Lettres to Editor: Transabdominal ultrasonographic assessment of prostate size and volume in Nigerians with clinical diagnosis of benign prostatic hyperplasia

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Intestinal protozoan infections among HIV positive persons with and without Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) in selected ART centers in Adama, Afar and Dire-Dawa, Ethiopia

Background: In developing countries, gastroenteritis caused by intestinal parasites may be complicated and is a major cause of morbidity, in general, and kills millions of AIDS patients annually. Thus, the consequences of parasitic diseases are among the major health problems in tropical developing countries. Methods: A total of 200 HIV positive patients on and without-ART aged from 18 to 65 years, of both sexes participated in the study. Each study participant was provided with a faecal collection vial containing 10% formalin for microscopic examination of ova, larvae, and cysts. For detection of Cryptosporidium spp, lsospora belli andCyclospora spp, the modified Zeihl-Neelsen staining method was used. Results: Most (60%) of the study participants were on antiretroviral therapy (ART). Out of those, only two (1.5%) were diagnosed with an opportunistic parasite, and 96 (48%) of the non-ART study participants were infected with at least one other intestinal parasite species. The prevalence was 16% for Giardia lamblia, 13% for Entamoeba histolytica/ E. dispar, 8% for Cryptosporidium spp, 5% for Isospora belli, 1.5% for Blastocystis hominis, 2.5% for Ascaris lumbricoides and 2% for Hymnolepis nana. Diarrhoea was significantly associated with cryptosporidiosis, giardiasis, and isosporiasis. Significant association was observed between lower CD4+ T cell count

The factors influencing municipal solid waste generation in bauchi town, Nigeria

This study investigated the factors influencing municipal solid waste generation (MSWG) in Bauchi town, the administrative headquarters of Bauchi state, Nigeria. The study used quantitative method, while experiments and questionnaire surveys, were used as the major instruments for data collection. Data on solid waste generation and the socioeconomic attributes of residents from 400 households were collected from residential zones within Bauchi town, the study area. Descriptive statistics, Correlations and Standard Multiple Regressions (SMR) were computed for data analysis using SPSS 2.2 software. Twelve (12) socioeconomic factors were computed in SMR to determine the significant factors of MSWG in the study. The results showed that five factors, namely: household size, income, education, house head age and occupation have exerted significant influence on MSWG in the study area. The results also showed that F (5:362) = 84.058 at p ≤ 0.01 and adjusted R² = 0.531; which indicated that the factors in the SMR model have sufficiently explained the variance in MSWG in Bauchi town. The study concluded that the five significant predictor factors have adequately explained the variance of MSWG in the study area. Therefore, the factors have implications for planning of effective waste management system in Bauchi town, Nigeria

Analytic signal, depth and multispectral interpretation of areas within the Continental Terminal, North-western Nigeria

This study utilized the ability of remote sensing and aeromagnetic data of the Continental Terminal, Northwestern Nigeria, to accentuate structural and lithological geologic features as well as depth estimation and mineral potential for exploitation purposes. The analytic signal and source parameter imaging filtering techniques on the magnetic data helped to identify causative magnetic bodies and space-depth relationship, two important indices in regional and ore body modelling. Depth interpretation result ranged from 120m to 2000m in the entire regolith cover where the basement rocks are overlain by clastic materials. Areas of deeper depths coincided well with regions of higher magnetic anomalies while areas of shallow depth coincided well with regions of lower magnetic anomalies with magnetic values ranging from 33121nT to 32980nT suggestive of a likelihood of having the magnetic unit of the basement at the top of the basement surface. The study identified the structural trend from the aeromagnetic map, showing a perfect agreement with the geologic map and Landsat-8 imagery. The Landsat-8 data was used for structural and lithological mapping and in general geological interpretation. Single band combination of 764 representing Red, Green and Blue were processed from the false colour composite image and pan-sharpened using the pan chromatic band to enhance structural features on the map. The study area showed no promise of hydrocarbon accumulation from the structural interpretation for economic benefits. However, economic-grade minerals were inferred due to magnetic anomalies that suggested accumulation of magnetic materials located within the proximity of lineaments

Effects of Dietary Oregano (Origanum vulgare L.) Leaf Powder on Meat Quality of Broiler

The experiment was carried out in the Teaching and Research Farm of the Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria, to determine the effects of dietary oregano leaf powder on meat quality of broiler meat. The diets were supplemented with oregano leaf powder at 15g/kg, 20g/kg, 25g/kg and 0g/kg (control group), represented as TI, T2, T3 and T4, respectively, dietary oregano leaf powder did not affect muscle pH a* values of broiler meat (P>0.05). However, oregano leaf powder significantly affected b* value, water holding capacity, drip and cooking losses. Higher inclusion level (25g) of oregano leaf powder improves meat quality parameters while supplementation of up to 15g did not affect most of the meat quality parameters. The study recommended 25g inclusion levels of oregano leaf powder due to the positive effects on meat quality parameters of broiler chicken meat. Further studies on the mode of action of oregano leaf powder using different species of poultry on meat quality may be commercially interesting.&nbsp

Design and construction of a simple boat trailer for Federal College of Freshwater Fisheries Technology, New Bussa

A simple boat trailer with an overall length of 4.59m, breathes 1.68m, and weight of 87kg was designed and constructed using locally available metals and scrap materials. The boat trailer was used to tow a boat of 250kg weight through a distance of 14km without affecting the safety and speed of the car. The construction resulted to the production of an open cart that is light and easily maneuvered that one person can move it manually without difficulty. The total production cost was N32, 300 which is affordable in relation to the cost of transporting boats through the use of pick up vans. The boat trailer can be easily maneuvered when coupled to any car or van. This makes it adequate for towing and for safer movement of boats from the school boat yard to any water bodies

Microbiological quality of anti-tuberculosis drugs commonly used at dots centres and pharmacies within Kaduna Metropolis, Kaduna, Nigeria

Medicinal drugs of low-quality likely due to microbial contamination can result in increased morbidity and mortality thereby reducing the human population and may also result in emergence of resistant strain organisms in the environment. Studies suggest that there are a lot of counterfeit and substandard anti-tuberculosis drugs in circulation especially in Africa that are used for the treatment and control of tuberculosis whose damage on public health were mostly underestimated. Research on microbiological quality of anti-TB drugs is regrettably inadequate and scarce with most of the researches focused only on determining the active pharmaceutical ingredients of the drugs. This research aimed at assessing the microbiological quality of the anti-TB drugs used at DOTS Centres and Pharmacies within Kaduna metropolis, specifically to determine the total aerobic microbial count, total combined yeast and mould counts, the presence of indicator organisms; Escherichia coli, Salmonella species, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa as well as the susceptibility of the isolates to standard antibiotics. A stratified random sampling was used. A total of fifty-two (52) samples comprising of Rifampicin, Pyrazinamide, Isoniazid, Ethambutol and 4FDC were collected for the study. Methods specified in the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP, 2019) under the test for specified organisms and enumeration test were adopted for this research work. The study conducted established that the anti-TB drugs used at DOTS centres and Pharmacies within Kaduna metropolis, Kaduna, Nigeria do not contain any of the indicator organisms but some of the selected anti-TB drugs are contaminated with other strains of microorganisms with some not meeting the requirement for total aerobic microbial count and total yeast and mould count. The microbial contaminants found include species of; Bacillus, Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Penicillium, Fusarium, Alterneria, Curvularia, Aspergillus, Candida and Sporotricum. Some of the selected isolates obtained from the selected anti-TB drugs were not susceptible to the standard antibiotics used; Augmentin, Chloramphenicol, Ciprofloxacin, Gentamicin, Amoxicillin and Ofloxacin, with highest resistance recorded in Amoxicillin for all the bacterial isolates. However, all the Candida species were susceptible to the antifungal drugs; Ketoconazole, Fluconazole, Clotrimazole and Itraconazole

Socio-economic Impact of Flooding on the Riverine Communities of River Benue in Adamawa State, Nigeria

This paper examines the impact of floods on the socioeconomic lives of residents of the flood plain of River Benue in the Adamawa area. The specific objectives of the paper include examining people’s perception of the causes of flooding in the study area, assessing the impacts of flooding on the socioeconomic activities in the study area, analyzing the People’s Response/Adjustment to Flood in the study area. Three Riverine communities were purposively selected and data for the study was elicited through questionnaires administered to randomly selected respondents in the selected riverine communities in the area. The results obtained indicate that majority of the respondents over 80% are aware of the devastating effects of flooding but they fail to act because of their preference of occupying the location despite their experience. Thousands of hectares of farmlands and other properties have been destroyed by flood over the years. Another finding shows that the impact of flood on transportation is, perhaps, the most devastating such that agricultural productivity in the area is limited as a result of lack of effective means of mobility. Changes in modal split were also found to be associated with the flood regimes. Traditional responses to the menace of flooding have been on the increase due to the ad hoc manner of government participation in providing an enduring solution. The rescheduling of field crops planting and levee construction were among the common responses of the people. Keywords: Flood, River Benue, Transportation, Socio-economic, Environmen

New-onset diabetes after renal transplantation: A case series as seen in a Nigerian kidney transplant population

New-onset diabetes after transplantation (NODAT) is an important metabolic complication of transplantation because of its associated morbidity and mortality. Risk factors for NODAT include those known to cause diabetes mellitus in non-transplant patients as well as transplant-specific factors. This study was aimed at illustrating the presentationand management of NODAT in three kidney transplant recipients in our center and reviewing the literature. To our knowledge, this is the first report from Nigeria. Two of the patients were males of ages 60 and 36 years, respectively, while the third was a female aged 25 years. They were all receiving prednisolone, two were on tacrolimus, and one was on cyclosporine as part of their immunosuppressive regimens. They developed NODAT at varying times post transplant, ranging from 3 months to 6 years. Two patients were managed with oral hypoglycemic agents and one with insulin. One patient died of hemorrhagic stroke. We conclude that NODAT occurred in our kidney transplant recipients and recommend that physicians should have a high index of suspicion in order to make an early diagnosis and institute appropriate management to reduce morbidity and mortality.Key words: New-onset diabetes, Nigerians, renal transplan

2D-TCAD Simulation on Retention Time of Z2FET for DRAM Application

Traditional memory devices are facing more challenges due to continuous down-scaling. 6T-SRAM suffers from variability [1-2] and reliability [3-4] issues, which introduce cell stability problems. DRAM cells with one transistor, one capacitor (1T1C) struggle to maintain refresh time [5-6]. Efforts have been made to find new memory solutions, such as one transistor (1T) solutions [7-9]. Floating body based memory structures are among the potential candidates, but impact ionization or band-to-band tunnelling (B2BT) limits their refresh time [10]. A recently proposed zero impact ionization and zero subthreshold swing device named Z2FET [9, 11-12] has been demonstrated and is a promising candidate for 1T DRAM memory cell due to technology advantages such as CMOS technology compatibility, novel capacitor-less structure and sharp switching characteristics. In the Z2FET memory operation, refresh frequency is determined by data retention time. Previous research [11-12] is lacking systematic simulation analysis and understanding on the underlying mechanisms. In this paper, we propose a new simulation methodology to accurately extract retention time in Z2FET devices and understand its dependency on applied biases, temperatures and relevant physical mechanisms. Since the stored ‘1’ state in Z2FET is an equilibrium state [9, 11-12] and there is no need to refresh, we will concentrate on state ‘0’ retention. Two types of ‘0’ retention time: HOLD ‘0’ and READ ‘0’ retention time will be discussed separately