Evaluation of Web Information Sources for Academic Purposes by Undergraduate Students in a Developing country

The study examined the web information seeking behavior of undergraduate students by evaluating information sources for academic purpose on the web. Three hundred questionnaires were distributed evaluating students perceptions on information sources on the web. Descriptive analysis, One-Way ANOVA was carried out in the analysis of data using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software. The study revealed that relevance of the information source was a major criterion for evaluation among undergraduate students in Landmark University. It was further revealed that undergraduate students showed preference for search engines as the preferred information source medium on the web as more than 50% of students rated accessibility and authority on search engines high. Results obtained from the study further revealed the need to improve information literacy skills and the information retrieval skills of undergraduate students in Nigeria

Digital Libraries in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities

The paper explores the challenges faced by digital libraries in Africa and highlights solutions to curbing these challenges that bridge the digital divide in Africa. Research of Digital Libraries in Africa is reviewed in order to identify challenges and opportunities peculiar to Africa.Findings from review showed sustainable funding, High Cost of Infrastructures, Digital Literacy, Copyright Issues and Equity of access are challenges facing digital libraries in Africa. It further proffered solutions by encouraging Library Consortia in Africa and promoting Open access policies The benefits of digital libraries are enormous and there is a need for African countries to leverage of these benefits to improve the accessibility and availability of these resources which provide opportunities for African countries to be abreast with current information, thereby bridging the knowledge gap. This study provides solutions to challenges facing digital libraries in Africa

Legal Effects of the Nigerian Patent Law on Sale of Drugs and Consumer Protection in Nigeria

The essence of the law of patent is usually to protect inventions especially ones that are new and those that improve on the new ones In effect patent confers the right to exclude others generally from exercising those rights the law confers on the patentee The major beneficiaries of patent often include scientists researchers professors pharmacists engineers and extendedly the consumers However as the task of this work demands the concentration will be on health related inventions That is the legal effects of patent laws on pharmaceuticals or drugs and other edibles The legal protection available to consumers will also be discussed in the light of the customs and practices of trade in Nigerian This will then lead us to an examination of how the law relating to patent has been able or failed to safeguard public health care system in Nigeria Consequently issues regarding consumer rights and the corresponding right of the buyer for goods to be of merchantable quality especially regarding the enormity of the problem of counterfeit drugs will be discusse

Losing the Utility of the Responsibility to Prevent: the confines of international law and focus on genocide prevention

The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) norm has spawned a lot academic literature since its formulation in 2001. The focus of these has mainly been on the responsibility to react, the second of the tri-partite continuum that makes up the R2P norm. This is undoubtedly due to the controversial nature associated with military action. This preoccupation ignores the importance of the initial step of R2P – the responsibility to prevent. This is compounded by the fact that presently prevention is mostly focused on the prevention of genocide. This is problematic because state practice in relation to the prevention of genocide usually is to ensure that genocide is occurring before prevention begins. This detracts from R2P’s equal theoretical treatment of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and ethnic cleansing – vastly different crimes. It is my contention that the present level and nature of focus on prevention in international law would undermine the utility of R2P as an instrument to be used by the international community. An individual state’s compliance with R2P within its borders is easy to evaluate; it is in the extra-territorial exercise of R2P that problems arise. This article aims to examine the responsibility to prevent by dissecting the component crimes of R2P and their prevention, examining prevention through the overarching lens of disciplines in international law and the various practicalities that impede prevention. The inclusion of the prevention gross human rights violations in the ambit of R2P is examined as an answer to the difficulties addressed

In vitro and in vivo evaluation of metal-chelating agents as novel metallo beta-lactamase inhibitors against carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae.

Masters Degree, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Infectious diseases remain one of the leading causes of death worldwide, despite the discovery of new and improvements on existing antibiotics. Bacteria are constantly developing sophisticated mechanisms of resisting the effects of antibiotics, this in turn has increased their pathogenicity and virulence. Drugs belonging to the beta-lactam class of antibiotics are most commonly prescribed as they display a broad-spectrum activity against both gram-positive and gramnegative bacteria. Carbapenems which are a member of this class is regarded as the last line of defence against bacterial infections. Resistance to carbapenems is on the increase especially by bacterial strains that are capable of producing metallo-beta lactamase enzymes. Infections caused by carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae are deadly especially those mediated by metallo beta-lactamases. Efforts are being made to synthesize compounds that can inhibit these enzymes. Thus far little progress has been made as a clinically available metallo beta-lactamase inhibitor has not yet emerged, hence the scourge of carbapenem resistant infections rages on. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to evaluate the in vitro and in vivo activities of metal chelating agents NO3PY and NOTA as potential metallo beta-lactamase inhibitors against carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae. The metal-chelating agents used in this study were NOTA and NO3PY. In vitro analysis was performed to determine the minimum inhibitory concentrations by broth microdilution of meropenem alone and when co-administered with the chelators against resistant bacterial strains. The strains used in this study were Escherichia coli NDM-1, Klebsiella pneumoniae 449, Escherichia coli IMP-1 and Enterobacter cloacae NDM-1. Time kill kinetics was also evaluated at graded concentrations of MIC, 1*MIC, 2*MIC, 4*MIC, 8*MIC and 16*MIC. For the in vivo pharmacokinetics were determined using LC-MS/MS analysis. Forty-eight healthy male Balb/c mice were divided into two groups; meropenem+NO3PY group and meropenem+NOTA group. Both groups received intraperitoneal doses at 10 mg/kg of meropenem and the MBLIs. Thereafter, the in vivo efficacy of meropenem co-administered with NOTA (100 mg/kg each) in a murine thigh infection was determined. Both chelators were able to restore the efficacy of meropenem to a concentration as low as 0.06 µg/ml. The time kill kinetics also showed that both compounds were able to significantly extend the killing time of meropenem. In vivo pharmacokinetic analysis revealed that NO3PY may not xiv be a suitable candidate for in vivo efficacy study as the MBLI was not bioavailable in plasma at 10mg/kg. NOTA on the other hand was bioavailable at the same concentration as NO3PY. The former was able to potentiate the effect of meropenem in vivo in a murine thigh infection model. It was evident by a significant reduction of colony forming unit counts in groups treated with meropenem co-administered with NOTA when compared to infected controls Further preclinical work such as in vitro and in vivo cytotoxicity tests, post beta-lactamase inhibitor effects among others are recommended for NOTA to further ascertain its suitability as a potential clinical metallo beta-lactamase inhibitor