Development and Testing of a Roller Type Shelling Device (RTSD) Moringa oleifera Seed Shelling Machine

The huge nutritional value and industrial potentials inherent in Moringa oleifera have not been fully tapped and used because of the labour intensive method of shelling and grinding the seeds into fine powder. A Roller Type Shelling Device (RTSD) Moringa oleifera seed sheller was designed, constructed and tested in this study. The hopper, shelling drum, shelling paddle, screen, cleaning fan, frame, seed outlet, chaff delivery chute, and electric motor made up this functional machine. The performance indices evaluated for the developed sheller were based on shelling efficiency, cleaning efficiency, throughput capacity, mechanical damage index and shelling performance index at moisture content levels of 7.64, 9.45, 17.53, 21.73 and 25.52% (w.b). The sheller had maximum shelling efficiency, cleaning efficiency, throughput capacity, mechanical damage index and shelling performance index of 88.14%, 89.41%, 12.48 kg/h, 12.75% and 87.66% respectively at moisture content levels of 7.64% (w.b). With the output of the sheller, full industrial processing of Moringa oleifera seed is feasible with minimal limitation.

Increasing questionnaire response: evidence from a nested RCT within a longitudinal birth cohort study

Background: High response rates are essential when questionnaires are used within research, as representativeness can affect the validity of studies and the ability to generalise the findings to a wider population. The study aimed to measure the response rate to questionnaires from a large longitudinal epidemiological study and sought to determine if any changes made throughout data collection had a positive impact on the response to questionnaires and addressed any imbalance in response rates by participants’ levels of deprivation. Methods: Data were taken from a prospective, comparative study, designed to examine the effects of the reintroduction of water fluoridation on children’s oral health over a five-year period. Response rates were analysed for the first year of data collection. During this year changes were made to the questionnaire layout and cover letter to attempt to increase response rates. Additionally a nested randomised control trial compared the effect on response rates of three different reminders to complete questionnaires.Results: Data were available for 1824 individuals. Sending the complete questionnaire again to non-responders resulted in the highest level of response (25%). A telephone call to participants was the only method that appeared to address the imbalance in deprivation, with a mean difference in deprivation score of 2.65 (95% CI -15.50 to 10.20) between the responders and non-responders. Conclusions: Initially, low response rates were recorded within this large, longitudinal study giving rise to concerns about non-response bias. Resending the entire questionnaire again was the most effective way of reminding participants to complete the questionnaire. As this is a less labour intensive method than for example, calling participants, more time can then be spent targeting groups who are underrepresented. In order to address these biases, data can be weighted in order to draw conclusions about the population.

Increasing questionnaire response: evidence from a nested RCT within a longitudinal birth cohort study

Background: High response rates are essential when questionnaires are used within research, as representativeness can affect the validity of studies and the ability to generalise the findings to a wider population. Aims: The study measured the response rate to questionnaires from a large longitudinal epidemiological study and sought to determine if any changes made throughout data collection had a positive impact on the response to questionnaires and readdressed any imbalance in response rates by participants’ levels of deprivation. Methods: Data were taken from a prospective, comparative study, designed to examine the effects of the reintroduction of water fluoridation on children’s oral health over a five-year period. Response rates were analysed for the first year of data collection. During this year changes were made to the questionnaire layout and cover letter to attempt to increase response rates. Additionally a nested randomised control trial compared the effect on response rates of three different reminders to complete questionnaires.Results: Data were available for 1824 individuals. Sending the complete questionnaire again to non responders resulted in the highest level of response (25%). A telephone call to participants was the only method that appeared to address the imbalance in deprivation, with a mean difference in deprivation score of 2.65 (95% CI -15.50 to 10.20) between the responders and non responders . Conclusions: Initially, low response rates were recorded within this large, longitudinal study giving rise to concerns about non-response bias. Resending the entire questionnaire again was the most effective way of reminding participants to complete the questionnaire. As this is a less labour intensive method than for example, calling participants, more time can then be spent targeting groups who are underrepresented In order to address these biases, data can be weighted in order to draw conclusions about the population.

Increasing questionnaire response: evidence from a nested RCT within a longitudinal birth cohort study

Background: Adequate response rates are essential when using questionnaires in research, as these can affect the validity of studies and the ability to generalise the findings to a wider population. Aims: The study measured the response rate to questionnaires in a large longitudinal epidemiological study and sought to determine if any of the changes made throughout data collection had a positive impact on the response to questionnaires and readdressed any imbalance seen in response by participants level of deprivation. Methods: Data were taken from a prospective, comparative study, designed to examine the effects of the reintroduction of water fluoridation on children’s oral health over a five-year period. Response rates were analysed for the first year of data collection from this sample. During this year changes were made to the questionnaire layout and cover letter to attempt to increase response rates. Additionally a nested randomised control trial compared the effect on response rates of three different participant reminders to complete questionnaires were trialled. Results: Data were available for 1824 individuals. The assessment of different reminders indicated that while sending the whole questionnaire again to non responders, resulted in the highest level of response (25%), calling participants was the only method that appeared to address the imbalance in IMD between responders (29.5, 95%CI 16.9-42.0) and non-responders (26.8, 95%CI 23.5-30.2) t(12.994) -0.446, p=0.663. Conclusions: Low response rates were recorded within this large, longitudinal study giving rise to concerns about response bias. In order to address these biases, data can be weighted in order to compensate for the skew in those taking part compared to the population. Resending the entire questionnaire again is the most effective way of reminding participants to complete the questionnaire. As this is a less labour intensive method than for example, calling participants more time can then be spent targeting groups who are underrepresented in the study such as those most deprived.

Assessing the clonal expansion strategy of landscape-forming plants

Vegetated coastal landscapes are often formed by clonally expanding plants. By developing rhizomes or stolons these plants can spread laterally and distribute themselves in space. In this protocol we describe a method for deriving the clonal expanding strategy of dune grasses from still images. First we will discuss a more labour intensive method that requires the excavation and reconstruction of a clonal network. Second, we will discuss a validated automated approach based on two connecting algorithms that allows for a less time-consuming expansion of a dataset.

Macroprolactinaemia: a biological diagnostic strategy from the study of 222 patients

ObjectivesGel filtration chromatography (GFC), the gold standard for macroprolactinaemia (MPRL) diagnosis, is a slow, costly and labour-intensive method. To limit the number of GFC required, we evaluated two screening tests for MPRL: prolactin (PRL) recovery after polyethylene glycol (PEG) precipitation and PRL concentration ratio, derived from two assays, each having different big-big-PRL cross-reactivities.In some patients, MPRL is characterised by clinical symptoms which can be associated with an excess of monomeric PRL. We compared the monomeric PRL concentration obtained from GFC with the PRL concentration i) on a cobas e 601 analyser and ii) in the supernatant after PEG precipitation.Design and methodsWe studied hyperprolactinaemic sera subjected to physician-ordered GFC, between February 2013 and July 2014. We performed PEG precipitation (to evaluate the PRL concentration and rate of recovery in the supernatant) and two PRL assays: RIA and electrochemiluminescent assay (ECLIA), on a Roche cobas e 601 analyser, and calculated the RIA/ECLIA ratio.ResultsAmong the 222 sera, we were able to diagnose or exclude MPRL in 72.1% of cases, based solely on the ratio and/or recovery. In the remaining cases, GFC was necessary for making a diagnosis. Elevated monomeric PRL was present in 10.9% of macroprolactinaemic sera. In the case of MPRL, both PRL measurements on the cobas analyser and in the supernatant weakly correlated with monomeric PRL values obtained from GFC.ConclusionsThe combination of PEG and RIA/ECLIA ratio analysis reduced the number of necessary GFC. However, GFC is essential in MPRL cases to evaluate the monomeric PRL concentration.

The clinical utility of alternative, less invasive sampling techniques in the assessment of oral hydrocortisone therapy in children and adolescents with hypopituitarism

Objective: The aim of glucocorticoid replacement therapy in ACTH-deficient patients is to mimic the normal diurnal variation of cortisol. However, current hydrocortisone (HC) replacement results in prolonged episodes of hypocortisolaemia and supraphysiological peaks. Plasma cortisol profiles are an accurate yet labour-intensive method of assessing HC replacement. Salivary and bloodspot cortisol sampling methods are less invasive and may be useful tools for assessing glucocorticoid replacement, particularly in children. Therefore, we aimed to define normal salivary and bloodspot cortisol levels in children and their correlations with the gold standard (plasma cortisol). Design: Cross-sectional study in a paediatric teaching hospital. Methods: Plasma, saliva and bloodspot cortisol profiles were performed on 30 ACTH-deficient children and 22 healthy siblings. Results: In ACTH-deficient patients taking oral HC, the bloodspot–plasma correlation (ρ = 0.90) was stronger than the salivary–plasma correlation (ρ = 0.49). Using target ranges for salivary and bloodspot cortisol levels based on normal data from control subjects, the less invasive sampling methods had low rates of agreement with plasma cortisol target ranges (saliva 65% and bloodspot 75%). Using the plasma–bloodspot correlation regression equation to convert bloodspot to calculated plasma cortisol, there was a high concordance between calculated and actual measured plasma cortisol (88%). Conclusion: Bloodspot cortisol sampling is a feasible and accurate method for monitoring oral HC replacement in paediatric patients without necessitating hospital admission, but salivary sampling is not useful.

Predicting Frost Resistance of Concrete with Different Coarse Aggregate Concentration by Porosity Parameters

Frost resistance is one of the key indicators of concrete quality. Frost resistance can be determined by direct testing; however it is time-consuming and labour-intensive method. Concrete decomposition is a complex process (from initial signs of degradation to complete failure of the surface subjected to freezing) involving many factors. Frost resistance of concrete can be predicted from porosity parameters after determining their relation to frost resistance. Test results showed the relation between the closed porosity of concrete and frost resistance factor. Closed porosity of concrete was found to have a significant influence on frost resistance factor. It is shown that closed porosity depends on the concentration of coarse aggregate in concrete, the closed porosity and predicted frost resistance of concrete increase with lower concentration of coarse aggregate.http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.17.2.493