De novo design of functional co-assembling organic-inorganic hydrogels for hierarchical mineralization and neovascularization

Synthetic nanostructured materials incorporating both organic and inorganic components offer a unique, powerful and versatile class of materials for widespread applications due to the distinct, yet complementary, nature of the intrinsic properties of the different constituents. We report a supramolecular system based on synthetic nanoclay (Laponite™, Lap) and peptide amphiphiles (PAs, PAH3) rationally designed to co-assemble into nanostructured hydrogels with high structural integrity and a spectrum of bioactivities. Spectroscopic and scattering techniques and molecular dynamic simulation approaches were harnessedto confirm that PAH3 nanofibers electrostatically adsorbed and conformed to the surface of Lapnanodisks. Electron and atomic force microscopies also confirmed an increase in diameter and surface areaof PAH3nanofibers after co-assembly with Lap. Dynamic oscillatory rheology revealed that the co-assembled PAH3-Laphydrogels displayed high stiffness and robust self-healing behaviour while gas adsorption analysis confirmed a hierarchical and heterogeneous porosity. Furthermore, this distinctive structure within the three-dimensional matrix(3D) provided spatial confinement for the nucleation and hierarchical organization of high-aspect ratio hydroxyapatite nanorods into well-defined spherical clusters within the 3Dmatrix. Applicability of the organic-inorganic PAH3-Laphydrogels was assessed in vitrousing human bone marrow-derived stromal cells(hBMSCs) and ex vivousing a chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay. The results demonstrated that the organic-inorganic PAH3-Laphydrogels promote human skeletal cell proliferation and, upon mineralization, integrate with the CAM, are infiltrated by blood vessels, stimulate extracellular matrix production, and facilitate extensive mineral deposition relative to the controls

Pattern of Skin disorders across age groups

Objective: Pattern of skin diseases has been noted to differ across age groups both in specific types and in clinical manifestations. This variation across age groups has been attributed to growth and development of the skin; to complex hormonal changes occurring at different stages of life; and environmental factors. To highlight differences in the pattern of presentation of skin disorders in different age groups with respect to the characteristic physiological changes in patients seen at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital.Methods: This is a retrospective cross-sectional study done at the dermatology clinic. Demographic data and diagnoses were extracted from the clinical records of all new patients seen between January 2010 and December 2014 (a five year period). These were captured on Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and analyzed using SPSS 21.Results: Infections and eczematous conditions were the most prominent group(s) of cutaneous disorders across all ages though acne vulgaris ranked high in adolescents/young adults. Nutritional dermatoses, infestations and genetic disorders occurred predominantly in the pediatric age group. All other diseases peaked in the adult group whilst infections, eczemas and papulosquamous disorders had two peaks (in the pediatric and the adult age group).Conclusion: Infections and eczematous condition were the most prominent group of cutaneous disorder across all ages apart from acne vulgaris which ranked high in the adolescents/young adults. Knowledge of this will help in health planning and early diagnosis of skin disorders.Keywords: Skin, Age Groups, Infections, Eczemas, Acne vulgari

Microbiological profile of bacterial conjunctivitis in Ibadan, Nigeria

Objective : In bacterial conjunctivitis, clinical presentations are not diagnostic of the causative agent, therefore, microbiological analysis is mandatory for specific treatment option. This study was undertaken to determine the microbiology profile of bacterial conjunctivitisin our environment.Methodology: This is a laboratory-based study carried out in the Medical Microbiology Laboratory of University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria. Conjunctival swabs collected from 365 patients with clinically diagnosedconjunctivitis, were analysed by standard bacteriological methods.Results: Bacterial pathogens were detected in 342 (93.7%) conjunctival samples while 23(6.3%) were sterile. Of the pathogens, 256 (74.9%) were Staphylococcus aureus, 35(10.2%) Coagulase- negative staphylococci, 22 (6.4%) Pseudomonas aeruginosa , 11(3.2%) Escherichia coli, 7(2.1%) Klebsiella species, 5(1.5%) Streptococcus pneumoniae , 4(1.2%) Haemophilus influenzae, 1(0.3%) Proteus mirabilis and 1(0.3%)Neisseria gonorrhoeae . The highest rate of conjunctivitis 96(26.3%) was found among infants and children (0-10years).Resistance rates to mostof the tested antibiotics were high. However, 67% of them were susceptible to ceftriaxone while only 39.2% were susceptible to chloramphenicol.Conclusions: This study has recorded high antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens of conjunctivitis in this environment; therefore, determining the susceptibility pattern of these pathogens to available antibiotics is crucialto effective management of bacterial conjunctivitis.Keywords: Conjunctivitis, bacteria, microbiological profil

Comparative efficacy and safety of cefixime and ciprofloxacin in the management of adults with community-acquired pneumonia in Ibadan, Nigeria

Background: Initial antibiotic therapy in upper and lower respiratory tract infections is usually empirical. However, the decreasing susceptibility of respiratory pathogens to antibacterials have raised concerns about the decreasing efficacy of currently available antibiotics.Objective: This study was conducted to compare the efficacy and safety of cefixime and ciprofloxacin in the empirical treatment of community-acquired pneumonia among adult Nigerian patients in Ibadan.Methods: This was an open-labelled, randomized, parallel-group study of seventythree (73) radiologically and bacteriologically confirmed adult cases of community-acquired pneumonia, between July 1 and September 31, 2011 at two health care facilities in Ibadan, Nigeria. All of these patients had severity index (CURB 65) scores of either 1 or 2. They were treated with either Cefixime, 400mg twice daily or Ciprofloxacin 500mg twice daily for 14 days. They were evaluated four times during the course of their treatment for clinical responses, radiological and bacteriological clearances and safety of therapy.Results: There were 39 (53.4%) patients in the Cefixime group and 34(46.6%) in Ciprofloxacin group. On day 7, patients on cefixime had a statistically significant lower temperature than patients on ciprofloxacin (P<0.01). By day 14, only 10.3% of patients in cefixime group still had persistent residual radiological changes compared to 38.2% in the ciprofloxacin group (P < 0.01). Bacteria cure was obtained in 96% of the patients in the cefixime group and 83% in the ciprofloxacin group.Conclusion: Cefixime was found to be superior to ciprofloxacin in terms of efficacy in the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia in adults in Nigeria. However, both antibiotics were well-tolerated by all the patients as there were no reports or documentation of adverse events.Keywords: Cefixime, Efficacy, Safety, Community-acquired pneumoni

Developing a secured social networking site using informa on security awareness techniques

Background: Ever since social network sites (SNS) became a global phenomenon in almost every industry, security has become a major concern to many SNS stakeholders. Several security techniques have been invented towards addressing SNS security, but information security awareness (ISA) remains a critical point. Whilst very few users have used social circles and applications because of a lack of users’ awareness, the majority have found it dif cult to determine the basis of categorising friends in a meaningful way for privacy and security policies settings. This has con rmed that technical control is just part of the security solutions and not necessarily a total solution. Changing human behaviour on SNSs is essential; hence the need for a privately enhanced ISA SNS. Objective: This article presented sOcialistOnline – a newly developed SNS, duly secured and platform independent with various ISA techniques fully implemented. Method: Following a detailed literature review of the related works, the SNS was developed on the basis of Object Oriented Programming (OOP) approach, using PhP as the coding language with the MySQL database engine at the back end. Result: This study addressed the SNS requirements of privacy, security and services, and attributed them as the basis of architectural design for sOcialistOnline. SNS users are more aware of potential risk and the possible consequences of unsecured behaviours. Conclusion: ISA is focussed on the users who are often the greatest security risk on SNSs, regardless of technical securities implemented. Therefore SNSs are required to incorporate effective ISA into their platform and ensure users are motivated to embrace it

Measuring Information Security Awareness Efforts in Social Networking Sites – A Proactive Approach

For Social Network Sites to determine the effectiveness of their Information Security Awareness (ISA) techniques, many measurement and evaluation techniques are now in place to ensure controls are working as intended. While these techniques are inexpensive, they are all incident- driven as they are based on the occurrence of incident(s). Additionally, they do not present a true reflection of ISA since cyber-incidents are hardly reported. They are therefore adjudged to be post-mortem and risk permissive, the limitations that are inacceptable in industries where incident tolerance level is low. This paper aims at employing a non-incident statistic approach to measure ISA efforts. Using an object- oriented programming approach, PhP is employed as the coding language with MySQL database engine at the back-end to develop sOcialistOnline – a Social Network Sites (SNS) fully secured with multiple ISA techniques. Rather than evaluating the effectiveness of ISA efforts by success of attacks or occurrence of an event, password scanning is implemented to proactively measure the effects of ISA techniques in sOcialistOnline. Thus, measurement of ISA efforts is shifted from detective and corrective to preventive and anticipatory paradigms which are the best forms of information security approach

Managing Network Security with Snort Open Source Intrusion Detection Tools

Organizations both large and small are constantly looking to improve their posture on security. Hackers and intruders have made many successful attempts to bring down high-profile company networks and web services for lack of adequate security. Many methods have been developed to secure the network infrastructure and communication over the Internet such as the firewall and intrusion detection systems. While most organizations deploy security equipment, they still encounter the challenge of monitoring and reviewing the security events. There are various intrusion detection tools in the market for free. Also, there are multiple ways to detect these attacks and vulnerabilities from being exploited and leaking corporate data on the internet. One method involves using intrusion detection systems to detect the attack and block or alert the appropriate staff of the attack. Snort contains a suite of tools that aids the administrators in detecting these events. In this paper, Snort IDS was analysed on how it manages the network from installation to deployment with additional tools that helps to analyse the security data. The components and rules to operate Snort were also discussed. As with other IDS it has advantages and disadvantages

A Congenial Access Control Technique for Knowledge Management Systems

Usability is of extreme importance in any system design. In knowledge management systems, the need for usability is heightened by the inertia to use the system by workers. The current popular access control technique used by in KMS and portals is not exactly suitable for such a sensitive system because it does not amend to the fuzzy nature of a KMS and KM functions and ends up making the system difficult to use and violates the overall objective of the system. The research highlights usability issues as one of the problems of KMS and a potent cause of failure it was therefore treated with such seriousness. A more congenial access control technique was proposed which allows for the fuzziness inherent in KMS for large organizations. The model was evaluated through a real-world implementation – the dotCSC and the design proved viable. The system had a 0% false positive and an initial 2.1% false negative rate which was quickly corrected. It eliminated the stress of continuous role engineering and modifications. The system also recorded a high level of usability based on an online survey conducted through it. Overall, we achieved adequate security and usability, a goal which has been elusive to KMS and other systems

Soft Computing Techniques for Stock Market Prediction: A Literature Survey

Stock market trading is an unending investment exercise globally. It has potentials to generate high returns on investors’ investment. However, it is characterized by high risk of investment hence, having knowledge and ability to predict stock price or market movement is invaluable to investors in the stock market. Over the years, several soft computing techniques have been used to analyze various stock markets to retrieve knowledge to guide investors on when to buy or sell. This paper surveys over 100 published articles that focus on the application of soft computing techniques to forecast stock markets. The aim of this paper is to present a coherent of information on various soft computing techniques employed for stock market prediction. This research work will enable researchers in this field to know the current trend as well as help to inform their future research efforts. From the surveyed articles, it is evident that researchers have firmly focused on the development of hybrid prediction models and substantial work has also been done on the use of social media data for stock market prediction. It is also revealing that most studies have focused on the prediction of stock prices in emerging market