Abstract Background: Mycobacterium africanum (MAF) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis sensu strico (MTBss) are two members of a closely related bacterial species of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) that causes tuberculosis (TB) in humans. However MAF is known to cause up to 50% of human pulmonary TB in West Africa only. MAF has been subdivided into MAF West African 1 (MAF1) (Lineage 5) and MAF West African 2 (MAF2) (Lineage 6), as two distinct phylogenetical lineages within MTBC. Subsequ...
Most experimental situations call for standard designs that can be constructed with many statistical software packages. In some situations, however, standard designs are not appropriate or practicable. Computer-aided designs are experimental designs that are generated based on a particular optimality criterion and are generally optimal only for a specified model. In this work designs are generated for non-standard multifactor experiment using D-optimality criterion. The experiment invo...
Several non-linear models have been proposed by various authors for the analysis of growth data. In this thesis, three models, viz, Gompertz, Exponential and Polynomial models were used to analyze some forestry data, namely, a tree species known as Tectona Grandis, collected in the Guinea savanna zone of Nigeria. The three models were compared and using the criteria of low mean square error and high coefficient of determination, it was found that the Gompertz model fits the data best, e...
Complexes of 4 - Cyanobenzaldehydecylohexyl acetic acid hydrazone ( 4-CBAH) with M(II) sulphates and acetates have been synthesized (M=Ni, Cu, Co and Zn). The complexes were characterized by elemental analyses, conductance, infrared and electronic spectral studies. The sulphate ions are in the outer coordination sphere, so also the acetate 10ns. The electronic spectral studies of the isolated complexes indicate an octahedral coordination for Ni 2 + and Co 2 + complexes while Cu 2 +...
Quaternary ammonium compound was synthesized from epoxy and fatty amine reaction. Fourier Transform Infrared(FTIR) spectrometric analysis of the starting materials, and the final product(N-benzyl-N,N-dioctyl-2-hydroxy-3 phenoxypropylammonium chloride) were conducted, and results showed a disappearance of sharp N-H peak of 2oamine, and appearance of broad O-H peak of alcohol in the spectrum of the final product. Mass spectrometric(MS)analysis of the final product was also conducted, and ...
The world as we know it today, continues to rapidly evolve with the impact of the digital age across various sectors (educational, personal, business, social, professional etc.) as we navigate through our daily interactions in the new age. One of such remarkable impact of technology in this new millennium is the progressive growth in the educational sector spurred by the integration of Information and Communications Technology (Apena, 2012). Thus, within this period, ICT is considered am...
ABSTRACT The use of beam modifiers in today’s radiotherapy is very important as it attenuates the beam and reduces the dose to the patient; therefore the need to know the amount of attenuation (in terms of a transmission factor) they provide during treatment. The purpose of this research work is to evaluate the variation (or dependence) of the transmission factors (TFs) of block tray and physical wedges (of different angles) as a function of treatment depth and field size using both iso-cen...
ABSTRACT The limited ability of molecular typing methods to differentiate Mycobacterium ulcerans strains from the same geographic areas, particularly at the local level, hampers our understanding of Buruli ulcer (BU) epidemiology and calls for the search for molecular epidemiological tools with higher discriminatory power. Moreover, the current available laboratory tests for BU diagnosis have various limitations, ranging from low diagnostic sensitivities to financial and technical constraints...
This dissertation presents a systematic and critical study of the fundamenta.lli of soft set theory which includes soft set operations, soft set relations and functions, soft matrices and their properties. In course of studying operations on soft sets, the complementation operation is strengthened, some new results on distributive and absorption properties with respect to various soft set operations are obtained,and soft set operations and their corresponding soft matrix operations are s...
Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis are important food and water borne pathogens that has recently emerged world wide. This study was aimed at characterizing the prevalence of Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis in human and selected animal populations in Jos and its environment. Three thousand stool samples from human and selected animal species from 5 different locations in Jos and its environs were surveyed over a period of three years. Human s...
ABSTRACT Background Rotavirus is associated with severe infantile diarrhoea requiring hospitalization. In order to control severe disease caused by rotavirus infection, vaccination is considered an essential strategy. Currently, two rotavirus vaccines (Rotarix™ and RotaTeq™) have been included in the Expanded Program on Immunization of most African countries to help reduce the high disease indections. Ghana has over the past 20 years been involved in the surveillance of rotavirus diseases...
ABSTRACT Wagashie is a traditional West African cottage cheese produced by the Fulani who are seminomadic. It is a good protein source and can replace fish or meat in the diet of low income families in Africa. However, it is a product with high moisture content (60%) which is favourable for the growth of microorganisms and thus has a short shelf life of 3 days; it also has a bland taste with limited patronage. This research was therefore carried out to reengineer wagashie for a larger market ...
ABSTRACT This study was conducted to assess the levels of heavy metal contaminations within the Weija dam area of the Weija Lake. Sediments, water and fish samples were taken from ten different sites within the Weija dam in March, 2014 (dry season) and August, 2014 (wet season). The sediment, water and fish samples were analysed for Hg, Se, Fe, Cd, Mn and Pb using Atomic Absorption spectroscopy (AAS). Mercury was determined using a cold vapour technique with the AAS equipped with hydride gene...
ABSTRACT People’s response to illness symptoms whenever they are perceived is dependent on them and influenced by a plethora of factors which makes them behave differently towards treatment seeking. With this, the study examined the health seeking behaviour in the Akuapem-North Municipality. Drawing on Kroeger’s (1983) health service utilisation model, it specifically examined individuals’ socio-demographic characteristics and other factors that influence the choice and use of particula...
ABSTRACT Buruli ulcer is caused by mycolactone, a toxin produced by Mycobacterium ulcerans. Drug development for the treatment of the disease and early diagnosis is greatly hampered by the lipid nature of the mycolactone and bacterial resistance to currently used antimycobacterials. Kombucha tea is a health drink consumed worldwide. Research has shown that Kombucha exerts medicinal properties including enhanced wound healing and antimicrobial activity. This study was aimed at characterizing t...