INTESTINAL HELMINTHIASIS AMONG CHILDREN AND ADULTS IN SOME HOSPITALS IN KANO METROPOLIS

Infection with parasitic helminthes is often recognized as one of the important public health problems in tropical Africa. The majority of this infection occurs in resource-limited settings like Sub-Saharan Africa including Nigeria. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of intestinal helminthes among children and adults in some hospitals in Kano metropolis. The study involved a cross-sectional survey of 134 stool samples where 84 were collected from children and 50 from adults. The samples were examined usingdirect wet mount and formol-ether concentration technique. The overall prevalence of intestinal helminth infection observed was 11.2%. In the study, three different parasites were identified. These include Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuristrichura and Hookworm. In terms of isolation rate, Hookworm was the commonest intestinal helminth observed in children 5 (50%) while Ascarislumbricoides was the most isolated 3 (60%) in adults

PULMONARY ASPERGILLOSIS AMONG HIV PATIENTS WITH TB SMEAR NEGATIVE ATTENDING AMINU KANO TEACHING HOSPITAL

Aspergillosis is a life threatening disease especially among the immunocompromised, like human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)  infected individuals and Mycobacterium tuberculosis infected patients, whether they are smear positive or negative. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of Aspergillosis among HIV patients with TB smear negative results. Early morning sputum samples were collected from HIV patients with TB smear negative results. The samples were screened using Ziehl-Neelsen staining technique before direct Gram’s staining was done and cultured onto Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (DCA) supplemented with chloramphenicol and incubated for 48hrs at 37°C. The fungal isolates were examined morphologically using macroscopy and microscopically identified using lactophenol cotton blue staining under the microscope. One hundred and eighty seven (187) participants were included in the study in which 81(43.3%) were males and 106(56.7%) were females, out of which a prevalence 32(17%) was obtained

Functions preserving nonnegativity of matrices

The main goal of this work is to determine which entire functions preserve nonnegativity of matrices of a fixed order $n$ -- i.e., to characterize entire functions $f$ with the property that $f(A)$ is entrywise nonnegative for every entrywise nonnegative matrix $A$ of size $n\times n$. Towards this goal, we present a complete characterization of functions preserving nonnegativity of (block) upper-triangular matrices and those preserving nonnegativity of circulant matrices. We also derive necessary conditions and sufficient conditions for entire functions that preserve nonnegativity of symmetric matrices. We also show that some of these latter conditions characterize the even or odd functions that preserve nonnegativity of symmetric matrices.Comment: 20 pages; expanded and corrected to reflect referees' remarks; to appear in SIAM J. Matrix Anal. App

Isolation, Characterization and Heavy Metals Tolerance Indices of Indigenous Fungal Flora from a Tannery located at Challawa Industrial Estate of Kano State, Nigeria

Seven fungal species (Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus versicolor, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus, Rhizomucor pusillus, Trichophyton equinum and Rhizopus oryzae) were isolated from the tannery effluent collected at a tannery industry located at Challawa industrial estate of Kano State, Nigeria. Aspergillus niger had the highest percentage occurrence frequency of 36% (31) while Trichophyton equinum had the least percentage occurrence frequency of 4% (5). Consequently, Aspergillus niger recorded the highest mean tolerance indices of 1.175, 0.830, 0.580, 0.780 and 0.630 while Rhizomucor pusillus had the least of the tolerance indices of 0.675, 0.375, 0.346, 0.450 and 0.255 for chromium, cadmium, manganese and lead respectively. Accordingly, furthermore the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and biomass yield of the seven tested fungi isolates cultured in the presence of the five heavy metals used in this study showed different level of growth pattern. Hence the high resistant potentials and tolerance to the selected heavy metals exhibited by the fungal species isolated in this study is an indication that indigenous fungal floral isolated from tannery effluent if properly harnessed may offer a feasible solution to the serious environmental pollution problems associated with the presence of heavy metals in tannery effluent

The effect of Metakaolin on compressive strength of rice husk ash concrete at varying temperatures.

In the case where the concrete is exposed to high temperatures such as fire which undergo severe loss of compressive strength due to permeability interconnected durability. The use of metakaolin as a recent material in the construction industry, proves to be very useful to modify the properties of concrete. The study investigates the effect of Metakaolin on compressive strength of rice husk ash (RHA) concrete at varying temperatures. The plain and binary blended with 10%MK cement replacement and ternary MK-RHA blended concrete cube specimens were produced by incorporating 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 30%RHA as cement replacement levels while 10%MK addition was fixed. All the concrete specimens were cured for 28 days inside water tank at room temperature, air dried for 24 hours, thermally treated at 200°c, 400°c, 600°c, and 800°c for one hour and then allowed to cooled. Three specimens for each temperature including control sample of the same mix were tested for compressive strength at room temperature. The compressive strength were assessed before and after fired. The results show that the inclusion of 10% MK has improved the fire resistance beyond the maximum temperature of plain concrete. The 10%RHA replacement gives better fire resistance than other replacement levels with 22% relative residual strength gain up to 600°c

Water Quality Assessment of the Man-Made Jabi Lake, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria

The quality of the water needs to be evaluated in order to guarantee that everyone has access to clean water which is both sustainable and available. The objective of this research is to evaluate the water quality in-terms of physicochemical characteristics of the Man-made Jabi Lake in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria using standard methods. Water samples were collected from three sites along the lake, and their pH, alkalinity, conductivity, total hardness, biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, phosphate, and nitrate concentrations were analyzed. The ANOVA results showed that there was no significant difference (0.089 p-value for physical parameters, 0.135 p-value for chemical parameters and 0.530 p-value for metals) in the physicochemical characteristics among the three sites. The Pearson correlation coefficient revealed a high positive correlation (r = 0.999) among the sample points, indicating that a change in the concentration of these parameters in one site would lead to a similar change in the other locations. These findings suggest that pollutants in one part of the lake may impact the entire ecosystem, and management strategies should consider the interconnectedness of the lake's water quality. The study concludes that the stream has a moderate level of pollution and is not suitable for direct consumption or use in the home

ANTI-INFLAMMATORY ACTIVITY OF CRUDE SAPONIN EXTRACTS FROM FIVE NIGERIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS

Crude saponin extracts of five medicinal plants used in the treatment of inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, gout and haemorrhoids were screened for anti-inflammatory activity using carrageenan-induced rat paw oedema test. These plants were the whole plant of Schwenkia americana Linn (WSA), the rhizomes of Asparagus africanus Lam (RAA), the leaves of Dichrostachys cinerea Linn (LDC), the stem bark of Ficus iteophylla Miq (BFI) and the leaves of Indigofera pulchra Willd (LIP). A modify traditional method of crude saponins extraction was used to give the following percentage yields: WSA-2.74%, RAA-3.59%, LDC-1.62%, BFI-0.81% and LIP-1.57% respectively. Thin-layer chromatography was used to identify the type of saponins present in the extracts. The acute toxicity study of the crude saponin extracts in mice gave the following intraperitoneal LD50: WSA-471.2mg/kg, RAA- 1264.9mg/kg, LDC-1264.9mg/kg, BFI-118.3mg/kg and LIP-1264.9mg/kg respectively. The anti-inflammatory study of the extracts showed statistically significant (