Performance of Some Durum Wheat Varieties at Kadawa, Kano State of Nigeria

A two-year trial was conducted during the 2001/02 and 2002/03 dry seasons at Kadawa (lat. 110 39'N, long. 080 27'E and 500 m above sea level) to evaluate the performance of twelve durum wheat varieties. The varieties were laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The results revealed that plant height of wheat was influenced by variety in 2002/03 season only while number of tillers/plant, number of grains/spike, grain weight/spike/ 1000-grain weight and grain yield were significantly affected in both seasons. Variety Tody-6 and Anser-8 outyielded the other varieties in 2001/02 and 2002/03, respectively. Thus, the two varieties could be selected for higher yields of durum wheat in the study area. Keywords: Durum wheat, Grain yield, Kadawa, Sudan savanna, Nigeria

Prevalence of Depression among Sudanese Patients with type-2 Diabetes Mellitus

Background: Both diabetes mellitus and depression are common disorders, and when coexist; they lead to poor glycemic control that may ultimately increase the risk of both micro and macrovascular complications. In Sudan, few data are available regarding prevalence of depression among subjects with type -2 diabetes mellitus.Objectives: The aim of the study is to determine the prevalence of depression among Sudanese patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus.Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study, carried out among Sudanese patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus who attended medical insurance clinic in Omdurman. The patients gave consent and HADS questionnaire was filled.Results: The study enrolled 400 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, 176 (44%) of them had depression. Among those with depression, 52.3% had mild depression, 29.5% and 18.2% of them, had severe and moderate depression, respectively. Sixty three percent of the study group were female. Their ages range from 30-79 years with a mean of 56.6 ±13.The average duration of diabetes was 10.3 years. 76% of patients were physically inactive and 16 (4%) of them were smokers. Fifty six (14%) had family history of psychiatric disorders, 170 (42.5%) of them showed lack of enjoyment, 77 (19.3%) of them lacked laughing, 81(20.3%) of them lost sensation of happiness, 68(17%) of them lost energy, 238 (59.5%) of them neglected their external appearance, 76 (19%) of them showed no enjoyment, and 62 (15.5%) of them lost enjoying reading or watching television.Conclusion: Depression is common among Sudanese patients with type -2 diabetes mellitus, therefore screening for depression should be part of routine clinical evaluation of these patients.Key words: Sudan, diabetes mellitus, depression

Fracture of the penis: A report of two cases

We present two cases of fracture of the penis in two young men at the extremes of the social strata the first an unemployed tailor while the other a practicing engineer. The first one was a bachelor while the other wasmarried with children. In the first case, the fracture occurred during masturbation while in the second case it occurred during consensual intercoursewith hiswife on top. In the first case the fracture occurred at the base of the peniswith associated rupture of the deep dorsal veinwhile in the second case it affected themid-shaftwith urethral rupture and blood at the tip of the penis at presentation. Both of them presented within two hours of their injuries with deformed, swollen and tender penis. Laubscher's subcoronal sleeve operation with evacuation of clots and repair of the tear with absorbable sutures to ensure a leak-proof repair was promptly performedwith no complications.Both patients experienced spontaneous erectionwhilst in hospital evenwith indwelling catheter in place. The wife of the second case became pregnant six months after the repair. Counselingwas successfulwith the engineer butwas unsuccessfulwith the tailor-bachelorwho continuedwith masturbation despite professional help.Thoughwe published the first case of fracture of the penis in this centre almost a decade ago, we still found it necessary to report these newcasesmanaged after we created awareness of this uncommon condition in our environment in order to highlight the presentations and the factors that influenced outcome

Palmprint Recognition by using Bandlet, Ridgelet, Wavelet and Neural Network

Palmprint recognition has emerged as a substantial biometric based personal identification. Tow types of biometrics palmprint feature. high resolution feature that includes: minutia points, ridges and singular points that could be extracted for forensic applications. Moreover, low resolution feature such as wrinkles and principal lines which could be extracted for commercial applications. This paper uses 700nm spectral band PolyU hyperspectral palmprint database. Multiscale image transform: bandlet, ridgelet and 2D discrete wavelet have been applied to extract feature. The size of features are reduced by using principle component analysis and linear discriminate analysis. Feed-forward Back-propagation neural network is used as a classifier. The recognition rate accuracy shows that bandlet transform outperforms others

Digital habits and use of the internet as source of sexual and reproductive health information among undergraduates in northern Nigeria

Background: Surfing the internet and networking via social media have evolved at a startling pace. Objectives: To determine internet and social media habits and identify predictors of their use as sexual and reproductive health resource among Bayero University students. Study Design: A cross section of 385 students was interviewed using pre-tested anonymous structured self-completed questionnaires. Results: Nearly all students 98.4% (n=377) had accessed the internet and most 96.3% (n=363) had visited social media sites. Face book 57.3% (n=208), Twitter 22.3% (n=81) and Blackberry Messenger 8.8% (n=32) were the most popular among students. Of those with internet access,51.2%,46.2%, 39.2% and 38.5% mainly searched for information on HIV/AIDS, STI, sexual activities and menstrual problems respectively. There was more than two-fold likelihood of accessing online sexual information among female students compared to males, adjusted Odds ratio (aOR=2.52); 95% Confidence Interval (95%CI= 2.41-4.86). Similarly, ever-married students had more than twice the chance relative to single students (aOR=2.2, 95%CI=1.17-4.28). Furthermore, younger students (<20 years) were twice more likely to have used online resources compared to their older colleagues (≥30 years) (aOR=2.12, 95%CI=1.32-4.17). Conclusion: Undergraduate students are increasingly turning to the internet for sexual and reproductive health information. This presents an opportunity for programming.Key words: Internet, Social media, Reproductive, Sexual health, information source

Risk factors for the occurrence and spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 in commercial poultry farms in Kano, Nigeria

Outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) subtype H5N1 occurred previously for three consecutive years, 2006, 2007 and 2008 in Kano State, Nigeria, causing heavy economic losses to farmers and the government. It was against this background that risk factors for the occurrence and spread of HPAI H5N1 among commercial poultry farms in the State were evaluated. A total of 64 farms comprising 32 affected (AF) and 32 non-affected (NAF) farms were enrolled for this study. Questionnaires were designed and administered to the selected farms through interviews with farm owners or farm managers during on-site visits. Information on flock profile including farm characteristics and environment, husbandry practices, biosecurity practices, farm trade practices and employee activities were obtained and analyzed. Pearson Chi square and Fisher’s exact tests were used to compare categorical variables. Values of p< 0.05 were considered significant. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated to measure the strength and statistical significance of associations between the variables and occurrence and spread of HPAI H5N1 in commercial poultry farms in the State. The most significant risk factors were the presence of untreated surface water on farms (OR 18.6, 95%CI 2.24 – 154.34, p = 0.001), exchange of egg crates between traders and farmers (OR 12.1, 95%CI 1.43 – 102.61, p = 0.006), allowing egg crates of traders into poultry pens (OR 11.67, 95%CI 2.37 – 57.86, p = 0.001) and allowing rodents/wild birds access to poultry feed (OR 3.65, 95%CI 0.23 – 1.87, p = 0.024). It was recommended that veterinary inspection to enforce and encourage best biosecurity practices for the poultry farms should be introduced and sustained

Phytochemical and antimicrobial study on the leaf extracts of Erythrophleum africanum (Caesalpiniaceae)

The leaf of Erythrophleum africanum was exhaustively extracted with ethanol using cold maceration techniques. This was subsequently partitioned with petroleum ether, chloroform, ethylacetate and nbutanol. The agar diffusion method was used to determine the antimicrobial activity against the following micro-organisms eithicillin resistant Staphylococus, Staphylococcus aureaus, Streptococcus feacalis, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Proteus vulgaris, Candida albicans, Candida krusei and Candida tropicalis. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) were determined. The in vitro antimicrobial screening revealed that the extracts exhibited diverse activities against different microbes with zones of inhibition ranging from 12 to 36 mm, MIC ranging from 3.25 to 60 mg/ml and MBC/MFC of 3.25 to 60 mg/ml for sensitive organisms at the tested concentrations. The activities observed could be attributed to the presence of terpenoids, saponins, flavonoids, alkaloids and tannins. The results justify the ethnomedicinal use of this plant in the treatment of sores, boils, wounds, dysentery, diarrhea and sexually transmitted infections.Keywords: Erythrophleum africanum, phytochemistry, antimicrobial activityAfrican Journal of Biotechnology, Vol. 13(4), pp. 598-603, 22 January, 201

Evaluation of eslicarbazepine for its antidiuretic effect in albino wistar rats

Background: Diabetes insipidus is characterized by polyuria, polydipsia with hyposthenuria, causing dehydration and hypernatremia if the patient is deprived of water. Vasopressin analogues and drugs causing water retention are used in this condition. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the antidiuretic effect of eslicarbazepine in albino rats.Methods: The animals were divided into 3 groups each containing 6 animals. The first group was constituted by the control group which received distilled water. The second was the standard group which received vasopressin. The third group was constituted by the test group which received the test drug eslicarbazepine. The test drug was given for a period of 5 days. On 5th day, one hour after administration of respective drugs in different groups, diuresis was induced in all groups of animals by Furosemide after they were loaded with normal saline after overnight fasting. The volume of urine collected was measured at the end of 5 hours from each of the group along with sodium, potassium and chloride concentrations.Results: There was significant water retention and urine was concentrated in the test group which received eslicarbazepine when compared to the control group.Conclusions: Eslicarbazepine has significant water retaining capacity in albino wistar rats. Further evaluation is required before using it in diabetes insipidus

Cure of post Kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis with paromomycin/sodium stibogluconate combination: a proof of concept

Background: Post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) is  a  recognized  dermatologic  complication  of  successfully  treated  visceral  leishmaniasis  (VL). PKDL lesions are suspected to be important reservoirs for VL transmission in Sudan. Prolonged treatment schedules, feeling of general well-being and the social stigmata of PKDL prevent most patients seeking treatment. The mainstay of treatment is cardiotoxic sodium stibogluconate (SSG) for 60-120 days. Recently, liposomal amphotericin B (Ambisome®) and immunochemotherapy gave promising results. Ambisome® is expensive and difficult to prepare under field conditions. Paromomycin/SSG combination has been shown to be safe, efficacious and can save time in VL treatment. This study aims to prove that Paromomycin/SSG combination can cure and reduce PKDL treatment duration.Methods:We are reporting nine cases of patients with PKDL lesions of ≥6 months duration who were diagnosed by clinical signs, histopathological/immunohistochemical and PCR.Results: Patients’ mean age was 11.7 ± 4.3 years. A third of the patients (3/9; 33.3%) who failed previous SSG treatment of 2-3 months duration responded completely to 40 days of paromomycin/SSG combination. The majority of patients (5/9; 55.6%) responded completely to 30 days of the combination. One patient (1/9; 11.1%) relapsed following 30 days paromomycin/SSG combination.Conclusion:It was concluded that paromomycin/SSG combination for 30 days is time-saving, safe and efficacious for PKDL treatment.

Bilateral morphological variation of abductor pollicis longus and extensor pollicis brevis tendons: a cadaveric case report with clinical perspective

Concurrent morphological variations of abductor pollicis longus (APL) and extensor pollicis brevis (EPB) are seldom reported in literature. Extra slips of APL and EPB are clinically significant as they are used to reconstruct the ruptured tendons in the hand. Herein, we report bilateral morphological variations of APB and EPB in a male cadaver. On each side of forearm, APL was divided into two tendinous slips within the first compartment of extensor retinaculum. One of these slips inserted on to the radial side of base of first metacarpal bone close to the insertion of EPB, and the other slip inserted on to both abductor pollicis brevis and opponens pollicis. EPB divided into two tendons slips deep to the extensor retinaculum. These slips were found to be inserted on to the dorsal surface of the base of proximal phalanx while the other inserted on to the radial aspect of the base of first metacarpal bone, close to the insertion of APL tendon. These additional slips are frequently associated with first carpo-metacarpal subluxation and de Quervain’s syndrome and may be responsible for the clinical manifestations of these diseases. In addition, knowledge of the morphological variations of APL and EPB can aid orthopaedic and plastic surgeons in performing successful tendon transplants