287 research outputs found
Rational design of antirheumatic prodrugs specific for sites of inflammation
No full textBiologic drugs, such as the anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) antibody adalimumab, have represented a breakthrough in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Yet, concerns remain over their lack of efficacy in a sizable proportion of patients and their potential for systemic side effects such as infection. Improved biologic prodrugs specifically targeted to the site of inflammation have the potential to alleviate current concerns surrounding biologic anticytokine therapies. The purpose of this study was to design, construct, and evaluate in vitro and ex vivo the targeting and antiinflammatory capacity of activatable bispecific antibodies
sj-pptx-2-pwq-10.1177_03616843231156872 - Supplemental material for Far-Right Misogynoir: A Critical Thematic Analysis of Black College Women's Experiences With White Male Supremacist Influences
No full textSupplemental material, sj-pptx-2-pwq-10.1177_03616843231156872 for Far-Right Misogynoir: A Critical Thematic Analysis of Black College Women's Experiences With White Male Supremacist Influences by Alexandria C. Onuoha, Miriam R. Arbeit, and Seanna Leath in Psychology of Women Quarterly</p
Request to withdraw Article Number 2011 and effect changes
No full textDear Editor,
Please I am writing this letter on behalf of my own self and compatriots in the academia as original authors of a certain article our attention has recently been drawn to and published by your outfit. The article is entitled:
The role of Institutional Repositories in making lost or hidden cultures accessible, a study across four African University Libraries (2018) and was authored by Andrew Watson Malekani and George Kavishe.
Please I wish to clearly state that the following names are the original authors of the article: Nasir Koranteng Asiedu, University for Development Studies, Ghana ([email protected]); Molly Chikafa, Rhodes University, South Africa ([email protected]), Happiness Michael-Onuoha, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria ([email protected]) and Andrew Malekani, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania ([email protected]).
The published paper was a mini project carried out by the four of us (as detailed above), as part of a Carnegie CPD programme organized by the University of Pretoria, South Africa in 2017. We later found out this year that the paper has been published by our group member Andrew Malekani without consulting or adding the original authors’ names and instead decided to add George Kavishe who never participated in the CPD under reference and therefore could not have been a co-author.
As the original authors of that project we kindly request that you withdraw the article and effect the necessary changes by removing George Kavishe’s name and replacing it with ours in the following order: Asiedu, N.K., Chikafa, M.W., Michael-Onuoha, H. & Malekani, A.W.
We hereby attach the following documents to support our claim:
1.Original work carried out by the group at University of Pretoria
2.Apology letter or email received from Dr. Malekani claiming it was an oversight
3.Apology letter or email received from George Kavishe asking that his name should be removed as co-author of the paper
Please, note that I have copied all the group members including Dr. Malekani of this email
Thank you
Signed
Nasir Koranteng Asiedu
For: The Grou
Regling, Klaus P. New Financing Approaches in the Debt Strategy Finance and Development: March 1988, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp.6 - 9
No full textThe review summarises the author\u27s analysis of the various financing techniques. Apart from a few technical points, the write up is self-explanatory and interesting to read. Discussed in it are some of the advantages and constraints in the use of some of the financing techniques. While agreeing with the author on some of the advantages and shortcomings of the financing techniques, there is the need to point out issues which the author failed to take into consideration
AMELIORATION OF CCL4–INDUCED NEPHROTOXICITY IN RAT BY FLAVONOID, ALKALOIDS, SAPONIN, AND TANNINS EXTRACTED FROM COMBRETUM DOLICHOPENTALUM
No full text*Favour Ntite Ujowundu,1Cosmas O. Ujowundu,1Raymond C. Ibeh,3Emeka J. Iweala, 1Chinyere H. Onuoha, 1CalistusI. Iheme, 1Chieme S. Chukwudoruo, 2James O. Kalu, 1Monica M. Okorondu and1MoshoodA. Harun
Novel Bispecific Antibody for Synovial-Specific Target Delivery of Anti-TNF Therapy in Rheumatoid Arthritis.
No full textBiologic drugs, especially anti-TNF, are considered as the gold standard therapy in rheumatoid arthritis. However, non-uniform efficacy, incidence of infections, and high costs are major concerns. Novel tissue-specific agents may overcome the current limitations of systemic administration, providing improved potency, and safety. We developed a bispecific antibody (BsAb), combining human arthritic joint targeting, via the synovial-specific single-chain variable fragment (scFv)-A7 antibody, and TNFα neutralization, via the scFv-anti-TNFα of adalimumab, with the binding/blocking capacity comparable to adalimumab -immunoglobulin G (IgG). Tissue-targeting capacity of the BsAb was confirmed on the human arthritic synovium in vitro and in a synovium xenograft Severe combined immune deficient (SCID) mouse model. Peak graft accumulation occurred at 48 h after injection with sustained levels over adalimumab-IgG for 7 days and increased therapeutic effect, efficiently decreasing tissue cellularity, and markers of inflammation with higher potency compared to the standard treatment. This study provides the first description of a BsAb capable of drug delivery, specifically to the disease tissue, and a strong evidence of improved therapeutic effect on the human arthritic synovium, with applications to other existing biologics
Comparing the random blood glucose level in patients with single and multiple long bone fractures
No full textBackground: Long bone fractures either single or multiple present frequently to the emergency. The metabolic response to trauma elicits various markers amongst which is hyperglycaemia. Determination of hyperglycaemia in these two sets of patients is however yet to be fully evaluated.Objective: To compare the random blood glucose levels in patients with single and multiple long bone fractures.Design: Prospective comparative cross-sectional studySetting: Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile-Ife, Osun state Nigeria.Patients and Methods: Ninety cases of patients with traumatic single and multiple long bone fractures had their random blood glucose levels evaluated at three different times and were all treated.Main Outcome Measure: Random blood glucose level before,during and after resuscitation.Results: Ninety patients were recruited into the study with 65 and 25 of them having single and multiple long bone fractures respectively. Young males with closed Tibia fractures following road traffic accidents accounted for majority (30%) of the single fractures while those with floating knee accounted for the majority (8.8%) of multiple long bone fractures. The mean Random blood glucose at presentation, 12 hours and 24 hours after presentation were 7.7,7.1 and 5.9 (mmol/l) respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in the random blood glucose levels between patients with single and those with multiple long bone fractures.Conclusion: Patients with multiple long bone fractures appear to mount a higher metabolic response to trauma. Hyperglycaemia can be reduced with prompt and adequate resuscitation. Thus routine random glucose checks for all trauma patients should be done and serve as marker for injury severity and adequacy of resuscitation.Keywords: Random Blood Glucose, Single and Multiple Long Bone Fracture
Effect of vitamin C and folate on heat-stressed chickens' egg quality and daily egg production
No full textEgg quality is of economic consideration especially in thermally challenged confinements during table egg production and transportation. The effect of vitamin-C and folate on heat-stressed chickens’ egg quality and performance is aimed at overcoming the negative impact of exposure to increased environmental heat load at peak heat periods of the year using vitamin-C as ameliorative agent, and efficient utilization of consumed feed, using folate. This is in other to lay quality eggs and perform optimally. A total of 72 Isa Brown laying hens at 31 weeks of age were randomly divided into 4 treatment groups of 36 birds subdivided into 3 replicates and indicated as T1, T2, T3 and T4 while T1 served as the control treatment. The birds were housed in a deep litter pen and exposed to 3-hours additional heat generated with gas-powered burners, for four consecutive days of each week for a period of 12 weeks. The diets for T2, T3 and T4 were supplemented with 250 mg of vitamin-C, 250 mg of vitamin-C + 1 mg of folate and 300 mg of vitamin-C + 1 mg of folate per kg of feed respectively. The results showed that T4 had the highest egg weights (60.04 g), shell thickness (0.53 mm) and shell weights (7.80 g). The albumin weight (37.20 g), albumin height (6.80 mm) and yolk weight (14.70 g) were highest (P<0.05) in T4 while daily eggs production/treatment/day was highest in T4 (8.04). The daily feed intake was (P<0.05) highest in T3 and T4 (0.42 kg/bird) and (P<0.05) lowest in T3 and T4 (1.51). It is concluded that combined supplementation of layers’ diet with vitamin-C and folate at the ratio of 350 mg:1 mg/kg of feed) help to reduce negative impact of heat stress and enhance efficient utilization of feed consumed. It is recommended as a nutritional management strategy in minimizing the negative impact of increased heat load coupled with very high relative humidity
The Dynamics of Cessationism - Terrorism Co-Menace in Nigeria: A Numerical Mathematical Model with Diffusion
No full textIn this study, we investigate how cessationist sentiments and terrorist activities interact and propagate through space and time within the Nigerian context using first order nonlinear ordinary and partial differential equations. Our model compartmentalizes the population, considering vulnerability, engagement, recovery, and non-vulnerability to these ideologies. Firstly, we solve the ordinary differential model and we later develop a finite difference numerical scheme from the diffusion model to simulate the diffusion process. By exploring this ordinary and spatial perspective, our research sheds light on the intertwined nature of cessationism and terrorism in Nigeria and contributes to informed policy responses and mitigation strategies
The Impact of Social Cognition and Emotional Processing on Alcohol Use Disorder
No full textAlcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is a major contributor to worldwide disability, mortality, and morbidity. Evidence suggests that individuals with impaired emotion and social cognitive processing capacities a) consume more alcohol, b) experience more social and interpersonal difficulties, and c) are more likely to deny or minimise the negative impact of their excessive alcohol use, as compared to those with intact capacities. Even though AUD is widely considered to be a disorder of impaired self-regulation characterised by poor emotional and social functioning, and despite the inclusion of impaired social cognition as a core requirement for a diagnosis of mild neurovegetative disorder according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Volume 5 (DSM-5), the potential importance of deficient emotion processing and social cognition in AUD remains largely unresearched. Hence, the extent to which deficient social cognition and emotion processing contribute to reduced functionality in AUD, and potentially impact on the development and maintenance of AUD, is largely unknown.
The present program of research explores impaired emotion processing and social cognition in AUD and makes a case for an emotion processing/socio-cognitive perspective to understanding AUD. This thesis also highlights the importance of accounting for emotion processing and social cognition in the management of alcohol-related disorders. More specifically, a series of studies provide evidence of deficits in social cognition (Theory of Mind, or ToM) and emotion processing (alexithymia) in individuals with AUD. The concept of ToM involves perceiving and identifying the emotions and cognitive states of others. ToM is a subdomain of social cognition that is conceptualised as the individual’s ability to accurately interpret and decode the intentions, abstract beliefs, mental states, and emotions of others. Alexithymia, a multifaceted cognitive-affective construct, is characterised by a lack of emotional awareness and difficulty identifying, describing, and verbalising one’s own feelings or emotions. Alexithymia is also characterised by an externally-orientated thinking style.
Findings of this thesis inform this field of research and illuminate the putative links between alcohol use, deficient emotion processing, and social cognition. Two tentative inter-related models are offered, a theoretical model and an assessment/treatment model of AUD, in an attempt to explicate the relationships between these factors and problematic alcohol use. This body of work is unique in that, although various studies have examined the relative roles of social cognition and emotion processing in AUD individually, few, if any, studies have explored these factors in AUD jointly.
The first chapter presents an introduction and overview of the main objectives and areas of the current program of research (Chapter One). The second chapter builds on the first by presenting a review of alcohol and its impact on the brain’s various regions, as well as the impact of other psychoactive substances on the brain and the brain correlates of emotional processing and social cognition. The third and fourth chapters present a collection of studies that examine relationships between impaired emotion processing (alexithymia) and social cognition (ToM) in AUD. The fifth and sixth chapters investigate the possible roles of depression, intelligence, and stress within these putative relationships. The relationships between AUD, alexithymia, and physiological indices of emotional reactivity are examined in the seventh chapter. The eighth chapter investigates whether the relationship between alexithymia and deficient ToM is sufficiently consistent to encourage confidence in the findings. The two final chapters synthesise the findings and offer two tentative inter-related models, the impaired emotion processing and socio-cognitive diathesis-stress model and the Onuoha impaired emotional processing and socio-cognitive assessment and treatment model for AUD, in an attempt to explain the relationships between the earlier described factors and AUD.
The results of these studies demonstrate that AUD is significantly associated with impaired emotion processing (alexithymia) and impaired socio-cognitive function (deficient ToM). The findings also suggest a unique role of intelligence. This program of research reveals that deficits in both emotion processing (alexithymia) and social cognition (ToM) appear to perform crucial roles in the behavioural and psychological processes observed in AUD. Therefore, improved understanding of these factors could potentially inform knowledge and clinical practice regarding the AUD population. The present program of research further highlights the need for research and clinical practice to address impaired emotion processing (e.g., alexithymia) and deficient social cognition (e.g., ToM) in the management of alcohol-related dysfunction. This could be achieved through proper assessment and selection of treatment approaches to remediate these capacities where impairments are observed in AUD. The findings have policy, clinical care, and management implications. A research strategy to address gaps in the literature is also outlined
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