Pattern and value of Sperm DNA Fragmentation Index and its correlation with spermiogram in infertile South West Nigerian Men.

Semen analysis has been used for a long time to assess male fertility due to its limitations sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI), which describes the sperm DNA's condition, is an appropriate criterion for assessing male fertility. This study evaluated the pattern and value of DFI of infertile men in the South West of Nigeria. This is a cross-sectional and descriptive study that recruited two hundred and eighty-seven (287) patients from two fertility centers in Lagos, Nigeria. The Sperm DFI was determined using the Sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA) test. The descriptive and inferential statistics of the study were carried out using R packages (R version 4.2.0) with the help of R functions using compiled code. The result showed that the mean age sperm concentration, total motility morphology, and DFI were as follows 42.96±7.09years, 40.18±4.19×106 per ml, 49%±19%, 56±17%, and 15.78±8.52 respectively. There is a significant negative correlation between sperm concentration and DFI at a P-value of 0.0018 with a regression model of Coefficient of determination is 0.305. The DFI value of infertile men negatively correlates with sperm concentration, thus increase sperm production may improve sperm quality.

The spermiogram and correlation of seminal fluid parameters in patient attending fertility centre in Lagos, South West Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: The determinant of the spermiogram of semen varies in different populations based on several factors ranging, from age to the pathological state of an individual to environmental factors. The aim of the study is to determine the spermiogram of patients that attend fertility clinics in southwest Nigeria and the relationship between the parameters. METHODOLOGY: This is a cross-sectional study that recruited two hundred and ninety seven (297) patients from two fertility centers in Lagos, Nigeria for the period of January 2021 to November 2022. The sperm samples were collected following WHO standards. The spermiogram was analyzed using an automated sperm analyzer and the descriptive and inference statistics of the study were carried out using R packages (R version 4.2.0). RESULTS: The result showed the mean age of 43.12±6.95years with median age of 42years. The mean of sperm count and concentration were 114×106 sperm cells and 42×106 per mL with the mean volume of the semen produced by the patients was 2.69mL and average motility (progressive and non-progressive) of the sperm is 47%±19%, 42%±17% has normal morphology. The distributions of the observed variables (seminal fluid parameters) were different from normal distributions in the studied population, such that almost all of them are skewed to the right. The degree of relationship between the sperm parameter were very weak. Nevertheless, specifically, there is a negative correlation between age and sperm count, age and motility, age and volume, and a positive correlation between age and abnormal morphology. The results showed that sperm morphology has a significant effect on motility while sperm morphology significantly depend on sperm count. CONCLUSION: An increase in sperm volume and concentration improves the sperm morphology and boost the sperm motility, this may increasing the chance of fertility.

The Role of Meteorological Variables and Aerosols in the Transmission of COVID-19 During Harmattan Season.

The role of atmospheric parameters and aerosols in the transmission of COVID-19 within tropical Africa, especially during the harmattan season, has been under-investigated in published papers. The harmattan season within the West African region is associated with significant dust incursion from the Bodele depression and biomass burning. In this study, the correlation between atmospheric parameters (temperature and humidity) and aerosols with COVID-19 cases and fatalities within seven locations in tropical Nigeria during the harmattan period was investigated. COVID-19 infection cases were found to be significantly positively correlated with atmospheric parameters (temperature and humidity) in the southern part of the country while the number of fatalities showed weaker significant correlation with particulate matters only in three locations. The significant correlation values were found to be between 0.22 and 0.48 for particulate matter and -0.19 to -0.32 for atmospheric parameters. Although, temperature and humidity showed negative correlations in some locations, the impact is smaller compared to particulate matter. In December, COVID-19 cases in all locations showed strong correlation with particulate matter except in Kano State. It is suggested that a reduction in atmospheric particulate matter can be used as a control measure for the spread of COVID-19.

Prognostic significance of serum telomerase activity in the monitoring of hepatitis B viral infection.

Hepatitis B viral infection could be complicated by hepatocellular degeneration, liver cirrhosis, and cancer. A total of 87 participants - 29 each of symptomatic and asymptomatic hepatitis B positive, and hepatitis B negative individuals (controls) - were recruited, and their serum samples were evaluated for serum telomerase (a biomarker for cell aging and tumorigenesis), alpha fetoprotein, and liver enzymes. Serum telomerase of the symptomatic group was higher than that of the asymptomatic group and the control (P < .001). Serum α-fetoprotein in the symptomatic group was also higher than the asymptomatic group and the controls (P < .001). The mean AST value for the symptomatic test group was higher than the asymptomatic test group and the control (P < .001). The mean ALT value for the symptomatic test group was higher than the asymptomatic test group and the control (P < .001). However, serum α-fetoprotein, AST, and ALT in the asymptomatic group were not significantly different from the controls. Serum telomerase activity was higher in symptomatic and asymptomatic HBV subjects compared with controls; this provides better information than AFP and liver enzymes that were only higher in symptomatic subjects. Serum telomerase activity could therefore be used as a marker in predicting the onset of hepatocarcinogenesis.Abbreviation listHBV: Hepatitis B virus; AFP: Alpha fetoprotein; ALT: Alanine transaminase; AST: Aspartate transaminase; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; ELISA: Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; CLD: Chronic liver disease; CMV: Cytomegalovirus; TERT: Telomerase reverse transcriptase; TERC: Telomerase RNA component; WHO: World Health Organization; BUHREC: Babcock University Health Research Ethics Committee; CTL: Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte.

Tooth loss awareness and reasons for non-replacement of missing teeth among nurses at Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos, Nigeria

Objective: Full complement and replacement of lost teeth improves oral health and quality of life. The objective of this study was to assess the level of awareness of factors that can prevent premature loss of teeth and the reason for non-replacement of missing/lost teeth among nurses in a tertiary health institution. Methods: This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study, 251 nurses of the Jos University Teaching Hospital participated. Self-administered questionnaires were used for data collection. Analysis of data was done with IBM SPSS version 23.0. Results: The mean age of the 251 nurses was 38±9.88. 174(69.3%) were females while 77(30.7%) were males. Out of 91(36.3%) that had missing teeth, 16(17.6%) actually replaced their missing teeth with the majority of them representing 81.3% adopting removable acrylic partial denture as modality. Among the 75(82.4%) that did not replace their missing teeth, the reason for the non-replacement by the majority- 40.0% was that they didn't feel replacement was necessary. Conclusion: The awareness level on factors that can prevent premature loss of teeth was observed to be high among the participants, but many have missing teeth that needed replacement. Majority did not replace their missing teeth as a result of low level of awareness of the consequences and probably due to financial challenges and because of the non-coverage of prosthetic treatments by the National Health Insurance Scheme 'NHIS' in Nigeria

Electrochemical analysis of Na-Ni bimetallic phosphate electrodes for supercapacitor applications.

Bimetallic sodium-nickel phosphate/graphene foam composite (NaNi4(PO4)3/GF) was successfully synthesized using a direct and simple precipitation method. The hierarchically structured composite material was observed to have demonstrated a synergistic effect between the conductive metallic cations and the graphene foam that made up the composite. The graphene served as a base-material for the growth of NaNi4(PO4)3 particles, resulting in highly conductive composite material as compared to the pristine material. The NaNi4(PO4)3/GF composite electrode measured in a 3-electrode system achieved a maximum specific capacity of 63.3 mA h g-1 at a specific current of 1 A g-1 in a wide potential range of 0.0-1.0 V using 2 M NaNO3 aqueous electrolyte. A designed and fabricated hybrid NaNi4(PO4)3/GF//AC device based on NaNi4(PO4)3/GF as positive electrode and activated carbon (AC) selected as a negative electrode could operate well in an extended cell potential of 2.0 V. As an assessment, the hybrid NaNi4(PO4)3/GF//AC device showed the highest energy and power densities of 19.5 W h kg-1 and 570 W kg-1, respectively at a specific current of 0.5 A g-1. The fabricated device could retain an 89% of its initial capacity with a coulombic efficiency of about 94% over 5000 cycling test, which suggests the material's potential for energy storage devices applications.

Fuzzy Logic Tool to Forecast Soil Fertility in Nigeria.

The soil is composed of several nutrients which are important for the effective growth of plants. Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are micronutrients which are very important for plant growth. There have been several methods and soil tests developed to test the compositions of these nutrients in the soil. Interpreting the results gotten from such tests has been a herculean task for farmers. Employing the use of a soft computing method to interpret such result would be a noble idea. In this paper, we describe the use of fuzzy logic to interpret the values of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (NPK) gotten from conventional soil test to know their levels in the soil and predict possible NPK inputs.

Electrically active induced energy levels and metastability of B and N vacancy-complexes in 4H-SiC.

Electrically active induced energy levels in semiconductor devices could be beneficial to the discovery of an enhanced p or n-type semiconductor. Nitrogen (N) implanted into 4H-SiC is a high energy process that produced high defect concentrations which could be removed during dopant activation annealing. On the other hand, boron (B) substituted for silicon in SiC causes a reduction in the number of defects. This scenario leads to a decrease in the dielectric properties and induced deep donor and shallow acceptor levels. Complexes formed by the N, such as the nitrogen-vacancy centre, have been reported to play a significant role in the application of quantum bits. In this paper, results of charge states thermodynamic transition level of the N and B vacancy-complexes in 4H-SiC are presented. We explore complexes where substitutional N[Formula: see text]/N[Formula: see text] or B[Formula: see text]/B[Formula: see text] sits near a Si (V[Formula: see text]) or C (V[Formula: see text]) vacancy to form vacancy-complexes (N[Formula: see text]V[Formula: see text], N[Formula: see text]V[Formula: see text], N[Formula: see text]V[Formula: see text], N[Formula: see text]V[Formula: see text], B[Formula: see text]V[Formula: see text], B[Formula: see text]V[Formula: see text], B[Formula: see text]V[Formula: see text] and B[Formula: see text]V[Formula: see text]). The energies of formation of the N related vacancy-complexes showed the N[Formula: see text]V[Formula: see text] to be energetically stable close to the valence band maximum in its double positive charge state. The N[Formula: see text]V[Formula: see text] is more energetically stable in the double negative charge state close to the conduction band minimum. The N[Formula: see text]V[Formula: see text] on the other hand, induced double donor level and the N[Formula: see text]V[Formula: see text] induced a double acceptor level. For B related complexes, the B[Formula: see text]V[Formula: see text] and B[Formula: see text]V[Formula: see text] were energetically stable in their single positive charge state close to the valence band maximum. As the Fermi energy is varied across the band gap, the neutral and single negative charge states of the B[Formula: see text]V[Formula: see text] become more stable at different energy levels. B and N related complexes exhibited charge state controlled metastability behaviour.

Prevalent high-risk HPV infection and vaginal microbiota in Nigerian women.

In this study, we evaluated the association between high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) and the vaginal microbiome. Participants were recruited in Nigeria between April and August 2012. Vaginal bacterial composition was characterized by deep sequencing of barcoded 16S rRNA gene fragments (V4) on Illumina MiSeq and HPV was identified using the Roche Linear Array® HPV genotyping test. We used exact logistic regression models to evaluate the association between community state types (CSTs) of vaginal microbiota and hrHPV infection, weighted UniFrac distances to compare the vaginal microbiota of individuals with prevalent hrHPV to those without prevalent hrHPV infection, and the Linear Discriminant Analysis effect size (LEfSe) algorithm to characterize bacteria associated with prevalent hrHPV infection. We observed four CSTs: CST IV-B with a low relative abundance of Lactobacillus spp. in 50% of participants; CST III (dominated by L. iners) in 39·2%; CST I (dominated by L. crispatus) in 7·9%; and CST VI (dominated by proteobacteria) in 2·9% of participants. LEfSe analysis suggested an association between prevalent hrHPV infection and a decreased abundance of Lactobacillus sp. with increased abundance of anaerobes particularly of the genera Prevotella and Leptotrichia in HIV-negative women (P < 0·05). These results are hypothesis generating and further studies are required.

Effect of Glucose Contents of Selected Soft Drinks on Plasma Glucose Level of Adolescent Healthy Nigerian Subjects

Soft drink is a carbonated water; flavoured and sweetened with either sugar or sweetener. The resulting glucose solution in the human body is the key source of energy. Positive associations between soft drinks consumption and incidence of diabetes have been postulated. Thus; it is the aim of this study to show the effects of casual soft drinks consumption on glucose level of healthy Nigerian individuals in fasting and 2 hours post-prandial. A total of 350 apparently healthy individuals were recruited for this study. 115 subjects (Group A) were given a bottle of Coca-Cola (Coke) each; another 115 (Group B) subjects were given a bottle of Bitter Lemon (Krest) each while the remaining 120 subjects (Group C) were given 75g of D-glucose in 300mL of distilled water. Glucose tolerance test (GTT) was performed on all the subjects and the curve of glucose concentration plotted against time of sample collection. GTT graph of group A and B shows a flat curve of enhanced GTT while group C shows a normal GTT response graph. The result however; indicates that casual consumption of soft drinks did not predispose to development of diabetes as it has no significant effect on plasma glucose and renal threshold concentration of apparently healthy individuals

National Health Accounts estimation: lessons from the Nigerian experience.

OBJECTIVE: This paper seeks to summarize the estimation of two rounds of Nigeria's National Health Accounts (NHA), 1998-2002 and 2003-2005 and draw some lessons on the NHA methodology and health financing policy challenges towards enhancing government stewardship role in the health sector. METHOD: The paper uses the results of the two rounds of NHA estimations for Nigeria a s basis fo ranalysis. In each round of estimation, three matrices were estimated. Additional three matrices of sub-National Health Accounts were also estimated for 17states in the second round. RESULTS: With Nigeria's per capita Total Health Expenditure (THE) increasing from US 9.39 dollars in 1998 to US 55.04 dollars in 2005, the THE represent about 5% of GDP. The households accounted for around 68.6% of THE, while government shoulders about 25%. Major lessons learnt relate to skewed spending, challenges of recordkeeping and data collection at the federal and state levels, and commitment of government and other stakeholders in ensuring institutionalized procedures for collection, reporting, and retrieval of health financing data. CONCLUSION: Though NHA results indicate increase in spending on health over time, there is a very high burden on households. Besides, there are institutional challenges inhibiting the estimation process. There is need for government to lessen burden on households to improve its stewardship by increasing its contribution. The institutional capacity need to be strengthen to collect and analyse health expenditure data and interpret results in terms of their policy implication, while government takes ownership of the process to ensure the institutionalization and sustainability of the estimation process.