Global impacts of scientific publications by academic staff: a case study of College of Medical Sciences, University of Maiduguri, Nigeria

The impacts of scientific research by an individual or institution are measured using various bibliometric indices such as the h-index and citations index among others. Objective: The present study assessed the global impacts of scientific publications by academic staff of the College of Medical Sciences, University of Maiduguri (CMS-UNIMAID) using selected bibliometric indices. Methodology: The data (demographic data, research experience, and the number of publications) of the 202 academic staff of College of Medical Sciences CMS-UNIMAID were obtained from the records submitted for the 2019/2020 annual appraisal. The h-index, citations index (CI), number of documents (ND), RG score, research interest (RI), citation/item, and citation/year of the staff were extracted from Google Scholar, Publons, ResearchGate, and Scopus using th authors search until 25 December 2020. Staff and publication online visibilities were determined. Descriptive statistics were prepared for all records obtained and subjected to appropriate inferential statistics. Results: The mean age and research experience of the staff were 45.4±9.2 and 13.9±9.6 years, respectively. The majority (p<0.05) of the staff were male (85.1%), had a PhD/Professional Fellowship (61.4%), and were senior academic staff (53.5%). Atotal of 4940 publication entries were submitted for the appraisal. Only 2.5% of the staff were visible on all platforms with staff online visibility of 63.9, 55.5, 15.8, and 5.0% (p<0.05) on Scopus, ResearchGate, Google Scholar, and Publons, respectively. Male staff (68.0%) were more visible (p<0.05) than their female counterparts (40.0%) on Scopus while senior academic staff were more visible (p<0.05) than junior academic staff on all platforms except Publons. Publication online visibility was highest (p<0.05) in Google Scholar (78.4%) and ResearchGate (65.9%) than Publons (28.0%) and Scopus (25.1%). The mean h-index, CI, and ND were 8.3±1.1, 401.8±97.8, and 36.2±4.9, respectively on Google Scholar and 5.0±0.4, 166.4±25.6 and 9.0±0.9, on ResearchGate. Publons showed means h-index, CI, and ND of 5.0±0.3, 77.2±13.7, and 25.6±2.1, respectively while Scopus showed 4.0±1.6, 144.4±95.3, and 14.5±6.2, respectively. In addition, the means RG score and RI were 10.0±0.7 and 113.1±15.4, respectively while the means citation/item and citation/year were 3.9±1.7 and 10.7±6.8, respectively. Conclusions: Low bibliometric indices indicate poor global impact of scientific publications from CMS-UNIMAID. Concerted efforts are required to improve the quality of research and publication through adequate funding, infrastructure, and mentorship among others

The involvement of tau in nucleolar transcription and the stress response

Tau is known for its pathological role in neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other tauopathies. Tau is found in many subcellular compartments such as the cytosol and the nucleus. Although its normal role in microtubule binding is well established, its nuclear role is still unclear. Here, we reveal that tau localises to the nucleolus in undifferentiated and differentiated neuroblastoma cells (SHSY5Y), where it associates with TIP5, a key player in heterochromatin stability and ribosomal DNA (rDNA) transcriptional repression. Immunogold labelling on human brain sample confirms the physiological relevance of this finding by showing tau within the nucleolus colocalises with TIP5. Depletion of tau results in an increase in rDNA transcription with an associated decrease in heterochromatin and DNA methylation, suggesting that under normal conditions tau is involved in silencing of the rDNA. Cellular stress induced by glutamate causes nucleolar stress associated with the redistribution of nucleolar non-phosphorylated tau, in a similar manner to fibrillarin, and nuclear upsurge of phosphorylated tau (Thr231) which doesn’t colocalise with fibrillarin or nucleolar tau. This suggests that stress may impact on different nuclear tau species. In addition to involvement in rDNA transcription, nucleolar non-phosphorylated tau also undergoes stress-induced redistribution similar to many nucleolar protein

A systematic review on the effect of sweeteners on glycemic response and clinically relevant outcomes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The major metabolic complications of obesity and type 2 diabetes may be prevented and managed with dietary modification. The use of sweeteners that provide little or no calories may help to achieve this objective.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We did a systematic review and network meta-analysis of the comparative effectiveness of sweetener additives using Bayesian techniques. MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL and CAB Global were searched to January 2011. Randomized trials comparing sweeteners in obese, diabetic, and healthy populations were selected. Outcomes of interest included weight change, energy intake, lipids, glycated hemoglobin, markers of insulin resistance and glycemic response. Evidence-based items potentially indicating risk of bias were assessed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 3,666 citations, we identified 53 eligible randomized controlled trials with 1,126 participants. In diabetic participants, fructose reduced 2-hour blood glucose concentrations by 4.81 mmol/L (95% CI 3.29, 6.34) compared to glucose. Two-hour blood glucose concentration data comparing hypocaloric sweeteners to sucrose or high fructose corn syrup were inconclusive. Based on two ≤10-week trials, we found that non-caloric sweeteners reduced energy intake compared to the sucrose groups by approximately 250-500 kcal/day (95% CI 153, 806). One trial found that participants in the non-caloric sweetener group had a decrease in body mass index compared to an increase in body mass index in the sucrose group (-0.40 vs 0.50 kg/m², and -1.00 vs 1.60 kg/m², respectively). No randomized controlled trials showed that high fructose corn syrup or fructose increased levels of cholesterol relative to other sweeteners.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Considering the public health importance of obesity and its consequences; the clearly relevant role of diet in the pathogenesis and maintenance of obesity; and the billions of dollars spent on non-caloric sweeteners, little high-quality clinical research has been done. Studies are needed to determine the role of hypocaloric sweeteners in a wider population health strategy to prevent, reduce and manage obesity and its consequences.</p

High reticulocyte count with abnormal red blood cell morphology in normal wistar rats after garlic administration

Summary: Despite the high acceptability of Allium sativa (Garlic) as a remedy for many diseases as earlier stated by many researchers, previous studies have shown that chronic and unregulated consumption of garlic may result to intra vascular haemolytic anaemia in rats. The present study was conducted to examine the effect of crude extract of garlic on microscopic status of red blood cells and some other haematological indices of normal albino rats. The animals were grouped into two; group 1 were normal animals treated with water while group 2 were normal animals administered 150mg/kg body weight of crude extract of garlic on alternate days for three weeks. At the end of three weeks treatment, blood samples obtained from the tail vein of the rats were used for haematological indices and erythrocyte morphology. The values obtained were expressed as Mean± SEM and compared using student t test. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the PCV which was 43.20 ± 0.80% and 45.00 ± 0.36% in both control and experimental groups respectively. However, the RBCs were significantly decreased (P&lt; 0.05) from 166.80 ± 3.44 x106 μL-1 in the control group to 87.80 ± 9.34 x106 μL-1 in the treatment group. The percentage reticulocyte counts on the other hand significantly increased from 2.60±4.25% in control group to 11.20± 16.4% in treated group. Fragmented RBCs with a lot of schistocytes with adequate platelets were seen on peripheral blood film of crude garlic treated rats as compared to control. Our results suggested intravascular haemolysis and numerous reticulocytes on blood film confirmed our view on bone marrow response. The presence of schistocytes and acanthocytes may be an indication that the liver is involved in the observed effect.Keywords: Garlic, Red blood cells, Reticulocytes, RatNiger. J. Physiol. Sci. 33(December 2018) 165-16

Hyperuricemia and the Risk of Chronic Kidney Disease Progression among Sickle Cell Anemia Patients (HbSS) in North-eastern Nigeria

Sickle cell nephropathy is a common complication of HbSS. Several risk factors have been found to be associated with the development of progressive chronic kidney disease. Serum uric acid is usually elevated in patients with chronic kidney disease. This study evaluated the prevalence of hyperuricemia among HbSS patients and determined the association between hyperuricemia and the risk of progressive kidney disease among HbSS patients in northeastern Nigeria. The study is a single centre cross sectional study conducted in the sickle cell clinic of University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, northeastern Nigeria. Study participants consisted of HbSS participants sequentially recruited from January 2013 to April 2018. Socio-demographic and clinical variables were obtained from each participant. Glomerular filtration rate was calculated using the modification of diet in kidney disease (MDRD) equation and staged based on KDOQI classification. Participants with eGFR &lt;60ml/minute/1.73m2 were considered to have chronic kidney disease. Serum uric acid was measured and levels &gt;419mmol/L were considered elevated. Out of a total of 261 participants that were seen in the sickle cell clinic during the study period, 217 had complete data set and were included. The prevalence of hyperuricemia was 62.3% among the study population. Sixty-three (57.8%) patients with hyperuricemia had chronic kidney disease whereas 16 (19.5%) patients with normal serum uric acid levels had chronic kidney disease. ODDS ratio of chronic kidney disease in hyperuricemic patients was 2.38(95% CI 1.98 – 3.01). The mean PCV in patients with hyperuricemia and those with normal uric acid levels were 17.71 ± 4.93 and 23.26 ± 5.43 respectively (p=0.000). There were significant differences between patients with normal and elevated serum uric acid levels and serum creatinine (109.71±96.99µmol/L vs 204.11 ± 194.42µmol/L, p=0.000); urea (6.41 ± 6.72mmol/L vs 10.75 ± 6.56mmol/L, p=0.000). This study has shown that hyperuricemia is common among HbSS patients and it is associated with the development of progressive chronic kidney disease among HbSS patients