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Abstract The components of POP ceiling boards (POP-CB) in Nigeria consist of gypsum cement and sisal fiber (SF), which are typically imported, resulting in higher construction costs for roof finishes. This study sourced fiber locally from a fiber plant, treating some specimens with NaOH (LSF-2) and others with NaCl (LSF-3), while some remained untreated (LSF-1). In total, four types of specimens were used in the experiment, including foreign sisal fiber (FSF). All fiber specimens were tested for tensile strength, density, flexural strength, drop to fracture (DF), and water absorption according to ASTM and British standards to evaluate the physicomechanical properties of the produced POP-CB. Additionally, microstructural and elemental characterizations of the products were conducted. The tensile strength of LSF-3 reached 257 MPa, which is 95% of the tensile strength of FSF, while the other specimens exhibited lower values. The recorded densities of the POP-CB samples (928–973 kg/m3) and flexural strengths (0–0.158 MPa) were within ASTM standards recommendation for ceiling board to support roof load. Overall, the experimental study indicated that the POP-CB produced with LSF treated with 3wt% NaCl solution performed best after FSF and can serve as a viable replacement for FSF in the production of POP-CB in Nigeria.

The global energy crisis and ozone layer depletion as a result of carbon emissions have increased the awareness and acceptance of renewable energy sources as an alternative form of electric power, resulting in the sizing of renewable energy sources. However, in order to properly size an energy power system, the information being addressed, such as the load demand, is critical. The Load demand data of Nile University campus is obtained from one of its power stations (PS-1) for a period of eight month. The data was measured from the bus bar of the power station using smart meters on a weekly basis. To power the university campus, the diesel generators are synchronized using Genset controllers with suitable communications interfaces and a SMA hybrid controller, which continually checks the power output of the power sources as well as the working condition of all loads in the busbar. The diesel generators are synchronized using SMA hybrid controllers and combined with the other source of the energy at a common bus bar and used to power the university campus. Additionally, carbon emission data were obtained from the PV solar system reading.

Haemoparasite constitute a major challenge in native chicken production in Africa. This study determines the genetic diversity and the effect of TLR2B gene polymorphism on haemoparasite and haematology of the chickens based on genotype and sex. 600 chickens of 25 weeks old consisting of Naked neck (NN), Normal feather (NF), and the Frizzle feather (FF) reared in battery cage-system were sampled for blood and analyzed for haematology, parasite occurrence and load, polymerase chain reaction, and gene sequencing. Polymorphisms were detected and their effect on haematology was determined. Results showed the occurrence of Plasmodium gallinacieum, Trypanosoma brucei, and Leucocytozoon schoutedeni with NF having the highest occurrence followed by NN and FF chicken genotype. There was a significant (P

Mycoplasma genitalium infection is a sexually transmitted infection that causes urethritis, cervicitis, and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) in men and women. The global rise in antimicrobial resistance against recommended antibiotics for the treatment of M. genitalium infection has triggered the need to explore novel drug targets against this pathogen. The application of a bioinformatics approach through subtractive genomics has proven highly instrumental in predicting novel therapeutic targets against a pathogen. This study aimed to identify essential and non-homologous proteins with unique metabolic pathways in the pathogen that could serve as novel drug targets. Based on this, a manual comparison of the metabolic pathways of M. genitalium and the human host was done, generating nine pathogen-specific metabolic pathways. Additionally, the analysis of the whole proteome of M. genitalium using different bioinformatics databases generated 21 essential, non-homologous, and cytoplasmic proteins involved in nine pathogen-specific metabolic pathways. The further screening of these 21 cytoplasmic proteins in the DrugBank database generated 13 druggable proteins, which showed similarity with FDA-approved and experimental small-molecule drugs. A total of seven proteins that are involved in seven different pathogen-specific metabolic pathways were finally selected as novel putative drug targets after further analysis. Therefore, these proposed drug targets could aid in the design of potent drugs that may inhibit the functionality of these pathogen-specific metabolic pathways and, as such, lead to the eradication of this pathogen.

The effects on rumen microbial communities of direct-fed probiotics, Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Enterococcus faecalis, singly and in combination as feed supplements to both the Boer and Speckled goats were studied using the Illumina Miseq platform targeting the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA microbial genes from sampled rumen fluid. Thirty-six goats of both the Boer and Speckled were divided into five experimental groups: (T1) = diet + Lactobacillus rhamnosus; (T2) = diet + Enterococcus faecalis; (T3) = diet + Lactobacillus rhamnosus + Enterococcus faecalis; (T4, positive control) = diet + antibiotic and (T5, negative control) = diet without antibiotics and without probiotics. Our results revealed that Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, TM7, Proteobacteria, and Euryarchaeota dominate the bacterial communities. In our observations, Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Enterococcus faecalis supplements reduced the archaeal population of Methanomassiliicocca in the T1, T2 and T3 groups, and caused an increase in the T4 group. Chlamydiae were present only in the T5 group, suggesting that probiotic and antibiotic inhibit the growth of pathogens in the rumen. We inferred, based on our results, that Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Enterococcus faecalis favour the survival of beneficial microbial communities in the goats’ rumen. This may lead to an overall improved feed efficacy and growth rate.

Objective: Babesiosis is a significant haemoparasitic infection caused by apicomplexan parasites of the genus Babesia . This infection has continuously threatened cattle farmers owing to its devastating effects on productivity and severe economic implications. Failure to curb the increase of the infection has been attributed to largely ineffective vaccines. This study was designed to develop a potential vaccine candidate. Method: Rhoptry-associated protein-1 (RAP-1) was used to identify and design a potential multi-epitope vaccine candidate due to its immunogenic properties through an immunoinformatics approach. Results and conclusions: A multi-epitope vaccine comprising 11 CD8+, 17 CD4+, and 3 B-cell epitopes was constructed using the AAY, GPGPG, and KK linkers. Beta-defensin-3 was added as an adjuvant to potentiate the immune response using the EAAK linker. The designed vaccine was computationally predicted to be antigenic (antigenicity scores: 0.6), soluble (solubility index: 0.730), and non-allergenic. The vaccine construct comprises 595 amino acids with a molecular weight of 64 152 kDa, an instability and aliphatic index of 13.89 and 65.82, which confers stability with a Grand average of hydropathicity (GRAVY) value of 0.122, indicating the hydrophobicity of the construct. Europe has the highest combined class population coverage, with a percentage of 96.07%, while Central America has the lowest population coverage, with a value of 22.94%. The DNA sequence of the vaccine construct was optimized and successfully cloned into a pET-28a (+) plasmid vector. Analysis of binding interactions indicated the stability of the complex when docked with Toll-like receptor-2 (TLR-2). The subunit vaccine construct was predicted to induce and boost sufficient host cellular and humoral responses in silico. However, further experimental research and analysis is required to validate the findings. Limitation: This study is purely computational, and further experimental validation of these findings through in vivo and in vitro conditions is required.

Abstract The concept of probiotics is witnessing increasing attention due to its benefits in influencing the host microbiome and the modulation of host immunity through the strengthening of the gut barrier and stimulation of antibodies. These benefits, combined with the need for improved nutraceuticals, have resulted in the extensive characterization of probiotics leading to an outburst of data generated using several ‘omics’ technologies. The recent development in system biology approaches to microbial science is paving the way for integrating data generated from different omics techniques for understanding the flow of molecular information from one ‘omics’ level to the other with clear information on regulatory features and phenotypes. The limitations and tendencies of a ‘single omics’ application to ignore the influence of other molecular processes justify the need for ‘multi-omics’ application in probiotics selections and understanding its action on the host. Different omics techniques, including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and lipidomics, used for studying probiotics and their influence on the host and the microbiome are discussed in this review. Furthermore, the rationale for ‘multi-omics’ and multi-omics data integration platforms supporting probiotics and microbiome analyses was also elucidated. This review showed that multi-omics application is useful in selecting probiotics and understanding their functions on the host microbiome. Hence, recommend a multi-omics approach for holistically understanding probiotics and the microbiome.

Malaria is a great concern for global health and accounts for a large amount of morbidity and mortality, particularly in Africa, with sub-Saharan Africa carrying the greatest burden of the disease. Malaria control tools such as insecticide-treated bed nets, indoor residual spraying, and antimalarial drugs have been relatively successful in reducing the burden of malaria; however, sub-Saharan African countries encounter great challenges, the greatest being antimalarial drug resistance. Chloroquine (CQ) was the first-line drug in the 20th century until it was replaced by sulfadoxine–pyrimethamine (SP) as a consequence of resistance. The extensive use of these antimalarials intensified the spread of resistance throughout sub-Saharan Africa, thus resulting in a loss of efficacy for the treatment of malaria. SP was replaced by artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) after the emergence of resistance toward SP; however, the use of ACTs is now threatened by the emergence of resistant parasites. The decreased selective pressure on CQ and SP allowed for the reintroduction of sensitivity toward those antimalarials in regions of sub-Saharan Africa where they were not the primary drug for treatment. Therefore, the emergence and spread of antimalarial drug resistance should be tracked to prevent further spread of the resistant parasites, and the re-emergence of sensitivity should be monitored to detect the possible reappearance of sensitivity in sub-Saharan Africa.