The African Commission on Human and People's Rights and the woman question

This paper proposes that in developing jurisprudence on women's rights, the African Commission will need to ask the woman question particularly the African woman question. The woman question requires a judicial or quasi-judicial body to always put woman at the centre of any decision with a view to addressing the historically disadvantaged position of women in society. Asking the African woman question means examining how the peculiar experiences of African women have been ignored by laws rooted in patriarchy across the region. Although the Commission has handled few cases directly dealing with women's rights, the paper suggests that the Commission can draw inspiration from decisions of other regional and international human rights bodies such as the European Court on Human Rights and the Committee on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) on how to ask the woman question. The paper recommends that in line with feminist reasoning there is a need for the African Commission to develop a consistent gender-sensitive approach in dealing with cases that may have implications for women. In essence the African Commission must ask the African woman question when dealing with cases on the enjoyment of women's fundamental rights

Antibiotic Susceptibility Profile of Bacteria Isolated from Fitness Machines in Selected Fitness Centers at Akure and Elizade University in Ondo State Nigeria

Aim: This study seeks to determine the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of bacteria isolated from surfaces of fitness machines at fitness center located at Elizade University and Akure town. Methods: Samples were collected from the different site of gym equipment including thread mill (handle, floor), bicep bench (handle), bike (handle, paddle), cruncher (handle, elbow) using sterile swab stick moistened with sterile buffered physiological solution. The swab sticks were immediately transferred to the laboratory for analysis. Standard microbiological techniques were used to identify the bacterial isolates. The antibiotic susceptibility profile of the isolates was determined by using standard antibiotics discs. Results: Out of the 31 isolates identified, Staphylococcus aureus 12(38.7%) was the predominant bacteria followed by Bacillus spp. 11(35.5%), Klebsiella spp. 4(12.9%), E. coli and Staphylococcus saprophyticus 2(6.45%) and Enterococcus spp. 1(3.23%). The susceptibility profile showed that all isolates were resistant to Amoxicillin (AM) and Augmentin (AU), Staphylococcus spp. isolated from different surfaces shows different susceptibility pattern to the used antibiotics, while Bacillus spp. Klebsiella spp. and E. coli also confer resistance to more than one commonly used antibiotic. Conclusion: The results showed the occurrence of potentially pathogenic bacteria in which their presence on the equipment surfaces could easily be transmitted between users and to the environment generally. The spread of these potential pathogenic microorganisms in the fitness center can be prevented through frequent hand washing and use of hand sanitizer as well as daily cleaning of equipment surfaces before and after activities with disinfectants

Fatty acids Analyses of n-Hexane Fractions of Ageratum conyzoides Leaf

Lipidomics is an emerging field, where the structures, functions and dynamic changes of lipids in cells, tissues or body fluids are investigated. This study revealed the GC–MS metabolic profiling of the polar and non-polar fractions from n-hexane extracts of Agerantum conyzoides. After extraction, the n-hexane leaf extract has a yield of 1.20% and the GC-MS result reveal that A. conyzoides have w-6: w-3 PUFA ratio of 2.1 and other fatty acids of biochemical relevance. Keywords: Lipidomics; Cardiovascular disease; Agerantum conyzoides leaf; Fatty acids, GC-MS

Improving the Drug Bioavailability Property of Myricetin through a Structural Monosubstitution Modification Approach: an In-Silico Pharmacokinetics Study

Myricetin belongs to the members of polyphenolic compounds that make up the flavonoid class, which possess antioxidant properties. Myricetin is mostly obtained from vegetables, fruits, nuts, berries, tea, and is also found in red wine. It is also similar structurally to quercetin, fisetin and luteolin and is known to possess similar functions as the other members in the flavonol class of flavonoids. The health benefits of myricetin cuts across being an anticarcinogen compound to its antiviral, antithrombotic, antidiabetic, antiatherosclerotic, neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory properties among others. It also plays a role as a cyclooxygenase 1 inhibitor, an antineoplastic agent, an antioxidant, a plant metabolite, a food component and a hypoglycemic agent. It is a hexahydroxyflavone and a 7-hydroxyflavonol. The 2D structure of myricetin was obtained from the PubChem database while the MarvinSketch software was used to effect the various structural modifications on the compound. The structural modifications entails the substitution of the OH group attached to the C1 of myricetin with different functional groups such as the C=O, C2H5, CH3, CHO, CONH2, H and OCH3 which were saved as mrv files. The saved mrv files for each 2D structures were converted into canonical SMILES with the aid of the Open Babel software while the pharmacokinetic parameters for each compound was predicted using the SwissADME server. Results from this study showed that the C2H5, CH3 and H analogues of myricetin showed a higher gastrointestinal absorption rate compared to their C=O, CHO, CONH2 and OCH3 counterparts. This result shows that the C2H5, CH3 and H analogues of myricetin might be more orally bioavailable compared to myricetin and the other modified analogues. Preclinical studies on these compounds are therefore recommende

Evaluation of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) landraces to bacterial blight caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. vignicola

Open Access Article; Published online: 16 Oct 2018.Cowpea is an important protein source for human populations in many nations across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, cowpea production is constrained by bacterial blight (CoBB) caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. vignicola (Xav), a disease affecting most cowpea-growing areas. A large proportion of smallholder farmers across SSA rely on traditional cowpea landraces (CLR) to produce the crop. The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) possesses the largest collection of cowpea germplasm, including several CLR accessions. However, screening for resistance to CoBB in most of the CLR accessions maintained at IITA has not been conducted. CoBB severity was evaluated in 103 CLR accessions from five African countries, the US, The Philippines, and Sri Lanka by artificially inoculating a highly virulent Xav strain in plants grown in a screenhouse. Highly significant (P < 0.0001) differences in susceptibilities to the disease were detected among the evaluated germplasm. Resistance was detected in several CLR accessions with two accessions from Nigeria and one from the US developing no disease symptoms. Our results indicate that several CLR accessions are valuable sources of resistance to CoBB and those could be used to breed for improved varieties with superior resistance to the disease. The resistant CLR accessions and others in IITA collection should be further investigated to identify additional beneficial traits that may contribute to the development of improved, commercially acceptable varieties

Comparative effectiveness of the powders of some underutilized botanicals for the control of Callosobruchus maculatus (Fab.) (Coleoptera : Bruchidae)

Biological activities of eight plant powders including Piptadeniastrum africanum (rootbark), Piptadeniastrum africanum (leaf), Piper guineense, Aristolochia repens, Alstonia boneei, Xylopia aethiopica, Garcinia kola and Picralima nitida were assessed under prevailing atmospheric condition (28±20C, 70-75 r.h.) in laboratory on Callosobruchus maculatus (Fabricius) at four treatment levels of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0g of plant powders per 20g of cowpea seeds corresponding to 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0% w/w. Percentage beetle mortality was scored at 24, 48, 72 and 96h after treatment. The results obtained showed that powder of P. guineense was the most toxic to C. maculatus evoking 100% mortality at day four with treatment levels of 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0 %w/w respectively. The plant powders of P. africanum (rootbark), P. africanum (leaf) and A. repens evoked 85.00%, 85.50% and 80.00% mortality at day four with treatment level of 10.00% w/w. The least toxic powders on the insect were those of A. boonei, X. aethiopica, G. kola and P. nitida. In a further evaluation of the plant powders on survival and development of C. maculatus, it was observed that fecundity and adult emergence were drastically reduced in all the treatments except G. kola and A. boonei Key words: Plant powders, Callosobruchus maculatus, fecundity and adult emergenc

Evaluation of 6-Gingerol and its modified analogues as therapeutic candidates against Schistosoma mansoni phosphofructokinase

The African most prevalent tropical disease after malaria is schistosomiasis and this disease in the developing countries is a massive socio-economic and public health burden. The disease also caused over 200,000 deaths. The development and design of new and novel antischistosomal drugs is now very important, as there are no vaccines currently and there is only one drug at the moment for the treatment of schistosomiasis. In this article, 6-gingerol was docked against the Schistosoma mansoni phosphofructokinase and the docking result was compared to those obtained from the docking of its modified analogues against the same enzyme. The chemical structure of 6-gingerol was obtained from the PubChem database while the modified analogues were designed using the ChemAxon software. The molecular docking procedure was carried out with the aid of the AutoDock Vina software while polar interactions which were eventually used in predicting the amino acid residues at the Schistosoma mansoni phosphofructokinase active site were visualized using the Pymol software. The Schistosoma mansoni phosphofructokinase 3D crystallized structure was modeled using the Swiss Model server. The molecular docking result showed that the modifications made on 6-gingerol had a positive effect on the binding energy of the compound to the enzyme active site as an appreciable increase was observed. 6-Gingerol and its modified analogues also violated none of the Lipinski’s rule with suggests that the experimental compounds are drug-like. The C2H5 analogue of 6 gingerol was selected as the ideal therapeutic agent based on the pharmacokinetics study and the exhibited binding energy