Bacteriological Quality of Dried Sliced Beef (Kilishi) Sold In Ilorin Metropolis

The bacteriological quality of dried sliced beef (kilishi) obtained from three selling points in Ilorin metropolis was determined in order to ascertain its safety. The total bacterial count, Enterobacteriaceae count, Staphylococcus aureus count and E.coli counts were used as index of bacteriological quality. Samples from Oja-gboro had the highest total bacterial count of 3.5 x 104 cfu/g; Enterobacteriaceae count of 2.9 X 104 cfu/g; S. aureus count of 2.05 X 104 cfu/g and E.coli count of 3.8 X 101 cfu/g. Bacterial species isolated from the samples were S. aureus, Pseudomonas species, E. Coli, Klebsiella species and B. subtilis. The high bacterial count and diversity of bacterial isolates from the samples tested is an indication of its low bacteriological quality, and this can make it a potential source of food infection. Standard hygienic practices are therefore recommended at both pre- and post-production stages

Polynomial Regression Model of Making Cost Prediction In Mixed Cost Analysis

Regression analysis is used across business fields for tasks as diverse as systematic risk estimation, production and operations management, and statistical inference. This paper presents the cubic polynomial least square regression as a robust alternative method of making cost prediction in business rather than the usual linear regression.The study reveals that polynomial regression is a better alternative with a very high coefficient of determination. Keywords: Polynomial regression, linear regression, high-low method, cost prediction, mixed cost

Chalcopyrite Leaching in Ammonia-Ammonium Chloride Solutions: Insight into the Dissolution Kinetic Studies

The hydrometallurgical method for processing chalcopyrite ore has gained enormous attention due to the environmental problems emanated by the conventional pyrometallurgical route. Here, hydrometallurgy is considered an alternative that may be more of low-cost and environmentally friendly. Thus, alkaline leaching has been considered an effective, efficient, and acceptable leachant for chalcopyrite ore dissolution. The dissolution kinetics of copper from low-grade chalcopyrite ore was examined in an ammonia-ammonium chloride solution. However, the effect of parameters including leachant concentration, reaction temperature, and particle size was considered. . At optimal conditions (o.4 mol/L NH3-NH4Cl; 75 °C; 43 µm), 81.1% dissolution efficiency was achieved within 120 minutes. The leaching kinetics with activation energy (Ea) of 29.95 kJ/mol is by the proposed diffusion control mechanism. Hence, the dissolution rate was confirmed by characterizing the raw ore and un-leached residue using XRD and SEM-EDS analyses for possible industrial utilities

Life Expectancies With Depression by Age of Migration and Gender Among Older Mexican Americans

Background and Objectives: Prior studies examining depression among older Mexican Americans suggest both women and immigrants are at higher risk of depressive symptomatology than males and U.S.-born Mexican Americans. We use data from the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly to examine whether life expectancy with depression and without depression varies by nativity, age of migration, and gender. Research Design and Methods: Sullivan-based life tables were used to estimate depression life expectancies among Mexican Americans aged 65 years and older residing in the Southwestern United States. Depression is based on the 20-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (CES-D). The CES-D is a continuous scale (0–60) with higher values indicating worse mental health. We dichotomize depression as a score of 16 or greater. Results: Immigrant women, particularly those who migrated in late-life (after age 50) are at a significant disadvantage in the number of years after age 65 lived with depression and the ratio of years spent without depression relative to U.S.-born women. Among men, only late-life immigrants were disadvantaged in the number of years spent with depression. Early- and mid-life immigrant males did not differ from U.S.-born males. Discussion and Implications: Our results highlight the heterogeneity among older Mexican Americans in life expectancies with depression. These findings illustrate the importance of considering age of migration as a high-risk factor for depression among Mexican-origin immigrants. Including this risk factor as a part of depression screening is a key step for timely interventions in preventing disability and comorbidities associated with untreated depression

Life Expectancies With Depression by Age of Migration and Gender Among Older Mexican Americans

Background and Objectives: Prior studies examining depression among older Mexican Americans suggest both women and immigrants are at higher risk of depressive symptomatology than males and U.S.-born Mexican Americans. We use data from the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly to examine whether life expectancy with depression and without depression varies by nativity, age of migration, and gender. Research Design and Methods: Sullivan-based life tables were used to estimate depression life expectancies among Mexican Americans aged 65 years and older residing in the Southwestern United States. Depression is based on the 20-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (CES-D). The CES-D is a continuous scale (0–60) with higher values indicating worse mental health. We dichotomize depression as a score of 16 or greater. Results: Immigrant women, particularly those who migrated in late-life (after age 50) are at a significant disadvantage in the number of years after age 65 lived with depression and the ratio of years spent without depression relative to U.S.-born women. Among men, only late-life immigrants were disadvantaged in the number of years spent with depression. Early- and mid-life immigrant males did not differ from U.S.-born males. Discussion and Implications: Our results highlight the heterogeneity among older Mexican Americans in life expectancies with depression. These findings illustrate the importance of considering age of migration as a high-risk factor for depression among Mexican-origin immigrants. Including this risk factor as a part of depression screening is a key step for timely interventions in preventing disability and comorbidities associated with untreated depression

Systematic review and meta-analysis of tuberculosis in animals in Nigeria

Animal tuberculosis (TB) is a contagious and chronic disease caused by mycobacteria belonging to theMycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) in domestic and wild animals. MTBC strains infection has been confirmed in many animal species in Nigeria, including captive wildlife, cattle, dromedary camels, goats, and pigs. Despite widespread infection and the potential impact of the disease on public health, active surveillance and control strategies are absent in Nigeria. This study aimed to conduct the first comprehensive meta-analysis to assess the distribution of tuberculosis and analyze the potential moderators of infection in animals in Nigeria. Eligible studies (sixty-one (Cadmus et al., 2014) [61] prevalence and seven (Menzies and Neill, 2000) [7] case reports) were retrieved and included in the analysis. The analyses showed an overall pooled TB prevalence of 7.0% (95% CI: 6.0-8.0) comprising of infection distributed in cattle (8.0%, 95% CI: 7.0-8.0), goats (0.47%, 95% CI: 0-1.2), sheep (0.27%, 95% CI: 0.14-0.46), camels (13.0%, 95% CI: 0-47), and wildlife (13.0%, 95% CI: 9-16) respectively. The occurrence of infection was significantly moderated by the publication periods, geographical location, sample size, and detection methods. TB prevalence was heterogeneous across several predictors, with the year of publication exhibiting a higher rate (46%) of the detected heterogeneity. These findings should provide policy-relevant information to guide the design and establishment of prevention and control measures amenable to the local situations in Nigeria. © 2023 The Author(s

Serospatial epidemiology of zoonotic Coxiella burnetii in a cross section of cattle and small ruminants in northern Nigeria

The persistent and highly transmissible Coxiella burnetii is a neglected infection that negatively affects reproductive parameters of livestock. It is also of zoonotic importance and has been reported to cause devastating human infections globally. Domestic ruminants represent the most frequent source of human infection. Data from Nigeria are very few and outdated. There is a significant gap in up-to-date information on the exposure, spatial distribution and risk factors of infection of this important disease. The exposure to C. burnetii was determined using sensitive serological assays in cattle and small ruminants. A total of 538 animals made up of 268 cattle and 270 small ruminants were sampled from three northern Nigerian states. The proportion of cattle sampled that were seropositive from the study locations were: Kwara 14/90 (15.6%; 95% CI: 8.8–24.7); Plateau 10/106 (9.43%; 95% CI: 4.6–16.7) and Borno 4/72 (5.56%; 95% CI: 1.5–13.6) states. Lower seroprevalence was recorded among the small ruminants sampled, with positives recorded from sheep and goat sampled from only Kwara state 6/184 (3.3%; 95% CI: 1.2–7.0); while none of the small ruminants sampled from Plateau were seropositive. The results of the bivariate analysis showed that none of the tested independent variables (village, age group, sex, breed of cattle, presence of ticks, reproductive status, and management system) were statistically significant factors associated with seropositivity of cattle for antibodies to C. burnetii. Stakeholders involved in animal husbandry should be duly educated on proper disposal of birth products as well as bodily fluids in order to reduce environmental contamination, persistence and human infection

A HYBRIDIZED ENCRYPTION SCHEME BASED ON ELLIPTIC CURVE CRYPTOGRAPHY FOR SECURING DATA IN SMART HEALTHCARE

Recent developments in smart healthcare have brought us a great deal of convenience. Connecting common objects to the Internet is made possible by the Internet of Things (IoT). These connected gadgets have sensors and actuators for data collection and transfer. However, if users' private health information is compromised or exposed, it will seriously harm their privacy and may endanger their lives. In order to encrypt data and establish perfectly alright access control for such sensitive information, attribute-based encryption (ABE) has typically been used. Traditional ABE, however, has a high processing overhead. As a result, an effective security system algorithm based on ABE and Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) is developed to protect health-related data. ABE is a workable option for one-to-many communication and perfectly alright access management of encrypting data in a cloud environment. Without needing to decode the encrypted data, cloud servers can use the FHE algorithm to take valid actions on it. Because of its potential to provide excellent security with a tiny key size, elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) algorithm is also used. As a result, when compared to related existing methods in the literature, the suggested hybridized algorithm (ABE-FHE-ECC) has reduced computation and storage overheads. A comprehensive safety evidence clearly shows that the suggested method is protected by the Decisional Bilinear Diffie-Hellman postulate. The experimental results demonstrate that this system is more effective for devices with limited resources than the conventional ABE when the system’s performance is assessed by utilizing standard model

Enhanced mechanical properties of a novel compatibilized recycled polyethylene terephthalate/polyamide 11 (rPET/PA11) blends

This research investigates various proportions of a compatibilizer, Joncryl®, in a newly developed blend of rPET/PA11 having 80 wt% rPET and 20 wt% PA11. The proposed blend exhibits unique and outstanding mechanical properties. A few of the significant benefits of carrying out this research work include recycling the highest amount of rPET, saving natural recourses, and encountering the environmental issues associated with the wastage of polymers. Five different proportions of Joncryl® (0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 phr) were introduced to the blend of rPET/PA11 through a twin-screw extruder and injection moulding machine. The blend interface studied by scanning electron microscope (SEM) indicated that Joncryl® boosted the chain extension. The results of tensile strength, Young’s modulus and flexural strength displayed the boost up in properties at all proportions; however, the properties at 2 phr of Joncryl® were unique and exclusive. The tensile strength of blend at 2 phr (Joncryl®) is remarkably increased from 26.8 to 46.24 MPa with a uniquely increased strain% from 3.56 to 196%. Young’s modulus is also significantly improved. The impact strength rose from 147.12 to 667.68 J/m