In vitro antimicrobial activity of total sesquiterpene lactones and phenols isolated from some Iraqi plants

The antimicrobial potency of the crude ethanolic extracts from different Iraqi plants were evaluated . Further more, total sesquiterpene lactones and phenolic compounds were isolated and their antimicrobial activity attempted. The results indicated that crude extracts have no activity except that of Callistemon lanceolatus. Also, the sesquiterpene lactones and phenolic compounds isolated from Callistemon lanceolatus were the most significant antimicrobial active constituents of the studied plants

Developmental Diplomacy in a Globalised World: The Imperatives of Soft Power in Nigeria’s External Relations under the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan

The intricate link between the domestic context and Nigerian foreign policy making was central to the analyses made in this work. From the soft power perspective it was observed that the Transformation Agenda, of the present administration, could dramatically bolster Nigeria’s status in this era of Globalisation. Using a descriptive analysis and an eclectic framework, the study revealed that, if the growing rate of foreign investment is sustained, the foreign policy strategy of the government will effectively transform the country for good. In the end, it was recommended that the problems of insecurity and poor infrastructural facilities should be decisively tackled, to enhance the foreign policy capability of the country. Keywords: Globalisation, Development-Diplomacy, Foreign Policy, Soft-Power, and Transformation Agenda

From the polling booths to the courtrooms : challenges of strict application of time frame in judicial contestation of election disputes in Nigeria

After her longest military interregnum spanning almost two decades since 1984, Nigeria returned to a democratic system of government in May 1999. By May 2019, five presidential and other national and sub-national elections were held in the country. Virtually all of these elections were characterized by intense political strives and electoral malpractices of varying degrees, leading to the challenging of elections in the election petition tribunals and other courts, long after the conclusion of the polls. This challenge has heightened the spate of judicialization of politics-the practice of excessive utilization of the courts for adjudication of core political matters in the country. But a significant by-product of judicialization of politics in Nigeria is the apparent relegation of substantial justice and possible miscarriage of justice arising from a resort to a technicality in the strict interpretation and enforcement of time frame for such adjudications. This paper, using a doctrinal research methodology of relying on primary and secondary sources of information, shows that the current strict interpretation of the constitutional provisions on the time limit for adjudication of electoral disputes defeats the essence of substantial justice and impacts negatively on the role of the judiciary in social engineering. For comparative constitutional purposes, the paper also juxtaposes the practice in Kenya, another country in Africa with electoral disputation experiences, with the practice in Nigeria. The paper concludes that a review of the law is imperative and then makes somerecommendations

Communicating health: media framing of ebola outbreak in Nigerian newspapers

Mass media cannot cure virus but can cure its spread. Framing of news stories in the Nigerian media (newspapers) is much more influenced by the economic motive of the journalists; picking news angle that arouses readers’ interests in order to sell more copies in the keen competitive media market. The 2014 Ebola outbreak is a litmus test of how Nigerian media framed health issues, which depict the news perspective most interest to them. Through content analysis of two daily newspapers reports of Ebola during the outbreak in Nigeria, this study established the framing patterns employed while reporting as well as the preponderant frames used. The outcome is used to justify the priority upheld between the competing newspapers interests to sell and the media social responsibility towards containing the outbreak. The much capitalisation on treatment/containment frame portrayed the newspapers purposive interest to free the society of the outbreak, a reflection of its social responsibility role. The priority, which pose no threat on the professionalism of journalism was not only much appraised but also recommended for all media involvement in crisis reports

Molecular Identification and Diversity of Pestalotiopsis, Neopestalotiopsis and Pseudopestalotiopsis Species from Four Host Plants in Sarawak, Borneo Island (Malaysia)

Until recently, Pestalotiopsis species have been identified based on host relationship and conidial dimensions. Pestalotiopsis species occur as endophytes, saprobes and also pathogens of many plant hosts. This study used molecular phylogenetic relationships based on ITS sequence data to identify Pestalotiopsis, Neopestalotiopsis and Pseudopestalotiopsis species in addition to their conidial pigmentation from four host plants namely Macaranga triloba, Macaranga sp., Shorea macrophylla and Syzygium sp. Based on the molecular phylogenetic analysis of 18 Pestalotiopsis-like isolates from the four different host plants, the isolates clustered separately into three clades corresponding to their conidial morphology and conidial median cell pigmentation as Neopestalotiopsis, Pestalotiopsis, and Pseudopestalotiopsis irrespective of their host plant association. Among the four host plants studied, S. macrophylla hosts the highest diversity of Pestalotiopsis-like species while Syzygium sp. had the lowest diversity. This is the first report on the molecular phylogenetics and diversity of Pestalotiopsis, Neopestalotiopsis and Pseudopestalotiopsis species from Sarawak, Malaysia in line with recent re-classification in the genus. New records of Pestalotiopsis-like species were also recorded on new host plants

Histomorphology of germ cell tumors at various anatomic sites: a 5 years study at a tertiary care centre

Background: Germ cell tumors (GCTs) are a heterogeneous group of neoplasms, which occur in the gonads, and at extra gonadal sites of the body. The aim of the study was to observe the different histopathological patterns of various GCTs in the body at all possible sites and to know their IHC staining patterns.Methods: The study was conducted for a period of 5 years from 2015 to 2019 and was an observational study. The recorded data was compiled and entered in a spreadsheet and then exported to data editor of SPSS Version 20.0. Continuous variables were expressed as mean SD and categorical variables were summarized as frequencies and percentages. Graphically the data was presented by bar and pie diagrams Chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test was applied for comparing categorical values. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. All p values were 2 tailed.Results: A total of 93 cases were analyzed and the mean age of the patients was 27.8 years. Mature cystic teratoma was the most common histopathological variant and was mostly seen in the ovaries. There was a difference in age predilection of benign and malignant tumors. Most of the malignant GCTs were gonadal while EGCTs were likely to be benign. MGCTs (mixed GCTs) were mostly testicular in origin with only one MGCT being extragonadal.Conclusions: Mature cystic teratomas were the most frequent GCTs with frequent site being in ovaries. Out 0f 18 EGCTs only 2 were malignant, rest all were mature cystic teratomas.

PENERAPAN MODEL PEMBELAJARAN TIPE PICTURE AND PICTURE DALAM MENINGKATKAN HASIL BELAJAR DI KELAS VIII SMP NEGERI 2 PEULIMBANG

Banda Ace

Cross-sectional associations between variations in ankle shape by statistical shape modeling, injury history, and race : the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project

Rheumatology Research Foundation Medical Student Preceptorship Award (Lateef/Nelson), NIAMS K23 AR061406 (Nelson); NIH/NIAMS P60AR064166 and U01DP003206 (Jordan/Renner), NIH/NIAMS R01AR067743 (Golightly). The funders had no role in study design; collection, analysis, or interpretation of data; writing the manuscript or the decision to submit for publication.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Free Radical Scavenging Activity of Non Saponifiable Lipids from Dieffenbachia picta (Lodd.) Schott. Leaves and Identification of a Lanostane Triterpenoid

Dieffenbachia picta (Lodd.) Schott, mostly used as ornamental plant, has not been thoroughly investigated for its medicinal properties due largely to the presence of oxalic acid deposited as crystals of calcium oxalate on parts of the plant especially the leaves. The present study however was aimed at providing an in-vitro evidence for the potential radical inhibitory activity of isolates obtained from n - hexane fraction of D. picta leaf found to have antioxidant properties in our previous study. Isolation of compounds was achieved by gradient elution column chromatographic technique. Ultra Violet/visible (UV), Infrared (IR) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR-1D and 2D) spectroscopic techniques were used for structural elucidation. Molecular mass was ascertained by low and high resolution Electron Impact (EI/EI-HR) mass spectrometry. Gas chromatography (GC) and gas – chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were used to characterize the lipid component.  Free radical scavenging activity of the isolates was assessed using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) method and butylated hydroxylanisole (BHA) was used as standard. Structures were proposed for the non saponifiable lipids as Tetradecyloctadecyl behenate (DP1) and 1~chlorotritriacontane (DP2) while phytol (31.44%), isopropyl palmitate (14.91%), isopropyl stearate (8.61%) were the major constituents of the oil (DP3). A lanostane triterpenoid 11β, 19-epoxy-Lanostan-3β-ol was also identified in the oil. DP1 and DP3 exhibited significant antioxidant activity with IC50 (μM) values of 43.5± 0.53 and 25.43±0.06 respectively comparable to the standard. The results of the present study indicated that D. picta is rich in antioxidant metabolites despite the presence of toxic calcium oxalate crystals. Keywords: Tetradecyloctadecyl behenate; phytol; 11β, 19-epoxy-Lanostan-3β-ol; 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical; Dieffenbachia pict

Basins and Cultivated Lands Recharge Evaluation on The Basis of Experimental & Mathematical Analysis in Hashimiya-Iraq

القياسات الرياضية والحقلية والدراسة المختبرية المعتمدة لتققيم صلاحية الاشكال الرياضية ضمنها نموذج هورتن في حساب الترشيح وهي معادلة الطاقة والمتعددة والمختلطة . العمل شمل قياسات الترشيح لمنطقة الهاشمية الواقعة وسط العراق والتي قسمت الى تسعة قطاعات اداريةهي الجربوعية ،الهاشمية ،النويدرة ،الطبرة ،ااسادة ،الزينية ،اج3،الفياضية والتياس.الدراسة الحالية أثبتت أن معادلة الطاقة هي الافضل حيث يصل معامل الارتباط 0.996 بينما للمتعددة والمختلطة وهورتن 0.947،0.958 و0.84 على التوالي. من الجدير بالذكر ، ان نموذج هورتن يعرض ترشيح اوطأ بعد الساعتين.عمق الترشيح الحقيقيي في الطبقة الحاملة التحت سطحية حسبت بالاعتماد على النماذج الحقلية والفحوصات المختبرية لنسيج التكوين الجيولوجي لتحديد المسامية لمنطقة الهاشمية.A mathematical, field measurements and laboratorial study was adopted to evaluate the validity of many mathematical forms including Horton Model for estimating infiltration rate and infiltration potential, they are; power, polynomial and mixed formulas. The work composed of infiltration field measurements for Hashyimia Region located in the middle of Iraq which for simplicity and accuracy is divided into nine administration agricultural sectors namely as; Jerboeyia, Hashyimia, Niwedra, Tebra, Sada, Zineyia, H3, Fayadhiya, and Bazul sectors. The current study proved that the power formula is the best fit to the measuring data than polynomial, mixed and Horton models since the power formula offers 0.996 correlation factor whereas polynomial, mixed and Horton offer 0.947, 0.958 and 0.84 respectively. It is worth to mention that in all cases Horton Model offers less infiltration potential after 2hrs since infiltration process is starte