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The economic importance and control of vertebrate pests of graminaceous crops with particular reference to rice (Oryza sativa) in Nigeria--a review
Graminaceous crops, especially rice (Orzya sativa), have within the last years in Nigeria, surged to be of utmost economic importance, not in improving the economy but in depleting the country of fast foreign exchange. Attempts at improving and massively increasing the production and cultivation of rice (and other graminaceous crops) to meet the enormous demand have proved abortive. This is mainly a result of the ineffective control measures applied against destructive avian pests that sometimes reduce rice plantations to nothing. Much research is still needed to enhance better and effective control strategies
Assessment of theory of mind in stroke populations
Over the last twenty years there have been several investigations exploring theory of mind (ToM) abilities within populations with acquired brain injury, including stroke survivors. Most neuropsychology studies involving people with acquired brain injury have assessed the cognitively-demanding, social-cognitive component of ToM, whereas the literature concerned with exploring social-perceptual ToM is limited by its reliance on measures that are not representative of ToM processes within real-world situations.
The current study aimed to examine the use and utility of an ecologically-valid (verisimilitudinous) social-perceptual ToM task within stroke survivors, known as the Cambridge Mindreading Face-Voice Battery (CAM; Golan, Baron-Cohen, & Hill, 2006). Group comparisons of CAM performance between 22 stroke survivors and 20 age- and education-matched healthy control participants showed no significant differences. In addition, the CAM was unable to accurately distinguish between the groups. An exploratory cluster analysis revealed differential patterns of ToM impairment and preservation within the sample of stroke survivors. These findings suggest studies that have attempted to tap social-perceptual ToM through artificial tasks and/or static stimuli may be overestimating the deficits observed within stroke samples, and tentatively points towards functional fractionation of social-perceptual ToM abilities dependent on modality.
Some recommendations for future research combining neuropsychology and neuroimaging methodology are discussed
An Empirical Comparison of Multiple Imputation Methods for Categorical Data
Multiple imputation is a common approach for dealing with missing values in
statistical databases. The imputer fills in missing values with draws from
predictive models estimated from the observed data, resulting in multiple,
completed versions of the database. Researchers have developed a variety of
default routines to implement multiple imputation; however, there has been
limited research comparing the performance of these methods, particularly for
categorical data. We use simulation studies to compare repeated sampling
properties of three default multiple imputation methods for categorical data,
including chained equations using generalized linear models, chained equations
using classification and regression trees, and a fully Bayesian joint
distribution based on Dirichlet Process mixture models. We base the simulations
on categorical data from the American Community Survey. In the circumstances of
this study, the results suggest that default chained equations approaches based
on generalized linear models are dominated by the default regression tree and
Bayesian mixture model approaches. They also suggest competing advantages for
the regression tree and Bayesian mixture model approaches, making both
reasonable default engines for multiple imputation of categorical data. A
supplementary material for this article is available online
Assessment of Microbial Quality and Antibacterial Activity of Commonly used Hand Washes
Hands are the highways to the transmission and spread of pathogens that causes
diseases, food borne illnesses and nosocomial infections. Hand washing is the act
of cleansing the hands with water or another liquid, with or without the use of
soap or other detergents, to ensure proper hand hygiene. To determine the
microbiological quality and the antibacterial property and dilution effects on
activity of hand wash, seven brands of hand washes were evaluated using
susceptibility test by agar well diffusion, minimum inhibitory dilution and time kill
test. This was done by assessing different dilutions of the hand washes against
standardized 1.5x108 cells of Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and
Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Results showed that all the hand washes were sterile
and all the brands had some level of antibacterial activity. The hand washes were
more active on Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli than on Pseudomonas
aeruginosa. Activity decreased with dilution as neat and 2-1 dilutions gave better
results compared to 2-2, 10-1 and 10-2. Hib hand wash killed all test organisms when
exposed for 2, 5 and 10 minutes and at neat and 2-1 dilutions but not at 2-2, 10-1 and
10-2. Rev and Pan hand washes though are sterile, were least active in all the tests.
The minimum inhibitory dilution and minimum bactericidal dilution for most of the
hand wash was at neat concentration. The time kill test showed that the effect of
the hand wash was highest at 5 and 10 minutes and at neat (undiluted) for all the
test organisms. It is advised that the dilution of hand washes a common practice in
most eateries must stop as these products are not active when diluted, hands
should be washed for five to ten minutes for maximum hand hygiene.
Key words: Antibacterial Activity, Food Borne Illnesses, Hand Hygiene,
Microbiological Quality, Nosocomial Infections and Pathogens
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