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Growing populations, expanding economies, industrialisation, and urbanisation pose a problem for waste management in developing countries. Their waste management methods, on the other hand, are not as efficient as they could be. Most developing countries' current waste management practices do not fully conform to developed countries' best practices for meeting socioeconomic goals. As a result, the importance of waste management in developing countries has grown in recent years. In order to highlight the socioeconomic perspectives of waste management practices, the present study examines the existing literature, policies, information, and records on waste management in developing nations. The findings indicate that essential socioeconomic factors such as finances, population density, per capita income, education level, policies, and technology have a significant impact on waste management, which encompasses waste generation, collection, composition, and disposal/treatment. Nonetheless, waste management has a number of economic benefits, including financial stability, job creation, and community cohesion. This study will inspire further research on the need for developing nations to consider the socioeconomic benefits of proper waste management and to develop a policy plan to achieve these benefits., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The effect of supplementing organic selenium and zinc on bioavailability, oxidative stress, weight gain in commercial broilers was studied. A total of 180-day-old chicks were divided into six groups: NSUV (Not supplemented, unvaccinated), NSV (Not supplemented, vaccinated), VS (vaccinated, supplemented selenium), VZ (vaccinated supplemented zinc), VSZ (vaccinated supplemented selenium and zinc), UVSZ (unvaccinated supplemented selenium and zinc). 1 mg/kg selenium and 60 mg/kg zinc were added to the feed of supplemented groups. The concentration of selenium (0.05 ± 0.00 mg/L) in VS and zinc (0.66 ± 0.13 mg/L) in VZ were lower on day 27 post-vaccination compared to day 10 (VS= 0.07 ± 0.01 mg/L; VZ= 1.46 ± 0.30 mg/L). Glutathione peroxidase and catalase concentrations were highest in the supplemented groups compared to unsupplemented groups on day 27 post vaccination, expressing a similar trend with the micronutrients. There was no difference ( P  ≥ 0.05) in the glutathione concentration between all groups except on day 27 post vaccination where SZV group was significantly higher (P=0.02) compared to the NSV group. Catalase concentration was significantly decreased in the NSV group compared to SZV (P=0.04) on day 27 post vaccination. The NSV group (1.64 ± 0.13 kg) weighed significantly lower (P=0.02) than the VSZ (2.00 ± 0.12 kg) in the fifth week, while on the sixth week, the SZV group gained the highest weight (2.04 ± 0.18 kg). The supplementation of organic selenium and zinc in broilers increased the serum micronutrients bioavailability, decreased oxidative stress, increased weight gain, thus, enhancing immunity in the broilers., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Toxoplasmosis is a zoonotic disease of economic importance found worldwide, and it is caused by Toxoplasma gondii , which affects a wide range of hosts. High prevalence of toxoplasmosis has been reported in rodents, and they are considered very important in the circulation and maintenance of the disease. However, epidemiologic studies of the disease in rodents are generally scarce in the Tropics. This study utilized the immunohistochemical (IHC) technique to detect Toxoplasma gondii in wild rats sampled from across the North Central Nigeria. The brain, intestine, diaphragm, lungs and kidney tissue samples from 227 wild rats ( Zyzomys pedunculatus ) were routinely processed for histopathology, out of which 86 were further selected for IHC detection of T. gondii antigens using the streptavidin-peroxidase method. The histologic lesions observed were mild to moderate in severity, including meningitis, focal gliosis, neuronal degeneration and necrosis, villous atrophy and denudation, enteritis, diaphragmatic myositis, broncho-interstitial pneumonia and interstitial nephritis. Toxoplasma gondii was detected in 82.6% of the selected samples showing various degrees of immunoreaction intensity. We conclude that IHC is a useful tool in the detection of T. gondii in wild rats, and lungs and kidney may be the organ of choice for the detection of T. gondii .

Toxoplasmosis has been reported in Nigeria using several diagnostic tools with high prevalence in humans and some food animals. Rodents have been recognised as vital intermediate hosts of Toxoplasma gondii. However, there is paucity of information on the occurrence of T. gondii in wild rats found in Nigeria. This study aimed at molecular detection of T. gondii in Zyzomys pedunculatus and to evaluate its involvement in the epidemiology of toxoplasmosis in Nigeria. A total of 84 rats were sampled across three states of the North Central Nigeria, and DNA was extracted from the brain, lungs, kidney and intestine of the rats for the detection of T. gondii DNA by nested PCR to amplify the multicopy B1 gene. Sixty-four of the 84 samples (76.2%) were positive for T. gondii out of which 5 samples were sequenced and had an identity score of between 97.73% and 99.35% with the reference B1 gene of T. gondii in GenBank. This study suggests Nigerian wild rats may be an important intermediate hosts of T. gondii and may play a role in the epidemiology and maintenance of T. gondii circulation in Nigeria., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors have no conflicts of interest that might unduly influence their work., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Traumatic brain injury has a poorer prognosis in elderly patients, possibly because of the enhanced inflammatory response characteristic of advanced age, known as "inflammaging." Recently, reduced activation of the TANK-Binding-Kinase 1 (Tbk1) pathway has been linked to age-associated neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation. Here we investigated how the blockade of Tbk1 and of the closely related IKK-ε by the small molecule Amlexanox could modify the microglial and immune response to cortical stab-wound injury in mice. We demonstrated that Tbk1/IKK-ε inhibition resulted in a massive expansion of microglial cells characterized by the TMEM119 + /CD11c + phenotype, expressing high levels of CD68 and CD317, and with the upregulation of Cst7a, Prgn and Ccl4 and the decrease in the expression levels of Tmem119 itself and P2yr12, thus a profile close to Disease-Associated Microglia (DAM, a subset of reactive microglia abundant in Alzheimer's Disease and other neurodegenerative conditions). Furthermore, Tbk1/IKK-ε inhibition increased the infiltration of CD3 + lymphocytes, CD169 + macrophages and CD11c + /CD169 + cells. The enhanced immune response was associated with increased expression of Il-33, Ifn-g, Il-17, and Il-19. This upsurge in the response to the stab wound was associated with the expanded astroglial scars and increased deposition of chondroitin-sulfate proteoglycans at 7 days post injury. Thus, Tbk1/IKK-ε blockade results in a massive expansion of microglial cells with a phenotype resembling DAM and with the substantial enhancement of neuroinflammatory responses. In this context, the induction of DAM is associated with a detrimental outcome such as larger injury-related glial scars. Thus, the Tbk1/IKK-ε pathway is critical to repress neuroinflammation upon stab-wound injury and Tbk1/IKK-ε inhibitors may provide an innovative approach to investigate the consequences of DAM induction., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Rehman, Tar, Olamide, Li, Kassubek, Böckers, Weishaupt, Ludolph, Wiesner and Roselli.)

Indiscriminate small-scale artisanal gold mining activities were reported to have caused anthropogenic heavy metal environmental pollution in Zamfara State, north-western Nigeria. There is little or no information on the neurotoxic effects and related neuropathological lesions due to environmental pollution in the animal population. Therefore, this work investigated the concentration of heavy metal and associated lesions in the brain of goats around an artisanal mining site in Zamfara. Brain samples were collected from 40 goats at slaughter slabs in Bagega (Zamfara State) while 15 goats with the same demography but without a history of environmental exposure at the time of this study served as controls. The concentration of lead and cadmium in brain tissue and histopathologic changes were assessed using atomic absorption spectrophotometry, histology and immunohistochemistry. The metal concentrations were significantly higher in exposed goats than in the unexposed animals. Cresyl violet staining and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunohistochemistry indicated chromatolysis and increased astrocytic activity respectively in the exposed goats. This study is of epidemiological importance as it shows a generalised increase of the metal concentrations in the brain of goats exposed to artisanal mining in Zamfara, north-western Nigeria. This could have health effects on the animals associated with nervous co-ordination, growth and development and as a good sentinel for pathogenesis of the heavy metal exposure.

The detection and documentation of pathogenic Leptospira serovars in wild captive and zoological garden animals are scarce in literature from Nigeria. The knowledge of the prevalence of prevalence of pathogenic Leptospira serovars in these animals as a zoonotic risk to workers, zoo visitors and the general public is essential. This investigation was carried out on archival kidney and liver samples of captive and Zoological Garden animals (66) of an institutional facility, submitted for necropsy to the Department of Veterinary Pathology between the periods of 2010-2015. The gross diagnosis reports were obtained from the necropsy records, detection of pathogenic Leptospira serovars was by Warthin Starry silver staining and immunohistochemistry techniques using standard methods. Six samples out of the sixty-six samples were positive for leptospira four samples were positive by silver stain method, while two samples were positive by immunohistochemistry. In this study, serovar Pomona and grippotyphosa were detected in the foxes while serovar Pomona was detected in the horse. This study has revealed the presence of pathogenic leptospires in some captive wild and zoological garden animals.

Hepatitis E (HE) is an important viral hepatitis of global public and livestock health, and food security significance due to the ubiquitous distribution, multiple transmission route and zoonotic potentials. HE is also endemic in most developing countries including Nigeria. This study therefore investigates the seroprevalence and associated risk factors of HEV infection in pigs raised in Ibadan, Nigeria. Taking an analytical cross-sectional study design, 176 animals (comprising 120 pigs, 26 goats, and 30 cattle) were randomly sampled at the Bodija Municipal abattoir, Ibadan. Serum samples and demographic information were collected for HEV antibody detection (using a commercial recombinant genotype-3 antigen ELISA kit) and risk factors, respectively. A 57.5% (69/120) HEV seroprevalence was reported in the pigs while 0% prevalence was reported in the goats and cattle. In the pigs, a significant age-based HEV seropositivity difference (χ 2  = 5.30; OR = 0.20-0.89; p = 0.02) with a higher seroprevalence in the < 6 months (68.42%; 39/57) compared to the > 6 months age group (47.62%; 20/63) was reported. No significant sex, breed and husbandry system effect on HEV seroprevalence was detected in the pigs. This study therefore underscores the high HEV seroprevalence and age-based odds of HEV-exposure in pigs in Ibadan, Nigeria.

Exposure to hexavalent chromate compounds such as other human carcinogens is unavoidable in the developing countries of the world. Research efforts are being directed toward minimizing exposure to them, intercepting their activity in vivo, and/or prophylaxis. The present study therefore evaluates the effect of methanol extract of the leafy vegetable, Corchorus olitorius (MECO), against potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7)-induced toxicities. Negative control animals were fed distilled water, while the positive control rats received 12 mg/kg body weight K2Cr2O7 once a week for 6 weeks. Test rats were exposed daily to 25, 50, and 100 mg/kg body weight MECO alone for 6 weeks and 12 mg/kg body weight of K2Cr2O7 once a week for 6 weeks before sacrifice. The frequency of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes (mPCEs) was monitored in bone marrow cells, while induction of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), creatinine levels, and hematological parameters were assessed in the plasma. The phytochemical analysis of MECO was also carried out. K2Cr2O7 significantly (P < .05) increased the levels of mPCEs, AST, ALT, creatinine, total white blood cells, and lymphocytes compared with the control. The percentage pack cell volume and neutrophils were, however, reduced. In contrast, MECO at different doses restored the markers toward the levels of the negative control. MECO is rich in flavonoids, saponins, anthraquinones, terpenoids, and phenols, and they might be responsible for the protective effect observed in this study. Our results suggest that MECO has a promising potential in the treatment/management of chromate-induced toxicities.