Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) collected from three different artisans' workshops was analyzed for As, Cd, Pb and Fe by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS). The range of SPM concentrations for the three workshops was 583-20,166µg/m 3 . The highest concentrations of these elements were observed in Motor Spray Painting (MSP),8528±389µg/m 3 and Welding and Panelbeating (WDP) workshops, 11086.8±10644µg/m 3 . The calculated enrichment factor revealed Cd to be highly enriched in Battery Maintenance and Charging (BMC) and MSP. The enrichment factor of all the elements suggests that there was a significant contribution from anthropogenic sources. These values of SPM obtained violate both FEPA,1991 and WHO,1994 standards.

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In this work, chitosan and blends of chitosan-starch beads were prepared and crosslinked with glutaraldehyde (pentane-1,5-dial). The blends were prepared with 1:1, 2:1 and 3:1 chitosan-starch ratios. Metformin hydrochloride (N,N-dimethylimidodicarbonimidic diamide hydrochloride), a type 2 diabetis drug, was incorporated into them. The materials were subjected to swellability tests and the effects of time and pH were established. Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectrophotometeric (FTIR) analysis was also carried out on the materials and their potentials as drug release systems studied. The results obtained from the FTIR studies showed that the uncrosslinked chitosan-starch bead showed O-H stretching band at 3424cm -1 and N-H band at 1640cm -1 . The chitosan-starch bead also showed a band at 597cm -1 corresponding to C-Cl band, due to the presence of metformin hydrochloride in the bead and its O-H stretching band was very strong and broad due to the numerous -OH groups in starch and chitosan. The results of swelling studies showed that the percent swellability of the polymer matrices increased in both the crosslinked and uncrosslinked beads as the amount of starch in them increased. The uncrosslinked chitosan beads had maximum swelling of 83.74%, while its crosslinked analogue had 47.93% in acidic medium (pH 2.06) within the range of test period of 60 minutes. The amount of drug released by the 1: 1, 2:1 and 3:1 crosslinked chitosan-starch beads (13.90, 13.60, and 12.30mg/L, respectively) was much lower than that of their uncrosslinked analogues (22.50, 20.90, and 16.60mg/L, respectively) after 120 minutes, suggesting that the release of drug is delayed by crosslinking. This suggests that the crosslinked chitosan-starch beads can be used for regulating release of drugs in solid dosages such as beads or tablets.

The Quinolones inhibit bacteria by interacting with DNA topoisomerases (gyrases) of which four subunits (two A and B monomers) have been identified thus, inhibiting bacterial DNA gyrase. High level resistance to quinolones can be produced by serial exposure of bacteria to subinhibitory concentration. A Total of 408 suspected UTI and high vagina swab (HVS) samples were examined for bacteria and the isolates obtained tested against the newer quinolones. Prevalence of Bacterial isolates revealed Escherichia coli 110(92%) as the most isolated organism from urine, while Staphylococcus aureus 31(32%) was the most isolated species from HVS samples. Bacterial species such as coliforms 55(70%) and Klebsiella spp 42(84%), equally had high prevalence rate in urine samples. Pseudomonas aeroginosa 19(66%) was next to Staphylococcus aureus in terms of prevalence of isolated strains from HVS samples.The resistance pattern observed for these isolates, showed that the strains were least resistant to Ciprofloxacin, followed by Ofloxacin and Perfloxacin, while they were most resistant to Nalidixic acid. There was however no statistical significance (P<0.001) between the use of Ofloxacin and Perfloxacin, however, ANOVA showed a significant difference (P<0.05) between the pattern of Klebsiella spp resistance against Perfloxacin when compared to Proteus vulgaris.

INTRODUCTIONThe Niger Delta region of Nigeria is endowed with natural resources like crude oil, with a proven reserve of 17.8x 10