Risk factors for rifampicin resistance tuberculosis among patients attending Directly Observed Treatments Centres in Southwestern Nigeria.

Introduction: tuberculosis (TB) remains a disease of global health importance. GeneXpert has emerged as a useful tool for the diagnosis of drug resistant TB (DR-TB). We determined the risk factors associated with DR-TB among presumptive pulmonary TB patients.

Interfacial Engineering of a Z-Scheme BiOS/NiTiO Heterojunction Photoanode for the Degradation of Sulfamethoxazole in Water.

To develop a semiconductor interface with enhanced spatial separation of carriers under visible light irradiation for the photoelectrochemical (PEC) oxidation process, we explored the fabrication of a BiOS/NiTiO heterojunction photoanode for the removal of sulfamethoxazole in water. The BiOS/NiTiO photoanode was synthesized via an in situ hydrothermal process, and it exhibited better light absorption and charge separation, as well as a reduced rate of recombination of photoexcited charge species compared to pristine BiOS and NiTiO The improved photoelectrocatalytic performance was attributed to the synergistic interaction between BiOS and NiTiO and the presence of an S-O bond at the heterojunction interface, thus resulting in Z-scheme heterojunction formation. Various characterization methods such as XPS, UV-DRS, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, photoluminescence, FESEM, TEM, and photocurrent response measurements were explored to explain the optical and electrochemical properties of the semiconductor heterojunction.

Performance prediction of polypeptide derivatives as efficient potential microbial inhibitors: a computational approach.

Objective: Lately, various scientists have been paying a lot of consideration to the design of operational antimicrobial agents due to the rise of multiple drug-resistant strains. Therefore, this work is aimed at discovering the biochemical behavior of the analyzed polypeptides in relation to glutamine amidotransferase GatD (pdb id: 5n9m) for gram positive bacteria and beta-lactamase class A (pdb id: 5fqq) for gram negative bacteria. Additionally, this study aims to identify the specific atoms involved in the observed biochemical interactions between the studied complexes using computational methods.

An in vivo and in silico probing of the protective potential of betaine against sodium fluoride-induced neurotoxicity.

Excessive fluoride exposure beyond the tolerable limit may adversely impacts brain functionality. Betaine (BET), a trimethyl glycine, possesses antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic functions, although the underlying mechanisms of the role of BET on fluoride-induced neurotoxicity remain unelucidated. To assess the mechanism involved in the neuro-restorative role of BET on behavioural, neurochemical, and histological changes, we employed a rat model of sodium fluoride (NaF) exposure.

Dataset on anti-human insulin-degrading enzyme activities of cyclic tetra peptides: Insight from insilico approach.

In this work, the biochemical activities of seven cyclic peptides were investigated using the approach. The materials used in this work were Spartan 14 for quantum chemical analysis, molecular operating environment software for molecular docking and ADMETSAR 2.0 for pharmacokinetic investigation.