Growth Pattern of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in different wastewater media

Restaurant wastewater are a major cause of environmental pollution with the indiscriminate release of the effluent to the environment resulting in blocking of drainages and eutrophication thereby causing serious threat to aquatic life. The growth pattern of a dietary rich oily wastewater degrading bacteria strain, Pseudomonas aeruginosa in different wastewater media composed to mimic the possible constituents of restaurant wastewater was investigated in this study. There was noticeable microbial growth in the synthetic and domestic wastewaters after 48h while the detergent wastewater and heated oil-detergent wastewater did not support the strain's growth. The decrease in the fat content with a corresponding increase in the ash content after 120h was due to the test strain's metabolic activity, which is slightly higher in domestic wastewater than the heated oil-detergent solution. Also, the potassium (K+), Mg2+, Fe2+ and Ca2+ contents increased within the same period in both media except in the domestic wastewater where the Ca2+ content reduced. Protease enzyme activity (46.440mM/min) was considerably higher in the domestic wastewater than lipase (3.322mM/min) and amylase activity (14.244mM/min) after 72 hours of incubation. The pristine genetic properties of Pseudomonas aeruginosa altered when cultured in various wastewaters probably due to variation in the composition of the substrates

INTESTINAL HELMINTHS PREVALENCE IN PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN AFTER DEWORMING IN ABEOKUTA, SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

Periodic deworming of school children with antihelminthic drugs is frequently employed by government agencies to reduce morbidity due to intestinal helminths in rural settings. Such an exercise was recently conducted in February 2012 by the Ogun State Ministry of Health for public school children in Abeokuta, Southwestern Nigeria.  This cross-sectional study was carried out two months later to assess the impact of de-worming exercise. Four schools: Baptist Primary School, Bode-Ijaye, First Baptist Primary School, Ijaye, Moshood Abiola model school, Adatan and Itesi Methodist school, Adatan were randomly selected out of 25 schools and screened for intestinal helminth infection in May 2012, using stool microscopy. Questionnaires were also administered to investigate their knowledge, attitudes and practices associated with intestinal helminths transmission. Of the 216 school children examined for intestinal helminths, 55 (25.5%) had intestinal helminthiasis, with Ascaris lumbricoides infection having the highest prevalence of 30 (13.9%), followed by hookworm infection 16 (7.4%) and 3 (1.4%) for Trichuris trichiuria. Co-infection with Ascaris/hookworm, Ascaris/Taenia was also observed although at very low prevalence. Infections were significantly higher (p=0.021) in school children using pit latrines 32 (32.99%) than those using water closet system 22 (19.13%). The presence of infection two months after the exercise suggests a strong need for incorporation of pre deworming  and post deworming assessment plans into subsequent deworming exercises in the state. &nbsp

Azadirachta indica Leaf Extract Ameliorates Hyperglycemia and Hepatic Glycogenosis in Streptozotocin-induced Diabetic Wistar Rats

We studied the effects of ethanolic leaf extract of Azadirachta indica (AIE) on hepatic microscopic anatomy and oxidative stress markers in diabetic rats. Seventy-five Wistar rats (8 weeks old) were randomly assigned to five treatment groups: control; diabetic; diabetic+AIE; AIE only; and diabetic+glibenclamide. Hyperglycemia was induced in fasted rats with streptozotocin. AIE was administered orally at 500 mg/kg bw/d and glibenclamide at 600 μg/kg bw/d for 50 days (50 d). Animals were sacrificed on treatment days 7, 21 and 50. The liver was stained with PAS. Hepatic markers of oxidative stress were also estimated. At 50 d, histological study of the liver of diabetic rats showed swollen PAS+ hepatocytes, whose content was confirmed to be glycogen. On the contrary, hepatocytes of AIE-treated diabetic rats lacked glycogen. The major finding in these rats was exacerbated oxidative stress. Our findings in this model showed the beneficial effect of AIE in the amelioration of diabetic hepatic glycogenosis.Keywords: Diabetes, Azadirachta indica, hepatic glycogenosis, oxidative stress, live

Sero-prevalence and risk factors for cytomegalovirus infection among pregnant women in a teaching hospital in Ogun state, Nigeria

Background: Infection with cytomegalo virus is usually asymptomatic however in pregnant women the risk of congenital infection and foetal  abnormalities makes antenatal screening for CMV infection necessary. The aim of this study was to determine the sero-prevalence and risk factors for  CMV infection among pregnant women in Babcock University Teaching Hospital (BUTH), Ilishan Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria.Methods: The study was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted between January and May, 2017 on patients attending the antenatal clinic of  Babcock University Teaching Hospital. Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) Kits were used to determine IgM and IgG anti CMV antibody titresinvenous blood samples obtained from study participants.Results: A total of 80 patients were recruited into the study. The mean age was 30 years.All (100%) respondents were sero-positive for anti CMV IgG  antibodies while 28.75% of respondents were seropositive for anti CMV IgM antibodies.Conclusion: There was a highsero-prevalence rate of CMV infection in the study. Screening of pregnant women for CMV infection is necessary due to the  risk of congenital infection and fetal defects

Contributions of uterine fibroids to infertility at Ile‑Ife, South‑Western Nigeria

Background: Uterine fibroid is the most common tumor of the female genital tract. The benign tumors often grow into large sizes and assume unsightly shapes with concomitant symptoms and signs. Being a predominantly reproductive age disease, concurrent infertility and symptomatic uterine fibroids pose management challenges. Individualization of the patient is thus essential to the success of the reproductive outcome.Objectives: This study determined the prevalence, trend, management modalities, pregnancy outcome, and exposition of factors affecting pregnancy outcome among patients presenting with uterine fibroids and infertility at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex (OAUTHC).Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study of case records of 106 women managed for uterine fibroids and infertility over a 5‑year period (January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2016) at the OAUTHC. The outcome measure is the pregnancy rate among those who had a myomectomy.Results: About a quarter of women with infertility had symptomatic uterine fibroids and this represents about 35%–40% of the overall number of women presenting as uterine fibroid within the study. About 84.9% had uterine size >12 weeks at presentation. Two‑third of the patients had open myomectomy alone with 43.9% achieving conception thereafter. Conception rate for myomectomy with tuboplasty was 31.3% whereas myomectomy with subsequent in vitro fertilization (IVF) was 50%. Pregnancy rate decreased with increasing size of the uterus before myomectomy.Conclusion: Symptomatic fibroid was significantly prevalent among women with infertility. Myomectomy improves fertility potential and success rate of IVF. Uterine fibroid has both direct and indirect effect on infertility and pregnancy rate in this group of the patient can be improved through routine screening for uterine fibroids and early removal of the fibroids before they grow into giants size.Keywords: Infertility; myomectomy; pregnancy outcome; uterine fibroid

Functional diversity among cardiolipin binding sites on the mitochondrial ADP/ATP carrier

Lipid-protein interactions play a multitude of essential roles in membrane homeostasis. Mitochondrial membranes have a unique lipid-protein environment that ensures bioenergetic efficiency. Cardiolipin (CL), the signature mitochondrial lipid, plays multiple roles in promoting oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). In the inner mitochondrial membrane, the ADP/ATP carrier (AAC in yeast; adenine nucleotide translocator, ANT in mammals) exchanges ADP and ATP, enabling OXPHOS. AAC/ANT contains three tightly bound CLs, and these interactions are evolutionarily conserved. Here, we investigated the role of these buried CLs in AAC/ANT using a combination of biochemical approaches, native mass spectrometry, and molecular dynamics simulations. We introduced negatively charged mutations into each CL-binding site of yeast Aac2 and established experimentally that the mutations disrupted the CL interactions. While all mutations destabilized Aac2 tertiary structure, transport activity was impaired in a binding site-specific manner. Additionally, we determined that a disease-associated missense mutation in one CL-binding site in human ANT1 compromised its structure and transport activity, resulting in OXPHOS defects. Our findings highlight the conserved significance of CL in AAC/ANT structure and function, directly tied to specific lipid-protein interactions

Targeted next-generation sequencing identifies novel variants in candidate genes for Parkinson’s disease in Black South African and Nigerian patients

Background: The prevalence of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is increasing in sub-Saharan Africa, but little is known about the genetics of PD in these populations. Due to their unique ancestry and diversity, sub-Saharan African populations have the potential to reveal novel insights into the pathobiology of PD. In this study, we aimed to characterise the genetic variation in known and novel PD genes in a group of Black South African and Nigerian patients. Methods: We recruited 33 Black South African and 14 Nigerian PD patients, and screened them for sequence variants in 751 genes using an Ion AmpliSeq™ Neurological Research panel. We used bcftools to filter variants and annovar software for the annotation. Rare variants were prioritised using MetaLR and MetaSVM prediction scores. The effect of a variant on ATP13A2’s protein structure was investigated by molecular modelling. Results: We identified 14,655 rare variants with a minor allele frequency ≤ 0.01, which included 2448 missense variants. Notably, no common pathogenic mutations were identified in these patients. Also, none of the known PD-associated mutations were found highlighting the need for more studies in African populations. Altogether, 54 rare variants in 42 genes were considered deleterious and were prioritized, based on MetaLR and MetaSVM scores, for follow-up studies. Protein modelling showed that the S1004R variant in ATP13A2 possibly alters the conformation of the protein. Conclusions: We identified several rare variants predicted to be deleterious in sub-Saharan Africa PD patients; however, further studies are required to determine the biological effects of these variants and their possible role in PD. Studies such as these are important to elucidate the genetic aetiology of this disorder in patients of African ancestry

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts