Science and Development Journal

Influence of Lemon (Citrus limon) on Lipid Oxidation and Keeping Quality of Chicken crumbs

D. O. Oshibanjo — 2024-02-19

Lipid oxidation is a major cause of quality deterioration in meat products. However, attention is shifting to natural antioxidants in controlling lipid oxidation in meat, due to hazards linked to synthetic antioxidants. This study therefore, sought to evaluate the influence of lemon juice on lipid oxidation and keeping quality of chicken crumbs. In a completely randomized, 6x3 factorial design; hygienically harvested fresh chicken meat, was deboned, cut into smaller pieces and marinated inside freshly squeezed lemon juice at different concentrations of 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50% in 100 mls of water respectively. Marinated chicken samples were dried in an electric oven for 1hour at 1050C to constant weight. Thereafter, they were removed from the oven, cooled, packed per treatment in Ziploc bags and stored for 90 days (3 months) at room temperature. Evaluations were done at days 30, 60 and 90 for pH, water holding capacity (WHC) and oxidative rancidity using standard procedures. Data obtained were analysed using ANOVA at α_0.05. pH during the first month had the highest value (6.19) with the least observed in the third month (5.99). WHC had the highest value (96.11%) in the first month, with least value in the third month (91.67%). Oxidative rancidity (mg/g) in the third month had the highest value (2.70 mg/g). Effect of lemon juice on physicochemical quality of chicken crumbs showed differences among treatments. pH was significantly higher in chicken crumbs without lemon juice (6.34) with least pH observed in chicken crumbs marinated in 2% lemon juice. WHC of chicken crumbs marinated in 20% and 40% lemon juice had the same value (97.22%) which was significantly higher than control which had the lowest value (90.00%). For oxidative rancidity, control had the highest value of 3.77 mg/g and 10.00% lemon juice had the lowest value of 1.63 mg/g. Interaction effects of storage duration and lemon juice on pH of chicken crumbs showed significant differences (p<0.05) across treatments. It can be concluded from this study that chicken crumbs can be marinated in lemon juice of concentrations between 20% to 40% before drying to improve its shelf life for up to three months.

Exploring the Antimicrobial Properties of Guava leave extract against selected Food Pathogens

Bennett Dzandu — 2024-02-19

Guava (Psidium guajava L.), is an important tropical plant with diverse benefits. In this study, the antimicrobial properties of guava leaf extract were explored against some food-borne pathogens (E. coli, Salmonella, and S. aureus). Three different extracts (water, methanol and ethanol) were obtained from the guava leaves by maceration for 3 days. The phytochemical content and antioxidant activity of the extracts were evaluated. The antimicrobial susceptibility and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the extracts were also determined. The phytochemical screening revealed constituents such as phenols and tannins, flavonoids, terpenoids, saponins, and glycosides. Phenolic content was highest in the methanolic extract (0.261 mg/ml) while flavonoid content was highest in the ethanolic extract (16.41 mg/ml). The aqueous and methanolic extracts recorded the highest zone of inhibition (ZOI) against S. aureus while the aqueous was ineffective against E. coli and Salmonella and the methanolic extract recorded no ZOI against Salmonella. However, the ethanolic extract showed the highest ZOI against E. coli. The MIC of the methanolic extracts was 50% against S. aureus, 30% against E. coli, and 10% against S. aureus. For the ethanolic extract, it was 50% against E. coli, 20% against S. aureus, and 70% against Salmonella. The phytochemicals in the extracts contributed to their antioxidant and antibacterial activities. The ethanolic extract of the guava leaves was most effective against the selected foodborne pathogenic microorganisms. Both gram-positive and negative bacteria were susceptible to the extracts, although some gram-negative bacteria were resistant at certain concentrations of the guava leave extracts.

Solid Waste Management practices in Small towns: Implications for Urban sustainability in Ghana

Enoch Akwasi Kosoe — 2024-02-19

The lack of studies on waste management practices in small towns is a major gap given their fastgrowing nature, especially in the global south. The study examines the peculiarities of waste management practices and behaviour choices in a small town and draws implications for urban sustainability trajectories different from the current pathways of megacities. Employing a cross-sectional design, data were collected from 200 households a household survey. The findings indicate that most households preferred to dispose off waste using communal container collection and house-to-house collection, while others preferred to burn and bury their solid waste materials. Only age (p<0.03) of household head was significant in influencing households’ waste collection and disposal methods compared to education (p<0.43) and sex (p<0.21). The findings suggest that the gradual elimination of communal container collection and intensification of house-to-house collection with an appropriate fee policy can put small towns on the right trajectory for urban sustainability.

Quantifying the Carbon Footprint of a Multi-specialist Hospital in Ghana

Sheila Opoku Adjei — 2024-02-19

A carbon footprint is the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as a result of the activities of a particular individual, organization, or community. Research undertaken indicates the global carbon footprint of the healthcare sector is estimated at 2 gigatons of CO2e which is equivalent to the annual greenhouse gases produced by 514 coal power plants and if the global healthcare sector was a country, it would have been the fifth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. This supports the need to mitigate emissions from the healthcare sector in each country. In the healthcare sector, there has been a slow acceptance to take responsibility and mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced as a result of healthcare activities. This study quantified the carbon footprint of a multi-specialist hospital in Ghana and identified how the hospital can reduce its adverse impacts on the environment including achieving carbon neutrality. The total emissions from both direct and indirect sources of CO2e quantified based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol accounting standards, resulted in 465.79 tonnes of CO2e for the year 2021. Regarding the major sources of greenhouse gas emissions from the hospital, the study revealed electricity consumption, generation of electricity from the backup power plant and the hospital fleet of vehicles as the sources of greenhouse gas emissions. The electricity consumption from the national grid contributed the most to emissions at 57% from the hospital’s operations followed by the generation of electricity from an onsite power plant at 39%, dieselpowered vehicles at 3% and petrol-powered vehicles contributing 1% of the total GHG emissions of the hospital.

Femtosecond Similariton Pulse Generation from an All-Fiber Erbium Doped Fiber Laser

Joanna Mudupeh Hodasi — 2024-02-19

Mode-locked fiber lasers with femtosecond pulse durations have become attractive for numerous applications in science and industry. Amplifier similariton shaped pulses typically have pulse energies of a few nanojoules and sub-100 fs pulse width. The work presented seeks to demonstrate the generation of femtosecond amplifier similariton pulses from an all-fiber erbium doped fiber laser cavity. Mode-locking in the erbium-doped fiber laser was achieved by nonlinear polarization evolution which produced pulses at a wavelength of 1572 nm with an average output power of 24 mW and a pulse energy of 0.46 nJ. These pulses at transform limit have a pulse duration of 73 fs.

Development of a Fraud Alert System for Mobile Money Subscribers in Ghana

Isaac Adjaye Aboagye — 2024-02-19

Mobile Money is a digital payment platform that allows for money transfers between mobile phone devices. Mobile money fraud has been rampant in recent years. Although the platform is secure, fraudsters can still find weaknesses in the gateway to defraud other mobile money subscribers. Currently, only the subscriber identification module (SIM) number or international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) that is used to commit fraud is blocked, which gives the fraudster the privilege to register and use a different SIM number. A mechanism is needed to block fraudsters permanently. In this study, we developed a system to alert mobile money users of fraudsters by screening incoming calls. We created a platform to help automate the registration of mobile money users using optical character recognition to obtain relevant information from an image of the user’s ID card and a secure mobile application platform for mobile money transactions. Based on the information obtained, a mobile application was developed. Users were able to report a number that had attempted or succeeded in defrauding them. The mobile application has a broadcast receiver that listens to incoming calls or messages. The ID of the number making the incoming call is cross-checked with the caller ID stored in the telecommunication companies' database. When a fraudster is detected, subscribers will be alerted to allow the application to block that caller permanently. The system was tested to ensure its validity and performance. This system will help to reduce drastically the amount of money that mobile money subscribers lose.

Paediatric Patients Dose Optimisation and Risk Assessment in Computed Tomography Examination

Issahaku Shirazu — 2024-02-19

Children are a distinct group of patients and should not be consider as small adults in terms of medical imaging procedures. Their size, physiology and the location of their organs change as they grow. Additionally, children have a longer life expectancy than adults hence consideration must be taken into account when the appropriate radiation dose is delivered. Therefore, the study was to estimate paediatric patients’ lifetime attributable radiation risk during computed tomography examination. The materials used include five different multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) Machines, Head and Body phantom and MeVisLab (MVL) workstation. The weighted CTDI (CTDIw) and DLP values obtained were used estimate effective and organ doses to estimate the cancer incidence and mortality. In all 300 images of paediatric patients undergoing CT scans of head, chest, and abdomen-Pelvis from six CT centres were randomly selected. 200 images that met the selection criterion were analysed. The average values for organ dose and effective dose for Brain CT exam for age 0-5, 6-10 and 11-16 years were10.3 mGy, 1.3965 mSv; 11.18 mGy, 2.2785 mSv; and 19.82 mGy, 4.5102 mSv respectively for male patients. These values indicated increased values for Chest and abdominal pelvis examinations, with the dose increasing depending on the paediatric protocols that were used which depended on patient age band. The average cancer risk for incidence and mortality for head, chest and abdomenpelvis examinations were in the range 1 in 10,000 to in 1,000 of the study population.

Optimisation of Clinical measuring procedure for the fourth Ventricle size of Human Brain using Computed Tomography technique for Clinical application

Issahaku Shirazu — 2024-02-19

Computed Tomography (CT) scans and Magnetic Resonance Imaging techniques have contributed immensely in resolving the challenges of volumetric measurement of body organs, which are essential in diagnosis of pathological conditions. Visualization of the size and shape of the ventricles have therefore become a reality with CT scan, thereby aiding clinicians to diagnose complex neurological diseases. The aim of this study was to optimised clinical measuring procedure of the fourth ventricle of the human brain to determine the normal size and shape using voxel-count method as a baseline reference data for clinical application. The materials used include the CT scanner and retrospective image data. MeVisLab measuring tool was used to measure the linear dimensions (width, length and thickness), whilst the voxel count method was used to estimate the volume of the fourth ventricle. The results showed that the values for the age groups 61-70, 51-60, 41-50, 31-40 and 21-30 were 99.63 mm, 99.00 mm, 98.29 mm, 97.86 mm and 96.40 mm respectively. It was observed that age group 61- 70 had the largest predictor and 21-30 being the smallest. The study established values of ventricular volume for gender and specific age groups which served as baseline reference data for standard reference ventricular dimensions for use in clinical practice in Ghana for neurological disorders.