Assessment of the Effects of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (Glomus clarum) and Pigeon Pea Hedgerow on the Yield of Maize and Soil Properties in Degraded Ultisols

The use of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (Glomus clarum) in ecological restoration enables its host plant to be established in degraded soil. Two years field experiment was conducted at  Ekpoma, Nigeria to assessed the effects of Glomus clarum and pigeon pea hedgerow on soil properties, yield of maize and nitrogen fixation. A factorial experiment set up in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replicates. Soil was analysed for both chemical and physical properties before planting and after harvest. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA at p = 0.05. Mycorrhizal pigeon pea hedgerow significantly (p< 0.05) increased the nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and calcium content of the soil.  Maize cultivated with the inclusion of mycorrhiza with or without pigeon pea hedgerow was higher in growth compared to non mycorrhizal maize. Inclusion of mycorrhiza to hedgerow significantly increased the grain yield of maize which was 2,040 kg / ha compared to control with an average yield of 1,406.8 kg/ha. The grain yield of mycorrhizal hedgerow was increased by 48 % compared to non-mycorrhizal pigeon pea. Inoculation of mycorrhiza to sole pigeon pea and maize had significant higher grain yield of 2,581.4 kg / ha and 2,349.2 kg / ha respectively in the residual experiment. The residual effect of Glomus clarum on maize and pigeon pea hedgerow significantly (p < 0.05) increased their grain yield by 41 % and 56 % respectively compared to the control. Also, inclusion of Glomus clarum significantly increased the nitrogen fixation of hedgerow pigeon pea compared to the hedgerow without Glomus clarum. The results showed the beneficial contribution of mycorrhiza and pigeon pea hedgerow on the growth and yield of maize as well as the  nutrient content of the soil. Keywords: Glomus clarum, hedgerow, maize, soil properties, degraded soi

Estimation of Reference Evapotranspiration Using Penman-Monteith Equation and Time Series Model in some Selected States in Northern Nigeria

Based on the problem of climate change which greatly affect agriculture and water management in Northern Nigeria, this study estimated reference evapotranspiration using Penman-Monteith equation and time series models in some selected states in Northern Nigeria. The study covered 16 states in Northern Nigeria which were selected using purposive sampling techniques. The materials used for the study consist of secondary data of daily mean records of air temperature, wind speed, solar radiation, and relative humidity from 1st January 1984 to December 2022. From the data, the daily reference Evapotranspiration were computed using Penman-Monteith equation. Based on this, daily and mean annual reference evapotranspiration was obtained. From the result obtained on the daily and annual mean reference evapotranspiration, the time series models were plotted. The time series models plotted consist of daily reference evapotranspiration against time and mean annual reference evapotranspiration against time.  The time series plots provided random, nonlinear trend plot which is aperiodic. The plot of the mean and variance of reference evapotranspiration of states against latitudinal trend showed that R2 >0.60, which indicated that the mean and variance of reference evapotranspiration has a strong relationship with latitudinal trend of the states and thus can be used for predictive purpose. This latitudinal trend behavior of the mean and variance of reference evapotranspiration is further supported using spatial distribution map of Northern Nigeria which showed that the lowest mean reference evapotranspiration is location within FCT-Abuja and Jos while the highest mean reference evapotranspiration is located within Sokoto, Kebbi and Gusau

Malocclusion and occlusal traits among orthodontic patients seen at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and trend of malocclusion and occlusal traits among orthodontic patients in Benin City. Method: One hundred and thirty one patients, consisting of 71 females (54.2%) and 60 males (45.8%) aged 5 - 44 years (mean 17.9 ± 7.5 years) who presented for orthodontic treatment at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital Dental Centre were assessed for sagittal molar occlusion, overjet, overbite, crossbite, open bite, crowding, spacing, median diastema, midline shift, malformed and supernumerary teeth, displaced, unerupted and impacted teeth. Statistical gender differences in the occlusal traits were evaluated with the chi-square test. Result: The results revealed high prevalence of Angle\u27s class I malocclusion (71.8%), while 9.9% of the subjects had Angle\u27s Class II division 1, 7.6% had Angle\u27s Class II division 2 and 10.7% had Angle\u27s class III malocclusion. An increased overjet greater than 3.5mm was observed in 43% while increased overbite was observed in 25.2%. Anterior open bite was seen in 8.4% while 21.4% and 12.2% had anterior and posterior crossbites respectively. Midline shift was present in 29.8%, crowding of both upper and lower anterior segments was observed in 47.3%, spacing in the upper and lower anterior segments was present in 22.1%, and midline diastema was observed in 21.4%. No statistically significant gender differences were observed for any of the occlusal variables evaluated (P>0.05). Conclusion: This study revealed high prevalence of class I malocclusion, increased overjet and crowding among the orthodontic patients seen in Benin City, Nigeria

Treatment of Waste-Water from Pharmaceutics Industry Using Native Clay

Waste – water from pharmaceutical plant was collected using composite sampling. This was characterized and treated using native clay samples collected from selected clay deposits in Edo State of Nigeria. The aim was to find out the effectiveness of clay as coagulant in waste water treatment processes. The results of the parameters studied before and after treatment, show significant reduction. For the koalinite clay, color, Total Solid (TS), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Total Kjedahl Nitrogen, Phenol and Total Hydrocarbon Count (THC) show percentage reduction of 49.51, 51.89, 73.82, 72.81, 59.24, 82.19 and 33.85 respectively. The mixed clay sample shows percentage reduction of color (35.64), TS (50.57), COD (57.86), BOD (70.70, phenol (80.22) and THC (19.46). Results from this study show that clay material can effectively be used as adsorbent as all the heavy metals were reduced to Below Detectable Level (BDL). Keywords: Pharmaceutical, waste-water, adsorbent, reduction, composite, native, clay, below detectable level.

Pharmaceutical Industry Wastewater Treatment Using Organic Surfactant Modified Clay

This study was carried out to find out how effective and efficient clay, modified with hexadecyltrimethylammonuim (HDTMA) can be as adsorbent, to reduced various contaminants in wastewater. Waste-water was collected from pharmaceutical industry using composite sampling. The result of both untreated and treated wastewater recorded. These were converted to percentage reduction. The results show percentage reduction of color (88.12%), total solid (61.60%), COD (87.47%), BOD (79.59%) and TKN (70.89%). While phenol, THC and level of heavy metals reduced to below detectable level (BDL). Hence, surfactant modified clay can serve as effective and efficient adsorbent to sorb both organic and inorganic contaminants from wastewater and act as vital material in environment treatment processes. Keywords: Modified, hexadecyltrimethylaammonium bromide, surfactant adsorbent, contaminan

Seasonal variation in the bacteriological quality of Ebutte river in ehor community EDO state, Nigeria

ABSTRACT The bacteriological quality of Ebutte River in Ehor Community was carried out to ascertain the variation in the quality of the river between August 2010 and January 2011.The bacteriological assessment was studied using the basic microbiological techniques. The bacterial counts were shown to be highest in the inhabited point (3) with downstream (points 4 and 5) showing dilution effects of human activities and upstream (point 1 and 2) showing lower counts due to absence of human activities. Bacterial counts were higher than the acceptable limit of the WHO standards

Global, regional, and national sex-specific burden and control of the HIV epidemic, 1990–2019, for 204 countries and territories: the Global Burden of Diseases Study 2019

Background: The sustainable development goals (SDGs) aim to end HIV/AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. Understanding the current state of the HIV epidemic and its change over time is essential to this effort. This study assesses the current sex-specific HIV burden in 204 countries and territories and measures progress in the control of the epidemic. Methods: To estimate age-specific and sex-specific trends in 48 of 204 countries, we extended the Estimation and Projection Package Age-Sex Model to also implement the spectrum paediatric model. We used this model in cases where age and sex specific HIV-seroprevalence surveys and antenatal care-clinic sentinel surveillance data were available. For the remaining 156 of 204 locations, we developed a cohort-incidence bias adjustment to derive incidence as a function of cause-of-death data from vital registration systems. The incidence was input to a custom Spectrum model. To assess progress, we measured the percentage change in incident cases and deaths between 2010 and 2019 (threshold >75% decline), the ratio of incident cases to number of people living with HIV (incidence-to-prevalence ratio threshold <0·03), and the ratio of incident cases to deaths (incidence-to-mortality ratio threshold <1·0). Findings: In 2019, there were 36·8 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 35·1–38·9) people living with HIV worldwide. There were 0·84 males (95% UI 0·78–0·91) per female living with HIV in 2019, 0·99 male infections (0·91–1·10) for every female infection, and 1·02 male deaths (0·95–1·10) per female death. Global progress in incident cases and deaths between 2010 and 2019 was driven by sub-Saharan Africa (with a 28·52% decrease in incident cases, 95% UI 19·58–35·43, and a 39·66% decrease in deaths, 36·49–42·36). Elsewhere, the incidence remained stable or increased, whereas deaths generally decreased. In 2019, the global incidence-to-prevalence ratio was 0·05 (95% UI 0·05–0·06) and the global incidence-to-mortality ratio was 1·94 (1·76–2·12). No regions met suggested thresholds for progress. Interpretation: Sub-Saharan Africa had both the highest HIV burden and the greatest progress between 1990 and 2019. The number of incident cases and deaths in males and females approached parity in 2019, although there remained more females with HIV than males with HIV. Globally, the HIV epidemic is far from the UNAIDS benchmarks on progress metrics. Funding: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Institute on Aging of the NIH

Subnational mapping of HIV incidence and mortality among individuals aged 15–49 years in sub-Saharan Africa, 2000–18 : a modelling study

Background: High-resolution estimates of HIV burden across space and time provide an important tool for tracking and monitoring the progress of prevention and control efforts and assist with improving the precision and efficiency of targeting efforts. We aimed to assess HIV incidence and HIV mortality for all second-level administrative units across sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: In this modelling study, we developed a framework that used the geographically specific HIV prevalence data collected in seroprevalence surveys and antenatal care clinics to train a model that estimates HIV incidence and mortality among individuals aged 15–49 years. We used a model-based geostatistical framework to estimate HIV prevalence at the second administrative level in 44 countries in sub-Saharan Africa for 2000–18 and sought data on the number of individuals on antiretroviral therapy (ART) by second-level administrative unit. We then modified the Estimation and Projection Package (EPP) to use these HIV prevalence and treatment estimates to estimate HIV incidence and mortality by second-level administrative unit. Findings: The estimates suggest substantial variation in HIV incidence and mortality rates both between and within countries in sub-Saharan Africa, with 15 countries having a ten-times or greater difference in estimated HIV incidence between the second-level administrative units with the lowest and highest estimated incidence levels. Across all 44 countries in 2018, HIV incidence ranged from 2 ·8 (95% uncertainty interval 2·1–3·8) in Mauritania to 1585·9 (1369·4–1824·8) cases per 100 000 people in Lesotho and HIV mortality ranged from 0·8 (0·7–0·9) in Mauritania to 676· 5 (513· 6–888·0) deaths per 100 000 people in Lesotho. Variation in both incidence and mortality was substantially greater at the subnational level than at the national level and the highest estimated rates were accordingly higher. Among second-level administrative units, Guijá District, Gaza Province, Mozambique, had the highest estimated HIV incidence (4661·7 [2544·8–8120·3]) cases per 100000 people in 2018 and Inhassunge District, Zambezia Province, Mozambique, had the highest estimated HIV mortality rate (1163·0 [679·0–1866·8]) deaths per 100 000 people. Further, the rate of reduction in HIV incidence and mortality from 2000 to 2018, as well as the ratio of new infections to the number of people living with HIV was highly variable. Although most second-level administrative units had declines in the number of new cases (3316 [81· 1%] of 4087 units) and number of deaths (3325 [81·4%]), nearly all appeared well short of the targeted 75% reduction in new cases and deaths between 2010 and 2020. Interpretation: Our estimates suggest that most second-level administrative units in sub-Saharan Africa are falling short of the targeted 75% reduction in new cases and deaths by 2020, which is further compounded by substantial within-country variability. These estimates will help decision makers and programme implementers expand access to ART and better target health resources to higher burden subnational areas

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

Background: Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. Methods: The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model—a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates—with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality—which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. Findings: The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2–100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1–290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1–211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4–48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3–37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7–9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. Interpretation: Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Use of multidimensional item response theory methods for dementia prevalence prediction : an example using the Health and Retirement Survey and the Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study

Background Data sparsity is a major limitation to estimating national and global dementia burden. Surveys with full diagnostic evaluations of dementia prevalence are prohibitively resource-intensive in many settings. However, validation samples from nationally representative surveys allow for the development of algorithms for the prediction of dementia prevalence nationally. Methods Using cognitive testing data and data on functional limitations from Wave A (2001-2003) of the ADAMS study (n = 744) and the 2000 wave of the HRS study (n = 6358) we estimated a two-dimensional item response theory model to calculate cognition and function scores for all individuals over 70. Based on diagnostic information from the formal clinical adjudication in ADAMS, we fit a logistic regression model for the classification of dementia status using cognition and function scores and applied this algorithm to the full HRS sample to calculate dementia prevalence by age and sex. Results Our algorithm had a cross-validated predictive accuracy of 88% (86-90), and an area under the curve of 0.97 (0.97-0.98) in ADAMS. Prevalence was higher in females than males and increased over age, with a prevalence of 4% (3-4) in individuals 70-79, 11% (9-12) in individuals 80-89 years old, and 28% (22-35) in those 90 and older. Conclusions Our model had similar or better accuracy as compared to previously reviewed algorithms for the prediction of dementia prevalence in HRS, while utilizing more flexible methods. These methods could be more easily generalized and utilized to estimate dementia prevalence in other national surveys