AJOL - African Journals Online
Not a member yet
221688 research outputs found
Sort by
Perceived Factors that Promote Result-Oriented Practices of Guiding Standards in Teacher Training Universities in Mozambique
Full text linkThe study explored factors that promote result-oriented practices of guiding standards in teacher training universities in Mozambique using the descriptive survey design. The target population was 2340 students in the final year at four government teacher training university centres in Mozambique. A total of 242 teachers in training were selected using the simple random sampling method to constitute the sample and fill the questionnaire. Data was analysed through descriptive statistics in terms of mean scores and standard deviations. The scale for mean score interpretation was as follows: 3.51-4.00 = highly critical factor, 3.50-3.00 = moderately critical factor, 1-51-2.9 = less critical factors and 1.5-1 = not critical factor. The study concluded that factors being studied constitute an important aspect for teacher training programs to effectively promote result-oriented practices of guiding standards. Based on the conclusion, the study recommended that teacher training institutions in Mozambique should incorporate the 14 factors as key ingredients in teacher training programs so as to equip novice teachers with required skills. The same can be done to practicing teachers through workshops and seminars
Recurrent spontaneous abortion related to balanced translocation of chromosomes – A case report
Full text linkINTRODUCTION: Recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) is defined as three or more consecutive pregnancy losses before the 20th week of gestation. RSA is often idiopathic, but structural chromosomal abnormality is an important cause. An unbalanced karyotype in the conceptus of a couple when one partner has a structural chromosomal abnormality may result in failure to implant, miscarriage, or pregnancy of a fetus with an unbalanced karyotype.CASE PRESENTATION: We report a rare case of RSA associated with balanced translocation of chromosomes. a woman who had four spontaneous abortions, all pregnancy loss happened before 12 weeks of gestation, no other known chronic diseases reported to the family nor medications taken during pregnancy. The karyotype was 46.XX, t(13p,21p) The abnormal karyotype was not found in any other chromosomes. Further spectral karyotyping was performed to rule out the involvement of any other chromosomal aberrations present in the genome.The cytogenetic analysis of the husband revealed a normal karyotype 46.XY.CONCLUSION: Couples with more than three miscarriages should be referred to the genetist for chromosomal analysis for possible hereditary etiology and chromosomal abnormalities responsible for miscarriages to plan prenatal diagnostics and genetic counseling for subsequent pregnancies
Anatomical variation of high brachial artery bifurcation: A case report
Full text linkINTRODUCTION: Anatomical variation of high brachial artery bifurcation and these morphological variations of the brachial artery should be considered by surgeons when performing procedures in the brachial artery area.CASE: The left anterior arm and anterior forearm regions of a thirty-three-year-old cadaver was dissected. The origin, course, and terminal branches of the Brachial artery were traced. It was then observed that the Brachial artery bifurcation was in the upper third of the humerus instead of the cubital fossa. CONCLUSION: Brachial artery and its terminal branch variations are less common. However Brachial artery could be bifurcated and then reunite. In this case, the brachial artery presented bifurcation one laterally and another one medially with the median nerve running between them. Both branches don’t reunite but continue laterally and medially, respectively
Cord Length, Umbilical Artery Lactate Concentration and Perinatal Outcomes of Babies with Nuchal Cord at Ile-Ife, Nigeria
Full text linkBackground: There is inconclusive evidence on the relevance of the nuchal cord in obstetric practice.
Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the umbilical artery lactate concentration and perinatal outcomes of babies born with a nuchal cord.
Methods: In a cross-sectional study at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, babies born with a nuchal cord at term and matched controls without a nuchal cord were recruited between January 2017 and December 2018. Gestational age at delivery, meconium-stained liquor, foetal heart rate abnormalities, Caesarean section rates, cord lengths and umbilical artery lactate concentrations were compared. The umbilical artery lactate concentration was assayed with the Lactate-Plus®; neonatal acidosis was defined as cord lactate concentration > 4.9mmol/L.
Results: One hundred and forty-four babies with nuchal cords and 144 controls were recruited. The prevalence of nuchal cord was 3.4%, with 80% of the babies having a single loop. Babies with nuchal cords had longer mean cord length (57.7cm vs 45.4cm; p<0.01), higher mean umbilical artery lactate (4.93mmol/L vs 3.48mmol/L; p = 0.04), meconium-stained liquor (16% vs 3.2%; Relative risk = 4.6), more babies with Apgar score <7 at fifth minute (9 versus 4 babies) and increased perinatal mortality (55.5/1000 births vs 13.8/1,000 births; Relative risk = 4). There was a positive correlation between cord length and the number of nuchal loops (r = 0.5, p<0.01).
Conclusions: Nuchal cord is associated with abnormal cord lactate concentration and adverse perinatal outcomes. Prenatal reporting may enhance intrapartum surveillance and improve perinatal outcomes
Child defilement in Kakamega county, Kenya and related factors
Full text linkIn Kakamega County, child defilement is a public health and social problem, affecting many children. The prevalence of child defilement case in the County is significantly high. Research on the phenomenon of child defilement appears to be underdeveloped; but still ongoing. The trigger factors on the child defilement phenomenon seem to be linked on well known social issues. It is against this backdrop that the present study sought to establish the extent to which child defilement is associated with the prevailing socio-cultural and economic factors, substance abuse and family history. A descriptive survey design was employed to purposively pick and randomly select a sampling frame of 86 respondents comprising of 44 Gender Police Officers, 27 Social Workers, 9 Children Officers and 6 Probation Officers. Of the sampled respondents, seventy (70) of them were interviewed using a semi- structured questionnaire. Despite this scarcity of studies, this study empirically allowed the researcher to confirm that poor rural family attributes including socio-cultural factors related to past abuse (parental personal difficulties, past history, poor family structure and functioning as well as the characteristics of the environment that children grew from) could be associated to an increased risk for their child defilement. The study established that child defilement is a significant problem that exposes children to early pregnancies and marriages, HIV/AIDS and psychological trauma. Equally, majority of the defilements were perpetrated by persons known to the victims, namely family members and /or neighbours. Consequently, high levels of poverty, drug and alcohol abuse and ignorance of the illegality of the vices appeared to be key challenges in the fight against child defilement. It was therefore, concluded that child defilement can be fought more effectively by strengthening the existing, counselling, legal, child protection, rescue and gender recovery services
Poverty reduction strategies and national development in Nigeria
Full text linkThe study on poverty reduction strategies and national development in Nigeria sets out to evaluate the effectiveness of the poverty reduction strategies on improving national development of Nigeria between 1999 and 2015. The proposition of the study stated that poverty issues were endemically a political challenge and that poverty reduction strategies were merely a technical response that cannot reduce poverty. The qualitative research approach based on conceptual and normative analyses of data was adopted whilst the theoretical framework used was dependency theory. The study found that despite the several poverty reduction programmes embarked on, some multi-sectoral while others were sector specific, the poverty incidence in Nigeria was steadily on the increase thus validating the proposition that poverty reduction strategies of the World Bank and IMF are merely technical responses to a fundamentally political challenge. The study recommended that the World Bank, IMF, donor and aid agencies as well as the poor countries should understand the impact of politics on poverty as such emphasize political reforms alongside poverty reduction strategies in order to deal with poverty reduction in the Third World
Gender equality in oil mining companies: a case of Lokichar, Kenya
Full text linkThis paper is on the findings of a study done by the authors of this paper in 2019 on Change in Gender Roles as a Factor in Gender Participation and Empowerment in the Oil Mining Industry: Case of Lokichar. One of the objectives was establishing the extent to which oil mining in Turkana County has contributed to changes in gender equality. Sample size of three hundred (300) respondents was selected through systematic random sampling. Finding indicated that there is no relationship between involvement in oil mining activities and equal opportunity for men and women to work in mining activities. The paper recommended that issues like compensation, decision making, royalty sharing, power relations should be well spelt out in policies like the Mining Bill (2014) to ensure gender mainstreaming and no ambiguity in interpretation and Quality Assurance and gender audits should be adopted by companies ensuring a robust Monitoring and Evaluation
Utangamano baina ya lugha ya Kiswahili na lugha ya Kinyambo kimofolojia: Uchambuzi wa maeneo mahususi
Full text linkKinyambo. Utangamano wa lugha hizo umeoneshwa katika baadhi ya vipengele vya kimofolojia ambavyo ni mbinu za uundaji na katika utumizi wa baadhi ya viambishi. Data ya makala haya imepatikana kwa namna tofauti ambazo ni: mosi, katika orodha ya msamiati wa Kinyambo ili kupata maneno ya mkopo ya Kiswahili yanayotumika katika Kinyambo. Pili, maandiko ya wataalamu mbalimbali yamehusishwa ili kupata mifano ya maneno yenye viambishi maalumu vinavyoonesha utangamano katika lugha hizo. Tatu, ujuzi wa lugha hizi mbili alionao mwandishi wa makala haya umesaidia kupata na kuielewa data. Uchanganuzi wa data hizo umeongozwa na Nadharia ya Mofolojia Lekisika ili kuonesha mipaka ya viambishi katika maneno. Uchanguzi wa data hizo umedhihirisha masuala yafuatayo: kwanza, katika uundaji wa maneno, maneno yenye vibadala vyake katika lugha ya Kinyambo yanakopwa tena kutoka Kiswahili. Hali hii imeonesha utangamano wa wazi kwa kuwa hakuna hitaji la msingi la ukopaji wa namna hiyo kutokana na kuwapo kwa vibadala vya maneno hayo katika lugha hiyo. Pili, pamoja na kwamba kuna viambishi ambavyo havikubaliki katika Kiswahili rasmi, watumiaji wa lugha ya Kiswahili wanavitumia katika mawasiliano ya kawaida. Hali hii inadhihirisha utangamano wa lugha hizo mbili kwa sababu viambishi hivyo vinatumika katika lugha zinazoingiliana sana na Kiswahili. Hivyo, kwa kuwa lugha hutangamana na kubadilika, uchambuzi wa maneno kimofolojia haupaswi kwenda mbali na mabadiliko hayo ili kuona namna maumbo ya maneno yanavyobadilika na yanavyotumika katika lugha husika ili kwenda na uhalisia ulivyo
Factors influencing reproductive and calf growth performance of Sanga cows in the Ashanti Region, Ghana
Full text linkA three-year study was conducted to determine the effect of non-genetic factors on the reproduc-tive and calf growth performance of Sanga cows in the Ashanti of Ghana. One hundred and twen-ty-three (123) Sanga cows were purposively sampled for the study using a longitudinal design. Factors considered in assessing the reproductive and calf growth traits included sex of calf, parity of dam, season of calving, body condition score and level of feed supplementation. Data were ana-lyzed using the Generalized Linear Model procedure of SPSS version 25. Results obtained indicat-ed that sex of calf influenced (p < 0.01) calving interval (CI), weaning weight (WW) and pre-weaning growth rate (PWG) but had little effect (p > 0.05) on the subsequent number of services per conception (NSPC), gestation period (GP), postpartum interval (PPI), and weaning age (WA). Parity of dam, except for GP, NSPC, CI, WW and PWG, which were insignificantly (p > 0.05) af-fected, masked PPI, birth weight (BW), and WA. The postpartum interval was high at parity one, reduced from parity two to five and then assumed an increase with increasing parity up to parity seven. The birth weight and pre-weaning growth rate increased with increasing parity. Apart from GP, season had little effect (p > 0.05) on all other traits assessed. Body condition score (BSC) also affected (p < 0.01) all traits except WA. Feed supplementation significantly (p < 0.01) improved AFH, GP, AFC, and WA but had little influence (p > 0.05) on NSPC, CI, PPI, BW, WW, and PWG. It was concluded that management of body condition through feed supplementation im-proved most reproductive performances in Sanga cows
Microbial profile of smoked fish sold in the Nyankpala and Tamale markets of northern Ghana
Full text linkSmoked fish and fish products are widely consumed in Ghana because they are comparatively affordable. However, studies in other parts of Africa have reported microbial contamination of processed fish and fish products. It is for this reason that this study was undertaken to assess the microbial quality of smoked fish vended in the Nyankpala and Tamale markets. Fish samples were collected from vendors from Nyankpala and Tamale Markets and analysed using standard procedures and methods. Out of the 66 samples, 22.76% had Shigella spp. whilst 77.36% were free of Shigella spp. The highest count of 4.31 × 105 cfu/ml Shigella spp. isolates was from Tamale Central Market samples and lowest count of 1.00 × 103 cfu/ml was from the Tamale Vodafone Office Area Market. Out of the 66 samples, only 13.63% of the samples had Salmonella spp. and 86.37% were free of it. Salmonella spp. showed the highest count of 1.00 × 105 cfu/ml and lowest count of 1.00 × 10³ cfu/ml of samples from Tamale Central Market. Out of the 66 samples, 18.20% had E. coli whilst 81.80% were free from it. The highest count of 2.74 × 105 cfu/ml E. coli isolates were recorded from samples from the Tamale Central Market and lowest count of 1.00 × 10³ cfu/ml from Lamashegu Market. Shigella spp., Salmonella spp. and E. coli were the microbes ob-tained from the smoked catfish. Shigella spp., Salmonella spp. and Escherichia coli could be at-tributable to vendors' unhygienic practices and unsanitary ambient circumstances. It is therefore recommended that the processors and vendors should employ best practices in processing and handling fish and fish products to minimise the level of contamination