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Introduction. Zika virus (ZIKV) infection during pregnancy can result in severe outcomes for both the pregnant woman and the developing fetus. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Zika virus infection among pregnant women who sought healthcare services at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital. Materials and methods. Serum samples were collected and analyzed using Enzyme Linked Immunoassay and RT-qPCR methods, while a structured questionnaire was used to gather relevant information about the participants. Results. The results showed that 53 out of the 180 pregnant women tested positive for Anti-Zika IgM antibodies, which represents a 29.4% prevalence rate. Subsequent RT-qPCR analysis found that only 6 out of the 53 positive samples contained Zika virus RNA. Fever and headache were the most commonly reported symptoms related to the infection. Conclusion. These findings indicate a potential outbreak of Zika fever in Northern Nigeria emphasizing the importance for pregnant women to take precautions to avoid getting infected.

Based on the available materials and literature, Islām got to America as far back as 1530 when the early African Muslim slaves were taken to the land of America. Elijah Muhammad was one of the Muslim who works and struggled hard on how Islam would be spread and progress in America. Later on, the Muslim Emigrants from various parts of the World also entered America around 19th Century. Hence, it's increasing the population and strengthening the growth of the religion of Islām in the area. The West particularly America known for her secularism, capitalism and extreme individualism with a political ideology not based on the recognition of the creator talk less of monotheism. From all indication, Islām continues to grow from strength to strength despite all odds in its way. Its therefore in the light of the above, the methodology adopted for this paper was historic and descriptive method in order to describe the nature of Islām in America and its practices among the black America and the emigrants during the early days of Islām. The paper concluded that Elijah Muhammad was a great revivalist, preacher and scholars in the spread of Islam in America. Islām equally penetrated in one way and the other into the nook and cranny of America through the peaceful preaching among the Muslim slaves and the people of America.

Cybercriminals frequently use phishing attempts to trick unwary individuals into disclosing their personal information. The detection of the cybersecurity (CS) state of Internet of Things (IoT) devices determines the necessity to search for and create techniques of detecting various threat types. Thanks to the unification used in the mass manufacture of IoT devices, it is simpler to make software and hardware modifications in order to prohibit some built-in protection mechanisms from the standpoint of a potential intruder. It becomes vital to offer standard ways of data analysis from both internal and external information sources in order to evaluate the level of device cybersecurity

Purpose This study aims to develop a building renovation duration prediction model incorporating both scope and non-scope factors. Design/methodology/approach The study used a questionnaire to obtain basic information relating to identified project scope factors as well as information relating to the impact of the non-scope factors on the duration of building renovation projects. The study retrieved 121 completed questionnaires from construction firms on tertiary education trust fund (TETFund) building renovation projects. Artificial neural network was then used to develop the model using 90% of the data, while mean absolute percentage error was used to validate the model using the remaining 10% of the data. Findings Two artificial neural network models were developed – a multilayer perceptron (MLP) and a radial basis function (RBF) model. The accuracy of the models was 86% and 80%, respectively. The developed models’ predictions were not statistically different from those of actual duration estimates with less than 20% error margin. Also, the study found that MLP models are more accurate than RBF models. Research limitations/implications The developed models are only applicable to projects that suit the characteristics and nature of the data used to develop the models. Hence, models can only predict the duration of building renovation projects. Practical implications The developed models are expected to serve as a tool for realistic estimation of the duration of building renovation projects and thus, help construction project managers to effectively plan and manage it. Social implications The developed models are expected to serve as a tool for realistic estimation of the duration of building renovation projects and thus, help construction project managers to effectively plan and manage it; it also helps clients to effectively benchmark projects duration and contractors to accurately estimate duration at tendering stage. Originality/value The study presents models that combine both scope and non-scope factors in predicting the duration of building renovation projects so as to ensure more realistic predictions.

Background: Management of patients with covid-19 needing hospitalisation is challenging worldwide. However, little or no information has been gathered regarding the experiences of healthcare workers (hcw s) involved in the care of patients with covid-19 in poorly resourced settings. This study explored the experiences of hcw s managing hospitalised patients with covid-19 in a treatment centre in Kano, Nigeria. Methods: hcw s directly or indirectly involved in managing patients with covid-19 in one of the two treatment centres in Kano, Nigeria, were sampled based on being information-rich cases. The study participants were interviewed individually via telephone using a semi-structured interview guide. Data collection was stopped when content saturation was attained. Data was analysed using thematic synthesis. Results: Eleven hcw s, comprising two medical doctors, five nurses, a laboratory staff member, a community health extension worker, an environmental health officer and a cleaner, participated in this study. Four major themes were generated: (i) the profile and readiness of hcw s prior to being engaged to work in a covid-19 treatment centre, (ii) the experience of hcw s while working in the covid-19 treatment wards, (iii) challenges with working in covid-19 treatment wards, and (iv) post-treatment support for covid-19 patients. The participants had variable prior experience in managing patients with infectious diseases. Interventions offered were mainly antiviral therapy, nursing care, counselling, nutritional interventions and toilet hygiene. Challenges encountered included insufficient cooperation from patients, poor personnel welfare, lack of human resources/equipment and issues interfering with wellbeing (stigma). Conclusion: The studied population exhibited professional competence and success in managing hospitalised patients with covid-19 during hospitalisation, despite existing challenges.

Translation of messages between two languages has been very challenging among translators. Translations have led to the filling of gaps in communication barriers so that equivalence and accuracy are achieved in the process of transfer of messages from one language to another. This paper aims to examine the role of a translator in filling the communication gap between the Source Language (SL) and the Target Language (TL). These gaps are known as translation problems or difficulties as a means of solving them. We apply the interpretative and comparative approaches of translation. This is achieved through the extract of texts from the English and French versions of our corpus. The main objectives of the paper are i) to examine some concepts in translation ii) to identify some gaps in translation, and iii) to determine the approach that fits better in translating discourse messages with varied contexts. Among the findings of the study are instances of gap filling in communication as no two languages see a concept in the same way that includes i) set and series, ii) cultural words, and iii) neologism. The study concludes that equivalent is the key to achieving successful translation across cultures.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a syndrome characterised by chronic hyperglycemia due to deficiency or diminished effectiveness of circulating insulin. Individuals with DM are more likely to experience depression than their apparently healthy counterparts. This crosssectional survey was undertaken to determine the prevalence and pattern of depression among individuals with DM. A total of 144 persons with DM at the three major health facilities in Kano State, Nigeria were recruited using convenience sampling. The Beck Depression Inventory II was used to assess depression while weight and height were assessed using standard protocols. Descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) were used to summarise the data and Spearman rank order correlation was used to test the relationship between depression and socio-demographics (age, gender, marital status, monthly income and level of education) with clinical characteristics (body mass index [BMI]), glycaemic control, co-morbidity and duration of diabetes [DOD]). Depression occurred in 22.3% of the respondents with 25 (17.4%), 4 (2.8%) and 2 (1.4%) of them presenting with mild, moderate and severe depression respectively. There was no significant relationship between depression and each of age, gender, marital status, monthly income, BMI, glycaemic control, co-morbidity and DOD) (p > 0.05). Nevertheless, a significant relationship was found between depression and respondents’ educational level (p < 0.05). It was concluded that the prevalence of depression among individuals with DM attending clinics in Kano was low and seemed to be more related to individuals with lower educational attainment. Giving attention to individuals with lower educational level to prevent and manage depression among individuals with DM might be warranted.

As cloud resource demand grows, supply chain management (SCM), which is the core function of cloud computing, faces serious challenges. Quite a number of techniques have been proposed by many researchers for such a challenge. As such, numerous proposed strategies are still under reckoning and modification so as to enhance its potential. An optimized dynamic scheme that combined several algorithms' characteristics was proposed to map out such a challenge. The hybridized proposed scheme involved the meta-heuristic swarm mechanism of ant colony optimization (ACO) and deterministic spanning tree (SPT) algorithm as it obtained faster convergence chain, ensured resource utilization in least time and cost. Extensive experiments conducted in cloudsim simulator provided an efficient result in terms of minimized makespan time and throughput as compared to SPT, round robin (RR), and pre-emptive fair scheduling algorithm (PFSA) as it significantly improves performance.

Background: Public–private partnership (PPP) in hemodialysis delivery in Nigeria is a new concept. We set out to compare the performance of Specialist Hospital Sokoto's (SHS) renal center operating with this model with four other neighboring government-operated dialysis centers. Materials and Methods: We reviewed the 6-year records (May 2011 to April 2017) of Dialysis Center of SHS, operated under a PPP and compared some performance indicators with four government-operated dialysis centers over the same period. Comparisons were made using Chi-square and corresponding P values were reported accordingly. P < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: A total of 1167 patients’ data were studied. Of these, 252 (21.6%) patients with end-stage renal disease were dialyzed at SHS. The SHS dialysis center experienced 5 months of interruption in dialysis service. Only 38 (15.1%) patients sustained dialysis beyond 90 days and 105 (41.7%) patients had more than three sessions of hemodialysis. Only one patient was referred for kidney transplant from the dialysis center during the review period. SHS performed better than Federal Medical Center and Sir Yahaya Hospitals in terms of service availability, duration on hemodialysis, and greater number of hemodialysis sessions (χ2 = 29.06, df = 3, P < 0.001). Conclusion: PPP has improved the availability of dialysis service, mean duration on dialysis, and mean number of dialysis sessions but did not improve the kidney transplant referral rate at SHS. There is a need to encourage the current arrangement in the Hospital as well as other centers offering similar partnerships.

Pentafluorophenyl (PFP) sulfonic esters were synthesized via a copper-catalyzed one-pot multicomponent reaction of aryl diazonium tetrafluoroborate, DABSO (DABCO·(SO2)2), and pentafluorophenol. The reaction system provided the desired pentafluorophenyl sulfonic esters in good yields and exhibited excellent functional group tolerance. In addition, the generated PFP sulfonic esters were successfully applied in Sonogashira, Suzuki, Chan-Evans-Lam, and decarboxylative coupling reactions.

There is conflicting evidence on the role of lipid biomarkers in breast cancer (BC), and no study to our knowledge has examined this association among African women. We estimated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for the association of lipid biomarkers—total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and triglycerides—with odds of BC overall and by subtype (Luminal A, Luminal B, HER2-enriched and triple-negative or TNBC) for 296 newly diagnosed BC cases and 116 healthy controls in Nigeria. Each unit standard deviation (SD) increase in triglycerides was associated with 39% increased odds of BC in fully adjusted models (aOR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.86). Among post-menopausal women, higher total cholesterol (aOR: 1.65; 95% CI: 1.06, 2.57), LDL cholesterol (aOR: 1.59; 95% CI: 1.04, 2.41), and triglycerides (aOR: 1.91; 95% CI: 1.21, 3.01) were associated with increased odds of BC. Additionally, each unit SD increase in LDL was associated with 64% increased odds of Luminal B BC (aOR 1.64; 95% CI: 1.06, 2.55). Clinically low HDL was associated with 2.7 times increased odds of TNBC (aOR 2.67; 95% CI: 1.10, 6.49). Among post-menopausal women, higher LDL cholesterol and triglycerides were significantly associated with increased odds of Luminal B BC and HER2 BC, respectively. In conclusion, low HDL and high LDL are associated with increased odds of TN and Luminal B BC, respectively, among African women. Future prospective studies can definitively characterize this association and inform clinical approaches targeting HDL as a BC prevention strategy.

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Background\udNeonatal sepsis is a primary cause of neonatal mortality and is an urgent global health concern, especially within low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), where 99% of global neonatal mortality occurs. The aims of this study were to determine the incidence and associations with neonatal sepsis and all-cause mortality in facility-born neonates in LMICs.\udMethods\udThe Burden of Antibiotic Resistance in Neonates from Developing Societies (BARNARDS) study recruited mothers and their neonates into a prospective observational cohort study across 12 clinical sites from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Rwanda, and South Africa. Data for sepsis-associated factors in the four domains of health care, maternal, birth and neonatal, and living environment were collected for all mothers and neonates enrolled. Primary outcomes were clinically suspected sepsis, laboratory-confirmed sepsis, and all-cause mortality in neonates during the first 60 days of life. Incidence proportion of livebirths for clinically suspected sepsis and laboratory-confirmed sepsis and incidence rate per 1000 neonate-days for all-cause mortality were calculated. Modified Poisson regression was used to investigate factors associated with neonatal sepsis and parametric survival models for factors associated with all-cause mortality.\udFindings\udBetween Nov 12, 2015 and Feb 1, 2018, 29 483 mothers and 30 557 neonates were enrolled. The incidence of clinically suspected sepsis was 166·0 (95% CI 97·69–234·24) per 1000 livebirths, laboratory-confirmed sepsis was 46·9 (19·04–74·79) per 1000 livebirths, and all-cause mortality was 0·83 (0·37–2·00) per 1000 neonate-days. Maternal hypertension, previous maternal hospitalisation within 12 months, average or higher monthly household income, ward size (>11 beds), ward type (neonatal), living in a rural environment, preterm birth, perinatal asphyxia, and multiple births were associated with an increased risk of clinically suspected sepsis, laboratory-confirmed sepsis, and all-cause mortality. The majority (881 [72·5%] of 1215) of laboratory-confirmed sepsis cases occurred within the first 3 days of life.\udInterpretation\udFindings from this study highlight the substantial proportion of neonates who develop neonatal sepsis, and the high mortality rates among neonates with sepsis in LMICs. More efficient and effective identification of neonatal sepsis is needed to target interventions to reduce its incidence and subsequent mortality in LMICs.\udFunding\udBill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Arylsulfonyl compounds are among the most important compounds in pharmaceutical and medicinal chemistry. Hence, a wide variety of sulfonylation methods have been reported recently. This review summ...

Cloud computing is one of the emerging models adopted in business organizations, IT Companies and mobile computing applications. Resources provisioned by cloud can be leased and utilized by clients remotely rather than purchasing it. An efficient allocation of resources is the key issue in the dynamic cloud environment due to the rapid increase in resource demand. Researchers in the literature have proposed various techniques which significantly improve the efficiency of cloud resource allocation, but still more ideal solutions are required. In this paper a resource allocation technique based on resource ranking and resource partitioning is proposed to enhance cloud performance and ensure QoS delivery. The proposed method achieved an efficient resource allocation in terms of response time and expected QoS delivery through resource ranking, resource partitioning and task classification. Simulation result of the proposed method outperforms the existing resource allocation methods.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common neurobehavioral disorder that is prevalent in children and adolescents. ADHD affects student’s learning due to its symptoms which are inability to stay focused, hyperactivity, and challenges in self-control. In this paper, we explore the use of mobile games to engage children diagnosed with ADHD. Mobile games are now widely used in learning, which is part of mobile learning. Previous studies have shown a positive relationship between digital games and learning for children with ADHD. Therefore, we designed and developed a mobile game based on existing literature on techniques used to retain the attention and engage children with ADHD. The study was evaluated based on the duration of time the children spent playing the game and their activities and interactions while playing the game. Our findings showed that mobile-based games can be used to engage children with ADHD.

Exploiting waste materials to make cost-effective adsorbents and waste management methods are gaining more attention. In the current study, rubber wastes derived from dipping tank coagulum (DTC) in the glove manufacturing industry were converted into a novel polymeric-adsorbent via a simple sulfonation reaction with concentrated sulphuric acid and was used for the adsorption of methylene blue (MB) dye from aqueous solutions commonly found in contaminated waters. FT-IR, EDX, FESEM, and BET techniques were used to characterize the rubber waste before and after modification. The highest MB removal efficiency of 99.03% was achieved in the condition of initial concentration, adsorbent dosage, pH, contact time, and temperature were 15 mg/L, 30 mg, pH 7, 300 min, and 25 °C, respectively. The adsorption of MB was analyzed using experimental data fitted in a monolayer isotherms model with a maximum adsorption capacity of 119 mg/g. The kinetic model was revealed to agree with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Furthermore, SRW retained 90.45% of the removal percentage after four cycles of the repeated adsorption-desorption process. Conclusively, these findings suggest that rubber waste could be a suitable low-cost adsorbent to remove organic dyes from polluted water.

Background/Aims Literature suggests that aerobic exercise improves cognitive impairments post stroke. This systematic review was conducted to analyse evidence on the effectiveness of aerobic exercise in improving post-stroke cognitive impairments. Methods Online databases (PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Science) were systematically searched from inception until 13 July 2017 using the keywords stroke/exercise/cognition. Clinical trials that met the inclusion criteria were assessed for methodological quality using the PEDro scale. Extracted data were synthesised for evidence. Results A total of seven studies met the inclusion criteria. Participants in most of the studies were aged over 60 years and the majority had ischaemic stroke. The most commonly used measure for assessing cognition was the Mini Mental State Examination. The majority of studies included moderate to high intensity exercise (50–70% of VO2max) for 30–60 minutes three to five times per week. There is moderate evidence that aerobic exercise enhances global cognitive function, attention and working memory. Evidence that aerobic exercise improves memory, levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and executive function is conflicting and limited. Conclusions Aerobic exercise is moderately effective in improving post-stroke cognitive impairments. More clinical trials are needed in view of the methodological limitations and paucity of existing studies.

Cognitive rehabilitation (CR) is an important component of stroke rehabilitation. Most of the strategies used for this purpose are not readily affordable. This is the protocol of a trial to investi...

Background: Honey is used for nutritional, medicinal and industrial purposes and maintenance of the requisite quality is of great importance. Objective: This study distinctively aimed to portray twelve randomly selected profitable honeys accessible in the North West Nigerian market with regards to floral nectar origin, physicochemical factors, antimicrobial activity and microbial safety evaluations. Methods: Twelve (12) samples of honey sourced from diverse places in the Northwest of Nigeria were analyzed for their pollen spectra, physicochemical parameters, antimicrobial activity and microbiological safety. Results: Dominant pollen types from the analysis were Borassus (72%), Piptadenia africana (39%), Lophira (91%) and Combretaceae (91%) for Sokoto, Jigawa, Kaduna and Katsina States honey samples, respectively. The physicochemical analysis of the samples revealed that pH was in range from 3.32 to 4.25, moisture content varied from 16.37% to 18.70%, ash content 0.23% to 0.93% and free acidity 6.83meq/Kg to 32.00meq/kg, electrical conductivity ranged from 0.13mS/cm to 1.40mS/cm, reducing sugars was 42.85% to 49.30%, sucrose content was 0.74% to 6.75%, Hydroxymethylfurfural value was 11.0mg/Kg to 80.20mg/Kg, diastase level ranged from 7.23 to 43.5 and Proline content ranged from 104.67mg/Kg to 666.67mg/Kg. The antimicrobial evaluation revealed significant zone of inhibition to E. coli, ranging from 19-38 mm at concentrations (12.5-100mg/mL) tested as compared to all other test organisms. Conclusion: The fallouts of microbiological investigation of the samples revealed mould and bacteria, with counts less than 102CFU/g. The findings showed that the attributes of the tested honey samples maintained criteria of international standards.

Pervious Concrete (PC) have continued gaining acceptability significantly over years due to its sustainability and environmentally friendly. There are many benefits of using PC, some of which includes management of storm water runoff, groundwater supplier recharging and reduction of heat island effects etc. Numerous studies have been carried out through employing different approaches in order to improve the overall performance of PC. Due to the advancement in high performance PC using supplementary cementitious materials, extensive application of this material was made possible. In this study, calcium carbide waste (CCW) and rice husk ash (RHA) were used as supplementary cementitious materials and up to 20% replacement was made for both RHA and CCW in the PC mixes. Response surface methodology was used to derive the mathematical relationship between strengths and the variables RHA and CCW. The workability, flexural strength, compressive strength and splitting tensile strength were investigated and at 0%RHA and 10%CCW the strength of concrete increases significantly when compared with the control mix.

Alkynoic acids have been widely employed as alkyne and alkene sources in decarboxylative reactions. Alkynoic acid coupling leads to the formation of direct coupling products and cyclized products through sequential reactions. Moreover, homocoupling and multicomponent reactions have been developed. The decarboxylative addition of alkynoic acids generates the corresponding alkene products. A number of synthetic methods are utilized for the preparation of arylpropynoic acids including the Sonogashira coupling and the carboxylation of terminal alkynes. Recently, the use of decarboxylative halogenations has also been reported. This review covers decarboxylative reactions of alkynoic acids reported between 2013 and 2019; further, it is divided into several sections according to the type of reaction.1 Introduction2 Direct Coupling3 Sequential Reactions4 Homocoupling5 Multicomponent Reactions6 Addition7 Halogenations8 Synthesis of Alkynoic Acids9 Conclusion

Resource provisioning is the core function of cloud computing which is faced with serious challenges as demand grows. Several strategies of cloud computing resources optimization were considered by many researchers. Optimization algorithms used are still under reckoning and modification so as to enhance their potentials. As such, a dynamic scheme that can combine several algorithms' characteristics is required. Quite a number of optimization techniques have been reassessed based on metaheuristics and deterministic to map out with the challenges of resource provisioning in the Cloud. This research work proposes to involve the ant colony optimization (ACO) population-based mechanism by extending it to form a hybrid meta-heuristic through deterministic spanning tree (SPT) algorithm incorporation. Extensive experiment conducted in the cloudsim simulator provided an efficient result in terms of faster convergence, and makespan time minimization as compared to other population-based and deterministic algorithms as it significantly improves performance.

The C–N bond of tertiary amines was activated in the presence of a palladium catalyst and peroxide and subsequently reacted with tertiary amides to provide transamidated products in good yields. The protocol exhibited a broad substrate scope. The optimal conditions were determined as: PdCl2 (2 mol%), KI (10 mol%), NH4Cl (10 mol%) and di-tert-butylperoxide (DTBP), in anisole at 100 °C. N-Benzoylglutarimide, N-phenyl-N-tosylbenzamide, N-Boc-N-phenylbenzamide and benzoyl saccharin were successfully coupled with tertiary amines. The palladium catalyst and DTBP are likely involved in the cleavage of the C–N bond of tertiary amines to provide the corresponding secondary amines.

An extensive soil survey of the Bagale Forest Reserve, an old reserve in North East Nigeria was conducted, to ascertain its soil status because of exposure and vulnerability to various anthropogenic activities which have been exacerbated by climate change over time. Five fragments within the altitudinal gradients were selected using LANDSAT ETM+ satellite imagery from Google earth. The fragments selected as samples include Tudunwada (500m) above sea level. Composite soil samples were collected and sent to the laboratory for analysis. Physical properties of the soil revealed a preponderance of sand (84%), and low percentages of silt (4%), clay (6%) while pores spaces ranged between 28.80-39.49% in both surface and sub-surface. Chemical properties revealed low pH (5.4-6.09), EC (0.06-.10m3m-1), percentage base saturation ranged between (54.08-85.38). The results showed variations in soil properties in the lower, mid and high elevations of the gradient. However, the ANOVA revealed no significant difference in same. The soil of this area will require adjustments and interventions to be able to sustain this forest reserve.

This paper examines the impact of Sifteo Cube Technology in engaging children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ADHD is an early childhood neurodevelopmental disorder which starts as early as five years of age. The core symptoms are inattentiveness, impulsiveness, and hyperactivity. By identifying the history of games development and ADHD, the researchers explored the viability of using the kinesthetic technology of Sifteo Cubes to engage these children. Engaging children with ADHD can lead to better management of the children, administering of learning materials, or aid other therapeutic methods. To carry out this research, an adventure game playable on the Sifteo Cubes using open-source games development kit called Wildflower was developed and evaluated with children with ADHD for qualitative analysis. Results obtained from video capture and ethnography proved favourable. Sifteo Cubes can effectively engage the children for an average of 20 minutes. The results show that Sifteo Cubes is effective is in engaging children with ADHD.

Aim: The aim of this study was to molecularly characterize orf virus isolated from clinical infections in goats in Sokoto metropolis. Materials & methods: Embryonated chicken eggs were used to isolate orf virus according to the established protocol. Viral DNA was extracted and full coding region of B2L gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction, sequenced and blasted for identification and phylogenetically analyzed. Results and discussion: The B2L gene sequences of the isolate showed slight variability (96–98.7%) with the reference sequences as it clustered within the same clade with Korean, Zambian and Ethiopian strains, signifying a close genetic relationship. Unique amino acid substitutions were noted. This is the first genetic characterization of B2L gene of orf virus circulating in Nigeria. Conclusion: This study has provided in sight into the genetic diversity of orf virus in the study area., Lay abstract Contagious ecthyma has for long been affecting the goat and sheep population in Nigeria leading to huge economic losses to livestock farmers through death and poor market value of the affected animals. Recently, increased death due to this disease has been reported in north-central Nigeria, but the nature of the disease-causing agent has not been reported yet. It is the aim of this study to understand the nature of the virus causing the disease in goats in Sokoto using molecular biology techniques so as to facilitate better vaccine design for the effective control of the disease in Nigeria.

Juvenile blue swimming crab, Portunus pelagicus were reared over 31 days in two different systems namely recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) and conventional aquaculture system (CAS) to evaluate the water quality parameters, growth, and its body composition. The juvenile crab, weighing of 0.95 ± 0.18 g and stocking was at 40 crabs m-2 and fed twice per day with a commercial shrimp pellet. During the experimental time, significantly (P

Industrial waste water arising from crude oil exploration and processing activities poses a serious environmental problem in Nigeria. Consequently, a study of the use of activated carbon in the clean up was designed by this study with the aim of reducing the water contamination to a more acceptable level. Locally produced activated carbon produced from Hura crepitans seeds of different mass was employed as adsorbent with its adsorption potentials compared with standard commercial activated carbon. A 2h contact time was allowed after which physicochemical parameters such as temperature, odour, appearance, density, pH, chemical oxygen demand, dissolved oxygen, biological oxygen demand, conductivity, turbidity, total dissolved solids, chloride, sulphate, total hardness, calcium and magnesium concentrations were determined. Results of the analyses showed that the produced activated carbon is an excellent means for the removal of the contaminants as seen by the decrease in the contaminant concentration from an initial concentration to that within or close to both WHO and refinery specifications. The results of this study revealed that the powdered form of the activated carbon from H. crepitans seed would be very effective in the remediation of petroleum-hydrocarbon contaminated ground water and its use is therefore recommended.

We developed a method for the synthesis of alkynyl amides via the carbonylation of alkynoic acids and C-N activation of tertiary amines. The reaction of alkynoic acid and tertiary amine with carbon monoxide using a palladium catalyst in the presence of oxygen, KI, and K3PO4, gave the desired alkynyl amides in good yields.

Background: Tobacco smoking is an addictive behavior with heavy risks accompanying its prolonged practice. Unfortunately, more and more people are indulging in tobacco smoking habits despite the public health education programs going on worldwide about the dangers associated with tobacco smoking behavior. This study aims to survey active shisha smokers in Birnin Kebbi Local Government Area (LGA), Kebbi State, Nigeria, on the awareness of the harmful effects associated with shisha smoking. Methods: This study was a survey of 45 active shisha smokers in Birnin Kebbi LGA. Snowballing technique was adopted in participants’ recruitment. Study instrument was a questionnaire. Data collected was analyzed using SPSS version 20 software. Results: Majority (32/45) of the participants were males, 16 had secondary school education, and 19 were within age range of 15 to 24 years. The majority (25/45) of them began to smoke shisha at the age of 18 years or more; also, 20 participants smoked shisha in all the 30 days prior to their participation in this study. Less than half of the study participants knew that: shisha is a stimulant (6/45), shisha smoke contains carbon monoxide (10/45), and the liquid in shisha could be replaced with alcohol (15/45). However, more than half of the participants knew that shisha contains nicotine (23/45) and tobacco (25/45). Only 16, 13, 11, 9, 5, 10, and 13 participants knew that shisha smoking could lead to cancer, cardiovascular diseases, increase in the risk of infections, reduced baby weight in pregnancy, gum and mouth disease, eye disease and blindness, and harm to non-smokers, respectively. Conclusion: Many of the active shisha smokers surveyed in this study began smoking shisha at a young age. Also, a significant proportion of them were unaware of the health hazards associated with shisha use; hence the need to educate them and even the Nigerian public on the dangers associated with shisha use.

A 150‐days study was conducted on the continuous exposure of magnetized water at 0.00, 0.10, 0.15 and 0.20 Tesla (T) on quadruplicate treatments of Jade Perch Scortum barcoo juveniles in a recirculating system. Each replicate consisted of 18 fish with an average weight of 7.52 g over all treatments. The feeding efficiencies, growth, whole‐body proximate plasma parameters, survival were measured and liver histopathology was observed. Our results show no significant improvement in water quality parameters, specific growth rate and body weight gain in this study. However, the best feed conversion ratio was recorded in fish exposed to 0.10, 0.15 and 0.20 T, which are significantly better than the control 0.00 T. Though survival was unaffected but plasma biochemistry and liver histopathology were affected even within the treatment. No liver, plasma or blood abnormalities were detected in fish exposed to 0.10 T and the control 0.00 T. But, one out of four livers from fish in the 0.15 T treatment showed a localized inflammatory response. These changes increased in the liver of fish exposed to 0.20 T, high AST and necrosis in this group is evidence of the liver cells damaged or been at risk. A significantly higher crude protein and lipid were noticed in the exposed fish compared with the control, 0.15 T had the highest crude protein and lipid while the control has the lowest. Based on the overall findings, on growth performance and looking at other factors like absence of any physiological disorder 0.10 T can be used as an effective and affordable technique improve the feeding efficiencies of Jade Perch.

A 70-day study was conductedto determine the effects of continuous exposure of magnetized water on red hybrid tilapia (Oreochromis sp.). Triplicate groups of tilapia (7.16 ± 0.05 g) were tested with increasing amounts of magnetized water intensity (0.00, 0.10, 0.15 and 0.20 T). At the end of the experiment, the growth, feeding efficiency, whole-body proximate composition, water quality, and plasma parameters were measured. Although the survival was unaffected by the magnetised water level, the weight gain and specific growth rate significantly increased (P

Despite positive economic forecasts, stable democracies, and reduced regional conflicts since the turn of the century, Africa continues to be afflicted by poverty, poor infrastructure, and a massive burden of communicable diseases such as HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, and diarrheal illnesses. With the rising prevalence of chronic kidney disease and kidney failure worldwide, these factors continue to hinder the ability to provide kidney care for millions of people on the continent. The International Society of Nephrology Global Kidney Health Atlas project was established to assess the global burden of kidney disease and measure global capacity for kidney replacement therapy (dialysis and kidney transplantation). The aim of this second iteration of the International Society of Nephrology Global Kidney Health Atlas was to evaluate the availability, accessibility, affordability, and quality of kidney care worldwide. We identified several gaps regarding kidney care in Africa, chief of which are (i) severe workforce limitations, especially in terms of the number of nephrologists; (ii) low government funding for kidney care; (iii) limited availability, accessibility, reporting, and quality of provided kidney replacement therapy; and (iv) weak national strategies and advocacy for kidney disease. We also identified that within Africa, the availability and accessibility to kidney replacement therapy vary significantly, with North African countries faring far better than sub-Sahara African countries. The evidence suggests an urgent need to increase the workforce and government funding for kidney care, collect adequate information on the burden of kidney disease from African countries, and develop and implement strategies to enhance disease prevention and control across the continent.

Compliance with recommended hand hygiene among healthcare providers is important in the prevention of morbidity and mortality associated with hospitalacquired infections including drug resistant microorganisms. This study aimed to determine the reported knowledge and hand hygiene practices among healthcare workers in Specialist Hospitals in Kano, Nigeria. Descriptive cross-sectional study design was used to study 302 healthcare workers in the specialist hospitals in Kano. Data was collected using semi-structured self-administered questionnaire and analyzed at univariate, bivariate and multivariate levels using IBM SPSS version 22. The age of the respondents ranged from 18 to 59 years with a mean of 31.4±9 years. Up to onethird (36.1%) of the respondents had poor knowledge despite the reported hand hygiene practice of 78%. Use of Alcohol Based Hand Rub and soap and water constituted 26.7% and 15.7% respectively. There was statistically significant association between working in MMSH, working in Pediatrics wards, CHEW cadre, and attendance of hand hygiene training in the last 3 years and having good knowledge of hand hygiene. Hand hygiene training was found to improve hand hygiene knowledge [AOR=1.58, 95% CI= (1.01-2.5)] and practice [AOR=1.12 95%CI= (0.64-1.99)]. Reported knowledge of hand hygiene was poor but the practices were encouraging and associated with formal training of healthcare workers on hand hygiene. Therefore, Hospital management should ensure regular hand hygiene training and re-training among healthcare workers.

Background. Constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) is used for the rehabilitation of motor function after stroke. Objectives. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of lower limb CIMT that uses number of repetition of tasks with the one that uses number of hours of practice. Method. The study was a randomized clinical trial approved by the Ethics Committee of Kano State Ministry of Health. Fifty-eight people with stroke participated in the study. Groups 1 and 2 performed daily 600 repetitions and 3 hours of task practice, respectively, 5 times weekly for 4 weeks. Motor impairment (primary outcome), balance, functional mobility, knee extensor spasticity, walking speed and endurance, and exertion before and after commencement of activities were assessed at baseline and postintervention. The data was analyzed using Friedmann and Mann-Whitney U tests. Result. The results showed that there was only significant difference ( p < 0.05 ) in knee extensor spasticity (group 1 ( median = 0 0 , mean rank = 27.50 ); group 2 ( median = 0 0 , mean rank = 31.64 )), exertion before commencement of activities (group 1 ( median = 0 0.5 , mean rank = 21.90 ); group 2 ( median = 1 0.5 , mean rank = 37.64 )), and exertion after commencement of activities (group 1 ( median = 1 1 , mean rank = 20.07 ); group 2 ( median = 1 0 , mean rank = 39.61 ) postintervention in favour of the experimental group (group 1)). Conclusion. The group 1 protocol is more effective at improving outcomes after stroke.

Base on the principle of developing a suitable aquaculture system that will fit the present climate and environmental challenges to enhance breeding and production in aquaculture. Against the backdrop of issues connected to water quality in recirculating aquaculture system which has negative impact on the fish comfort, feeding rate and blood biochemistry, this may later affect its growth performance and general wellbeing. Although, the rate of waste disintegration and the bacteria species present in the filter system determine the physicochemical parameters of the treated water, which further affect the biological characteristics of the fish. This study intends to reveal the effect of biological filtration media (wood coal, rice hulls and wheat hay) on water properties and its further effects on growth performance, plasma biochemistry, liver and gills histopathology of common carp in RAS. After the acclimation interval, 24 tanks were stocked with 8 fish average initial weight of 15.74 g. However, treatments were assigned to each tank at random sampling to make four treatments. The results showed a significant effect on Common carp growth and body biomass, for those with filter media compared to the control. Though, a better growth performance of Common carp culture in water exposed to wheat hay and rice hulls were recorded at significant level with lower FCR. Hence improvement in fish productivity was observed in the treatments compared to the control. Moreover, there are significant changes on cell counts, and plasma biochemistry parameters. In synopsis, the study reveals the benefits in using additional media such as wheat hay and rice hulls as a biological filter media to improve water quality and growth performance of common carp in aquaculture. The use of this new media should be encourage since the installation of this biological filter media is simple, affordable and can be retrofitted into existing systems, to increase water management and aquaculture productivity.