Examining the Incidence, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity among rural Households in Nigeria

A nationally representative sample of 3380 rural households from General Household Survey-panel data that adopt the World Bank Living Standard Measurement Survey (LSMS) technique was used for this study.  Based on 2120 kcal Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) recommended per adult equivalent and USD 0.87 purchasing power parity (PPP), an annual food poverty threshold of (N50, 331.67) equivalent to USD 317.55 per annum was derived for Nigeria. This threshold is the cost for purchasing recommended daily food allowances (RDA) of an adult equivalent for healthy life in rural Nigeria estimated at N138. Despite the fact that agricultural sector employed over 70% of the country’s population overwhelmingly large segment of Nigerians especially farming families in rural areas are the most food insecure. The food security situation in Nigeria was examined using the Foster Greer and Thorbecke (FGT) class of decomposable food poverty measures that satisfy both monotonicity and transfer axioms. The food insecurity indices at national level was reported as (?=0, 46.36, ?=1, 0.43 and ?=2, 1.11 for and ?=0, 42.78, ?=1, 0.348 and ?=2, 7.45) for post-harvest seasons respectively. This implies that almost half of the rural households in Nigeria are food insecure subsisting on less the RDAs, however, depth and severity of food insecurity also differ.  Disaggregating the households based geo-political zones and some key socio-economic characteristics, further indicates a significant differences based on the relative size of the coefficient of ?. We conjecture that, the higher incidence of food security during post harvesting season might likely be due to inability of smallholder farmers to utilize their time into non-farm income generating activities due to high demand for labour for farm operations. The study recommends public policies that ensure provision of infrastructure such as roads and boosting farming among rural households. Keywords: Food Insecurity, FGT Index, Rural Households and Nigeri

Gal-GalNAc: a biomarker of colon carcinogenesis

The disaccharide tumor marker Gal-GalNAc visualized by galactose oxidase-Schiff sequence is commonly present in cancer cells and in rectal mucus of patients with colon cancer. The expression of this marker on tissue sections taken during experimental colon carcinogenesis shows excellent correlation with human precancerous lesions and cancers. A high proportions of human precancerous lesions and even higher percentage of colon cancers express this marker, whereas, no expression is seen in the normal human large intestine. Multifocal expression of the marker is seen throughout the entire colon of patients with precancer and cancer; these include dysplasia, dilated and distorted crypts, regenerative dysplasia and hyperplastic crypts, as well as the morphologically normal crypts remote from cancer. Nearly identical pattern of Gal-GalNAc expression throughout the entire colon also appear during rat colon carcinogenesis induced by azoxzymethane including non-expression by the normal and regenerative epithelia during wound healing following mechanical injury. Thus, Gal-GalNAc detected by the simple technique of galactose oxidase-Schiff sequence, is a biomarker that appears during the very early stages of progression of carcinogenesis. The expression pattern supports the field effect theory of carcinogenesis and also explains the basis for mass screening for cancer and precancerous conditions. Chemoprevention strategy using Gal- GalNAc as an intermediate marker detected by accurate and cost-effective rectal mucus test may have great potential

Retracted: MATLAB/Simulink power cable modelling for cable defects assessment

This article was withdrawn and retracted by the Journal of Fundamental and Applied Sciences and has been removed from AJOL at the request of the journal Editor in Chief and the organisers of the conference at which the articles were presented (www.iccmit.net). Please address any queries to [email protected]

Comparison of different techniques for detection of Gal-GalNAc, an early marker of colonic neoplasia

The tumor marker, D-galactose-B[1-31-Nacetyl- D-galactosamine (Gal-GalNAc, also known as Tantigen) can be identified by a very simple galactose oxidase-Schiff 's (GOS) reaction either on tissues or on rectal mucus samples from patients with colorectal neoplasms. Gal-GalNAc is expressed in the neoplastic mucosa as well as the remote non-neoplastic mucosa. It is, however, not expressed in colonic mucosa of normal subjects. We studied the expression of Gal-GalNAc by GOS reaction, lectin reactivity and immunocytochemistry in 10 normal, 45 precancerous [5 Crohn's disease, 15 ulcerative colitis (5 without dysplasia and 10 with dysplasia), 25 tubular adenomas], and 25 adenocarcinoma cases. Normal mucosa remote from tubular adenoma and adenocarcinoma was also studied. The GOS method was compared with reactivity of the lectin jacalin and immunostaining with antibody to T antigen (Anti-Tag Ab). GOS reaction was negative in all of the 10 normal specimens. Of the 5 Crohn's disease specimens, 2 were positive and 3 negative. In the 5 ulcerative colitis cases without dysplasia, positive reaction was seen in 2 cases and negative in 3. Of the 10 cases of ulcerative colitis with dysplasia, 5 showed positivity in dysplastic areas, and 3 of these were also positive in remote non dysplastic mucosa. Twenty of 25 tubular adenomas yielded a positive reaction in the adenoma, 14 of them showing positivity also in remote mucosa; 3 cases showed a positive reaction only in remote mucosa. Of the 25 adenocarcinomas, 21 showed a positive reaction in the adenocarcinoma as well as the remote mucosa. GOS reaction was intense in well differentiated adenocarcinoma and weak in poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. Intense reaction was also seen in the intracellular mucus of some aberrant crypts and morphologically normal crypts remote from adenocarcinoma and tubular adenoma. GOS reaction showed an overall sensitivity of 75.7% and specificity of 100% for cancer and precancerous lesions. Jacalin reactivity was slightly more sensitive (84.3%) but less specific Offprint requests to: Dr. A.M. Shamsuddin, Department of Pathology ,l0 S Pine Street, Baltimore, MD, USA 21201-1192. Fax: 410-706-8414 (80%) and Tag Ab reactivity even less sensitive (50%) but as specific (100%) for neoplastic and dysplastic mucosa. We conclude that the detection of the carbohydrate moiety Gal-GalNAc varies with the technique used. Compared to other techniques, GOS reaction is extremely simple and has a high degree of sensitivity and specificity. It can be used for detection of this tumor marker in remote non-neoplastic mucosa of patients with neoplasia or at risk of developing neoplasia. It, therefore, could be used as a cost effective screening test in rectal biopsy specimens of such patients