The case of a returning veteran with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Authors discuss the case of a returning veteran with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder whose goal was to pursue a degree in business, but he was unsure of the specific area. This lack of clarity caused some difficulties moving forward in college. In identifying areas of dysfunctional career thinking, several career counseling issues became apparent. A description of the process his counselor employed as well as an exploration of the considerations that allowed for effective results are included

VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS OF CASSAVA PRODUCTS IN OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

This study investigated the value chain analysis of cassava products in Ogun State Nigeria. Multistage was used to select 180 cassava processors and marketers. Socio-economic data were obtained from respondents with the use of pre-tested questionnaire. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, budgetary technique and Analysis of variance (ANOVA). The study revealed that majority (84.3% and 52.8%) of Cassava peel processors and marketers were female. In addition, 60.2% of the processors have secondary education while 51.4% of the marketers also have secondary education. The value chain activities carried out by the processors were, Gari; harvesting, transportation, peeling, fetching, grating mill, sieving, toasting/drying and packaging. Fufu; harvesting, transportation, peeling, fetching, soaking, sieving and packaging. Lafun; harvesting, transportation, peeling, washing, fetching, soaking, slicing, grating mill, sieving, drying and packaging. The marketing activities includes; transportation, bagging and storage (Elegbede, et al., 2018) while marketers transported, packaged and put products in storage for future sales. The mean gross margin for gari, fufu and lafun processors and marketers along the chain were N35876.13, N120463.61 and N48098.72 respectively per annum while net farm income was estimated as N35477.85, N115259.44 and N48098.72. Also, the marketing margin for gari, fufu and lafun was estimated as N25273.07, N2982.65 and N21453.49 respectively per annum while the net marketing margin per annum was estimated as N18766.84, N22489.30 and N16203.81 respectively. Conversely, the marketing efficiency for the cassava products and by-products was estimated as 74.26%, 75.44% and 75.53% respectively for gari, fufu and lafu with lafu having the highest marketing efficiency when compared with the other cassava products (gari and fufu). From the results of the net farm income and marketing margin, it was discovered that fufu is more profitable along the cassava product value chain when compared to the other products (gari and lafu). This study therefore recommends that processing and marketing of lafun and fufu is efficient and their trade is profitable. Also, cassava processors and marketers should form cooperative groups to increase access to credit for higher output and trade of products.   &nbsp

ANALYSIS OF NUTRITIONAL LABEL USE ON PACKAGED FOODS AMONG URBAN HOMEMAKERS IN OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

This paper presents the type of food label information used by homemakers in Abeokuta while pur- chasing packaged foods and the socio-economic characteristics influencing its usage. Structured questionnaire was use to elicit information from 149 homemakers drawn by multi-stage sampling tech- niques. The study found that majority (87.20%) of the homemakers were females with mean age of 40.2 years. About two-third (65.40%) of the homemakers considered information on food labels before purchasing packaged foods. The most commonly considered food label information was found to be the NAFDAC (National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control) number (63.8%), fol- lowed by the expiry date (59.1 %), brand name (57%), country of manufacture (51.7%) and nutritional facts (51.0%). Results from logit regression models showed that sex, education, marital status, occu- pation, income and health status were the key factors that significantly (p<0.05) influenced nutritional label use

DOES HEALTH AID REDUCE HIV/AIDS PREVALENCE IN NIGERIA?

There has been influx of official development assistance (foreign aid) into the health sector in Nigeria but little or nothing is known about the impact of such funds on specific health outcomes in Nigeria. Given the economic implication of HIV/AIDS, this study therefore assessed the effect of health aid on the prevalence of the HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. Relevant data spanning 1990 to 2017were sourced from World Development Indicator (WDI) and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) database and analyzed within the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) framework. Model estimation results revealed that health aid had no significant effect on HIV prevalence in the country. Effective utilization of health aid was advocated in order to reduce the HIV prevalence rate thereby reducing the accompanying burden on the people and the economy.   &nbsp

Prevalence of malnutrition among settled pastoral Fulani children in Southwest Nigeria

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is a dearth of information on the health of pastoral Fulani children living in southwestern Nigeria. These are fully settled pastoralists whose economy are centred on cattle and farming. In other to monitor and plan appropriate nutritional intervention for their children, a cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the prevalence of malnutrition of pastoral Fulani children.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Fulani's children aged 6 months to 15 years, living in 61 settlements in Kwara, Ogun and Oyo States in Southwestern Nigeria participated in the study. Heights and weights of 164 girls and 167 boys were measured. Their anthropometric indices, height-for-age (HA), weight-for-height (WH), and weight-for-age (WA) Z-scores determined. The prevalence of stunting (HAZ < -2), wasting (WHZ < -2) and underweight (WAZ < -2) was 38.7%, 13.6%, and 38.7%, respectively when compared to the reference NCHS/WHO standard used for defining stunting, wasting and underweight. Boys were more malnourished than the girls were, but this was not significant (stunting: χ²= 0.36; df = 1; P = 0.54); (underweight: χ²= 1.10; df = 1; P = 0.29); and (wasting: χ²= 0.00; df = 1; P = 0.98) The mean of Z-scores of Height-for-age, Weight-for-age and Weight-for-height in children were -1.502, -1.634 and -0.931 respectively. The SD was 1.52, 1.09 and 1.20 respectively. Using WHO Malnutrition Classification systems, 38.7% of the children were found to be malnourished.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results indicate high prevalence of malnutrition among settled pastoral Fulani children, possibly due to changes in food habits and lifestyle occasion by the transition from nomadic to sedentary living. We suggest the inclusion of Fulani's settlements in nutritional intervention for these areas.</p

Estimation of Cost of Treating Malaria among Arable Crop Farming Households in Niger State, Nigeria

This study estimated the economic cost of malaria and determined production and malaria related factors affecting farm revenue. A multi-stage random sampling method was used to select one hundred and twenty eight arable crop farming households from whom data were collected for the study. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics, arithmetic indices, t-test of difference of two means and Ordinary Least square (OLS) regression method. The results revealed that an average household had nine members. About 6.5% of sampled households sought health care in the government hospitals, while 30.5 and 20% of the sampled households patronised patent medicines stores and traditional carers respectively. The sum of N7,415.41k was incurred as economic cost of malaria per household per annum in the study area. Farm size, hired labour, combined malaria treatment costs and days lost to malaria attack were significant factors affecting Farm Revenue. The study recommended priority attention to rural areas in malaria control programme; improvement in health care delivery system and incorporation of traditional medical practitioners in the health care system. &nbsp

ASSESSMENT OF STATE GOVERNMENTS PROGRAMMES FOR SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF WETLANDS IN SOUTHWEST NIGERIA

This paper attempted to put into a clearer perspective the different programmes embarked upon by Ogun, Oyo and Lagos states government in the management of wetlands located within their domain. Zeroing on state ministries, agencies or parastatal involved in water management, the study investigated the various existing management plans embarked upon by the three State Governments. Results showed that solid waste management was in place in all the states. However, none of the States has clear legislation, enforcement and prosecution as regards the different use that are injurious to the Wetlands. Habitat creation/restoration, in situ and ex situ action, protected areas options are also not being employed in managing wetlands in southwest, Nigeria. The study therefore recommends that policies geared towards sustainable management of Wetlands should be put in place and actively pursued by the state Governments

COMPARISON OF ENZYME-LINKED IMMUNOSOR- BENT ASSAY WITH ACID-FAST STAINING TO DETECT CRYPTOSPORIDIUM OF CATTLE FAECES

Cryptosporidiosis is a major cause of diarrhoea, weight loss and low productivity in various domestic animals. The acid-fast staining method used to detect the parasite in cattle may be responsible for the low prevalence rates recorded in previous studies in Nigeria. A comparison of the efficacy of an en-zyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and acid-fast staining techniques in detecting Crypto-sporidium spp. in bovine faeces was carried out in this work. A total of 200 faecal samples were col-lected from cattle of different age groups by the use of a simple random sampling technique. The sam-ples were analyzed microscopically using formalin-ethylacetate sedimentation method followed by modified Kinyoun«¤??s acid-fast staining technique. All the samples were later tested for Cryptosporidium coproantigens by the use of a commercially available ELISA test kit. Microscopy detected Crypto-sporidium oocysts in 24.0% while ELISA detected the antigens in 37.5% of the samples. The ELISA, with a sensitivity and specificity of 72.9% and 73.7% respectively, had a significantly higher (p&lt;0.05) rate of detection of Cryptosporidium spp. than microscopy with a sensitivity and specificity of 46.7% and 89.6% respectively. The ELISA is therefore a preferable method than microscopy for detection of Cryptosporidium in faecal specimens and will be useful in routine diagnosis and screening of large number of samples in epidemiological surveys

COMPARISON OF ENZYME-LINKED IMMUNOSORBENT ASSAY WITH ACID-FAST STAINING TO DETECT CRYPTOSPORIDIUM OF CATTLE FAECES

Cryptosporidiosis is a major cause of diarrhoea, weight loss and low productivity in various domestic animals. The acid-fast staining method used to detect the parasite in cattle may be responsible for the low prevalence rates recorded in previous studies in Nigeria. A comparison of the efficacy of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and acid-fast staining techniques in detecting Cryptosporidium spp. in bovine faeces was carried out in this work. A total of 200 faecal samples were collected from cattle of different age groups by the use of a simple random sampling technique. The samples were analyzed microscopically using formalin-ethylacetate sedimentation method followed by modified Kinyoun’s acid-fast staining technique. All the samples were later tested for Cryptosporidium coproantigens by the use of a commercially available ELISA test kit. Microscopy detected Cryptosporidium oocysts in 24.0% while ELISA detected the antigens in 37.5% of the samples. The ELISA, with a sensitivity and specificity of 72.9% and 73.7% respectively, had a significantly higher (p&lt;0.05) rate of detection of Cryptosporidium spp. than microscopy with a sensitivity and specificity of 46.7% and 89.6% respectively. The ELISA is therefore a preferable method than microscopy for detection of Cryptosporidium in faecal specimens and will be useful in routine diagnosis and screening of large number of samples in epidemiological survey

PRICE TREND ANALYSIS OF SELECTED FOOD GRAINS IN OGUN STATE, NIGERIA (1988-2012)

The study examined the price trend of some selected food grains in Ogun State, Nigeria, using descriptive statistics, graphical representation and growth model to analyze its dynamic behaviour over the period of 1988-2012. The study was based on secondary data obtained from Ogun State Agricultural Development Programme for the period (1988-2012) and it covered the rural and urban monthly retail prices of three (3) food grains viz: maize (white and yellow), rice and cowpea (white and brown). Results of analysis revealed a consistent long-term movement or change in the prices of the food grains for both markets.  While price fluctuation was observed more with maize and cowpea, minimal adjustments were observed in rice. Exponential regression analysis showed a positive significant coefficient i.e. an upward trend in prices of both rural and urban markets with a significant F-statistics (p&lt;0.01). The highest growth rate was seen in white cowpea in the urban market (i.e. 4.78%) while the least growth rate was in white maize in the rural market (i.e. 3.50%).Â