26 research outputs found
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