Characteristics and outcomes of acute heart failure in sub Saharan Africa

The main objective of this thesis was to study the clinical characteristics and short-term (6 months) outcome of acute heart failure as well as determine the role of conventional biomarker BNP and the novel biomarker Gal3 in the prognostication of acute heart failure patients. To achieve this, we investigated in the first cohort; 1) the demographic and clinical characteristic of patients with AHF, 2) their echocardiographic parameters and how they predict outcome, 3) the predictors of readmission and mortality, 4) the prevalence and impact of renal dysfunction on AHF and 5) the electrocardiographic pattern in AHF. The outcome measures were worsening renal function (WRF), length of hospital stay, HF readmissions and cardiovascular death within 60 days and all cause, cardiovascular or HF death through 180 days. In the second cohort, we investigated the demographics, clinical characteristics as well as the relationship between plasma levels of BNP and galectin 3 and outcomes (cardiovascular (CV) death or HF hospitalization through week 24) as well as the relationship between the plasma levels of BNP and Gal3 and both left ventricular (LV) and right ventricular (RV) remodeling in patients with AHF

Comparative Study of Antioxidant Activities of the Leaves and Stem of Ipomoea aquatica Forsk (Water Spinach)

Leaves and stem extracts of Ipomoea aquatic Forsk were analysed for their antioxidant activities. Folin-Ciocalteu and AlCl3 methods were used to quantify total phenolic and flavonoid contents while 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) radical assay was used to examine the antioxidant activity of the extracts. The respective total phenolic and flavonoid contents of the stem (18.00 ±  1.20 and 20.00 ± 1.40 μg Catechin equivalent, CEQ g-1 DW) show no significant (p > 0.05) difference when compared to leaves (16.00 ± 1.10 and 30.00 ± 2.1 μg CEQ g-1 DW). In DPPH scavenging assay, the reference standard i.e. vitamin C (IC50 = 0.0660μg/ml) had significantly (p<0.05) higher scavenging activity than the stem (IC50 = 35.96μg/ml) which in turn is significantly higher (p<0.05) than the leaves (IC50 = 176.92μg/ml). From the results it can be concluded that stem and leaves of Ipomoea aquatica had similar antioxidants activity.Keywords: Ipomoea aquatica, antioxidant, DPPH Assay, Scavenging activity, phenolic, flavonoi

An Investigation of the Potentials of 2-[(2-Hydroxyphenyl) Methylidene] Hydrazine-1-Carbothioamide and its Mn(II) and Zn(II) Complexes as Antimicrobial Agents

Antibiotic resistance as a result of misuse, overuse or abuse of drugs is an issue of serious concern world over. The quest for more active and robust antimicrobial agents remains a scientific challenge and requires multimillion-dollar investment in the area of drug design and development. Here in, we report the synthesis and characterisation of a tridentate thiosemicarbazone (2-[(2-hydroxyphenyl)methylidene]hydrazine-1-carbothioamide) (HL) from salicylaldehyde and thiosemicarbazide. Its complexes with Mn(II) and Zn(II) were prepared following similar technique and characterised by melting point, FT-IR, UV –visible spectrophotometry, and elemental analysis. The Mn(II) complex showed paramagnetism with a magnetic moment value of 5.80 BM while the Zn(II) complex was diamagnetic. Both complexes were nonelectrolyte with molar conductivities below 2 ohm–1cm2mol–1. The potentials of the compounds as antibacterial and antifungal agents were investigated against three bacterial: Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi, and two fungal: Aspergillus flavus and Mucor indicus isolates. Interestingly, all the compounds showed medium to high activities against the tested isolates (except for the Mucor indicus which resisted all the compounds) and hence their potential as antimicrobial agents.Keywords:    Thiosemicarbazone; Mn(II) and Zn(II) Complexes; Antibacterial; Antifungal; Antibiotic resistanc

Influence of Gender Stereotyping on Achievement in Basic Science among Upper Basic School Students

The study examined the influence of gender stereotyping on achievement in Basic Science among Upper Basic Education School UBES students in Toto LGA Nasarawa State Nigeria The study was a descriptive survey design The population of the study consisted of all the public upper basic III students The study employed a sample size of 300 students drawn from the population using simple random sampling A researcher designed questionnaire titled Gender Based Questionnaire on Students Achievement in Basic Science GBQSABS was used for data collection Data was analysed employing descriptive statistics to answer the research question while Chi Square statistics was used to test the research hypothesis at alpha 0 05 The finding of the study show that gender stereotyping has no significant influence on students achievement in Basic Scienc

Production and Screening of Streptomyces-Extracellular Chitinase

The aim of this research was to produce Streptomyces-extracellular chitinase and screen its antifungal activity on a clinically isolated Candida albicans. The Streptomyces were isolated from an agricultural farmland; they were identified and screened for the chitinase production. Effects of time, temperature, pH and nitrogen sources on the chitinase production were determined using standard methods. Ammonium sulphate precipitation was used to partially purify the chitinase. Protein concentrations were determined spectrophotometrically using bovine serum albumin as standard. Agar-well diffusion method was used to evaluate the antifungal activity of the chitinase on C. albicans. The isolated Streptomyces were of three (3) strains, and all the strains are Gram positive, catalase positive, oxidase positive while, Strain A and C are indole positive and only Strain B is citrate positive. The maximum chitinase production was at 72 h, 40°C and when yeast extract was used as the nitrogen source. Ammonium sulphate (80%) precipitation yielded the highest enzyme activity of 39.0U/ml. The maximum enzyme activity was observed at temperature of 40oC, pH 5.5 and 1.0% colloidal chitin (substrate). The partially purified chitinase showed a zone of inhibition of 20.11 ± 1.26 mm against the Candida albicans. This result has no significant difference (P>0.05) when compared with that of the standard drug (Fluconazole) with 21.42 ± 0.08 mm zone of inhibition. These findings suggest that Streptomyces at favourable conditions produce chitinase, and this enzyme can be used as an antifungal agent on Candida albicans and other chitin containing fungi

REGIME SWITCHING MODEL AMONG SELECTED AFRICAN STOCK MARKET

Over the past few decades, the world stock markets have surged, and emerging markets have accounted for a large amount of this boom. This has resulted into emergence of new market stock in Africa; hence the study examines the stock market’s volatility in Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt using the Markov regime switching Model. The study utilizes monthly observations over the period from January 1997 to September 2019. The study utilizes two state Markov Switching Autoregressive (MS-AR) models in order to capture regime shifts behaviour in both the mean and the variance of the three countries All Share Index (ASI). The MS-AR results of the three countries ASI suggested evidence of a regime-switching behaviour. It shows that only extreme events can switch the series from regime 1 (appreciation) to regime 2 (depreciation), or vice versa. The results also identify that during all major global economic crises in the US sub-prime (2008) there was negative impact in all the three countries under study and European debt crisis (2010) did not really have any impact on the three countries under studies. The results further revealed that Nigeria ASI recorded the lowest appreciation regime of 10 months and the highest depreciation regime of 82 months against South-Africa ASI and Egypt ASI. Egypt recorded the highest appreciation regime of 69 months and the lowest depreciation regime of 18 months. Hence, the  results shows that the Nigeria stock market is more sensitive to external shocks implying that there is ample scope of policy intervention. Keywords: Africa Stock Markets, Markov Switching Autoregressive, All Share Index, Appreciating regime, Depreciation regim

An Empirical Investigation into the Effect of Global Oil Price on Nigeria Gross Domestic Product from (2000-2019)

Nigeria is one of the largest oil producing countries in the world, its revenue is largely dependent on crude oil sales. The country vulnerability to crude oil price fluctuations is a phenomenon that has been a reoccurring event Thus; this study aims to examine the impact of Global crude oil prices on Nigeria gross domestic product (GDP) and the economy at large. The study relied deeply on secondary data obtained from the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN). The data were subjected to simple regression analysis, Pearson Product Moment Correlation to determine the effect and relationship between oil price (Independent Variable) and Nigeria GDP (dependent variables). And time series analysis was also used to examine the trend in the data set and fit a more parsimonious model that would aid forecasting of future crude oil price and GDP. The study found that Global crude oil price have a significant correlation with Nigeria gross domestic product, %58.1 of variation in Nigeria gross domestic product is attributed to fluctuation in Global crude oil price and Nigeria GDP will increase by ₦4.21bn per unit increase in crude oil price. The study thus conclude that global crude oil price has a significant impact on Nigeria GDP and its economy at large. The study among others recommend diversification of the Nigerian economy is most imperative given the economic recession in the country now and the impending take-over of the transportation industry by electric vehicles. Keywords: Oil price, Gross domestic product, Economy, Price shock, Exchange rate, Nigeria. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/13-4-03 Publication date: February 28th 202

African grapes (Lannea microcarpa) fruits: the nutritional compositions

Studies on nutritional composition of African grapes (Lannea microcarpa) fruits pulp was carried out using standard analytical methods. The result of proximate composition in mg/100g revealed the following: moisture (70.55 ± 2.56), ash (3.48 ± 0.81mg), crude fiber (5.21 ± 1.67), crude protein (8.71 ± 1.98), crude lipid (1.87 ± 0.34) and carbohydrate (80.73 ± 6.81) as well as calorific value (374.59 ± 4.32KJ/100g). The fruits pulp also contain reasonable amount of both macro and micro minerals element needed in diet with potassium concentration of (450 ± 3.87mg/100g), phosphorus (6.14 ± 0.89mg/100g), sodium (15.10 ± 1.70mg/100g), calcium (35.00 ± 1.90mg/100g), magnesium (58.00 ± 3.23mg/100g), iron (38.21 ± 2.67 mg/100g),manganese (3.10 ± 0.45mg/100g) as well as zinc (14.14 ± 2.98mg/100g). The anti-nutrients factors (in mg/100g) indicate the presence of tannins (4.17 ± 0.61), oxalates (12.14 ± 2.32), phytates (40.50 ± 1.54), and saponins (2.16 ± 0.87). However, the calculated anti-nutrients to nutrients molar ratios are generally below the critical level known to inhibit the availability of some important minerals elements which suggest the potential safety of using the fruits pulp as nutrients supplement.Keywords: Lannea microcarpa, fruits, pulp, proximate, minerals, anti-nutrient