Analysis of Resource-Use Efficiency in Dry Season Vegetable Production in Jere, Borno State, Nigeria

This study examined the resource-use efficiency in vegetable production in Jere   L.G.A. of Borno State, Nigeria. Data for the study were obtained from primary source with the aid of a structured questionnaire using the interview schedule. The data were for 2010 cropping season collected between October-December of 2010. Five villages notable for vegetables production were purposely chosen for the study and responses from 100 vegetable farmers from the four villages were used in the analyses. Production function analysis which incorporates the conventional neoclassical test of economic and technical efficiencies was used as the analytical technique. Findings revealed that seed (p<0.01), land (p<0.01), herbicide (p<0.10) and pesticide (p<0.01) significantly affected the vegetable output. And the farmers were inefficient in the use of all the resources. Farm inputs such as seed, land and pesticide were under-utilized while herbicide, fertilizer and labour were over-utilized. The study concludes that if additional units of seed, pesticide and land were available and accessible, it would lead to an increase in vegetable yield by 114.58, 322.64 and 568.72kg per hectare among the farmers respectively. The study suggests that there is need for making inputs such as improved seeds and herbicide affordable and accessible to the farmers so as to improve efficiency. Also policies that encourage the testing of soils fertility for fertilizer recommendations and creation of alternative employment opportunities to absorb the excess labour used in vegetable production in the area should be formulated. Key words: Resource-use, efficiency, production function, jere, vegetable, productio

Investigating the Role of Diversification on Economic Growth in Nigeria; New Evidence from SVARs

Fluctuations in oil prices have caused economic contractions and challenges to oil-exporting economies. In particular, Nigeria suffers both the previous and current global oil price shocks and this has raised concerns among policymakers, governments, and economic analysts because of the impact of oil and oil prices in Nigeria’s macroeconomic development. However, this paper investigates the role of diversification on economic growth in Nigeria using annual data from 1986 to 2018. The techniques applied showed that only remittances and official development assistance have affected economic growth in the short run. However, the coefficients of one period lagged indicated that the system is capable of adjusting to its long-run equilibrium condition after some shocks in the system.  The findings from variance decomposition indicated that diversification plays a positive role on economic growth in both the short and long-run horizons. By overall implication, the study concludes that diversification has a positive role on Nigeria’s economic growth. Therefore, the study recommends the need for the government to provide active and inclusive policies such as soft loans and commercial agricultural programs to improve its export of agricultural output competitiveness, improve supervisory and regulatory frameworks in the financial sector to ease remittances inflow. For these reasons, diversifying the economy from oil revenue is the ultimate goal for achieving sustainable economic growth and development goals or targets by the year 2030

Comparison of haematological changes associated with coccidiosis in commercial layer chickens at different production stages in Zaria, Nigeria

Avian coccidiosis remains an economically important disease affecting the poultry industry worldwide. The dearth of information on haematological changes resulting from field cases of coccidiosis in commercial layer chickens necessitated this research. One hundred and twenty commercial layer chickens sampled from different farms in Zaria, diagnosed of coccidiosis at early, mid/peak and late production stages were used for this study. Results showed a significant (p < 0.05) decline in almost all haematological parameters (except for elevated MCV) of commercial layer chickens which were diagnosed of coccidiosis at the different production stages when compared to corresponding values of other apparently healthy layers that served as controls. The mean corpuscular volume (MCV) values in the layers diagnosed of coccidiosis at all production stages were significantly higher than the values obtained from the corresponding apparently healthy ones that served as control, whereas the MCHC showed significant decreases across all layer chickens diagnosed of coccidiosis at different production stages when compared to the corresponding values of the apparently healthy control layers. Thus, the erythrocytic indices of the layer chickens with coccidiosis showed the RBCs were macrocytic and hypochromic. On the basis of mean PCV, layer chickens at early production stage (PCV: 24.51 ± 3.17%) were most severely affected by coccidiosis, following closely by the layers at mid/peak production stage (PCV: 24.66 ± 1.64%). The highest mean WBC (19.15 ± 2.99 x109/L) was recorded in layers with coccidiosis at mid/peak production stage, which showed they were better in mounting inflammatory response when compared to the mean values of layers at early (14.92 ± 2.85 x109/L) and late (17.99 ± 2.70 x109/L) stages of production. In conclusion, coccidiosis in commercial layer chickens caused significant haematological alterations which could necessitate dietary supplementation to prevent occurrence of anaemia and decline in egg production

Current Assets Management and Financial Performance: Evidence from Listed Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria

The concepts of current assets management and financial performance have been adopted in many research fields but they are scarcely attempted on in developing countries. The structure and size of current assets and its impact on the financial performance of the firm cannot be over-emphasised. A literature gap exists, thus motivating the author to come up with a multiple correlation and regression model that uses current assets management to forecast changes in financial performance of deposit money banks in Nigeria. These varying parameters include the cash and bank balances, financial assets held for trading, derivative assets, loans and advances to banks and loans and advances to customers. An OLS model was formulated to compute the effect of CAM on financial performance. For model validation purpose, five year data analysis was conducted. The study’s sample utilizes data from 2010-2014 belonging to 15 deposit money banks operating in financial services sector as listed by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). In empirical analyses, robust estimator was used. The results of the conducted analyses suggest a positive relation between the cash and bank balances, financial assets held for trading, loans and advances to customers and Return on Asset. Another result of the study, on the other hand, suggests that derivative assets, loans and advances to banks have negative impact on return on asset. Keywords: Current assets management, deposit money banks, financial performance, Nigeri

Price Transmission, Volatility and Discovery of Gram in Some Selected Markets in Rajathan State, India

Market integration in many agricultural commodities had been extensively studied for the insight it provides into the functioning of such markets, thus giving valuable information about the dynamics of market adjustment, and whether there exist market imperfection, which may justify government intervention. This study empirically investigated price transmission, volatility and discovery of gram across four wholesale gram markets, viz. Jaipur, Kishangarh, Chomu and Malpura in Rajasthan state of India using Johansen's multivariate cointegration approach, VECM, Granger causality tests, GARCH, EGARCH and ARIMA. Monthly wholesale gram price data spanning from January 2011 to December 2015 sourced from AGMARKNET were used. Multivariate cointegration showed that all the selected gram markets were cointegarted in the long-run, meaning long-run price association among these markets. The degree of market integration observed is consistent with the view that Rajasthan state gram markets are quite competitive; thus, provide little justification for extensive and costly government intervention designed to enhance market efficiency through improve competitiveness. Therefore, in order to sustain the present system of market integration, there is need to evolve mechanism that will generate market information and market intelligence which would serve as a platform for guiding farmers in marketing their produce

Gynaecological malignancies in Azare, North-East Nigeria: an assessment of types, stage at presentation and treatment affordability

Background: In many parts of the world, presentations for most gynecological cancers are late; this makes treatment difficult due to the cost of chemotherapy or radiotherapy which form the bedrock for cure or palliation. Objective of this study was to determine the types, stage at diagnosis, affordability of care and outcome of treatment of gynaecological cancers in Federal Medical Centre Azare, Bauchi State, Nigeria.Methods: All cases of gynaecological cancers seen over a ten-year period, from 1st January, 2003 to 31st December, 2012 were reviewed retrospectively. The number of all gynaecological cases seen during the period was also extracted.Results: Gynaecological cancer cases accounted for 11.84 % of 8,642 gynaecological cases seen during the period of study.  The mean age and parity of the women were 42±5 SD years and 5±1 SD respectively. Cervical cancer accounted for 55 %, ovarian cancer 30%, endometrial cancer 6%, choriocarcinoma 5%, secondaries/ cancers of undetermined origin were 4%.  Ninety-two percent presented with advanced stage of diseases. Only 25.3% could afford the cost of full treatment, and 8.4% attained cure of their disease. The modalities of treatment available were surgery and chemotherapy.Conclusions: Cervical and Ovarian Cancers remain the leading types of gynaecological cancers in our environment and late presentations are frequent occurrence. Late presentation and unaffordability of treatments are major challenges associated with the management of these patients. Early presentation and funding mechanisms for gynaecological cancers are keys to improved cure rate and reduced mortality

Genotype × Environment Interaction for Resistance to Early Leaf Spot of Groundnut Mini Core Collections in the Savannas of Nigeria

Background: The genetic yield potential of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) has been continuously challenged by several diseases including early leaf spot (ELS). Methods: In the current study, we evaluated groundnut mini core collections under artificial and natural disease epiphytotics in six environments to identify stable elite sources for ELS resistance and pod yield. Mixed model analysis was done to adequately capture the variance component as a result of genotype (G), environment (E) and G E interaction (GEI). Result: Highly significant (p <0.001) effects for G and GEI on ELS and pod weight were observed. The parametric and non-parametric stability models ranked the genotype differently for their stability to ELS. The GGE biplot identified ICG 1519 as a stable genotype for the ELS resistance. For pod weight, ICG 8896 and ICG 7897 were consistently stable from all the stability models including the GGE biplot. ICG 9449 and ICG 4540 were identified as stable genotypes for both ELS and pod weight. These elite sources of ELS resistance identified in the current study will be useful in the development and deployment of groundnut varieties with resistance to ELS and high pod yielding potentials

Prevalence and Determinants of Endothelial Dysfunction among Adults Living with HIV in Northwest Nigeria

Background: Endothelial dysfunction constitutes an early pathophysiological event in atherogenesis and cardiovascular disease. This study aimed to assess the prevalence, determinants, and degree of endothelial dysfunction in antiretroviral therapy (ART)–treated people living with HIV (PLWH) in northwestern Nigeria using brachial flow-mediated dilatation (FMD). Methods: This was a comparative, cross-sectional study. A total of 200 ART-treated adults living with HIV with no evidence of kidney disease were compared with 200 HIV-negative participants attending a tertiary hospital in Kano, Nigeria, between September 2020 and May 2021. Endothelial function was evaluated by measuring FMD with a high-resolution vascular ultrasound transducer. FMD was calculated as the ratio of the brachial artery diameter after reactive hyperemia to baseline diameter and expressed as a percentage of change. Blood and urine samples were obtained from participants in both arms. Urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (uACR) was calculated using the 2021 CKD-EPI estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) creatinine-cystatin C equation without the race variable, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol was measured using enzymatic method. Results: The overall mean age (± standard deviation) of the study participants was 42 ± 11 years. Participants in the comparison arm were younger than PLWH (38 ± 11 versus 46 ± 10 years, respectively). The median (interquartile range) uACR was 41.6 (23.2–162.9) mg/g for the ART-treated PLWH versus 14.5 (7.4–27.0) mg/g for healthy controls. PLWH had a significantly lower mean percent FMD when compared to HIV-negative participants (9.8% ± 5.4 versus 12.1% ± 9.2, respectively). Reduced FMD was independently associated with HIV infection (β = –2.83%, 95% CI, –4.44% to –1.21%, p = 0.001), estimated glomerular filtration rate (β = –0.04%, 95% CI, –0.07% to –0.01%, p = 0.004) and LDL cholesterol (β = –1.12%, 95% CI, –2.13% to –0.11%, p = 0.029). Conclusion: HIV-positive status, lower estimated GFR, and higher LDL cholesterol levels were independently associated with endothelial dysfunction. Future prospective studies with larger cohorts of persons living with HIV (and age- and sex-matched HIV-negative controls) are needed to gain further insight into these important findings. In the interim, aggressive management of modifiable risk factors is warranted

Meningococcus serogroup C clonal complex ST-10217 outbreak in Zamfara State, Northern Nigeria.

After the successful roll out of MenAfriVac, Nigeria has experienced sequential meningitis outbreaks attributed to meningococcus serogroup C (NmC). Zamfara State in North-western Nigeria recently was at the epicentre of the largest NmC outbreak in the 21st Century with 7,140 suspected meningitis cases and 553 deaths reported between December 2016 and May 2017. The overall attack rate was 155 per 100,000 population and children 5-14 years accounted for 47% (3,369/7,140) of suspected cases. The case fatality rate (CFR) among children 5-9 years was 10%, double that reported among adults ≥ 30 years (5%). NmC and pneumococcus accounted for 94% (172/184) and 5% (9/184) of the laboratory-confirmed cases, respectively. The sequenced NmC belonged to the ST-10217 clonal complex (CC). All serotyped pneumococci were PCV10 serotypes. The emergence of NmC ST-10217 CC outbreaks threatens the public health gains made by MenAfriVac, which calls for an urgent strategic action against meningitis outbreaks

Global, regional, and national burden of stroke and its risk factors, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background Regularly updated data on stroke and its pathological types, including data on their incidence, prevalence, mortality, disability, risk factors, and epidemiological trends, are important for evidence-based stroke care planning and resource allocation. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) aims to provide a standardised and comprehensive measurement of these metrics at global, regional, and national levels. Methods We applied GBD 2019 analytical tools to calculate stroke incidence, prevalence, mortality, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and the population attributable fraction (PAF) of DALYs (with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals [UIs]) associated with 19 risk factors, for 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2019. These estimates were provided for ischaemic stroke, intracerebral haemorrhage, subarachnoid haemorrhage, and all strokes combined, and stratified by sex, age group, and World Bank country income level. Findings In 2019, there were 12·2 million (95% UI 11·0–13·6) incident cases of stroke, 101 million (93·2–111) prevalent cases of stroke, 143 million (133–153) DALYs due to stroke, and 6·55 million (6·00–7·02) deaths from stroke. Globally, stroke remained the second-leading cause of death (11·6% [10·8–12·2] of total deaths) and the third-leading cause of death and disability combined (5·7% [5·1–6·2] of total DALYs) in 2019. From 1990 to 2019, the absolute number of incident strokes increased by 70·0% (67·0–73·0), prevalent strokes increased by 85·0% (83·0–88·0), deaths from stroke increased by 43·0% (31·0–55·0), and DALYs due to stroke increased by 32·0% (22·0–42·0). During the same period, age-standardised rates of stroke incidence decreased by 17·0% (15·0–18·0), mortality decreased by 36·0% (31·0–42·0), prevalence decreased by 6·0% (5·0–7·0), and DALYs decreased by 36·0% (31·0–42·0). However, among people younger than 70 years, prevalence rates increased by 22·0% (21·0–24·0) and incidence rates increased by 15·0% (12·0–18·0). In 2019, the age-standardised stroke-related mortality rate was 3·6 (3·5–3·8) times higher in the World Bank low-income group than in the World Bank high-income group, and the age-standardised stroke-related DALY rate was 3·7 (3·5–3·9) times higher in the low-income group than the high-income group. Ischaemic stroke constituted 62·4% of all incident strokes in 2019 (7·63 million [6·57–8·96]), while intracerebral haemorrhage constituted 27·9% (3·41 million [2·97–3·91]) and subarachnoid haemorrhage constituted 9·7% (1·18 million [1·01–1·39]). In 2019, the five leading risk factors for stroke were high systolic blood pressure (contributing to 79·6 million [67·7–90·8] DALYs or 55·5% [48·2–62·0] of total stroke DALYs), high body-mass index (34·9 million [22·3–48·6] DALYs or 24·3% [15·7–33·2]), high fasting plasma glucose (28·9 million [19·8–41·5] DALYs or 20·2% [13·8–29·1]), ambient particulate matter pollution (28·7 million [23·4–33·4] DALYs or 20·1% [16·6–23·0]), and smoking (25·3 million [22·6–28·2] DALYs or 17·6% [16·4–19·0]). Interpretation The annual number of strokes and deaths due to stroke increased substantially from 1990 to 2019, despite substantial reductions in age-standardised rates, particularly among people older than 70 years. The highest age-standardised stroke-related mortality and DALY rates were in the World Bank low-income group. The fastest-growing risk factor for stroke between 1990 and 2019 was high body-mass index. Without urgent implementation of effective primary prevention strategies, the stroke burden will probably continue to grow across the world, particularly in low-income countries.publishedVersio