Meeting the Health Concerns of In-School-Adolescents in a Changing Life-Style

Enjoying healthy life through a comprehensive primary health care is a fundamental human right. Thus, health promotion and treatment programmes for adolescents must be tailored to the unique concerns and needs of the population. This paper focused on identifying the health concerns for the in-school adolescents, what promotes or undermines their health and how the communities and countries are meeting adolescents’ needs for healthy life style. Many of the common health risks and challenges facing the in-school teenagers are linked to the health-related behaviours that they adopt considering variations in their cultures and socioeconomic status and inadequate safe health information. These damaging behaviours among in-school youths included consumption of harmful substances, unhealthy dietary behaviours, inadequate physical exercises, risky sexual behaviours, tattooing and piercing due to non-implementation of components of a comprehensive school health programme. The key principles on health concerns for the in-school adolescents were discussed. Towards meeting the health concerns for the in- school teenagers, it was therefore recommended that the stakeholders should advocate for increased resources for in-school adolescents health and improve coordination of its implementation. Member States should support, monitor and evaluate implementation of national scaling up plans or strategies for adolescents’ health in the school system focusing on thorough implementation of a comprehensive school health programme through partnership system. Keywords: in-school adolescents, health concerns/needs, youth, in-school teenagers, partnership, health risks behaviours

Factors Influencing the Choice of Health Science Subject at the Senior Secondary School Level in Ekiti State, Nigeria

This paper examined factors influencing the choice of Health Science subject by Senior Secondary School students in Nigeria. A simple random sampling technique was used to select eight hundred (800) Senior Secondary School II students in Ekiti State senior secondary schools located in ten local government areas. A questionnaire designed and validated by the researchers was used to gather relevant information. Data collected were analysed with the use of multiple regression. Findings revealed that personal interest of the students, availability of school health facilities and equipment, parental decision and school health counselling services were better predictors to the students’ choice of health service than peer group, teachers’ personality, class size and West African Examination Council / National Examination Council (WAEC/NECO) requirements. Based on these findings, it was recommended that students’ personal interest should be greatly considered in the choice of Health Science subject and the school counsellors should be more enlightened on the relevance of Health Science/ Health Education to the national development. Keywords: Factors, Influence, Choice, Health Subjects, Senior Secondary Schools, Ekiti State, Nigeria

DYNAMIC BEHAVIOUR OF A MODELED TRANSPORTATION NETWORKED CONTROL SYSTEM FOR T-JUNCTION

Traffic congestion has been the major problem on most Nigeria roads. This is particularly due to the rapid increase in urban migration. Majority of the traffic control schemes adopted in the country to alleviate this problem are the fixed time controllers employed at all signalized intersections. This has resulted in increased traffic jam especially during the peak periods at most intersections on our highways. In this study, a fuzzy logic system to control traffic on signalized intersection has been proposed. The Fuzzy Logic Controller regulates the traffic signal timing, the green light extension and phase sequence to ensure smooth flow of traffic, thereby reducing traffic delays and thus increasing the intersection capacity. A fuzzy logic traffic control simulation model was developed and tested using MATLAB/ SIMULINK software. Comparative analysis was carried out between the fuzzy logic controller and a conventional fixed-time controller in order to determine the efficiency of the developed system. Evaluation results of the fuzzy logic traffic controller shows that vehicles spent less time at the intersection compared to the fixed time controller, that is, improved vehicular movement. Moreover, simulation results show that the fuzzy logic controller has better efficiency and that a huge improvement could be realized by adapting it in controlling traffic flow at intersections. &nbsp

Power System’s Voltage Stability Improvement Using Static Var Compensator

In alternating current systems, voltage fluctuation is a common phenomenon. Most of the voltage fluctuation problems result from the changes in the system’s reactive power resulting from excessive supply or consumption of reactive power by the elements of the system and the variation in the consumers’ loads. In this paper, the effect of Static Var Compensator (SVC) in stabilizing power system’s voltage through effective reactive power compensation was investigated. Power flow equations involving voltage drop with/without SVC were developed. SVC modeling equations were also developed and used to determine its parameters. Based on the SVC parameters, SIMULINK blocks were used to implement the phase controlled Thyristor–Controlled-Reactor Fixed-Capacitor (TCR-FC) SVC. The Nigerian 28-bus power system used for the study was also modeled using SIMULINK/MATLAB. The 28-bus system was first simulated without SVC and then with two SVCs located at different buses to obtain the bus voltages in both cases. From the bus voltages the total voltage drops for the system with and without SVC were estimated and compared. The compared results clearly showed that, the system’s voltage drop was reduced by 33.78% indicating a significant improvement in the system’s voltage stability when SVCs were applied

BASIC ANALYTICAL EXAMINATION OF SELECTED STREAMS AND THEIR WATER QUALITY IN ADO-EKITI (SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA) AND ITS NEIGHBOURING VILLAGES.

Water samples were collected from ten (10) streams at different locations within Ado-Ekiti and its environ in Ekiti State, South Western Nigeria. The samples were evaluated for their physico-chemical properties. The samples under investigation has pH within the range 7.6 to 8.2; total hardness 8.0 mg/l to 196.0 mg/l; Calcium and Magnesium hardness 1.6 mg/l to 76.0 mg/l and 0.49 mg/l to 19.93 mg/l respectively; total solids 0.2 mg/l to 1.2 mg/l; total suspended and total dissolved solids 0.00 to 0.06 mg/l, 0.14 mg/l to 1.16 mg/l respectively; free carbondioxde 3.74 × 10-3 mg/l to 5.72 × 10-3 mg/l; phenolphthalein acidity 9.0 mg/l to 15.0 mg/l; conductivity 4.0 μScm-1 to 570 μScm-1. The metal analysis results from atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) are as follows: Sodium (2.7 mg/l to 60.1 mg/l), Potassium (4.0 mg/l to 52.0 mg/l), Zinc (0.80 mg/l to 1.51 mg/l), Calcium (1.60 mg/l to 76.0 mg/l), Iron and Lead were not detected in the sample considered

Factors Affecting Effective use of Safety Wears among Construction Site Operatives: Lessons from Indigenous Firms in South Western Nigeria

Work related hazard is not a new phenomenon but its frequent occurrence on sites remain a major setback towards successful projects delivery. The study assessed factors affecting effective use of safety wears on construction sites. Based on snowball and random sampling technique, 128 copies of questionnaire were administered to participants with years of experience on construction management. The outcome of the study revealed that the top aspect of safety practices currently explored by the indigenous construction firms on sites include: provision of temporary fence, provision of accidents prevention procedure and development and frequently review of Safety Policy for building projects. The result of Independent Samples T-test showed the top three factors preventing effective use of safety wears on construction sites are: inadequate engagement of Safety Managers on sites, lack of proper training on effective use of safety wears and workers failure to adapt with safety practices as it was against their traditional training. This paper concluded that effective use of audio and visual displaying gadgets on site, conducting in-house safety training for the workers and ensure one Safety Manager is employ on every construction sites will go a long way in improving workers safety practices on sites

Human and preclinical studies of the host-gut microbiome co-metabolite hippurate as a marker and mediator of metabolic health.

OBJECTIVE: Gut microbial products are involved in regulation of host metabolism. In human and experimental studies, we explored the potential role of hippurate, a hepatic phase 2 conjugation product of microbial benzoate, as a marker and mediator of metabolic health. DESIGN: In 271 middle-aged non-diabetic Danish individuals, who were stratified on habitual dietary intake, we applied 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of urine samples and shotgun-sequencing-based metagenomics of the gut microbiome to explore links between the urine level of hippurate, measures of the gut microbiome, dietary fat and markers of metabolic health. In mechanistic experiments with chronic subcutaneous infusion of hippurate to high-fat-diet-fed obese mice, we tested for causality between hippurate and metabolic phenotypes. RESULTS: In the human study, we showed that urine hippurate positively associates with microbial gene richness and functional modules for microbial benzoate biosynthetic pathways, one of which is less prevalent in the Bacteroides 2 enterotype compared with Ruminococcaceae or Prevotella enterotypes. Through dietary stratification, we identify a subset of study participants consuming a diet rich in saturated fat in which urine hippurate concentration, independently of gene richness, accounts for links with metabolic health. In the high-fat-fed mice experiments, we demonstrate causality through chronic infusion of hippurate (20 nmol/day) resulting in improved glucose tolerance and enhanced insulin secretion. CONCLUSION: Our human and experimental studies show that a high urine hippurate concentration is a general marker of metabolic health, and in the context of obesity induced by high-fat diets, hippurate contributes to metabolic improvements, highlighting its potential as a mediator of metabolic health

Molecular Characterization of Streptococcus Pneumoniae Causing Disease Among Children in Nigeria During the Introduction of PCV10 (GSK)

Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is a leading vaccine-preventable cause of childhood invasive disease. Nigeria has the second highest pneumococcal disease burden globally, with an estimated ~49 000 child deaths caused by pneumococcal infections each year. Ten-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (GSK; PCV10) was introduced in December 2014 in a phased approach. However, few studies have characterized the disease-causing pneumococci from Nigeria. This study assessed the prevalence of serotypes, antibiotic susceptibility and genomic lineages using whole genome sequencing and identified lineages that could potentially escape PCV10 (GSK). We also investigated the potential differences in pneumococcal lineage features between children with and without sickle cell disease. A collection of 192 disease-causing pneumococcal isolates was obtained from Kano (n=189) and Abuja (n=3) states, Nigeria, between 1 January 2014 and 31 May 2018. The majority (99 %, 190/192) of specimens were recovered from children aged 5 years or under. Among them, 37 children had confirmed or traits of sickle cell disease. Our findings identified 25 serotypes expressed by 43 Global Pneumococcal Sequence Clusters (GPSCs) and 85 sequence types (STs). The most common serotypes were 14 (18 %, n=35), 6B (16 %, n=31), 1 (9 %, n=17), 5 (9 %, n=17) and 6A (9 %, n=17); all except serotype 6A are included in PCV10 (GSK). PCV10 (SII; PNEUMOSIL) and PCV13 formulations include serotypes 6A and 19A which would increase the overall coverage from 67 % by PCV10 (GSK) to 78 and 82 %, respectively. The pneumococcal lineages were a mix of globally spreading and unique local lineages. Following the use of PCV10 (GSK), GPSC5 expressing serotype 6A, GPSC10 (19A), GPSC26 (12F and 46) and GPSC627 (9L) are non-vaccine type lineages that could persist and potentially expand under vaccine-selective pressure. Approximately half (52 %, 99/192) of the pneumococcal isolates were resistant to the first-line antibiotic penicillin and 44 % (85/192) were multidrug-resistant. Erythromycin resistance was very low (2 %, 3/192). There was no significant difference in clinical manifestation, serotype prevalence or antibiotic resistance between children with and without traits of or confirmed sickle cell disease. In summary, our findings show that a high percentage of the pneumococcal disease were caused by the serotypes that are covered by currently available vaccines. Given the low prevalence of resistance, macrolide antibiotics, such as erythromycin, should be considered as an option to treat pneumococcal disease in Nigeria. However, appropriate use of macrolide antibiotics should be vigilantly monitored to prevent the potential increase in macrolide resistance

Genomic attributes of airway commensal bacteria and mucosa

Microbial communities at the airway mucosal barrier are conserved and highly ordered, in likelihood reflecting co-evolution with human host factors. Freed of selection to digest nutrients, the airway microbiome underpins cognate management of mucosal immunity and pathogen resistance. We show here the initial results of systematic culture and whole-genome sequencing of the thoracic airway bacteria, identifying 52 novel species amongst 126 organisms that constitute 75% of commensals typically present in heathy individuals. Clinically relevant genes encode antimicrobial synthesis, adhesion and biofilm formation, immune modulation, iron utilisation, nitrous oxide (NO) metabolism and sphingolipid signalling. Using whole-genome content we identify dysbiotic features that may influence asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. We match isolate gene content to transcripts and metabolites expressed late in airway epithelial differentiation, identifying pathways to sustain host interactions with microbiota. Our results provide a systematic basis for decrypting interactions between commensals, pathogens, and mucosa in lung diseases of global significance