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The study examined the effects of instructional aids on Secondary Schools Students' Academic Achievement in Economics in Kwara State. Quasi-experimental design was used to execute the study. Two public secondary schools were randomly selected for the study. One hundred and twenty five students were purposefully selected from the two randomly selected public secondary schools in the study area. The students selected from the two schools were assigned to two groups in which one group was assigned to experimental and the other to control. The students in the experimental group were taught using instructional aids for six weeks by the researchers. Data were collected through Economics Achievement Test (EAT) designed by the researchers. The data were analyzed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). The study showed a significant difference in achievement mean scores of students in the experimental and control groups; and a non-significant interaction effect of gender and treatment on achievement mean scores of the students. It was therefore recommended that; students should corroborate the efforts of teachers in the provision of local instructional aids to enhance learning and promote academic performance in schools; and that teachers should always try their best to make use of available instructional materials where necessary to make their lessons more interesting.

The 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-2-methyl-5-nitroimidazole (2HMN) is a powerful antibacterial and antiparasitic drug used alongside other drugs against Helicobacter pylori infection and was investigated the effects of substituents: –OH (A), H (B), –SPh (C), –COOH (D), –NO2 (E) and –OCH3 (F) on the interactions of 2HMN with the target nitroreductase Rdxa protein for the treatment of the infection. Spartan 14 (optimization), PyMOL 1.7.4.4 (to treat downloaded protein), Autodock Tool (locate protein binding site), Autodock vina 1.1.2 (docking calculation) were used to discover the nonbonding interaction between docked complexes using SWISSADME and Pre-ADMET software. The band gaps order for the studied compounds were C < A < F < B < D < E, a probability of highest charge distribution and activity for SPh substituted derivatives and the ligands conformed to the Lipinski’s rule of five. Compounds D and E are noninhibitors and nonsubstrate for cytochrome P450 2C9, P450 2D6, P450 2C19 with the same efficient calculated binding affinity (–21.3 kJ mol–1) and inhibition constant (7.8) comparable to the standard compound A.

The study examined the influence of parenting styles on social adjustment and academic achievement of adolescents in selected secondary schools in Ogun Waterside Local Government Area of Ogun State. Two hundred and forty secondary school students participated in the study. The sample of students was selected from eight secondary schools in Ogun Waterside Local Government Area of Ogun State. Descriptive survey design was used to execute the study. Data were collected through questionnaires and achievement test. The data were analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The study showed that there is significant difference in social adjustment of adolescents from autocratic, democratic and permissive parenting homes. It revealed that adolescents from democratic homes adjust better in social situations than their counterparts from autocratic and permissive homes. The study also showed significant differences in academic achievement of adolescents from autocratic, democratic and permissive parenting homes. It revealed that democratic style of parenting influence academic performance more positively better than autocratic and permissive parenting style.

Background: Diabetes is a disease characterized by high levels of reactive oxygen species that trigger a series of events that culminate in programmed cell death. Terpenoids from plants used in traditional Chinese medicine have preventive and therapeutic potential. However, it is not known if geraniol, a monoterpene will prevent testicular damage in diabetic rats. Thus, this study investigated the antioxidant, and antiapoptotic effects of geraniol on testicular damage in diabetic male Wistar rats. Also, the interactions between geraniol with rat liver F1 ATPase and oxidized rat cytochrome c were investigated. Methods: A single intraperitoneal dose of streptozotocin (60 mg/kg) was used to induce diabetes in rats. Male Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups - CT (control), DA (Diabetic, 60 mg/kg streptozotocin), GE (Geraniol-treated, 60 mg/kg streptozotocin + 200 mg/kg geraniol), and GL (Glibenclamide-treated, 60 mg/kg streptozotocin + 5 mg/kg Glibenclamide). Rats were sacrificed by cervical dislocation under anesthesia after 21 days of treatment. Testicular superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), reduced glutathione (GSH), cytochrome c, caspase 9 and caspase 3, and testosterone (testes and plasma) were determined spectrophotometrically. The interactions between geraniol, and glibenclamide, with rat liver F1-ATPase (1MAB) and oxidized rat cytochrome c (5FD4) were assessed by molecular docking. Results: The results showed that SOD, and CAT levels were significantly (p

The anti-NS2B–NS3 proteases activities of Azadirachta indica L. were investigated via the data obtained from selected bioactive compounds from Azadirachta indica L. The work was investigated using insilico approach and the series of computational software were used to execute the task. The software used were Spartan 14, material studio, Padel, Pymol, Autodock tool, Autodock vina and discovery studio. The obtained descriptors from 2D and 3D of the optimized compounds were screened and they were used to develop QSAR model using material studio software. Also, biological interaction between the selected bioactive compounds from Azadirachta indica L. and NS2B–NS3 proteases (PDB ID: 2fom) were accomplished using docking method and the calculated binding affinity as well as the residues involved in the interaction were reported. More so, the ADMET features for [(5S,6R,7S,8R,9S,10R,11S,12R,13S,17R)-17-(2,5-dihydroxy-2,5-dihydrofuran-3-yl)-11,12-dihydroxy-6‑methoxy-4,4,8,10,13-pentamethyl-1,16-dioxo-6,7,9,11,12,17-hexahydro-5H-cyclopenta[a]phenanthren-7-yl] 3-methylbut-2-enoate (Compound 6) and (10R,13S,14S,17S)-17-[1-(3,4-dihydroxy-5,5-dimethyloxolan-2-yl)ethyl]-4,4,10,13,14-pentamethyl-1,2,5,6,9,11,12,15,16,17-decahydrocyclopenta[a]phenanthren-3-one (compound 12) with lowest binding affinity were investigated and reported.

Financial markets play an essential role in developing modern society and enabling the deployment of economic resources. This study focuses on predicting stock prices using deep learning models. In particular, the daily closing prices of two different stocks from the Casablanca Stock Market Viz Bank of Africa and Itissalat Al-Maghrib (IAM) are considered. The datasets were pre-processed and passed through the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) models. The models’ performances were compared based on the performance evaluation metrics, viz: mean squared error (MSE) and root mean squared error (RMSE) and Mean Absolute Error (MAE). The paper proposes a novel hybrid model. The hybrid design of the model improves its predictive power as the results of the Hybrid network performance surpassed all the other models.

Background: Adoption research has tended to focus on associated emotional and developmental challenges. There is little research on how adoptees experience counselling training and its personal and professional impact on adoptees. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the counselling training experiences of four counsellors who were adopted as babies (under 1 year of age). Methods: One‐to‐one semi‐structured interviews were conducted with two psychodynamically trained counsellors and two integratively trained counsellors. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyse the training experiences of adoptees, and the personal and professional impact of training. Findings: Four group experiential themes were identified: disclosure; place in world; relationships; and reflexivity. Implications for Practice: The findings contribute to the growing body of research on counsellor training and provide insights into adoptees' experiences of counselling training. These insights enable improvements in the provision of such training by counselling training providers to adoptees, and in the provision of the specialist training either required or recommended to provide adoption support. The research also furthers the understanding of adoptees' experiences more generally and may also help noncounsellor adoptees deal with issues perceived as related to their adoption as well as others who face similar issues, due to their own lived experiences. Conclusion: Both modalities of counselling training helped participants deal with difficulties presented by their adoptions, in particular regarding identity and relationships, affording opportunities for growth and healing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education is the most veritable and viable option for national development and redress. Its existence guarantees the nation's building and sustenance. This study evaluated the effects of teachers’ attitudes on insurance curriculum in senior secondary schools in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive research design cum survey method. A structured questionnaire was employed for data gathering. The questionnaire consisted of the research variables such as teachers’ personalities, teachers’ perceptions, teachers’ learning capacities, and insurance curriculum. The study adopted a multistage sampling technique. A sample size of 147 was drawn from teachers in Senior Secondary Schools in Lagos State, Nigeria. Research hypotheses were tested using simple regression techniques. The study confirmed the strategic influence of teachers' attitudes on insurance curriculum in Lagos State. The study contributed significantly to knowledge by adding to the growing literature in teachers’ attitudes and insurance curriculum. School administrators are advised to move swiftly in their quest to provide enlightenment insurance curriculum to teachers in senior secondary schools in Nigeria. Schools Administrators in collaboration with teachers should endeavor to continually drive insurance curriculum awareness and thus ensure to entrench insurance in their respective curricula.

Abstract Introduction Nigeria has a low uptake of cervical cancer screening and is one of the five countries that represent over half of the global burden of deaths from cervical cancer. Social marketing principles can be used to design and implement interventions to increase uptake of cervical cancer screening. This study assessed the effect of a social marketing intervention on the knowledge, attitude, and uptake of pap smear among women residing in an urban slum in Lagos State, Nigeria. Materials and methods This was a quasi-experimental study. The intervention arm consisted of 140 women recruited from Ago-Egun Bariga community and the control arm consisted of 175 women recruited from Oto-Ilogbo extension community. Social marketing intervention was instituted in the intervention group. Data analysis was done using IBM SPSS Statistics version 20 and Stata version 16.0. Between groups comparisons and within groups comparisons were done using bivariate analysis with Chisquare, Students t test and Paired t test as appropriate. Results In both the intervention and control groups, the mean knowledge score of cervical cancer was low at baseline (0.0 ± 0.3 and 0.1 ± 0.9 respectively). In the intervention group, there was a significant increase in mean knowledge score to 15.1 ± 3.7, post-intervention (p

Abstract Background The antibacterial activities of aqueous leaf extracts of Moringa oleifera, Vernonia amygdalina, Azadirachta indica and Acalypha wilkesiana against multidrug resistance (MDR) Staphylococcus aureus associated with skin and soft tissue infections were investigated. Methods Staphylococcus aureus (n = 183) from the skin and soft tissue infections with evidence of purulent pus, effusions from aspirates, wounds, and otorrhea were biotyped, and evaluated for biofilm production. The phenotypic antibiotic resistance and MDR strains susceptibility to plant leaves extract were determined using disc diffusion and micro-broth dilution assays respectively. The correlation of plant extract bioactive components with inhibitory activities was determined. Results High occurrence rate of S. aureus were recorded among infant and adult age groups and 13.2% mild biofilm producers from the wound (p

This study evaluates both short-run and long-run impacts of credit financing facilities provided by commercial banks on crop production development in Nigeria from 1981 to 2020. The study adopts ex post-facto research design and obtains data on the study variables from Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin and World Bank Development Indicators. Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model approach was employed as an estimation technique. The outcome of the analysis produces significant negative effect of commercial banks loans and advances on crop production development in the short run. In the long run, however, commercial banks loans and advances and labour employment in agriculture sector exert significant positive impact on crop production development in Nigeria. The researchers conclude that commercial banks credit financing significantly increase contribution of agriculture to Nigeria gross domestic product in the long-run while it reduces crop productivity in the short-run.

The risk of progression of low-grade (CIN1) to high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN2/3) is 3-5 times higher for women living with HIV (WLHIV) than for HIV-negative women. Evidence suggests that the current cervical cancer screening methods perform less effectively in WLHIV. An emerging screening method-p16/Ki-67 dual staining technology (DUST) is a safe and rapid assay that could be used to detect CIN2/3 with higher sensitivity and specificity. The study in this protocol will evaluate the performance of DUST in cervical cancer screening among WLHIV. We will conduct an intra-participant comparative study (Phase 1) to enrol n = 1,123 sexually active WLHIV aged 25-65 years at two accredited adult HIV treatment centres in Lagos, Nigeria to compare the performance of DUST to the currently used screening methods (Pap smear, hr-HPV DNA, or VIA testing) in detecting high-grade CIN and cancer (CIN2+). Subsequently, a prospective cohort study (Phase 2) will be conducted by enrolling all the WLHIV who are diagnosed as having low-grade CIN (CIN1) in Phase 1 for a 6-monthly follow-up for 2 years to detect the persistence and progression of CIN1 to CIN2+. The findings of this study may provide evidence of the existence of a better performance screening method for the primary and triage detection of CIN2+ in WLHIV. It may also demonstrate that this high-performance test can improve the long-term predictive accuracy of screening by extending the intervals between evaluations and thus decrease the overall cost and increase screening uptake and follow-up compliance in WLHIV.

Concerned organizations and individuals are fully engaged in seeking appropriate measures towards managing Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SAR-CoV-2) infection because of the unprecedented economic and health impact. SAR-CoV-2 Main protease (SARS-CoV-2 Mpro) is unique to the survival and viability of the virus. Therefore, inhibition of Mpro can block the viral propagation.Thirty (30) derivatives were built by changing the glucosides in the Meta and para position of quercetin and isohamnetin. Molecular docking analysis was used for the screening of the compounds. Dynamics simulation was performed to assess the stability of the best pose docked complex. Molecular mechanics binding free energy calculation was done by Molecular Mechanics/Poisson-Boltzmann Surface Area (MMPBSA).Overall analysis showed that the compounds are allosteric inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. Dynamic simulation analysis established the stability of Mpro-ISM-1, Mpro-ISD-3, Mpro-IST-2, Mpro-QM-2, and Mpro-QD-6 complexes with a maximum of 7 hydrogen bonds involved in their interaction. The MMPBSA binding free energies for ISM-1, ISD-3, IST-2, QM-2, and QD-6 were −92.47 ± 9.06, −222.27 ± 32.5, 180.72 ± 47.92, 156.46 ± 49.88 and −93.52 ± 48.75 kcal/mol respectively. All the compounds showed good pharmacokinetic properties, while only ISM-1 inhibits hERG and might be cardio-toxic.Observations in this study established that the glucoside position indeed influenced the affinity for SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. The study also suggested the potentials of ISD-3, QM-2 and QD-6 as potent inhibitors of the main protease, further experimental and clinical studies are however necessary to validate and establish the need for further drug development processes. Therefore, future studies will be on the chemical synthesis of the compounds and investigation of the in-vitro inhibition of SARS-CoV-2.