Service quality in decentralized community-based Covid-19 antigen rapid diagnostic testing programmes in the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria.

Introduction: Decentralized COVID-19 testing with antigen rapid diagnostic tests (Ag-RDT) is recommended by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control for community-level services. These services have been provided in Primary Healthcare Centers, Community Pharmacies, and licensed "Patent Medicine Stores" that serve the least affluent communities. To support quality assurance, we applied an adapted version of SPI-RT (Stepwise Process for Improving the Quality of HIV Rapid and Recency Testing) to sites providing COVID-19-RDTs in Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria.

Necroptosis in the developing brain: role in neurodevelopmental disorders.

Cell death is vital to various organismal developmental processes including brain development. Apoptosis, the most recognized programmed cell death, has been linked to several developmental processes and implicated in pruning cells to provide the ultimate tissue integrity. However, more recently, other forms of non-apoptotic programmed cell death have been identified, of which necroptosis is of predominant interest.

Impact of peer education on sexual health knowledge among adolescents and young persons in two North Western states of Nigeria.

Background: Generally, social development among young people is largely influenced by their peers. Peer education is a proven and effective approach for promoting reproductive health among young people, especially HIV/AIDS education. This study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of a peer-led education intervention in addressing sexual and reproductive health related knowledge and concerns among young people in Kaduna and Kano States, northwest Nigeria.

Analysis of diesel engine injector nozzle spray characteristics fueled with residual fuel oil.

Experimental analysis on the spray characteristics of a diesel engine injector nozzle fueled with Residual Fuel Oil (RFO) was carried out in this study. To achieve this, the fuel was characterized to determine its physicochemical properties, and an experimental set up was designed to visualize and capture the spray pattern of the fuel. The images obtained were processed and analysed using Image J software to determine the spray length, spray cone angle, spray area, spray volume, and spray velocity values of the fuel.

Cocaine-induced suppression of saccharin intake and morphine modulation of Ca²⁺ channel currents in sensory neurons of OPRM1 A118G mice.

Several studies have shown that human carriers of the single nucleotide polymorphism of the μ-opioid receptor, OPRM1 A118G, exhibit greater drug and alcohol use, increased sensitivity to pain, and reduced sensitivity to the antinociceptive effects of opiates. In the present study, we employed a 'humanized' mouse model containing the wild-type (118AA) or variant (118GG) allele to examine behavior in our model of drug-induced suppression of a natural reward cue and to compare the morphine pharmacological profile in acutely isolated sensory neurons. Compared with 118AA mice, our results demonstrate that homozygous 118GG mice exhibit greater avoidance of the cocaine-paired saccharin cue, a behavior linked to an aversive withdrawal-like state.