A comparative study of EEG abnormalities among subjects with inter-ictal psychosis and those with schizophrenia

Background: Electrophysiological investigation is an integral part in the management of neuropsychiatric disorders; but this is rare in developing countries including Nigeria.Objectives: The study aims to determine EEG abnormalities among subjects with inter-ictal psychosis in comparison to those with schizophrenia.Methods: A cross-sectional study of subjects with inter-ictal psychosis and those with schizophrenia. Each of the subjects that met the inclusion criteria had an awake EEG recording that lasted 45 minutes.Results: For PWEIP, the mean age was 23.9 (±13.8) years; and made up of 53 (53.0%) males; and for PWS, the mean age was 24.2 (±13.5) years; and there were 51 (51.0%) males. The EEG was normal in 53 (53.0%) of PWEIP and in 83 (83.0%) of PWS. EEG was abnormal in 47 (47.0%) of PWEIP, and 17 (17.0%) in those with PWS, and these were all ‘epileptiform’ activities, and the difference was statistically significant with X2 =20.7 (Fisher’s exact test), df=1 and p=0.00**. Conclusion: A number of subjects in our sample with inter-ictal psychosis and PWS had EEG epileptiform activities reflecting cerebral insults in early life. Thus, preventive measures such as good antenatal care are advocated to minimize the occurrence of these neuro-psychiatric disorders.Keywords: EEG abnormalities, inter-ictal psychosis, schizophreni

A meta-analysis of long-term effects of conservation agriculture on maize grain yield under rain-fed conditions

Conservation agriculture involves reduced tillage, permanent soil cover and crop rotations to enhance soil fertility and to supply food from a dwindling land resource. Recently, conservation agriculture has been promoted in Southern Africa, mainly for maize-based farming systems. However, maize yields under rain-fed conditions are often variable. There is therefore a need to identify factors that influence crop yield under conservation agriculture and rain-fed conditions. Here, we studied maize grain yield data from experiments lasting 5 years and more under rain-fed conditions. We assessed the effect of long-term tillage and residue retention on maize grain yield under contrasting soil textures, nitrogen input and climate. Yield variability was measured by stability analysis. Our results show an increase in maize yield over time with conservation agriculture practices that include rotation and high input use in low rainfall areas. But we observed no difference in system stability under those conditions. We observed a strong relationship between maize grain yield and annual rainfall. Our meta-analysis gave the following findings: (1) 92% of the data show that mulch cover in high rainfall areas leads to lower yields due to waterlogging; (2) 85% of data show that soil texture is important in the temporal development of conservation agriculture effects, improved yields are likely on well-drained soils; (3) 73% of the data show that conservation agriculture practices require high inputs especially N for improved yield; (4) 63% of data show that increased yields are obtained with rotation but calculations often do not include the variations in rainfall within and between seasons; (5) 56% of the data show that reduced tillage with no mulch cover leads to lower yields in semi-arid areas; and (6) when adequate fertiliser is available, rainfall is the most important determinant of yield in southern Africa. It is clear from our results that conservation agriculture needs to be targeted and adapted to specific biophysical conditions for improved impact

Community engagement and compliance monitoring of COVID-19 safety protocols: innovative approach combining indigenous practice and GIS technology in Oyo State, Nigeria

Background: One of the major challenges that has driven the spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) worldwide is the burden of enforcing the preventive measures required to contain the pandemic. Enforcement of COVID-19 precautionary behaviour should not be homogenous; every country needs to be creative to ensure that humane considerations guide all decisions during the extraordinary experience that COVID-19 pandemic portends. The model of self-policing is acceptable and maintained principally because the citizens of any communities operate, recognize, and accept them as preferred alternatives to the official models of policing for enforcement. Hence the approach presented in this paper, which deployed existing indigenous alternative systems in ensuring compliance with COVID-19 precautionary behaviour. This article therefore documents the unique approach deployed for the containment of COVID-19 in Oyo State, Nigeria. Objective: This intervention was designed to explore established indigenous alternative systems and models of control, justice, law, security, and enforcement in Nigeria. Additionally, geographic information system (GIS) technology and investigative journalism was used to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. Method: The method employed was community conversation; a method of increasing inclusive, community-based engagement harnessing the expertise and motivation of key stakeholders. The community conversations were convened after the pattern of a traditional Town-hall meeting. Community conversations were organized as a qualitative framework focusing on deploying the indigenous practice of self-policing associated with Nigerias trade unions and aims to inform COVID-19 preventive behaviour at the community level. Geographical information system technology was used to develop COVID-19 Containment Compliance Citizens Reporter App. The App was developed using ESRI ArcGIS online platform to crowd source public feedback on compliance or contravention of COVID-19 protocols. Social media platforms were also deployed for monitoring and evaluation of the intervention post townhall meeting. Results: The establishment of a State-wide Containment response network provided the required inroad for advocacy and deployment of state-wide community conversation framework in the different communities comprising diverse ethnic groups, religious leaders, market leaders, National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), and so on. Testimonials from the various communities showed that the people have embraced the self-policing strategy and the network system was effective with good outcomes in terms of response to decontamination, containment, and advocacy. The COVID-19 Containment Compliance Citizens Reporter App, investigative reporting by mass media were highly effective tools for monitoring and evaluation of the outcome of the intervention as well as possible evidence for melting out incentive and disincentive measures as necessary. This approach is a template, which could be adapted and replicated in other parts of Nigeria and other African societies with similar structures, demographics, and indigenous practices

The Use of Phage-Displayed Peptide Libraries to Develop Tumor-Targeting Drugs

Monoclonal antibodies have been successfully utilized as cancer-targeting therapeutics and diagnostics, but the efficacies of these treatments are limited in part by the size of the molecules and non-specific uptake by the reticuloendothelial system. Peptides are much smaller molecules that can specifically target cancer cells and as such may alleviate complications with antibody therapy. Although many endogenous and exogenous peptides have been developed into clinical therapeutics, only a subset of these consists of cancer-targeting peptides. Combinatorial biological libraries such as bacteriophage-displayed peptide libraries are a resource of potential ligands for various cancer-related molecular targets. Target-binding peptides can be affinity selected from complex mixtures of billions of displayed peptides on phage and further enriched through the biopanning process. Various cancer-specific ligands have been isolated by in vitro, in vivo, and ex vivo screening methods. As several peptides derived from phage-displayed peptide library screenings have been developed into therapeutics in current clinical trials, which validates peptide-targeting potential, the use of phage display to identify cancer-targeting therapeutics should be further exploited

Carbon nanotubes allow capture of krypton, barium and lead for multichannel biological X-ray fluorescence imaging

The desire to study biology in situ has been aided by many imaging techniques. Among these, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) mapping permits observation of elemental distributions in a multichannel manner. However, XRF imaging is underused, in part, because of the difficulty in interpreting maps without an underlying cellular ‘blueprint’; this could be supplied using contrast agents. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be filled with a wide range of inorganic materials, and thus can be used as ‘contrast agents’ if biologically absent elements are encapsulated. Here we show that sealed single-walled CNTs filled with lead, barium and even krypton can be produced, and externally decorated with peptides to provide affinity for sub-cellular targets. The agents are able to highlight specific organelles in multiplexed XRF mapping, and are, in principle, a general and versatile tool for this, and other modes of biological imaging

Reference Ranges for the Clinical Laboratory Derived from a Rural Population in Kericho, Kenya

The conduct of Phase I/II HIV vaccine trials internationally necessitates the development of region-specific clinical reference ranges for trial enrolment and participant monitoring. A population based cohort of adults in Kericho, Kenya, a potential vaccine trial site, allowed development of clinical laboratory reference ranges. Lymphocyte immunophenotyping was performed on 1293 HIV seronegative study participants. Hematology and clinical chemistry were performed on up to 1541 cohort enrollees. The ratio of males to females was 1.9∶1. Means, medians and 95% reference ranges were calculated and compared with those from other nations. The median CD4+ T cell count for the group was 810 cells/µl. There were significant gender differences for both red and white blood cell parameters. Kenyan subjects had lower median hemoglobin concentrations (9.5 g/dL; range 6.7–11.1) and neutrophil counts (1850 cells/µl; range 914–4715) compared to North Americans. Kenyan clinical chemistry reference ranges were comparable to those from the USA, with the exception of the upper limits for bilirubin and blood urea nitrogen, which were 2.3-fold higher and 1.5-fold lower, respectively. This study is the first to assess clinical reference ranges for a highland community in Kenya and highlights the need to define clinical laboratory ranges from the national community not only for clinical research but also care and treatment

Rationally engineered nanoparticles target multiple myeloma cells, overcome cell-adhesion-mediated drug resistance, and show enhanced efficacy in vivo

In the continuing search for effective cancer treatments, we report the rational engineering of a multifunctional nanoparticle that combines traditional chemotherapy with cell targeting and anti-adhesion functionalities. Very late antigen-4 (VLA-4) mediated adhesion of multiple myeloma (MM) cells to bone marrow stroma confers MM cells with cell-adhesion-mediated drug resistance (CAM-DR). In our design, we used micellar nanoparticles as dynamic self-assembling scaffolds to present VLA-4-antagonist peptides and doxorubicin (Dox) conjugates, simultaneously, to selectively target MM cells and to overcome CAM-DR. Dox was conjugated to the nanoparticles through an acid-sensitive hydrazone bond. VLA-4-antagonist peptides were conjugated via a multifaceted synthetic procedure for generating precisely controlled number of targeting functionalities. The nanoparticles were efficiently internalized by MM cells and induced cytotoxicity. Mechanistic studies revealed that nanoparticles induced DNA double-strand breaks and apoptosis in MM cells. Importantly, multifunctional nanoparticles overcame CAM-DR, and were more efficacious than Dox when MM cells were cultured on fibronectin-coated plates. Finally, in a MM xenograft model, nanoparticles preferentially homed to MM tumors with ∼10 fold more drug accumulation and demonstrated dramatic tumor growth inhibition with a reduced overall systemic toxicity. Altogether, we demonstrate the disease driven engineering of a nanoparticle-based drug delivery system, enabling the model of an integrative approach in the treatment of MM

Tomato stem trichomes and dispersal success ofPhytoseiulus persimilis relative to its preyTetranychus urticae

Tomato varieties used at present for commercial production in Dutch glasshouses have a high density of glandular trichomes on the stem, but a very low density on the leaves. The two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch, and the predatory mite, Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot, usually disperse from leaf to leaf via the stem, thereby incurring high risks of entrapment (and death) in the exudate of the glandular trichomes. These risks have been quantified on the tomato cv. 'Turbo' and an accession of Lycopersicon peruvianum almost free of glandular trichomes. The possible consequences for biological control are discussed and new perspectives for predator release strategies and for plant breeding are considered. © 1987 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V