the present research work was carried out to study the antioxidant potential of methanolic extrac... more the present research work was carried out to study the antioxidant potential of methanolic extract of Jawarish amla using various in vitro tests including reducing power assay, Superoxide anion scavenging activity assay, Hydroxyl radical scavenging activity assay, nitric oxide scavenging activity assay, DPPH free radical scavenging assay, and hydrogen peroxide method. these various antioxidant activities were compared to standard ascorbic acid. Preliminary phytochemical screening revealed that the extract of jawarish amla possesses flavonoids, steroids and phenolic compounds. In this study, quantitative determinations of flavonoids and phenols were conducted by colorimetric methods, using aluminum chloride method and Folin ciocalteu reagent respectively. the results indicated that methanolic extract of Jawarish amla possess antioxidant property.
International Journal of Life Sciences and Biotechnology
Persistent evolution of multidrug resistance bacteria due to inappropriate use of conventional an... more Persistent evolution of multidrug resistance bacteria due to inappropriate use of conventional antibiotics is undermining treatment intervention for infectious diseases, thus constituting substantial proportion of the global public health problem. This, necessitated the search and development of new drugs particularly from plant origin that are effective against such superbugs. Therefore, the present study was designed to determine the phytochemical constituents in Sida acuta and their antibacterial effects on pathogenic bacterial species of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus subtilis. The phytochemical components of the extract were identified using standard methods. Furthermore, the antibacterial activity of the leaf extract against the bacterial pathogens were assessed using agar well diffusion and broth dilution method, at varying concentrations of the extract (37.50, 75, 150 and 300 mg/ml), and using Commercially obtained ciprofloxacin ...
Women living with HIV in Nigeria: Predictive influence of hardiness on perceived stress
African Journal of AIDS Research, 2021
Background: Women living with HIV experience severe HIV-related stress in sub-Saharan Africa. But... more Background: Women living with HIV experience severe HIV-related stress in sub-Saharan Africa. But evidence shows that individuals with high levels of the psychological hardiness characteristic who accept stressful situations as meaningful experience may withstand psychological stress. However, the literature on associations between hardiness and HIV-related stress among women living with HIV is scarce. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between hardiness and HIV-related stress among women living with HIV in Niger State, Nigeria. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional design. A systematic sampling technique was used to recruit 748 participants from three selected hospitals in Niger State. The perceived stress scale and the health-related hardiness scale were used for data collection. A total of 676 questionnaires were returned in usable form and were analysed using hierarchical regression analysis. Results: Pearson’s correlation analysis showed that there is a statistically significant association between perceived stress and subscales of hardiness (p < 0.001). Hierarchical regression analysis results showed that hardiness significantly predicted perceived stress among the study sample with R2 = 0.286, F(3, 669) = 90, p < 0.001. Conclusion: The finding of this study that higher hardiness is associated with lower perceived stress suggests the potential helpfulness to women living with HIV of this personality for coping. The finding also suggests that nurses and other health care workers may facilitate the development and/or improvement of hardiness characteristics through cognitive behavioural interventions among women living with HIV to ameliorate HIV-related stress.
The Role of Virus Receptor Recognition in the Determination of Pathogenesis
Viral interaction with its cellular receptor on the surface of the host cell initiates a cascade ... more Viral interaction with its cellular receptor on the surface of the host cell initiates a cascade of events that lead to the entry of virus into the cell. The interaction and subsequent attachment of virus with the host cell is specific to the type of cellular receptor expressed on the cell surface. In that way virus discriminately infect certain cell lines or organism species and groups. A cellular receptor can independently mediate viral entry into the host cell, whereas in some cases, other co-receptors or even substances produced as a result of signal transduction are required. Herein, we review the cellular receptors of some medically important viruses and their contributions in the viral infection.
Molecular recognition, particularly enantiomeric specificity of biological molecules is a key con... more Molecular recognition, particularly enantiomeric specificity of biological molecules is a key consideration in designing drugs, pharmaceutical intermediate and in industrial production of chirally active intermediate. Although the molecular bases of many enzymes stereospecificity are not completely delineated, a number of protein engineering studies were able to enhance and even in some cases invert the stereospecificity of various enzymes. Herein, we review the current understanding on enzymes stereospecificity, and the effects of mutations to the stereospecific pockets due to enzymes engineering to improve stereospecificity.
The changing context of many disease profiles within the African continent is necessitating a re-... more The changing context of many disease profiles within the African continent is necessitating a re-engineered way of nursing. Nurses are required to possess increased knowledge, clinical competency and a greater autonomy in their clinical judgment. Moreover, modern technologies and society’s increasing health awareness are intensifying the need for nurses to provide nursing care based on evidence. Within the context of Nigeria, it is documented that Evidence Based Practice (EBP) is not widely embraced. Therefore, this study aimed to explore and describe the perception of registered nurses in a selected regional hospital in Nigeria towards EBP. Underpinned by a quantitative descriptive design, a five-point Likert scale was used for data collection. The sample was made up of 133 registered nurses from a cross section of 24 units from the selected hospital. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were used to summarise and describe the characteristics of the respondents and est...
In this work, we applied the first order time independent Rayleigh–Schrodinger Perturbation Theor... more In this work, we applied the first order time independent Rayleigh–Schrodinger Perturbation Theory, as an approximation method to calculate numerically the corrections in atomic spectra due to nuclear structure effects. The results showed that the nuclear structure effects distort the atomic spectra in different ways: The combined fine structure effect which decreases with increasing values of n, split the quantum number n into l±½ and the magnitude of the energy levels shift is of order of 10-6 eV relative to the energy levels calculated from the non-relativistic Schrodinger equation. An energy level determined by the total angular momentum j of the orbiting electron are found to split further due to hyperfine structure effects with the energy difference of 5.9 × 10-6 eV. This corresponds to a wavelength is 21cm. The energy shift between 2 s 1/2 and 2 p 1/2 states due to the effects of vacuum fields on orbiting electron was calculated as 5.52 × 10-6 eV. We then continue to investig...
Alcohol Dehydrogenase (adhE) Metabolic Gene Knockout in Escherichia coli GEM Increases Succinate Production from Glycerol
Genome-scale metabolic model (GEM) of Escherichia coli has been published with applications in sy... more Genome-scale metabolic model (GEM) of Escherichia coli has been published with applications in systems metabolic engineering for strain development on different carbon sources and directing biological discovery. The use of glycerol as an alternative carbon source is economically viable in bio-refinery. The use of GEM for predicting metabolic gene deletion of alcohol dehydrogenase (adhE) for increasing succinate production in E. coli from glycerol substrate remained largely unspecified. Here we hypothesized that metabolic gene knockout of adhE in E. coli from glycerol could increase succinate production. We constructed a proof-of-principle strain BMS6 (ΔadhE), by predicting increased succinate production in E. coli GEM and confirmed the predicted outcome using wet cell experimentation. The mutant GEM (ΔadhE) predicted 11% increase in succinic acid production from glycerol compared to its wild-type model (iAF1260) and the E. coli BMS6 (ΔadhE) produced 1.05 g/L and its corresponding wi...
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a global public health problem; its rate is rapidly increasing in... more Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a global public health problem; its rate is rapidly increasing in Gashua, region of Yobe State. The main cause of this CKD has not yet been identified, but it is suspected to be as a result of toxins or heavy metals in food or water, therefore, in this study, the concentrations of cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and Chromium (Cr) in irrigation water were determined from four different water sources (Mashangwari I, Mashangwari II, Gada right and Gada left). The samples collected were analyzed for their Cd, Pb, and Cr contents, using atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS). The analysis showed the higher concentration of Cr, (0.0048 – 1.5987 μg/mL) with highest values, 1.598 μg/mL and 1.0689 μg/mL in irrigation water of the Gada (right) and Gada (left) respectively. While the concentrations of Cd (0.0351 – 0.0912 μg/mL) and Pb (0.0386 – 0.1086 μg/mL) in the water source were relatively low. These values of the Cr, Pb and Cd concentration are higher than the w...
The performance of the Small and Medium Enterprises in Northern Nigeria have been characterized a... more The performance of the Small and Medium Enterprises in Northern Nigeria have been characterized as suboptimal, due to the myriad of challenges bedevilling the sector, notable among which is the financial constraint. The creation of Small Medium Enterprise Equity Investment Scheme (SMEEIS) was necessitated by the desire of the private sector to complement government's effort of supporting the Small and Medium Enterprises subsector. What is more, it was also intended to ease the burdensome regulatory restrictions and conditionality for SMEs' access to formal credit from the conventional Banks in Nigeria, and, furthermore, venturing into the potentially untapped revenue base of the sub-sector, which promises opportunities for the conventional banks. This study assesses the comparative financial and non-financial performance between SMEEIS-intervened SMEs, and SMEs financed by the conventional bank loans, and also determines the factors responsible. From a sample of 362 SMEs using sample t-tests and multiple linear regression analysis the result obtained revealed that the SMEs financed by conventional banks significantly outperformed their SMEEIS beneficiary counterparts in both financial as well as non-financial performance. The study established and revealed a significant positive relationship between capital structures, years of operation, knowledge of the program, financial literacy, and ownership structure preference with financial and non-financial performance. Therefore, the study concluded that capital structure, ownership structure, financial literacy, applicable interest rate, and years of operation are key determinants of the SMEs performance of the Northern Nigerian SMEs. Hence the need for the conventional banks and policy makers to assist the SMEs to build capacity in the identified areas, towards the sustainability of the existing and future intervention initiatives with similar objectives.
NIPES Journal of Science and Technology Research, 2020
The Coulomb energy for different nuclear model with small computing effort and high accuracy is a... more The Coulomb energy for different nuclear model with small computing effort and high accuracy is a great challenge in physics as well as in quantum chemistry research. In this work we applied a classical electrodynamics theory and derived a simple procedure and expression for calculating the Coulomb energy for atomic nuclei taking into consideration the finite size of protons. The corresponding results are compared with the direct Coulomb energy obtained from two-parameter Fermi distributions. The formula obtained, which varies directly to the proton number and varies inversely to the cube root of mass number, was applied and calculated numerically the values of Coulomb energy for light, medium and heavy nuclei. To examine the effect of finite size of proton on Coulomb energy, a graph of Coulomb energy as a function of proton number was presented. The results obtained showed that due to the finite size of proton, the values of the previously calculated values of the Coulomb energy are reduced by less than 2%. This is because the protonproton distance increased due to finite size effect of the proton and thus affects the magnitude of the Coulomb energy. This showed that calculation of Coulomb energy by taking into consideration, the finite size of proton leads to agreement with the experimental values. Thus, in studying the nuclear structure, it is very natural to assume the protons to be extended rather than point charges.
S PICES are reported to be helpful against diseases of oxidative stress such as cardiovascular di... more S PICES are reported to be helpful against diseases of oxidative stress such as cardiovascular diseases and exhibit antimicrobial properties. The potential for their use as adjuvants in tuberculosis cases have not been explored. In this study, the in vitro antioxidant and antituberculosis activities of nine Nigerian spices (Syzigium aromaticum, Thonnigii sanguinea, Piper nigrum, Zanthoxylum zanthoxyloides, Zingiber officinale, Cyperus articulatus, Xylopia aethiopica, Lepidum sativum, and Nigella Sativa) along with their phenolic contents, including total phenolics, total flavonoid and total tannin contents were evaluated. Antioxidant activities were determined by DPPH scavenging and nitric oxide inhibitory assays. The anti-tuberculosis activity against Mycobacterium bovis and Mycobacterium smegmatis was evaluated using the broth micro-dilution method to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The ranges for the total phenolics, total flavonoids and total tannins contents were 7.3-193.9 mgGAE/g, 0.0-12.5 mgQE/g, and 0.0-44.4 mgTAE/g, respectively, in all spices. The extracts presented strong DPPH scavenging and nitric oxide inhibitory activities with IC 50 values ranging from 4.2-1098 µg/mL and 0.0025-28.65 µg/mL, respectively. S. aromaticum and T. sanguinea showed significant DPPH scavenging activities with IC 50 of 4.2 and 7.7 µg/ mL, respectively, which were comparable to that of ascorbic acid (3.6µg/mL)(p≤0.05). Z. zanthoxyloides and S. aromaticum also exhibited significant nitric oxide inhibitory activities (p≤0.05) with IC 50 of 0.0025 and 0.0051 µg/mL, respectively, which were comparable to the gallic acid value of 0.00088 µg/mL. A weak anti-tubercular activity was however observed with MIC values ranging from 25000-781 µg/mL and 12500-781 µg/mL for M. bovis and M. smegmatis, respectively. A correlation between anti-tubercular and antioxidant (NO and DPPH) activities of the spices was found for M. bovis and M. smegmatis (R =0.8957, 0.8241; R= 0.7681, 0.7030,p≤0.05) respectively. The anti-tuberculosis properties of Thonnigii sanguinea and Lepidum sativum are being reported for the first time.
Haloacid dehalogenases catalyse the cleavage of carbon − halogen bonds in halogenated organic aci... more Haloacid dehalogenases catalyse the cleavage of carbon − halogen bonds in halogenated organic acids. These enzymes are of high interest due to their potential applications in bioremediation and in synthesis of various industrial products. The efficiency of dehalogenases in various applications can be enhanced, provided that their molecular catalytic mechanisms are fully understood. Herein, we review the current understanding of enzymatic haloacid dehalogenation mechanisms and the important amino acid residues that are necessary for the enzyme's catalysis, with special emphasis on haloacid dehalogenases produced by Rhizobium sp.
Heavy metal concentration in road side soils with its potential ecological effects draws much att... more Heavy metal concentration in road side soils with its potential ecological effects draws much attention in the developing countries. This necessitates the study of their accumulation in the road side soils of Maiduguri (longitude 11° 13' N; latitude 13° 05' E), to ensure effective protection of soil from the potential loss of its fertility. In this study, roadside soil samples from major roads (Baga road, Bama road, Ngala road and Kano/Jos road) of Maiduguri were collected and determined the levels of heavy metals (As, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Pb, Zn, Cd, and Cu) in the roadside soil using the Perkin-Elmer analyst 300 Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS). The results showed that in all the sampling locations, Mn, Zn, Fe and Pb have higher concentration of 137.4±0.04 mg/kg, 392.11±0.07 mg/kg, 13491.70±0.07 mg/kg and 928.50±0.04 mg/kg respectively in roadside soil as compared with Cd of concentration ranges from 0 to maximum of 0.87±0.04mg/kg in Ngala road. The concentrations of Pb and Cd in the soil samples were higher than the recommended value of 48 mg/kg and 5.0 mg/kg respectively. The higher concentration of these metals in the roadside soil samples may be attributed to human activities and traffic volume. Therefore, there is need to further study the concentrations of such heavy metals in agricultural soil, plants and vegetables grown in that area, animals that fed on the plants and any other source that directly or indirectly link to the source of food of the populace.
African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine, 2019
Background: Psychological morbidities concurrent with HIV have been the focus of considerable sci... more Background: Psychological morbidities concurrent with HIV have been the focus of considerable scientific investigations. However, researchers have largely overlooked HIV-related stress and resilience among women living with HIV in rural communities.Aim: This study explored the associations between psychological resilience and HIV-related stress among women living with HIV.Setting: The study was conducted in three randomly selected hospitals that provide primary HIV care in Niger state, Nigeria.Methods: A predictive cross-sectional design was used to describe the relationship between perceived stress and resilience among the study population.Results: Out of 748 participants who completed the Connor–Davidson resilience scale and the perceived stress scale questionnaires, 676 returned the questionnaire in usable form. While the results showed moderate levels of perceived stress and a high level of psychological resilience, there was a significant and negative relationship between HIV-r...
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