Quantitative Fluorescence Microscopy of Protein Dynamics in Living Cells

The advent of confocal microscopy, fast microcomputers with high storage capacity and, moreover, the availability of fluorescent proteins of various excitation and emission properties have made fluorescence microscopy the method of choice in the study of protein behaviour in living cells. In this thesis we investigated in detail two important quantitative methods, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP). Model systems used in demonstrating the complementarity of the techniques and their merits included the nuclear excision repair (NER) system, transcription regulation by the androgen receptor (AR), and signal transduction by two membrane receptors, the EGF receptor and the IL2-receptor. In Chapter 1 an introduction to microscopy is given. A brief history traces the development of microscopy from the modest lens arrangement of Zacharias Janssen to modern fluorescence microscopes allowing quantitative investigation of protein dynamics in living cells. A discussion of fluorescence properties of the GFP is presented and several quantitative fluorescence microscopy techniques used are discussed. Also the model systems studied are described. In Chapter 2 the long-lived dark state of EGFP, the fluorescent tag used in most live cell studies, is investigated as observed in a set-up similar to a typical fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) experiment. A method is presented to measure light in

AN APPRAISAL OF THE TAX EVASION AND TAX AVOIDANCE SYSTEM IN INDONESIA

Tax avoidance and evasion are pervasive in all countries. This paper, firstreview a literature that integrate the tax avoidance and evasion into overall decisionproblem faced by government. The second, reviews the issue of corruption andbureaucracy, there is a link between tax evasion and corruption. This study uses literatureto analyze the cause and the effect of tax evasion and tax avoidance to environment.Finally, this paper will examine the effect of perceived corruption in government on taxevasion and how should the tax system in Indonesia face the tax evasion problem. Thegovernment attempts to improve the tax compliance in Indonesia with comprehensiveregulation of the schemes of tax avoidance schemes. Therefore, it need a specific antiavoidancerules in Indonesian tax lawDOI: 10.15408/akt.v8i2.288

A Study of Polysemy and Metaphor of Hausa Perception Verbs of Vision: A Cognitive Linguistics Approach

This paper examines the polysemy and metaphor of Hausa perception verbs of vision from a cognitive semantics perspective, which is a sub-field of cognitive linguistics. The objective of the study is to identify how underlying polysemous extensions of the Hausa perception verbs trigger the conceptual metaphor of vision. In conducting the research, ethnographic research methods were employed in collecting the data for this study, while the conceptual polysemy model proposed by Ibarretxe-Antunano (1999) and the conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) propounded by Lakoff and Jhonson (1980) were adopted as the theoretical framework of the research. The outcome of the study reveals that Hausa perception verbs of vision, when polysemously extended conceptually, encode an array of conceptual metaphors that conceptually denote mental activity and experience, social activity, and evidential experience. Finally, the result of the study establishes a relationship between perception and cognition. &nbsp

The effects of intrauterine ethanol exposure on the levels of Iron and Copper in Cerebrum and Cerebellum of neonatal Wistar rats

Neurodevelopmental disorders have been reported to be associated with infants exposed to ethanol in utero. The study was aimed at evaluating the effects of intrauterine ethanol exposure on neurobehaviour and the amount of iron and copper in the cerebrum and cerebellum of neonatal Wistar rats at different periods of development. Fourteen (14) female Wistar rats were mated with matured males in ratio 2:1 overnight following determination of oestrous phase. Pregnant dams were divided into 7 groups. Group A served as the control that received distilled water. Groups B, C and D were administered 0.5ml of 20% ethanol equivalent to 1st, 1st and 2nd trimesters and whole gestation period (i.e 1st, 2nd and 3rd trimesters) respectively. Groups E, F and G were given 0.5ml of 30% ethanol accordingly. Following parturition, neurobehavioural assessment on sensory and motor reflexes of the litters were tested on postnatal days 5, 6 and 7. Brain tissues were later excised, homogenised and analysed using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry. SPSS V20 was used to compare the mean difference using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The ethanol treated neonates in Groups B, E, F and G showed a statistically significant (p˂0.05) increase in latency to respond to sensory and motor reflexes when compared with Control Group. Interrelated elevation of both iron and copper was observed in the cerebellum while both the amounts of iron and copper in the cerebrum were depleted. It is concluded that intrauterine ethanol exposure has effect on the development of vestibular, postural, sensory and motor coordination. The alterations in the amounts of iron and copper which are important cofactors for certain neurotransmitters and enzymes in the brain could play role in the neurobehavioural deficits observed. Intrauterine ethanol ingestion affects development of sensory and motor reflexes as well as the amounts of iron and copper in both cerebrum and cerebellum in a reciprocal manner. Keywords: ethanol, intrauterine, neurobehaviour, neurochemistr

Evaluation of Physico-Chemical and Fungal Species Associated with Oil Contaminated Soil from Selected Automobile Garage in Sokoto Metropolis

This study was conducted with a view to evaluating the physicochemical and mycological properties of different oil contaminated soils collected from three different automobile garages in Sokoto Metropolis, and uncontaminated soil from the temporary site, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS) was used as the control. The pH was determined using pH meter model Hanna (H1991301), quantity of mineral elements was evaluated in accordance with Murphy and Fungi were isolated from the three oil contaminated samples (A, B. and C) and the uncontaminated (sample D) as control, this was done by standard procedure using the method of P. Ren, T. Jankun & B. Leaderer. The physical, chemical, and mineral elements from the oil-contaminated soils of the three automobile garages and control. The results of particle soil analysis revealed the high content of sandy soil (96.2 to 87.3) and silt is the lowest with (2.5–0.6). Magnesium had the highest concentration of studied minerals, ranging from 193 to 649.2 mg/kg. while PH result revealed that the soil samples were pH value ranged from (16.85–16.20) in oil Contaminated samples, while the control had 15.90, and electrical conductivity ranged from 12.8–13.8 % and 28 % in control, four fungal isolates Aspergillus sp., Penicillum sp., Mucor sp. and Sporobolomyces sp. were identified based on colonial, sexual and morphological characteristics. These fungal strains can be used in bioremediation process and oil pollution reduction in aquatic ecosystems

Evaluation of antiulcer activity of aqueous ethanol extract of Thesium viride on ethanol and aspirin induced models in rats

Thesiumviride Hill (Santalaceae) is a sub-shrub hemiparasite that grows up to 45cm tall and widely distributed in Europe, Asia and Africa. It is used in treatment of ulcer and jaundice. Phytochemical screening was carried out on the aqueous ethanol extract of the whole plant by using standard phytochemical methods. Acute oral toxicity test was carried out and antiulcer activity was conducted using absolute ethanol and aspirin as the ulcerogenic agents on rats where the ulcer index was the parameter and percentage preventive index was determined. The aqueous ethanol extract of the plant was found to contain flavonoids,  anthraquinones, glycosidesand alkaloids. Acute toxicity test showed an oral LD50 greater than 5000 mg/kg. In ethanol model, aqueous ethanol extract at doses of 250 and 500 mg/kg exhibited significant (P<0.0001) protection against ulcer with mean ulcer indices of 4.40 ± 0.60 and 1.80 ± 0.37 respectively as compared with negative (12.80 ± 0.97) and positive (4.00 ± 0.71)control mean ulcer indices. In aspirin model, aqueous ethanol extract at doses of 250 and 500 mg/kg demonstrated  significant (P<0.05) protection against ulcer with mean ulcer indices of 3.20 ± 0.80 and 2.60 ± 0.24 respectively ascompared with negative (5.60 ± 0.97) and positive (1.00 ± 0.44) controlmean ulcer indices. The higher dose of the extract demonstrated greater protective ability with percentage preventive index 85.94% in ethanol induced model and 53.57% in aspirin induced model. The aqueous ethanol extract of the plant was found to be non-toxic and contains some phytochemicals that could be responsible for its antiulcer activity.Keywords: Thesiumviride, Phytochemical, LD50, Ulcer index, Aqueous ethanol extrac

Public key exponent attacks on multi-prime power modulus using continued fraction expansion method

This paper proposes three public key exponent attacks of breaking the security of the prime power modulus =22 where and are distinct prime numbers of the same bit size. The first approach shows that the RSA prime power modulus =22 for q<<2q using key equation −()=1 where ()= 22(−1)(−1) can be broken by recovering the secret keys  / from the convergents of the continued fraction expansion of e/−23/4 +1/2 . The paper also reports the second and third approaches of factoring multi-prime power moduli =2 2 simultaneously through exploiting generalized system of equations −()=1 and −()=1 respectively. This can be achieved in polynomial time through utilizing Lenstra Lenstra Lovasz (LLL) algorithm and simultaneous Diophantine approximations method for =1,2,…,

NOSE-TO-BRAIN DELIVERY, A ROUTE OF CHOICE FOR TARGETING BRAIN TUMORS

Brain tumours are the most lethal type of cancer, which is difficult to manage due to the inherent suboptimal bioavailability of the chemotherapy agent at tumour sites, consequent of high levels of protection of physiological blood-brain barrier (BBB), blood tumour barrier (BTB) and blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (CSF). Improving the permeability of these barriers would enhance the disease's clinical prognosis and promote patients' quality of life. To this end, scientists have conducted several studies to determine the most suitable route for CNS delivery. Most of which show that the nose-to-brain is proposed to be the most convenient, efficacious and clinically beneficial non-invasive means of delivering chemotherapeutic agents directly to the brain. Therefore, this study compares the therapeutic benefits of intranasal and other conventional brain delivery systems and further evaluates the clinical benefits of using different nanocarriers for brain tumour targeting. However, we surveyed the literature by conducting an in-depth search of the research keywords and their combinations in recognized scientific databases, primarily Science Direct, PubMed, Google Scholar, and Research Gate. Our findings have shown that the nose-to-brain delivery of chemotherapeutics is a breakthrough in bypassing the effects of BBB, BTB, and CSF barriers, improving the delivery of drugs to the brain for specific tumour targeting with desired clinical prognosis

Physiochemical properties of biodiesel produced from ogbono (Irvingia gabonesis) seed oil

Biodiesel is a promising alternative fuel and has gained significant attention due to the predicted depletion of conventional fossil fuels and environmental concerns. This study aims to produce biodiesel from ogbono seed oil (using 98 ml methanol and 2g potassium hydroxide (KOH) as a catalyst) via transesterification process and to determine the physiochemical properties of the biodiesel produced. The physiochemical properties of the feedstock (extracted ogbono seed oil) were also determined before the transesterification process. The physiochemical properties of the produced biodiesel showed that it has a density of 0.5±0.00 g/cm3, pour point of 2.0±0, saponification value of 58.90±0.06 mg KOH/g, ester value of 98.0±0.5% (m/m), iodine value of 26.64±0.15gI2/100g, acid value of 0.28±0.05 mgKOH/g, moisture value of 0.0006 ±0.0% and trace amounts of ash content. The results of the physiochemical properties of the produced biodiesel agree with ASTM-D6751 and EN 14214 standard. Thus, it was concluded that ogbono seed oil is an excellent feedstock for biodiesel production via base catalyzed transesterification proces