Proceedings of the Nigerian Academy of Science (Journal)
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Amelioration Of Doxorubicin-Induced Liver And Kidney Toxicities By Nicorandil Alone And Co-Administered With Prednisolone And Diltiazem
Full text linkAntineoplastic agents are widely used in cancer chemotherapy, despite causing organ toxicity. This study was conducted to investigate the ameliorative properties of nicorandil alone and co-administered with prednisolone and diltiazem on doxorubicin-induced hepato- and nephrotoxicities in rats. Seventy female Wistar rats were treated for 16 days as follows: GI: normal saline (10 ml/kg; normal control); GII: normal saline (doxorubicin control); GIII: gallic acid (200 mg/kg); GIV-VI: nicorandil (0.22, 0.43 and 0.86 mg/kg respectively); GVII: diltiazem (3.43 mg/kg); GVIII: diltiazem + nicorandil (0.43 mg/kg); IX: prednisolone (0.57 mg/kg); and GX: prednisolone + nicorandil (0.43 mg/kg). Doxorubicin (40 mg/kg) was administered on day 14 i.p. to animals in GII-X. Nicorandil significantly (p0.05) decreased alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), renal creatinine, renal and hepatic malondialdehyde (MDA), and increased hepatic and renal catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), compared to those administered doxorubicin alone. Co-administration of nicorandil with prednisolone and diltiazem significantly increased catalase, glutathione and superoxide dismutase, and decreased malondialdehyde, compared with the doxorubicin-only group. In conclusion, nicorandil decreased renal and hepatic markers of injury and increased enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants. Co-administration with the calcium channel blocker/phospholipase A2 inhibitor did not elicit superior protective effect.
Original Research Article - Effect of adsorption variables on the removal of Cadmium ions from wastewater using activated periwinkle shell from Okada, Edo State
Full text linkThis paper details the effect of adsorption variables on the removal of cadmium ions from wastewater using activated periwinkle shell. The periwinkle shells were carbonized for 1.5h for 900oC, and activated using HNO3 and calcium chloride solution. The textural characteristic of the adsorbent was determined using BET surface area analysis methods, structural characterizations of the activated carbon from the periwinkle shells were performed using FTIR, SEM, and EDX. Three different concentrations of cadmium ions solution were prepared as 10mg/l, 30mg/l, 50mg/l, 80mlg/l and 100mg/l from the stock solution. The batch mode adsorption experiment of cadmium ion onto activated periwinkle shell was carried out. The effects of time of contact, pH, initial concentration, adsorbent dose, particle sizes and temperature were investigated. The result indicates that activated periwinkle shell exhibit good sorption capacity with a large surface area of 574.50m2/g and mesoporosity of 71.42%. The sorption capacity were 67.28m2/g for Cd(II) ions. The equilibrium was attained after 70mins with the particle size of 212μm. The results indicate that the pH for maximum removal of cadmium (II) ions is 6.0
Editorial - Enhancing food security and nutrition through resilient agrifood value chains
Full text linkThe war in Ukraine, with other attendant consequences, has resulted in a massive decline in the supply of major staple foods leading to a rise in food prices globally. As the world focuses on the global food crises precipitated by the Ukrainian war; it is important to contextualize food and nutrition insecurity in the light of domestic challenges. Nigeria’s population in conflict zones have faced and will continue to face food insecurity crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity due to ruthless banditry in the northwest. For example, in 2016, the United Nations reported that Boko Haram bombings in Northern Nigeria disrupted trade routes between Chad and Nigeria, interrupting the supply of basic goods and causing local price hikes.In addition, climate change, natural disasters, violence between farmers and herders; kidnappings, and other forms of insecurity have impacted food production and distribution in Nigeria making food crisis a daily war for Nigerians. At the same time, agricultural productivity has steadily grown, and technological and institutional innovations have proliferated within agrifood markets and value chain with the potential to reduce poverty and food insecurity around the world.A food value chain (FVC) consists of all the stakeholders who participate in the coordinated production and value-adding activities that are needed to make food products. According to HLPE (2014), losses and wastes are common in all the phases of the FVCs (pre-harvest, harvesting and initial handling, storage, transport and logistics, processing and packaging, retailing and, finally, consumption activities). The agrifood value chain development in Nigeria is facing many barriers to fulfilling its potential including but not limited to capacity, enabling environment, governance, infrastructure, and policies conducive to sustainability and growth.Adding value post-production and minimizing losses with innovations in post-harvest and processing phases can have significant economic and environmental impacts, with input savings and carbon footprint reduction
Climate change, wildlife and fisheries: A review of impact on Nigeria’s food security
Full text linkClimate change is a global phenomenon that affects all facets of life. In Nigeria, the rate of industrialization and urbanization has increased the concentration of greenhouse gases in the last decade. These changes are observable in temperatures and rainfall regimes which have affected food production in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Agriculture, which used to be the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, has reduced drastically and this may be caused by heat waves, irregular rainfall patterns, encroachment, and government policies leading to food shortage. The terrestrial environment has been faced with human and wildlife conflict issues on land usage and wildfires. Aquatic ecosystems are not left out of these effects as their surface area is shrinking and the water temperature has fluctuated irrationally thereby reducing aquatic biodiversity. The life processes in fish species and wildlife are impaired when the environmental conditions are unfavorable. In view of sustainability, economic, environmental and social strategies can be employed in the terrestrial environments. In the case of aquatic ecosystems, measures such as ecosystem approach to fisheries, forecasting of weather, good governance in fisheries related activities and reduction of conflicts between stakeholders in fisheries are suggested. To this end, this paper reviews the effects of climate change on both terrestrial (agricultural and wildlife) and aquatic ecosystems to eliminate hunger (Goal 2), preserving life underwater (Goal 14) and on land (Goal 15) through climate resilience (Goal 13) as elaborated by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
Prospects of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) synthesized by Justicia secunda aqueous extracts on diabetes and its related complications
Full text linkThe wide range of secondary metabolites in medicinal plant extracts are used to treat and manage various diseases worldwide but more recently plant-mediated bio-nanotechnology is rapidly generating great research interest. Herein, the in-vitro study of the antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, antiglycation, and antioxidant potentials of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) synthesized by Justicia secunda aqueous extracts was evaluated. The synthesized AgNPs was characterized by UV-visible spectrophotometer, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The antioxidant activity was evaluated via reducing power, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and nitric oxide scavenging assays; antidiabetic activity was evaluated with α-glucosidase and α-amylase inhibitory assays; antiglycation activity was evaluated using fructosamine inhibitory assay, and anti-inflammatory activity was performed using trypsin inhibitory and albumin denaturation assays. The AgNPs from all the plant parts showed good biological potentials investigated compared to the plant extracts however, the synthesized AgNPs using the leaf aqueous extract (AgNPs-JsL) showed a better antioxidant, antidiabetic, antiglycation, and anti-inflammatory potentials with an essential quality absorption band in the ultraviolet region of 410 nm and average size distribution of 50.47nm. In conclusion, all the parts of J. secunda showed substantial antidiabetic, antioxidant, antiglycation and anti-inflammatory potentials with high yield of various bioactive metabolites, however, the AgNPs-JsL was more potent followed by the flower, stem and roots extracts, respectively
Approaches to monitoring and evaluation of knowledge translation platforms in low- and middle-income countries: A scoping review
Full text linkBackground: Knowledge Translation Platforms (KTP) attempt to bridge the "know-do gap" between researchers and policymakers. This study summarized the evidence on activities, as well as methods of monitoring and evaluation projects of KTPs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs).Methods: The Arksey and O’Malley methodology for scoping reviews was used. The databases accessed include Medline, Global Health, CINAHL, EBSCO and Cochrane library databases. Only Studies that indicated range of activities, tools or methods used in monitoring and evaluating KTP to achieve the implementation of evidence informed policymaking in LMICs were included. The key words used includes Knowledge Translation, Monitoring and Evaluation, Platforms and Low- and Middle-Income countries.Results: Total of 3150 hits were obtained from the searched databases. 750 duplicates were identified and removed resulting to 2398 articles. Using title screening, 2123 articles were excluded resulting in 275 articles for abstract screening. Abstract screening led to exclusion 246 articles, leaving 29 articles for the full-text screening. Full-text screening resulted to exclusion of 25 articles resulting to 4 articles that meet the inclusion criteria. No relevant articles were obtained from the reference list screening and grey literature search.Conclusion: Evidence shows that Case study methodology is the predominate method of evaluating KTPs. The shortest time duration from generation to use of evidence in decision making was noticed to be 1-year. The range of activities used to monitor KTP in bridging the “know do gap” includes stakeholder’s engagement, building capacity, priority setting, meeting with stakeholders, generating policy brief, litmus testing of brief, stakeholders dialogue, evidence brief and dialogue review, disseminating of findings and implementation. The minimum and maximum number of activities performed in each KTP process is 5 and 8 activities respectively
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE - Modifying cooking banana starch using octenyl succinic anhydride improves the amylose-amylopectin ratio of starch. A chemometrics approach
Full text linkThe disadvantage posed by native starch during food application had led to starch modification using physical or chemical techniques. This research therefore, aimed at modelling and optimizing the amylose-amylopectin ratio of modified cooking banana starch using chemometrics approach (response surface methodology). This was done by varying different concentration of octenyl succinate anhydride concentration (3-5%), reaction time (30-60 mins) and pH (8-10) using Box-Behnken design. The result obtained revealed the significance and accuracy of the model in predicting the amylose-amylopectin ratio of the modified starch owing to its low p-value (p 0.001) and high coefficient of determinant (R2 0.97). The adequate precision value greater than 4 was an indication that the model can navigate within the design space. Finally, an optimal value of 3.32% octenyl succinate anhydride concentration, reaction time of 32.04 mins and substrate pH of 8 was obtained which resulted in predicted amylose-amylopectin ratio of 0.806
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE - Changes in serum brain derived neurotrophic factor following high intensity interval training among obese undergraduates
Full text linkThe study examined changes in Serum Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) following High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) programme among obese undergraduates. The pretest-posttest randomized experimental design was employed for the study. The population of the study comprised one hundred and twenty (120) obese undergraduates, out of which a total of twenty-four (24) obese undergraduates made up the sample for the study. Simple random sampling technique was employed to select the participants. The anthropometric profiles of the participants were descriptively analyzed using mean and standard deviation, while independent sample t-test was used to test the hypothesis. Statistical significance was accepted at p value of 0.05. The results obtained indicated an increase in Serum BDNF (1.05 1.4 vs 1.42 2.2) among HIIT group, with no statistical significant difference. It was therefore concluded that the HIIT protocol-initiated alterations in the serum BDNF concentration of the obese undergraduates. HIIT may represent an effective intervention for elevating BDNF levels, as well as potentially promoting brain health. It was recommended that further research with prolonged exercise duration and larger sample size is required to elicit statistical significance, as well as to confirm the finding that increased serum BDNF levels are associated with HIIT intervention among obese undergraduate population
EDITORIAL - Environmental and chemical risk factors for breast cancer
Full text linkIn Nigeria, breast cancer (BC) is currently the leading cause of cancer mortality, accounting for approximately 23% of all cancer diagnoses and 18% of all cancer deaths. Although the fundamental etiology of BC is still unknown, a number of risk factors, including age, lifestyle, menarche, menopause, and environmental exposures, among others, have been linked to the disease. There is mounting evidence that hazardous compounds that are part of our everyday environment are important risk variables. Exposure to these BC-predisposing chemicals happens through the items we use, the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the water we drink. Mostly, these are endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) capable of mimicking hormones such as estrogen and progesterone with links to BC initiation and progression. EDCs, which include bisphenol A, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, and polychlorinated biphenyls, among others, can be found in everyday items including plastic and metal containers, cosmetics, detergents, and insecticides. In addition, exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are formed during the burning of organic materials and fuel, is another significant risk factor for BC. While BC initiation and pathogenesis are multifaceted with links to various contributing risk factors, a deeper understanding of the environmental and chemical conundrum will aid mitigating and prevention initiatives in Nigeria and elsewhere
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE: Evaluation of antibiogram of bacteria isolated from laboratories and lecture theatres in Bayero University Kano
Full text linkThis study was aimed to evaluate antibiogram of bacteria within 25 laboratories and 16 lecture theatres in Bayero University, Kano (Old and New sites). Samples of air were randomly collected from the two sites. Observation schedule and questionnaires were used to assess sanitary conditions in the sampling areas. Enumeration, isolation and identification of isolate were carried out using settle plate technique. Meteorological parameters of the sampling sites were also recorded. An antimicrobial susceptibility test isolates against some commercially available disinfectants was also carried out using disc diffusion assay. Based on cultural, morphological and biochemical characteristics, 11 bacterial species were isolated and identified Staphylococcus aureus have the highest frequency of occurrence and Entrobacter earogens, Bacillus sublilis have the lowest frequency of occurrence. Temperature in the laboratories ranged from 27 oC to 33.5 oC while in the lecture theatres ranged from 28.2oC to 33.2oC. Carbon dioxide concentration in the laboratories ranged from 92 ppm to 715 ppm while lecture theatres ranged from 405 ppm and 43 ppm. Relative Humidity in the laboratories ranged from 20 % to 38% while in the lecture theatres ranged from 17% to 38% .The susceptibility of disinfectant on isolate show that Enterobacter aerogens had the highest zone of inhibition of 17 mm on hypo and Pseudomonas aeruginosa have the lowest zone of inhibition of 7mm while sensitivity to dettol show that Staphylococcus epidermidis and Streptococcus pyogenes have the highest zone of inhibition of 15mm each and Enterobacter aerogens have the lowest zone of 10mm, both at 100% concentration, fresh lemon show no zone of inhibition against all the isolates. All the three disinfectants showed no efficacy at concentrations lower than 25%. It is also important to understand that bacteria within public areas has important roles in spreading pneumonia infection and other respiratory diseases