Purpose: To investigate the antihyperglycaemic and hypolipidemic potential of the methanol extracts of leaf, stem and root of Ageratum conyzoides in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Methods: The extract of each of the plant part was obtained by extraction in methanol. A total of 60 male Wistar albino rats (30 induced with diabetes and 30 normoglycaemic) were assigned into diabetic and normoglycaemic groups of 6 rats each. Methanol extracts of leaf, stem and root of Ageratum conyzoides were administered orally at a dose of 100 mg/kg to the rats for a period of 14 days, with glibenclamide as the standard drug (1 mg/kg). Fasting blood glucose and lipid profile were determined to ascertain the antihyperglycaemic and hypolipidemic activities of the different parts of the plant. Results: Ageratum conyzoides significantly (p < 0.05) reduced fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels in diabetic rats by 38.71 ± 19.41 % (leaf), 25.64 ± 20.53 % (stem), and 34.76 ± 18.03 % (root) on day 14 of the treatment, compared with untreated diabetic rats where FBG increased by 11.33±8.91 %. Total cholesterol (leaf, 119.10 ± 8.12 mg/dl; stem, 109.28 ± 8.13 mg/dl) and triglycerides (leaf, 61.71 ± 9.37 mg/dl; stem, 72.45 ± 3.39 mg/dl) levels were also significantly (p < 0.05) lowered in diabetic rats. Low density lipoprotein cholesterol (leaf, 77.21 ± 8.12 mg/dl; stem, 64.76 ± 8.04 mg/dl; root, 79.08 ± 10.61mg/dl) levels were significantly (p < 0.05) lowered in all treated diabetic groups compared with the untreated diabetic rats (103.19 ± 6.08 mg/dl). Conclusion: The results from this study indicate that Ageratum conyzoides has hypoglycaemic and hypolipidemic properties in rats, and this probably justifies its reported use in the traditional management of diabetes mellitus. Keywords: Ageratum conyzoides, Diabetes mellitus, Antihyperglycaemic, Hypolipidemic

Aim: This work aims to contribute toward development of preventive measures for the control of monkeypox (mpox) virus disease through computational design of a multiepitope vaccine. Methods: To acc... Plain language summary The recent outbreak of mpox virus presents a significant public health threat with no treatment available. While the use of smallpox vaccines remains the current strategy for... Graphical abstract Graphical abstract illustrating the workflow of a multiepitope vaccine design against mpox virus. (A) Prediction of the transmembrane protein with identification of the extracell...

Bacterial cellulose hydrogels (BCH) are characterized as exopolysaccharides of glucose polymer consisting of β-1-4– glycosidic linkage with various degrees of polymerizations, which are biosynthesized by bacteria. Information on the molecular characterization of a Nigeria BCH producer isolate is completely unavailable. The study therefore aimed to characterize a new Acetobacter species that had previously been confirmed to produce BCH. The BCH-producing isolate was characterized by PCR amplification of its 16S rRNA gene, followed by sequencing and construction of phylogenetic tree. The whole-genome sequence of the isolate was also determined using the NGS Illumina sequencing, with downstream analysis of metagenomic reads through the metaWRAP pipeline. The BCH producer isolate was identified to be Acetobacter orientalis strain Zaria-B1, based on sequence identity with the reference Acetobacter orientalis strain VVS. Based on its annotated genome, the isolate was found to have an approximate genomic size of 3.1 Mbp, 45 total number of RNAs, GC content of 52.5%, 3,046 total number of protein-encoding genes, N50 of 253,774 bp, L50 of 4, as well as 30 number of contigs. Nucleotide BLAST of the cellulose synthase gene sequence confirmed the bin to be Acetobacter orientalis. The whole-genome characterization alongside the 16S rRNA genotyping confirmed the BCH-producing isolate to be Acetobacter orientalis.

Several disadvantages have been identified with the already established Fumonisin B1 remediation techniques, and these disadvantages, emphasizes the need to identify highly effective, low cost alternatives that are easy to deploy in the remediation of fumonisin B1. This research aims to assess the contamination and investigates the efficiency of ethanolic extracts of Moringa oleifera and Vernonia amygdalina leafs on the detoxification of fumonisin B1 in stored rice and maize obtained at keffi, Nasarawa state, Nigeria. Phytochemical constituents in both plant extracts were analysed using standard techniques. The phytochemical levels in Moringa oleifera extract were statistically (p ≤ 0.05) higher than in Vernonia amygdalina extract. HPLC-Uv/Vis spectroscopy technique was employed in the determination of the residual levels of fumonisin B1 in treated and untreated samples. Spectroscopic results confirmed the presence of fumonisin B1 in all samples with residual levels of 101.77 ± 3.56 and 199.04 ± 7.55 µg/kg in stored/untreated rice and maize samples respectively. Detoxification using 1 – 5 mg/cm3 of Moringa oleifera leaf extract ranged from 56.28 (44.49 ± 3.59 µg/kg) to 65.73 % (34.88 ± 1.89 µg/kg) in rice and 86.86 (26.16 ± 2.61 µg/kg) to 89.41 % (21.07 ± 3.55 µg/kg) in maize while, detoxification using 1 – 5 mg/cm3 of Vernonia amygdalina leaf extract were ranged from 34.80 (21.47 ± 1.76 µg/kg) to 56.67 % (14.27 ± 1.09 µg/kg) in rice and 38.87 (23.98 ± 0.95 µg/kg) to 58.45 % (16.30 ± 3.18 µg/kg) in maize respectively. Detoxification efficiency increased with increasing concentration of the leaf extracts used in the treatment and was in the order Moringa oleifera>Vernonia amygdalina.

Trypanosomosis is becoming a major health challenge to dogs in the sub-Sahara Africa including Nigeria, but minimal reports are available on the molecular characteristic of trypanosomes infecting dogs in Nigeria. We characterized trypanosomes detected in naturally infected dogs by PCR and sequences analysis of the partial region of the trypanosomes internal transcribed spacer-1of ribosomal RNA (ITS1 rRNA). Animals presented to the University of Nigeria Veterinary Teaching Hospital (UNVTH) in Nsukka, Nigeria for examination and treatment were sampled for laboratory tests. DNA was extracted from 21 blood samples obtained from dogs that were confirmed positive for trypanosome infection by microscopy. ITS-1 was PCR amplified and sequenced bi-directionally. Sixteen samples have good bands, though one of them had unreadable sequence. Analyses of the sequence data by BLAST search on NCBI identified T. congolense, T. brucei gambiense, and T. evansi in 4.8, 4.8, and 91.4%, respectively, from the analysed samples from the infected dogs. Although the top BLAST hits for T. brucei group were due to T. evansi and T. b. gambiense, there is not enough discriminatory power in ITS-1 to distinguish subspecies. The aligned sequences of the trypanozoon were less polymorphic. Phylogenetic trees inferred by unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) algorithms separated trypanozoon group from the T. congolense into two distinct clades. In conclusion, this study suggests that the trypanozoon group of trypanosomes cause more canine trypanosomosis in the study area and suggests inclusion of dogs in strategic planning for control and eradication of trypanosomosis in sub-Sahara African countries.