A review of the roles of Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) molecules in infections

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) locus is a group of genes located on the short arm of chromosome 6 in human that code for proteins on the cell surface. They have important roles in immune response by the cells of immune system. Using a comprehensive search method on Google Scholar and PubMed databases, literatures on MHC published in English until 2021 were searched with the terms; “MHC”, “HLA”, “MHC antigen presentation” and “MHC roles in infections”. Relevant publications were identified, screened for duplicates and selected per eligibility. The review highlights the different haplotypes of the MHC that either enhance or depress the body immune system to some important viral, bacterial and parasitic infections. The possibility of utilizing this knowledge in genetic engineering and immunomodulation, to prevent infectious diseases and cancers, are discussed

Seroprevalence of Newcastle disease in indigenous chickens in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria

Newcastle disease (ND) is a disease of high economic importance to poultry farmers in Nigeria. Its impact on poultry include illness of poultry, reduction in egg production, immunosuppression, and death. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of Newcastle disease in indigenous (local) chickens from 2 poultry abattoirs in the Ilorin metropolis. A total of 400 blood samples were aseptically collected in plain bottles from the jugular veins of local chickens at slaughter using exsanguination and transported to the laboratory in batches. Sera samples were harvested from the blood by centrifugation at 3000 rpm for 10 minutes, after which they were stored at -20oC before serological assay. The sera were subjected to Haemagglutination Inhibition (HI) test to check for the presence of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) antibody following a standard procedure with titer values for each sample recorded. The geometric mean of the HI antibody titer (GMT) and the percentages of detectable NDV HI antibody titer were calculated using descriptive statistics. Of the 400 serum samples examined, 53 (13.25%) were positive for ND antibodies, with titre value ≥ 1:16. The location from which the birds were selected had no significant relationship with the prevalence of ND antibodies as both Oja tuntun (11.9%), and Ipata market (14.6%) had a closely similar prevalence of antibodies (p > 0.05). The feather arrangement of birds did not also have any significant impact on the prevalence of antibodies (p > 0.05). However, in this study, we observed a higher prevalence of antibodies among hens (14.7%) than in cocks (12.5%) or growers (8.9%). The high prevalence of ND antibodies in indigenous chickens in the study area showed the endemicity of the disease in the study areas. With most of the chickens are not vaccinated amid non-compliance to vaccine administration for local chickens. There is a need for poultry farmers in the study location to be educated on the importance of vaccinating poultry birds against ND

Pulp and Paper Potentials of Alkaline Peroxide Pre-Treated of Oil Palm Waste and Industrial Application

This chapter explores the potentials of the alkaline peroxide pre-treated oil palm vascular bundle (oil palm waste) in the industrial production of pulp, paper and other cellulosic products like microcrystalline cellulose. Management of this escalating waste is a herculean task and creates environmental hazards hence urgent action is needed to create value out of these waste biomass. The pulp and paper industry being a large consumer of lignocellulose materials preferred the use of coniferous and deciduous trees for pulp production and papermaking because their cellulose fibres in the pulp make durable paper. In addition to this, the global population explosion and the economic development has resulted in the significant increase in demand for paper. With improvements in pulp processing technology through the use of environmental benign technology like alkaline peroxide pre-treatment it has been considered as suitable for paper pulp and other cellulose based products such as microcrystalline cellulose. Characterization of the alkaline peroxide pre-treated oil palm vascular bundles using the scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transmission infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analyses confirm the micro-sized cellulose fibres. Use of these lignocellulosic materials can reduce the burden on the forest while supporting the natural biodiversity

Optimization of the Strength Properties of Waste Oil Palm (Elaeis Guineensis) Fronds Fiber

In this study, Box-Behnken design (BBD) and response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to study the effects of alkaline peroxide treatment variables (cooking time, sodium hydroxide concentrations, and hydrogen peroxide concentrations) on the pulp and paper strength properties (screened pulp yield, kappa number, tensile index, tear index, burst index), which are considered dependent variables or response variable of the extracted cellulose from oil palm (Elaeisguineensis) fronds (OPF) vascular bundle fibers. The results indicated that at the optimum operating conditions of 2.35% NaOH, 5.00% H2O2 and a 53.41 min cooking time, resulting maximum strength properties (tensile index, burst index, tear index,) gave 9.92 Nm/g, 6.55 KPam2/g, 6.22 mNm2/g, respectively. The study revealed that alkaline peroxide pulped fibers of oil palm frond vascular bundles could be considered a suitable alternative for paper qualities with moderate strength requirements

Chemometrics validation of adsorption process economy: Case study of acetaminophen removal onto quail eggshell adsorbents

The potential of quail eggshells for acetaminophen (PCM) removal in aqueous solution was studied. Calcination greatly increased the surface area of the raw quail eggshell (RQES). Hence, surface area as determined by the Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) surface and porosity analyzer are 680.80 m2/g for RQES while calcinated quail eggshell (CQES) had 927.30 m2/g. The scanning electron microscopic (SEM) analysis revealed pores useful for uptake of PCM. Adsorption process for the uptake of PCM onto RQES and CQES was pH-dependent with optimum pH of 7 and 6 respectively. The Freundlich adsorption isotherms suggested a multilayer adsorption of PCM unto RQES and CQES. The Dubinin Raduskevich (D-R) model best described the adsorption processes. The energy of adsorption obtained from the model for the two adsorption systems were 23.57 and 8.4515 kJ.mol−1 suggesting that chemisorption occurred within the systems. The maximum monolayer adsorption capacities were 10.00 and 15.15 mg/g for uptake of PCM unto RQES and CQES respectively. Pseudo-second-order model best explained the kinetics of the adsorption processes, adsorption process was established to be feasible and feasibility increased with temperature. The process economy validation by Ordinary Least Square (OLS) cum ridge estimator followed by model performance judgment using the test mean squared error (TMSE) revealed 32% and 22.8% in PCM quantity adsorbed per unit changes in time and temperature respectively. Hence, a valid justification for economy friendliness of the prepared adsorbents in acetaminophen removal

Coal fly ash supported nZnO for the sorption of triphenyltin chloride/

A laboratory study was performed to study the effects of various operating factors, viz. adsorbent dose, contact time, solution pH, stirring speed, initial concentration and temperature on the adsorption of triphenyltin chloride (TPT) onto coal fly ash supported nZnO (CFAZ). The adsorption capacity increases with increase in the adsorbent amount, contact time, pH, stirring speed and initial TPT concentration, and decrease with increase in the solution temperature. The adsorption data have been analyzed by Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) adsorption models to determine the mechanistic parameters associated with the adsorption process while the kinetic data were analyzed by pseudo first-order, pseudo second-order, Elovich, fractional power and intraparticle diffusivity kinetic models. The thermodynamic parameters of the process were also determined. The results of this study show that 0.5 g of CFAZ was able to remove up to 99.60% of TPT from contaminated natural seawater at 60 min contact time, stirring speed of 200 rpm and at a pH of 8. It was also found that the equilibrium and kinetic data fitted better to Freundlich and pseudo second-order models, respectively. It can therefore be concluded that CFAZ can be effectively used for shipyard process wastewater treatmen

EXTRACTION OF COPPER FROM LEACH LIQUOR OF METALLIC COMPONENT IN DISCARDED CELL PHONE BY CYANEX® 272

Discarded cell phones contribute significantly to the amount of electronic waste generation whilst some of its components are toxic and recoverable. Also, due to the increasing demand for Cu(II) in building/construction, electrical and as chemical tool in freshwater, it is imperative to develop low cost and ecofriendly technique as a substitute for the conventional treatments such as reduction-roasting route at elevated temperatures. In the present study, the hydrometallurgical operations involving leaching, solvent extraction and precipitation for the recovery of Cu(II) by Cyanex® 272 in kerosene was examined. Various parameters affecting the extraction of Cu(II) such as pH, extractant concentration and phase ratio were optimized. At optimal conditions, about 96.3 % Cu(II) was extracted into the organic phase by 0.2 mol/L Cyanex® 272 at equilibrium pH 5.0 and aqueous to organic phase ratio 1:1. The stripping of the loaded organic was carried out by 0.1 mol/L HCl solution and stripping efficiency of 98 % was obtained. By McCabe Thiele diagram, four stages are required for complete extraction of Cu(II)