Revisiting the causes of delay in the adjudication of Islamic personal law cases in Nigerian jurisprudence

The Nigerian legal system consists of English-style courts, Islamic courts and customary courts. The Islamic courts do not have exclusive jurisdiction in Islamic law matters as the jurisdiction of the English-style courts also extend to Islamic law matters. Before 1979, the Sharia Court of Appeal of the defunct northern Nigeria was the highest appellate court for Islamic law cases in northern Nigeria. The defunct 1979 Constitution created appeal from the Supreme Court of Appeal of the States to the Court of Appeal and finally to the Supreme Court, and allowed lawyers into Islamic courts. While English-style courts are generally notorious for delay in the disposal of cases, Islamic courts are known for speedy dispensation of justice. The developments introduced by the 1979 Constitution into the administration of Islamic law in the country have brought many factors that are now occasioning delays, and often, inordinate delays, into the final disposal of Islamic cases in northern Nigeria. The paper, using the case study methodidentifies the causes of delay in the adjudication of Islamic personal law cases in both Islamic and English-style courts in Nigeria with particular reference to northern Nigeria. The paper suggests ways of overcoming the challenges responsible for these delays. Keywords: Courts, Delay, Adjudication, Cases, Pluralism, Nigeri

Reported rates of diarrhea following oral penicillin therapy in pediatric clinical trials

OBJECTIVES: Antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) is a well-recognized adverse reaction to oral penicillins. This review analyzed the literature to determine the incidence of AAD following amoxicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanate, and penicillin V oral therapy in pediatric clinical trials. METHODS: An advanced search was conducted in MEDLINE and Embase databases for articles in any language reporting the incidence of AAD following oral penicillin therapy for any indicated infection in children (0–17 years). The search was limited to clinical trials. Articles were excluded if treatment was related to chronic conditions, involved concomitant antimicrobials, or if the dose or number of patients was not specified. RESULTS: Four hundred thirty-five articles relating to clinical trials were identified (307 from Embase; 128 from MEDLINE). Thirty-five articles reporting on 42 studies were included for analysis. The indications included acute otitis media, sinusitis, pharyngitis, and pneumonia. Thirty-three trials reported on amoxicillin/clavulanate, 6 on amoxicillin, and 3 on penicillin V. In total, the 42 trials included 7729 children who were treated with an oral penicillin. On average, 17.2% had AAD. Data were pooled for each penicillin. The AAD incidence was 19.8% for amoxicillin/clavulanate, 8.1% for amoxicillin, and 1.2% for penicillin V. The amoxicillin/clavulanate data were analyzed according to formulation: pooled-average. The incidence of ADD was 24.6% for the 4:1 formulation, 12.8% for the 7:1 formulation, 19.0% for the 8:1 formulation, and 20.2% for the 14:1 formulation. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate substantially increased incidence of AAD following use of amoxicillin/clavulanate, compared to use of amoxicillin and penicillin V, as well as varying AAD rates with diffierent amoxicillin/clavulanate formulations. These findings warrant consideration when prescribing. The underlying mechanisms of AAD in children remain unclear

Enhanced interlayer trapping of Pb(II) ions within kaolinite layers:intercalation, characterization, and sorption studies

Lead (Pb(II)) pollution in water poses a serious threat to human health in many parts of the world. In the past decades, research has been aimed at developing efficient and cost-effective methods to address the problem. In this study, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and potassium acetate (K-Ac) intercalated kaolinite complexes were synthesized and subsequently utilized for Pb(II) removal from water. The intercalation of kaolinite with DMSO was found to be useful for expanding the interlayer space of the clay mineral from 0.72 to 1.12 nm. Kaolinite intercalation with K-Ac (KDK) increased the interlayer space from 1.12 to 1.43 nm. The surface area of KDK was found to be more than threefold higher as compared to natural kaolinite (NK). Batch experimental results revealed that the maximum Pb(II) uptake capacity of KDK was 46.45 mg g−1 which was higher than the capacity of NK (15.52 mg g−1). Reusability studies showed that KDK could be reused for 5 cycles without substantially losing its adsorption capacity. Furthermore, fixed-bed column tests confirmed the suitability of KDK in continuous mode for Pb(II) removal. Successful application of intercalated kaolinite for Pb(II) adsorption in batch and column modes suggests its application in water treatment (especially removal of divalent metals)

Structural characterization of an unprecedented lectin-like antitumoral anti-MUC1 antibody

The molecular basis of antibody 5E5, which recognizes the entire GalNAc unit as a primary epitope is disclosed. The antibody's contacts with the peptide are mostly limited to two residues, allowing it to show some degree of promiscuity. These findings open the door to the chemical design of peptide-mimetics for developing efficient anti-cancer vaccines and diagnostic tools. This journal isFunding from the Agencia Estatal Investigacion of Spain (AEI,RTI-2018-099592-B-C21, CTQ2013-44367-C2-2-P, BFU2016-75633-P,PID2019-105451GB-I00 and PID2019-107476GB-I00), ARAID, the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (PRIN2015 contract nr. 2015RNWJAM), the Royal Society (URF\R\180019),the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF107) and FCTPortugal (iFCT, IF/00624/2015, and Doctoral Studentship SFRH/BD/111556/2015, IF/00780/2015; PTDC/BIA-MIB/31028/2017, UCIBIOUIDB/04378/2020 and NMR Infrastructure project 22161) isacknowledged. I. A. B. and A. A. thank the AECC for predoctoralfellowships. E. J.-M. thanks Universidad de La Rioja for a post-doctoral fellowship. We thank H. Clausen and U. Mandel forproviding us the complete 5E5 antibody

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

The past 2 years, during which waves of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants swept the globe, have starkly highlighted health disparities across nations. Tegally et al. show how the coordinated efforts of talented African scientists have in a short time made great contributions to pandemic surveillance and data gathering. Their efforts and initiatives have provided early warning that has likely benefited wealthier countries more than their own. Genomic surveillance identified the emergence of the highly transmissible Beta and Omicron variants and now the appearance of Omicron sublineages in Africa. However, it is imperative that technology transfer for diagnostics and vaccines, as well the logistic wherewithal to produce and deploy them, match the data-gathering effort