Control of Meloidogyne incognita (kofoid and white) chitwood (root-knot nematode) of Lycopersicon esculentus (tomato) using cowdung and urine

Screenhouse experiments were conducted to test the efficacy of cowdung and urine separately and in combination in the control of root-knot nematode of tomato. Equal quantities of cowdung, urine and their mixture were separately made up to one litre with autoclaved soil. Two weeks old seedlings of tomato raised in autoclaved soil were transplanted into soil manure mixture and inoculated with 1,000 second stage larvae of Meloidogyne incognita race I. Treatments were completely randomized and effects assessed based on plant height, dry weight, extent of galling and the nematode multiplication factor. Results obtained showed that cowdung, urine, and their mixture produced significantly higher result than the untreated control. Similarly, the mixture of urine and cowdung, produced significantly higher results than the separate treatments. Key words: Meloidogyne incognita, Lycopersicon esculentus, cowdung, urine, tomato. African Journal of Biotechnology Vol.3(8) 2004: 379-38

Assessment of Physico-chemical and Microbiological qualities of Abattoir Wastewater in Sokoto, Nigeria

Wastewater samples were collected from three different points in Sokoto (Nigeria) abattoir and the physico-chemical and the microbiological qualities were determined. The pH of the wastewater was near neutral in the range of 7.22-7.47. The physico-chemical parameters were biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) (31.4mg/l), dissolved oxygen (DO) (85.0mg/l), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) (3.20mg/l). The microorganisms identified, mostly pathogenic, included<i> Escherichia coli, Salmonellatyphi, Neisseria lactamica, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Serratia marcescens, Branhamella catarrhalis, and Shigella sp, Aspergillus clavatus, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Curvularia sp, Trichophyton rubrum, and Penicillium echinulatum. </i>The potential public health implications associated with discharging untreated abattoir wastewater into the environment and thus, the need for adequate treatment to ensure decontamination as well as providing wastewater treatment facility in the abattoir are discussed.Keywords: Assessment, Physicochemical, Microbiological, Abattoir, Wastewate

Assessment of the efficiency of a yeast biofilter in the treatment of abattoir wastewater

A yeast biofilter consisting of Candida krusei, Candida morbosa, Torulopsis dattila, Torulopsis glabrata, and Saccharomyces chevalieri was constructed to bioremediate abattoir wastewater. Potato peels were used as filter bed for the growth of the yeasts. Wastewater samples were collected from three different points in Sokoto (Nigeria) abattoir and the physiochemical as well as the microbiological qualities of the wastewater were determined before and after biofiltration. The results revealed that after the biofiltration process, the pH, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), dissolved oxygen (DO), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and the nitrate content of the wastewater were drastically reduced. Similarly, there was a decrease in the variety of microorganisms isolated as well as in microbial counts after the biofiltration process. Salmonella typhi, Neisseria lactamica, Serratia marcescens, Branhamella catarrhalis, Shigella sp, Penicillium sp, Curvularia sp, and Trichophyton rubrum were completely eliminated after the biofiltration process. The reduction in the pH, BOD, DO, COD, nitrate as well as in the variety and total counts of bacteria and fungi for the wastewater after the biofiltration process indicated that the biofilter was effective in bioremediation of the wastewater. The percentage efficiency of the biofilter was found to be 42.5%.Key words: Assessment, efficiency, yeast, biofilter, abattoir, wastewater

Sero-Prevalence of Cytomegalo Virus Antibodies in Pregnant Women Attending Two Selected Hospitals in Sokoto State, North-Western Nigeria

Infection with cytomegalo virus (CMV), especially in pregnancy may cause pregnancy complications such as congenital infection, non-hereditary deafness, intrauterine growth restriction and other high defects. This study was to evaluate the prevalence of CMV in pregnant women attending Antenatal Clinics at Maryam Abacha Women and Children Hospital (MAWCH) and Sokoto Specialist Hospital (SSH). The study enrolled 90 pregnant women (age range: 16-45 years old) and data on demographic and life styles obtained using structured questionnaire. Serum samples were assayed using CMV Ig-G EIA kit. Out of the 90 pregnant women examined, 88(97.8%) had IgG protective antibodies to CMV while 2(2.2%) did not have protective antibodies. The prevalence rate of 2.20% was obtained in pregnant women that did not have the protective CMV IgG antibodies and were in the age range of 16-30 years old. They were also found to be in their second trimester, which could have increased the risk of intrauterine transmission. The risk factors for CMV were observed to have been significantly (P > 0.05) correlated with the socioeconomic status, the levels of CMV Ig-G antibodies, stage of pregnancy as well as the symptoms of pregnancy complications observed in the study population while they were insignificant (P < 0.05) in the case of number of previous pregnancies. The outcome of effects on the fetus was usually fatal and irreversible. Therefore, all pregnant women should scrupulously consistently adhere to routine infection control precautions. Keywords: Cytomegalo virus, Pregnant women, sero-prevalence, Sokoto

Myotis rufoniger genome sequence and analyses: M-rufoniger&apos;s genomic feature and the decreasing effective population size of Myotis bats

Myotis rufoniger is a vesper bat in the genus Myotis. Here we report the whole genome sequence and analyses of the M. rufoniger. We generated 124 Gb of short-read DNA sequences with an estimated genome size of 1.88 Gb at a sequencing depth of 66x fold. The sequences were aligned to M. brandtii bat reference genome at a mapping rate of 96.50% covering 95.71% coding sequence region at 10x coverage. The divergence time of Myotis bat family is estimated to be 11.5 million years, and the divergence time between M. rufoniger and its closest species M. davidii is estimated to be 10.4 million years. We found 1,239 function-altering M. rufoniger specific amino acid sequences from 929 genes compared to other Myotis bat and mammalian genomes. The functional enrichment test of the 929 genes detected amino acid changes in melanin associated DCT, SLC45A2, TYRP1, and OCA2 genes possibly responsible for the M. rufoniger&apos;s red fur color and a general coloration in Myotis. N6AMT1 gene, associated with arsenic resistance, showed a high degree of function alteration in M. rufoniger. We further confirmed that the M. rufoniger also has batspecific sequences within FSHB, GHR, IGF1R, TP53, MDM2, SLC45A2, RGS7BP, RHO, OPN1SW, and CNGB3 genes that have already been published to be related to bat&apos;s reproduction, lifespan, flight, low vision, and echolocation. Additionally, our demographic history analysis found that the effective population size of Myotis clade has been consistently decreasing since similar to 30k years ago. M. rufoniger&apos;s effective population size was the lowest in Myotis bats, confirming its relatively low genetic diversity

Global patient outcomes after elective surgery: prospective cohort study in 27 low-, middle- and high-income countries.

BACKGROUND: As global initiatives increase patient access to surgical treatments, there remains a need to understand the adverse effects of surgery and define appropriate levels of perioperative care. METHODS: We designed a prospective international 7-day cohort study of outcomes following elective adult inpatient surgery in 27 countries. The primary outcome was in-hospital complications. Secondary outcomes were death following a complication (failure to rescue) and death in hospital. Process measures were admission to critical care immediately after surgery or to treat a complication and duration of hospital stay. A single definition of critical care was used for all countries. RESULTS: A total of 474 hospitals in 19 high-, 7 middle- and 1 low-income country were included in the primary analysis. Data included 44 814 patients with a median hospital stay of 4 (range 2-7) days. A total of 7508 patients (16.8%) developed one or more postoperative complication and 207 died (0.5%). The overall mortality among patients who developed complications was 2.8%. Mortality following complications ranged from 2.4% for pulmonary embolism to 43.9% for cardiac arrest. A total of 4360 (9.7%) patients were admitted to a critical care unit as routine immediately after surgery, of whom 2198 (50.4%) developed a complication, with 105 (2.4%) deaths. A total of 1233 patients (16.4%) were admitted to a critical care unit to treat complications, with 119 (9.7%) deaths. Despite lower baseline risk, outcomes were similar in low- and middle-income compared with high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Poor patient outcomes are common after inpatient surgery. Global initiatives to increase access to surgical treatments should also address the need for safe perioperative care. STUDY REGISTRATION: ISRCTN5181700

Evaluation of the Larvicidal Activities of Bacillus Sphaericus on Culex Mosquito Found in Sokoto

Studies on the larvicidal activities of Bacillus sphaericus, against Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes found in this area (Sokoto), was carried out. The B. sphaericus (SPH 88) was obtained from Paseur Institute in Paris (France) in the form of a water dispersible powder. About 50mg of the powder was dissolved in 10ml sterile distilled water. From this stock, 1:100 dilution was made. Subsequent volumes of 15, 30, 60, 90, 100 and 120µg/l were fetched using micropipettes and added to beakers containing 150ml sterile distilled water. The mosquito larvae added to these beakers were obtained from reared mosquitoes in the laboratory. Twenty-five 4th instar larvae were placed in each beaker and left for 24 hours for larval mortality at room temperature. The larvicidal activities determined showed that Culex quinquefasciatus mosquito from this part of the country is highly sensitive to this bacterium. Lethal concentrations (LC50) in µg/l determined from a plot of percentage mortalities against concentrations was 0.004µg/l while LC90 was 0.019µg/l indicating the B. sphaericus attacks the Culex mosquito with a consequent killing of over 90% of the population under test. Statistical analysis conducted using analysis of variance indicated that there was no significant difference in the overall larvicidal activities at 5% confidence limit (F>0.05). Keywords: Bacillus, Sphaericus, mosquitos, Sokoto Bio-Research Vol.1(1) 2003: 29-3

Quality Determination of Pipe-Borne Water in Sokoto Metropolis, Nigeria

The quality of the pipe-borne water supplied to Sokoto metropolis was determined in this study. The total bacterial count was carried out using surface plating method of inoculation. The coliforms were enumerated using multiple tube fermentation technique (Most Probable Number Method). Some physicochemical parameters were also analyzed. The study confirmed that the bacterial load the municipal water samples ranged from 2x103 &#8211; 4.6x104 cfu/ml. Out of the 50 sample analyzed, 27 showed zero coliform count, while 23 were positive for coliform test and ranged from 3-30 coliforms per 100 ml of water. The pH of the water was slightly acidic (5.1). Four genera of coliforms were identified and E. coli, E. aerogenes, Citrobacter and Klebsiella spp. This study suggests that the appropriate authorities should improve the quality of the municipal pipe-borne water supply by regular monitoring of its bacterial load and coliform counts. Keywords:Water quality, coliforms, bacterial load, Nigeria International Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences, 5(3): 213-216, 200

Production of bacterial amylase by Bacillus species isolated from rice husk dumpsites in Sokoto metropolis, Nigeria

Ten grams (10 g) of soil sample was obtained from a rice husk dumpsite in Sokoto metropolis and analyzed. The species isolated were Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus lentus and Bacillus megaterium. The Bacillus species isolated were screened for amylolytic activities. The isolate with the widest zone of clearance (A1) was selected for further analysis. The highest activity was observed in B. licheniformis (2.00±0.01 mm) followed by B. lentus (1.96±0.40 mm) and B. megaterium (1.70±0.18 mm) had the least activity. Amylase activity was determined using DNS method. The optimum temperature for the activity of the amylase produced was obtained at 90 °C with a concentration of 0.373 mg/ml. Optimum pH activity was obtained at 4.0 with a concentration of 0.376 mg/ml. Bacillus licheniformis has the greatest potential for producing amylase than the other isolates and rice husk can be exploited for amylase production. The B. licheniformis strain producedthermostable alpha-amylase with characteristics suitable for application in starch processing and other food industries