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This study is an observational assessment of open defecation practices carried out from “Mile 2” in Amuwo Odofin local government area to Okokomaiko in Ojo local government area along Badagry express way in Lagos west senatorial district of Lagos State, Nigeria. A well-structured questionnaire was administered to 250 respondents to obtain the data used in this study. Male respondents were 57.2% while 42.8% were female. The respondents’ educational background shows that 46% finished from secondary school while 16.4% did not attend school. The educational status of the respondents and the usage of modern toilets rather than open defecation was found to be significant atχ2 (5, N = 250) = 11.221, p=0.047. A significant difference was observed between the respondents attitudes towards open defecation and their gender, for Male (M=7.27, SD=2.220) and Female (M=7.85, SD=1.500);t(248) = -2.138, p = 0.034. The relationship between accessibility to a hygienic toilet and ending of open defecation among respondents was also significant at χ2 (1, N = 250) = 20.489, p

Elderly patients will not only present to specialists with specific ear, nose, and throat (ENT) complaints but will also seek treatment for comorbidities that have significant impacts on their quality of life; as well as the prognosis of the specific disease being managed the specialist with an increased demand on health care resources. While the principles of management of ENT disorders in the elderly are not so different from what is obtainable for other age groups, it is very important to take note of the specific differences and apply individualized treatment plan for better outcome. ENT diseases in the elderly may also present with unexpected or uncommon symptoms and this will mean that management must be carried out with caution. Medication dosage, performance scale, extent of surgical operations, and other treatment modalities are considerable in management of elderly ones. Subtle complaints from the elderly should not be over looked or managed by unqualified personnel. They should be referred early to specialists for proper management.

Exposure to the herbicide atrazine (ATZ) has deleterious effects on male fertility. This fact underscores the need for measures to protect against the detrimental impact of atrazine exposure on male fertility. The study assessed the protective effects of plantain-based diet (PBD) on rat testes exposed to ATZ by exploring oxid-inflammatory homeostasis. The study evaluated the preventive and therapeutic effects of PBD in a two-phased experiment. Male rats were randomized into seven groups for therapeutic model (Control, ATZ only, ATZ recovery, ATZ + 50% PBD, ATZ + 25% PBD, ATZ + 12.5% PBD and ATZ + quercetin-QUE) while the preventive model had ten groups (Control, ATZ, 50% PBD + ATZ, 25% PBD + ATZ, 12.5% PBD + ATZ and QUE + ATZ). The oxidative stress parameters (DNA fragmentation and MDA level), purinergic activity (ATPase), acetylcholine esterase, and inflammatory markers (NO level, MPO activity, and TNF-α) were increased while the Nrf2 levels were decreased by the ATZ treatment. However, the PBD was able to restore the oxido-inflammatory parameters in the rat testes. The chemical fingerprint of the diet revealed that the diets contained 16 bioactive compounds with quercetin being the most prominent compound. Overall, treatment with PBD was able to protect and prevent the toxicity caused by ATZ by modulating the redox and inflammatory status as well as purinergic activity in the rat testes.

The emergence of varying levels of resistance to currently available antimalarial drugs significantly threatens global health. This factor heightens the urgency to explore bioactive compounds from natural products with a view to discovering and developing newer antimalarial drugs with novel mode of actions. Therefore, we evaluated the inhibitory effects of sixteen phytocompounds from Cymbopogon citratus leaf extract against Plasmodium falciparum drug targets such as P. falciparum circumsporozoite protein (PfCSP), P. falciparum merozoite surface protein 1 (PfMSP1) and P. falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1). In silico approaches including molecular docking, pharmacophore modeling and 3D-QSAR were adopted to analyze the inhibitory activity of the compounds under consideration. The molecular docking results indicated that a compound swertiajaponin from C. citratus exhibited a higher binding affinity (−7.8 kcal/mol) to PfMSP1 as against the standard artesunate-amodiaquine (−6.6 kcal/mol). Swertiajaponin also formed strong hydrogen bond interactions with LYS29, CYS30, TYR34, ASN52, GLY55 and CYS28 amino acid residues. In addition, quercetin another compound from C. citratus exhibited significant binding energies −6.8 and −8.3 kcal/mol with PfCSP and PfEMP1, respectively but slightly lower than the standard artemether-lumefantrine with binding energies of −7.4 kcal/mol against PfCSP and −8.7 kcal/mol against PfEMP1. Overall, the present study provides evidence that swertiajaponin and other phytomolecules from C. citratus have modulatory properties toward P. falciparum drug targets and thus may warrant further exploration in early drug discovery efforts against malaria. Furthermore, these findings lend credence to the folkloric use of C. citratus for malaria treatment. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma

A novel predatory bacterium, strain LBG001T, has been isolated from Reynosa, Mexico. The 16S rRNA shares approximately 97 % sequence identity with many reported strains in the genus Bdellovibrio including the type strain Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus HD100T. Phylogenetic trees based on the 16S rRNA gene and on 30 concatenated housekeeping genes or core genes showed that LBG001T is on a separate branch from the B. bacteriovorus group. LBG0001T has a genome size of 3 582 323 bp with a G+C content of 43.1 mol %. The average nucleotide identity, average amino acid identity and digital DNA–DNA hybridization values with other members of the genus Bdellovibrio (T formed visible plaques on all 10 tested Gram-negative bacterial species. The phenotypic characteristics, phylogenetic analysis and genomic taxonomic studies support the classification of the strain as representing a new species for which the name Bdellovibrio reynosensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is LBG001T(=ATCC TSD-288T =CM-CNRG 0932T).

In the study of the environmental effect of biogas production, it is essential to identify the main constituents of the biogas with a special interest biogas process system. This paper reviews the formation processes of biogas production. In this paper, the roles of biogas application were discussed to make them more suitable to the environment and human activities. Furthermore, questions related to the disposal and management of wastes which leads to serious environmental and global concerns were addressed. Although these wastes offer abundant resources: large proportions of the wastes are biodegradable materials and can be efficiently used in producing biogas, which can serve as an answer to the greenhouse gas problem but also inappropriate controlling of the wastes will lead to the rise of greenhouse gas in the environment.

Due to the emergence of COVID-19, the education sector has embraced online learning as the main delivery method to engage and impact knowledge and skills acquisition of their students. However, learning is not just about knowledge and skills acquisition but is an activity contributing to change and enrichment of the learner. This paper draws upon the results of a qualitative interview conducted amongst postgraduate students enrolled in an AMBA-accredited and top business school in the UK. The results revealed that students’ experience of the sudden transition to online learning is shaped by four distinct but interrelated areas: benefits of online learning, challenges of online learning, success factors in online learning and support in online learning. These findings will help higher education institutions and online learning tutors concentrate more on areas important to student learning when migrating from face-to-face to online modes of teaching.

Background Information One of the characteristic of bacteria zoonoses diseases is their tendency to re-emerge, as such they said to be responsible for a very high proportion of morbidity and mortality. Many documented zoonotic diseases and reported to be resistant to some conventional antibiotics. Similarly challenging is the fact that most of the antibiotics currently being used against these diseases are reported not to be completely metabolized and are often released in unmetabolized forms which when they find their ways into the food chain becomes health issue. Metabolites from some Lactic Acid Bacteria are being harnessed as a bio-active compounds for the novel unconventional control of these diseases which this research seeks to make contribution. Abstract Zoonoses incidences continue to play significant roles in both human and veterinary medicine and their eradication especially in the developing country like Nigeria, is difficult. Zoonotic food-borne infections caused by Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria are re-emerging. Several findings indicated that the cell-free supernatant derived from some Lactic Acid Bacteria have some antibacterial effects when applied directly or added to food during packaging. The aim of this study was to investigate thein vitroantagonistic effect of cell-free supernatant derived from some LAB species isolated from whey and Nunu (obtained from a locally fermented milk product) against some zoonotic bacteria pathogens (Escherichia coli, Salmonella sp. and Staphylococcus aureus.Streptococcussp. andSalmonellasp. Four (4) LAB isolates were isolated, identified using basic morphological and biochemical characterization and screened on the basis of functional and technological characterization. The Cell-free supernatant from these strains,Lactobacillus caseiLB01,Lactobacillussp. LB02,Lactobacillus acidophilusLB03 andLactobacillus plantarumLB04 were prepared by centrifugation at 10,000 rpm for 5 minutes and used against the indicator organisms at 107CFU/ml using agar well diffusion method. The cell-free supernatant inhibited the growth of both Gram- positive and Gram-negative bacteria strains of veterinary origins. Our findings suggest that the LAB strains have the potential for antibiotic alternatives for the control ofseveral zoonotic diseases. This holds a great advantage in the current efforts to tackling and reducing the prevalence and spread of zoonotic diseases which are re-emerging in Nigeria

Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) are transcription factors that initiate the expression of cellular processes to cope with hypoxic conditions. HIFs are principal regulators of hypoxic adaptation, regulating gene expression involved in glycolysis, erythropoiesis, angiogenesis, proliferation, and stem cell function under low O2. HIFs may play a pivotal role in tumor survival and metastasis in cancer formation and growth. Likewise, HIFs play a key role in microbial pathogenesis, particularly in host-pathogen interaction. Because of the role that HIF-1alpha plays in the biology of cancer and infections, it is a potential therapeutic target not only for malignant growth but also for parasitic infection. Several reports have demonstrated the up-regulation of host cellular HIFs due to infection-induced hypoxia. Hypoxia-inducible pathways have attracted great interest in the down-regulation of prolyl hydroxylase for treating inflammatory diseases and infections by viruses, protozoa, or bacteria, among other pathogens. Interestingly, increasing evidence suggests that HIFs play an important regulatory role in inflammation. For example, in macrophages, HIFs regulate glycolytic energy generation and optimize innate immunity, control pro-inflammatory gene expression, mediate the killing of pathogens and influence cell migration. Therefore, a good understanding of the biochemical mechanism of hypoxia signaling pathways will shed more light on how it could help identify and develop new treatment strategies for cancer and parasitic diseases, including viral, bacterial, fungal and protozoa infections.

Background There is evidence of an association between life events and psychosis in Europe, North America and Australasia, but few studies have examined this association in the rest of the world. Aims To test the association between exposure to life events and psychosis in catchment areas in India, Nigeria, and Trinidad and Tobago. Method We conducted a population-based, matched case–control study of 194 participants in India, Nigeria, and Trinidad and Tobago. Cases were recruited through comprehensive population-based, case-finding strategies. The Harvard Trauma Questionnaire was used to measure life events. The Screening Schedule for Psychosis was used to screen for psychotic symptoms. The association between psychosis and having experienced life events (experienced or witnessed) was estimated by conditional logistic regression. Results There was no overall evidence of an association between psychosis and having experienced or witnessed life events (adjusted odds ratio 1.19, 95% CI 0.62–2.28). We found evidence of effect modification by site (P = 0.002), with stronger evidence of an association in India (adjusted odds ratio 1.56, 95% CI 1.03–2.34), inconclusive evidence in Nigeria (adjusted odds ratio 1.17, 95% CI 0.95–1.45) and evidence of an inverse association in Trinidad and Tobago (adjusted odds ratio 0.66, 95% CI 0.44–0.97). Conclusions This study found no overall evidence of an association between witnessing or experiencing life events and psychotic disorder across three culturally and economically diverse countries. There was preliminary evidence that the association varies between settings.

The fifth annual summer research summit organized by the Center of Excellence (COE) in Health Equity, Training and Research, Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), was held on May 17, 2022. The theme of this year’s summit was ‘Academic-Community Partnerships: Change Agents for Advancing Health Equity.’ Given the ongoing pandemic, the summit was conducted virtually through digital platforms. This program was intended for both BCM and external audiences interested in advancing health equity, diversity, and inclusion in healthcare among healthcare providers and trainees, biomedical scientists, social workers, nurses, and individuals involved in talent acquisition and development, such as hiring managers (HR professionals), supervisors, college and hospital affiliate leadership and administrators, as well as diversity and inclusion excellence practitioners. We had attendees from all regions of the United States as well as from Saudi Arabia. The content in this Book of Abstracts encapsulates a summary of the research efforts by the BCM COE scholars (which includes post-baccalaureate students, medical students, clinical fellows, and junior faculty from BCM) as well as the external summit participants. The range of topics in this year’s summit was quite diverse, encompassing disparities in relation to maternal and child health (MCH), immigrant health, cancers, vaccination uptakes, and COVID-19 infections. Various solutions were ardently presented to address these disparities, including community engagement and partnerships, improvement in health literacy, and the development of novel technologies and therapeutics. With this summit, BCM continues to build on its long history of educational outreach initiatives to promote diversity in medicine by focusing on programs aimed at increasing the number of diverse and highly qualified medical professionals ready to introduce effective and innovative approaches to reduce or eliminate health disparities. These programs will improve information resources, clinical education, curricula, research, and cultural competence as they relate to minority health issues and social determinants of health. The year’s summit was a great success! Copyright © 2022 Dongarwar et al. Published by Global Health and Education Projects, Inc. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0.