The Effect of Mass Media Campaign on the Use of Insecticide-Treated Bed Nets among Pregnant Women in Nigeria.

Background. Malaria during pregnancy is a major public health problem in Nigeria especially in malaria-endemic areas. It increases the risk of low birth weight and child/maternal morbidity/mortality. This paper addresses the impact of radio campaigns on the use of insecticide-treated bed nets among pregnant women in Nigeria. Methods. A total of 2,348 pregnant women were interviewed during the survey across 21 of Nigeria's 36 states. Respondents were selected through a multistage sampling technique. Analysis was based on multivariate logistic regression. Results. Respondents who knew that sleeping under ITN prevents malaria were 3.2 times more likely to sleep under net (OR: 3.15; 95% CI: 2.28 to 4.33; P < 0.0001). Those who listened to radio are also about 1.6 times more likely to use ITN (OR: 1.56; 95% CI: 1.07 to 2.28; P = 0.020), while respondents who had heard of a specific sponsored radio campaign on ITN are 1.53 times more likely to use a bed net (P = 0.019). Conclusion. Pregnant women who listened to mass media campaigns were more likely to adopt strategies to protect themselves from malaria. Therefore, behavior change communication messages that are aimed at promoting net use and antenatal attendance are necessary in combating malaria.

Barley and full-fat canola seed in layer diets.

Combinations of barley and full-fat canola seed (FFCS) were evaluated in two experiments with pullets. In Experiment 1, diets containing 40% barley plus FFCS or canola meal (CM) were compared with wheat-soybean and barley-soybean control diets. In Experiment 2, various steam-pelleted barley-FFCS mixtures (80:20 70:30, 60:40, 50:50) were used at the 40% dietary level in pullet diets. Diets within each experiment were isocaloric and isonitrogenous. Egg production was depressed when hens were fed unpelleted barley-FFCS diets, whereas hens fed pelleted barley-FFCS diets produced at a rate equivalent to those fed the control diet. Feed consumption, feed conversion, and egg weight were not influenced by dietary treatment. Yolk color index was significantly increased in eggs from hens fed diets containing increasing amounts of FFCS. In Experiment 2, contents of linoleic acid, linolenic acid, and docosahexaenoic acid in the yolk increased in a linear manner with increasing content of FFCS in the diets.

Barley and full-fat canola seed in broiler diets.

Barley and full-fat canola seed (FFCS), with or without an added enzyme mixture, were evaluated in experiments with broiler chicks. In Experiment 1, test diets contained barley, wheat, and soybean meal and were supplemented or unsupplemented with raw FFCS (10%) or canola meal (6%). The control was a wheat-soybean meal diet. Diets were fed to male and female broiler chicks for 7 wk. The diet supplemented with raw FFCS produced significantly (P less than .05) lower weight gains than the other diets. There were elevated levels (P less than .05) of linoleic and linolenic acids (18:2 omega 6; 18:3 omega 3) in tissue lipids of chicks fed raw FFCS. In Experiment 2, broiler chicks were fed diets containing a steam-pelleted barley-FFCS mixture (80:20), included at a 50% level, along with supplemental barley. Total barley level in the experimental diets was 50%. 45%, and 40%. A barley-soybean meal diet was used as a control. All diets were fed with and without an enzyme supplement. Chicks fed the barley-FFCS diets were similar to those fed the control diet in respect to production parameters and carcass characteristics. Supplementation of diets with the enzyme mixture resulted in significantly larger body weight gains and lower feed:gain ratios. In Experiment 3, enzyme supplementation increased (P less than .01) the ME of the steam-pelleted barley-FFCS mixtures and the mixed feed containing barley-FFCS. Data from Experiment 4 indicated that there were no significant differences in availability among amino acids from barley, FFCS, or pelleted barley-FFCS mixture diets.

Compositional and digestibility changes in sprouted barley and canola seeds.

Barley and canola seeds were sprouted over a 5 day period, in laboratory conditions under room temperature (22 degrees C) and room lighting. Following initial hydration, seeds were kept moist by wetting the germination trays at 9 a.m., 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. daily. A parallel germination experiment using 200 g quantities of seeds in petri dishes was conducted. Starting from the second day of germination, and every day, dishes of germinating seeds were removed, oven-dried, weighed and milled for proximate and chemical analysis. Seeds from the main germination experiment were fed in a digestibility trial to Wistar rats. Results indicated that sprouting was associated with depletion of many nutrients in both barley and canola, the major losses being in respect of dry matter, gross energy and triglycerides. In barley (but not in canola) sprouting was associated with significant increases in crude fiber and diglyceride content. In canola, there were significant losses in lipid content and increases in phytosterol and phospholipid content. Digestibility data showed an enhancement in digestibility of nutrients in barley but not in canola, implying that sprouting improved nutritional quality of barley but not canola.

Serum and liver lipids of rats fed rubber seed oil.

Crude rubber seed oil (RSO) was incorporated at the 5% level in diets free of cholesterol or containing 1% cholesterol, respectively. These studies were initiated for the purpose of evaluating the palatability and potential toxicity of RSO. Corn oil was used as a control. A considerable amount of unsaponifiable matter was detected in RSO. In addition, RSO was found to possess a fatty acid profile which was fairly different from that of corn oil, primarily due to a much higher content of linolenic acid and a lower content of linoleic acid in RSO. No adverse effects on food intake and average daily gain were observed in rats fed RSO in both cholesterol-free and cholesterol diets. The presence of RSO in cholesterol-free diets results in lower (p less than 0.05) serum and liver total cholesterol levels than in control animals. A relative hypercholesterolemic effect compared to corn oil was observed however, when RSO was added to diets containing 1% cholesterol. In summary, the physicochemical properties of RSO as well as the presence of cholesterol in the diet are important factors in evaluating the cholesterolemic effect of RSO.

Nutritional evaluation of pigeon pea meal.

Mineral, amino acid and fatty acid composition of pigeon pea meal were determined by analysis, while with chick essays, availability (true digestibility) of minerals and amino acids in the meal were estimated. Gross energy, metabolizable energy and true protein digestibility experiments were also conducted. Pigeon pea meal had a very high content of potassium, high content of potassium, high content of phosphorus, moderate content of calcium and magnesium and low content of iron, zinc, copper and manganese. Average availability of minerals was 58.09%. Amino acid content was low, especially cystine and methionine. Amino acid availability was 82.32%, lower than amino acid availability of soybean meal (greater than 90%). Pigeon pea lipids were predominantly saturated fatty acids (69.04%) with low content of unsaturated fatty acids (30.69%) and a total absence of linolenic acid. Metabolizable energy content (N-corrected) was 11.08 MJ/kg in raw pigeon pea and 12.03 MJ/kg in toasted pigeon pea meal.