Organization As a Managerial Variable: A Study of Financial Resource Provision In University Libraries in The North Central Zone of Nigeria

This paper examined the influence of the managerial variable of organization on the provision of library resources in university libraries in the North Central Zone of Nigeria. This study was guided by two research questions, what is the extent of financial resource provision in universities in the North Central Zone of Nigeria; and what is the influence of planning on the provision of library resources in universities in the North Central Zone of Nigeria? The sample population of the study was 124 comprising all the ninety nine librarians and all the twenty five chief and assistant chief library officers in the university libraries studied. The instruments for collecting data for this study were a researcher administered questionnaire and personal interview coupled with observation. The finding revealed that organization was found to have significant influence on the provision of financial resources. Recommendation for stakeholders in library and information science to organize various management training programmes for university librarians and other staff of the university library performing management functions was made among other

Information Resource Evaluation for Information Provision in University Libraries in the North Central Zone of Nigeria

This study was to ascertain the extent of information resource provision in universities in the North Central Zone of Nigeria, and to determine the influence of evaluation on the provision of library resources in universities in the North Central Zone of Nigeria. In line with this, two research questions guided the study; what is the extent of library resource provision in universities in the North Central Zone of Nigeria? And what is the influence of evaluation on the provision of library resources in the universities in the North Central Zone of Nigeria? The research design adopted was Ex post facto research. All the ninety nine librarians and all the twenty five chief and assistant chief library officers in the university libraries in all the six state, four federal, and four private- owned universities in the North Central Zone of Nigeria were the population and also the sampled population. The finding among others revealed that evaluating how each resource of the library helps to achieve the goals of the library had a significant influence on information resource provision in the university libraries. The study concluded that proper application of evaluation in critical areas such as those relating to selection, acquisition, processing, lending, preservation and use was very critical

RNAi Methodologies for the Functional Study of Signaling Molecules

RNA interference (RNAi) was investigated with the aim of achieving gene silencing with diverse RNAi platforms that include small interfering RNA (siRNA), short hairpin RNA (shRNA) and antisense oligonucleotides (ASO). Different versions of each system were used to silence the expression of specific subunits of the heterotrimeric signal transducing G-proteins, G alpha i2 and G beta 2, in the RAW 264.7 murine macrophage cell line. The specificity of the different RNA interference (RNAi) platforms was assessed by DNA microarray analysis. Reliable RNAi methodologies against the genes of interest were then developed and applied to functional studies of signaling networks. This study demonstrates a successful knockdown of target genes and shows the potential of RNAi for use in functional studies of signaling molecules

A detailed Hapmap of the Sitosterolemia locus spanning 69 kb; differences between Caucasians and African-Americans

BACKGROUND: Sitosterolemia is an autosomal recessive disorder that maps to the sitosterolemia locus, STSL, on human chromosome 2p21. Two genes, ABCG5 and ABCG8, comprise the STSL and mutations in either cause sitosterolemia. ABCG5 and ABCG8 are thought to have evolved by gene duplication event and are arranged in a head-to-head configuration. We report here a detailed characterization of the STSL in Caucasian and African-American cohorts. METHODS: Caucasian and African-American DNA samples were genotypes for polymorphisms at the STSL locus and haplotype structures determined for this locus RESULTS: In the Caucasian population, 13 variant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified and resulting in 24 different haplotypes, compared to 11 SNPs in African-Americans resulting in 40 haplotypes. Three polymorphisms in ABCG8 were unique to the Caucasian population (E238L, INT10-50 and G575R), whereas one variant (A259V) was unique to the African-American population. Allele frequencies of SNPs varied also between these populations. CONCLUSION: We confirmed that despite their close proximity to each other, significantly more variations are present in ABCG8 compared to ABCG5. Pairwise D' values showed wide ranges of variation, indicating some of the SNPs were in strong linkage disequilibrium (LD) and some were not. LD was more prevalent in Caucasians than in African-Americans, as would be expected. These data will be useful in analyzing the proposed role of STSL in processes ranging from responsiveness to cholesterol-lowering drugs to selective sterol absorption