Phytopharmacotherapeutic and Antimicrobial Attributes of Bitter Apple (Citrullus colocynthis) - A Review

Emergence of drug-resistant microorganisms over the past few decades has resulted in the search for bioactive compounds potent against these microorganisms. Phytochemicals derived from plants have shown positive curative properties and can be extracted from any part of the plant such as the roots, stem or flower. Bitter apple (Citrullus colocynthis) has been used traditionally for the treatment of infectious diseases and this has stimulated pharmacological interest in the active ingredients responsible for its medicinal properties. The plant also possesses several biological and pharmacological activities including anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antimicrobial, anticancer, and antioxidant. This review discussed the phytochemicals present in C. colocynthis, their mode of action and their antimicrobial attributes

Phytopharmacotherapeutic and Antimicrobial Attributes of Bitter Apple (Citrullus colocynthis) - A Review

Emergence of drug-resistant microorganisms over the past few decades has resulted in the search for bioactive compounds potent against these microorganisms. Phytochemicals derived from plants have shown positive curative properties and can be extracted from any part of the plant such as the roots, stem or flower. Bitter apple (Citrullus colocynthis) has been used traditionally for the treatment of infectious diseases and this has stimulated pharmacological interest in the active ingredients responsible for its medicinal properties. The plant also possesses several biological and pharmacological activities including anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antimicrobial, anticancer, and antioxidant. This review discussed the phytochemicals present in C. colocynthis, their mode of action and their antimicrobial attributes

Correlates of Safe Disposal of Children’s Stool in Nigeria: Evidence from 2018 Demographic and Health Survey

Unsafe Stool disposal has been linked to high under-five morbidity and mortality in many low and middle-income countries. This paper focuses on examining the prevalence of safe disposal of stools in Nigeria and the factors affecting such behaviour. The most-recent Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey 2018 (NDHS) Child’s dataset was used for the analysis in this study. Sample size of 7,834 children under age five was analysed. Percentages and frequencies, chi-square test of association, and binary logistic regression were employed for the statistical analysis. Findings show that a little above half of the women respondents reported safe disposal of stool of their under-five children in the study area (53%). Specifically, the odds of having stool safely disposed increased by 133 percent for children whose household wealth index falls within the richer category (adjusted Odd Ratio (aOR): 2.33; p<0.001), reduced by 17 percent for children whose mothers are working (aOR: 0.83; p<0.05), increased for children whose mothers are residing only in North-East and North-West (p<0.001), increased by 19 percent for children whose mothers were exposed to media exposure to mass media (aOR: 1.19; p<0.05), reduced by 24 percent for women whose children are of first birth order (aOR: 0.76; p<0.05), reduced by 31 percent for women whose children are of small size at birth (aOR: 0.69; p<0.001), increased by 66 percent for women who reported that distance to facility was not a problem (aOR: 1.66; p<0.001), reduced by 19 percent for women who delivered their children at an health centre (aOR: 0.81; p<0.05), and increased by 114 percent for women who used improved toilet facility (aOR: 2.14; p<0.001). This study concludes that a combination of socioeconomic, maternal, child’s and environmental factors are the correlates of safe disposal of stool among women with under-five children in Nigeria. It should therefore be prioritised for interventions aimed at reducing high under-five morbidity and mortality in Nigeria

Bondability of Al-Si thin film in thermosonic gold wire bonding

The bondability of two kinds of Al-Si thin films in thermosonic Au wire bonding was examined by means of microshear tests. One type of film was formed by sputtering an Al-2% Si alloy, and the other was formed by depositing an 0.05 micrometer-thick polysilicon layer on SiO2 by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and then depositing a 1.2 micrometer-thick Al layer on them by evaporation. After heat-treatment at 450 deg for 30 min., Si in the Al-Si film crystallized. The grain size of the crystallized Si affects the thermosonic wire bondability, i.e., for Al-2% Si sputtered films, good bondability was obtained under relatively small (1.0 micrometer) grain size conditions. In the successive layer process, on the other hand, the grain size of crystallized Si varies with the polysilicon CVD temperature. The optimum CVD temp. was determined from the standpoint of bondability with respect to grain size

Impact of pastoralists-farmers’ conflicts on agroforestry farmers’ psychology and agricultural production in north central Nigeria

The study examined the escalating conflict between the farmers and the pastoralists in the North Central region of Nigeria with regard to its impact on the psychology and productivity of agroforestry farmers. Benue, Nasarawa and Plateau states were reported to be the most affected by farmer- pastoralist conflicts in North Central Nigeria, they were therefore purposively selected for the study. The local governments that are most affected by the conflicts were also selected in each state. 25% of agroforestry farmers in each of the selected local government were randomly selected for the study. A total of one hundred and eighty (180) well-structured questionnaires were administered to farmers. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage while the correlation coefficient (r) was used to draw inferences between the variables of the hypotheses. The study found out that 29% of the respondents were between the ages of 31-40, 75.6% were male, 69.8% were married, 37.2% had secondary education and majority of them (83.8%) were Christians. Also, 67.8% of them take farming as their main occupation. 40% of them has 6-10 acres of farm size. The Spearman’s rho correlation analysis revealed that demographics characteristics [age (r= -0.341; p= 0.000) education status (r= 0.200; p= 0.008) and household size (r= 0.151; p= 0.042)] of the respondents significantly correlated with the impact the conflict had on respondents’ psychology. The correlation coefficient (R)) showed that frequency of conflict is significantly related to respondents’ agricultural loss (r=0.183; p=0.025) and that the conflicts impact on respondents’ psychology is significantly correlated with their agricultural productiity (r=0.1357; p=0.034)

Birth Preparedness and Complication Readiness of Pregnant Women Attending the Three Levels of Health Facilities in Ife Central Local Government, Nigeria

Background: Birth preparedness and complication readiness (BP/CR) is a safe motherhood strategy which addresses delays that could increase the risk of dying in pregnancy, child birth and the immediate postpartum period. The strategy has not been effectively implemented in Nigeria hence maternal mortality remains unacceptably high. This study assessed the level of BP/CR and the determinants among antenatal clinic attendees in Ife Central Local Government Area of Nigeria. Subjects and Method: Antenatal women selected proportional to client caseloads from health facilities were studied using a semi-structured questionnaire. SPSS version 16 was used for data entry. Univariate, bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed. Results: Four hundred and one antenatal women were recruited. One hundred and fifty eight (39.3%) respondents knew no danger sign in pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum period. Only 24 (6.0%) had adequate knowledge of obstetric danger signs without prompting. Three hundred and forty (84.8%) and 312 (78.3%) women respectively had identified a birth place and begun saving money for delivery. As many as 304 (79.4%) made no arrangement for a blood donor. Majority of pregnant women (60-82%) took five other steps towards emergency readiness. By the study criteria, 140 (34.9%) and 265 (66.1%) were birth and complication prepared respectively. Conclusion: Majority of pregnant women had poor knowledge of obstetric danger signs. Women who booked late were moreJournal of Community Medicine & Primary Health vol 23 (1-2) 201

ANALYTICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE EXTRACT OF LEMON GRASS LEAVES IN REPELLING MOSQUITO

ABSTRACT: The main objective of the work was to extract the active ingredient in Cymbopogon citratus leave and to formulate a mosquito repellent cream naturally obtained from medicinal plants instead of commonly available synthetic repellents and insecticides such as N-Diethyl-3methylbenzamide (DEET), which are carcinogenic and non eco-friendly. The formulation of cream have smooth texture with a pH 7.30 which is non-irritant and suitable for the skin. The efficacy of the extract of Lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus) was investigated on mosquito in this research using different concentrations of the oil extract. The sample (cream) with the highest concentration of the active ingredient extracted was found to be most effective in repelling mosquitoes. Ethanol and Hexane were used to extract the essential oil and Gas chromatography-mass spectrophotometer (GC-MS) was used to analyse the constituents in the extracted active oil. The most abundant constituents observed in the hexane extract are cyclotetracosane (4.05%) and naphthalene (5.03%). Hexane proved to be a better solvent by giving a percentage yield of 7.8% of essential oil while ethanol a percentage of 2.9%

Factors Determining the Willingness to Adopt Grasscutter Domestication Technology among Urban Dwellers in Southwest, Nigeria

This study investigated factors determining the willingness to adopt grasscutter domestication technology in South west, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 160 respondents from 9 urban towns in Oyo, Ogun and Osun States. Well-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was analysed using descriptive analysis, correlational analysis and t-test. Results showed that the majority (69.4%) of the respondents were male and married. Coefficient correlation (r value) at (p< 0.05), shows that there is a significant association between respondents\u2019 educational status, religion, household size, primary as well as secondary education with respondents\u2019 willingness to adopt the technology. There was also found significant relationship between, perceived health status of those who are into the grasscutter technology, perceived nutritional value and economic value of the grasscutter domestication technology with the willingness to adopt the grasscutter domestication technology. The result if the T-test revealed that there is significant relationship between perceived ease of practice and willingness to adopt the technology. The majority of the respondents are willing to rear grasscutter if variables like space, fund, availability of ready-made buyer and feed, breeding stock and training are put into place. However, issues relating to having enough plots of land, funding, ready-made buyer of grasscutter, and training facilities are most germane. It is therefore recommended that funding and training on the adoption of the grasscutter domestication technology should be made available to individuals

Computational analysis of conductive heat transfer in a rectangular slab of stable boundary using Monte Carlo method

Heat transfer is of immense importance in many engineering studies. Monte Carlo technique are broadly utilized in the operation research fields and atomic physics in which difficult problems above the existing tools of theoretical mathematics were resolved. The target of this study is to confirm the short duration in which heat transfer occurs in a quadrilateral slab where the temperature is provided throughout the borderline. An effort was made towards providing appropriate condition for the explanation of the heat transfer in a substance. The Shrinking Periphery Monte Carlo technique was utilized to obtain heat transfer in a helical pattern, upward and downward movement, which was compared with the standard Monte Carlo technique. The result of the study showed that the dimension of the quadrilateral slab determines the duration to calculate temperature dissemination in the system. The study revealed that the helical pattern is the shortest route in computing run time for temperature dispersal in a slab. The helical pattern is paramount in determining temperature distribution in a quadrilateral slab of stable state. The application of this technique to examine the conduction of heat in quadrilateral slabs produced good outcomes

Effect of Fins spacing on the Performance Evaluation of a Refrigeration System using LPG as Refrigerant

In this paper, experimental analysis was carried out on a vapour compression system by varying the parallel tube condenser fins spacing under the same atmospheric condition in a selected Refrigeration and Air-conditioning laboratory to examine the performance characteristics of the refrigeration system. The fins spacing were 2, 4 and 6 mm using Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as working fluid with a mixture proportion of 17.2% isobutene, 56.4% butane, 24.4% propane. The result shows that the coefficient of performance of the system when working with condenser fins spacing of 2 mm was 28.8 and 35.9% higher compared to when the system worked with the fins spacing of 4 and 6 mm respectively. Energy consumed by the single hermetic compressor when the system worked with condenser fins spacing of 2 mm reduced by 16.4 and 18.7% compared to when the refrigerator worked with fins spacing of 4 and 6 mm respectively. The pull down time of the cooling system was attained in 2 hours 45 minute with minimum evaporator temperature of -13 ℃ while working with 30 g mass charge of LP