Protective effect of co-administration of vitamins C and E on reserpine-induced oxidative stress in mice

Background: Several studies have shown potential benefits of antioxidants in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD) but none have combined vitamins C and E targeting the oxidative stress (OS).Aim: To evaluate the neuroprotective effect of co-administration of vitamins C + E or single vitamin, on parameters of reserpine-induced OS in mice.Methods: Twenty-five mice were randomly assigned into 5 groups.: Group I received only distilled water (control); other groups received reserpine 0.1 mg/kg intraperitoneally on alternate days. In addition, Group III received vitamin E 200 mg/kg/day orally; group IV, had vitamin C 250 mg/kg/day orally and group V, had both vitamins orally. All drugs were given concurrently for 28 days. The mice were humanely acrificed and brain homogenate made to assess for biomarkers of OS. Data were expressed as mean ± SEM and values at p < 0.05 were considered significant.Results: The significant increase in malondialdehyde concentrations observed in the Res group (42.2±0.28 Umol/L) compared to control (37.54±1.27 Umol/L), was ameliorated in all the vitamin-treated groups with significance in the Res+Vit C group (35.0±1.69 Umol/L) compared to the Res group (p=0.002). Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity increased significantly (p=0.003) across the vitamin-treated groups (24.9±2.11 Umol/mg, 24.0±1.78 Umol/mg and 22.4±1.50 Umol/mg in the Res+Vit E, Res+Vit C and co-administered groups respectively) compared to control (14.3±1.65 Umol/mg), with non-significant increase in the Res group (20.6±1.42 Umol/mg); catalase activity increased significantly in the Res+Vit C (28.0±3.70 Umol/mg) and co-administered (30.2±2.22 Umol/mg) groups compared to controls (14.3±1.65 Umol/mg) and Res (20.6±1.42 Umol/mg) groups (p=0.000), with non-significant increase in the Res+Vit E group (17.6±0.68 Umol/mg). The highest GSH level was seen in the Res group (45.2±2.65 Umol/mgpr) and the lowest level seen in the Res+Vit E group (38.58 ± 1.78 Umol/mgpr) with no significant difference across all the groups (p=0.104).Conclusion: The co-administration of vitamins C and E fails to confer significant superior neuroprotection against reserpine-induced OS compared to single vitamin administration.Keywords: Co-administration, neuroprotective, oxidative, reserpine-induced, stres

Factors Influencing Farmers’ Awareness and Choice of Indigenous Practices in Adapting to Climate Change and Variability in Northern Ghana

Farmers in Northern Ghana adapt to the adverse effects of climate change using traditionalpractices. However, farmers’ awareness of these practices is a spring-board to their choicesof available indigenous climate related adaptation strategies. This study examined farmers’awareness and usage of indigenous adaptation strategies using the Heckman Two-Stage Sample Selection Model. Questionnaire was administered to 285 randomly selected households to determine the factors influencing farmers’ awareness and choice of indigenous adaptation strategies. The empirical results showed that majority of farmers are aware of and employed soil related indigenous adaptation strategies. Education, membership of farmer-based organisation, farmer-farmer extension contacts and farming experience significantly determine farmers’ awareness of indigenous adaptation strategies. Farmers’ level of education, farming experience, farmer-farmer extension contacts, membership of farmer group, labour hours and age significantly influenced farmers’ choice of indigenous climate related adaptation strategies.Based on these findings, it is recommended that farmers should endeavour to form groups toserve as a platform to share knowledge on indigenous farming practices for effective climatechange adaptation

Optimal Control Strategies and Cost Effectiveness Analysis of a Malaria Transmission Model

In this paper, a non-linear model with three control parameters for household of malaria has been study. The disease free equilibrium is obtained and the basic reproduction number is computed using the next generation matrix. We carry out cost evaluation of the model to optimize the cost of the intervention in the objective functional using Pontryagins’s Maximum Principle (PMP). We apply the optimal control strategy to investigate and analyze the optimal cost for controlling the transmission of malaria using treated bednets, treatment and indoor residual spray as parameters. Numerical simulation has been carry out using Runge-Kutta of order four to calculate the incremental cost effectiveness ratio () for the implementation of various combinations of the parameters to determine the most cost effective strategy that check the spread of the disease. Our findings show that the most cost-effective strategy to check the spread of malaria is strategy F (the combination of treatment of infected individuals and indoor residual spray parameters). Keywords: Optimal Control, Malaria Transmission, Cost-Effectiveness, Treated Bednets, Treatment, Indoor Spra

FOXO1, TGF-β Regulation and Wound Healing

Re-epithelialization is a complex process that involves migration and proliferation of keratinocytes, in addition to the production of cytokines and growth factors that affect other cells. The induction of transcription factors during these processes is crucial for successful wound healing. The transcription factor forkhead boxO-1 (FOXO1) has recently been found to be an important regulator of wound healing. In particular, FOXO1 has significant effects through regulation of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) expression and protecting keratinocytes from oxidative stress. In the absence of FOXO1, there is increased oxidative damage, reduced TGF-β1 expression, reduced migration and proliferation of keratinocytes and increased keratinocytes apoptosis leading to impaired re-epithelialization of wounds

Financing innovative economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa: the role of mobile payment systems

Electronic payments like mobile banking services have been associated with unprecedented access to financial services in economies, where a large section of the population was underfunded or underfunded due either due to lack of proximity to bank branches. However, the continuous development of electronic payment systems, especially mobile payment in sub-Saharan Africa has brought about a rise in volume of cashless transactions, thereby reducing the use of cash for payment. This therefore promotes financial integration among the segments of the population as it offers those without access to the formal banking system a safe and efficient payment alternative to cash. Also, electronic payment usage also has enormous benefits to governments as it will potentially help collect more tax revenue by providing a clear electronic trail and transparent transactions that can readily be taxed.Our study considers how mobile money services influence innovative economic growth. A linear regression analysis sub-Saharan African data for period 2011-2018 has been carried out. It has been revealed that mobile services and payments system have significant positive effect on economic growth, hence innovative development of the region. Based on these findings it is concluded that mobile payment services or systems are critical aspect of financial intermediation in sub-Saharan Africa as they offer them funds that can be drawn into the formal financial system from resources from both the population with bank accounts and the population without bank accounts, which can contribute to innovative economic growth in the region

Comparative Evaluation of Mobile Forensic Tools

The rapid rise in the technology today has brought to limelight mobile devices which are now being used as a tool to commit crime. Therefore, proper steps need to be ensured for Confidentiality, Integrity, Authenticity and legal acquisition of any form of digital evidence from the mobile devices. This study evaluates some mobile forensic tools that were developed mainly for mobile devices memory and SIM cards. An experiment was designed with five android phones with different Operating System. Four tools were used to find out the capability and efficiency of the tools when used on the sampled phones. This would help the forensic investigator to know the type of tools that will be suitable for each phone to be investigated for acquiring digital evidence. The evaluation result showed that AccessData FTK imager and Paraben device seizure performs better than Encase and Mobiledit. The experimental result shows that, Encase could detect the unallocated space on the mobile deice but could retrieve an deleted data

Accuracy of Phy-X/PSD Software Compared to XCOM in the Determination of Mass Attenuation Coefficient of Glass Systems

Phy-X/PSD and XCOM are two software programs used for computations in radiation shielding and nuclear energy research. This study aims to compare the accuracy of Phy-X/PSD with that of XCOM in the determination of mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) of glass systems. The MAC values of 60B2O3-(40-x)BaO-xBi2O3, 50BaO-xBi2O3-(50-x)borosilicate glasses, and xTeO2-(70-x)ZnF2-25AsO3-5Sm2O3 glass systems at 0.662 MeV, 1.172 MeV and 1.332 MeV were determined using Phy-X/PSD. The mean absolute error (MAE) was determined and compared with MAE from experimental data and from XCOM. The results showed no significant difference between the MAC means obtained from the three data sets. However, single factor ANOVA test shows that the p-values for the MAC means are 0.344, 0.918 and 0.239 approximated to 3 d.p at 0.662 MeV, 1.172 MeV, and 1.332 MeV respectively and the variance was highest in the experimental result, followed by Phy-X/PSD, and least in the XCOM results. It could be concluded that both software programs can be used for radiation shielding computations, although result from Phy-X/PSD may have relatively more outliers compared to XCOM

Potential Impact of COVID-19 on Medical Career Aspirations of Prospective Students

Md Anwarul Azim Majumder,1 Abdulmuhaimin Aslam Khatib,2 Taha Alhassan,3 Mohammed S Razzaque2,3 1The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados; 2Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Erie, Pennsylvania, USA; 3Department of Medical Education, School of Medicine, University of Texas (UTRGV), Edinburg, Texas, USACorrespondence: Mohammed S Razzaque, Department of Medical Education, School of Medicine, University of Texas (UTRGV), 1204 W Schunior Street, Edinburg, Texas, 78541, USA, Tel +1 (956) 296 2314, Email [email protected]: This article describes the evolving landscape of medical education in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing the renewed importance of public health, mental well-being, and career choices among medical students. The pandemic has prompted a significant shift in medical student’s career aspirations, highlighting the need for mental health support mechanisms within the medical education framework. Medical students’ career choices are influenced directly and indirectly by the challenges and experiences of the pandemic era, which are discussed in this article under four key themes: traditional values, global health interests and disparities, developing trends, and digital healthcare. There is an urgent need to adjust medical training to the new reality and share the future directions of the medical education landscape by embracing diverse career paths in medicine, integrating technology into medical training, adapting to the changing context of medicine, and strengthening collaboration and communication. The pandemic underscores the importance of evidence-based patient care, necessitating the preparation of tomorrow’s doctors to address the emerging healthcare challenges with resilience, adaptability, and a comprehensive understanding of both local and global health challenges.Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, mental health, career aspirations, medical students, impac

An Assessment of Institutional Importance of Climate Change Adaptation in the Volta River Basin of Northern Ghana

Climate change affects a lot of sectors including agriculture. Several measures are being adopted to avert the impacts associated with it. Water resources in semi-arid areas are not excluded. The study, conducted in Lawra District of Upper West region of Ghana was undertaken to identify and assess the adaptation strategies adopted by settlers along and in the Volta River Basin as well as to analyse the level of agreements among the institutions that are helping farmers to adapt to climate change impacts. This study used a mixed method including focus group discussion and a semi-structured questionnaire to obtain information from 160 farming households in 8 randomly selected communities in the Lawra district. Results revealed three classes of adaptation strategies which include environmental, cultural/agronomic and economic strategies. Majority (65%) of the settlers adopted the environmental practices, whiles 52% of the respondents also adopted the cultural/agronomic practices and less than half of the respondents (31%) adopted the economic practices. We viewed that adoption levels, though more than half of the respondents adopted the environmental and cultural strategies, are still not encouraging given the magnitude of interventions related to water management. The results also reveal that community watchdogs, climate change, agriculture and food security platforms and non-governmental organisations are the three most important institutions working to improve farmer resilience to climate change. Therefore the results could restimulate policy implementation with the overall aim of increasing adoption levels of the strategies. Only when this is done, will a significant step have been taken towards saving our water resources from climate change impacts

FOXO1 Deletion in Keratinocytes Improves Diabetic Wound Healing through MMP9 Regulation

Keratinocyte migration is a key aspect of re-epithelialization during wound healing. Matric metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) contributes to this process and deificiencies in the MMP9 lead to impaired healing. Inappropriate expression of MMP9 also contributes to impaired re-epithelialization. Previously we demonstrated that FOXO1 was activated in wound healing but to higher levels in diabetic wounds. To address mechanisms of impaired re-epithelialization we examined MMP0 expression in vivo in full thickness dermal scalp wounds creared in experimental K14.Cre+.Foxo1L/L mice with lineage-specific Cre recombinase deletion of floxed FOXO1 and compared the results to control littermates. MMP9 was induced during wound healing but at a significantly higher level in diabetic compared to normal wounds. FOXO1 deletion substantially blocked this increase. By chromatin immunoprecipitation FOXO1 was shown to bind to the MMP9 promoter, FOXO1 overexpression increased MMP9 transcriptional activity and increased MMP9 expression simulated by high glucose that was blocked by FOXO1 deletion or FOXO1 knockdown. We also show for the first time that high glucose impairs keratinocyte migration by inducing high levels of MMP9 expression in diabetic wound healing, which represents a novel mechanism for impaired re-epithelialization in diabetic wounds