A hundred and forty (140) pieces of abused Naira notes were randomly and aseptically collected in Kano metropolis and examined microbiologically for the load and type of microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) using swab-rinse and standard plate count techniques. The mean average bacterial counts on the notes ranged between 3.59 x 10 2 cfu/ml and 1.29 x 10 5 cfu/ml while fungal counts ranged between 3.24 x 10 2 cfu/ml and 1.59 x 10 6 cfu/ml. The lowest and highest counts for both bacteria and fungi were found in the N500 and N5 abused naira denominations respectively. The bacteria isolated include the genera of Bacillus, Brucella, Clostridium, Corynebacterium, Listeria, Micrococcus and Staphylococcus while fungi include the genera of Aspergillus, Fusarium, Mucor, Penicillium and Rhizopus. There was no recovery of both bacteria and fungi in the control. The implications of the results have been discussed.

A comparative preliminary study on the phytochemistry and antibacterial effects of ethanolic and aqueous extracts of the leaves and latex of Calotropis procera on four pathogenic clinical bacterial isolates namely Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella species and Pseudomonas species was carried out using paper-disc diffusion and broth dilution techniques. The results obtained revealed that ethanol was the best extractive solvent for a fraction with antibacterial properties of the C. procera leaves and latex. Generally, the aqueous extracts showed no activity on the isolates. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for the leaf ethanolic extract was 1000 -2000 µg/ml while the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the latex ethanolic extract was 2000 µg/ml. Phytochemical analysis of the leaf and latex extracts showed the presence of tannins, steroids, saponins and flavonoids while alkaloids were absent in both extracts. Generally, the antibacterial effects of the plant parts revealed that the leaf extracts had stronger activity in comparison with those of the latex.

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Some readily-available sweet samples comprising of three brands coded A, B and C re-packaged for sale in Kurmi market of metropolitan Kano, Nigeria were microbiologically examined for the load and type of bacteria and fungi.

The seed powder of Moringa oleifera was analysed for its phytochemical, proximate and elemental composition using Folin-Denis spectrophotometric method, gravimetric method and energy dispersing X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) transmission emission technique respectively. The seed powder had the following proximate composition: nitrogen (2.98%), crude protein (18.63%), tannins (322.9 mg/100g), alkaloids (8.24 mg/100g) and saponins (9.13%). The predominant mineral elements in the seed powder were: Al (144 ± 4 ppm), Ca (602 ± 122 ppm), K (732 ± 164 ppm), P (0.619 mg/kg), Na (86.2 ± 4.9 ppm), Mn (17.5 ± 0.4 ppm), Br (0.62 ± 0.09 ppm), La (0.73 ± 0.13 ppm), Sm (0.14 ± 0.01 ppm), Rb (37.5 ± 6.7 ppm) and Sc (0.17 ± 0.03 ppm) while Mg, Fe, Cr, As, Th and Zn were all beyond detection limits. The results of the study suggest the pharmacological and nutritional potentials of M. oleifera seeds for human and other animal uses.