Design, fabrication and performance evaluation of a portable hand-held refractometer

Refractometer is a simple optical instrument that measures the amount of light refracted in a liquid. It measures on a "Brix" scale and the Brix level determines the flavor and quality of fruits and vegetables. The fabricated refractometer has built-in temperature compensations for Brix measurements and it is only valid for fruit juices solutions The refractometer is equipped with a thermometer and there is a means of circulating water through the refractometer to maintain a given temperature The designed refractometer consists of a light source, filtered to a single wavelength, which is directed towards the prism-sample interface by a converging lens. This creates a range of incidence angles, some of which will be completely reflected. A Charge-coupled Device (CCD) sensor precisely measures the intensity of the reflected light and determines the exact angle at which light begins to be completely reflected. The fabricated refractomter consists of six main parts which include focus adjustment, calibration screw, daylight plate, eye piece, rubber grip and main prism assembly. Actual tests were conducted using samples of orange, pineapple and cashew juices at certain levels of pH values. The average percentage Brix values of orange, cashew and pineapple juices are 7.88%, 10.84% and 6.91% respectively. It was observed that cashew juice has highest percentage Brix followed by orange and pineapple juices. This implies that cashew juice can deteriorate faster than the other two juices. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the effect of temperature and pH used for the experiment show that F-calculated (4.248) is greater than F-table (3.35) at 5% probability level; therefore, the pH of fruit juice has an effect on its brix value. It appears that the rate of pH or temperature sensitivity of the fabricated refractometer used could not be the actual or maximum rate for the experimentKeywords: Design, Fabrication, Portable, Refractometer, pH, Temperatur

Community Pharmacists' Competence for Educating Asthmatic Patients on the Use of Inhalers and the Peak Flow Meter.

Community pharmacists are readily accessible to patients for counselling services on their disease state, medications and medical devices. Previous studies have reported asthma patients’ poor inhaler techniques. This study evaluated community pharmacists’ competence for educating asthmatic patients on the use of asthma devices. The cross-sectional study was conducted with community pharmacists in Enugu State, Nigeria (May 2017 – July 2017). A 29-item structured self-administered questionnaire assessing information on stock, action plan for pharmacists, interventions with asthma patients and factors influencing these interventions was utilized. Validated checklists assessed inhaler techniques and peak flow meter use, from participants’ demonstrations. Dummy inhalers and peak flow meters were used to teach correct techniques. Of the 116 registered community pharmacists, 62 completed and returned their questionnaires (53.4% participation rate). More than half of the participants were less than 40 years old (63%), male (71.0%), had community pharmacy experience less than 10 years (67.7%). Few of the community pharmacists (3.2%) stocked spacers or peak flow meters. More than half (71%) of the participants claimed to educate patients on correct inhaler techniques but a quarter (24.2%) agreed that they lacked competence to educate on inhaler techniques. Less than half of them (46.8%) were willing to intervene with asthma patients. Summarily, the demonstrated good techniques were: pMDI (35.5%), Accuhaler (29.0%), Turbuhaler (14.5%), pMDI plus spacer (9.7%), peak flow meter (4.8%). The community pharmacists demonstrated poor inhaler techniques and were deficient in the knowledge of peak flow meter use which limited their roles in asthma management

Right posterior diaphragmatic hernia with omphalocele management challenges and benefit of multidisciplinary and multi-inst.pdf

Right posterior congenitaldiaphragmatic hernias (CDH) withliver herniations pose a hugemanagement challenge to thepaediatric surgeons world over. Itsassociation with anterior abdominalwall defects portends a poorerprognosis.We report a case of a day- old malereferred to our centre withbreathlessness, anterior abdominalwall defect and persistent pooroxygen saturation. Clinical andimaging evaluations aided thediagnosis of a right posteriorcongenital diaphragmatic hernia withomphalocele and divarication of recti.Due to dearth of resources, amultidisciplinary team of paediatricsurgeons, cardiothoracic surgeon,paediatricians and an intensivist wereassembled and care was undertakenin two centres to complement inmanpower and facility deficiencies.This in so many ways mitigatedagainst likely managementdifficulties, morbidities and evenmortality. CONCLUSION; Right congenitaldiaphragmatic hernias (CDH) in aresource constrained environmentcan be successfully managed withgood clinical and multicentrecollaborations

Preliminary evaluation of the combined anticonvulsant activities of ethanol leaf extracts of Newbouldia laevis, Melissa officinalis, and unripe fruit of Musa paradisiaca

In the present study, local Nigerian plants (Newbouldia laevis, Melissa officinalis, Musa paradisiaca) used folklorically against epilepsy, were evaluated for combined anticonvulsant activity in combination. Their anticonvulsant activity, individually and in combination was evaluated in mice using the pentylene tetrazole model. The order of decreasing anticonvulsant activity for the individual plants is 200 mg/kg M. paradisiaca (56.00 %) > 100 mg/kg M. paradisiaca (51.48 %) > 200 mg/kg M. officinalis (46.78 %) > 200 mg/kg N. laevis (43.09 %) > 100 mg/kg N. laevis (37.75 %) = 100 mg/kg M. officinalis (37.75 %). The percentage inhibition of the combined extracts shows 50 mg/kg:50 mg/kg ratio NBL/MP had the highest inhibition of 61.17 %. This may justify this ethnomedicinal combination since this was achieved at low doses of the respective constituent herbs. The order of decreasing inhibition by the combinations is 50:50 NBL/MP > 100:100 NBL/MP > 100:100 NBL/MO > 50:50 NBL/MO. None of the animals died. The above notwithstanding, the combinations may afford an enhanced activity in other seizure types. The anticonvulsant activity of the combinations is neither synergistic nor additive. However, the combination (50 mg/kg NBL and 50 mg/kg MP) provided activity comparable to carbamazepine, and may justify its ethnomedicinal use. Other plant combinations may be explored in search of a synergistic anticonvulsant effect.Keywords: polyherbal, Musa paradisiaca, Newbouldia laevis, Melissa officinalis, anticonvulsant

Synthesis and characterization of Cu(II), Co(II) and Ni(II) complexes of a benzohydrazone derivative: Spectroscopic, DFT, antipathogenic and DNA binding studies

Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) complexes of a benzohydrazone derivative, obtained by the reaction of dehydroacetic acid and benzohydrazide, have been synthesized and characterized by conventional spectroscopic techniques, elemental analyses, magnetic susceptibility and conductivity methods, and screened for antibacterial, DNA binding and cleavage properties. Spectroscopic, magnetic and elemental analyses indicated a square planar and a tetrahedral geometries with formula, [M(L) 2 ], for the Ni(II) and Co(II) complexes, respectively, while a tetrahedral geometry of formula, [ML(H 2 O) 2 ]·CH 3 COO - , was adopted for the Cu(II) complex. The Ni and Co complexes were non-electrolytes with molar conductance within the range of 11.46–14.01 ? -1 cm 2 mol -1 , while the copper complex was a 1:1 electrolyte in DMSO with a value of 55.11 ? -1 cm 2 mol -1 . The copper complex had the highest antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 29213). DNA cleavage activities of the compounds, evaluated on pBR322 DNA by agarose gel electrophoresis in the presence and absence of peroxide oxidant (H 2 O 2 ) and free radical scavenger (DMSO), indicated no activity for the ligand, and a moderate activity for the complexes, with the copper complex cleaving more efficiently in the presence of H 2 O 2 . Upon evaluating the complexes for antimicrobial and A-DNA activities using molecular docking technique the copper complex was found to be most effective against Gram-positive (S. aureus) bacteria. [CuL(H 2 O) 2 ] + showed good interaction with hydrogen bonding with the major-groove (C 2 .G 13 base pair) of A-DNA. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations of structural and electronic properties of complexes revealed that [CuL(H 2 O) 2 ] + had a smaller HOMO-LUMO gap, suggesting a higher tendency to donate electrons to electron accepting species of biological targets. © 201