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The Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems theory (PVEST) proposes that an individual's identity is formed as a result of the daily life events they experience and their cultural background (McGee & Spencer, 2013; McGee & Spencer, 2012; Spencer, 2011; Spencer et. Al, 2015). PVEST uses a systems-oriented human development perspective to maximize our understanding of not only resilience but also vulnerability and risk factors often experienced by marginalized youth (Talley, Scherer & Hill, 2018). According to PVEST, the approach these individuals utilize to cope with these experiences, either adaptive or maladaptive contribute to identity formation. In this study, Mindfulness was explored as one possible adaptive coping mechanism to determine how well it predicts academic success. By operationalizing Mindfulness as an adaptive coping mechanism, we posited that adaptive coping would contribute positively to academic identity, measured as cumulative grade point average. The aim of this study was to determine how well mindfulness, cognitive-emotional regulation and self-handicapping behaviours predict academic success in African American STEM students. This research is part of a larger longitudinal intervention aimed to increase retention of STEM majors. There was a total of 400 African American STEM students who participated in the study. Participants filled out questionnaires that measured self-handicapping, cognitive-emotional regulation, and mindfulness. The results reiterated the importance of incorporating self-regulation and mindfulness practices in education.

Objective To assess the effects of COVID-19 vaccines in women before or during pregnancy on SARS-CoV-2 infection-related, pregnancy, offspring and reactogenicity outcomes.Design Systematic review and meta-analysis.Data sources Major databases between December 2019 and January 2023.Study selection Nine pairs of reviewers contributed to study selection. We included test-negative designs, comparative cohorts and randomised trials on effects of COVID-19 vaccines on infection-related and pregnancy outcomes. Non-comparative cohort studies reporting reactogenicity outcomes were also included.Quality assessment, data extraction and analysis Two reviewers independently assessed study quality and extracted data. We undertook random-effects meta-analysis and reported findings as HRs, risk ratios (RRs), ORs or rates with 95% CIs.Results Sixty-seven studies (1 813 947 women) were included. Overall, in test-negative design studies, pregnant women fully vaccinated with any COVID-19 vaccine had 61% reduced odds of SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy (OR 0.39, 95% CI 0.21 to 0.75; 4 studies, 23 927 women; I2=87.2%) and 94% reduced odds of hospital admission (OR 0.06, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.71; 2 studies, 868 women; I2=92%). In adjusted cohort studies, the risk of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy was reduced by 12% (RR 0.88, 95% CI 0.82 to 0.92; 2 studies; 115 085 women), while caesarean section was reduced by 9% (OR 0.91, 95% CI 0.85 to 0.98; 6 studies; 30 192 women). We observed an 8% reduction in the risk of neonatal intensive care unit admission (RR 0.92, 95% CI 0.87 to 0.97; 2 studies; 54 569 women) in babies born to vaccinated versus not vaccinated women. In general, vaccination during pregnancy was not associated with increased risk of adverse pregnancy or perinatal outcomes. Pain at the injection site was the most common side effect reported (77%, 95% CI 52% to 94%; 11 studies; 27 195 women).Conclusion COVID-19 vaccines are effective in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection and related complications in pregnant women.PROSPERO registration number CRD42020178076.

The study examined the use of social media among the agricultural students of tertiary institutions in Kwara State, Nigeria. One hundred and twenty agricultural students was selected in four tertiary institutions in Kwara State, Nigeria. The data collected was analysed with the use of frequency count, Percentage, Mean and Standard deviation. The result revealed that 20.8 years was the average age of the respondents. About 64.2% were male and about 91.7% gets information through social media. The average monthly money used for buying data for subscription was 1922.00 Naira and the average hours spent on social media per day was 7.38 hours. About 77.5 % of the respondents uses smart phones to access social media platforms. Facebook (93.3%) was the most frequently used social media platform. Communication/calling (87.5%) was the main motive for using social media. Social media makes communication to be faster (=4.11) was the highest ranked perception statement. High cost of data ((=2.64) was the highest ranked factor affecting the use of social media. The study therefore recommends that data service providers should consider reducing the price of data and government should make policies that will be of benefits to data users.

Five Matured Noiler chickens 3 months old weighing 3kg±120g were used for the experiment. The birds have fasted for 16 hours without food but with a supply of fresh cool water. The birds were slaughtered and dressed conventionally. The breast meat was excised within one-hour post-mortem and used for the preparation of Asun using charcoal and oven smoking. The breast meats were cut into fillets of average weight without bone; the fillets were spiced, rubbed with vegetable oil, and smoked using charcoal and oven to an internal temperature of 720C for 20 minutes with regular turning. The result shows a significant difference (p0.05) in color, aroma, and texture while flavor, juiciness, and overall acceptability differ. There was a significantly different (p>0.05) in WHC, cooking loss, and cooking yield. Preparation of Asun using charcoal and oven smoking contributed to the nutritional component except for the moisture content. The cholesterol, SFA, MUFA, PUFA, and amines were also increased. The value obtained shows that charcoal and oven-smoked Noiler meat Asun is safe for consumption and has no negative effect, also impacts positively on both the physical and organoleptic properties of the prepared product and therefore, recommended for the preparation of Asun using Noiler meat.

This study examined the status of climate smart small ruminant production practices in Kwara State, Nigeria. About 105 small ruminant breeders were selected for the study. The data were analysed the use of frequency count, percentage, mean score, Binary Logistic Regression and Pearson product moment correlation. The result revealed that about 60% of the breeders were females and the mean years of experience in small ruminant production was 7 years. The result of most of the frequently used climate smart small ruminant production practices of the respondents showed that provision of medication to sick animals and cultivation of crops along with rearing of animals (90.5%), feeding with supplementary feeds, isolation of sick animals and vaccination of animals (92.4%); provision of shade through Planting of trees to reduce heat stress (93.3%); feeding with crop residues and building and maintenance of pens (96.2%) and grazing on pasture/grassland (97.1%). About 90.5% of the breeders have high status on the use of climate smart small ruminant production practices. Disease outbreak and high mortality (mean=2.07) was the highest ranked factors affecting the small ruminant breeders. The result of Binary Logistic Regression showed that educational level (B=3.985), membership of social group (B=6.083), access to extension services (B= 13.941) and years of experience (B= -0.544) were the determinant factors of the use of climate smart small ruminants production practices. This study therefore recommends that breeders should be provided with veterinary services and extension services.

Undoubtedly, the choice of models for analyzing the relationship between level stationary Foreign Aid (FA) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) variables using single-equation modeling techniques such as Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) model produces non-spurious results in the sense that the coefficient of determination (R2) is always less than the Durbin-Watson (DW) statistic. However, non-spurious MLR in this case might not adequately fit the FA-FDI relationship because macroeconomic variables are usually prone to problems of simultaneity, serial correlation as well as autocorrelation. This study therefore shed light on the FA-FDI relationship in Nigeria using a system of simultaneous equation modelling techniques. The FA and FDI variables are proxied as endogenous variables while the Inflation (INF), Population Growth (PG), Trade (TR), and Real Interest Rate (RI) are proxied as instruments. Pre-tests analysis of these time series datasets extracted from the repository of World Governance Index did not only reveal that the six series are level stationary series I(0) but also shown that there was a two-way causation between FA and FDI variables. Results from the estimation techniques further showed that the Three-Stage Least Squares (3SLS) and Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) outperformed the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) estimators at estimating the structural parameters of the exactly identified and overidentified equations embedded in the model. Findings from the SUR estimates of the overidentified equation established that Nigeria’s FA is projected to increase by 0.217188 units on average for each one-unit increase in the FDI.

This study examined the status of climate smart aquaculture practices (CSAP) in Ilorin West Local Government Area of Kwara State, Nigeria. About 120 fish farmers were selected for the study. Statistical tools such as frequency count, percentage, mean score, binary logistic regression and Pearson product moment correlation were used to analyse the data. The result revealed that the average age of the respondents was 45 years and 79.2% of them were males. About 65% of them had tertiary education with an average of 6 years’ experience in fish farming. The average annual income of the respondents was about 379. 25 Dollars, and the average household size was 5 persons. The result also showed that about 65% of the respondents used earthen ponds for fishing with an average of 8 fishing ponds per farmer. The most stocked species of fish was catfish (79.2%). Majority (88.3%) of the respondents owned the ponds used and about 90.8 % of them indicated that they farm on the pond all-year-round. About 87.5% of them had high status on the use of climate smart aquaculture practices. The result of binary logistic regression showed that pond type (b=1.350), source of stocked fish (b= 0.850), sources of credit (b= 0.456) and access to extension services (B=1.607) were the determinant factors of the use of CSAP. The study concludes that the main climate smart aquaculture practices used by the fish farmers were stocking of fish, liming of pond, feeding of fish, provision of measures, sorting of fish, water transparency farmers.

The study was conducted to determine the influence of different processing methods; scalding and singeing on cowhide. Forty (40) pieces each of white scaled Ponmo and black singed Ponmo were pulled together and randomly subjected for proximate evaluation, organoleptic properties determination and mineral contents determination. Analysis of variance was used to analyze the result in a complete randomize design using Duncan Multiple Range Test to separate the means. The result shows that the nutritional value of white scaled Ponmo was significantly higher (p

Tomato is a vegetable crop commonly grown in Nigeria and consumed by most people. It contains vitamins and vital nutrients that are essential for good health. This study was conducted to determine the effect of magnetization of irrigation water on the growth, yield and nutritional qualities of tomatoes under deficit irrigation. Tomato seeds (‘Roma VF’ and ‘UC 82B’ varieties) were planted in 96 buckets (11 liters capacity), 48 buckets for magnetized water (MW) and 48 buckets for non-magnetized water (NMW), grown in a greenhouse and harvested 82 days after planting. The irrigation water was treated with 30 pieces of 10×25×50 mm neodymium magnets (1.2 Tesla). The tomato plants were subjected to deficit irrigation to determine the effect on the performance of tomatoes at 100% (1 liter), 80% (0.8 liters), 60% (0.60 liters) and 50% (0.50 liter) water requirement. Each treatment was replicated 6 times for both MW and NMW. The MW increased the growth of ‘Roma VF’ and ‘UC 82B’ varieties by 5.44-38.10% and the stem girth by 21.13-49.01%. MW increased the yield of ‘Roma VF’ variety by 110.00%, 36.00%, 6.26% and 24.00% for 100%, 80%, 60% and 50% of water application, respectively but increased the yield of ‘UC 82B’ variety by 56.52% for 100% water application. MW also improved vitamin A and C content by 7.89-27.94% and 0.45-19.06%, respectively. The concentrations of Lead were slightly higher in the tomato irrigated with MW than in the NMW but values of other heavy metals were not consistent and very close for both MW and NMW.

Background: Contraception is the intentional prevention of conception and Sexually Transmitted Diseases using devices. This study investigates the prevalence, use and choice of different contraceptive methods among Nigeria women of reproductive age (15 – 49 years). Materials and Methods: This study utilized the most current dataset from the National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS). Chi-squares tests of Homogeneity of proportion was utilized to validate the equality of proportions for the different groups of contraception methods. Also, Multinomial Logistic Regression was employed to model the determinants of contraceptive choice among some selected factors. Results: As reveal in this study, 83.86% of Nigeria women within the reproductive age do no use any method of contraceptives while only 16.14% use one form of contraceptives. Although, all the factors selected contributed significantly (p-value < 0.05) to the choice of contraceptive usage in this study, certain level(s) of some factors such as women from the South-West region, women with more desire for children and women within the age bracket 20 – 24 and 45 – 49 are not significant to the usage of contraception among Nigeria women. The significant factors observed in this study indicated either an increased or decreased risk in the usage of contraceptive methods. Conclusion: The choice of contraceptive methods used by Nigerian women is influenced by most of the selected maternal and social-demographic factors used in this study. However, enlightenment on the important and use of contraceptives are needed to be put on media to increase the usage of contraceptives among Nigerian women.

We report an important case of periventricular white matter damage in a 1-month-old infant, demonstrated on high quality structural (T2) and diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging. The infant was born at term following an uneventful pregnancy and discharged home shortly after, but was brought to the paediatric emergency department five days after birth with seizures and respiratory distress, testing positive for COVID-19 infection on PCR. These images highlight the need to consider brain MRI in all infants with symptomatic SARS-Cov-2 infection, and show how this infection can lead to extensive white matter damage in the context of multisystem inflammation

Introduction The prevalence of COVID-19 and its impact varied between countries and regions. Pregnant women are at high risk of COVID-19 complications compared with non-pregnant women. The magnitude of variations, if any, in SARS-CoV-2 infection rates and its health outcomes among pregnant women by geographical regions and country’s income level is not known.Methods We performed a random-effects meta-analysis as part of the ongoing PregCOV-19 living systematic review (December 2019 to April 2021). We included cohort studies on pregnant women with COVID-19 reporting maternal (mortality, intensive care admission and preterm birth) and offspring (mortality, stillbirth, neonatal intensive care admission) outcomes and grouped them by World Bank geographical region and income level. We reported results as proportions with 95% confidence intervals (CI).Results We included 311 studies (2 003 724 pregnant women, 57 countries). The rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnant women varied significantly by region (p

Background: Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) are an increasing threat to patient safety but only a small percentage of CRE identified are NDMs. Since 2018, clinical CRE isolates have been submitted to the Ohio Department of Health for sequencing and NDM cases have notably increased since that time. Candida auris is an emerging pathogen with similar risk factors for colonization as CRE. Methods: A point-prevalence study was initiated after an index patient was identified with NDM CRE infection or colonization during their inpatient admission. Two patient populations were included in the study: current patients on the same unit as the index patient and currently hospitalized patients who overlapped on any unit with the index patient for at least 72 hours. Patients had perirectal screening for CRE (via PCR) and axilla or groin screening for C. auris (via Xpert Carba-R Assay). Patients were excluded if they had been discharged, expired, or refused testing. Results: We completed 5 point-prevalence studies from March 21, 2021, to October 15, 2021. The index patients were admitted at different times and across 2 campuses including medical, cardiac, and surgical ICUs as well as medical-surgical and inpatient rehabilitation units. Moreover, 3 species of NDM were identified from urine and 2 species were identified from bronchoalveolar lavage: Enterobacter hormaechei, Citrobacter freundii, and Enterobacter cloacae complex. C. freundii and E. cloacae complex both had dual mechanisms of NDM and KPC. Although some of the index patients overlapped temporally within the health system, none overlapped in the same unit or building. None of the patients had recently received health care outside the United States, although 1 patient had emigrated from Togo >5 years prior and 4 had had prior local healthcare exposure within 12 months of admission. Also, 147 patients were identified for screening; 105 consented, 32 declined, and 10 were excluded due to being discharged, deceased, or unable to consent. Inpatient point-prevalence screening tests for all patients tested (n = 105) were negative for NDM CRE and C. auris. Conclusions: Despite an increase of inpatients with NDM CRE, evidence of patient-to-patient transmission was not identified, likely resulting from adherence to standard precautions. The diversity of species and lack of international travel suggests that these patients likely acquired NDM CRE from a local reservoir in the community or healthcare settings. Given the continued increase in NDM CRE without traditional risk factors, it is critical for hospitals and public health agencies to collaborate to identify these organisms and that they develop surveillance programs to clarify risk factors for colonization.

This paper provided an overview of material removal processes and their industrial applications. Materials perform very important functions industrially owing to their mechanical properties and nature. The essence of material removal processes is to formulate the structural features required for a product to perform to the specification of its intended applications. Unfinished castings can be modified through the removal of materials to make them meet design requirements and also a group of shaping processes that involve removing unwanted surplus material from a starting workpiece to bring the remaining piece closer to the desired shape. Additionally, selective material removal can be used to transform generic castings into one-of-a-kind finished goods. Common castings can have unique hold patterns, flanges eliminated, wall thicknesses decreased, surfaces flattened, and other design characteristics added by removing unneeded material, resulting in distinctively diverse final products. In contrast, casting and molding operations are frequently substituted with material removal techniques. Materials removal may end up being the sole viable option when the issues related to cast form processing concerns become overwhelming (often based on cost-effectiveness).

Good practices at harvest and postharvest could be useful in obtaining nutritious mango with high minerals and vitamins. The present study evaluated effect of harvest handling and postharvest conditions on the level of minerals and vitamins using standard methods. Ripe, half-ripe and unripe mangoes were harvested on parent plant and on ground around parent plant. The half-ripe and unripe mangoes were further divided to include heat ripened mangoes. The mango samples were separately stored naturally at 25±3oC and heat ripened at 37±5oC for 0 to 10 day after harvest (dah). The results show Ijebu-Mamu mangoes could cater for reference dietary intake of Vit C. Mango harvested on parent plant has highest level of minerals and vitamins than those picked on ground. Ripe mango has highest level of minerals, halfripe mango presented highest level of vits. B1 and B2 and unripe mango has highest level of Fe and Vit. C. Heat caused increased level of minerals and reduced level of vitamins. The minerals show increased level from 0 to 4 or 6 dah while vitamins reduced from 0 till 10 dah. High level of minerals and vitamins was obtained with optimum integrated harvest and postharvest condition of half-ripe mango naturally ripened at 6 dah. The present results highlight effects of the assessed harvest handling and postharvest conditions and their co-optimization that might be necessary for high minerals and vitamins in mango.

Objective To describe temporal changes in inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) use in English neonatal units between 2010 and 2015.Design Retrospective analysis using data extracted from the National Neonatal Research Database.Setting All National Health Service neonatal units in England.Patients Infants of all gestational ages born 2010–2015 admitted to a neonatal unit and received intensive care.Main outcome measures Proportion of infants who received iNO; age at initiation and duration of iNO use.Results 4.9% (6346/129 883) of infants received iNO; 31% (1959/6346) were born 34 weeks of gestation. Between epoch 1 (2010–2011) and epoch 3 (2014–2015), there was (1) an increase in the proportion of infants receiving iNO: 34 weeks (4.5% vs 5.0%), (2) increase in postnatal age at iNO initiation:

Background & Aim: In this study, efficient Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithm for feature selection and classification of multi-category tumour classes of biological samples using gene expression profiles was proposed. Methods: Feature selection interface of the algorithm employed the F-statistic of the ANOVA–like testing scheme at some chosen family-wise-error-rate which ensured efficient detection of false-positive genes. The selected gene subsets using the above method were further screened for optimality using the Misclassification Error Rates yielded by each of them and their combinations in a sequential selection manner. In a 10-fold cross-validation, the optimal values of the SVM parameters with appropriate kernel were determined for tissue sample classification using one-versus-all approach. The entire data matrix was randomly partitioned into 95% training set to train the SVM classifier and 5% test set to evaluate the predictive performance of the classifier over 1,000 Monte-Carlo cross-validation runs. Published microarray breast cancer dataset with five clinical endpoints was employed to validate the results from the simulation studies. Results: Results from Monte-Carlo study showed excellent performance of the SVM classifier with higher prediction accuracy of the tissue samples based on the few gene biomarkers selected by the proposed feature selection method. Conclusion: SVM could be considered as a classification of multi-category tumour classes of biological samples using gene expression profiles.

To appreciate congenital heart disease fully, a detailed understanding of the anatomical presentation, as well as the physiology, is required. This is often introduced at an advanced stage of training. Professor Anderson has been influential in the Clinical Anatomy Intercalated BSc programme at the University of Birmingham, in particular in his teaching on Sequential Segmental Analysis. This article describes the experiences of the latest cohort of students on this programme, who undertook varying research projects using the Birmingham Cardiac Archive, with the guidance of Professor Anderson. The projects outlined include various aspects of isomerism, encompassing both the cardiac and abdominal manifestations, as well as details of congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries and prenatally diagnosed right aortic arch and double arch. These studies all aimed to increase the knowledge base of their respective cardiac malformations and provide a basis for further research.

In Nigeria, common okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) and bush okra (Corchorus olitorius L.) are popular mucilage vegetables used as sticky sauce for easy consumption of starchy staples.Both raw vegetables and sticky sauce of common as well as bush okra were estimated for their potential in the provision of daily dietary allowance of important minerals. Modified methods of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) were used to estimate the assessed minerals.The results showed that the raw and sticky sauce of assessed common and bush okra contained appreciable levels and essential minerals, but are not adequate to meet recommended dietary allowance, except for Fe and Cu. Comparatively, the two species of okra varied significantly in their mineral content of the raw and plain sauce. There was also a negative effect of cooking on the mineral contents, which reduced significantly to an average of 30% on a dry weight basis.Therefore, the two vegetables, either as a fresh or sticky sauce, require additional sources of P, K, Na, Mg, Ca, Mn, and Zn to meet recommended dietary allowance. Furthermore, dried mucilagesauce, though, could be an appreciable post harvest management and storage but not without a loss of about one-third mineral content in the process. However, the sauce of common okra andbush okra are good sources for any of the assessed mineral restricted diets.

Gene expression is a highly theoretical concept that requires advanced reasoning skills to comprehend. Often, students receive instruction but fail to replace prior conceptions and thus do not benefit. In order to investigate the reason for this failure, we used a directed inquiry activity that uses concrete analogies in both majors and non-majors biology courses at the community college and university levels. Results showed that the effect of this active learning approach was dependent on the student population; students with less prior exposure to the material experienced higher learning gains. Theoretical implications about the effects of prior conceptions on learning as well as instructional implications for teaching theoretical concepts are discussed. (Contains 3 figures and 3 tables.)

This study evaluates the technical efficiency of insured and uninsured cocoa farm operators in Ondo State, Nigeria. Study data were obtained from 60 insured and 60 uninsured farm operators. Descriptive statistics, stochastic frontier production function and t-test were used for the data analysis. The mean technical efficiency of the insured farm and uninsured farm operators was 76% and 70% respectively. Evidence from the t-test revealed that there was a significant difference between the technical efficiency of the insured and uninsured farm operators (t-cal. = 2.513; p = 0.012). The significant determinants for the output of the insured farm operators were farm size and the cost of pesticides while only the cost of pesticides was significant in determining output for the uninsured farm operators. The study therefore recommends policies aimed at promoting agricultural insurance among cocoa farmers, reducing the cost of pesticides, increasing farm size as well as encouraging young and well-educated individuals to insure their farming activities.

Introduction: Fertilization in humans is dependent on viability of the male spermatozoa among other factors and there have been conflicting reports on the role of pH, calcium and phosphate concentrations in sperm function. This study therefore aimed to investigate seminal plasma pH, inorganic phosphate, total and ionized calcium concentrations relative to spermatozoa function. Material and Methods: Seminal plasma concentrations of pH, total calcium, ionized calcium (Ca++); inorganic phosphate, motility and spermatozoa count were determined in 80 males by standard methods. Results: Forty-nine of the subjects had normal spermatozoa motility (> 60%) and 31 had hypomotility (< 60%). The hypomotility group exhibited lower calcium ion (Ca2 +) concentrations; 0.19+0.01mmol/L compared with normal motility group; 0.24+0.01mmol/L (p