There is an urgent need to scale up educational and promotional activities with regards to the home management of DD if the millennium development goals are to be met.
To help to elucidate the changes induced by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense in the central nervous system (CNS) in advanced sleeping sickness patients, levels of interleukin-1 (IL-1) and prostaglandins D2 (PGD2) and E2 (PGE2) were measured by radioimmunoassay in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 24 patients diagnosed on the criteria of CSF protein, leucocyte count and parasite presence as having CNS (i.e. late stage) involvement, and from 12 patients without CNS involvement. PGD2 concentrations were selectively and markedly elevated in the late stage patients. The increased PGD2 may in part account for the increased somnolence and the immunosuppression within the CNS. Measurement of PGD2 levels in CSF may be a useful criterion for CNS involvement.
Background: Garcinia kola is used in traditional medicine in various parts of Africa including Nigeria for the amelioration of hypertension, cough, diabetes, sickle cell anemia, bacterial and fungal infections amongst others. The prophylactic and therapeutic efficacy of Garcinia kola biflavonoid fractions (GKBF); root bark (RBBF), stem bark (SBBF) and seed (SBF)) on the lipid profile and kidney function of Poloxamer 407 (P407) induced hyperlipidemic rats were determined.
Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate tractor maintenance practices and costs in Nigeria with a view to making replacement decisions and for overall farm budgeting. Design/methodology/approach -The information was obtained via a structured questionnaire. Tractor owners were grouped into three categories: government agricultural settlements, established farms, and individual farms. Data used for analysis were collected from 60 farms located in major farming centers of the southwestern part of Nigeria. The report includes the formulation of repair equations, which relate tractor repair cost as a percentage of initial purchase prices to cumulative hours of use. Life cycle costs of three commonly-used tractors were also estimated. The derived equations, which showed that the repair costs per hour increased with hours of use, were used to obtain the life cycle cost of each tractor model in different tractor owners' farms. Findings -The proposed equation was found to be the best fit with coefficient of determination (R 2 ) ranging from 0.992 to 0.996 for tractors in the three user categories. The trend observed in the life cycle costing of the three common tractors gave the general picture of when to replace each of the tractors based on the strategies being adopted by the tractor owners. Practical implications -The results of this study would serve as baseline information to tractor owners regarding optimum use of tractors for minimizing repair and maintenance cost per hour and for making replacement policy. It would also be helpful to government and other agencies for future planning in the provision of tractor services to the farmers at relatively lower repair and maintenance cost. Originality/value -Proves that a reduction in repair costs by careful operation and adequate maintenance could result in a significant reduction in tractor ownership costs.
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