Assessment of bacterial quality of some fruits sold in selected markets within Kaduna metropolis

Microorganisms are known to contaminate or destroy fruits there by reducing the quality and the profits derived from them. Consumption of raw fruits often lead to food related disease outbreaks. The purpose of the study was to isolate, and identify bacteria present in fruits that are commonly sold in three different markets within Kaduna metropolis. A total of 54 different fruit samples of avocados, apples, and Sour sops were purchased from Bakin Dogo, Station and Kawo markets. All samples were analyzed for the density of microorganisms present using standard plate count method. The frequency of occurrence of the different types of bacteria present on the fruit samples were also determined using standard microbiological methods. The composition of nutrient in each fruit sample was also analyzed using standard method. The results of the study showed that the microbial loads of all the fruits examined ranged between 1.02 x 105 ± 0.60 x 105 CFU/ml to 1.38x105 ± 0.30x105 CFU/ml and the differences were found to be significant (P < 0.05). The sour sops obtained from Bakin dogo market had the highest mean microbial load of 1.38x105 ± 0.30x105 CFU/ml, followed by Avocado (1.24 x 105 ± 0.07 x 105 cfu/ml) from Kawo. The least microbial load of 1.02x105 ± 0.60 x 105 CFU/ml was each for apples obtained from Bakin dogo and Station markets respectively. The species of bacteria isolated from the fruit samples were Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Escherichia coli, and Salmonella. Of the 81(100 %) total isolates of bacteria the most frequently isolated species were Staphylococcus (35.8 %) followed by Bacillus, Streptococcus and Escherichia coli (29.2, 16,0 and 9.9 %) while the least frequently isolated species were Pseudomonas (6.2 %) and Salmonella (2.6 %). Soursop has high ash, fiber, protein and carbohydrate contents while avocado has high fat content. Reduction of risk for illnesses associated with fruit consumption can be achieved by adequate microbiological knowledge of fruits, and adopting proper hygienic ways of harvesting, processing, handling and storage

Intelligent agent simulator in massive crowd

Crowd simulations have many benefits over real-life research such as in computer games, architecture and entertainment. One of the key elements in this study is to include elements of decision-making into the crowd. The aim of this simulator is to simulate the features of an intelligent agent to escape from crowded environments especially in one-way corridor, two-way corridor and four-way intersection. The addition of the graphical user interface enables intuitive and fast handling in all settings and features of the Intelligent Agent Simulator and allows convenient research in the field of intelligent behaviour in massive crowd. This paper describes the development of a simulator by using the Open Graphics Library (OpenGL), starting from the production of training data, the simulation process, until the simulation results. The Social Force Model (SFM) is used to generate the motion of agents and the Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used to predict the next step for intelligent agent

Influence of Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on growth, nutrient uptake and disease suppression of some selected vegetable crops

A reduction of the agrochemicals input along with selecting suitable cultivars and species is imperative to increase the sustainability of crop production. The influence of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) on seedling emergence growth, nutrient uptake and disease incidence of some selected vegetables viz. Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus), Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum), Brinjal (Solanum melongena), Chilli (Capsicum frutescens) and Data (Amaranthus oleraceus) has been evaluated. The results showed that AMF inoculation could increase almost all growth parameters. The seedling emergence, plant height, length and weight of root and shoot of mycorrhiza inoculated vegetables were comparatively higher than that of non-inoculated control plants. The mycorrhizal inoculation suppressed root rot, damping off and leaf spot disease of Okra, Tomato, Brinjal, Chilli and Data almost to half extent. Meanwhile, an increased nutrient (N, P, K, Fe, and Zn) uptake was recorded with the inoculated plants. Among the inoculated vegetables, comparatively higher N, P, and K uptake were observed in Okra and Brinjal whereas Zn and Fe uptake was found higher in Okra and Data respectively. Therefore, for sustainable vegetable production, introducing bio-fertilizer by using arbuscular mycorrhiza inoculation would be one of the most efficient techniques for replacing chemical fertilizer to meet the nutrient deficiency in nutrient deficient soils

Patient-reported barriers to accepting a technological adherence package in the MAGNIFY trial.

Peer reviewedPostprin

Mineral content of three olive cultivars irrigated with treated industrial wastewater

Textile effluent Nabali Improved Nabali Manzanillo Mineral leaf content Mineral root content

Intelligent Agent Simulator in Massive Crowd

Crowd simulations have many benefits over real-life research such as in computer games, architecture and entertainment. One of the key elements in this study is to include elements of decision-making into the crowd. The aim of this simulator is to simulate the features of an intelligent agent to escape from crowded environments especially in one-way corridor, two-way corridor and four-way intersection. The addition of the graphical user interface enables intuitive and fast handling in all settings and features of the Intelligent Agent Simulator and allows convenient research in the field of intelligent behaviour in massive crowd. This paper describes the development of a simulator by using the Open Graphics Library (OpenGL), starting from the production of training data, the simulation process, until the simulation results. The Social Force Model (SFM) is used to generate the motion of agents and the Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used to predict the next step for intelligent agent

Lung Cancer Screening CT-Based Prediction of Cardiovascular Events

<p>OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to derivate and validate a prediction model for cardiovascular events based on quantification of coronary and aortic calcium volume in lung cancer screening chest computed tomography (CT).</p><p>BACKGROUND CT-based lung cancer screening in heavy smokers is a very timely topic. Given that the heavily smoking screening population is also at risk for cardiovascular disease, CT-based screening may provide the opportunity to additionally identify participants at high cardiovascular risk.</p><p>METHODS Inspiratory screening CT of the chest was obtained in 3,648 screening participants. Next, smoking characteristics, patient demographics, and physician-diagnosed cardiovascular events were collected from 10 years before the screening CT (i.e., cardiovascular history) until 3 years after the screening CT (i.e., follow-up time). Cox proportional hazards analysis was used to derivate and validate a prediction model for cardiovascular risk. Age, smoking status, smoking history, and cardiovascular history, together with automatically quantified coronary and aortic calcium volume from the screening CT, were included as independent predictors. The primary outcome measure was the discriminatory value of the model.</p><p>RESULTS Incident cardiovascular events occurred in 145 of 1,834 males (derivation cohort) and 118 of 1,725 males and 2 of 89 females (validation cohort). The model showed good discrimination in the validation cohort with a C-statistic of 0.71 (95% confidence interval: 0.67 to 0.76). When high risk was defined as a 3-year risk of 6% and higher, 589 of 1,725 males were regarded as high risk and 72 of 118 of all events were correctly predicted by the model.</p><p>CONCLUSIONS Quantification of coronary and aortic calcium volumes in lung cancer screening CT images-information that is readily available-can be used to predict cardiovascular risk. Such an approach might prove useful in the reduction of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and may enhance the cost-effectiveness of CT-based screening in heavy smokers. (J Am Coll Cardiol Img 2013;6:899-907) (C) 2013 by the American College of Cardiology Foundation</p>