Effects of processing methods on nutritive values of Ekuru from two cultivars of beans (Vigna unguiculata and Vigna angustifoliata)

Beans contain substantial amount of protein, dietary fibre, B-vitamins, minerals, and anti-nutrients which limit their utilisation. Processing reduce the level of antinutrients in plant products but little information exist on effects of processing methods on nutrient and antinutrient composition of bean products. This study was undertaken to determine the effects of processing methods on nutrient and antinutrient composition, and micronutrient potential of bean paste (Ekuru) from two cultivars of beans, white (Vigna unguiculata) and red (Vigna angustifoliata) species of beans which were processed into white and brown Ekuru using standardised traditional methods. 100 g of raw V. unguiculata and V. angustifoliata contained 22.83 and 23.94 g protein, 1.94 and 2.11 g crude lipid, 30 and 29 mg sodium, 1.110 and 1.124 mg potassium, 390 and 130 mg phosphorus, 10.65 and 10.95 mg iron and 5.87 and 5.95 mg zinc, respectively. Ekuru products contained between 18.76 and 21.90 g protein, 0.81 and 1.38 g crude lipid, 20.00 and 90.00 mg sodium, 870 and 1124 mg potassium, 8.16 and 8.36 mg iron and 4.87 and 5.21 mg zinc, respectively. Processing decreased the nutrient content of the products compared with raw samples, the red bean product was higher in crude protein, crude lipid and ash; while the white bean product was higher in crude fibre and moisture content. The bean products were very low in antinutrients, with no trypsin inhibitors. Ekuru samples can be good sources of plant protein, nonhaeme iron and zinc, and their consumption should be encouraged.Key words: Processing methods, nutritive value, antinutrients, Ekuru, Vigna unguiculata, Vigna angustifoliata

Feedback Effect on Landau-Zener-Stueckelberg Transitions in Magnetic Systems

We examine the effect of the dynamics of the internal magnetic field on the staircase magnetization curves observed in large-spin molecular magnets. We show that the size of the magnetization steps depends sensitively on the intermolecular interactions, even if these are very small compared to the intra-molecular couplings.Comment: 4 pages, 3 Postscript figures; paper reorganized, conclusions modifie

“Public Policy is Like Having a Vaudeville Act”: Languages of Duty and Difference among Think Tank-Affiliated Policy Experts

This research note uses in-depth interviews, ethnographic observations, and archival records to examine the self-understandings of think tank-affiliated policy experts. I argue that policy experts draw on a series of idioms—those of the academic scholar, the political aide, the entrepreneur, and the media specialist—to construct a unique albeit synthetic professional identity. The essence of the policy expert’s role lies in a continuous effort to balance and reconcile the contradictory imperatives associated with these idioms. An analysis of the policy expert’s mixed “professional psyche” offers a useful point of entry into the objective social structure of the think tank

Magnetization of Mn_12 Ac in a slowly varying magnetic field: an ab initio study

Beginning with a Heisenberg spin Hamiltonian for the manganese ions in the Mn_12 Ac molecule, we find a number of low-energy states of the system. We use these states to solve the time-dependent Schrodinger equation and find the magnetization of the molecule in the presence of a slowly varying magnetic field. We study the effects of the field sweep rate, fourth order anisotropic spin interactions and a transverse field on the weights of the different states as well as the magnetization steps which are known to occur in the hysteresis plots in this system. We find that the fourth order term and a slow field sweep rate are crucial for obtaining prominent steps in magnetization in the hysteresis plots.Comment: LaTeX, 11 pages, 12 eps figure

Development of the Global Ozone Lidar Demonstrator (GOLD) Instrument for Deployment on the NASA Global Hawk

A compact ozone (O3) and aerosol lidar system is being developed for conducting global atmospheric investigations from the NASA Global Hawk Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and for enabling the development and test of a space-based O3 and aerosol lidar. GOLD incorporates advanced technologies and designs to produce a compact, autonomously operating O3 and aerosol Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) system for a UAV platform. The GOLD system leverages advanced Nd:YAG and optical parametric oscillator laser technologies and receiver optics, detectors, and electronics. Significant progress has been made toward the development of the GOLD system, and this paper describes the objectives of this program, basic design of the GOLD system, and results from initial ground-based atmospheric tests

Nonexponential Relaxation of Magnetization at the Resonant Tunneling Point under a Fluctuating Random Noise

Nonexponential relaxation of magnetization at resonant tunneling points of nanoscale molecular magnets is interpreted to be an effect of fluctuating random field around the applied field. We demonstrate such relaxation in Langevin equation analysis and clarify how the initial relaxation (square-root time) changes to the exponential decay. The scaling properties of the relaxation are also discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 fgiure

Chemical injuries of the oesophagus: aetiopathological issues in Nigeria

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Chemical injuries of the oesophagus occur worldwide. There is paucity of information on aetiopathological profile of chemical injuries of the oesophagus in Nigeria.</p> <p>Aim</p> <p>The aim of the study was to determine the aetiopathological pattern of chemical injuries of the oesophagus in Nigeria.</p> <p>Materials and methods</p> <p>This is a multi-centre hospital based study in Lagos metropolis spanning a period of 10 years.</p> <p>The patients' bio data, substances ingested, sources of corrosives, reasons for ingesting corrosives and patients' mental state were recorded.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In all, there were 78 patients (61 Males, 17 Females). The offending agents were acids in 55.1% of cases and it was accidental ingestion in 62 patients. The highest incidence of 57.6% was found in the middle 1/3 of the oesophagus.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Accidental ingestion of acids is the commonest cause of oesophageal injuries in Nigeria. The incidence of severe strictures necessitating oesophageal substitution could be reduced if early management of corrosive oesophagitis improves in Nigeria.</p

Influence of depression and interpersonal support on adherence to antiretroviral therapy among people living with HIV

BackgroundPoor adherence and under-utilization of antiretroviral therapy (ART) services have been major setbacks to achieving 95-95-95 policy goals in Sub-Saharan Africa. Social support and mental health challenges may serve as barriers to accessing and adhering to ART but are under-studied in low-income countries. The purpose of this study was to examine the association of interpersonal support and depression scores with adherence to ART among persons living with HIV (PLWH) in the Volta region of Ghana.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional survey among 181 PLWH 18 years or older who receive care at an ART clinic between November 2021 and March 2022. The questionnaire included a 6-item simplified ART adherence scale, the 20-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and the 12-item Interpersonal Support Evaluation List-12 (ISEL-12). We first used a chi-squared or Fisher’s exact test to assess the association between these and additional demographic variables with ART adherence status. We then built a stepwise multivariable logistic regression model to explain ART adherence.ResultsART adherence was 34%. The threshold for depression was met by 23% of participants, but it was not significantly associated with adherence in multivariate analysis(p = 0.25). High social support was reported by 48.1%, and associated with adherence (p = 0.033, aOR = 3.45, 95% CI = 1.09–5.88). Other factors associated with adherence included in the multivariable model included not disclosing HIV status (p = 0.044, aOR = 2.17, 95% CI = 1.03–4.54) and not living in an urban area (p = 0.00037, aOR = 0.24, 95% CI = 0.11–0.52).ConclusionInterpersonal support, rural residence, and not disclosing HIV status were independent predictors of adherence to ART in the study area

Visualisation of CP-violation effects in decay-time-dependent analyses of multibody B-meson decays

Decay-time-dependent CP-violation effects in transitions of neutral B mesons to CP-eigenstates can be visualised by oscillations in the asymmetry, as a function of decay time, between decay yields from mesons tagged as initially having B or B flavour. Such images, for example for B0 → J/ψK0 S decays where the magnitude of the oscillation is proportional to sin(2β) with β being an angle of the Cabibbo–Kobayashi–Maskawa Unitarity Triangle, provide a straightforward illustration of the underlying physics. Until now there has been no comparable method to provide visualisation for the case of decays to multibody final states that are not CP-eigenstates, where interference between CPeven and -odd amplitudes provides additional physics sensitivity. A method is proposed to weight the data so that the terms of interest can be projected out and used to obtain asymmetries that visualise the relevant effects. Application of the weighting to B0 s decays, where effects due to non-zero width difference are not negligible, provides a novel method to observe CP violation in interference between mixing and decay without tagging the production flavour

Gene transfer: anything goes in plant mitochondria

Parasitic plants and their hosts have proven remarkably adept at exchanging fragments of mitochondrial DNA. Two recent studies provide important mechanistic insights into the pattern, process and consequences of horizontal gene transfer, demonstrating that genes can be transferred in large chunks and that gene conversion between foreign and native genes leads to intragenic mosaicism. A model involving duplicative horizontal gene transfer and differential gene conversion is proposed as a hitherto unrecognized source of genetic diversity