FOLKSONGS, PARODY AND GLOBAL MUSIC: INTERROGATING THE MUSIC COPYRIGHT QUESTION IN THE DIGITAL AGE IN NIGERIA

This essay examines folksongs and its links with communities and cultures.  It is this relationship which makes it look as a property of all. In this work, we reflected on metamorphosis of folksongs into parody and the height it has reached in Nigeria. It examines the new age of digitalisation which ought to be a blessing in Nigeria but looks more of a threat to intellectual property and its associated economic gains. It concludes that there is an urgent need to step up some substantive areas of property law to accommodate modern realities.Keywords: Folksong, Parody, Polyglot, copyright infringement; performers’ rights

Fabrication of Palm Nut Cracking Machine and Performance Evaluation of Cracked Nuts Parameters as Influenced by Cultivars

Palm Nut Cracker Machine is mainly needed for the Palm Nut seeds. Palm Nut is very hard in nature and very tough to break manually with hand; hence in industrial production of palm oil a palm nut cracker machine that is able to break the palm nuts into the small pieces is usually necessary. Therefore, the objective of this paper was to fabricate a palm nut cracking machine and evaluate its performance of cracked nuts parameters as influenced by cultivars using standard methods. Data obtained shows that optimum crack efficiency of 97% was obtained at shaft speed 2600 rpm dura cultivar of 8% MCdb, 7 kg feed weight, 91% crack efficiency was obtained for tenera cultivars at 6% MCdb and 5 kg feed weight at the same shaft speed, while, crack efficiency of 87% was observed for pisifera cultivar at 6% MCdb, feed weight of 7 kg and operational speed of 2200 rpm. Optimum kernel breakage ratio % of 14.66, 21.93, and 17.24 % occurred at the experimental cracking of palm nuts dura, tenera and pisifera cultivars with corresponding feed weights 7, 5 and 6 kg, respectively. On weightier feed rates and shaft speeds, crack efficiency of machine was higher for the oil Palm nuts cultivars at lower moisture content

Post-acute COVID-19 neuropsychiatric symptoms are not associated with ongoing nervous system injury

A proportion of patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 experience a range of neuropsychiatric symptoms months after infection, including cognitive deficits, depression and anxiety. The mechanisms underpinning such symptoms remain elusive. Recent research has demonstrated that nervous system injury can occur during COVID-19. Whether ongoing neural injury in the months after COVID-19 accounts for the ongoing or emergent neuropsychiatric symptoms is unclear. Within a large prospective cohort study of adult survivors who were hospitalized for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, we analysed plasma markers of nervous system injury and astrocytic activation, measured 6 months post-infection: neurofilament light, glial fibrillary acidic protein and total tau protein. We assessed whether these markers were associated with the severity of the acute COVID-19 illness and with post-acute neuropsychiatric symptoms (as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire for depression, the General Anxiety Disorder assessment for anxiety, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment for objective cognitive deficit and the cognitive items of the Patient Symptom Questionnaire for subjective cognitive deficit) at 6 months and 1 year post-hospital discharge from COVID-19. No robust associations were found between markers of nervous system injury and severity of acute COVID-19 (except for an association of small effect size between duration of admission and neurofilament light) nor with post-acute neuropsychiatric symptoms. These results suggest that ongoing neuropsychiatric symptoms are not due to ongoing neural injury

Long COVID and cardiovascular disease: a prospective cohort study

Background Pre-existing cardiovascular disease (CVD) or cardiovascular risk factors have been associated with an increased risk of complications following hospitalisation with COVID-19, but their impact on the rate of recovery following discharge is not known. Objectives To determine whether the rate of patient-perceived recovery following hospitalisation with COVID-19 was affected by the presence of CVD or cardiovascular risk factors. Methods In a multicentre prospective cohort study, patients were recruited following discharge from the hospital with COVID-19 undertaking two comprehensive assessments at 5 months and 12 months. Patients were stratified by the presence of either CVD or cardiovascular risk factors prior to hospitalisation with COVID-19 and compared with controls with neither. Full recovery was determined by the response to a patient-perceived evaluation of full recovery from COVID-19 in the context of physical, physiological and cognitive determinants of health. Results From a total population of 2545 patients (38.8% women), 472 (18.5%) and 1355 (53.2%) had CVD or cardiovascular risk factors, respectively. Compared with controls (n=718), patients with CVD and cardiovascular risk factors were older and more likely to have had severe COVID-19. Full recovery was significantly lower at 12 months in patients with CVD (adjusted OR (aOR) 0.62, 95% CI 0.43 to 0.89) and cardiovascular risk factors (aOR 0.66, 95% CI 0.50 to 0.86). Conclusion Patients with CVD or cardiovascular risk factors had a delayed recovery at 12 months following hospitalisation with COVID-19. Targeted interventions to reduce the impact of COVID-19 in patients with cardiovascular disease remain an unmet need