Thymoquinone inhibits Neuroinflammatory mediators and vasoconstriction injury via NF-κB dependent NeuN/GFAP/Ki-67 in hypertensive Dams and F1 male pups on exposure to a mixture of Bisphenol-A analogues.

Bisphenol-A (BPA) analogues seem inevitable components of numerous domestic products, but these have been identified as agents of teratogenic disorders. This study, therefore, investigated the effect of thymoquinone (TMQ) on the striatum of hypertensive female rats and their F1 male offsprings, on exposure to a mixture of Bisphenol-B, Bisphenol-F and Bisphenol-S (MBFS). Female rats were divided into normotensive and hypertensive groups; and both were treated with MBFS only, MBFS + TMQ, and TMQ only.

Trend Analysis of Maternal Mortality in Kenya: Post-Devolution Empirical Results.

Introduction: Kenya has taken significant steps to improve Reproductive Maternal Neonatal Child Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) services, with a vision to prevent preventable deaths of women and newborns. This study seeks to fill a crucial gap in understanding the dynamics of maternal mortality in Kenya, post-devolution.

Materials And Methods: The study spans all the 47 counties of the Republic of Kenya, using county as the unit of analysis.

Experimental and molecular docking studies of quercetin and vitamin E with diabetes-associated mitochondrial-ATPase as anti-apoptotic therapeutic strategies.

Purpose: Researches have shown the relevance of antioxidants in the management of several diseases. In the present study, the effects of quercetin and vitamin E were investigated on the mitochondrial functions in vivo and in silico.

Methods: Structures of quercetin and vitamin E were docked against mitochondrial Adenosine triphosphatase (mATPase), and cytochrome c cavity.

Stochastic process and tutorial of the African buffalo optimization.

This paper presents the data description of the African buffalo optimization algorithm (ABO). ABO is a recently-designed optimization algorithm that is inspired by the migrant behaviour of African buffalos in the vast African landscape. Organizing their large herds that could be over a thousand buffalos using just two principal sounds, the /maaa/ and the /waaa/ calls present a good foundation for the development of an optimization algorithm.

The status of natural radioactivity in Nigerian environments.

Proper documentation of baseline radiation data of different environments is an important step toward adequate environmental monitoring, and it provides quick means to quantitatively check and determine possible radionuclide contamination by anthropogenic sources. Besides, such documentation is useful for decision making processes, assessment of dose rates to the public, epidemiological studies, and environmental regulations. This review summarizes the results of studies conducted on radioactivity in Nigerian environments.

An integrated assessment of land use impact, riparian vegetation and lithologic variation on streambank stability in a peri-urban watershed (Nigeria).

Bank erosion is an important source of sediment and phosphorus to inland fluvial systems and is generally responsible for more than half of the total watershed sediment export. Numerous studies have quantified bank erosion and the spatio-temporal variation of sediment flux in different watersheds. However, there is sparse research to date on the linkages between bank erosion/accretion and sediment export under different land uses, especially in rapidly evolving peri-urban watersheds.

Emergence of species in ticks from free-ranging domestic animals in Raymond Mhlaba local municipality, South Africa.

Ticks infestation and diseases associated with it, are becoming a major life threatening concern to wildlife, domesticated animals and human health in general. Besides causing skin damage, ticks infestations have become a growing burden in food security and transmission of multiple pathogens. There is paucity of data on the occurrence of etiologic agents of tick-borne diseases in the Eastern Cape Province South Africa.

Quercetin and vitamin E ameliorate cardio-apoptotic risks in diabetic rats.

Apoptosis is upregulated in all forms of diabetes, and the mitochondria act as target in diabetes pathophysiology. Quercetin and vitamin E have both shown usefulness in the delay of progression of diabetes-induced complications. However, their effect on the apoptotic process in diabetes mellitus is unknown.

Combating Lassa fever for sustainable development: Interplay of perceived behavioural control and current preventive practices in most endemic States in Nigeria.

Lassa fever has become a recurring incidence in Nigeria with high case fatality rates recorded in recent times. Given that total compliance with standard hygiene is recommended as a fundamental ingredient for the prevention of Lassa fever, this study investigated the influence of perceived behavioural control and current household and environmental hygiene practices for Lassa fever prevention among residents of selected Lassa fever endemic states in Nigeria. Data collected from primary sources through a mixed-methods approach, using self-administered structured questionnaire and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) was used for analysis and drawing of inferences.

Anaemia in Children and Adolescents: A Bibliometric Analysis of BRICS Countries (1990-2020).

Background/objectives: Brazil, Russia, India China and South Africa have prioritized cooperation regarding health, including malnutrition. Anaemia in children, adolescents and women of reproductive age has been on the increase in these countries, placing a huge strain on healthcare systems. This study aimed to map the scientific perspective and research publications on anaemia in children and adolescents in the BRICS countries.

A Comparative Performance Analysis of Computational Intelligence Techniques to Solve the Asymmetric Travelling Salesman Problem.

This paper presents a comparative performance analysis of some metaheuristics such as the African Buffalo Optimization algorithm (ABO), Improved Extremal Optimization (IEO), Model-Induced Max-Min Ant Colony Optimization (MIMM-ACO), Max-Min Ant System (MMAS), Cooperative Genetic Ant System (CGAS), and the heuristic, Randomized Insertion Algorithm (RAI) to solve the asymmetric Travelling Salesman Problem (ATSP). Quite unlike the symmetric Travelling Salesman Problem, there is a paucity of research studies on the asymmetric counterpart. This is quite disturbing because most real-life applications are actually asymmetric in nature.

Effectiveness of Yoruba language radio jingles in promoting knowledge, attitude and practices regarding Lassa fever among women in Ondo state, Nigeria.

Background: Lassa fever is one of the known Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) that plague some states in Nigeria. Radio jingles in indigenous language have been adopted as a veritable risk communication approach to promote public knowledge in the bid to reduce the incidence of Lassa fever outbreaks in Ondo state which has recorded the highest number of victims in recent times. Given the high level of women's contribution in home keeping, food storage as well as maintenance of environmental hygiene practices, their knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP), is fundamental for the control of Lassa fever.

ASSESSMENT OF NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY IN MAIZE AND ESTIMATION OF CONCOMITANT DOSE TO NIGERIAN VIA INGESTION PATHWAY.

Uranium, thorium and potassium are the most abundant naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMs) found in soils and other environmental media including foodstuffs. Since the human exposures to NORMs is an unavoidable phenomenon, in such a way that they can easily find their way to human being via food chain, detailed knowledge on their presence in foodstuffs is necessary to assess the radiation dose to the population. Thus, the present study concerns the assessment of natural radioactivity in maize, a staple foodstuff for Nigerian, via HPGe gamma-ray spectrometry.

Prevalence of porcine parvoviruses in some South African swine herds with background of porcine circovirus type 2 infection.

The classical porcine parvovirus is an important pathogen of reproductive disorders in pigs with a confirmed history of global distribution. The detection of many novel porcine parvoviruses has however been on the increase for the past few years, but there is a dearth of information on the occurrence and prevalence of these viruses in South Africa. Molecular detection of some known parvoviruses, namely porcine parvoviruses (PPVs) - 1, 2, 3 and 4, porcine bocavirus-like virus (PBo-likeV) and porcine bocaviruses (PBoV1/2), was carried out from 110 randomly selected archived swine samples collected in the year 2015 and 2016.