Biomarkers of inflammatory arthritis and proteomics

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Urbanization Processes and Child Breadwinner in Lagos Metropolis

The aim of this paper is to explain how increasing urbanization is changing family lifestyles in the city. This paper was first presented as a seminar paper in urban sociology (sociology of development postgraduate class of 2015/2016 session) in the department of sociology, University of Ibadan. Increasing population growth, high unemployment rate, low income, poor working condition, a high cost of living have all put heavy pressures on the family. This has consequently made most families engage their children in child employment and labour in order to survive the economic pressures. The demands of life in the city of Lagos make children active participants in the economic fortunes of families majorly among the poor. The cases of child labour in Lagos are high in spite of efforts by the government to reduce drastically child employment and labour. This paper, therefore, seeks to examine the changing lifestyles and family structures of the cities using the city of Lagos as a microcosm.  The city of Lagos has a large population size of more than 20 million people. The younger generation dominates the economic control of the state both in the formal and informal sectors. Children cope better with urbanization pressures and stress of Lagos megacity than the parents. This study is anchored on Oscar Lewis’s theory of culture of poverty. The thesis of the theory explains children breadwinners from the point of view of poverty and a response to the social and economic hardships. This culture is transmitted from one generation to another and they have strongly embraced the culture to be a coping mechanism and also the major solution to their problems. Consequently, children becoming breadwinners for their families have exposed a lot of them to hazardous works and make them more vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse. The definition of what child labour is most times is equivalent to the cultural definition of child work which is part of the socialization process of a child. Based on this conflicting ideology, this paper recommends that the concept of child labour should be defined from society to society. Keywords: child breadwinner, child work, urbanization processes, Lagos, child employment and labou

Characterization of Phytic acid in Tempered Canned Red kidney beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) using Raman Spectroscopy

Rapid and non-invasive analytical method for quality control is a priority for the food industry, hence the objective of this study is to use Raman spectroscopy (RS) to identify phytic acid in RKB. Phytic Acid was extracted from treated ground dry RKB, while standard concentration of PA was prepared from a PA solution 50% w/w. Extracted samples and standard solutions were analyzed using the RS. The laser light beams focused on the PA samples generated molecular bond vibrations which resulted to inelastic scattering of photons in the light beam. The result showed that P-O-C, and P=O which are bonds identified with PA emitted light intensities at wavelength 858.13, and 1198.04 nm, respectively. Correlation (0.93) was established between results obtained for the standard RAMAN spectroscopy method and UV spectrophotometric method. Canned BL treatments showed increased concentration with blanched samples with lowest concentration (0.1175 g/mL) for P-O-C. Thus, the correlation established is indicative that the RS has potential applications in the food industry

Using Vignettes to Study Nigerian Undergraduates Cyber-ethical Behaviors

Students’ unethical academic practice on the internet is a global concern. The disquiet raises how well students understand cyber-ethical issues beyond what a few quantitative studies have revealed. This study investigates the undergraduate students’ perception and comprehension of these issues in Nigeria using the qualitative approach, focusing on plagiarism and copyright infringement. Fifty students of the University of Ibadan and Lead City University responded to the questions. The data were analyzed using the Nvivo software tool. The vignettes generated helped significantly to expose the upshots. Although most participants reported their familiarity with the two cyber-ethical issues, many could not correctly explain them. Some respondents mixed up their perceptions of plagiarism and copyright infringement. The majority exhibited a relatively high level of comprehension of the issues. Half of the respondents would engage in plagiarism when faced with no other choice, even though overreaching copyrights seemed unattractive to them. These findings suggest that both students and their instructors need some enlightenment on cyber-ethics. The study created the enlightenment trajectory during the investigation by presenting the respondents with scenarios that enabled them to understand cyber-ethics

Underweight, overweight and obesity amongst young adults in Ota, Nigeria

The pattern of body weight abnormality amongst persons in their early adulthood in Ota, Southwest Nigeria was investigated. A total of 341 healthy young adults (194 male; 147 female), aged 20 – 35 years participated in the study. Anthropometric measurements and WHO cut-offs were used to categorize their body weights into normal weight, underweight, overweight and obesity. Males were significantly (p<0.05) bigger in size (weight and height) than females. Body weight abnormality was higher in females (36.0%) than males (23.7%). Underweight was prevalent (12.9%) amongst females but low (2.6%) in males; 2.7% of females were severely underweight. The most prevalent abnormality was overweight (19.7% in females; 18.6% in males) whereas obesity was the least (3.4% in females; 2.6% in males). Gender differences appear to influence the body weights of the young adults in Ota, Nigeria. The study suggests a dual challenge of malnutrition and over-nutrition amongst female

Proximate and Phytochemical Analyses of Solanum aethiopicum L. and Solanum macrocarpon L. Fruits

Chemical analyses were carried out to determine the nutritional and phytochemical constituents of fruits of two indigenous Africa eggplants, S. aethiopicum L. and S. macrocarpon L. Proximate analysis of fresh fruits of S. aethiopicum L. (per 100 g) showed: 89.27 ± 0.12 g moisture, 2.24 ± 0.03 g protein, 0.52 ± 0.04 g fat, 0.87 ± 0.03 g ash, 2.96 ± 0.08 g crude fiber, 4.14 ± 0.11 g carbohydrate and 498.47 ± 2.14 mg calcium, 1.98 ± 0.10 mg magnesium and 1.02 ± 0.02 mg iron. Fresh fruits of S. macrocarpon L. contained (per 100 g): 92.50 ± 0.14 g moisture, 1.33 ± 0.05 g protein, 0.17 ± 0.01 g fat, 0.47 ± 0.02 g ash, 1.11 ± 0.03 g crude fiber, 4.42 ± 0.12 g carbohydrate, 101.56 ± 1.21 mg calcium, 1.01 ± 0.08 mg magnesium and 0.70 ± 0.01 mg iron. There was a significant presence of alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, tannins and ascorbic acid in both fruits; terpenoids was found in trace amount. Steroids were present in S. aethiopicum L. and absent in S. macrocarpon L. These phytochemicals are of therapeutic importance; their presence in S. aethiopicum and S. macrocarpon fruits indicate the beneficial effects of the plants. Solanum aethiopicum L. contained higher levels of the beneficial agents than S. macrocarpon L. The two indigenous eggplants are not only nutritionally and therapeutically valuable, but also have the potential of providing precursors for the synthesis of useful drugs

Deformation and Dehulling of Sponge Gourd (Luffa aegyptiaca) Seeds

This work presents the compressive strength properties of sponge gourd (Luffa aegyptica) seeds to facilitate the design or adaptation of an appropriate dehuller. The sizes and shape indices of the seed and kernel, and the clearance of the kernel from the seed coat were determined. The seed samples were subjected to uni-axial quasi-static compression tests at 1.0 mm min−1 along the minor and the major axes. The fracture resistance, stiffness modulus, modulus of elasticity, toughness, and maximum elastic deformation of the seed were obtained from the force-deformation curve. The geometric mean diameters varied from 4.0 to 4.5 mm for the seed and 1.6 to 3.9 mm for the embedded kernel; while their corresponding sphericities were 0.64 and 0.62, respectively. The compressive strength of the seed varied with loading orientation. The seed exhibited larger deformation but lower stiffness along the major axis than the minor axis. The force required for rupturing the hull were 95 N along the major axis and 81 N along the minor axis; while the corresponding energy required were 95 and 40 m

El Niño/Southern Oscillation during the Holocene and Eemian Warm Periods

Geowissenschafte

Isolation and characterization of β-sitosterol, oleanolic, 19- dehyroursolic and yarumic acids, from Plectranthus esculentus leaves and tubers

Plectranthus esculentus N.E.Br. (family Lamiaceae) also known as Livingstone potato (vat or rizga in Nigeria), is a dicotyledonous perennial shrub growing up to 2 m tall. While it is cultivated mainly for its edible tubers, the plant is potentially valuable as phytomedicine. Three varieties (vat-long’at, vat-riyom and vat-bebot) are well known among the Berom of Plateau State, Nigeria. The vat-bebot variety (which showed good promise in bioactivity studies) was used in this study. The leaves and tubers were extracted successively with hexane, ethyl acetate, methanol and water. Fractionation of the active ethyl acetate extracts was carried out using open column and preparative High Performance Liquid Chromatography (prep HPLC). This led to the isolation of β-sitosterol and oleanolic acid from the leaves; while 19-dehydroursolic acid and yarumic acid, as well as β-sitosterol were isolated from the tubers. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Electron Impact Mass Spectroscopy (EIMS) were used to characterize isolated compounds. Comparing acquired spectral data of isolated compounds with those from literature helped to confirm the identity of the compounds. The isolation and characterisation of these compounds, from Plecthranthus esculentus, have not been hitherto reported in literature

Effective Use of Information Sources for Breast Cancer Care: Interplay of Mass Media and Interpersonal Channels

In health communication research studies, there have been various qualitative and quantitative studies on breast cancer. However, there is paucity of research investigations on the influence of information sources used in media awareness campaigns on breast cancer care among women in Nigeria. This study, therefore, investigated the influence of media awareness campaigns on breast cancer care among women in South-West Nigeria. This study was anchored on two theories: agenda setting theory and diffusion of innovation theory. It employed survey design, which made use of the questionnaire to achieve the objectives of the study. The total number of subjects examined in this study was 600 questionnaire respondents. The multi- stage sampling and simple random sampling techniques were used t