NUTRIENT INTAKE OF WEST AFRICAN DWARF GOATS FED DIETARY MODELS OF ENSILED CASSAVA PEEL MEAL FORTIFIED WITH CALCIUM-PHOSPHORUS SALT

Objective: This study was conducted to determine nutrient intake of growing West African Dwarf goats fed different dietary models of ensiled cassava peel meal fortified with Calcium-Phosphorus salt mix. Methods: Twenty (20) growing West African Dwarf female goats aged 6–8 months with an initial weight of 8.2 kg ± 0.25 were used for the study. They were randomly allotted to four dietary treatments with five goats per treatment in a completely randomized design. The dietary treatments were Diet 1 (block), Diet 2 (crunchy), Diet 3 (pellet), and Diet 4 (mash). Results: Results obtained indicated that dry matter intake ranged from 466.18 g/d to 575.53 g/day with significantly (p<0.05) higher value in pellet model while crude protein intake was higher in mash model than other treatments. Ether extract and crude fiber intake values were higher 40.13 g/day and 148.08 g/day in pellet feed model. Ash intake ranged from 61.32 g/day to 95.86 g/day. Block and crunchy models had significantly (p<0.05) higher value for ash intake while values obtained for nitrogen-free extract intake was also higher (p<0.05) in pellet model 22.62 g/day than other models. Values of fiber fractions intake obtained were significantly (p<0.05) influenced by dietary models with higher values for neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber and hemicellulose in mash while acid detergent lignin was significantly (p<0.05) for pellet model. Conclusion: It can be concluded that supplementing goat diets with different dietary models of ensiled cassava peel meal fortified with Calcium- Phosphorus salt mix can boost intake of goats for better productive performance and productivity

Neonatal Morbidity And Mortality In Calabar, Nigeria: A Hospital- Based Study

Background: The morbidity and mortality pattern amongst neonates admitted into the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital were reviewed from 1st June 2003 to 30th November 2004. Results: The major indications for admission for inborn babies were infections (27.4%), jaundice (21%) and low birth weight (LBW) (18.4%). The out born babies were admitted largely for sepsis (26.8%), jaundice (17.7%), tetanus (13.9%) and low birth weight (11.2%). Staphylococcus aureus (61.2%) and unclassified coliforms (21.9%) were the dominant isolates of septicaemia. The overall mortality rate of 19.3% was largely contributed by outborn infants (73.2% of the deaths). In descending order of magnitude, the total of 153 deaths during the period was due to infections (neonatal tetanus 20.9%, septicaemia 19.6%), birth asphyxia 23.3% and LBW 19%. Most of the deaths (70.6%) occurred within the first 7 days of life. Fifty-three (34.6%) of the deaths (most outborn infants) occurred within 24 hours of admission. Conclusion: Nigerian government needs to improve funding of the health sector in order to reduce neonatal wastage. Training and retraining of traditional birth attendants is inevitable. More effort should be made towards improving coverage rate of tetanus toxoid among women of childbearing age. Keywords: Neonatal Morbidity, Mortality. Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice Vol. 11 (3) 2008: pp. 285-28

Ply Tensile Properties of Banana Stem and Banana Bunch Fibres Reinforced Natural Rubber Composite

Ply tensile properties of banana stem and banana bunch fibres reinforced natural rubber composite was studied. Banana stem and banana bunch stalk fibres were extracted, surface treated, uni-directionally matted and laminated with natural rubber latex.  The result of the tensile loading in 0o fibre direction of the composite lamina (single ply) of 1.2mm thickness indicated a better performance of the banana stem fibres (BSF) than the banana bunch fibres (BBF). Natural rubber composite lamina reinforced with BSF which were treated with a  mixture of NaOH and Na2SO3 had a superior tensile strength of 4.0 MPa and Young’s modulus of 147.34MPa over the untreated BSF with tensile strength and Young’s Modulus of 3.7MPa and 84.30MPa respectively. Both the treated and untreated BSF and BBF fibres exhibited better mechanical properties than the unreinforced natural rubber. The composite lamina exhibited anisotropic characteristics, having different tensile properties of 3.7MPa, 0.6MPa and 1.0 MPa corresponding to 00 , 450 and 900 loading directions with respect to the fibre direction.  The micrographs of the composite surface after tensile test indicated a ductile failure of the material with appreciable plastic deformation

Comparative Osteometric Study of Long Bones in Yankasa Sheep and Red Sokoto Goat

A morphometric study was undertaken on the long bones in two predominant breeds of small ruminant in Northern Guinea Savanna zone of Nigeria, to determine their anatomical differences, and thus, provide a means of differentiating the remains of these two species duringzooarchaeological studies and gross anatomy practical session. The pelvic and pectoral limbs from 15 Yankasa sheep and 15 Red Sokoto goats of both sexes were used for this study. The long bones of the pectoral limbs considered were the humerus, radius, ulna and metacarpal III whilethose of the pelvic limbs were the femur, tibia and metatarsal III. Parameters considered were the mean weights, lengths and diameters of the proximal extremity, mid-shaft and distal extremities of these bones. There was a significant difference (p 0.05). Factors that may be responsible for these differences were discussed. It was concluded that the bones of the Yankasa sheep and Red Sokoto goat can be differentiated by the disparity in the length of the long bones or the disparity in the entire morphometry of the tibia bones

The empirical analysis of cigarette tax avoidance and illicit trade in Vietnam, 1998-2010.

Illicit trade carries the potential to magnify existing tobacco-related health care costs through increased availability of untaxed and inexpensive cigarettes. What is known with respect to the magnitude of illicit trade for Vietnam is produced primarily by the industry, and methodologies are typically opaque. Independent assessment of the illicit cigarette trade in Vietnam is vital to tobacco control policy. This paper measures the magnitude of illicit cigarette trade for Vietnam between 1998 and 2010 using two methods, discrepancies between legitimate domestic cigarette sales and domestic tobacco consumption estimated from surveys, and trade discrepancies as recorded by Vietnam and trade partners. The results indicate that Vietnam likely experienced net smuggling in during the period studied. With the inclusion of adjustments for survey respondent under-reporting, inward illicit trade likely occurred in three of the four years for which surveys were available. Discrepancies in trade records indicate that the value of smuggled cigarettes into Vietnam ranges from $100 million to$300 million between 2000 and 2010 and that these cigarettes primarily originate in Singapore, Hong Kong, Macao, Malaysia, and Australia. Notable differences in trends over time exist between the two methods, but by comparison, the industry estimates consistently place the magnitude of illicit trade at the upper bounds of what this study shows. The unavailability of annual, survey-based estimates of consumption may obscure the true, annual trend over time. Second, as surveys changed over time, estimates relying on them may be inconsistent with one another. Finally, these two methods measure different components of illicit trade, specifically consumption of illicit cigarettes regardless of origin and smuggling of cigarettes into a particular market. However, absent a gold standard, comparisons of different approaches to illicit trade measurement serve efforts to refine and improve measurement approaches and estimates

Activité anti-inflammatoire des feuilles dBorassus aethiopum Mart. (Arecaceae)

Le rônier est un palmier très utilisé dans la pharmacopée traditionnelle ; Le calcinât des feuilles est utilisé en boisson dans l’eau pour traiter la bilharziose viscérale. La tigelle de la noix germée en décoction lutte contre l’impuissance sexuelle, une activité anti-inflammatoire avec une inhibition de 70% de l’oedème induite par la carragénine a été révélée dans les extraits d’inflorescences mâles. La méthode de l’oedème induit par la carragénine de Winter a été utilisée sur des rats de souche Wistar pour mettre en évidence l’activité antiinflammatoire des feuilles de Borassus aethiopum. L’extrait d’acétate d’éthyle et sa fraction F1 à la dose 30 mg/kg ont une activité anti-inflammatoire voisine de celle de l’aspirine à 30 mg/kg; cette activité (exprimée en pourcentage d’inhibition) est respectivement de 79,21%, 73,16 et 92,53% à la première heure. Ainsi à la cinquième heure ces pourcentages sont 69,18%, 54,59% et 58,75% respectivement pour la référence, l’extrait d’acétate d’éthyle et la fraction F1.Mots clés: Borassus aethiopum Mart, feuilles et activité anti-inflammatoire

Knowledge and application of infectious diseases control measures among Primary Care workers in Nigeria: The Lassa fever example

The objective of this study was to investigate the knowledge and practice of Lassa fever control among primary care health workers. The study was a cross-sectional survey of health workers in 34 primary care centres in Esan West and Esan Central Local Government Areas. The LGAs were selected from Lassa fever-endemic areas in the state and studied with 231 self-administered semi-structured questionnaires. The knowledge of respondents was assessed using a ten-question scoring system. Data was analyzed and presented in tables and figures. All respondents were aware of Lassa fever and 77.9% of them had good knowledge of the control of the disease while 9.1% had poor knowledge. There was no significant association between level of knowledge and designation of the health worker (χ2=8.99, df =4, p>0.05). Only 13.0% and 16.9% of them regularly practiced barrier-nursing and hand washing, respectively, as means of containing the spread of the infection. The level of general knowledge about Lassa fever was high. However, there was poor compliance with standard preventive practices. Therefore, sustained education and re-training of Health workers at the primary care level is required to curtail nosocomial transmission of the disease.Key words: Lassa fever, health worker, infection, disease control

Worldwide experience with biosimilar development

Limited access for high-quality biologics due to cost of treatment constitutes an unmet medical need in the US and other regions of the world. The term “biosimilar” is used to designate a follow-on biologic that meets extremely high standards for comparability or similarity to the originator biologic drug that is approved for use in the same indications. Use of biosimilar products has already decreased the cost of treatment in many regions of the world and now a regulatory pathway for approval of these products has been established in the US. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) led the world with the regulatory concept of comparability and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) was the first to apply this to biosimilars. Patents on the more complex biologics, especially monoclonal antibodies, are now beginning to expire and biosimilar versions of these important medicines are in development. The new Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA) allows the FDA to approve biosimilars and allows the FDA to lead on the formal designation of interchangeability of biosimilars with their reference products. The FDA's approval of biosimilars is critical to facilitating patient access to high-quality biologic medicines and will allow society to afford the truly innovative molecules currently in the global biopharmaceutical industry's pipeline

Etude de l’activité antioxydante des extraits des feuilles de Vitex doniana (Verbenacea)

L’objectif de la présente étude était d’évaluer l’activité antioxydante des extraits des feuilles de Vitex doniana par spectrophotométrie en utilisant les méthodes de piégeage des radicaux libres 2,2-diphényl-1- picryl-hydrazyle (DPPH•) et acide 2,2’-azino-bis-(3-éthylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonique) (ABTS+•). Une extraction éthanolique des feuilles de Vitex doniana a été effectuée au Soxhlet. L’extrait sec recueilli a été redissout dans de l’eau puis fractionné en utilisant successivement de l’hexane, du dichlorométhane et de l’acétate d’éthyle. Les propriétés antioxydantes de l’extrait éthanolique et celles de ses différentes fractions ont été évaluées aux concentrations de 2,5 ; 10 ; 100 et 200 μg/mL. Les pourcentages d’inhibition (PI) expriment l’effet antioxydant mesuré. L’extrait éthanolique et ses différentes fractions ont présenté une activité de piégeage des deux radicaux libres. Lors des tests d’inhibition de l’absorbance du radical DPPH•, les PI ont varié de (18,15±0,01)% pour la fraction hexanique (2,5 μg/mL) à (92,45±0,01)% pour la fraction d’acétate d’éthyle (100 μg/mL). Avec le radical ABTS+•, les PI ont varié de (52,76±0,05)% pour la fraction hexanique (2,5 μg/mL) à (98,27±0,12)% pour la fraction d’acétate d’éthyle (100 μg/mL). Ainsi, l’extrait éthanolique des feuilles de Vitex doniana et ses différentes fractions possèdent un pouvoir antioxydant significatif.Mots clés : Activité antioxydante, DPPH, ABTS, Vitex doniana

Interaction Between Autonomic Tone and the Negative Chronotropic Effect of Adenosine in Humans

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72287/1/j.1540-8159.1999.tb00412.x.pd