Analysis of resource use efficiency among soybean (Glycine max) farmers in Gboko local government area of Benue state, Nigeria

The study examined the efficiency of resource use in soybean production in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to identify and describe the socio economic characteristics of soybean farmers and to determine resource allocation among soybean farmers. Multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 120 respondents. Data collected were subjected to Descriptive statistics and production function analysis. The result revealed that 93.3% of the farmers had one form of formal education, or the other with over 65% cultivating between 1-4 hectares. Also, 87.5% of the farmers were in their active age, and 81.7% utilized their personal saving as a major source of finance for production. The result of the production function analysis indicated that 87.21% of the variation in the output of soybean is explained for by the independent variables. Resource-use efficiency revealed that quantity of seed, farm size, herbicide and inorganic fertilizer were underutilized while labour was over utilized. Provision of adequate and timely farming inputs, making loans accessible to farmers and reasonable market price of soybean are essential to boost production.KEYWORDS: Analysis, Resource use efficiency, Farmers, production function analysis, Benue, Nigeria

Economics of Groundnut Production among Smallholder Farmers in Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa State, Nigeria

This study assessed economics of groundnut production among smallholder farmers in Michika local government area of Adamawa State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling technique which involves purposive selection of Michika and simple random selection of farmers from eight wards was embraced in collecting primary data from 172 farmers using structured questionnaire. The analytical tools used were mainly descriptive, gross margin and regression analysis. The analysis found that groundnut production is profitable with an average gross margin of N97,477.80, total revenue of N167,160, and net farm income of N 94,540.64 per hectare. The regression analysis indicated that Cobb-Douglas production function gave the best fit with R2 value of 0.748, implying that the specified factor inputs in the regression equation explained up to 74.8% of the variation in groundnut output and only 25.2% was accounted for by the random error term. Production inputs such as farm size, labour, agrochemicals, seeds and farming experience were statistically significant at varying levels of probability. This means that any increase in such inputs would bring about increase in groundnut output. Resource use efficiency analyses indicate that the ratios of MVP and MFC in respect to seeds, labour and Agrochemicals were greater than unity and hence were under-utilized by the farmers during production period. Therefore, policies aimed at assigning more production inputs to farmers should be introduce by government in order to enhance farmers\u27 output and profitability

Tuberculosis In A Nigerian Medium Security Prison

Introduction: Prisons worldwide have been cited as reservoirs for tuberculosis and also an ideal setting for interventions but little is known about the epidemiology and control of tuberculosis in Nigerian Prisons. Objective: To determine the prevalence of tuberculosis, role of prison in its control and the mortality from tuberculosis among prison inmate in Kuje prison, Abuja, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: This study was a retrospective study of cases of tuberculosis in Kuje prison between April, 2004 and December, 2008. Data was collected from their medical records. The inclusion criterion was: (1) Cases of tuberculosis in which the diagnosis was based on clinical history, smear positive test and chest x-ray radiograph. (2) Cases where the treatment of tuberculosis was according to treatment strategy recommended by World Health Organization. Results: A total of forty-eight inmates, aged 20 to 45years, were diagnosed with tuberculosis within the period of interest. The prevalence rate was 2.4%, based on a total prison population of 2002. Majority of cases 93.8% were first detected in Prison and the remaining 6.3% were detected prior to incarceration. Out of the 6.3% diagnosed prior to incarceration, 2.1% and 4.2% of cases have defaulted from DOTS for 2weeks and more than 4weeks respectively. Majority (66.7%) completed the treatment before discharging from prison, 29.2% were discharged from prison at various level of treatment and 4.2% of cases died while on reatment. Those who died were co-infected with HIV Conclusion: It was evident from this study that: The prevalence of tuberculosis in Kuje prison was high, prison has a role in diagnosis and treatment, adherence and treatment outcome were good and the main indicator for mortality was HIV infection. Primary prevention measures specifically targeting prisoners are needed to reduce prevalence of tuberculosis and also to achieve the objectives of National Health Policy on tuberculosis and leprosy. Keywords: Prison, tuberculosis, control, mortalit

Study of Algal Species Isolated From River Ginzo in Katsina State, as a Potential Source for Biodiesel Production

An ecological study of algae at River Ginzo in Katsina town was carried out for six weeks at three different sites. In this study, various strains of native microalgae were identified and isolated. The water's  physicochemical properties were analyzed at Kofar Marusa, Kofar Sauri, and Kofar Durbi of River Ginzo in Katsina  State. The physicochemical parameters studied showed temperature and pH range of 28oC to 31oC and 6.42 to 7.36. A total of eighteen (18) algal species were identified, out of which Ten (10) species belong to the Class Chlorophyceae with Spirogyra species having the highest cell counts, five (5) species belong to the Class Cyanophyceae with  Oscillatoria species having the highest cell count and three (3) species belong to the Class Bacillariophyceae with Nitzchia spp having the highest cell counts. Among the isolates, Chlorella species showed an increased growth rate with higher biomass productivity of (88.67±2.57) X 104 (cell/ml) after six days of incubation. The results showed that Chlorella, Spirogyra, and Oocystis species could be a possible candidate species for producing oils for sustainable biodiesel production, based on their high growth rate and presence in all the locations

Sensitivity of T2KK to the non-standard interaction in propagation

Assuming only the non-zero electron and tau neutrino components $\epsilon_{ee}$, $\epsilon_{e\tau}$, $\epsilon_{\tau\tau}$ of the non-standard matter effect and postulating the atmospheric neutrino constraint $\epsilon_{\tau\tau}=|\epsilon_{e\tau}|^2/(1+\epsilon_{ee})$, we study the sensitivity to the non-standard interaction in neutrino propagation of the T2KK neutrino long-baseline experiment. It is shown that T2KK can constrain the parameters $|\epsilon_{ee}|\lesssim 1$, $|\epsilon_{e\tau}|\lesssim 0.2$. It is also shown that if $|\epsilon_{e\tau}|$ and $\theta_{13}$ are large, then T2KK can determine the Dirac phase and the phase of $\epsilon_{e\tau}$ separately, due to the information at the two baselines. We also provide an argument that the components $|\epsilon_{\alpha\mu}|$ $(\alpha=e,\mu,\tau)$ must be small for the disappearance oscillation probability to be consistent with high-energy atmospheric neutrino data, which justifies our premise that these quantities are negligible.Comment: 29 pages, 25 figures, uses revtex4-1. Several places including typos revised. New references adde

Prevalence of malaria and geohelminth co-infection among antenatal women at the Federal Medical Centre and Specialist Hospital, Yola, Adamawa Sate, Nigeria

Malaria and geohelminths are known to be associated with pregnancy within all age groups. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of malaria and geohelminths co-infection among pregnant women. The study was conducted on 252 pregnant women who came for antenatal visits at Federal Medical Center and Specialist Hospital within Yola metropolis from July to November 2015. Socio-demographic information of the pregnant women was collected. Capillary blood from finger prick was used for malaria screening by microscopy. Geohelminths were determined by stool examination using wet mount and formal ether concentration techniques. Malaria, geohelminths and co-infecion had 20.2%, 21.4%, and 6.3% prevalence, respectively. Those within 20-24 and 25-29year age group had high rate of coinfection of 2.4% each. The results show no association between age and coinfection p<0.05. Malaria was significant in this study at p<0.05. The result show relatively low rate of coinfection of malaria and geohelminths prevalence.Keywords: Prevalence, Malaria, Geohelminths, Coinfection, Hospital, Yol

Unveiling the Effect of Low pH on the SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease by Molecular Dynamics Simulations

(1) Background: Main Protease (Mpro) is an attractive therapeutic target that acts in the replication and transcription of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Mpro is rich in residues exposed to protonation/deprotonation changes which could affect its enzymatic function. This work aimed to explore the effect of the protonation/deprotonation states of Mpro at different pHs using computa- tional techniques. (2) Methods: The different distribution charges were obtained in all the evaluated pHs by the Semi-Grand Canonical Monte Carlo (SGCMC) method. A set of Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations was performed to consider the different protonation/deprotonation during 250 ns, verifying the structural stability of Mpro at different pHs. (3) Results: The present findings demon- strate that active site residues and residues that allow Mpro dimerisation was not affected by pH changes. However, Mpro substrate-binding residues were altered at low pHs, allowing the increased pocket volume. Additionally, the results of the solvent distribution around Sγ, Hγ, Nδ1 and Hδ1 atoms of the catalytic residues Cys145 and His41 showed a low and high-water affinity at acidic pH, respectively. It which could be crucial in the catalytic mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro at low pHs. Moreover, we analysed the docking interactions of PF-00835231 from Pfizer in the preclinical phase, which shows excellent affinity with the Mpro at different pHs. (4) Conclusion: Overall, these findings indicate that SARS-CoV-2 Mpro is highly stable at acidic pH conditions, and this inhibitor could have a desirable function at this condition

Exploitable options for curbing the danger of SARS-CoV-2 in Africa

Background: It is understood that coronavirus is highly mutated, in December, 2019 a new strain of coronavirus emerged which originated in Wuhan, from seafood. The pathogen was named novel coronavirus, while the disease it causes is known as Covid-19, the 2019 coronavirus disease. Bat is the major reservoir host of the virus. By putting bats in touch with other mammals will promote viral spillovers, which is a dominant condition for SARS-CoV-2, while also the effect of climate anomalies on food scarcity, behavioral flexibility, and bat immune modulation is likely to increase the risk of disease emergence. Over 34 million Covid-19 cases were registered between 31st of December 2019 and October 1st 2020 with Africa reporting about 1.4 million cases in this period. Aim: This review was design to highlight possible options that can be exploited in curbing the Covid-19 menace in Africa. Method: We reviewed articles from online databases for relevant documents written in English language. These includes NCBI, PubMed and Google scholar. We included both original and review papers that provided information on current SARS-CoV-2 trends and meta-analysis in Africa and globally. Results: Of the 15 articles selected from the 128 available citations, approximately 40 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2, while only 1.4 million people in Africa have been confirmed to be positive for the virus as of October 1, 2020, although the prevalence in Africa is low in relative to other continents. However, most African nations do not have the economy to buy the vaccines that are accessible. The availability of phytoterapeutic agents, on the other hand, would provide a cost-effective way to tackle the Covid-19 threat in Africa. Conclusion: Cell lines adaptation in vaccine production, proteomic analysis of the viralhost interactomes, treatment approaches using natural occurring compounds, which will provide cost effective options to low-income countries can be adopted to curb the menace of Covid-19 in Africa