Effect of period of harvest on drying characteristics of an improved variety cowpea (IT 97K-56S-IS)

Shattering loss and loss due to pest attack significantly reduce the quantity and quality of cowpea that can be harvested from the field, hence, the possibility of early harvest of cowpea was investigated. Thin-layer drying kinetics of IT 97K-56S-IS was experimentally investigated in a convective dryer and mathematical modelling was performed by using five thin layer drying models. Experiments were performed on samples harvested 60, 64, 68 and 72 Days After Planting (DAP) and drying temperature of 55, 65, 75 and 85ºC. The effect of period of harvest and drying temperature on the drying characteristics and nutritional content of the dried products were determined. The models performance was evaluated by comparing the coefficient of determination (R2) and root mean square error (RMSE) relating the experimental and predicted moisture ratios through non-linear regression analysis. The values of the R2 and RMSE vary from 0.967 - 1.000 and 0.001 - 0.061 respectively. Drying process was discovered to have taken place during falling rate period; Page and Logarithmic model gave the best fit with the highest R2 value of 0.998 and 1.000 and lowest RMSE values of 0.015 and 0.001 respectively. Proximate analysis result of IT 97K-56S-IS indicates that, carbohydrate content and crude protein ranges between 61.91 - 64.40%; 20.74 - 21.17% respectively.

Caregivers' perceptions of cleft deformity and experiences in accessing cleft services at a tertiary public hospital in Sokoto, NorthWest, Nigeria

Magister Public Health - MPHCleft lip and/or palate deformity is the most common facial birth defect with an incidence of 1 in 600 for every live birth worldwide. Despite the availability of specialised cleft care in Nigeria, many cleft patients are not aware that CL±Ps can be repaired and, thus, present late for treatment. As a result, there is a high incidence of unoperated CL±P in the country which has a grim negative health impact on the population. Furthermore, it was noted that the family caregivers including parents and other members of the extended family are crucial in getting early care for these children with CL±P. Therefore, understanding the perception of CL±P, attitude and experience with cleft services would go a long way in reducing the problem of late presentation and under-utilisation of these services. Therefore, the aim of the study was to explore the care givers’ perception and experience in accessing cleft services at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, Nigeria. In this study, we employed an exploratory qualitative methodology that gave deep insights and provided clear understanding of the perceptions by caregivers of children with CL±P on the aetiology of cleft, family reactions and their experience in accessing cleft services at our hospital. Data analysis was done following verbatim transcription using thematic analysis. Ethics statement: Before commencement of the study, ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Boards of the University of Western Cape and the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital Health Research and Ethics Committee. Informed consent was sought from each prospective participant and the signed form appropriately documented

Ownership and Acquisition of Land, Land-Grabbers and Land-Grabbing in Lagos and Ogun States

Land is an indispensable natural resource for both the survival and prosperity of mankind. The quest for land keeps increasing every day due to human and capital growth globally. Lands are being forcefully acquired by the government from their owners on the pretext of overriding public interest. High demand for land and its insufficiency have resulted in land grabbing in Lagos and Ogun States, in address the menace, both states passed into law, the Lagos State Property Protection Law, 2016, and Ogun State Prohibition of Forcible Occupation of Landed Properties, Armed Robbery, Kidnapping, Cultism and other Anti-Violent and Related Offences Law, 2016, respectively. At the inception of the laws and their implementation, the inhabitants, and land owners of the states thought that succor came their way and it was the end of land grabbing. Conversely, the laws had achieved nothing in eradicating land grabbing in the states. This study investigated ownership and acquisition of land, land grabbers, and land-grabbing in Lagos and Ogun States. Doctrinal methodology was adopted for the research. The paper revealed that the inadequacy of land, greediness of landowners, compulsory/forceful acquisition of land, poverty, and lack of employment among the youths, the law enforcement agents who are saddled with the responsibility of implementing the anti-land-grabbing laws compromised their standards and that the judiciary has not made any clear pronouncements on the land-grabbing cases pending in the law courts of the two states to serve as deterrent resulted in land-grabbing in both states. The study recommended that compensation be paid to the landowners for the land compulsorily/forcefully acquired, employment be provided for the youths, there should be public enlightenment in the states on the implications of land-grabbers and land-grabbing in the society, the judiciary in both states should brace up in dispensing justice in this critical area of endeavour, by decisively and timely, determining land-grabbing cases before them and that the Nigeria Police and other related law enforcement agencies should stop aiding land grabbers in committing crimes related to land-grabbing in both states. Keywords: Land, land-grabbing, Lagos and Ogun States, ownership and acquisition, Land Use Act DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/135-07 Publication date:August 31st 202

Physicochemical Properties of Breadfruit-Bambara Groundnut Flour Blends and Sensory Acceptability of Their Dumpling Dough

This study explored the possibility of producing flours from underutilized crops (breadfruit and bambara groundnut) that could replace relatively expensive tuber and cereal flours usually used to prepare dumpling dough, a favourite food item in Sub-sahara Africa. Flours were produced from breadfruit and bambara groundnut, the flours were mixed in the following proportion, 100%:0%; 90%:10%; 80%:20%; 70%:30% and 60%:40% respectively to produce five breadfruit-bambara groundnut flour blends. Functional and pasting properties of the flour blends were evaluated using standard methods. Each of the flour blends was made into dumpling dough and the sensory evaluation of the dough was carried out. Commercial whole wheat flour was used as control. The functional properties of the flour blends were: swelling power 5.1 – 6.2, water absorption capacity 5.2 – 6.4 ml/g, oil absorption capacity 1.2 – 2.6 ml/g, least gelation concentration 10.0 – 14.0%, dispersibility 57.0 – 69.0%, wetability 56.0 – 66.0 seconds, packed bulk density 0.55 – 0.66 g/ml and loose bulk density 0.32 – 0.34 g/ml. Pasting properties of the flour blends were significantly different; peak viscosity, hot paste viscosity, final viscosity and setback viscosity were in the range 468.0 – 1257.0 cP, 527.0 – 1241.0 cP, 608.0 – 2317.0 cP and 81.0 – 1076.0 cP respectively. Flour blend produced from 80% breadfruit flour and 20% bambara groundnut flour had exceptionally high pasting values. Variation in the functional and pasting properties of the flour blends could enhance their use in different food applications. The result of sensory evaluation of the dumpling dough produced showed that dough produced from 80% breadfruit flour and 20% bambara groundnut flour blend was the most preferred and it compared favourably with dumpling dough produced from the control. Keywords: Dumpling dough, functional properties, pasting properties, sensory acceptability DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/95-05 Publication date:March 31st 202

Between the Public and the Private Interest: The Interrelationship of Intermediary Roles of Environmental Nonprofits in Coastal Resilience

Government regulators cannot mitigate the loss of wetlands and coastal erosion alone. Nonprofits, uniquely situated between coastal property owners with personal interests and governments with regulatory interests, are positioned to mediate the interests of different parties while considering local context and individual circumstances. However, it is unclear what roles environmental nonprofits play within the network of actors. This study asks: (1) What roles do environmental nonprofit organizations play in local stakeholder network arrangements for wetlands conservation and shoreline management? (2) How are these roles interrelated? We use two frameworks describing the roles of nonprofits to examine the roles of environmental nonprofits within the network of actors that seek to mitigate loss of wetlands and coastal erosion by focusing on living shorelines as shoreline management solutions utilizing natural and nature-based features. We show how these roles are interrelated to provide context for how government can leverage nonprofits in achieving regulatory outcomes

Odontogenic tumours in Nigeria : a multicentre study of 582 cases and review of the literature

The objective of this study was to classify the various types of odontogenic tumours (OTs) using the newly updated 2017 world health organization (WHO) histological typing and to analyze the prevalence of these tumours among Nigerians as well as to compare the results obtained with reports from world-wide studies. The records of four major tertiary hospitals in Nigeria were reviewed over a 12-year (2004-2015) period. Lesions diagnosed as odontogenic tumours were classified into four groups according to the 2017 WHO histological typing. Data which consisted of age, sex and site were analyzed using SPSS for Window (version 20.0; SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) and frequency tables were computed. A total of 582 OTs were recorded and reviewed, benign OTs were 573 (98.5%) cases and malignant OTs were 9 (1.5%) cases. Of the benign OTs, the epithelial OTs were the commonest (500; 86%) while the benign mixed OTs were the least frequent (21; 3.6%). The mean age was 30±14 years (age range of 3?77years) and the peak age was in the third decade (197; 33.8%) of life. There was slight male gender and strong mandibular site predilection. Ameloblastoma, was the most frequent OT and it accounted for 75.5% of the OTs, followed by adenomatoid odontogenic tumour (8.1%) and odontogenic myxoma (7.2%). Malignant OTs accounted for 1.5% of the OTs. OTs show a geographic variation with tendency for prevalence of the epithelial OTs in Africa. Ameloblastoma has a high prevalence among Nigerians and is the most common OTs in Africa. Prevalence of odontoma is relatively low in developing African countries like Nigeria when compared to the prevalence in developed countries

Biochemical and histological changes associated with Ruzu herbal bitters (RHB) in non-morbid rodents.docx

Background & Aim: In developing countries, the use of herbal preparations has gained much attraction not only for therapeutic purposes but, also for prophylaxis. This study was conducted to determine the effect of a popular Nigeria commercial herbal preparation; Ruzu herbal bitters (RHB) on some biochemical indicators of liver function as well as histology in non-morbid rats. Experimental: Thirty-five adult Wistar rats divided into seven experimental groups (A-G) of five rats each were used for this investigation. Rats in group A were not treated with RHB and served as control. Rats in groups B-G received 0.2 mL, 0.4 mL, 0.6 mL, 0.8 mL, 1.0 mL and 1.2 mL of RHB twice daily by gavage, respectively. All rats were exposed to experimental conditions for two weeks. Blood was collected and analyzed for Total bilirubin (TB), Direct Bilirubin (DB) as well as activities of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), alanine amino transferase (ALT) and aspartate amino transferase (AST). Liver and testicular tissues were processed by standard histological method and stained for microscopy. Results: Rats treated with experimental doses of RHB exhibited lower levels of TB, DB, AST, ALT and ALP in comparison with rats in the control group which had higher values. Rats in the control group had normal liver and testicular tissue morphology while rats given experimental doses of RHB exhibited hepatocellular degeneration, cytoplasmic degeneration, vacuolation, presence of haemorrhage, inflammatory cell infiltration, condensed nuclei and minimal fibrosis in the periportal area. Testicular tissue appeared normal in RHB treated rats. Thus, administration of RHB on non-morbid rats within experimental conditions appears to significantly improve the biochemical indices of liver function (TB, DB, AST, ALT and ALP) but with residual degenerative effects on liver morphology. Recommended applications/industries: RHB is therefore recommended for therapeutics and not for prophylaxis

Qualitative Assessment of Surgical Repair of Three Types of Unilateral Cleft Lip

Objective: To assess the effect of the three types of unilateral cleft lip (UCL) [cleft lip only, cleft lip and alveolus, and cleft lip alveolus and palate] on the outcome of the repair. Material and Methods: This study was a case series of effect of types of UCL on the outcome of the repair. Fifteen subjects each were in three UCL phenotypes groups. Evaluation of the scar, lip, and nose was done qualitatively by both parents/guardians and professionals using a modified form of the criteria described by Christofides et al. (2006). Results: In the assessment of the surgical scar, the parents found a difference between the three types of cleft in terms of texture, shape, and width of the scar and presence of columella deviation. The professional assessors, however, only found the three types of cleft to be different in the presence of alar flattening. Conclusion: Differences truly exist in the outcome of surgical repair of the three types of unilateral cleft lip, especially in the aesthetics of the nose and in the width and shape of the residual lip scar. Thus, it is important to consider this in the assessment of UCL repair because putting the subtypes together might have a negative impact on the assessment

Revitalizing a Traditional Market Space in Ile-Ife, Nigeria: An Analysis of Environmental Quality Indicators and Policy Implications

Traditional market settings in Nigeria have been observed to be poor in environmental quality and less conducive for human physical and economic wellbeing. The physical conditions of the markets have been used to draw conclusions in livability of the space. Policy options to revitalize the overall environmental quality of market spaces require users’ inputs. The study, therefore, examined the environmental quality of a traditional market space in Nigeria, specifically focusing on Odo-Ogbe in Ile-Ife, and explored the potential for policy interventions to revitalize the market. The study was carried out among everyday users of the market. Information obtained through questionnaire administration was the users’ socio-economic backgrounds and twenty-three variables having social, economic and environmental characteristics. Physical observation was also carried out for an all-inclusive environment assessment of the market. Using systematic random and purposive sampling techniques, 119 market users were selected for the survey. Results showed that, the majority of the users were married (64.7%), females (74.8%), who had one form of educational qualification or the other (89.9%). Using an index tagged “Users’ Environmental Quality Index” (UEQI), sixteen environmental quality indicators were rated to be important. Among these were “availability of electricity (UEQI=4.68)”, “availability of water (UEQI=4.52)”, and “clean and healthy environment (UEQI=4.18)”. The study recommended that the government concerned with city administration should pull financial and human resources together to provide facilities and services related to users’ environmental quality indicator data for effective revitalization of the market space