Extracts of the fruit of Capsicum frutescens (CF) were assessed for anticorrosion and antimicrobial activity. The anticorrosion effect of the ethanol extract on low carbon steel in acidic media was studied experimentally using gravimetric, impedance, and polarization techniques, while the antimicrobial efficacy of ethanol, methanol, water, and petroleum spirit extracts respectively against the corrosion-associated sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB), Desulfotomaculum species, was assessed using the agar disc diffusion method. CF extract effectively inhibited both corrosion and SRB growth due to the action of the phytochemical constituents present therein, including alkaloids (8.8%), tannins (0.4%), and saponins (39.2%). The corrosion process was inhibited by adsorption of the extract organic matter on the steel surface, whereas the antimicrobial effect results from disruption of the growth and essential metabolic functions of the SRB. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed to theoretically illustrate the electronic structure and adsorption behavior of the active alkaloidal constituents of CF extract, capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin, and afforded molecular level insights on their individual contributions to the corrosion inhibiting action of the extract.
ABSTRACT:The prevalence and sensitivity pattern of urinary pathogens from 1240 patients in Port-harcourt, Nigeria was investigated. The predominant pathogens cultured was E. coli which accounted for 76.6% of the infections. Klebsiella spp was responsible for 8.1% of cases while the rest were accounted for by Proteus spp (4.8%), coagulase-negative staphylococci (3.2%), Pseudomonas spp (2.4%), Enterobacter spp. (2.4%), Staphylococcus aureus (1.6%) and Citrobacter species (0.8%). The majority of the isolates were resistant to tetracycline (75.8%), ampicillin (71.0%) and cotrimoxazole (65.3%) but exhibited good sensitivity to nitrofurantoin (88.7%), gentamicin (85.5%) and nalidixic acid (76.6%). It is recommended that a periodic reassessment of the sensitivity pattern of urinary pathogens be carried out to serve as a guide for antibiotic therapy of UTIs in a particular environment since these organisms exhibited resistance to first-line drugs used for UTI infections. @JASEM
With the growing demerits of fossil fuels - its finitude and its negative impact on the environment and public health - renewable energy is becoming a favoured emerging alternative. For over a millennium anaerobic digestion (AD) has been employed in treating organic waste (biomass). The two main products of anaerobic digestion, biogas and biofertilizer, are very important resources. Since organic wastes are always available and unavoidable too, anaerobic digestion provides an efficient means of converting organic waste to profitable resources. This paper elucidates the potential benefits of organic waste generated in Nigeria as a renewable source of biofuel and biofertilizer. The selected organic wastes studied in this work are livestock wastes (cattle excreta, sheep and goat excreta, pig excreta, poultry excreta; and abattoir waste), human excreta, crop residue, and municipal solid waste (MSW). Using mathematical computation based on standard measurements, Nigeria generates about 542.5 million tons of the above selected organic waste per annum. This in turn has the potential of yielding about 25.53 billion m³ of biogas (about 169 541.66 MWh) and 88.19 million tons of biofertilizer per annum. Both have a combined estimated value of about N 4.54 trillion ($ 29.29 billion). This potential biogas yield will be able to completely displace the use of kerosene and coal for domestic cooking, and reduce the consumption of wood fuel by 66%. An effective biogas programme in Nigeria will also remarkably reduce environmental and public health concerns, deforestation, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.