Analysis of Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) Marketing and Price Trends in Selected Markets of Argungu Local Government Area, Kebbi State, Nigeria

The study analyzed cowpea marketing and price trends in selected rural and urban markets of Argungu Local Government Area, Kebbi State, Nigeria. A single-stage sampling technique was used for sample selection. The samples were collected from purposively selected Kara markets in Argungu (reference market), Felande, Gulma, Lailaba and Sauwa (supplying markets) from the selected Districts. Primary data were obtained from a sample of 100 marketers with the aid of the structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and spatial price model were employed in analyzing the data. Results of the analysis shows an average age of marketers to be 34 years, 69% were married and 62% have formal education with an average household size of 8 persons. However, 73% were discovered not join any cooperative association while 79% of them do not have access to credit to finance their business. Analysis of spatial aspects of pricing efficiency showed that the positive price spread is slightly high, even after considering plausible levels of unmeasured transaction costs. The trend in price revealed higher price per bag during the off-season (N27, 000/bag) in July and August and low (N15, 000) during harvest (October,November, December and January). Temporal aspects showed considerable risk was involved in storage operations to achieve high profits. The marketing channels identified in the study area were; Farmers, Village merchants, Wholesalers, Retailers, Processors and finally the Consumers. The constraints identified in the study area were lack of access to credit (25.69%), inadequate market information (24.59%), inadequate market infrastructure (22.65%), provision of quality product (16.02%) and poor storage facilities (11.05%). It is recommended that sellers should form cooperatives that can support them in provision of physical facilities and better dissemination of market intelligence and facts. Accordingly, to alleviate the problem of access to credit in the study area, awareness campaign and provision of such credit facilities at affordable level by the relevant stakeholders (State and Local Government authorities) could be an excellent  performance in enhancing the marketing activities in the study area

Phytochemical, antifungal and acute toxicity studies of Mitracarpus scaber Zucc. whole plant extracts

Mitracarpus scaber have been reported in the treatment of various ailments such as ulcer, cancer, skin diseases etc. It is therefore important to investigate these plant parts to ascertain their therapeutic potentials. The Mitracarpus scaber whole plant was extracted with water and methanol, screened for their phytochemical properties and antifungal effects. The plant samples were also investigated for alkaloid, flavonoids, saponins, tannins and phenolic contents using quantitative techniques. The antifungal activities of the plant samples were tested against Candida albicans, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Microsporum auduounii and Aspergillus flavus. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Fungicidal Concentration (MFC) of the extracts were also determined. Flavonoid, steroid, triterpenes, tannins, carbohydrate, glycoside, phenols were detected in both extracts while anthraquinones was absent. Alkaloid was detected in the aqueous extract but absent in methanol extract. Quantitatively, the phenols (97.0 mg/g) was the highest phytochemical detected in the plant while the lowest was alkaloid (9.2 mg/g). Toxicity of the samples was expressed as LD50, it was found above 5000 mg/kg and did not cause mortality in all the tested rats. Aqueous extract only showed inhibition on Candida albicans and Trichophyton mentagrophytes with no inhibition on Microsporum auduounii and Aspergillus flavus while ethanol extract only showed inhibition on Candida albicans with no inhibition on Microsporum auduounii, Trichophyton mentagrophytes and Aspergillus flavus at the lowest concentration 12.5 mg/ml. The aqueous extract has MIC and MFC of 12.5 mg/ml and 25 mg/ml respectively against Candidaalbicans and Trichophyton mentagrophytes. Thus, the traditional claims of the uses of the plants as antifungal agents were therefore supported

Model Predictive Control of Blood Pressure and Urine Production Rate for a Physiological Patient Model

The research proposes the design of a model predictive control (MPC) for automatic drug dosing to regulate high blood pressure and urine production rate in an elderly patient. Combining hydrochlorothiazide and oxybutynin is commonly used for regulation of blood pressure in elderly patients. The patient’s model tries to captures the responses to the drugs as the blood pressure and urine production rates attains their various set-points. Hence, this research aims at improving the control scheme which ensured that these two physiological variables are regulated. Simulation was done in MATLAB/Simulink environment with the use of MPC Toolbox, and the controlled variables were constrained to operate at 80mmHg for blood pressure and between 24-49 ml/kg/hr for urine production rate respectively while the manipulated variables remained unconstrained. From the simulation results, the MPC controller achieved good set-point tracking and disturbance rejection, which is an indication of a healthy level of regulation within acceptable tolerances

Antioxidant capacity and antibacterial activity of some phyto-spices against some bacterial isolates of foods origin

Spices that are mostly of plant origin are used in the preparation of almost all processed food to enhance palatability, tastiness, sweetness, and its overall acceptability, without taking into consideration of its medicinal values. The study was conducted to determine the antioxidant capacity and antibacterial activity of the extracts ofAllium sativum,Syzygium aromaticum, andZingiber officinale against some bacterial isolates of foods origin including Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli,Salmonella typhi,Shigella dysentriae,andStaphylococcus aureus. Bacterial isolates of food origin were collected from the laboratory unit of the Department of Microbiology, Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil. Antioxidant capacity of the extracts used was determined using 2,2-diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay while agar disc diffusion techniques were used in the determination of the antibacterial activity. Results show that extracts of the spices exhibited a strong antioxidants capacity that ranges from 89.5% to 97.5% at high concentrations of the extracts with methanol extracts being the most active. Methanolic extracts shows zone of inhibition ranging from 16.45mm to 5.26mm while that of aqueous extracts were 10.32mm to 4.32mm. Meanwhile isolates of E. coli and S. aureus were the most sensitive with 16.45 and 15.32. This study concluded that the antibacterial effect of methanolic extract of Allium sativum extract was stronger in comparison, followed by Syzygium aromaticum and Zingiber officinale against five test bacteria isolated of food origin. Therefore, this study revealed that spices produced using Allium sativum, Syzygium aromaticum and Zingiber officinale have an antibacterial property and can be used for food preservation

Performance Comparison of the Ball and Beam System using Linear Quadratic Regulator Controller

This paper proposes the performance comparison of a linear quadratic regulator (LQR) controller for the ball and beam system (BBS). The BBS is a standard benchmark control system, which has two degree-of-freedom (2 DOF). It is an open loop and a highly nonlinear unstable system. This makes its parameter difficult to be estimated accurately, hence designing a controller for it is a challenging task. MatheThe BBS was modelled using Euler–Lagrange modeling technique, while the LQR controller was used for the stabilization of the ball on the beam. Simulation was done in MATLAB/Simulink 2022b environment, and the results simulated showed that for the two weighting matrices (Q and R), the state weighting matrix had a higher penalty on the ball displacement, ball velocity, beam angle, and beam angular velocity at lower values of Q. For the state weighting matrix had a better effect of penalty performance on the BBS with lower values. Also, as the diagonal element of the state weighting matrix Q increases from 0.1 to 20, the values of the optimal controller K increase, the reduced Ricatti matrix P increases, and the estimated eigenvalues E reduce. This implies that the ball displacement, ball velocity, beam angle, and beam angular velocity are better at lower values of Q

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata): Genetics, genomics and breeding

Article purchased; Published online: 9 May 2018Cowpea, Vigna unguiculata (L.), is an important grain legume grown in the tropics where it constitutes a valuable source of protein in the diets of millions of people. Some abiotic and biotic stresses adversely affect its productivity. A review of the genetics, genomics and breeding of cowpea is presented in this article. Cowpea breeding programmes have studied intensively qualitative and quantitative genetics of the crop to better enhance its improvement. A number of initiatives including Tropical Legumes projects have contributed to the development of cowpea genomic resources. Recent progress in the development of consensus genetic map containing 37,372 SNPs mapped to 3,280 bins will strengthen cowpea trait discovery pipeline. Several informative markers associated with quantitative trait loci (QTL) related to desirable attributes of cowpea were generated. Cowpea genetic improvement activities aim at the development of drought tolerant, phosphorus use efficient, bacterial blight and virus resistant lines through exploiting available genetic resources as well as deployment of modern breeding tools that will enhance genetic gain when grown by sub‐Saharan Africa farmers

Will Africans take COVID-19 vaccination?

The economic and humanistic impact of COVID-19 pandemic is enormous globally. No definitive treatment exists, hence accelerated development and approval of COVID-19 vaccines, offers a unique opportunity for COVID-19 prevention and control. Vaccine hesitancy may limit the success of vaccine distribution in Africa, therefore we assessed the potentials for coronavirus vaccine hesitancy and its determinants among Africans. An online crosssectional African-wide survey was administered in Arabic, English, and French languages. Questions on demographics, self-reported health status, vaccine literacy, knowledge and perception on vaccines, past experience, behavior, infection risk, willingness to receive and affordability of the SARS-COV-2 vaccine were asked. Data were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics. A total of 5,416 individuals completed the survey. Approximately, 94% were residents of 34 African countries while the other Africans live in the Diaspora. Only 63% of all participants surveyed were willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccination as soon as possible and 79% were worried about its side effects. Thirty-nine percent expressed concerns of vaccine-associated infection. The odds of vaccine hesitancy was 0.28 (95% CI: 0.22, 0.30) among those who believed their risk of infection was very high, compared to those who believed otherwise. The odds of vaccine hesitancy was one-fifth (OR = 0.21, 95% CI: 0.16, 0.28) among those who believed their risk of falling sick was very high, compared to those who believed their risk of falling very sick was very low. The OR of vaccine hesitancy was 2.72 (95% CI: 2.24, 3.31) among those who have previously refused a vaccine for themselves or their child compared to counterparts with no self-reported history of vaccine hesitancy. Participants want the vaccines to be mandatory (40%), provided free of charge (78%) and distributed in homes and offices (44%). COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is substantial among Africans based on perceived risk of coronavirus infection and past experiences.http://www.plosone.orgam2022Veterinary Tropical Disease

Will Africans take COVID-19 vaccination?

The economic and humanistic impact of COVID-19 pandemic is enormous globally. No definitive treatment exists, hence accelerated development and approval of COVID-19 vaccines, offers a unique opportunity for COVID-19 prevention and control. Vaccine hesitancy may limit the success of vaccine distribution in Africa, therefore we assessed the potentials for coronavirus vaccine hesitancy and its determinants among Africans. An online cross-sectional African-wide survey was administered in Arabic, English, and French languages. Questions on demographics, self-reported health status, vaccine literacy, knowledge and perception on vaccines, past experience, behavior, infection risk, willingness to receive and affordability of the SARS-COV-2 vaccine were asked. Data were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics. A total of 5,416 individuals completed the survey. Approximately, 94% were residents of 34 African countries while the other Africans live in the Diaspora. Only 63% of all participants surveyed were willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccination as soon as possible and 79% were worried about its side effects. Thirty-nine percent expressed concerns of vaccine-associated infection. The odds of vaccine hesitancy was 0.28 (95% CI: 0.22, 0.30) among those who believed their risk of infection was very high, compared to those who believed otherwise. The odds of vaccine hesitancy was one-fifth (OR = 0.21, 95% CI: 0.16, 0.28) among those who believed their risk of falling sick was very high, compared to those who believed their risk of falling very sick was very low. The OR of vaccine hesitancy was 2.72 (95% CI: 2.24, 3.31) among those who have previously refused a vaccine for themselves or their child compared to counterparts with no self-reported history of vaccine hesitancy. Participants want the vaccines to be mandatory (40%), provided free of charge (78%) and distributed in homes and offices (44%). COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is substantial among Africans based on perceived risk of coronavirus infection and past experiences

The global, regional, and national burden of adult lip, oral, and pharyngeal cancer in 204 countries and territories:A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Importance Lip, oral, and pharyngeal cancers are important contributors to cancer burden worldwide, and a comprehensive evaluation of their burden globally, regionally, and nationally is crucial for effective policy planning.Objective To analyze the total and risk-attributable burden of lip and oral cavity cancer (LOC) and other pharyngeal cancer (OPC) for 204 countries and territories and by Socio-demographic Index (SDI) using 2019 Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) Study estimates.Evidence Review The incidence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) due to LOC and OPC from 1990 to 2019 were estimated using GBD 2019 methods. The GBD 2019 comparative risk assessment framework was used to estimate the proportion of deaths and DALYs for LOC and OPC attributable to smoking, tobacco, and alcohol consumption in 2019.Findings In 2019, 370 000 (95% uncertainty interval [UI], 338 000-401 000) cases and 199 000 (95% UI, 181 000-217 000) deaths for LOC and 167 000 (95% UI, 153 000-180 000) cases and 114 000 (95% UI, 103 000-126 000) deaths for OPC were estimated to occur globally, contributing 5.5 million (95% UI, 5.0-6.0 million) and 3.2 million (95% UI, 2.9-3.6 million) DALYs, respectively. From 1990 to 2019, low-middle and low SDI regions consistently showed the highest age-standardized mortality rates due to LOC and OPC, while the high SDI strata exhibited age-standardized incidence rates decreasing for LOC and increasing for OPC. Globally in 2019, smoking had the greatest contribution to risk-attributable OPC deaths for both sexes (55.8% [95% UI, 49.2%-62.0%] of all OPC deaths in male individuals and 17.4% [95% UI, 13.8%-21.2%] of all OPC deaths in female individuals). Smoking and alcohol both contributed to substantial LOC deaths globally among male individuals (42.3% [95% UI, 35.2%-48.6%] and 40.2% [95% UI, 33.3%-46.8%] of all risk-attributable cancer deaths, respectively), while chewing tobacco contributed to the greatest attributable LOC deaths among female individuals (27.6% [95% UI, 21.5%-33.8%]), driven by high risk-attributable burden in South and Southeast Asia.Conclusions and Relevance In this systematic analysis, disparities in LOC and OPC burden existed across the SDI spectrum, and a considerable percentage of burden was attributable to tobacco and alcohol use. These estimates can contribute to an understanding of the distribution and disparities in LOC and OPC burden globally and support cancer control planning efforts

The global burden of adolescent and young adult cancer in 2019 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background In estimating the global burden of cancer, adolescents and young adults with cancer are often overlooked, despite being a distinct subgroup with unique epidemiology, clinical care needs, and societal impact. Comprehensive estimates of the global cancer burden in adolescents and young adults (aged 15-39 years) are lacking. To address this gap, we analysed results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019, with a focus on the outcome of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), to inform global cancer control measures in adolescents and young adults. Methods Using the GBD 2019 methodology, international mortality data were collected from vital registration systems, verbal autopsies, and population-based cancer registry inputs modelled with mortality-to-incidence ratios (MIRs). Incidence was computed with mortality estimates and corresponding MIRs. Prevalence estimates were calculated using modelled survival and multiplied by disability weights to obtain years lived with disability (YLDs). Years of life lost (YLLs) were calculated as age-specific cancer deaths multiplied by the standard life expectancy at the age of death. The main outcome was DALYs (the sum of YLLs and YLDs). Estimates were presented globally and by Socio-demographic Index (SDI) quintiles (countries ranked and divided into five equal SDI groups), and all estimates were presented with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). For this analysis, we used the age range of 15-39 years to define adolescents and young adults. Findings There were 1.19 million (95% UI 1.11-1.28) incident cancer cases and 396 000 (370 000-425 000) deaths due to cancer among people aged 15-39 years worldwide in 2019. The highest age-standardised incidence rates occurred in high SDI (59.6 [54.5-65.7] per 100 000 person-years) and high-middle SDI countries (53.2 [48.8-57.9] per 100 000 person-years), while the highest age-standardised mortality rates were in low-middle SDI (14.2 [12.9-15.6] per 100 000 person-years) and middle SDI (13.6 [12.6-14.8] per 100 000 person-years) countries. In 2019, adolescent and young adult cancers contributed 23.5 million (21.9-25.2) DALYs to the global burden of disease, of which 2.7% (1.9-3.6) came from YLDs and 97.3% (96.4-98.1) from YLLs. Cancer was the fourth leading cause of death and tenth leading cause of DALYs in adolescents and young adults globally. Interpretation Adolescent and young adult cancers contributed substantially to the overall adolescent and young adult disease burden globally in 2019. These results provide new insights into the distribution and magnitude of the adolescent and young adult cancer burden around the world. With notable differences observed across SDI settings, these estimates can inform global and country-level cancer control efforts. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe