Predicting sediment yield on different landuse surfaces in Calabar River Catchment, Nigeria.

This study predicts sediment yield on various landuse surfaces within the Calabar River Catchment, Nigeria. Five experimental plots of 31 by 23 cm (representing urban, farm, grass, bare, and forest surfaces) were established on a convex slope series with a 20% gradient, oriented along the slope strike. Rainfall, morphological, and hydraulic stations were derived for each plot.

The new WHO guideline for control and elimination of human schistosomiasis: implications for the Schistosomiasis Elimination Programme in Nigeria.

Unlabelled: [Image: see text]

Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40249-022-01034-3.

The interruption of transmission of onchocerciasis in Kaduna, Kebbi and Zamfara states, Nigeria: another milestone achievement.

Background: More than 40 million people live in onchocerciasis-endemic areas in Nigeria. For at least 19 y, mass drug administration (MDA) with ivermectin was implemented with at least 65% total population coverage in Kaduna, Kebbi and Zamfara states. Impact surveys done using skin biopsies yielded no infections.

Frequency, pattern, and associations of generalized osteoarthritis among Nigerians with knee osteoarthritis.

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative condition leading to significant pain, functional limitation, and economic loss. Generalized OA (GOA) is associated with greater morbidity and accounts for 5-25% of total OA cases depending on definition used. This paper aims to determine the frequency and pattern of GOA, compare clinical and laboratory parameters of GOA and non-GOA subjects, then identify independent associations of GOA among Nigerians with knee OA.

Regulation of synaptic plasticity and cognition by SUMO in normal physiology and Alzheimer's disease.

Learning and memory and the underlying cellular correlate, long-term synaptic plasticity, involve regulation by posttranslational modifications (PTMs). Here we demonstrate that conjugation with the small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) is a novel PTM required for normal synaptic and cognitive functioning. Acute inhibition of SUMOylation impairs long-term potentiation (LTP) and hippocampal-dependent learning.

Caspase-9 mediates photoreceptor death after blunt ocular trauma.

Purpose: Ocular trauma is common in civilian and military populations. Commotio retinae involves acute disruption of photoreceptor outer segments after blunt ocular trauma, with subsequent photoreceptor apoptosis causing permanent visual impairment. The mechanisms of photoreceptor death in commotio retinae have not previously been described, although caspase-dependent death is important in other nontraumatic retinal degenerations.

Combined suppression of CASP2 and CASP6 protects retinal ganglion cells from apoptosis and promotes axon regeneration through CNTF-mediated JAK/STAT signalling.

We have previously shown that crushing the optic nerve induces death of retinal ganglion cells by apoptosis, but suppression of CASP2, which is predominantly activated in retinal ganglion cells, using a stably modified short interfering RNA CASP2, inhibits retinal ganglion cell apoptosis. Here, we report that combined delivery of short interfering CASP2 and inhibition of CASP6 using a dominant negative CASP6 mutant activates astrocytes and Müller cells, increases CNTF levels in the retina and leads to enhanced retinal ganglion cell axon regeneration. In dissociated adult rat mixed retinal cultures, dominant negative CASP6 mutant + short interfering CASP2 treatment also significantly increases GFAP+ glial activation, increases the expression of CNTF in culture, and subsequently increases the number of retinal ganglion cells with neurites and the mean retinal ganglion cell neurite length.

Caspase-9 mediates synaptic plasticity and memory deficits of Danish dementia knock-in mice: caspase-9 inhibition provides therapeutic protection.

Background: Mutations in either Aβ Precursor protein (APP) or genes that regulate APP processing, such as BRI2/ITM2B and PSEN1/PSEN2, cause familial dementias. Although dementias due to APP/PSEN1/PSEN2 mutations are classified as familial Alzheimer disease (FAD) and those due to mutations in BRI2/ITM2B as British and Danish dementias (FBD, FDD), data suggest that these diseases have a common pathogenesis involving toxic APP metabolites. It was previously shown that FAD mutations in APP and PSENs promote activation of caspases leading to the hypothesis that aberrant caspase activation could participate in AD pathogenesis.

Prevalence and correlates of hypertension among the Ibibio/Annangs, Efiks and Obolos: a cross sectional community survey in rural South-South Nigeria.

Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the public health burden of hypertension in the rural communities in southeastern Nigeria (Niger Delta region of Nigeria).

Design/setting: The study was a cross-sectional study in three rural communities in the Cross River and Akwa Ibom States of Nigeria. Demographic, anthropometric information, prior history of hypertension or stroke in each participant or their parents was obtained with a questionnaire.

Caspase inhibitors: prospective therapies for stroke.

In ischemic stroke, apoptosis persists for days to weeks after the onset of an ischemic event. Cysteine-ASPartic proteASEs (caspases) are key mediators of apoptosis and neurodegeneration in stroke. The impact of caspase activity is not restricted to neuronal death, as caspases can exacerbate inflammation and alter glial function.

Intranasal delivery of caspase-9 inhibitor reduces caspase-6-dependent axon/neuron loss and improves neurological function after stroke.

Despite extensive research to develop an effective neuroprotective strategy for the treatment of ischemic stroke, therapeutic options remain limited. Although caspase-dependent death is thought to play a prominent role in neuronal injury, direct evidence of active initiator caspases in stroke and the functional relevance of this activity have not previously been shown. Using an unbiased caspase-trapping technique in vivo, we isolated active caspase-9 from ischemic rat brain within 1 h of reperfusion.

The pattern of arrangement of the lumbrical muscles in an African population.

The pattern of arrangement of the lumbrical muscles in the hand of an African population was studied. Sixty-four upper limb specimen from 32 male cadavers between the ages 18 and 40 were obtained from the Department of Anatomy, University of Calabar, Nigeria were used. Ethical approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of the University, and each of the limbs of the cadavers was labeled.

Regulation of caspases in the nervous system implications for functions in health and disease.

Caspases, initially identified as a family of proteases regulating cell death, have been found to have nonapoptotic functions as well. Some family members are critical for mediating programmed cell death in development. After development, caspases are downregulated in the nervous system, but continue to perform important nonapoptotic functions relevant for neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity.

Mechanisms of neuronal death in disease: defining the models and the players.

Dysregulation of life and death at the cellular level leads to a variety of diseases. In the nervous system, aberrant neuronal death is an outstanding feature of neurodegenerative diseases. Since the discovery of the caspase family of proteases, much effort has been made to determine how caspases function in disease, including neurodegenerative diseases.

Chagas' disease parasite-derived neurotrophic factor activates cholinergic gene expression in neuronal PC12 cells.

A parasite-derived neurotrophic factor (PDNF) produced by the Chagas' disease parasite Trypanosoma cruzi binds nerve growth factor (NGF) receptor TrkA, increasing receptor autophosphorylation, and activating phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK/Erk) pathways, and transcription factor CREB. The end-result is enhanced survival and neuritogenesis of various types of neurons. PDNF also enhances the expression and activity of tyrosine hydroxylase, a rate limiting enzyme in the synthesis of dopamine and other catecholamine neurotransmitters.

Helminth associated hypereosinophilia and tropical endomyocardial fibrosis (EMF) in Nigeria.

There should be a recognisable trend between the incidence of hypereosinophilia and the duration of tropical endomyocardial fibrosis (EMF), if the hypothesis, that EMF is the burnt out phase of eosinophil associated heart disease, is correct. We tested this hypothesis in a prospective study of 89 consecutive EMF cases over an 18 year period at two Nigerian locations (Ife in South West and Calabar in South East). We carefully dated the duration of EMF symptoms at first presentation and screened for hypereosinophilia (eosinophilia > or = 1500/mm3), and their causes.

Thalamic pain syndrome of Dejerine-Roussy.

For the general practitioner it is extremely difficult to make the diagnosis of the thalamic pain syndrome of Dejerine-Roussy which may develop in patients who have suffered a cerebrovascular accident. Because of this inability, the syndrome is considered rare in Africa. At the Teaching Hospital of the University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria two cases were seen recently however.