Mechanisms used by multinational oil companies to derail human rights and environmental litigations arising from the Niger Delta.

Multinational oil companies (MNOCs) usually claim that they have several obligations to protect human rights and the environment where they operate and to resolve any disputes with local communities arising from their operations in the shortest possible time. However, the combative approach taken by MNOCs (e.g. several interlocutory appeals, challenging the legal standing of plaintiffs) during human rights and environmental litigations undermines these obligations because it continually denies, delays, and derails justice for the local communities. The aim of this paper is to discuss the mechanisms used by MNOCs to derail human rights and environmental litigations arising from the Niger Delta. This paper uses a comparative legal approach combined with a cross-case analysis of a selection of transnational litigations to highlight several mechanisms that fall into eight (8) categories related to oil operations – transparency, disclosure, bribery and corruption, labour/employee rights, safety and security, delays in litigations, pollution, remediation and compensation. The paper concludes that mechanisms used by MNOCs (e.g., Shell), as indicated in recent ligations arising from the Niger Delta, are at odds with their human rights obligations, thus affecting effective remedies for the people whose human rights have allegedly been affected by corporate conduct

The impact of oil industry-related social exclusion on community wellbeing and health in African countries

Background: Oil is the mainstay revenue for a number of African countries. However, extraction can result in multiple impacts on the health and wellbeing of communities living in oil-rich areas. This review explored evidence of oil industry-related social exclusion on community health and wellbeing on the African continent. Methods: We used a systematic approach guided by PRISMA to search six databases for empirical and descriptive sources focused on oil industry impacts, in any African country, between 1960 to 2021. Findings were grouped according to four dimensions of the Social Exclusion Knowledge Network (SEKN) framework: political, social, economic, and cultural. Results: Fifteen articles were identified, of which 13 articles focused on Nigeria; while one focused on Sudan, and one on Côte d'Ivoire and South Africa. Evidence relating to political aspects of social exclusion encompassed marginalization of indigenous communities through land grabs and unequal representation in political decision making. Limited compensation for environmental damage and livelihood displacement caused by oil-extraction, and high rates of unemployment and poverty were key themes of the economic dimension. Evidence of social impacts included lack of government, or oil-industry investment in social infrastructure; poor health and wellbeing linked to land, air, and water pollution; homelessness and lack of social cohesion. The cultural dimension of social exclusion was comparatively underexplored and only six sources included data collection with indigenous residents, and comparatively more sources were written by non-citizens or non-residents of oil-industry affected areas. Major themes included impacts on collective identity, ways of life and values, particularly where loss of ownership or access to land was experienced. Conclusion: Oil industry activities in African countries are clearly associated with multiple exclusionary impacts. However, the narrow body of empirical research limits understanding of the lived experiences and management of social exclusion by residents of oil-rich areas themselves and is an area deserving of further attention

Serum Level of Antioxidant Vitamins (Vitamin A, C and E) in Plasmodium falciparum Malaria Infected Children in Owerri, Eastern Nigeria

The levels of antioxidant vitamins were estimated in Plasmodium falciparum malaria infected children. Forty-three children with P.falciparum infection were selected based on the clinical symptoms. Twenty-two apparently healthy children with no malaria parasitaemia were included as the control subjects. P.falciparum parasitaemia and serum levels of the antioxidant vitamins (vitamin A, C and E) were determined using standard procedures. It was observed that all parameters measured were significantly lower in malaria infected children when compared with the respective control values. The relationship between malaria parasitaemia and serum concentration of vitamin E were positively correlated (r= 0.42), but vitamin A (r= -0.05) and C (-0.06) were negatively correlated. Children within 0-5 years of age had higher malarial parasitaemia (7379.82 \ub1 918 99/\ub5L) than those between 6-12 years of age (5026.19 \ub1 1514.58/\ub5L), and these children had lower concentrations of vitamin A (21.27 \ub1 8.68 \ub5g/dL), C (0.45 \ub1 0.19 mg/dl) and E (0.69 \ub1 0.22 mg/dL) when compared with children between 6-12 years (vitamin A = 25.19 \ub1 8.12 \ub5g/dL, vitamin C = 0.53 \ub1 0.16 mg/ dL and vitamin E = 0.86 \ub1 0.41 mg/ dL). Results suggest that in Owerri, Eastern Nigeria, the degree of malaria parasitaemia in especially children between 0-5 years could comprise immunity (as judged by the correlation) and reduce serum antioxidant vitamin levels. Health care providers should recognize these effects in planning malarial treatment and control programs. Changes in serum antioxidant levels during post-treatment periods should be investigated and documented

A transfer learning approach to drug resistance classification in mixed HIV dataset

Funding: This research is funded by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Nigeria.As we advance towards individualized therapy, the ‘one-size-fits-all’ regimen is gradually paving the way for adaptive techniques that address the complexities of failed treatments. Treatment failure is associated with factors such as poor drug adherence, adverse side effect/reaction, co-infection, lack of follow-up, drug-drug interaction and more. This paper implements a transfer learning approach that classifies patients' response to failed treatments due to adverse drug reactions. The research is motivated by the need for early detection of patients' response to treatments and the generation of domain-specific datasets to balance under-represented classification data, typical of low-income countries located in Sub-Saharan Africa. A soft computing model was pre-trained to cluster CD4+ counts and viral loads of treatment change episodes (TCEs) processed from two disparate sources: the Stanford HIV drug resistant database (https://hivdb.stanford.edu), or control dataset, and locally sourced patients' records from selected health centers in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, or mixed dataset. Both datasets were experimented on a traditional 2-layer neural network (NN) and a 5-layer deep neural network (DNN), with odd dropout neurons distribution resulting in the following configurations: NN (Parienti et al., 2004) [32], NN (Deniz et al., 2018) [53] and DNN [9 7 5 3 1]. To discern knowledge of failed treatment, DNN1 [9 7 5 3 1] and DNN2 [9 7 5 3 1] were introduced to model both datasets and only TCEs of patients at risk of drug resistance, respectively. Classification results revealed fewer misclassifications, with the DNN architecture yielding best performance measures. However, the transfer learning approach with DNN2 [9 7 3 1] configuration produced superior classification results when compared to other variants/configurations, with classification accuracy of 99.40%, and RMSE values of 0.0056, 0.0510, and 0.0362, for test, train, and overall datasets, respectively. The proposed system therefore indicates good generalization and is vital as decision-making support to clinicians/physicians for predicting patients at risk of adverse drug reactions. Although imbalanced features classification is typical of disease problems and diminishes dependence on classification accuracy, the proposed system still compared favorably with the literature and can be hybridized to improve its precision and recall rates.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Trade-offs in linking adaptation and mitigation in the forests of the Congo Basin

Recent discussions on forests and climate change have highlighted the potential for conservation of tropical forests to contribute synergistically to both mitigation (reducing emissions of greenhouse gases) and adaptation (increasing capacity to cope with changing climate conditions). Key mechanisms through which adaptive advantages might be gained include the potential for forest resources to support livelihoods in the context of climatic strains on agriculture and the protection that intact forest ecosystems might provide against landslides, flash floods and other hazards related to extreme weather. This paper presents findings from field research with forest communities in three areas of the Congo Basin in Central Africa, in which the adaptive role and potential of forests in these respects is critically analysed. The investigation was carried out through a combination of structured and semi-structured qualitative techniques within six villages in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Rwanda. The findings of the research highlight the need to understand both the limits of synergy, and the constraints and trade-offs for rural livelihoods that may be associated with a forest conservation agenda driven by the additional impetus of carbon sequestration. The search for synergy may be conceptually laudable, but if forest management actions do not take account of on-the-ground contexts of constraints and social trade-offs then the result of those actions risks undermining wider livelihood resilience

Molecular excitation in the Interstellar Medium: recent advances in collisional, radiative and chemical processes

We review the different excitation processes in the interstellar mediumComment: Accepted in Chem. Re

Quality of anti-malarial drugs provided by public and private healthcare providers in south-east Nigeria

BACKGROUND: There is little existing knowledge about actual quality of drugs provided by different providers in Nigeria and in many sub-Saharan African countries. Such information is important for improving malaria treatment that will help in the development and implementation of actions designed to improve the quality of treatment. The objective of the study was to determine the quality of drugs used for the treatment of malaria in a broad spectrum of public and private healthcare providers. METHODS: The study was undertaken in six towns (three urban and three rural) in Anambra state, south-east Nigeria. Anti-malarials (225 samples), which included artesunate, dihydroartemisinin, sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP), quinine, and chloroquine, were either purchased or collected from randomly selected providers. The quality of these drugs was assessed by laboratory analysis of the dissolution profile using published pharmacopoeial monograms and measuring the amount of active ingredient using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). FINDINGS: It was found that 60 (37%) of the anti-malarials tested did not meet the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) specifications for the amount of active ingredients, with the suspect drugs either lacking the active ingredients or containing suboptimal quantities of the active ingredients. Quinine (46%) and SP formulations (39%) were among drugs that did not satisfy the tolerance limits published in USP monograms. A total of 78% of the suspect drugs were from private facilities, mostly low-level providers, such as patent medicine dealers (vendors). CONCLUSION: This study found that there was a high prevalence of poor quality drugs. The findings provide areas for public intervention to improve the quality of malaria treatment services. There should be enforced checks and regulation of drug supply management as well as stiffer penalties for people stocking substandard and counterfeit drugs

Biogeochemical Stoichiometry of Antarctic Dry Valley Ecosystems

Among aquatic and terrestrial landscapes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, ecosystem stoichiometry ranges from values near the Redfield ratios for C:N:P to nutrient concentrations in proportions far above or below ratios necessary to support balanced microbial growth. This polar desert provides an opportunity to evaluate stoichiometric approaches to understand nutrient cycling in an ecosystem where biological diversity and activity are low, and controls over the movement and mass balances of nutrients operate over 10–10⁶ years. The simple organisms (microbial and metazoan) comprising dry valley foodwebs adhere to strict biochemical requirements in the composition of their biomass, and when activated by availability of liquid water, they influence the chemical composition of their environment according to these ratios. Nitrogen and phosphorus varied significantly in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems occurring on landscape surfaces across a wide range of exposure ages, indicating strong influences of landscape development and geochemistry on nutrient availability. Biota control the elemental ratio of stream waters, while geochemical stoichiometry (e.g., weathering, atmospheric deposition) evidently limits the distribution of soil invertebrates. We present a conceptual model describing transformations across dry valley landscapes facilitated by exchanges of liquid water and biotic processing of dissolved nutrients. We conclude that contemporary ecosystem stoichiometry of Antarctic Dry Valley soils, glaciers, streams, and lakes results from a combination of extant biological processes superimposed on a legacy of landscape processes and previous climates

Psychosocial impact of undergoing prostate cancer screening for men with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations.

OBJECTIVES: To report the baseline results of a longitudinal psychosocial study that forms part of the IMPACT study, a multi-national investigation of targeted prostate cancer (PCa) screening among men with a known pathogenic germline mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. PARTICPANTS AND METHODS: Men enrolled in the IMPACT study were invited to complete a questionnaire at collaborating sites prior to each annual screening visit. The questionnaire included sociodemographic characteristics and the following measures: the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Impact of Event Scale (IES), 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36), Memorial Anxiety Scale for Prostate Cancer, Cancer Worry Scale-Revised, risk perception and knowledge. The results of the baseline questionnaire are presented. RESULTS: A total of 432 men completed questionnaires: 98 and 160 had mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, respectively, and 174 were controls (familial mutation negative). Participants' perception of PCa risk was influenced by genetic status. Knowledge levels were high and unrelated to genetic status. Mean scores for the HADS and SF-36 were within reported general population norms and mean IES scores were within normal range. IES mean intrusion and avoidance scores were significantly higher in BRCA1/BRCA2 carriers than in controls and were higher in men with increased PCa risk perception. At the multivariate level, risk perception contributed more significantly to variance in IES scores than genetic status. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to report the psychosocial profile of men with BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations undergoing PCa screening. No clinically concerning levels of general or cancer-specific distress or poor quality of life were detected in the cohort as a whole. A small subset of participants reported higher levels of distress, suggesting the need for healthcare professionals offering PCa screening to identify these risk factors and offer additional information and support to men seeking PCa screening