Recent Articles

The study was conducted from September 2020 to June 2021 to assess the bacteriological quality of raw bulk milk from urban and rural local market sites in Borana pastoral area of Oromia Regional State, Southern Ethiopia. A total of 78 milk samples were collected and analyzed for bacterial load using standard plate count and coliform count techniques and isolation of pathogenic bacteria was conducted. The total mean aerobic bacterial counts of raw bulk milk samples of camel, cow and goat were 8.51 log cfu/ml, 8.73 log cfu/ml and 8.54 log cfu/ml respectively. Regarding the location of milk market sites, the mean total aerobic bacterial count was 8.72 log cfu/ml and 8.49 log cfu/ml in urban and rural milk market sites respectively. The total mean coliform counts of raw bulk milk samples of camel, cow and goat were 6.51log cfu/ml, 6.55 log cfu/ml and 6.47 log cfu/ml respectively. Regarding the location of milk market sites the total mean coliform counts was 6.63 log cfu/ml and 6.40log cfu/ml from urban and rural milk market sites respectively. Comparing the mean differences of the total mean aerobic and coliform bacterial counts, there was no significant mean differences (p>0.05) among the animal milk samples. However, there was significant mean differences (p

Marine organisms, scientists, governmental and non-governmental organizations face a significant challenge as a result of the ubiquitousness of plastic and microplastics in the aquatic environment, particularly in Nigeria where there is little or no policy put in place to address the issue of microplastic pollution. Nigeria ranks ninth globally in terms of its contribution to ocean plastic pollution and currently does not have a federal ban on the majority of single-use plastics and equipment. This paper aimed to present the status of plastic pollution in Nigeria and some policies to curb the menace. Data analysis reveals that Bayesa, Katsina, Lagos, and Oyo are the four states that generate the majority of the plastic waste in Nigeria. The number of industries, markets, and urbanization in a location affect the quantity of plastic waste that is produced there and is not dependent on the population. This paper makes some policy suggestions and recommendations such as the federal prohibition and taxation on the use of plastic, ocean clean-up, technological innovation that will support the recycling industry in Nigeria, and the need for additional plastic research. Nigeria can apply the most recent plastic waste management strategies in European and Asian nations as a model and adopt them to reduce marine plastic pollution.

Enteric fever is a common infection of tropical countries that can have a variety of neurological complications. Reported neurological complications are encephalopathy, eningism, spastic paralysis-cerebral origin, convulsions, meningitis, parkinsonian syndrome, sensory motor neuropathy, cerebellar involvement, and schizophrenic psychosis. The patient, who was diagnosed with enteric fever and started treatment, developed headache and blurred vision 5 days after the treatment. Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis secondary to enteric fever and related pseudotumor cerebri were detected in the patient. When additional symptoms develop despite treatment in patients with enteric fever, complications such as thrombosis and pseudotumor cerebri should be considered.

Background: Pneumothorax is potentially a life-threatening condition in neonates with little compensatory pulmonary reserve. Hemodynamically significant pneumothorax requires drainage with large-bore chest tubes, and more recently with small-calibre percutaneous pigtail catheters. This study aims to explicate the effectiveness and safety of both the drainage systems exploring ease of insertion, rates of air-leak resolution, recurrence rates as well as potential procedural complications. Methods: This was a retrospective observational audit reviewing medical records of newborns with symptomatic pneumothorax admitted to tertiary neonatal intensive care unit over 4-year duration, and treated with either chest tube or pigtail catheters as the initial treatment approach. Demographic data, details related to pneumothorax, drain related parameters as well as outcome and efficacy parameters were compared among these two methods of intervention. Results: Out of 51 drainage procedures, 27 infants underwent pigtail insertion compared to 24 infants requiring chest tube thoracostomy. Baseline demographic data, time for radiological clearance and resolution of air leak, duration of drain in-situ, recurrence and complication rate, as well as hospitalisation duration were comparable among the two groups. Group of infants who underwent pigtail insertion required significantly less sedation (51.9% vs 83.3%; p=0.021) and invasive ventilation (63% vs 95.8%; p=0.011) than chest tube insertion. Significantly smaller calibre (8.22±1.6Fr vs 9.08±1.44Fr; p

Background: Limited data on large cohort of patients with malignant tumors of the scalp are available in the literature. The aim of this study was to review a large cohort of patients with malignant scalp tumors to determine epidemilogy, tumor characteristics of this region and treatment. Materials and Method: A retrospective review of patients with malignant scalp tumors diagnosed histopathologically between 2005 and 2021 was performed. Demographic features and tumor characteristics were analyzed. Results: A total of 1080 patients (M: F 3,5:1) were treated and followed up for a mean period of 42 months (12-120 months). Age at diagnosis ranged from 12 to 98 years. Most malignant scalp tumors (95,1%) occurred in those 50 years or older and in bald patients (87%). Basal cell carcinomas (59,2%), squamous cell carcinomas (32,2%) and melanomas were the most common histologic types. Incidence was highest on the frontal of temporal region (66,1%). Recurrence was frequently in squamous and basal cell carcinomas but uncommon in melanoma. Conclusions: Tumors of the scalp accounted about 8,01 % of all skin cancers. Tend to be basal and squamous cell carcinomas, many of which occur in the temporal and frontal region of bald men. The outlook for patients with scalp tumor is positive, although we suggest excision margins of at least 3-4 mm and continued clinical vigilance is warranted given their higher recurrence rates.

Objectives: Recent studies have shown that exercise by affecting bones causes the release of hormones that are effective in regulating blood glucose, lipid profile and preventing vascular calcification. The present study aims to Comparison effect of aerobic and resistance exercises on Osteocalcin and Metabolic Profils in Overweight men. Methods: total of 33 overweight healthy men (BMI 29 = 67.96 ± 0.96 and age 33.2 ± 2.23) were randomly assigned into three groups: control (n = 11), aerobic (n = 11) and resistance exercise (n = 11) groups. The training program was conducted for 8 weeks, 3 sessions per week for the training groups. Body compositions parameters (weight, body fat percent, BMI) were analyzed, osteocalcin and blood biochemical parameters were assessed from fasting blood samples before and after 8-week exercise programme. Results: Body fat, BMI and body weight reduction following exercise (P

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an inherited disorder caused by genetic mutations encoding the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein. Elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor (ELX/TEZ/IVA) is a CFTR modulator shown to improve lung function in certain patients with CF. We undertook this study to determine its effects on glycemic outcomes in pediatric patients with cystic fibrosis-related diabetes (CFRD). We reviewed the medical records and identified two subjects, referred to as subject A and subject B, with CFRD on insulin therapy at Duke University Hospital between 2019-2020 who were on treatment with ELX/TEZ/IVA for at least one year. The mean hgbA1C pre- and post- treatment was 5.65% (5.6-5.7) and 5.05% (5.0-5.1) respectively with a mean reduction of 0.6% (p value 0.01). Improvement in hgbA1C occurred in the absence of increased insulin requirements, subject B remained on a similar insulin regimen whereas subject A was able to come off insulin completely. In addition, improvements in BMI z-score were seen in both groups with a mean BMI z-score of -0.30 pre-treatment (-0.71-0.11) and z-score of +0.28 post-treatment (0.11-0.45).

Aim: Palm oil processing generally generates lots of wastewater (palm oil mill effluent), this is usually discharged into the environment in the untreated form and subsequently causes several environmental issues. There is therefore need to isolate microorganisms that can be used to clean up the palm oil contaminated environment especially the soil. Methods and Results: Palm oil contaminated soil was obtained from Oba Adeyemi palm oil mill in Oyo, Oyo State, Nigeria, other soil samples which were purposely contaminated with palm oil, were obtained from Ajayi Crowther University Oyo, Oyo State. Isolation, characterization and identification of microorganisms were carried out using morphological and biochemical characterization. The isolates were preliminarily screened for lipolytic activities, this was confirmed by growth on the mineral salt medium after 7 days, signifying hydrolysis. One of the prominent isolates was further identified by sequences analysis of 16S rRNA genes. Forty-one bacterial isolates were identified, which included species of Bacillus (80 %), Pseudomonas (20 %) in the oil mill contaminated soil sample and Bacillus spp. (100 %) in the purposely contaminated soils. Twenty-nine fungal isolates including species of Aspergillus, Oidiodendron, Geotrichum, Penicillum, Saccharomyces were isolated with Aspergillus fumigatus having the highest frequency of occurrence (37.5 %) in artificially contaminated soil and Saccharomyces spp. having the highest frequency of occurrence (91 %) in palm oil contaminated soil from the palm oil mill. Sequencing of the 16S rRNA of one of the prominent isolates showed that it was identified as MN607220 Saccharomyces cerevisae. All the bacterial and fungal isolates had lipolytic activities except Bacillus mycoides and Oidiodendron sp. respectively. Nine of the ten Saccharomyces sp. had lipolytic activities. Conclusion: These screened organisms could therefore be employed for the cleanup of palm oil contamination in the environment. Significance and Impact of Study: Thereby ridding the environment of possible toxic effects especially in areas of need like Malaysia

Nickel production for electric vehicle batteries increases by 30% every year. As the country with the most nickel production in 2021, Indonesia will operate six nickel refining plants with High-pressured acid leaching technology and one development of Step Temperature Acid Leach technology. Problems arise with many hydrometallurgical-based nickel refining plants where the leach residue will continue to accumulate and potentially pollute the soil environment. Lateritic nickel leach residue has a high Fe content reaching 44.45% in the form of hematite and an S content of around 1.3%. Besides, demand growth in the iron and steel industry is greater than the availability of its raw materials. Thus, secondary sources for raw materials for the iron and steel industry are needed. The maximum S content for steel raw materials is 0.1%, so the sulfur content in leach residue must be removed. This research focuses on removing sulfur content in lateritic nickel leach residue by roasting at a temperature of 500 °C until 1100 °C. The experiment was continued with reduction roasting at various temperature profiles. The reduced phase of the roasted leach residue sample is then compared with the reduced phase of the initial leach residue sample. Sulfur content decreases with increasing roasting temperature. Sulfur content reaches ~0% at a roasting temperature of 1100 °C. The optimum initial sample reductive roasting temperature of lateritic nickel leach residue was 1400 °C with 95.9% Fe content and 0.1% S in metal. The optimum reductive roasting temperature for 1100 °C roasted samples was 1200 °C with 94.6% Fe content and 0% S. Roasting treatment can reduce the optimum temperature for the reduction roasting process.

Background: Dengue virus (DENV) infection is highly endemic in Sri Lanka with frequent epidemics. Knowledge on DENV serotype distribution will provide important information on impending epidemics. Understanding the disease burden of DENV infection during COVID-19 pandemic is highly important. Objective: To analyze the incidence of DENV infection and serotype distribution among clinically suspected patients with DENV infection during COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka. Study Design: This retrospective study analyzed 1796 plasma samples from patients with clinically suspected DENV infection received at Medical Research Institute (MRI), for testing of DENV RNA, from May 2019 to April 2021. Detection of viraemia and serotypes was performed using a commercially-validated serotyping real-time Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). Demographic and clinical details were recruited from accompanying request forms. Results were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi square testing. Results: Of the samples 69.2% (n=1243) became positive for DENV RNA with 55.34% (n=688) belonging to patients under 16 years and 20.99%(n=261) to patients with severe infection. The vireamic rate ranged from 31.9% to 80.12% during different quarters of the study period. DENV-2 was detected in 40.2% (n=500) followed by DENV-3(37.97%,n=472) and DENV-1(15.44%,n=192) while co-infection with two different serotypes was observed in 5.79%(n=72). DENV3(47.5%,n=124) and DENV-2(39.46%, n=103) exhibited high percentage of positivity among patients with severe infection. Conclusions: Incidence of Dengue virus infection in Sri Lanka showed a noticeable decrease during study period. DENV2 and DENV-3 exhibited dominance with re-emergence of DENV-1 and co-infection with multiple serotypes. DENV-2 and DENV-3 were detected with severe infection predominantly.

Introduction: Isavuconazole is an antifungal drug used for treating patients with invasive fungal infections. Efficacy and safety of isavuconazole is monitored by measuring plasma isavuconazole concentration using LCMS which is a non-affordable method. We used the HPLC system with a UV detector to measure plasma Isavuconazole concentration. Objective: Improved Reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography procedure with UV detection is described which is cost effective, simple, precise and easily processed for the measurement of Isavuconazole, a drug used to treat the patients with invasive fungal infections, in blood plasma. Method: The method involves protein precipitation, addition of ammonium dihydrogen phosphate and chromatographic separation on a Hypurity C18 Column using an isocratic mobile phase of acetonitrile and ammonium acetate buffer (pH 8.0, 10 mM) (55:45, v/v). The UV detection was performed at 285 nm. The method provides rapid resolution of Isavuconazole in a 50 uL injection. Result: Lower limit of Quantification (LLOQ) is 0.25 μg/ml in a 50 uL injection volume for Isavuconazole with a recovery consistently > 100 %. The assay is validated over linear range of 0.25 to 10 μg/ml. The intra-assay precision is < 3.53 % and inter-assay is

Bloodstream infections (BSI) are one of severe infectious complications faced by hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) patients. BSI increases significantly the morbidity and mortality of HSCT patients. Gram-positive bacteria occurred more frequency than gram-negative bacteria over past decades, but rates of gram-negative bloodstream infections have recently increased again. Antibacterial prophylaxis could be justified in HSCT, infections caused by resistant pathogens increased mortality. New antibiotics such as omadacycline, meropenem/vaborbactam, eravacycline, ceftobiprole, tedizolid, dalbavancin, cefiderocol hold promise for the treatment of highly resistant pathogens.

Background: Exhaled Volatile Organic Compounds (E-VOCs) may help to early detection of colonic polyps Objective: Assess whether a new ambulatory device is able to detect specific E-VOCs in patients recently diagnosed with colonic polyps. Material and Methods: All data were collected during routine consultations for Small Intestinal Bowel Overgrowth. A breath test was performed by X-PID 9500®. Results: 203 patients older than 45 years of age were included. 31patients (15.3%) reported colonic polyps. 74 patients presented with gastroduodenal or jejunal (GDJ) liquid at ultrasound examination despite fasting. 96 patients (47.3%) exhaled numerous E-VOCs with a retention time between 12 to 45s (E-VOCs 12 to 45s). All patients of the polyp group exhaled E-VOCs 12 to 45s. 69 patients with GDJ liquid exhaled E-VOCS 12 to 45s. 11 patients out of these 69 cases (15.9%) present with polyps. 27 patients exhaled E-VOCs 12 to 45s and did not have GDJ, 20 of whom (74.1%) presented with polyps. When GDJ liquid is not objectivized after fasting, the sensitivity of the E-VOCs 12 to 45s to identify patients with colonic polyps is equal to 100.0% and the specificity is 93.6%. The positive predictive value is 74.1% and the negative predictive value is 100%. Conclusion: After fasting, X-PID 9500® is able to detect E-VOCs associated with colonic polyps, when GDJ liquid is excluded.

Low temperature (but above-freezing) during germination and early seedling growth of chilling-sensitive crop is one of the most significant limiting factors in the productivity. 2,4-Epibrassinolide (24-EB) is one of the most active forms of brassinosteroids are multifunctional plant hormones that can regulate development and respond to abiotic stresses. The effect of seed-pretreatment with 24-EB (12.5 μg/L) on photosynthetic characteristics, membrane permeability, lipid peroxidation and antioxidant activities under chilling stress were investigated in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) cultivars: Kulon (early ripening) and Yakhont (mid-early). Results showed that the use of 24-EB led to more pronounced changes in the pigment composition in Yakhont in the absence of a stress factor, whereas in Kulon under chilling stress (2 o C for 24 h). 24-EB pretreatment minimized the damage to cell membranes in tomato plants caused by chilling stress. The tolerance to chilling stress in Yakhont was higher than Kulon (by electrolyte leakage and content of malondialdehyde assay). Under these conditions, oxidative processes in plants of Yakhont did not show significant difference. We have not established the effect of 24-EB on the level of low molecular weight antioxidants in tomato cultivars (measured by inhibition of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl free radical method). The antioxidant activity of leaf extracts in Yakhont was twice as high as in Kulon under all experimental conditions (with/without 24-EB, 22/2 o C). It was concluded that the less pronounced reaction of plants of Yakhont to the use of 24-EB and chilling stress is due to their genetically determined higher cold resistance than that of Kulon.

We present rare case of medial meniscus dislocation, in a 25 years old female patient who was admitted in emergency department. With painful locked left knee. Arthroscopy was done next day showing isolated dislocation of medial meniscus with the absence of any medial meniscus tear. Only reduction of the medial meniscus was done. Postoprative MRI confirmed the diagnosis and showed no tears in the medial meniscus. Physiotherapy and clinical follow up were done with good results and no recurrence for 4 months postoperative.

Low levels of psychological wellbeing pose considerable burdens on society in terms of mortality, unemployment, absenteeism, medications, social services, morbidity, and in-out patients’ costs. Early detection and preventive treatments may help to reduce costs and improve quality of life. Researchers have proposed several measures and tried to identify new measures of psychological wellbeing, but there is not a universally accepted measure, and all the existing ones have their own limitations. This paper discusses research results focusing on behavioral, psychological, social, demographic features and biomarkers of psychological wellbeing and mental disorders associated with low psychological wellbeing levels. The features which are addressed in the paper are categorized into three groups: affecting features, features for therapy and detecting features. This categorization is described and defended.

In this paper, we take a creative look at the effect of cracking on the buckling of graphene sheets. We introduced a significant improvement in molecular mechanical calculations that more accurately examine the behavior of atomic bonds during the instability of nanostructures in the presence of defects. A molecular mechanics method based on the modified couple stress (MCS) theory to consider the size effect on the graphene plate is introduced. Primary cracks with different lengths, orientations, and numbers were examined. For each crack, buckling parameters such as critical load and buckling modes of graphene sheets were investigated. This model has better computational performance and less computational compactness than other models. Our studies show that cracks perpendicular to the load direction have a greater effect on buckling parameters, including modes and critical buckling load than cracks aligned to the critical load. Increasing the crack length will further reduce the critical buckling load. The effect of the number of cracks in two directions in buckling parameters was investigated. Increasing the number of cracks always decreases a critical buckling load. Increasing the number of cracks affects the first buckling mode more than others. The study of the eccentricity of cracks shows that with increasing the eccentricity distance, in cracks perpendicular to the loading direction, the critical buckling load will be further reduced. However, for cracks aligned with the load direction, increasing the eccentric distance has less effect on reducing the critical buckling load.