Archives-  

Valid information on causes of death is a vital tool to the development of national and international health policies for prevention, better management, and control of diseases and complications. World health statistics indicated that Nigeria has the highest number of people living with diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa. Many life-threatening complications arise from type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) from which many people die annually. This study assessed the current trends in mortality among type 2 diabetes patients to provide evidence based information on the dynamics of the disease for better case management and prevention of complications. The study was a cross-sectional retrospective descriptive study of dead type 2 diabetes patients using the death register and postmortem reports. Key data were extracted from death registers and analyzed with SPSS version 20 using descriptive and inferential statistics at a significant level of p<0.05. All the 229 and 91 deaths in NAUTH and ANSUTH due to DM complications were recorded. Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) had the highest mean percentage death (51.9%). Diabetic ketoacidosis, hypertension, and hyperglycemia were implicated. Married patients had the highest cases of DM mortality 173(75.6%) for NAUTH and 52(57.2%) for ANSUTH. Type 2 DM is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and the associated burden is more prevalent in developing countries. Studies have shown that DFU with: infection, sepsis, DKA, hyperglycemia, and hypertension are very important complications among T2DM in Nigeria.

This study has been carried out of calculating potential energy curves (Deng-Fan potential and Varshni potential) of ground state of diatomic molecule (HCl). Potential energy curves depended on spectroscopic Parameters (?e, ?exe, re, ?, µ, ?, De ,) and our results have been compared with experimental results.

Termites are significant agents behind organic decomposition in or at the surface of the soil. They thrive in great abundance in terrestrial ecosystems and play important role in biorecycling of lignocellulose... Macrotermitinae are the dominant termite family which cultivate fungal combs within the mound chamber. The termites and fungi, form a agricultural beneficiary relationship which is one of the most spectacular example for mutualistic symbiosis The key activities attributed to the fungal partner in this mutualistic symbiosis are extensive delignification of the substrate and the conversion of plant fiber to fungal biomass .The fungal population aids in the decomposition of cellulose and supply other nutritional requirements for the termite.

This paper discusses poverty alleviation in Igbo traditional society as one critical response from the people’s indigenous religious metaphysics. The Igbo people of Southeastern Nigeria are known from antiquity for their religiosity, industry and egalitarianism, among other virtues. As a people, they abhor material poverty (Ogbenye) and more so, relational poverty (Mgbenye). Therefore, from their world view which has a porous demarcation between the secular and the sacred, they evolved poverty alleviation schemes. The findings of this paper reveal that the success stories of these programs were based on love of neighbour, contentment, honesty, industry, communitarian spirit and other cultural values which were made robust by their indigenous religion. Based on the findings, this work therefore calls on the Igbo indigenes both at home and in diaspora to continue along these moral virtues and positive social values got from their ancestors as they do not contradict the ways of Christianity which majority of us have embraced. The implication of this persuasion is the need by both Igbo people and all persons on earth to eschew immoral vices such as corruption, sale of babies and human parts, assassination, fraud and human trafficking, looting and thuggery, prostitution, cultism and ritual money, et cetera as means of fighting poverty which are prevalent today in many indigenous and modern societies. The methodology employed in this work is “Culture Area Approach” which means that this study focused on Igbo cultural context with special interest on her traditional poverty alleviation methods as peculiar evolutions from her Indigenous Religion.

Facial beauty is becoming more and more important worldwide. This is defined as being close to what is advertised as attractiveness (for example by media) and is determined mainly by golden proportions. This study aimed to observe the soft tissue facial angular and proportional norms of South Iranian population attending Shiraz Dental School's clinic. Methods and material: Seventy subjects (34 males and 36 females; 16-30 years of age)with Persian origin who had a skeletal class 1 pattern and almost well-aligned maxillary and mandibular dental arches who participate in this cross-sectional study were selected from patients attending Shiraz Dental School's orthodontic clinic in 2013. Standardized frontal facial view digital photographs were taken from subjects and traced. Four angular and eight proportional facial variables were analyzed by using Autocad software. For statistical evaluation a Student’s t -test was used and the reliability of the method was assessed by using Intraclass Correlation Coefficient within a four week interval. Results: Men had a higher facial asymmetry, a higher Facial Index, a higher proportion of the distance between inner canthus of the eyes divided by the mean of the width of the right and left eyes, and a lower facial aperture modified angle average than females. Conclusion: The average measurements of most facial variables of this study's population deviated from the ideal values suggested in texts and from those of the Brazilian Caucasian population. 

Cold extraction method was used extract the crude solvent extracts of leaf of Chrysophyllum albidum. The structural elucidation by spectroscopic methods (1H and 13C NMR) of a fraction of ethyl acetae extract of C. albidum yielded a new compound characterized as decyl heptadecanoate, C27H54O2. A similar compound Decyl-8-hydroxyl heptadecanoate has also been isolated from Ziziphus mauritiana leaves and has been synthesized via utilization of microwave energy using available starting compounds. Quantum chemical calculations have been carried out on the isolated compounds. Optimized geometry, IR frequencies, bond distances, bond angles and other parameters have been computationally determined for the isolated compound from the quantum chemical calculations using the GAUSSIAN 09 suite of programs. The experimentally measured and the computationally obtained IR frequencies are in good agreement.

The objective of this research was to examine the role of performance appraisal in the development of the human resource of Takoradi Polytechnic. Primary and secondary data were used for the study. The primary data for this research came from interviews and questionnaires. While the interview generated qualitative data and information, the questionnaire generated quantitative data for this study. The results revealed that though the staff of Takoradi Polytechnic are aware of performance appraisal in the institution, they had problems which needed to be addressed by management of the institution. They indicated that lack of performance feedback negatively affected their level of staff seriousness towards appraisal.

Karad Tahasil is the part of Satara district of Maharashtra state, India. Geographically it lies in between N 72022’01” latitude and E 17037’29” longitude. It occupies in and around total an area of 42.0 sq. Kilometers. Receiving an annual rainfall of about 700 -800 mm. It is surrounded by two major rivers (Krishna and Koyana), on it built number of small dams. Also present number of water canal network for agriculture. Most of the land is irrigated surrounded by trees. The water canal are the rich source of food includes fishes, crabs, prawns, mollusc and aquatic plants so birds gets plenty of food, shelter/ hiding place and breeding grounds. The water canals are surveyed to document avian diversity. Total 84- species of birds recorded from the study site during year 2011- 12. Among these 24- birds are migratory and 60- are native birds of 12- Orders and 21- Families. Results revealed that smaller wetlands are very important in conservation of Biodiversity especially for water birds. The preliminary survey of Avifauna will help in facilitate conservation strategy and management plan as these are the key components of ecosystem.

Chitosan is a natural carbohydrate biopolymer derived by deacetylation (DA) of chitin, a major component of the shells of crustacea such as crab, shrimp, and crawfish. Like cellulose, chitosan is a fiber. However, unlike plant fiber, chitosan possesses unique properties that may be enhanced by forming it in thin film or membrane structure. The chitosan films have enormous surface area per unit volume (high aspect ratio), which provide remarkable capacity for attachment or release of functional groups, absorbed molecules, ions and particles of many kinds. This work deals with formation of chitosan membranes (films) to study the selective adsorption property of heavy metal ions present in leather tanning effluents. Chitosan was prepared from the chitin by deacetylation process. The degree of deacetylation was determined and molecular weight was calculated. The chitin and chitosan were characterized with FTIR. The synthesized chitosan was fabricated into membranes, whose surfaces were analyzed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical spectroscopy. The SEM images show the porous nature of the membrane indicates the possibility of metal ion adsorption. The complete absorption spectra of chitosan membranes show the absorption peak around 330nm specify the selective adsorption nature of the carcinogenic and dangerous species of the effluent (Cr-VI) by the chitosan membranes. Heavy metal adsorption property of the chitosan depends on time of adsorption, thickness and area of the membrane. The linear variation of absorbance with time indicates the fast absorption rate of the metal ion by the chitosan membranes. The mechanism of the selective adsorption is due to physic-sorption process.

The objective of this paper is to investigate the role of self-efficacy as a moderator between individual’s absorptive capacity and knowledge acquisition behaviour among engineers in the electrical and electronic (E&E) sector in Malaysia. The study utilized survey method to collect the data. There were 305 responses for the survey. Partial least square (PLS) properties of structural equation modelling (SEM) were used to measure the interaction between absorptive capacity and self-efficacy and its effect knowledge acquisition. The study found no support for self-efficacy as a moderator between the two variables.