Socio-psychological effects of acne among undergraduates of the University of Ibadan

Background: Acne is a skin disorder that is common among adolescents. The  various degrees of distortion of facial appearance could have some socio-psychological effects on sufferers.Objectives:The objectives of this research, within the study population  (undergraduates of the University of Ibadan), were: To determine the gender  prevalence of acne, to evaluate the socio- psychological effect of acne and to  evaluate socio-psychological effects of acne in relation to the severity of the  condition.Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study with pre-tested questionnaires administered to 100 undergraduate students of the University of Ibadan.  Descriptive statistics was used to summarize data and categorical variables were compared with Chi-square at a level of significance of p < 0.05.Results: The response rate was 100%. Gender prevalence showed that 70% of the students with acne are females with 30% being males. Twenty-seven (27%) of the respondents indicated high social effects, 8 (8%) indicated average score while 65 (65%) showed a high social effects. Fourteen (14%) of the respondent had low  emotional effects, 1 (1%) had average score while 85 (85%) had a high emotional effects. Twenty respondents (20%) had low psychological effects, 6 (6%) had an average response and 74 (74%) had high psychological effects.Conclusions: Acne is more prevalent in females than in males among undergraduate students of the University of Ibadan. The socio-psychological effect of acne was  found to be more in students with milder form of acne.Keywords: Socio-psychological, acne, Ibadan, undergraduat

Preparation and characterization of steam activated chicken eggshell for gaseous pollutant adsorption

Air pollution is a major issue because it can immediately cause health problems. The primary pollutants are oxides of nitrogen, Sulphur, carbon, and oxidants. The collection, preparation, and characterization of chicken eggshell for the production of activated carbon useful in air purification, was carried out. The preparation was done in succession from raw uncarbonized to carbonized and then to steam activated form for adsorption of air pollutants. Powdered Eggshell was Carbonized at different temperatures in the range of 150-600 ºC to achieve optimum and effective temperature for best carbon content from its char. The best carbon yield was gotten at 450 ºC/1 hour in a carbolite type muffle furnace which gives less room for air flow. Thermal / steam activation of the carbonized eggshell was done at 500 ºC for 1 hour. The ash content, bulk density, electrical conductivity, pH, and moisture contents were analyzed respectively. The samples were characterized for their surface area and pore volume. The ash contents for the three samples were in the order Uncarbonized (41.76 %) > Carbonized (32.62 %) > Stean Activated (29.47 %) while the bulk density followed Carbonized (1. 19 g/ml) > Steam Activated (1.11 g/ml) > Uncarbonized (0.79 g/ml). All the three samples had the same value of 0.31 mS/cm for the electrical conductivity while two of the samples (carbonized and activated) had the same pH (8.1) and uncarbonized had a lower pH (7.9). The moisture contents ranged from 2 to 9 % with steam activated sample having the least and uncarbonised, the highest. Tapping density, surface area, pore volume, iodine number, % iodine absorbed values followed the order Steam active > Carbonized > Uncarbonized samples. The steam activated sample having the highest values of all these parameters showed it possesses high adsorption capacity for gaseous pollutants

Response of Upland Rice and Soil Chemical Properties to Formulated Organic Manures in Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria

Response of upland rice and soil chemical properties to formulated organic manures evaluated at Teaching and Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, Delta State University, Asaba Campus for two cropping seasons. Five manures (FRH, RHW, RHCDW, RHC and RHCDC were formulated with rice husk and cowdung, and for twelve weeks. Water and cassava mill effluent used were also added during turning at weekly interval and were applied at 5 t ha-1. The experiment was layout in randomized complete block design with four replicates. New rice for Africa was used as test crop, and height, number of leaves, total leaf area, plant girth, dry matter and rice yield were measured while soil pH, organic matter, total N, available P and exchangeable bases were determined after harvest. Data collected were subjected to analysis of variance, mean differences were separated with DMRT at 5% level of probability. The result shows that RHCDC had highest number of leaves and total leaf area while RHCDW had highest plant height, plant girth, dry matter and rice yield. Both were not significantly different, but significantly higher than other manures. All the manures improved soil chemical properties, therefore it can be concluded that RHCDW is more effective in Asaba and its environment. Key words: Rice husk, organic fertilizer, upland rice, soil chemical properties, cowdun

Farmers’ Behaviour towards Utilisation of Jatropha Curcas for Environmental Mitigation in Oyo State, Nigeria

The dysfunctional environment caused by soil erosion, wind erosion, deforestation, desertification, issues of flood was due to the effect of greenhouse gases emanating as a result of various activities of man and industries. Consequently, this has prompted the exploitation of Jatropha curcas for mitigating the environment. Therefore, this study was carried out to examine farmers’ behaviour towards utilisation of Jatropha curcas for mitigation of environment in the study area. A multistage sampling procedure was used in selecting 120 farmers from 217 trained Jatropha farmers across Ido and Akinyele Local Government Areas in Oyo State. The data was analysed using frequencies, percentages, mean scores, and pearson product moment correlation. The result for the study showed that majority of the respondents had mean age of 44.4± 10.8 with majority also being male (66.7%) and formal education (91.7%). The result revealed that there was significant relationship between socio-economic characteristics of the respondents and farmers’ behaviour towards utilization of Jatropha curcas for environmental mitigation. There was correlation between farmers’ awareness on cultivation of Jatropha curcas and their behavior towards utilisation of Jatropha curcas for environmental mitigation (r = 0.399**, p < 0.05). The respondents’ attitude was significantly related to their behavior towards utilization of Jatropha curcas for environmental mitigation (r = - 0.182*, p < 0.05). The study showed that awareness and attitude of farmers strongly influence their behaviour towards utilization of Jatropha curcas for environmental mitigation. The implication of this study is to ensure that the environment becomes free of hazards and degradation which affect survival of the ecosystem and biodiversity. Hence, government should join in the advocacy to open continuous channels of communication on the importance of Jatropha to motivate farmers to having right behaviour towards utilization of Jatropha curcas as a measure to mitigate the environment. Keywords: Behaviour, utilisation, Jatropha curcas, farmers, mitigation, environmen

TALENT MANAGEMENT AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE: THE MODERATION ROLE OF WORKPLACE CULTURE

The study aims to analyse the effect of talent management on competitive advantage through workplace culture moderation. The data was collected from 425 full-time employees from the top ten deposit money banks in Lagos State using a questionnaire as a data collection tool. This research uses a quantitative approach with a survey method. Respondents were selected from the top ten deposit money banks in Lagos State through a stratified random sampling technique. The collected data were analysed using hierarchical regression analysis (HRA) to test the hypothesis and evaluate the regression model specified. These findings show that the effect of talent management on competitive advantage was significantly moderated by workplace culture (β = -0.015, R2 ∆ = 0.003, F∆ = 13.865, p<0.05). It was concluded that workplace culture moderated the relationship between talent management and competitive advantage in the selected deposit money banks in Lagos State. A recommendation was anchored on management to create a positive workplace culture that supports talent management practises to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.  Article visualizations

Experimentation And Modeling Of Infective Treatment And Recovery Of HIV Patients (A Case Study Of Kwara State)

The outbreak and spread of diseases have been studied for many years. The ability to make predictions about diseases could enable scientists to evaluate inoculation/vaccination or isolation plans and may have a significant effect on the mortality rate of a particular epidemic. Therefore this research experimentation and modeling of infective treatment and recovery of HIV patients (a case study of kwara state) will studynbspnbsp the rate at which people contact the HIV, investigate how many people a person can infect at a particular point in time. , develop model for male and female with HIV, develop estimating functions for such a model and determine the control measures and sensitivities to change in parameter. Regression analysis, Chi ndash square and SIR model were use to analyse the data. Result of the analysis using regression analysis give the fitted model Y= 12.302 + 0.00009X and Y= 13.077 + 0.00007X for male and Female respectively. The result shows that the fitted model is adequate and the rate at which people contact HIV is increasing. Also chi - square analysis revealed thatnbsp contacts ofnbsp HIV is not depend on gender and that there are differences in respondents health when taking drugs recommended by health workers. Further analysis using SIR model shows that there will likely be epidemic on HIV and that 29% of the male that have HIVnbsp must be treated to avoid epidemicsnbsp 9% of the female that have HIV must be treated to avoid epidemics. And we recommend that Health Planner should administer enough drugsnbspnbsp to HIV patient on regular basis and Health Planner should educate people more on HIV and the preventive measure should be thought

Perceived Benefits of Improved Practices in Pre Harvest Tomato Production among Farmers in Afijio Local Government Area, Oyo State

This study was designed to investigate the perceived benefits of improved practices in pre-harvest tomato production among farmers in Afijio Local Government Area of Oyo State. Multistage sampling techniques were used to select respondents in the study area, with the aid of structured questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential (PPMC) statistics were used to analyze the data. Majority of the respondents (88.5%) perceived that it has lots of benefits. Also, 82.7% perceived that improved practices minimize post-harvest losses on a medium scale.  Furthermore, 85.6% perceived that improved practices minimize disease infestation on a medium scale, while 84.6% perceive it protects tomato from decaying. Also, 76.9% of the respondents perceive that improve practices helps to retain nutritional content of tomato on a medium scale.  Also, the category of the respondents that had high awareness considered the improved practices to be highly beneficial to them.  The study further concluded that the benefits derived by minority of the respondents influenced most of the respondents to have favorable perception to derivable benefits embedded in improved practices of tomato in the study area.  In addition, the result also revealed significant relationship between awareness and perceived benefits of improved practices in pre-harvest tomato production (r=0.280, p=0.004).  The study therefore recommended that the extension agents should properly train the farmers on the benefits and use of these improved practices. Adequate information should be made available to the tomato farmers on the most recent developments in tomato farming and production (pre harvest and post-harvest). The government should be able to provide adequate and glitch free loan to the farmers to enable them utilize the information and training

Bilateral sporadic aniridia: review of management

Caroline O Adeoti1, Adeyinka A Afolabi2, Adebimpe O Ashaye3, Adenike O Adeoye41Department of Ophthalmology, 2Department of Paediatrics, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria; 3University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria; 4Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile Ife, Osun, Osun State, NigeriaPurpose: To report a rare case of bilateral sporadic aniridia in an African child and review the management modalities.Presentation: We report a case of bilateral sporadic aniridia with horizontal nystagmus, axial cataract optic disc, and fovea hypoplasia in a 5-year-old female patient. She was managed conservatively. Various modalities of treatment are reviewed.Keywords: aniridia, sporadic, nystagmus, cataract, glaucoma, keratopathy, tattooing, syndrome, fovea hypoplasia and optic disc hypoplasi

TOXICITY OF ERYTHROPHLEUM GUINEENSE

The effect of the in vivo administration of the total alkaloidal fractions of the stem-bark of the Erythropleum guineense on certain biological parameters of Sprague-Dawley rats was investigated. The results revealed that plasma alanine aminotransferase activity, liver aspartate aminotransferase activity, liver glycogen, liver protein, creatinine and haemoglobin concentrations were reduced while plasma aspartate aminotransferase activity, liver alanine aminotransferase activity, plasma urea concentration, bilirubin concentration and alkaline phosphatase activity were elevated in Sprague -Dawley rats treated with total alkaloidal fractions of E. guineense stem-bark. The phytochemical assays revealed that the chemical composition of E. guineense include alkaloids, saponins, cardiac glycosides and tannins. The toxicity of the stem-bark of E. guineense could be attributed to the combined toxicity of other constituents such as tannins, saponins and glycosides with the alkaloids as earlier speculated