Search

Corrosion of metal is a problem which lead to serious economic lost in industries and households, and one of the most important ways to protect metallic from being destruction (corrosion) is the use of substances (inhibitor) to protect the metal corrosion. Use of green corrosion inhibitor is found to be environmentally friendly useful compare to the use of inorganic inhibitors which are toxic. Corrosion inhibition performance and adsorption effect of Senna obtusifolia leaves (SOL) extract on mild steel in 0.5M HCl has been assessed using weight loss measurement, potentiodynamic polarization (PDP), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), quantum chemical analysis and molecular dynamic simulations. The inhibition performance of SOL extract was found to be 85.67% %. Similarly, the result from the PDP shows SOL extract behaves as cathodic type inhibitor also from EIS it shows increase in the concentration of the extract and charge transfer resistance with decrease in double layer capacitance from the Nyquist plot. SOL extract was found to obeys Langmuir isotherm model. Furthermore, the extract was characterized using FTIR and Uv-Visible spectroscopy which confirmed the adsorption of SOL extracts on the mild steel. SEM Surface morphology of the inhibited mild steel shows the smooth surface from assuring the protection offered by the SOL extract on the metal surface. HPLC technique suggest the main component of SOL extract responsible for the inhibition performance was found to be Kaempferol molecule at 2.99 retention time. Kinetic studies revealed that the adsorption process follows first order reaction and the half-lives of inhibited metal is greater than that of uninhibited metal The results from quantum chemical calculations confirmed good inhibition performance of SOL extract and. molecular dynamic simulation shows negative values of binding energy that is less than 100 Kcalmol-1 which suggests physical adsorption, Moroccan Journal of Chemistry, Vol. 11, No 2 (2023)

Phytochemical and antimicrobial activity of methanol extract of Albizia ferruginea (Guill and Perr) which belongs to the family of Fabaceae were studied. Phytochemical studies on the plant leaves showed that they contained alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids, steroids, saponins, cardiac glycoside and carbohydrate. Methanol extract of Albizia ferruginea showed growth inhibitory effects of varying degrees on S. feacalis, S. typhi, S. paratyphi, Shigella dysentriae and Klebsiella pneumonia but was not active on Streptococcus pyogenes and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the extract was determined for the organisms whose growths were inhibited. The extract had MIC of 3.25mg/ml for S. feacalis, S. paratyphi, S. dysentriae and K. pneumoniae respectively. The antimicrobial studies of the extracts really justify the numerous folkloric uses of the plant parts in the treatment of some common ailments such as diarrhea, dysentery, fever, cough, pain and skin infections.

Rabies virus (RABV) infection leads to a fatal neurological outcome in humans and animals and is associated with major alterations in cellular gene expression. In this study, we describe the effects of RABV infection on the mRNA expression levels of two genes encoding the Ca2+ binding proteins (Ca-BPs) Calbindin D-28K (Calb1) and Calretinin (Calb2) in the brains of BALB/c mice. Sixty, 4-week-old mice were divided into two test and one control group. Mice were inoculated intra-muscularly with either a street rabies virus (SRV) or Challenge virus standard (CVS-11) strain and sacrificed at 3-day intervals up to day 18 post infection. Direct fluorescent antibody test (DFAT) verified RABV antigen in the brain tissues and real time quantitative PCR (RT-PCR) was used to assess the gene expressions. Infection with both RABV strains resulted in relatively significant (pCalb1 and Calb2 expression in the test animals, when compared with the controls at various time points in the study. Correlation analysis indicated very weak insignificant (p>0.05) negative and positive relationships respectively between Calb1 expression (r = -0.04) and Calb2 expression (r = 0.08) with viral load (CVS-11 strain). Insignificant (p>0.05) relationships were also obtained between Calb1 expression (r= -0.28) and Calb2 expression (r = 0.06) with viral load for the SRV strain. The observed alterations in Calb1 and Calb2 expression in this study indicate possible impairments in neuronal Ca2+ buffering and Ca2+ homeostasis as a result of RABV infection and consequently, an implication of Calbindin-D28K and Calretinin in the neuro-pathogenesis of rabies.

Rural communities in Nigeria suffer a great deal of parasitic infections. The effect is severe on children. Parasitic infections affect the health of schoolchildren by causing malnutrition, anaemia, reduced cognitive ability and poor performance in school. This study was aimed at assessing the prevalence of hookworm infections, associated risk factors and their effects on anthropometric indices of schoolchildren in Samaru, Zaria. Children across public and private schools were enlightened about the disease. Fresh morning faecal samples were collected from each of 203 consented pupils. The samples were examined for hookworm eggs by formol-ether concentration technique. Prevalence of hookworms was 4.9%. Children in four out of seven schools were found with hookworm infections (P=0.000). Children from public schools were significantly more infected with hookworms (7.9%, P=0.050) than those in the private schools. Male schoolchildren had higher hookworm infections (5.8%) than the females (4.7%, P>0.05). The youngest children of age 6-7 years old were the most infected (9.1%); followed by those of 10-11 years old who had 5.8% infections. Children who walked barefooted (6.5%), consumed raw vegetables (5.1%) or engaged in farming (5.3%) were more infected with hookworms than those who did not, but the relationship was not significant (P>0.00). Only fever (3.0%) was found among infected children (P=0.582), other symptoms did not occur among those infected with the hookworms. Children with weight of 39-48kg had the highest infection of 8.0%. Weight, height and BMI were not statistically associated with hookworm infections among the children. However, most of the children (87.2%) had underweight BMI.

Water plays a vital role in daily metabolic life processes. However, promoting public health awareness as well as provision of safe and secured bottled drinking water by stakeholders cannot be over emphasized. The study is aimed at evaluating the biological quality of some bottled water sold within Kano Metropolis, Nigeria. Studies on physical and biological parametric standard method were conducted. A total of 40 samples comprising of 4 different brands was randomly selected using stratified sampling techniques from different sampling sites within Kano metropolis in Northern Nigeria. Physical observation of bottled water labeling characteristics was evaluated. Water sample was pressurized to deflate the bio films along the walls of the container.10-20ml of the sample was pipette into centrifuge bottles corresponding to the label of each sample brand .It was centrifuged at a rotor speed of 1,500 revolutions per minute (rpm) for 30 minutes for biological evaluation. Algal cells were identified and enumerated. Results showed that none of the samples met the physical full content labeling characteristic standard. 10 Species of algal cell/ml was detected in some bottled water brands with Flagillaria spp. being the abundance in brand A and Ankistrodesmus spp. being the least in brand B. However, none was detected in sample D. It is recommended that, effective implementation of WHO water safety guidelines from the catchmentsource to the consumer through campaign awareness can reduce level of exposure. Stakeholders should be encouraged to protect and store bottle water against sunlight exposure, chemicals and cleaning reagents.

This research aims to develop a mathematical model that relates the structural features of noscapine with anti-tumor activity, to explains the mode of binding between noscapine compounds and the target receptor tubulin by docking analysis. By considering the results of docking analysis and predictions of pharmacokinetic properties/drug likeness, we designed novel noscapine compounds as anti-tumor agents against pancreatic cancer.We used anA QSAR model with good validations parameters and quality of fit (RThe QSAR approach and molecular docking analysis is an important approach for modern drug discovery. Pharmacokinetics studies of the selected novel compounds revealed good drug properties and can be used as candidate compounds for the development of anti-tumor agents for pancreatic cancer.يسعى هذا البحث إلى تطوير نموذج رياضي يربط بين ميزات نوسكابين الهيكلية ونشاطه المضاد للأورام، ويشرح طريقة الارتباط بين مركبات نوسكابين والمستقبل المستهدف (توبولين) من خلال عملية الإرساء، وتصميم مركبات نوسكابين جديدة بناء على المعرفة والمعلومات التي تم الحصول عليها من النموذج وعملية الإرساء، والتنبؤ بخصائص الحرائك الدوائية/التشابه الدوائي لهذه المركبات الجديدة كعامل مضاد للورم ضد ورم البنكرياس.تم استخدام نهج علاقة البنية-الفعالية الكمية، وعملية الإرساء الجزيئي، وأدوات قائمة على الإنترنت للتنبؤ بالحرائك الدوائية وتشابه الأدوية للمركبات الجديدة.تم بناء نموذج "علاقة البنية-الفعالية الكمية" مع معلمات تحقق جيدة وجودة ملاءمة باستخدام ٧٠٪ من البيانات كمجموعة تدريب واستخدمت النسبة المتبقية ٣٠٪ في التحقق من صحة النموذج خارجيًا للتأكد من قدرته التنبؤية كمجموعة اختبار. أظهرت ثلاثة مركبات جديدة (مصممة) دي٣ و دي٤ و دي٦ بدرجة ربط أفضل تبلغ −١١.٢ و −١٠.٢ و ١٠.٦ كيلوكالوري/مول على التوالي تقاربا أعلى تجاه مستقبلات توبولين مقارنة بالقالب (المركب الأصلي) و اللجين المتبلور المشترك بدرجة ربط ٩.٢.يعتبر نهج علاقة البنية-الفعالية الكمية وعملية الإرساء الجزيئي نهجا مهما في البحث عن الأدوية الحديثة، والذي تم استخدامه في هذا العمل. أظهرت دراسات الحرائك الدوائية للمركبات الجديدة المختارة خصائص دوائية أفضل ويمكن استخدامها كمركب ناجح في البحث عن الأدوية المضادة للأورام وتحديدا ورم البنكرياس.

Background: Vulvovaginal Candidiasis (VVC) is a fungal infection of the female lower genital tract and it is commonly caused by Candida albicans. Complications of untreated VVC include abortion, preterm delivery, menstrual disorders and infertility. Trichomoniasis is caused by parasitic protozoa called Trichomonas vaginalis. Trichomoniasis is associated with vulvovaginal erythema and frothy yellow-gray or green vaginal discharge. The research aimed to determine the prevalence of Candida albicans and Trichomonas vaginalis infections among women presenting with vaginitis in Jama'a Hospital, Samaru, Zaria, Nigeria.Methods: A Total of 100 samples were collected from female patients using sterile swab sticks. The samples were screened for Candida albicans and Trichomonas vaginalis using cultural and microscopic tests. Structured questionnaires were used to collect relevant data on socio-demographic factors, risk factors, signs and symptoms of the infection from the women.Results: It was observed that (38%) of the women were positive for Candida albicans and(2%) positive for Trichomonas vaginalis. It was also noted that women within age group 36-40 years had highest prevalence of Candida albicans (57.1%). Prevalence of Trichomonas vaginalis among age group 26-30 years was 4.3% and 11.1%among age group 31-35 years. Candida albicans was found to be more prevalent among single women (39.6%), non-pregnant women (39.1%), and students (47.8%) compared to married women (36.5%), pregnant women (25.0%), and non-students 30.0% respectively. Non-pregnant women had the higher prevalence of C. albicans(39.1%), compared to pregnant women with prevalence of 25.0%. Prevalence of T. vaginalis among non-pregnant women was 2.2% and no prevalence was recorded among the pregnant women. Those with multiple sex partners had C. albicans prevalence of 46.7% and T. vaginalis was 2.2%. Patients with vaginal discharges had C.albicans prevalence of 40.0%, and 3.1% for T. vaginalis. Patients with dyspareunia had C. albicans prevalence of 6.4% and 18.2% for T. vaginalis.Conclusion: It was therefore concluded that 38 out of 100 women attending Jama'a hospital had vulvovaginal candidiasis and 2 out of 100 had trichomoniasis at detectable level. Control measures including health education, treatment of infected individuals, personal hygiene are highly recommended. Further research should also be carried out in the study area todetermine prevalence of bacterial vaginitis.

Microalgal biomass provides a renewable source of biofuels and other green products. However, in order to realize economically viable microalgal biorefinery, strategic identification and utilization of suitable microalgal feedstock is fundamental. Here, a multi-step suboptimal screening strategy was used to target promising microalgae strains from selected freshwaters of the study area. The resulting strains were found to be affiliated to seven closely-related genera of the family Scenedesmaceae, as revealed by both morphologic and molecular characterization. Following initial screening under upper psychrophilic to optimum mesophilic (irregular temperature of 14.1 to 35.9°C) cultivation conditions, superior strains were chosen for further studies. Further cultivation of the selected strains under moderate to extreme mesophilic cultivation conditions (irregular temperature of 25.7 to 42.2°C), yielded up to 74.12 mgL-1day-1, 19.96 mgL-1day-1, 48.56%, 3.34 μg/mL and 1.20 μg/mL, for biomass productivity, lipid productivity, carbohydrate content, pigments content and carotenoids content respectively. These performances were deemed promising compared with some previous, optimum conditions-based reports. Interestingly, the fatty acids profile and the high carotenoids content of the studied strains revealed possible tolerance to the stress caused by the changing suboptimal cultivation conditions. Overall, strains AY1, CM6, LY2 and KL10 were exceptional and may present sustainable, promising feedstock for utilization in large-scale generation of green products, including biodiesel, bioethanol, pigments and dietary supplements. The findings of this study, which exposed promising, eurythermal strains, would expand the current knowledge on the search for promising microalgae strains capable of performing under the largely uncontrolled large-scale cultivation settings.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to identify the needs and priorities of parents of children with cerebral palsy (CP) in order to improve care by increasing family participation in rehabilitation programmes. METHODS: This cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted between January to March 2019. Convenience sampling was used to recruit 43 family members (18 years and above) of children with CP who came to the physiotherapy departments for rehabilitation services for their children. Fisher’s exact test was used to analyse the association between socio-demographic characteristics and each of the need items. RESULTS: Five different items were identified to be the family needs that were most frequently met: a) ‘need for active involvement in the child’s treatment and therapies’ (n= 40; 93.0%), b) ‘need for the provision of standard medical care (n= 39; 90.7%), c) ‘need for questions to be answered honestly’ (n= 38; 88.4%), d) ‘need for healthcare professionals to respect the child’s wishes’ (n= 36; 83.7%), e) ‘need for mothers to discuss their feelings (depression, stress etc.) with someone who has similar experience’ (n= 36; 83.7%). Conversely, three items were the most unmet family needs: a) ‘need to have professionals to consult whenever the child needs help’ (n= 39; 90.7%), b) ‘need to be informed about the child’s prognosis’ (n= 41; 95.3%), and c) ‘need to have financial support to provide the child with adequate care’ (n= 43; 100%). CONCLUSION: All participants overwhelmingly reported that their financial needs were their highest priority. The multiple needs of families of children with disabilities must be assessed and considered in rehabilitation services when treating children with CP.

Like many other countries in Africa, Somalia suffers from a gap with respect to other countries in the world for what concerns openness of research and visibility of research outputs. Research outputs produced by local universities and research institutions are not adequately showcased to interested communities and citizens outside academic institutions and this has negatively branded the local institutions as in-competent to produce any form of research contents. As an example, printed copies of students' theses and dissertations are usually archived inside the university and nobody is basically able to see them after the defending day. In order to overcome this problem and bridge the above-mentioned gaps, the Somali National Research and Education Network (SomaliREN), which gathers 20 universities and research institutions from all over the country, is developing a program based on three strategic pillars: connectivity, community, and content. Under the latter, SomaliREN has launched an initiative to deploy a centralized open access multi-institutional digital repository, and the Somali Research and Education Repository (SORER) has recently come online.

Like many other countries in Africa, Somalia suffers from a gap with respect to other countries in the world for what concerns openness of research and visibility of research outputs. Research outputs produced by local universities and research institutions are not adequately showcased to interested communities and citizens outside academic institutions and this has negatively branded the local institutions as in-competent to produce any form of research contents. As an example, printed copies of students' theses and dissertations are usually archived inside the university and nobody is basically able to see them after the defending day. In order to overcome this problem and bridge the above-mentioned gaps, the Somali National Research and Education Network (SomaliREN), which gathers 20 universities and research institutions from all over the country, is developing a program based on three strategic pillars: connectivity, community, and content. Under the latter, SomaliREN has launched an initiative to deploy a centralized open access multi-institutional digital repository, and the Somali Research and Education Repository (SORER) has recently come online. SORER has been installed in collaboration with experts from the University of Catania, Italy, and the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN). It is a scalable, standard-based, FAIR principle and Plan S compliant repository meant to promote and enable the Open Science paradigm in the country. The digital asset management system is based on Invenio and Zenodo, with some add-ons developed by INFN, allows persistent identification of contents, through DataCite digital object identifiers, for easy discovery and citation of research products stored as well as for a direct link to the ORCID profiles of their authors, sports an OAI-PMH compliant endpoint, for easy harvesting of metadata from aggregators and search engines, and supports federated authentication, for an easy configuration of the repository as a Service Provider of an Identity Federation. In this contribution, we would like to share with all the participants the motivations that drove the creation of SORER for the uptake of Open Science practices in Somalia, its current status and future plans – towards the certification of the archive and the establishment of a national open access policy - as well as to discuss the opportunities of collaboration with universities/organizations belonging to the WACREN region willing/planning to install FAIR compliant digital repositories at their premises. Collaboration may include technical support for the deployment and/or training on administration/use of the repository.