Characterization of Diesel Degrading Bacterial Species from Contaminated Tropical Ecosystem

The bacterial diversity in a diesel contaminated tropical soil was investigated using diesel oxidation in gradient cultures dynamics (pH and OD) of the pure cultures. The diesel dependent growths of these isolates were assessed for 15 days by monitoring the gradient fluxes in the pH and Optical density OD of the media. Results showed an increase in OD as well as fluctuations in pH values. The mean OD data obtained was 0.515- 1.187 with pH of 6.95- 7.2. From the morphological and biochemical characterization and comparison with respect to the standard references, the isolates S1P1, S3P3, S2P2, S2P1,and S3P2 were presumably the members of the genera Bacillus, Pseudomonas and Mycobacterium species. From the study, it was apparent that the tropical ecosystems contained unique organisms with the ability to deal with diesel contamination

GLOBAL ANALYSIS OF SUMO E3 LIGASE SPECIFICITY UNCOVERS CROSSTALK-MEDIATED KINASE ACTIVATION

Over 100 kinases were recovered as SUMO substrates in our assays which points to a global phenomenon of kinase regulation by SUMO modification. The studies presented in chapter 4 describe our efforts to validate and characterize SUMO modification of focal adhesion, tyrosine kinase, Pyk2. Here, we demonstrate that SUMOylation of Pyk2 is a novel PTM that serves to amplify intrinsic kinase activity by enhancing autophosphorylation. Further biochemical studies reveal SUMOylation of Pyk2 enhances its association with putative binding protein Src kinase, promotes phosphorylation of downstream focal adhesion protein paxillin, and mediates ERK activation. These findings led us to examine the role of SUMOylation of Pyk2 in cell migration. Our results suggest SUMOylation of Pyk2 amplifies its promigratory function in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. These studies have revealed a novel mechanism for Pyk2 activation, regulated by crosstalk between phosphorylation and SUMOylation. Collectively, we have illuminated the connections between SUMOylated kinases along a particular signaling axis, promoting enzyme activity, protein interactions, and activation of numerous nodes in a pathway. We believe that the work presented in this thesis will have a profound impact on the studies of SUMOylation and its crosstalk with other PTMs in a broad range of biological processes

Chest radiography patterns of COVID-19 pneumonia in Kumasi, Ghana

Objectives: To document the pattern of chest radiographic findings in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with moderate to severe disease. Design: Retrospective cross-sectional study. Setting: The study site was Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) located at Bantama in Kumasi, the capital town of the Ashanti Region. It is the second largest hospital in the country and the major referral site for Ashanti region and the northern part of the country. The hospital hosts a highly infectious isolation unit (HIIU) for COVID19 patients with moderate to severe infections and receives referred cases from the region and within the hospital. Participants: The study involved 27 patients admitted to the HIIU at KATH with COVID-19 infection who underwent chest X-ray as part of their investigations. Results: The study enrolled 12 males and 15 females. The common comorbidities were hypertension and diabetes. Chest x-ray findings in most of the patients (81.5%) revealed ground-glass opacities while a few of them (18.5%) had lung consolidations without ground-glass opacities. For those with ground-glass opacities, eight (29.6%) had superimposed consolidation. All the participants had positive chest x-ray findings. Conclusion: The chest x-ray findings in the 27 COVID-19 positive patients with moderate to severe disease on admission at the KATH HIIU enrolled in this study showed significant pulmonary abnormalities. The predominant pulmonary abnormalities were bilateral peripheral ground-glass opacities with the lower lung zones being mostly affected

Characterization of Diesel Degrading Bacterial Species from Contaminated Tropical Ecosystem

The bacterial diversity in a diesel contaminated tropical soil was investigated using diesel oxidation in gradient cultures dynamics (pH and OD) of the pure cultures. The diesel dependent growths of these isolates were assessed for 15 days by monitoring the gradient fluxes in the pH and Optical density OD of the media. Results showed an increase in OD as well as fluctuations in pH values. The mean OD data obtained was 0.515- 1.187 with pH of 6.95- 7.2. From the morphological and biochemical characterization and comparison with respect to the standard references, the isolates S1P1, S3P3, S2P2, S2P1,and S3P2 were presumably the members of the genera Bacillus, Pseudomonas and Mycobacterium species. From the study, it was apparent that the tropical ecosystems contained unique organisms with the ability to deal with diesel contaminatio

The Effect of Processing on the Antioxidant Activities of Purple Onions (Allium Cepa L.), Bulb.

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is a common vegetable and is widely consumed all over the world. It has been used as a food and medicinal crop since ancient times; it is grown worldwide and because of its peculiar taste, unique flavor, highly valued aroma, and various health benefits, it is sometimes referred to as the “Queen of the kitchen”. Onions is traditionally used as fresh condiment, but recently, particularly in the year 2020, the scarcity of the commodity has led to a thought of processing and preserving it for the scarcity period. The present study was therefore, conducted to evaluate the effect of processing on the antioxidant activities of fresh, sun dried and oven dried purple onion bulb. Two processing methods which included sun-drying and oven-drying at 70oC were used. The antioxidant activities were determined using standard biochemical methods. The oven dried sample showed better antioxidant activities when compared to the other samples. The results of the parameters analyzed in this study, suggests that oven drying (70oC) is the most efficient method of processing and preservation of purple onion, since it gave the best results among the samples assessed. Therefore, it can be concluded that oven dried purple onions have enhanced antioxidant properties making it a good candidate for the prevention and therapy of array of diseases which meets consumer requirement of being readily available all seasons.  

Platinum(IV)-Loaded Degraded Glycol Chitosan as Efficient Platinum(IV) Drug Delivery Platform

A new class of anticancer prodrugs was designed by combining the cytotoxicity of platinum(IV) complexes and the drug carrier properties of glycol chitosan polymers: Unsymmetrically carboxylated platinum(IV) analogues of cisplatin, carboplatin and oxaliplatin, namely (OC-6-44)-acetatodiammine(3-carboxypropanoato)dichloridoplatinum(IV), (OC-6-44)-acetaodiammine(3-carboxypropanoato)(cyclobutane-1,1-dicarboxylato)platinum(IV) and (OC-6-44)-acetato(3-carboxypropanoato)(1R,2R-cyclohexane-1,2-diamine)oxalatoplatinum(IV) were synthesised and conjugated via amide bonding to degraded glycol chitosan (dGC) polymers with different chain lengths (5, 10, 18 kDa). The 15 conjugates were investigated with 1H and 195Pt NMR spectroscopy, and average amounts of platinum(IV) units per dGC polymer molecule with ICP-MS, revealing a range of 1.3–22.8 platinum(IV) units per dGC molecule. Cytotoxicity was tested with MTT assays in the cancer cell lines A549, CH1/PA-1, SW480 (human) and 4T1 (murine). IC50 values in the low micromolar to nanomolar range were obtained, and higher antiproliferative activity (up to 72 times) was detected with dGC-platinum(IV) conjugates in comparison to platinum(IV) counterparts. The highest cytotoxicity (IC50 of 0.036 ± 0.005 µM) was determined in CH1/PA-1 ovarian teratocarcinoma cells with a cisplatin(IV)–dGC conjugate, which is hence 33 times more potent than the corresponding platinum(IV) complex and twice more potent than cisplatin. Biodistribution studies of an oxaliplatin(IV)–dGC conjugate in non-tumour-bearing Balb/C mice showed an increased accumulation in the lung compared to the unloaded oxaliplatin(IV) analogue, arguing for further activity studies

Rubella vaccine introduction in the South African public vaccination schedule : mathematical modelling for decision making

CITATION: Motaze, Nkengafac Villyen et al. 2020. Rubella vaccine introduction in the South African public vaccination schedule : mathematical modelling for decision making. Vaccines, 8(3):383, doi:10.3390/vaccines8030383.The original publication is available at: https://www.mdpi.comBackground: age structured mathematical models have been used to evaluate the impact of rubella-containing vaccine (RCV) introduction into existing measles vaccination programs in several countries. South Africa has a well-established measles vaccination program and is considering RCV introduction. This study aimed to provide a comparison of different scenarios and their relative costs within the context of congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) reduction or elimination. Methods: we used a previously published age-structured deterministic discrete time rubella transmission model. We obtained estimates of vaccine costs from the South African medicines price registry and the World Health Organization. We simulated RCV introduction and extracted estimates of rubella incidence, CRS incidence and effective reproductive number over 30 years. Results: compared to scenarios without mass campaigns, scenarios including mass campaigns resulted in more rapid elimination of rubella and congenital rubella syndrome (CRS). Routine vaccination at 12 months of age coupled with vaccination of nine-year-old children was associated with the lowest RCV cost per CRS case averted for a similar percentage CRS reduction. Conclusion: At 80% RCV coverage, all vaccine introduction scenarios would achieve rubella and CRS elimination in South Africa. Any RCV introduction strategy should consider a combination of routine vaccination in the primary immunization series and additional vaccination of older childrenPublisher's versio

Quaternary Ammonium Palmitoyl Glycol Chitosan (GCPQ) Loaded with Platinum-Based Anticancer Agents—A Novel Polymer Formulation for Anticancer Therapy

Quaternary ammonium palmitoyl glycol chitosan (GCPQ) has already shown beneficial drug delivery properties and has been studied as a carrier for anticancer agents. Consequently, we synthesised cytotoxic platinum(IV) conjugates of cisplatin, carboplatin and oxaliplatin by coupling via amide bonds to five GCPQ polymers differing in their degree of palmitoylation and quaternisation. The conjugates were characterised by 1H and 195Pt NMR spectroscopy as well as inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), the latter to determine the amount of platinum(IV) units per GCPQ polymer. Cytotoxicity was evaluated by the MTT assay in three human cancer cell lines (A549, non-small-cell lung carcinoma; CH1/PA-1, ovarian teratocarcinoma; SW480, colon adenocarcinoma). All conjugates displayed a high increase in their cytotoxic activity by factors of up to 286 times compared to their corresponding platinum(IV) complexes and mostly outperformed the respective platinum(II) counterparts by factors of up to 20 times, also taking into account the respective loading of platinum(IV) units per GCPQ polymer. Finally, a biodistribution experiment was performed with an oxaliplatin-based GCPQ conjugate in non-tumour-bearing BALB/c mice revealing an increased accumulation in lung tissue. These findings open promising opportunities for further tumouricidal activity studies especially focusing on lung tissue

Determinants and effects of sexual exploitation among female students of tertiary institutions in Rivers State

Background: Labor induction methods are continuously evolving to ensure safer and more effective outcomes for both mother and neonate. The present study aimed to assess the effectiveness and safety of combined use of misoprostol with intracervical catheter for labor induction. Methods: This single-blinded, parallel-group randomized control trial conducted at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh, included 200 women with term gestation and Bishop score ≤6. Participants were divided into two groups: the intervention group (group B) received misoprostol juice and Foley’s catheter, while the control group (group A) received misoprostol in the posterior fornix. Results: In Group A, 58% had vaginal deliveries, while in Group B, 65% had vaginal deliveries. Group B experienced a longer mean length of labor in the 1st stage (13.25±1.095) compared to Group A (12.98±1.982, p=0.008). The 3rd stage was shorter for Group B (10.00±0.000) than Group A (12.02±2.469, p<0.001). The most common induction reason was labor pain with an unfavorable cervix (31 in Group A and 33 in Group B). Group B had a higher percentage of inductions at less than 12 hours and a lower percentage at more than 24 hours. Neonatal outcomes were generally better for Group B. The Cox regression hazard model showed a lower likelihood of positive outcomes in Group B (hazard ratio 0.337, 95% CI 0.243-0.469, p=0.000), indicating a statistically significant difference between the groups. Conclusions: The combined use of misoprostol with Foley’s catheter for labor induction is safe and effective, resulting in shorter labor duration and higher rates of vaginal delivery compared to misoprostol alone