Covenant university biochemistry students research on Massive Polio Immunisation Vaccination in Africa

Fifteen countries across Africa are conducting a massive synchronised operation to eliminate polio by immunising some 72 million children by this weekend. Some 290,000 vaccinators have been mobilised to treat every child under five in areas considered at the highest risk of polio transmission.
The exercise follows a previous drive in 2009 and in March 2010, which followed the spread of the disease from Nigeria. Then, 24 countries across west and central Africa and in the Horn of Africa were affected.

Renewed cases of polio have been reported in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Mali - the first since 2001. There's also been a case reported in Uganda, which had been polio-free for more than a year.

"The countries that are participating include those countries which have had polio outbreaks or where polio has been re-established because campaigns and routine immunisation haven't been sufficient to stop an outbreak."
Nigeria, along with Afghanistan, India and Pakistan, is one of four countries in the world where polio is endemic. But encouraged by the progress made there, Corkum says she's confident that the disease can be eradicated completely from the African continent.
"We've gone from hundreds of cases last year to only a handful this year in 2010," she says. "Although we would have liked to have seen that no children are being affected, we are seeing that the end is in sight.
"But again we need to make sure we maintain vigilance and the political commitment to ensure children are reached during the campaigns and importantly through routine immunisation."

Laptops and infertility: It matters how you sit

If guys can find a way to operate laptop computers with their legs apart, they might limit their risk of infertility, a new study finds. Keeping the legs splayed while using a laptop generated substantially less damaging heat in the scrotum than keeping legs together, scientists report online November 8 in Fertility and Sterility. Putting a shield under the laptop didn’t seem to help beat the heat.
A hot scrotum is no laughing matter. The testes generally are 2 to 4 degrees Celsius cooler than standard body temperature, a unique environment conducive to the rapidly dividing nature of sperm cells. Heating the area can trigger oxidative stress, slow the motion of sperm and lessen their ability to fertilize an egg for weeks or months, says Edmund Sabanegh, a urologist at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.
In the new study, urologist Yefim Sheynkin of Stony Brook University in New York and his colleagues enlisted 29 men ages 21 to 35 to participate in three tests in which each man operated a laptop computer on his thighs for one hour. One test entailed keeping the thighs together while using the machine. A second required the same position, but with a padded shield placed under the laptop. The third test allowed the men to keep their legs apart at a 70-degree angle as they used a laptop with a shield supporting it that was wide enough to reach across both legs and stabilize the computer.

Each of the men completed all three tests, but did only one test per day. Before each experiment, sensors recorded the scrotum temperature of each volunteer and recorded any changes during the session.
All three uses of a laptop increased the men’s scrotal temperature substantially from pretest levels, but keeping the legs splayed limited this increase to about 1.4 degrees C during the hour-long test. When the legs were kept together the temperature rose by 2.2 degrees with a shield and 2.3 degrees without one.
What’s more, it took an average of 28 minutes for scrotal temperatures to rise 1 degree C when the men had their legs apart, but only 14 minutes to increase that much when they kept their legs together with a shield and 11 minutes with legs together and no shield.
“Having the legs together, which is how most people use laptops, does seem to be the worst,” Sabanegh says. “This makes a lot of sense.”
The laptop shields — also called laptop pads or trays — are sold online and in office-supply stores, though not typically as protective devices, says Sheynkin. He recommends that men put laptops on desks or tables, which enables them to move their legs around and avoid being trapped in a single position for extended periods.
Sabanegh says that many men have come to understand the risks of increasing the scrotum temperature. While such heat may not always be the underlying problem for a couple with fertility issues, it’s part of counseling. “I tell them, ‘Try to be healthy in all the ways you can.’ And that means stop putting laptops on your lap, stop using hot tubs and other things of that nature.”

Covenant University Receives Certification for Three Inventions

Covenant University’s mandate to transform the African educational landscape has continued to be validated as three products from the University’s research base were granted patent recently by the Federal Government. Covenant University’s vision to revolutionize the African educational landscape has continued to be validated as three products from the University’s research base were granted patent recently by the Federal Government through the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP). The certificates of patent for the three products namely, Paw-paw Beverage, Fermented Rice and Culture Medium by Professor Louis Egwari, a Medical Microbiologist and Deputy Dean, School of Natural and Applied Sciences, were presented to the University.
In his address at the occasion, the Director-General of NOTAP, Engineer Umar Buba Bindir represented by the Director, Technology Transfer Agreement, Mrs. Funke Araba, commended the University for the level of determination attached to technology development.
He noted that Covenant University was the only private University which collaborated with NOTAP for the establishment of the Intellectual Property Technology Transfer Office (IPTTO) on its campus and the first to develop three patented products. These according to him were the first products to be patented by NOTAP this year.
The Director-General also noted that the products met all the criteria for patenting as they were novel. The products met invention steps and have been found to be industrially applicable.
He explained that patenting of invention was an index to measure technological development of a nation, but lamented that Nigeria’s huge budgets on Research and Development are expended on Foreign Technical Partners.
He however hoped that the relationship between NOTAP and Covenant University would continue, adding that the history of the University would be greater than that of those currently regarded as World-Class Universities.
The leader of the University’s delegation and Director, Covenant University Centre for Research and Development (CUCERD), Professor James Omoleye in his remarks explained that the University was ready to encourage researchers with adequate funding and conducive environment.
He added that the University was set to roll out more inventions that affect humanity positively in line with the University’s Mission of restoring the dignity of the Blackman. He also commended NOTAP for the establishment of the IPTTO Office at Covenant University.

An interview with doctor ibikunle, from the department of Electrical Engineering Covenant university

Members of the Mac thinkers group went out to scout for some science and technology news items, we then stumbled upon Doctor Ibikunle from the department of Electrical engineering, He took his time to explain the current trends of science and technology in Covenant university and also in Nigeria.

Science and Technology trends in Nigeria

MACTHINKERS: thank you sir for this opportunity to interview you. So our first question is: are the latest telecommunications equipments available and used in Nigeria?

INTERVIEWEE: Uhh, yes, some are available but not all, because when you talk of telecommunication equipments we have what we call technology, we have 1G, 2G, 3G AND 4G. In terms of these generational telecommunication equipments, definitely 1G was available but has faded out. We have 2G now available and while some companies but not all have 3G also available. But 4G is not available. So to your question, we have some new telecommunication equipments but not all. Some companies have these equipments while some do not.

MACTHINKERS: Thank you sir. Has any Nigerian developed any modern telecommunication equipment that is now used around the world?

INTERVIEWEE: No, no Nigerian or Nigerian company has ever done that. We are consumers of these telecommunication equipments. We import most of them; we are not developing anything yet. Although there are some certain things coupling, we couple some. We buy it and then we come here and couple them. So we are not developing anything, rather we buy it and then we couple them like some mobile phones. Some mobile phones, the coupling are here, so they come with all the necessary components and they now couple it up. We are not the one developing it.

MACTHINKERS: Sir, due to your experience in Electrical Information and Telecommunications, are there fields that have not been covered in terms of use like develop like 3G, 4G in Nigeria and the possibility of 5G telecommunication band.

INTERVIEWEE: The possibility of 5G telecommunication, let’s forget it now. Even the 3G and 4G, we are not yet in it, so don’t let us talk about 5G now. But in terms of 2G, they are in use and 3G some are in use but not all companies are in use of 3G equipments, 4G, not yet. In terms of broadband, when you say broadband, wireless broadband, there are some companies; one or two companies have started that and you can say those one are 3G or towards 4G and we call the WIFI systems. So we can say some of them are here while some are not here but not fully in operation. But we will get at it but it will only take us time.

MACTHINKERS; Sir for our final question, are our Nigerian Telecommunication Operators operating to full capacity?

INTERVIEWEE: Not! They are not operating to full capacity. When you say a company operating to full capacity, that means, you must be having at least 80 percent of the population or of the system being occupied or being used. So, so many operators still have their equipments there but not all are being used. The systems are not being utilized especially the new technology like 3G. Many people in the country do not even know what 3G is and what its features are, what they are after is just the voice. So we are not really utilizing the capacity of the systems. They are many features on this technology we are talking about, 3G. But many Nigerians, sorry to say Nigerians. Many Africans are just after the voice, just talk and that’s all. So as a result, we are not fully utilizing our operating capacity.

MACTHINKERS: Thank you very much sir for you time. God bless you sir.