Mutations in the TP53 gene had been attributed to the development of liver cancer. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and liver cirrhosis are liver diseases having high mortality rates in several populations. There is no information on the TP53 gene polymorphism among liver diseases patients in Calabar, Nigeria. This study investigated the genetic polymorphism of TP53 among HCC and liver cirrhosis in Calabar. This research was carried out in the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar. Blood was collected from 35 clinically diagnosed hepatocellular carcinoma and 10 cirrhosis patients and 10 healthy controls. DNA was extracted from all blood samples. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was performed. The amplicon was digested using Hae III restriction enzyme and the genotypic and allelic frequencies were determined. In liver diseases patients, male was 68.9% (31), female (31.1%; 14), sex ratio (2.2: 0.5), mean age was 41.51 ± 2.13 years and odd ratio of 1.25. Marital status of patients were 33(73.3%), 10(22.2%), and 2(4.4%) for married, single, and widowed respectively. Ethnicity of patients were Yakurr, Efik, Boki, Ogoja, Annang, Ibibio and Igbo having 22.2%(10), 20%(9), 13.3%(6), 13.3%(6), 8.8% (4), 2.2%(1) and 2.2%(1) respectively. Approximately, 64.7% (30) of the chronic liver diseases were from the Central and Northern part of Cross River State. The risk factors were HCV infection, HBsAg+, alcoholism, smoking, consumption of groundnuts that may have been contaminated with aflatoxin and family history of the disease. PCR product yielded 254bp and digested PCR product showed homozygous TT mutation (27), heterozygous GT mutation (17) and homozygous GG wild type (1) in cases. The overall TP53 gene mutation frequency was 46.32% (44). The frequency of G allele, T allele, GG, GT and TT genotypes were 0.21, 0.79, 0.04, 0.33 and 0.62 respectively among cases, while GG (wild type) was only detected among controls in the study population. The genotypic and allelic frequencies conform to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium meaning that the forces of evolution were not acting on the locus. There were significant differences in the genotypic proportions of the TP53 gene polymorphism among patients and controls. This study on the TP53 gene polymorphism will serve as baseline information on the molecular etiology of hepatocellular carcinoma and liver cirrhosis in Cross River State.

This research was focused on the evaluation of agro-morphological attributes of twenty-four accessions of Squash, Cucurbita moschata obtained from Abia, Benue, Cross River Ebonyi, Edo and Enugu States. Plant length, internode length, petiole length, fruit length, fruit diameter, fruit weight, flesh thickness, mature seed number, aborted seed number, leaf area, flower number and leaf number were evaluated. Data generated from the study for growth and yield attributes were analyzed using PAST 3 software for analysis of Variance, Principal Components Analysis, Correlation Coefficient Analysis and genetic distances-based similarity indices of the accessions. The results indicated that there were significant differences (P < 0.05) among the accessions in most of the growth and yield attributes evaluated. The best performing accessions were Abia creamy and Abia brown varieties which showed high performances in all growth and yield parameters evaluated. The Enugu 4 accession showed the least performance in most of the growth and yield attributes evaluated. Results of the variation in growth traits showed significant difference in all the growth attributes except stalk length. Also there was significant variation (P < 0.05) in yield attributes. Results of the Principal Components Analysis of the growth parameters showed that flower number, aborted seed number, fruit length, leaf number, fruit texture, flesh texture, flesh colour and secondary colour contributed to the total variation. Results of Correlation Analysis between quantitative and qualitative attributes showed that mature seeds correlated positively, strongly and significantly with fruit colour, flesh colour, flesh texture and colour pattern. Fruit diameter was found to be positively, strongly and significantly correlated with fruit texture, flesh texture, colour pattern, predominant colour and secondary colour. The hierarchical numeric cluster analysis classified the quantitative and qualitative traits in the 24 accessions into 2 major clusters with most of the accessions having similar quantitative attributes in cluster one and those accessions with similar qualitative traits in cluster two. It was concluded that Abia creamy and Abia brown were the most adaptable varieties from the results due to their high performances in all growth and yield parameters evaluated and thus recommended for farmers in this Agro-ecology of Calabar. Moreso, Abia creamy and Abia brown which showed high relatedness and performances can be used to improve Enugu brown with low performance by cross breeding to enhance performance for food security.

The present study investigated the rate of change (mutation) in TP53 and the associated functional partner genes and revealed that they play very significant role in hepatocellular carcinoma and liver cancer disease conditions in humans. Genetic correlation analysis has shown that there is very high association, strong relationship with significant impact between TP53 and the functional partner genes. The strength of association between TP53 gene and other functional partners gene was found to be high (> 0.5) in normal liver but low than in cancerous liver. The proteomic parameters of TP53 and other functional partner genes such as the molecular weights, number of amino acids, theoretical pl, total number of atoms, total number of positive and negative amino acids residues, extinction coefficients, estimated half-life, instability index, aliphatic index and hydropathicity were revealed in the study and viewed using the circos visualizer which showed bigger strands for genes with high molecular weights. The expasy.org prosites analysis of the TP53 and associated functional partner genes revealed the functional domain protein site reaction hotspots with the corresponding amino acids. The main prosites reaction hotspots were the protein kinase II phosphorylation site (PKC) which was similar for all the associated genes. Other domain reaction hotspots for TP53 and associated genes includes N-glycosylation sites, N-myristylation sites, N-Amidation sites, Tyrosine II kinase phosphorylation sites I and II, the casein II protein kinase phosphorylation sites (CK2) and the cAMP and cGMP phosphorylation sites. Two principal components were used to explain the variations in dimensionality of the TP53 and associated genes. ATM gene showed the highest loading value in PC1 while EP300 gene exerts the highest impact in terms of dimensionality in PC2. The principal component axes delineated the genes into two major cluster sets. Major cluster one had four genes which major two had 6 genes. The intensity of interactions among the genes to induce hepatocellular carcinoma and liver cancer was demonstrated using interactive heatmap with red colour depicting intense interactions, black colour depicting moderate interactions and green colour depicting slow interactions.

This emerging technology called “Phytoremediation” which uses plants to remove pollutants from the environment is preferred over traditional methods, because it offers site restoration, partial decontamination, and maintenance of biological activity and physical structure whilst being potentially cheap, visually unobtrusive and with a possibility of bio-recovery of metals. Because of these advantages, phytoremediation is considered as a 'green', sustainable pollution removal process. The present study was designed to evaluate Phytoremediation potential of Moringa oleifera leaf extract on soil contaminated with Spent Engine Oil. Top soil (0-15cm depth) was randomly collected and 5kg each of the composite samples were transferred into fifty (50) plastic buckets with drainage holes at the base, plugged with cotton wool to retain the soil. The Plastic buckets were arranged into five treatment groups with Ten (10) replicates each. The polythene bags were arranged in a completely randomized block design. Spent Engine oil obtained from mechanic shops in Bedwell Calabar, Cross River State, was applied as the pollutant. The Spent engine oil was introduced at different concentration levels (0.3, 0.5, 0.7, and 1.0 l/5kg) into the treatment groups apart from the control (0.0 l/5kg).The results across the various treatment levels where subjected to statistical analysis, using Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the results showed that physicochemical parameters (soil pH and organic carbon), Heavy Metals present, Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon and Microbial Counts were significantly higher (P<0.05) in treatment groups than the control. The result also showed a significant reduction (P<0.05) of the Total petroleum hydrocarbon after treatment.

Background: Poverty has been a prevailing challenge among individuals and farmers most especially in the Nigerian economy. The study analyzed poverty status of cassava farmers in Agrarian cassava region in Cross River State, Nigeria. Methods: A multistage sampling technique was adopted in selecting 120 respondents using structured questionnaire between 2019 and 2022. Data obtained were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Result: Results showed that the poverty line estimated across all gender was N 17,770.80 and 64.15% of the male farmers were non-poor while 35.85% of them were poor. Male recorded the highest poverty head count ratio (P0) of 0.358. The poverty gap (P1) and severity of poverty (P2) among male farmers were 9.8 and 4.8 per cent, respectively. Similarly, poverty head count (P0), poverty gap (P1) and severity of poverty (P2) for female farmers was 32.8%, 9.7% and 4% respectively. Drudgery/ inadequate access to modern equipment (2.74), high cost of labour (2.64), high perishability of cassava (2.60), high cost of transportation (2.55), fluctuation in prices (2.43) and lack of improved variety (2.38) were the serious constraint faced by cassava farmers during their production in the study area. Policies should be directed towards enhancing farmer income and reducing income inequality through access to credit facility for cassava based farmers.

Background: The soil is a fundamental natural resource of any nation hence proper assessment of the kind and extent of this resource is prerequisite to its improvement and rational use. Method: Random sampling technique was used to collect soils from each of the 18 LGAs of Cross River State, Nigeria and each separated into two parts. One part was used for the cultivation of local maize while the other part of soil was analysed for pedochemical properties and fertility indices. Result: The results reveal that organic carbon ranged from 1.40 g/kg3 to 2.84 g/kg3. Available Phosphorus varied from 3.31 mg/kg to 29.24 mg/kg. The value of total nitrogen varied from 0.11 g/kg3 to 0.24 g/kg3. Cation exchange capacity (CEC) also varied from 7.01 Cmol/kg3 to 12.01 Cmol/kg3. The soils across the agroecology were more acidic 5.00 to less acidic 0.61. Boron varied from 0.52 mg/kg3 to 2.01 mg/kg3 while Zinc also ranged from 1.93 mg/kg3 to 5.0 mg/kg3. The results also show that 33.33% of the soils were rated high, medium and low for available phosphorus. It was identified that total nitrogen nutrient fertility ratings for the soils was 77.78% high fertility ratings and 22.22% medium fertility ratings. Results identified organic carbon fertility rating was of high fertility rating of 72.23% while 27.67% medium rating was identified for organic carbon content. Ten (10) principal components (PC) were identified to contribute to the total 100% support for maize crop production in the study area.

This study was aimed at using bioinformatics tools to characterize the Lipid Transfer Protein 1 gene in some selected accessions with special reference to Benny seed (Sesamum indicum) Lipid Transfer Protein 1 sequence as a query sequence. Nucleotide and amino acid sequences of 30 accessions were retrieved from NCBI database and analyzed for homology, physicochemical properties, motifs, GC content as well as phylogenetic relationships. Results showed that nucleotide and amino acid sequence lengths of this gene among the selected accessions differs. Its nucleotide length varied between 599–8461bp, while the amino acids sequence varied between 96–355 residues, Molecular weight range from 10008.77-35532.61daltons. With Sesamum indicum having the lowest molecular weight and Physcomitrium patens having the highest molecular weight. Result on the Theoretical PI was above 4.61 for all the amino acid sequences of Lipid Transfer Protein 1 gene in the selected accessions. It was observed that the total number of negatively charged residues ranged from 1-20. The instability index and aliphatic index ranged from 20.23–69.39, 73.48–102.24 respectively. Some of the proteins are stable, while twelve were considered unstable following the results for instability index. Extinction coefficient was highest for Sesamum indicum (14480). Daucus carota subsp. Sativus (-0213) is the only accessions with a negative GRAVY. The motifs N-glycosylation site, Plant lipid transfer proteins signature, N-myristoylation site, Casein kinase II phosphorylation site, Protein kinase C phosphorylation site were the most common across the selected accessions. GC content analysis revealed that it ranged from ranged from 29.73–54.55%. Analysis of the secondary structure of the amino acid sequences of the Lipid Transfer Protein 1 gene showed that the region covered by random coil was the highest in the sequences compared to alpha helix and extended strand. Alpha helix ranges from 33.11-54.31%, the extended strands ranged from 9.17–15.13%, while the random coil ranges from 32.77–51.16% across the accessions. Following the results of the present study, it can be concluded that Lipid Transfer Protein 1 gene sequence of Sesamum indicum is closely related to Lipid Transfer Protein 1 gene in Brachypodium distachyon and distant to that in Glycine max, Vigna unguiculata, Capsicum annum.

This chapter reveals the ease with which artificial intelligence (computer-based simulations and algorithms) can be applied in the discovery, identification, and explanation of carfentanil, rispiridine, naltrexone, buprenorphine, naloxone, and morphine as having the same biomedical applications and effects on CYP206 and OPRM2 major genes and CHRNA7, SLC5A4, and OPED7 minor genes as alternative drugs for Tramadol in biomedical applications. It also revealed that artificial intelligence can be used to discover and explain that omega-3-fatty acid, 1,1-dimethetyl, rimonabant, 1-naphthalenyl, HU-210, 2-arachidonyl and anandamide are alternative drugs with same biomedical applications and effects as Cannabinol drug on CD5 major and minor CNR1and CNR2 genes. It was also discovered that Verdanafil and Tadalafil have same and similar biological applications and effect on CYP25 OPRD1, and HTR7 major genes and PRKG2 and CAVI minor genes and are discovered as alternative drugs to Sildenafil drug. The study revealed that GDP-mannose, uridine phosphate, and guanosine diphosphate possess same and similar biological applications and effect on DNAI2 major gene and EPGN and ALGI1 minor genes and are discovered as alternative drugs to 310the Praziquantel drug used as anthelminthic drug in biomedical applications. Such discovered drugs can be properly harnessed, reconstituted, redesigned, refocused, and utilized as potential prophylactic or therapeutic drug (single or in combinations) for the prevention and treatment of diseases, which is a cardinal focus and target for the pharmaceutical industries. Hence, a computational-based algorithm that utilizes bioinformatics tools will therefore provide the much needed validation approach for the discovery and provides better explanations for the applications of small molecules as potential drugs for the prevention and cure of most health-related ailments and biomedical applications.

Diversity and phytochemical studies were carried out on twelve ecotypes of utasi, Gongronema latifolium using simple sequence repeats markers. Screening of ten (10) trinucleotide SSR primers, produced 4 primers that were able to amplify the DNA from all the plant ecotype. A total of 34 bands were amplified from the 4 SSR primers which include SSR 2, SSR 3, SSR 1 and SSR 4. Out of the amplified products using the 4 primers, 17 were found to be polymorphic with an average of 9 bands per primer. The number of amplification products per primer ranged between 10 in SSR 4 to 12 in SSR 2 with SSR 1 having the least number of bands (1). The sequences of the 4 random primers used in this study along with the number of bands generated and the number of polymorphic bands. The results of genetic analysis of the Gongronema latifolium ecotypes delineated the 12 ecotypes into five cluster groups. Results of phytochemical analysis of leaves of Gongronema latifolium showed (Table 2) mean saponin (2.09 ±0.01%), mean tannin (1.17 ± 0.01%), mean flavonoid (2.53 ±0.01%), mean polyphenol (4.60 ± 0.01%) and mean reducing compound (7.92 ± 0.01%).The phytochemical indices of the least 1.17+ 0.01% and highest 7.92+ 0.01% were constituted by tannins and reducing compounds, respectively. Thus, the study suggested the need for future exploitation of Gongronema latifolium leaves for phytochemical contents due to their high medicinal value.

Background: Diffenbachia amoena commonly called dumb cane is a houseplant found in homes, offices, banks and landscape premises as ornamental plants. This family of plants has shown high levels of acute and chronic toxicities with high cytogenic, mutagenic, carcinogenic, genotoxic potentials. Several studies had implicated some phytochemicals contained in the whitish latex sap including saponins, glycosides, tannins and oxalates to be responsible for the toxicity of this houseplant to plant cells and proteins. Methods: Cytological investigation protocol was used to determine cytogenetic infractions such as chromosome stickiness, lagging chromosomes, bridged chromosomes, deletions and chromosomal aberrations. The phytochemicals contained in the latex were determined using high performance liquid chromatography while computational biology approach was used to determine the latex phytochemicals interactions with the onion plant proteins using SIB stitch of expasy.org. Result: Cytogenetic studies reveals that Dumb cane causes significant effect and infractions in the cytogenetics of onion cells ranging from chromatid-type breakage-fusion-bridge, chromosome stickiness, lagging chromosomes, bridged chromosomes, deletions and chromosomal aberrations. The latex sap from the stem contains oxalates, saponins, glycosides, tannins, alkaloids to varying degree which impairs photosynthetic and biochemical processes in the plant system. Phytochemicals-proteins interactions revealed that oxalates impairs and inhibits the formation and functionality of alanine glycoxylatetransferase (GRHPR), Chromobox homolog 5 chromosome (CBX5), alpha ketaglutarate dehydrogenase (AGXT) and glyoxylate reductase (OGDH) genes. Hence, there is need for enlightenment of the public on the dangers and toxicity of this houseplant in rural community households, urban cities, offices, recreational parks, business centers where the use of this deadly plant as ornamental is still very predominant.

Energy is a fundamental recipe for all life forms. All living things including poultry require energy for cellular activity, growth and reproduction. Energy is basically derived from food nutrient sources such as carbohydrates, excess proteins, fat and oil both of plant and animal sources. The cost of raising poultry has continue to increase due to increasing cost of feedstuff and the poor genetic make-up of birds which confers some breeds with very feed conversion efficiency. A total number of 20day old chicks were used to investigate the effects of inclusion of rice husk as Dietary Supplement in a formulated finisher feed, on growth performance characteristics. Four different levels (0%, 0.6%, 1.0%, and 1.4%) of formulated feed with rice husk as dietary supplement were evaluated in the experiment. Daily feed intake, feed conversion ratio, body weight gain and mortality rate were assessed in all the treatment groups evaluated. The results showed that mean body weight and feed conversion after 8 weeks for diets did not differ significantly (p<0.05). Results of analysis of the four different levels of concentration of rice husk, the control (0%) had the highest body weight followed by 1.4%, then 1.0% and 0.6% after the experiment respectively. In respect to the feed intake, it was observed that treatments with the highest concentration or level of rice husk (1.4%), had the highest feed intake amongst other treatments. This research work showed that rice husk could economically replace other energy sources to a certain extent in the broiler ration. Thus, the inclusion of fibre (rice husk) in feed dilutes energy concentration in the plant fibre and making same available to the poultry for increased growth.

Air potato yam (Dioscorea bulbifera L.) is an indigenous, edible, and energy-giving crop and used as herbal remedy for common ailments like diabetes, dysentery and conjunctivitis. This study sought to determine the tolerance of D. bulbifera to salt stress conditions through molecular, biochemical and physiological approaches. Results revealed that most of the local lines were less tolerant to sodium chloride showing reduced concentrations of chlorophyll a and b of the plants, and also showed increased activities of peroxidase, linolytic, xylanase, cellulase and glucose-6phosphate dehydrogenase enzymes at increasing salt concentration and stress. Molecular analysis using Simple Sequence Repeats (SSR) revealed that 11 lines did not contain any trait related to the marker. Twenty eight (28) lines fingerprinted at 100 bp with the marker gene. Nine lines were fingerprinted at 300 bp with the marker gene while Dbor 1 fingerprinted at 100, 200, 300 and 400 bp with the marker gene. Three of the local lines which are round in shape, Dbor 1, Dbok 3 and Dbak 2 produced several bulbils at 300Nm of salt concentration and showed molecular bands at 400 and 300 bps indicating the presence of a salt tolerant gene at the locus and base pairs. Therefore, molecular analysis has revealed the presence of salt tolerant gene at 300 400 bp in the three local lines which can be further harnessed for salt-tolerance improvement in the less tolerant lines. Physiologically, chlorophyll contents and enzyme concentrations in the less tolerant local lines were critically affected with increasing salt concentrations.

The role of apicultural education as a catalyst for reducing rural poverty among bee farmers was investigated in Ini Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The survey research design was used in achieving this. To adequately and appropriately execute the project, some objectives were formulated. From these objectives, research questions were generated and hypotheses formulated accordingly to guide data gathering and analysis. The instrument for data gathering was a four point close ended questionnaire from which 150 bee farmers and 50 extension agents were selected to respond to items in the questionnaire using the census approach. Data collected from their responses were subjected to two forms of descriptive analysis. The first was percentage descriptive analysis which was used to x-ray the biodata. Second, mean and standard deviation were used to treat the research questions. The third method used is the independent t-test on the three man hypothesis of the study. The result of the analysis warranted the rejection of the three null hypothesis tested at 0.05 level of significance with 198 degrees of freedom using 1.96 as the critical f value. The results showed that 98 percent of bee farmers who had received apicultural education through extension services produced had more honey yield due to increase awareness on modern bee keeping techniques, adequate processing information and marketing strategies which invariably increased their income. Based on the findings made in this research, it was concluded by that giving the farmers and rural dwellers apicultural education such as training them on how to construct apicultural equipment, producing of honey, producing and processing of bee wax into other products such as polish, candles etc. will enhance their performance in bee farming and thus alleviate their poverty.

Background and Objective: Plantain (Musa paradisiaca L) remains one of themost important staple food crop and perhaps, one of the oldest cultivated fruit tree crop in the humid tropics of Africa, Central Asia, South America and the West Indies.Fourteen (14) elite plantain cultivars were evaluated for genetic diversity using agro-morphological yield related attributes and simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Materials and Methods: Six (6) microsatellite markers that showed distinct fragments varying from 50 bp to 3.0 Kbp in size of polymorphic bands were selected and used for molecular characterization and fingerprinting, while agro-morphological (yield–related) attributes assessed included bunch weight, number of hands/bunch, number of fingers/hands, number of fingers/bunch, harvest interval, length of plant cycle, pulp hardness and pulp to skin weight ratio of the elite plantain cultivars. Results: The total number of amplified bands (TNB), mean percentage polymorphism (%P), mean polymorphic information content (PIC), average marker index (MI) and mean gene diversity for the SSR assay were 59, 70.24%, 0.79, 3.74 and 0.832 respectively. Results of agro-morphological fingerprint study revealed a significant variations in terms of the bunch weight, number of finger per hands/bunch, number of fingers per hand, number of fingers /bunch, harvest interval, length of crop cycle, pulp hardness and pulp/wt. ratio all showed significant variations among the cultivars. The distribution of the elite cultivars along with the principal components showed cluster pattern of distribution within the study location. Principal component analysis revealed four principal components contributing 99.91% to the observed morphological variations while analysis of molecular variance revealed 96.00% contributed by molecular characteristics to observed variations. The yield displayed revealed significant contributions of bunch weight, fingers/hand and fingers/bunch as the main indices for plantain yield. The dendrograms for both morphological and molecular characteristics delineated the cultivars into four distinct cluster groups and subgroups each varying in genetic distance. Conclusion: These good cultivars can be exploited for the improvement of low yielding cultivars in other region to increase and improve plantain yield, promote food security and income generation especially under the present economic realities where food security is threatened by the global food crises and declining crop productivity.

This chapter presents the essential characteristics of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) coronavirus in terms of the physical, chemical, and biological attributes of the mutant strains causing the current global pandemic, with symptoms ranging from fever; dry cough; tiredness; loss of taste, smell, and speech; sore throat; and chest pain to difficulty in breathing and constituting a threat to the existence of humanity. Preliminary in silico studies of retrieved sequences for coronavirus isolates from some endemic countries, presented in this chapter, extensively revealed the true characteristics of the coronavirus isolates, ranging from molecular weight, total number of atoms, aliphatic index, instability index, extinction coefficient, theoretic isoelectric point, grand hydropathicity, total number of negatively and positively charged amino acids residues, secondary protein structure characteristics, variations in the tertiary protein 3D structures, and the guanine–cytosine content in the RNA sequence of the isolates. Preliminary in silico determination of genetic and thermal stability potentials of the isolates has also been revealed using the instability index, aliphatic index, guanine–cytosine content, hydropathicity, and half-life of the isolates in human reticulocytes in vitro. The scary characteristics of the coronaviruses were revealed in their ability to mutate at a faster rate producing many mutant copies of the virus that are not exact, thus conferring on it the ability to escape the host immune system. This probably is responsible for the resurgence of the viruses with varied characteristics and antigens that differ from the previous strains, thus giving room for the risk of a pandemic. This calls for a more concerted effort in studying the essentials and mutation rates of the viruses to be able to predict the future mutation rate and possible attributes with a view to finding a suitable therapy and drug design for the pandemic and for the biosecurity of humans against the virus in the future.

Since the advent of the current pandemic of corona virus-induced disease in December 2019 to date, the search for knowledge has specifically been focused on finding prophylactic and therapeutic solutions for COVID-19 which has murdered approximately 1,073,675 globally as of October 11, 2020 thus intensifying the global search for a cure to save humanity. The global threat posed by COVID-19 has created the urgent search for an alternative therapy and the application of a quick check on the efficacy of other available drugs on SARS-COV 2 pathogens using biotechnological tools such as molecular docking and bioinformatics on genomic data with SWISSDOCK and AUTOVINA. In the current dispensation, plant-based antimalarial compounds like quinine-, chloroquine-, hydroxychloroquine-, and artemisinin-related compounds have been widely used as antimalarial drugs for the prophylactic and therapeutic treatment of malaria and related diseases. Thus, the application of artificial intelligence through bioinformatics and molecular docking as a quick check on the efficacy of the plant-based antimalarial compounds on SARS-COV 2 pathogens becomes indispensable, with a view to discover and repurpose these drugs as potential therapy for COVID-19 and related diseases. The results of bioinformatics analysis of genomic sequence data using in silico molecular docking revealed that the antimalarial ligands, in artemisinin, chloroquine, and quinine fixed between 3272 of (3301), 2484 of (2533) and 1660 of (1709) damaged proteins of the SARS-COV 2 tumor necrosis factor receptor proteins representing about 99.12, 97.13, and 98.06% fixation, respectively. Thus, it is expected that similar results or more with the antimalarial compounds will be validated with in vitro efficacy trials on cell cultures of SARS-COV 2 in the laboratory and in vitro on experimental models like infected patients through clinical trials. Hence, there is a need for the constant application of artificial intelligence in drug validation and optimization. Thus, artificial intelligence using bioinformatics can therefore provide the much needed in silico validation for small molecules as potential drugs for the treatment of all health-related diseases in this twenty-first century and beyond. It is therefore recommended that computer-based knowledge and algorithms like artificial intelligence, bioinformatics, machine learning, and deep learning be applied in genomic data to identify and validate suitable candidate drugs/ligands/small molecules for specific disease protein targets for drug discovery and optimization with the sole aim of eliminating trial-and-error methods, waste of time and resources, and loss of lives.

This paper analyzes the dissociation behavior of children from pregnancy to birth and resultant sub-normality using genetic counseling in an attempt to mainstream children with birth disabilities and the challenges of the genetic counselor. Genetic counseling is a process of communication to provide information about a genetic condition, or inheritance, and support decision making and adjustment in families with the inheritance gene. It uses children that need special needs, the blind, deaf and dumb. Genetic counseling approach, re-affirmation, care and integration, and confidence-building institutionalized in school and family life remains some of the vital tools needed to support these children using genetic guidance and counseling as the best approach to adjusting the different maladaptive behavior of children. The genetic counseling approach includes information about the implications of testing positive for the genetic disorder, including the psychological impact and other consequences, whether to inform relatives of your intention to test, or not to test and the usual pattern of progression of the sub-normality identified tested for and its potential treatments. Thus, the paper seems to analyze sub-normality as classified within the adequacy of social adaptation. Analysis of dissociation behavior associated with sub mentality shows discouragement, contempt, and neglect from an early age, emotionally and maladjusted social growth. Therefore, the counselor must experience sub-normality by getting involved and clarifying their feeling toward the children with these disabilities.

Aflatoxin is a nephrotoxic mycotoxin found in stale food which when consumed has some carcinogenic potentials. Aflatoxin presence has been identified in many foodstuffs all over the globe and with significantly higher frequency and concentrations coming from poultry feeds especially the locally formulated ones as a result of high cost of poultry feedstuff. Though foodstuffs are often contaminated with more than one mycotoxin, the focus of most research had centred on aflatoxin due to its wide occurrence and toxicology effect on the agro-morphometric parameters of poultry. The present studies reveals the major genes affected by aflatoxin ingestion in contaminated feed to include Tumour protein gene (TP53), Albumin protein gene (Alb), Spermatogenesis associated protein 5 (SPATA5), cytochrome p450 subfamily 3 polypeptide 4 and 7 protein genes (CYP3A4 and CYP3A7), glutathione s-transferase mu-1 protein gene (GSMU1) and minor genes such as the epoxide hydrolase 1 gene (EPHX 1), LACE 1 gene, XRCC1gene and cyclin 2 gene (CCGN2) whose expressions and functionality in the poultry has been silenced or activated leading to genotoxicity, highlights the biosynthesis and metabolic pathway of aflatoxins in poultry system and the toxin–protein interactions of aflatoxin ingested through contaminated poultry feed stuff as well as its co-occurrence with other mycotoxins in organisms as well on their combined toxicity. The metabolic pathway of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2 ingestion of aflatoxin in contaminated poultry feeds begins with the production of methyl-sterigmatocystin enzyme which pave the way for the complex, Sterigmatocystin which upon dimethylation produces versicolonin A (an enzyme which disrupts the colon) and versicolonin. The two enzymes reacts to form versiconial hemiactal acetate and producing 1‘5 Hydroxyaverantin both of which distorts the expression and functionality of Mycotoxin mixtures involving aflatoxin produced additive and synergistic effects in poultry birds suggesting that aflatoxins represent a significant health hazard. Hence, special attention should be given to poultry feedstuff screening and purification to prevent the associated toxicity that includes genotoxicity and the production of cancer-promoting mycotoxins.

Urinary schistosomiasis which is transmitted by schistosome species is the major cause of liver and bladder pathologies and still remains a serious threat in the underdeveloped and developing world. This study evaluates the prevalence of Schistosoma haematobiuminfection among school aged children in Biase, Obubra and Ogoja Local Government Areas of Cross River State. Five hundred (500) pupils were examined and selected randomly from a public primary and secondary schools in the study area. Freshly passed mid-day urine samples were collected and transferred to the laboratory where there were examined for the presence of Schistosoma haematobium eggs. Study participants were grouped into three age groups,8-10 years. 11-13 years, and 14-16 years old. Overall prevalence of S. heamatobium was (13.6%). Infection was more prevalent among the age group of 14-16years, the percentage of prevalence and intensity of infection were higher in males (14.1%) than in females (6.9%). Inter simple sequence repeats of PCR test performed for the collected urine samples using ISSR test of the Dral-1 gene reveals 73% study subjects had a polymorphism for UPA02 and UPA13 primers, while primer UPA13 showed 24% polymorphism. Total number of polymorphic bands were 2 each for primers UPA02 and UPA13 primers while UPA12 showed only one polymorphic band. Major allele frequencies (MAF) were 0.53 for each of UPA02 and UPA 13 primers but showed 0.71 frequency with UPA12 primer. Allele frequencies (AF) also varied slightly among the primers used. UPA02 and UPA 13 had allele frequencies of 8 each while UPA12 had 4 allele frequencies (Table 13). Nei’s genetic diversity indices for the primers revealed variations among the different primers. UPA02 and UPA13 Nei’s gene diversity of 0.64 each while primer UPA12 showed gene diversity of 0.28. Results of polymorphic information content showed that primers UPA02 and UPA13 discriminately revealed a PIC of 0.68 while UPA12 discriminated 0.28 PIC. This study therefore, revealed a critical need for targeting health campaign towards school age children and heads of households in order to empower them with the basic knowledge to recognize, treat and manage their health challenges.Applications of one to two doses of praziquantel considerably reduced the severity of urinary Schistosomiasis in the study area.

Genetic diversity in Musa species (AAB genome) has been collected and conserved in several germplasm banks in different parts of the world. However, not many of these collections contain dichotomous branching accessions which display an incredible amount of phenotypic polymorphisms, arising from the presence of different forms of floral clusters that result in the production of multiple bunches at fruiting. In spite of their fascinating attraction and seductive appeal, the agronomic implications of these genetic resources have been grossly understudied. This investigation, therefore, redresses some of these limitations in knowledge through evaluation of the occurrence and persistence of inflorescence dichotomy during three production cycles in field plots. All inflorescence dichotomous cultivars had a concordance coefficient of less than 100%. Data derived from Poisson distribution further confirmed the randomness of occurrence and non-persistence of the polymorphisms as phenotype reversals was frequently detected, implying that multiple-bunching is a random and unstable genetic trait in plantain. Multivariate data analysis used to classify the plantains demonstrated significant (p ≤ 0.05) differences in agro-morphological traits. Furthermore, the major discriminating traits between and within the cultivars appraised from factor analysis were four yield-related principal components including number of fingers per hand, fingers per bunch, hands per bunch and bunches per plant, which accounted for 73.035% of total variability across all cultivars; that together with firmness of pulp and pulp to peel ratio of the fruits, were the traits of overriding economic and horticultural significance. Collectively, the data presented here provide new paradigms indicating that these yield-related traits could serve as markers for understanding the field performance of inflorescence dichotomous plantain cultivars, which can be used as critical genetic resources for future improvement of this economically important crop.