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Abstract Background Cholecystectomy and common bile duct exploration for biliary stone disease are common hepatobiliary surgeries performed by general surgeons in Nigeria. These procedures can be complicated by injury to the biliary tree or retained stones, requiring repeat surgical intervention. This study presents the experience of using endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) in the management of hepatobiliary surgery complications at the academic referral center of Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTHC) Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Methods All patients with postcholecystectomy complications referred to the endoscopy unit at OAUTHC from March 2018 to April 2023 were enrolled. Preoperative imaging included a combination of abdominal ultrasound, CT, MRI, magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP), and T-tube cholangiogram. All ERCP procedures were performed under general anesthesia. Results Seventy-two ERCP procedures were performed on 45 patients referred for postcholecystectomy complications. The most common mode of presentation was ascending cholangitis [16 (35.6%)], followed by persistent biliary fistula [12 (26.7%)]. The overall median duration of symptoms after cholecystectomy was 20 weeks, with a range of 1-162 weeks. The most common postcholecystectomy complication observed was retained stone [16 (35.6%)]. Other postcholecystectomy complications included bile leakage, bile stricture, bile leakage with stricture, and persistent bile leakage from the T-tube in 12 (26.7%), 11 (24.4%), 4 (8.9%), and 2 (4.4%) patients, respectively. Ampullary cannulation during ERCP was successful in all patients (45, 100%). Patients with complete biliary stricture (10/12) required hepaticojejunostomy. Conclusion Endoscopic management of postcholecystectomy complications was found to be safe and reduce the number of needless surgeries to which such patients are exposed. We recommended prompt referral of such patients for ERCP.

Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) plays an important role in the social and economic life of the local, state and national economy. This study presents estimates of the economic impacts of the University's contributions, both short-term and long-term, on the local (Waller County), regional (Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land Metropolitan Statistical Area), and state (Texas) economies in 2019.The study measures short-term economic benefits like the total output, value-added, labor income, and employment (jobs) created; and the long-term benefits like the contributions PVAMU makes to increase the lifetime earnings potential of its students. The study used the latest version of Minnesota IMPLAN software with built-in multipliers, survey questions, and administrative data; in addition to other standard techniques found in the economic impact analysis literature. The study finds the myriad economic impact of PVAMU University greater than greater than the direct spending by the University for pay-roll, goods and services, construction, and direct spending by PVAMU students. The impacts include $176 million annual contribution to Waller county's income base and employment impact of 1,925 high paying jobs created. For the greater Houston economy, it adds $291 million annually to the income base through direct compensation and induced spending, while the employment impact is 4,183 high paying jobs created. Finally, the economy of Texas had a direct spending impact of $354 million with 5,300 jobs supported.

This work examined the potency of carob (Ceratonia siliqua) pod as a heterogeneous base catalyst for converting waste cooking oil (WCO) into biodiesel via a microwave irradiation system. The optimal calcination for the catalyst synthesis was achieved at 500 °C for 4 h. Various analytical techniques were employed to investigate the properties of the developed catalyst. The results indicate that the catalyst primarily consists of mesoporous particles abundant in potassium, with medium to strong basic sites, which are crucial for its catalytic function. WCO underwent pretreatment with H2SO4 before being converted to biodiesel. Optimum conditions for the biodiesel production were a methanol-to-WCO molar ratio of 9.87, 1.00 wt% catalyst dosage, 3.03 min reaction time, 450 rpm stirring speed, and 600 W microwave power, yielding 98.20 ± 0.81 wt% biodiesel. The low specific energy consumption value of 0.91 kWh/kg and specific CO2 emission of 0.73 kg/kg of biodiesel suggest the effective utilization of microwave energy in driving the transesterification reaction and in promoting a reduction in carbon footprint, respectively. The synthesized catalyst remained effective up to the 5th production cycle and the biodiesel produced met established specifications. The results of this study show that carob pod is a suitable candidate to be included in the database of biobased catalysts currently being developed for heterogeneous catalysis of cost-effective biodiesel production.

Consumers’ growing knowledge of healthy, environmentally friendly flavors and scents drives the demand for vanillin bioproduction. To save costs on nitrogen during the bioproduction of vanillin, this study investigated the feasibility of using corn steep as a substitute. Using the response surface methodology (RSM) model, the synergistic effects of three variables on vanillin yield were evaluated using Box–Behnken design (BBD). When corn steep liquid, ferulic acid concentration, and pH were 7.72 g/L, 2.33 g/L, and 9.34, respectively, the highest vanillin production of 386 mg/L was achieved. The findings indicated that a maximum overall desirability (D) of 1.0 and a significant (p < 0.05) quadratic model with a regression coefficient (R2) of 0.995 can be used to establish ideal circumstances for the bioproduction of vanillin. This study demonstrated the effectiveness of using corn steep liquor as a low-cost nitrogen source in the medium formulation for the extraction and production of vanillin.

Although globalization has been advantageous in facilitating the free movement of people, goods, and services, the ease of movement of cross-border pathogens has increased the risk of international public health emergencies in recent years. Risk com-munication is an integral part of every country’s response during public health emergencies such as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. To effectively increase adherence to guidelines during health emergencies, it is essential to understand the impact of social, cultural, political, and environmental factors on people’s behaviours and lifestyles in any given context, as well as how these factors influence people’s perception of risks. During the recent response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria, the need to comprehend these influences was pronounced, and these influences ultimately shaped risk communication in Nigeria. We have identified risk communication challenges in Nigeria based on sociocultural diversity, the complexity of the health system, the impact of social media on communications, and other contextual factors surrounding multisectoral partnerships. To achieve global health security, these challenges must be addressed in resource-constrained countries like Nigeria. In this paper, we emphasize the need to contextualize risk communication strategies in order to improve their effectiveness during health emergencies. In addition, we urge increased country commitment to a multi-hazard and multisectoral effort, deliberate investment in subnational risk communication systems, and investments in capacity building for risk communication activities.

Banana (Musa paradisiaca) peel extract (BPE) was used as an environmentally benign corrosion inhibitor for mild steel in 1.0 M HCl. The efficiency of BPE was assessed by monitoring the pH of HCl solution and the quantity of hydrogen gas evolved during the reaction, using gasometric and thermometric methods. Moreover, the effect of concentration and temperature on the inhibition efficiency was modelled and optimized by response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN). It was observed that the evolution of hydrogen gas decreases with increasing concentration of BPE, while it increases with time for the various concentrations up till 8 min before attaining constant values. By numerical optimization of RSM, the optimum corrosion inhibition efficiency of 60.08% was obtained at 308.08 K and concentration of 7.44 g/L for gasometric method, while an optimum of 61.25% was obtained at 308 K and 7.50 g/L for thermometric method. Optimization of inhibition parameters with ANN revealed the optimum number of neurons for both gasometric and thermometric methods to be 7; while the MSE are 2.2788 and 2.7306, and R2 are 96.21 and 98.86 respectively. Comparing the performance models of RSM and ANN: for gasometric method, R2 was 98.93 for RSM and 96.21 for ANN, while for thermometric method, R2 was obtained as 95.78 and 98.86 for RSM and ANN, respectively. Both RSM and ANN have demonstrated to be robust optimization techniques; particularly, ANN was found to give a good prediction of the available small dataset.

Consumers' growing knowledge of healthy, environmentally friendly flavors and scents drives the demand for vanillin bioproduction. To save costs on nitrogen during the bioproduction of vanillin, this study investigated the feasibility of using corn steep as a substitute. Using the response surface methodology (RSM) model, the synergistic effects of three variables on vanillin yield were evaluated using Box–Behnken design (BBD). When corn steep liquid, ferulic acid concentration, and pH were 7.72 g/L, 2.33 g/L, and 9.34, respectively, the highest vanillin production of 386 mg/L was achieved. The findings indicated that a maximum overall desirability (D) of 1.0 and a significant (p < 0.05) quadratic model with a regression coefficient (R2) of 0.995 can be used to establish ideal circumstances for the bioproduction of vanillin. This study demonstrated the effectiveness of using corn steep liquor as a low-cost nitrogen source in the medium formulation for the extraction and production of vanillin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to estimate costs and returns from production and examined profitability and problems of small-scale potato production in Plateau state. Research on cost and returns analysis can provide valuable insights into the factors affecting the profitability of potato farming in Nigeria. Policymakers can use this information to design effective policies and interventions to support the agricultural sector and improve the livelihoods of potato farmers. A four-stage random sampling technique was employed to obtain primary data from 120 respondents with a well-structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics such as mean, frequency count, percentages, gross margin, and multiple regression analysis. The study revealed that small-scale potato production in the area was profitable as the estimation of cost and profitability of the farmers in the area under study confirmed that with a NFI of N 117,015.02 per hectare and labor constitute 62.73 % of the total cost. Farmers in the study area face constraints such as poor/inadequate storage facilities, high post-harvest losses, high costs of inputs etc. The study recommends that proper storage measures/facilities should be made available to these small- scale farmers at affordable prices, credit facilities should be given to these small-scale potato producers in the area to increase output, and policy interventions to protect local producers should be put in place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice is a staple food crop in Nigeria, the demand for rice has been increasing at much faster rate in Nigeria than in other West African countries since the mid- 1970s. For example, Nigeria‘s per-capita rice consumption level has grown significantly at 7.3% per annum, rising from 18kg in the 1980s to 22kg in 1990s but production rate is relatively low. The low productivity is mostly attributed to allocative inefficiency. Allocative efficiency (AE) considers farmers‘ ability to allocate resources efficiently, by producing the maximum possible output at minimum cost. Increasing AE requires an understanding of the specific sources of inefficiency that vary across farm enterprises, geographically and temporally. This research will help to discover how farmers can increase production of rice so that there will be less amount invested in importation of rice, in addition it will also be useful for policy intervention. A cross-sectional study was carried out in some selected local government in Niger state, Nigeria to assess the sources of farm-level allocative inefficiency in rice production using the Data Envelopment Approach System. Data were collected from a random sample of 120 smallholder rice farmers. Results show that the mean AE was 42.9%. Land ownership, Area cultivated, Gender, and Quantity of Fertilizer used had significant effects on AE. We recommend adoption of technologies such as the use of ox-ploughs to enable farmers plough large area of land for rice cultivation and reallocation of farm resources especially quantity of fertilizer used and gender balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) were isolated from the cellulose extracted from cocoa pod husk waste, followed by characterization using XRD, FT-IR, TGA, SEM and TEM to determine its crystallinity, structural properties, thermal characteristics, morphology and dimensions respectively. The result revealed that the cocoa pod husk amorphous segments containing hemicelluloses and lignin were extensively removed with increasing chemical treatments leading to increased purity, crystallinity index and thermal stability of the extracted materials. The diameter, length and crystallinity index of the CNC isolated from the CPH are 10–60 nm, 41–155 nm and 67.60% respectively.

Microbial production of acetoin is eco-friendly and inexpensive when compared with its synthetic methods of production. In the present findings, bioproduction of acetoin in a typical bioreactor was discussed with a view to ascertain the seemingly comparative advantage of bioreactor system over shake flask, and more importantly, to confirm that corn steep liquor can indeed adequately be used as a replacement for other organic nitrogen sources. Taguchi design was statistically used to optimized the fermentation process which resulted in a 3-fold increase in molar yield (83%) corresponding to a six-fold increase in acetoin concentration (63.43 g/L), as compared to a similar study conducted in a shake flask. Although agitation rate was observed to be the most controlling, the bioreactor may underperform at agitation rate greater than 300 rpm. The optimum parameters for acetoin production in this study were 300 rpm agitation, 1.5 slpm aeration, 2 days fermentation time, and pH 6.5. The results show that the commercial production of acetoin can be envisioned using a biological approach that may be of economic advantage.

Lagos State's transformation into a critical urban hub highlights its economic promise and challenges, including rising unemployment, police brutality, and poverty amidst rapid growth. This study delves into how population increase, government spending, and financial policies affect the economy, revealing the critical role of education and job creation in tackling unemployment and enhancing living conditions. It underscores the impact of capital expenditure and monetary policies on economic stability, advocating for balanced development and targeted interventions to foster prosperity. The experience of Lagos offers valuable lessons for nationwide policy formulation and informed efforts for sustainable urban development and progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]