Toxicologic screening of fungi isolated from millet (pennisetum spp) during the rainy and dry harmattan seasons in Niger state, Nigeria

A survey of fungi contaminating mouldy field, stored and marketed millet samples collected during rainy and dry harmattan seasons of the year 2000 from the twenty five local government areas of NigerState, Nigeria, was conducted. Some of the fungal isolates from the two groups of samples were screened for their mycotoxin producing potentials in mice. Aflatoxin B1 content of the rainy season millet samples was determined. Aspergillus niger was the predominant fungi found in millet during the rains. Twelve out of the 49 wet season millet samples were contaminated with AFB1 at concentrations between 1370.28 and 3495.10 ug/kg. Penicillium spp. was the commonest contaminant of millet during the dry harmattan season. Thirty five of the fifty five fungal isolates screened for toxicity were found to produce toxic metabolites that were lethal to mice and were isolates of Aspergillus, Fusarium, Penicillium, Rhizopus, Mucor, Syncephalastrum, and Helminthosporium

Identification and Characterisation of Major Hydrocarbons in Thermally Degraded Low Density Polyethylene Films

The vast application of Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) in packaging, greenhouses, homes etc has led to its huge accumulation as a municipal solid waste with monumental health, economic and environmental consequences. Since these are non-biodegradable and their photodegradation occurs only over a very long period, their economic conversion to energy products through pyrolysis is the thrust of this study. LDPE sample collected from the University of Ilorin Community was thermally degraded in a pyrolyser at temperatures ranging from 203 – 400 oC. The products of pyrolysis were in three (3) states of matter and both the liquid and solid products were analysed using FTIR to determine the functional groups and GC- MS for the hydrocarbons present in the products. For the GC-MS analysis, the peaks that had 90% above quality when compared with the compounds in the installed NIST11 library were reported. There were alkanes, alkenes, halogenated alkanes, and very few aromatics in the liquid product and, the hydrocarbons were observed to range between C10 - C27. The FTIR and GC-MS results show the potential of the oil obtained as renewable source of energy while that for residue shows its inherent energy content. The liquid product was refluxed over molecular sieve catalyst (US 2882244A) and the calorific value was found to increase from 13,974 kJ/kg to 15,815.52 kJ/kg and this is found to be comparable to the range for lignite and dry wood. Key words: environmental pollution, solid wastes, LDPE, pyrolysis, hydrocarbons, Calorific value

A review of combined advanced oxidation technologies for the removal of organic pollutants from water

Water pollution through natural and anthropogenic activities has become a global problem causing short-and long-term impact on human and ecosystems. Substantial quantity of individual or mixtures of organic pollutants enter the surface water via point and nonpoint sources and thus affect the quality of freshwater. These pollutants are known to be toxic and difficult to remove by mere biological treatment. To date, most researches on the removal of organic pollutants from wastewater were based on the exploitation of individual treatment process. This single-treatment technology has inherent challenges and shortcomings with respect to efficiency and economics. Thus, application of two advanced treatment technologies characterized with high efficiency with respect to removal of primary and disinfection by-products in wastewater is desirable. This review article focuses on the application of integrated technologies such as electrohydraulic discharge with heterogeneous photocatalysts or sonophotocatalysis to remove target pollutants. The information gathered from more than 100 published articles, mostly laboratories studies, shows that process integration effectively remove and degrade recalcitrant toxic contaminants in wastewater better than single-technology processing. This review recommends an improvement on this technology (integrated electrohydraulic discharge with heterogeneous photocatalysts) viz-a-vis cost reduction in order to make it accessible and available in the rural and semi-urban settlement. Further recommendation includes development of an economic model to establish the cost implications of the combined technology. Proper monitoring, enforcement of the existing environmental regulations, and upgrading of current wastewater treatment plants with additional treatment steps such as photocatalysis and ozonation will greatly assist in the removal of environmental toxicants

Tidakkah kamu berpikir

268 hlm.: 21 c

Tidakkah Kamu Berfikir

268 hlm.; 21 x 14.5 c

al-Fawz Wa an-Najah Fi Hijrah Ila Allah/ at-Tijani

416 hal.; 28 cm

Tidakkah Kamu Berpikir

Dalam beragama janganlah terlalu mengandalkan akal. Tetapi untuk memahami agama akal memiliki peranan penting, karena dengan akal manusia dapat membedakan mana yang benar dan mana yang salah. Dalam buku ini penulis mengajak umat Islam untuk mendayagunakan akal dalam menilai dan menimbang sebagian dari realitas Islam dan kaum Muslim. Dengan demikian kaum Muslim tidak mudah terjebak dan terperdaya oleh pihak-pihak yang memusuhi dan berusaha menghancurkan Islam dan umatnya

Original Articles Efficacy and Safety of Doxazosin (CARDURATM) in the Management of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

ObjectiveTo assess the efficacy and safety of the selective á -blocker doxazosin in black men with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) suggestive of benign prostatic hyperplasia.Patients and MethodsAn open-label study involving consecutive patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia. They were asked to complete the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), with its eighth question (bother score) and perform basic uroflowmetry. The study involved the use of doxazosin for the treatment of symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia in three phases. Phase 1 of washout period/enrolment, a two weekly interval titration phase and a maintenance phase for four weeks. The symptom score (IPSS), bother score and uroflowmetry were used to evaluate the severity of the condition and the efficacy of the drug.ResultsTwenty-four patients were enrolled into the study, only 18(75%) completed the eight-week study. The ages of the patients ranged between 46 years and 82 years with a mean of 66 years. (SD, 10.0). Fourteen patients were stabilized on 4mg doxazosin while the remaining 4 patients had 2mg. There was significant improvement of the symptoms, with a remarkable sharp decline after two weeks of medication in IPSS by 8 points from baseline. The improvement was sustained over the following six weeks period. The bother score (quality of life index) was similarly observed to decline from a mean of 4.7 at baseline to 1.3 at the end of the study. The clinical trial showed a significant increase in the urine flow rate with an improvement of 4mls/second from baseline and a 24.1% increase in voided volume. There was no adverse event recorded in all the patients to warrant discontinuation of the study.ConclusionDoxazosin is an effective and well tolerated drug in the treatment of symptomatic BPH in Nigerians.Key Words: BPH, LUTS, Quality of life, IPSS, a1-blocker, Doxazosin