Reconsidering Policy Implementation of Vocational Technical Education using 6-3-3-4 System of Education in Curbing Societal Problems

Vocational and Technical education as preserved in the Nigerian national policy on education, is connected with producing adequate and qualitative technological human resources directed towards a producing of trained, experienced and self-reliant craftsmen, technologists and technicians in the field of technical and vocational education for the general development of the country and its citizenry. However, the training of technical personnel has witnessed many hindrances and challenges originating from unrealistic policies, unclear curriculum that has little correlation with the needs of the society. In addition, misappropriation of fund meant for education development purposes, lack of qualified teachers, inadequate funding and cases of bribery and corruption are all connected to the poor implementation of the policy. This paper is aimed at providing a rethink in the implementation of 6334 system of education by examining the issues, challenges and the way forward in curbing out societal problems through Vocational and Technical Education

Maleficent effects of chronic tobacco Shisha smoke exposure on sperm DNA fragmentation, count, motility and morphology in adult male wistar rats

Background: Currently there are no putative empirical data on the effect of Shisha smoking on sperm DNA integrity and some of the available data on the adverse effects of Shisha smoking on conventional semen characteristics: sperm count, sperm motility and sperm morphology are contradictory. Despite the well-known deleterious reproductive effects of cigarette smoking, it is relatively unclear whether or not Shisha smoking has the same effect on male reproductive parameters. The present study was aimed at determining the effect of chronic Shisha smoke exposure on semen parameters and sperm DNA integrity in adult male Wistar rats. Methods: Twenty-one adult male Wistar rats between the ages of 8-12 weeks, weighing between 160 -180 g were divided randomly into three groups containing 7 rats per group. Group I rats were kept for 30 minutes daily in the nose-only exposure chamber for a period 13 weeks without exposure to Shisha smoke; group II (with water in the Shisha jar) was exposed to bonged shisha smoke (BSS) and group III (without water in the shisha jar) was exposed to unbonged Shisha smoke (UBSS), respectively for 7 seconds first and fresh air later for 53 seconds, alternatively for 30 minutes daily for a period of 13 weeks. The Shisha smoke was drawn from the Shisha apparatus outlet by a vacuum compressor at a pressure of 300 kPa into the nose-only exposure chamber where the rats were kept. At the end of the exposure, five animals from each group were randomly selected and anaesthetised with 0.4 mL/100g of combined ketamine and diazepam and blood samples were obtained through cardiac puncture. Results:The result obtained showed that chronic exposure to Shisha smoke revealed a significant increase in testicular malondialdehyde (MDA) level, high sperm DNA fragmentation and abnormal cell morphology, marked reduction in serum testosterone concentration, sperm count and progressive motility

Community pharmacists’ perception of and practice with drug package inserts in UAE

Background: Written information in drug package inserts (DPIs) is important source of information for doctors and pharmacists. Objectives: The present study was undertaken to evaluate the knowledge, perception and practice of community pharmacists with information in the DPIs, and their views on their usefulness.Methods: Seventy five pre-piloted questionnaires were distributed to community pharmacists in the United Arab Emirates. The questionnaire included questions covering demographics of pharmacists and whether they read and rely on DPI as a source of information. Pharmacists were also asked to evaluate and categorize DPI information with respect to the ease for patient use. The data were analyzed and are expressed as frequency and percentage.Results: The response rate was 90.7%. The majority (52, 76.5%) of pharmacists were in the age range of 20-39 years, with bachelor of pharmacy degree (50, 73.5%) and having 1-10 years of practice experience (48, 70.6%). Two thirds of the respondents obtained their degree outside the UAE. The majority (60, 88.2%) of pharmacists read the DPIs of prescription and OTC drugs, for all the information and think it is useful (67, 98.5%). Most participants think DPI is useful to patients and advise them to read it. The majority (49, 72.1%) of pharmacists believe that DPI are clear to read but their content should be shorter (46, 67.6%) and limited to the most important information (51, 75%). More pharmacists with a degree from outside UAE do not read the DPIs (p < 0.003), and find DPIs easily understood (P <0.008). More pharmacists with 1-5 years’ experience advise their patients to read the DPIs (P<0.033).Conclusions: Our findings suggest that there is a need for improving the content of drug package inserts to provide the necessary information required not only for health care professionals but also patients to further enhance their acceptance of and compliance with their medications

Umbilical and middle cerebral arteries Doppler velocimetry in early and late onset pre-eclampsia

Background: Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a multisytemic disorder originating from the placenta with a high prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa. Early (34 weeks) – onset PE have different maternal and perinatal outcomes with overlapping clinical features. Differences in Doppler velocimetry pattern in these subgroups appears unsettled.Methods: In a prospective cohort study, 110 pregnant women with singleton pregnancy diagnosed with PE were recruited and had umbilical and middle cerebral arteries (MCA) Doppler velocimetry done. The pregnancies were followed up to delivery and outcome recorded and analysed using Microsoft excel 2013. Student t-test and Chi-squared test were used for continuous and categorical variables respectively. Level of significance was set at less than 0.05.Results: There were 53 (49.1%) women with early – onset preeclampsia and 55 (50.9%) with late-onset PE. The mean age of women was 30.30±5.2 years. The mean umbilical artery, middle cerebral artery pulsatility indices (PI) and cerebroplacental ratio (CPR) were 1.3±0.5, 1.1±0.5 and 1.1±1.2 respectively. There was statistical significant difference between the umbilical artery PI (p˂0.001), middle cerebral artery PI (p˂0.05) and CPR (p˂0.001) between early onset and late onset preeclamptic women. The resistance index and systolic diastolic ratio of both the umbilical and middle cerebral arteries were similar between the two groups (p>0.05).Conclusions: This study showed that umbilical and middle cerebral artery PI and CPR may be the most important Doppler parameters to watch-out for in monitoring women with PE

Electrolyte and oxidative stress profile of healthy adult population in Zaria, Nigeria, and their relationship with experimental pain response

Background: Electrolyte imbalance and oxidative stress (OS) are known to impair physiological functions, which can alter health and wellbeing. The reactive species produced due to OS are detoxified by endogenous antioxidants to maintain homeostasis. This study investigated the electrolyte and oxidative stress profile of a healthy adult population in Zaria, Nigeria and their relationship with experimental pain outcome. Method: Participants were apparently healthy adult volunteers between the ages of 20 to 65 years and drawn from the city of Zaria and its environs. Experimental pain was induced using pressure algometry. About 5 ml of blood was collected for determination of serum electrolytes, malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH) and superoxide dismutase (SOD). Result: The results showed that serum concentrations of sodium, potassium and chloride as well as oxidative stress profile did not vary with sex, age and ethnicity among the studied population. There was a significant negative correlation between pressure pain threshold and serum concentration of potassium (r = 0.2330, p = 0.003) and chloride (r = 0.2126, p = 0.007), while serum sodium correlated positively (r = 0.3439, p = 0.000). Serum MDA, SOD and GSH did not show statistically significant correlation with pressure pain threshold (p &gt; 0.05). Conclusion: Serum electrolytes, but not oxidative stress markers, correlate significantly with experimental pressure pain threshold among healthy adult population in Zaria, Nigeria Keywords: Electrolytes, oxidative stress, pressure pain, sex, age, ethnicit

Measurement of the Transverse Beam Spin Asymmetry in Elastic Electron Proton Scattering and the Inelastic Contribution to the Imaginary Part of the Two-Photon Exchange Amplitude

We report on a measurement of the asymmetry in the scattering of transversely polarized electrons off unpolarized protons, A$_\perp$, at two Q$^2$ values of \qsquaredaveragedlow (GeV/c)$^2$ and \qsquaredaveragedhighII (GeV/c)$^2$ and a scattering angle of $30^\circ < \theta_e < 40^\circ$. The measured transverse asymmetries are A$_{\perp}$(Q$^2$ = \qsquaredaveragedlow (GeV/c)$^2$) = (\experimentalasymmetry alulowcorr $\pm$ \statisticalerrorlow$_{\rm stat}$ $\pm$ \combinedsyspolerrorlowalucor$_{\rm sys}$) $\times$ 10$^{-6}$ and A$_{\perp}$(Q$^2$ = \qsquaredaveragedhighII (GeV/c)$^2$) = (\experimentalasymme tryaluhighcorr $\pm$ \statisticalerrorhigh$_{\rm stat}$ $\pm$ \combinedsyspolerrorhighalucor$_{\rm sys}$) $\times$ 10$^{-6}$. The first errors denotes the statistical error and the second the systematic uncertainties. A$_\perp$ arises from the imaginary part of the two-photon exchange amplitude and is zero in the one-photon exchange approximation. From comparison with theoretical estimates of A$_\perp$ we conclude that $\pi$N-intermediate states give a substantial contribution to the imaginary part of the two-photon amplitude. The contribution from the ground state proton to the imaginary part of the two-photon exchange can be neglected. There is no obvious reason why this should be different for the real part of the two-photon amplitude, which enters into the radiative corrections for the Rosenbluth separation measurements of the electric form factor of the proton.Comment: 4 figures, submitted to PRL on Oct.

Evidence for Strange Quark Contributions to the Nucleon's Form Factors at Q2Q^2 = 0.108 (GeV/c)2^2

We report on a measurement of the parity violating asymmetry in the elastic scattering of polarized electrons off unpolarized protons with the A4 apparatus at MAMI in Mainz at a four momentum transfer value of $Q^2$ = \Qsquare (GeV/c)$^2$ and at a forward electron scattering angle of 30$^\circ < \theta_e < 40^\circ$. The measured asymmetry is $A_{LR}(\vec{e}p)$ = (\Aphys $\pm$ \Deltastat$_{stat}$ $\pm$ \Deltasyst$_{syst}$) $\times$ 10$^{-6}$. The expectation from the Standard Model assuming no strangeness contribution to the vector current is A$_0$ = (\Azero $\pm$ \DeltaAzero) $\times$ 10$^{-6}$. We have improved the statistical accuracy by a factor of 3 as compared to our previous measurements at a higher $Q^2$. We have extracted the strangeness contribution to the electromagnetic form factors from our data to be $G_E^s$ + \FakGMs $G_M^s$ = \GEsGMs $\pm$ \DeltaGEsGMs at $Q^2$ = \Qsquare (GeV/c)$^2$. As in our previous measurement at higher momentum transfer for $G_E^s$ + 0.230 $G_M^s$, we again find the value for $G_E^s$ + \FakGMs $G_M^s$ to be positive, this time at an improved significance level of 2 $\sigma$.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

A Search for Sigma^0_5, N^0_5 and Theta^++ Pentaquark States

A high-resolution (sigma_instr. = 1.5 MeV) search for narrow states (Gamma < 10 MeV) with masses of M_x approx 1500-1850 MeV in ep -> e'K^+ X, e'K^- X and e' pi^+ X electroproduction at small angles and low Q^2 was performed. These states would be candidate partner states of the reported Theta^+(1540) pentaquark. No statistically significant signal was observed in any of the channels at 90% C.L. Upper limits on forward production were determined to be between 0.7% and 4.2% of the Lambda(1520) production cross section, depending on the channel and the assumed mass and width of the state.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. C, update with responses to referee suggestion

Measurement of Strange Quark Contributions to the Nucleon's Form Factors at Q^2=0.230 (GeV/c)^2

We report on a measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry in the scattering of longitudinally polarized electrons on unpolarized protons at a $Q^2$ of 0.230 (GeV/c)^2 and a scattering angle of \theta_e = 30^o - 40^o. Using a large acceptance fast PbF_2 calorimeter with a solid angle of \Delta\Omega = 0.62 sr the A4 experiment is the first parity violation experiment to count individual scattering events. The measured asymmetry is A_{phys} =(-5.44 +- 0.54_{stat} +- 0.27_{\rm sys}) 10^{-6}. The Standard Model expectation assuming no strangeness contributions to the vector form factors is $A_0=(-6.30 +- 0.43) 10^{-6}$. The difference is a direct measurement of the strangeness contribution to the vector form factors of the proton. The extracted value is G^s_E + 0.225 G^s_M = 0.039 +- 0.034 or F^s_1 + 0.130 F^s_2 = 0.032 +- 0.028.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Letters on Dec 11, 200