Institutional stakeholders' perceptions of a sustainable neighbourhood in metropolitan Lagos

Understanding the term urban sustainability continues to dominate discourse in the built environment as societies explore how cities can be considered sustainable. Due to the increasing rate of urbanization, scholars argue that the battle for sustainability will be won or lost in cities; recognizing the crucial role that neighbourhoods can play as building blocks of urban areas. However, while the context-specificity of the several approaches to sustainability at the neighbourhood level has been recognised, no single accepted understanding of a sustainable neighbourhood has emerged. This paper explores institutional stakeholders’ understanding of a sustainable neighbourhood using questionnaire data from metropolitan Lagos. This aligns with the critical realism philosophical stance which believes that knowledge can be sourced through the perception of people with respect to an underlying structure based on their reality. The findings show variations in the perceptions with institutions having similar responsibilities differing in their understanding of the concept. It was unclear why a single common understanding was missing and why certain elements were more emphasised than others even in institutions having similar roles. Further research should explore the mechanisms at play in influencing these understandings and how they may differ in various urban contexts in Sub-Sahara Africa

Rate of Passage of Digesta in Ruminants; Are Goats Different?

Fluid passage rates through the rumen influence digestion of soluble food nutrients, amount of short-chain fatty acids absorbed in the rumen and that pass out of the rumen, the amount of by-pass protein of dietary origin and the amount of microbial protein available to the host as a protein source, making modelling of passage imperative. Current research on passage rate should seek to incorporate various factors that affect rumen fill, and solid and liquid passage rates to develop intake and passage rate prediction models. The aim of this paper was to discuss factors that affect rates of passage of digesta and rumen digesta load. Ambient temperature, animal physiological status and reproductive status, fermentation and diet quality are major factors affecting digesta passage rates. The animal physiology also influences digesta passage rate. Computation of animal production level to account for all the physiological processes that affect passage rate is vital. Discrepancies on how ambient temperature and particle density (buoyancy) affect the passage rate of digesta in the rumen may cause uncertainty in calibration of temperature and buoyancy in prediction models. Corrected for diet properties, goats have similar passage rates to other ruminants

Investigation of the anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activities of Elephantorrhiza elephantina (Burch.) Skeels root extract in male rats

The anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive activities of the root extract of Elephantorrhiza elephantina (Burch.) Skeels (Fabaceae) were investigated using wistar rats. The extract was administered intraperitoneally (i.p) to rats at graded doses of 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg BWt. Carrageenan andHistamine were injected into rat paws sub-plantar to induce paw oedema, while acetic acid and formalin were injected i.p to induce pain. Indomethacin (10 mg/kg) was used as reference drug, whereas thevehicle [0.9% normal saline in 3% tween 80 (2 ml/kg)] was used as negative control. Acute toxicity was tested in rats at doses of 200, 400, 800 and 1600 mg/kg BWt. Compared to control, the aqueous extractof E. elephantina at all doses investigated significantly (P < 0.05) reduced the formation of oedema induced by Carrageenan and Histamine. The extract also caused a significant (P < 0.05) reduction in writhings in the acetic acid test and licking time in the formalin test. The rats did not show any signs of acute toxicity. The study revealed the anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive activities of the aqueous extract of E. elephantina, which may be due to the presence of phytochemical constituents such astannins and flavonoids. The acute toxicity test showed that the plant is relatively safe to use

Nutritional characterization of Moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam.) leaves

Moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam. moringaceae) is a highly valued plant that is mostly cultivated in the tropics and subtropics. It is used for food, medication and industrial purposes. The objective of the study was to assess the nutritional value of Moringa leaves of the South African ecotype. Proximate and Van Soest methods were used to determine the nutritional value of Moringa leaves. The dried leaves had crude protein levels of 30.3% and 19 amino acids. The dried leaves had the following mineral contents: calcium (3.65%), phoshorus (0.3%), magnesium (0.5%), potassium (1.5%), sodium (0.164%), sulphur (0.63%), zinc (13.03 mg/kg), copper (8.25%), manganese (86.8 mg/kg), iron (490 mg/kg) and selenium (363 mg/kg). 17 fatty acids were observed with α-Linolenic acid (44.57%) having the highest value followed by heneicosanoic (14.41%), g-linolenic (0.20%) palmiteic (0.17%) and capric acid (0.07%). Vitamin E had the highest concentration of 77 mg/100 g than beta-carotene, which had 18.5 mg/100 g in the dried leaves. The fiber content was neutral detergent fibre (NDF) (11.4%), acid detergent  fibre (ADF) (8.49%), acid detergent lignin (ADL) (1.8%) and (acid detergent cellulose (ADC) (4.01%). The condensed tannins had a value of 3.2%, while total polyphenols were 2.02%. The values of amino acids, fatty acids, minerals and vitamin profiles reflect a desirable nutritional balance.Key words: South African, supplemental food, nutritional value, Moringa oleifera

Anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of the aqueous extract of Leonotis leonurus leaves in rats

Leonotis leonurus (L.) R. BR. Lamiaceae is extensively for the treatment of various ailments and in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, it is used for the treatment of effects of gastrointestinal parasites in animals. There is, however, scanty information on the pharmacological activities of this plant. The aqueous extract from the leaf of L. leonurus was investigated for its analgesic and antiinflammatory properties. Carrageenan and histamine-induced rat paw oedema were conducted to evaluate anti-inflammatory activity, while acetic acid-induced writhing test was conducted to assess the analgesic activity of the plant. The extract was administered intraperitoneally (i.p) to rats at graded doses of 50, 100, 200 mg/kg body weight (BWt). Indomethacin (10 mg/kg BWt) was used as reference drug, whereas the vehicle (2 mg/kg BWt of 0.9% normal saline in Tween-80) was used as negative control. Acute toxicity was tested in rats at doses of 200, 400, 800 and 1600 mg/kg BWt. Compared with the control, the plant extract at 100 and 200 mg/kg BWt significantly (P &lt; 0.05) reduced the formation of carrageenan - induced oedema, while with histamine-induced oedema the difference was insignificant (P &gt; 0.05). In the acetic acid-induced writhing model, the plant extract produced a significant (P &lt; 0.05) reduction in the number of writhes with all test doses and at 100 and 200 mg/kg BWt, the extract produced results that were similar to those of Indomethacin. This study revealed the potential of L. leonurus leaf aqueous extract in reducing pain and inflammation, suggesting that it has some antiinflammatory and analgesic activities, hence, justifying its ethno-veterinary uses. The acute toxicity test showed that the plant is relatively safe to use.Key words: Analgesic, anti-inflammation, indomethacin, Leonotis leonurus, rats

Modelling of digesta passage rates in grazing and browsing domestic and wild ruminant herbivores

Ruminant utilization of poor-quality feeds is governed by rates of digestion and of passage through the rumen. The passage rate of feed material determines the quantity of bypass nutrients and the efficiency of synthesis of microbial protein in the rumen, making modelling of passage rate important. Artificial neural networks were used to develop models of liquid and solid passage rates. Studies that reported fractional passage rates, along with class and body mass of ruminants, were included in the dataset. Factors that affect rates of passage in all the studies were identified, which included animal and feed factors. The dataset was composed of observations of domestic and wild ruminants of variable body mass (1.5 to 1238 kg) from 74 studies and 17 ruminant species from various climatic regions. Observations were randomly divided into two data subsets: 75% for training and 25% for validation. Developed models accounted for 66 and 82% of the variation in prediction of passage rates for solid and liquid, respectively. On validation with an independent dataset, these models attained 42 and 64% of precision in predicting passage rates for solid and liquid, respectively. Liquid and solid prediction passage rate models had no linear and mean bias in prediction. This study developed better prediction models for solid and liquid passage rates for ruminants fed on a variety of diets and/or feeds from different climatic regions.Keywords: Artificial neural networks, intake, mean retention time, prediction equation, rume

Evaluation and Prediction of the Nutritive Value of Underutilised Forages as Potential Feeds for Ruminants

The aim of the chapter was to evaluate and predict the nutritive and feeding value of unknown and underutilised forages. Underutilised forages were collected from various regions. Chemical composition and degradability of forages in the rumen were determined. A dataset was created bearing degradability parameters of feeds from 40 studies. Using the dataset, a step-wise regression procedure was used to develop regression equations to predict rumen degradability. Of the underutilised forages, crude protein content tended to be double for Brassica oleracea var. acephala compared to Colophospermum mopane leaves and pods. Forage grasses tended to have very low crude protein contents compared to legumes and concentrates. Underutilised Brassica oleracea var. acephala tended to have higher crude protein levels compared to commonly used protein sources. The regression model for predicting the soluble fraction accounted for 59% (development) and 71% (validation) of the variation. The regression model for predicting the potential degradability accounted for 65% (development) and 24% (validation) of the variation. In conclusion, the nutritive value of underutilised forages was good, high in crude protein and high potential degradability. After correcting for factors that significantly affected degradability parameters, predicted solubility and effective degradability lay near the ideal prediction line, giving good predictions