIV TB co-infection among the patients. Age regressed positively with TB infection in the study population. The study concludes that the co-infection of TB and HIV was significantly associated with high mortality

Electronic structure and surface properties of copper thiocyanate: a promising hole transport material for organic photovoltaic cells

Considering the significance of hexagonal copper thiocyanate (β-CuSCN) in several optoelectronic technologies and applications, it is essential to investigate its electronic structure and surface properties. Herein, we have employed density functional theory (DFT) calculations to characterise the band structure, density of states, and the energy-dependent X-ray photoelectron (XPS) valence band spectra at variable excitation energies of β-CuSCN. The surface properties in the absence and presence of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), a solvent additive for improving perovskite solar cells’ power conversion efficiency, have also been systematically characterised. β-CuSCN is shown to be an indirect band gap material (Eg = 3.68 eV) with the valence band edge demonstrated to change from being dominated by Cu-3d at soft X-ray ionisation photon energies to Cu-3p at hard X-ray ionisation photon energies. The adsorption energy of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) on the (100) and (110) β-CuSCN surfaces is calculated at −1.12 and −0.91 eV, respectively. The presence of DMSO on the surface is shown to have a stabilisation effect, lowering the surface energy and tuning the work function of the β-CuSCN surfaces, which is desirable for organic solar cells to achieve high power conversion efficiencies. View Full-Text Keywords: copper thiocyanate (CuSCN); hole transport layer (HTL); dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO); electronic structure; XPS valence band spectra; work function; density functional theory (DFT

Fatty Acid Profile and Antioxidant Capacity of Dabai (Canarium odontophyllum L.): Effect of Origin and Fruit Component

In the present work, the influence of geographical location on the fatty acid profiles, antioxidant potential, as well as cytotoxicity of edible dabai fruit fractions (kernel, skin, and pulp) were analyzed. The fatty acid profiles were determined by Gas Chromatography (GC), and the antioxidant activity was quantified with free 2,2-diphenyl-1-picr/ylhdrazyl, while the cytotoxicity was assessed by the brine shrimp lethality test. The results showed that the samples from Sibu, Serian, and Kapit geographical locations had a high content of the saturated fatty acids, ranging from 46.63% to 53.31% in the three fractions. The highest mono-saturated fatty acids (MUFA) content was found in Sibu. Serian and Kapit kernel fractions MUFA, however, ranged from 21.2% to 45.91%. No fatty acid composition was detected in Bentong and Kanowit. The fatty acid composition and DPPH free radical scavenging antioxidant activity of dabai were statistically independent using a multivariate analysis in different localities in Malaysia. The skin fraction had a more appreciable antioxidant potential and toxicity level than the pulp and kernel fractions. The highest antioxidant activity (EC50 198.76 � 1.06 �g/mL) with an LC50 value of 1387.22 �g/mL was obtained from the Sibu skin fraction. Therefore, the fatty acid composition, antioxidant, as well as cytotoxicity analyses of the extracts from different localities indicated that “geographical location” remarkably influenced fatty acid composition, antioxidant activity, and toxicity

Honey health benefits and uses in medicine

The generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and other free radicals during metabolism is an essential and normal process that ideally is compensated through the antioxidant system. However, due to many environmental, lifestyle, and pathological situations, free radicals and oxidants can be produced in excess, resulting in oxidative damage of biomolecules (e.g., lipids, proteins, and DNA). This plays a major role in the development of chronic and degenerative illness such as cancer, autoimmune disorders, aging, cataract, rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative diseases (Pham-Huy et al. 2008; Willcox et al. 2004). The human body has several mechanisms to counteract oxidative stress by producing antioxidants, which are either naturally synthetized in situ, or externally supplied through foods, and/or supplements (Pham-Huy et al. 2008).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Intravenous versus oral iron for iron deficiency anaemia in pregnant Nigerian women (IVON): study protocol for a randomised hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial.

BACKGROUND: Anaemia in pregnancy is highly prevalent in African countries. High-dose oral iron is the current recommended treatment for pregnancy-related iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) in Nigeria and other African countries. This oral regimen is often poorly tolerated and has several side effects. Parenteral iron preparations are now available for the treatment of IDA in pregnancy but not widely used in Africa. The IVON trial is investigating the comparative effectiveness and safety of intravenous ferric carboxymaltose versus oral ferrous sulphate standard-of-care for pregnancy-related IDA in Nigeria. We will also measure the implementation outcomes of acceptability, feasibility, fidelity, and cost-effectiveness for intravenous ferric carboxymaltose. METHODS: This is an open-label randomised controlled trial with a hybrid type 1 effectiveness-implementation design, conducted at 10 health facilities in Kano (Northern) and Lagos (Southern) states in Nigeria. A total of 1056 pregnant women at 20-32 weeks' gestational age with moderate or severe anaemia (Hb < 10g/dl) will be randomised 1:1 into two groups. The interventional treatment is one 1000-mg dose of intravenous ferric carboxymaltose at enrolment; the control treatment is thrice daily oral ferrous sulphate (195 mg elemental iron daily), from enrolment till 6 weeks postpartum. Primary outcome measures are (1) the prevalence of maternal anaemia at 36 weeks and (2) infant preterm birth (<37 weeks' gestation) and will be analysed by intention-to-treat. Maternal full blood count and iron panel will be assayed at 4 weeks post-enrolment, 36 weeks' gestation, delivery, and 6 weeks postpartum. Implementation outcomes of acceptability, feasibility, fidelity, and cost will be assessed with structured questionnaires, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions. DISCUSSION: The IVON trial could provide both effectiveness and implementation evidence to guide policy for integration and uptake of intravenous iron for treating anaemia in pregnancy in Nigeria and similar resource-limited, high-burden settings. If found effective, further studies exploring different intravenous iron doses are planned. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN registry ISRCTN63484804 . Registered on 10 December 2020 Clinicaltrials.gov NCT04976179 . Registered on 26 July 2021 The current protocol version is version 2.1 (080/080/2021)