International Journal of Basic, Applied and Innovative Research

Variation in adiposity indices, fitness index and Q-angle with types of contact sports

2019-01-10T10:58:18+00:00

Common to every sport is the quest for high performance and desire to avoid injury. Low body adiposity has been connected to performance in sports, while increasing Q-angle is associated with increased lateral patella-femoral contact pressure and risk of knee injury. This non-experimental comparative study compared adiposity indices and Q-angle among football, volleyball and basketball players. A total of 68 male students comprising of 30 amateur footballers players, 19 amateur basketball players and 19 amateur volleyball players participated in the study. Selected and measured adiposity indices were body mass index, waist-hip ratio, percentage body fat, lean body mass and conicity index were measured among the participants. Results showed significant differences in body mass index (P=0.001), body fat (P<0.001), fat mass (P=0.002), fat free mass (P=0.04) and body adiposity index (P=0.001) among the participants groups, with volleyball players possessing significantly higher mean values for all adiposity indices. There was no significant difference in Q-angle among the three groups of players. It appears high body adiposity is common with volleyball players compared to basketball players. Volleyball players possess higher risk of obesity and poor physical fitness while risk of knee injury is not associated with any of sports at amateur level.

Keywords: Adiposity, Fitness, Q-angle, Football, Volleyball, Basketball

Efficacy of infrared radiation therapy on chronic low back pain: a case study of National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu, South East, Nigeria

2019-01-10T10:58:19+00:00

Infrared radiation therapy is a modality widely used in Physiotherapy for the management of pain. The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of six weeks infrared radiation therapy on pain intensity in subjects suffering from nonspecific low back pain. The study was a pre-test post-test one group pre-experimental design. A total of fifteen (7 males and 8 females) of black African origin clinically diagnosed with nonspecific chronic low back pain that met the inclusion criteria were recruited for the study, and completed the six weeks study. The subjects received infrared radiation therapy on the lower back region in prone lying for 30 minutes, three times weekly, during the treatment period, for six weeks. Subjects’ pre and post treatment pain level scores were assessed using the 10 point numerical rating pain scale. The data was analyzed using the paired sample t-test. Findings from the study showed significant decrease in the means of the pretest and post-test scores of the variables by 95% C.I at p < 0.05. Six weeks infrared radiation therapy is effective in reducing pain in chronic low back pain.

Keywords: chronic low back pain, pain intensity, infrared radiation therapy

Comparative assessment of the economic returns of the growth of Amaranthus hybridus using organic (sugarcane bagasse based) and inorganic fertilizer (NPK)

2019-01-10T10:58:20+00:00

Amaranthus hybridus is an important vegetable in the human diet because it is a source of nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, sugar, water, protein and fiber needed for healthy body growth and sustenance. Poor soil fertility, availability and affordability of inorganic fertilizer have been identified as major constraints to its production. These constraints may be addressed by the use of sugarcane bagasse based manure; hence the field trial to determine the Economic returns of the growth of Amaranthus hybridus. Data was collected on weight of the plant yield (kg), and the result subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The field data was also subjected to Economic analysis using Gross Margin and Cost Benefit Ratio. The ANOVA result shows that Treatment A (Organic) had the mean yield of 3.30 (kg) which was significantly different from B (NPK) 2.21(kg) and C (Control) 1.47 (kg). Similarly, Treatment A had gross margin of 1500 and cost benefit ratio of 10.0; B had gross margin of 880 and cost benefit ratio of 4.4, whilst C had gross margin of 740 and cost benefit ratio of 7.4 respectively; suggesting that the use of sugarcane bagasse based fertilizer appeared more profitable and is recommended for maximum returns.

Keywords: Amaranthus hybridus, gross margin, cost benefit ratio, Odi

African grapes (Lannea microcarpa) fruits: the nutritional compositions

2019-01-10T10:58:21+00:00

Studies on nutritional composition of African grapes (Lannea microcarpa) fruits pulp was carried out using standard analytical methods. The result of proximate composition in mg/100g revealed the following: moisture (70.55 ± 2.56), ash (3.48 ± 0.81mg), crude fiber (5.21 ± 1.67), crude protein (8.71 ± 1.98), crude lipid (1.87 ± 0.34) and carbohydrate (80.73 ± 6.81) as well as calorific value (374.59 ± 4.32KJ/100g). The fruits pulp also contain reasonable amount of both macro and micro minerals element needed in diet with potassium concentration of (450 ± 3.87mg/100g), phosphorus (6.14 ± 0.89mg/100g), sodium (15.10 ± 1.70mg/100g), calcium (35.00 ± 1.90mg/100g), magnesium (58.00 ± 3.23mg/100g), iron (38.21 ± 2.67 mg/100g),manganese (3.10 ± 0.45mg/100g) as well as zinc (14.14 ± 2.98mg/100g). The anti-nutrients factors (in mg/100g) indicate the presence of tannins (4.17 ± 0.61), oxalates (12.14 ± 2.32), phytates (40.50 ± 1.54), and saponins (2.16 ± 0.87). However, the calculated anti-nutrients to nutrients molar ratios are generally below the critical level known to inhibit the availability of some important minerals elements which suggest the potential safety of using the fruits pulp as nutrients supplement.

Keywords: Lannea microcarpa, fruits, pulp, proximate, minerals, anti-nutrients

Censored Foster Greer Thorbecke (FGT) indexes in poverty analysis in Nigeria

2019-01-10T10:58:22+00:00

This study is an attempt to assess the prospects of censoring in one-dimensional poverty analysis in Nigeria. The conventional method involves truncation of the non-poor households and this often leads to measurement error. Censoring instead of truncation was considered using data from the Nigeria General Household Survey (NGHS) Panel Survey. The estimated poverty indices obtained via censoring gave higher precision estimates compared to the indices obtained traditionally. This finding implies that censoring could reduce the problem of measurement error involved in the traditional poverty analytical procedures.

Keywords: Censoring, Measurement error. One-dimensional, Poverty analysis, Poverty indices

Phytochemical constituents and hyperglycemic effect of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Murraya koenigii in alloxan induced diabetic rats

2019-01-10T10:58:23+00:00

Murraya koenigii is one out of many plants used locally for the treatment of diabetes. This work was carried out to determine the phytochemical constituents in aqueous and ethanolic leaf extracts of Murraya koenigii and its hypoglycemic effects. The experimental animals after acclimatization were randomly selected into 5groups of rats each and were induced with 150mg/kg of alloxan per body weight. The rats were treated with aqueous and ethanolic leaf extracts of Murraya koenigii at 500mg/kg daily for 5 weeks. Qualitative phytochemical analysis of Murraya koenigii confirms the presence of alkaloids, flavonoid, tannin, phenol and cardiac glycoside compound in both aqueous and ethanolic extracts. The study showed a significant decrease (p<0.05) in the blood glucose levels of rats treats with both extracts when compared with alloxan not treated, although ethanolic extract was more effective when compared with non-induced untreated group. This suggests that the aqueous and ethanolic life extract of Murraya koenigii has some hypoglycemic properties and may be safe for use.

Keywords: phytochemical, Murraya koenigii, hypoglycemic and diabetes

Cash transfer programmes on children’s outcomes: evidence from developing countries

2019-01-10T10:58:23+00:00

This review evaluated the impact of conditional and unconditional cash transfer programmes on child development. The systematic search was conducted electronically with the aid of Google search engine, using these key search words - “cash transfers”, “child health”, “child development”, “child marriage” and “child labour”. Studies that used Randomised Control Trails (RCTs) and quasi-experiments, as well as studies that reported cash transfers and child development outcomes such as school enrolment, attendance, test score, child work, child health and nutrition and cognitive development were included. Data on social programmes, target population, methodological quality and study results were extracted with the aid of a standard form. The seven studies that met the inclusion criteria were two from Africa, two from Asia and three from Latin America. Six studies reported on the impact of cash transfers and educational outcomes, three on child labour and three on child health and cognitive development. Strong evidence showed that cash transfers enhanced child development on different variables, but evidence regarding child marriage was inconclusive. These results demonstrated the importance of cash transfers in enhancing the development of children living in poor households, while also offering some protection against children vulnerability in developing countries.

Keywords: Cash transfers, Conditional cash transfers, children, systematic review, unconditional cash transfers

Antidiarrhoeal property of the methanol extract of Anacardium occidentale Linn stem bark in laboratory rodents

2019-01-10T10:58:24+00:00

Diarrhoea is a disease characterised by gut secretory and motility dysfunction. Anacardium occidentale stem bark decoction is used locally in management of diarrhea. This study investigated the antidairrhoeal property of the methanol extract of Anacardium occidentale stem bark in laboratory rodents. The antidiarrhoeal property of the stem bark methanol extract of Anacardium occidentale was investigated using castor oil induced diarrhoeal model in mice and Charcoal meal transit in Albino rats. There were no incidences of mortality recorded up to the dose of 5000 mg/kg extract used in the acute toxicity test. The Gas chromatography mass spectrophotometry revealed oleic-acid (45.51 %) as the predominant component. The Phytochemistry showed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, steroids, flavonoids and tannins. In the castor oil model, all the test doses of the extract significantly delayed the onset of diarrheoal and decreased the total number loose faeaces. Significant reduction in the whole number and weight of feaces were observed only with 400 and 800mg/kg doses. All the three doses of the extract delayed the gastrointestinal transit of charcoal meal. The present findings demonstrated the antidiarheoal property of the stem bark extract of Anacardium occidentale being able to delay the onset of diarrhea and decrease gastrointestinal transit.

Keywords: Anacardium occidentale, Diarrheoal , motility, castor oil, charcoal meal