COVID-19 was first reported on 31 December 2019 and has so far claimed over 2,000 lives in Nigeria. Through global and national efforts, about 4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine was distributed and used in Nigeria from March 2021. Vaccine hesitancy could pose a serious problem for COVID-19 prevention and control. To estimate the proportion of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University community that is willing to be vaccinated against COVID-19; level of hesitancy and its associated factors. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using online Google form distributed to staff and students of the university via different WhatsApp groups. The outcome measures were the proportion of persons willing to be vaccinated, vaccine hesitancy rates and reasons for this hesitancy. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23 and Minitab version 19. Bivariate analysis was performed by the chi-square test, Odds Ratios (ORs) and statistical significance was accepted when p-value is < 0.05. Only 349 of the survey responses were analyzed in the survey. Results show that 34.70 ± 5.00% of the university community were willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine when it is offered to them. The COVID-19 hesitancy rate among staff and students was 65.04 ± 5.00%. It was discovered that marital status (OR = 2.06), age (OR = 0.802) and christian denominational affiliation (OR = 0.366) influenced respondents’ perception of COVID-19 vaccination. Gender, occupation, previous vaccination experience, awareness of COVID-19 and previous symptoms of COVID-19 did not significantly (p = 0.05) influence respondents’ willingness to be vaccinated. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is high among staff and students in a Nigerian university and is significantly influenced by marital status, respondents’ age and christian denominational affiliation.

Vector-borne flaviviruses (VBFs) affect human health worldwide, but no approved drugs are available specifically to treat VBF-associated infections. Here, we performed in silico screening of a library of U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved antiviral drugs for their interaction with Zika virus proteins. Twelve hit drugs were identified by the docking experiments and tested in cell-based antiviral assay systems. Efavirenz, tipranavir, and dasabuvir at micromolar concentrations were identified to inhibit all VBFs tested; i.e., two representatives of mosquito-borne flaviviruses (Zika and West Nile viruses) and one representative of flaviviruses transmitted by ticks (tick-borne encephalitis virus). The results warrant further research into these drugs, either individually or in combination, as possible pan-flavivirus inhibitors.

Schistosomiasis is a neglected disease of considerable health importance in tropical and subtropical regions. Its treatment relies on the use of praziquantel or oxamniquine but there are reported cases of treatment failures due to resistance or tolerance. Again, derivatives of praziquantel and oxamniquine have not shown significant activities than their parent compounds. The study predicted approved drugs with possible antischistosomal activities. Four schistosomal drug targets were obtained from Protein Data Bank and six hundred and twelve (612) approved drugs including their isomers were selected based on their Molinspiration® bioscore similarities with reference compounds (praziquantel, oxamniquine, [(2S,3S,4S,5S,6S)-3,4,5-triacetyloxy-6-sulfanyloxan-2-yl] methyl acetate, [propylamino-3-hydroxy-buta-1,4-dionyl]-isoleucylproline). The selected drugs and drug targets were obtained and prepared for molecular docking simulations. The molecular docking simulations were performed using AutoDockvina^®-1.1.2 after validation of docking protocols while molecular dynamics simulations were performed with GROMACS-4.5.5. The binding energies were calculated using MMPBSA (Molecular Mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann Surface Area). Tolmetin was predicted as potential antischistosomal drug with binding energies of −231.064 ± 18.550 and −338.636 ± 36.900 KJ/mol for sulfotransferase and thioredoxin glutathione reductase (TGR) respectively. Also diflunisal was predicted as potential antischistosomal drug with binding energies of −168.641 ± 20.370 and −290.117 ± 43.800 KJ/mol for sulfotransferase and TGR respectively. Non-covalent interactions and conformational changes were responsible for molecular recognitions and specificities and average bond measurement showed that carboxylic functional groups in diflunisal and tolmetin may interact covalently with -SH group of Cys159 in TGR. Confirmation of covalent interactions and in vitro validations are recommended. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma

The global incidence of cancer is on the increase and researchers are prospecting for specific and non-selective therapies derived from the immune system. The killer activating receptors of NK cells are known to be involved in immunosurveillance against tumor and virally-infected cells. These receptors belong to two main categories, namely the immunoglobulin like and C-lectin like families. Though they have different signal pathways, all the killer activating receptors have similar effector functions which include direct cytotoxicity and the release of inflammatory cytokines such as IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha. To transduce signals that exceed the activation threshold for cytotoxicity, most of these receptors require synergistic effort. This review profiles 21 receptors: 13 immunoglobulin-like, 5 lectin-like, and 3 others. It critically explores their structural uniqueness, role in disease, respective transduction signal pathways and their status as current and prospective targets for cancer immunotherapy. While the native ligands of most of these receptors are known, much work is required to prospect for specific antibodies, peptides and multi-target small molecules with high binding affinities.

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), emerged in the city of Wuhan, China in December 2019. Although, the disease appears on the African continent late, it has spread to virtually all the countries. We provide early spatio-temporal dynamics of COVID-19 within the first 62 days of the disease’s appearance on the African continent. We used a two-parameter hurdle Poisson model to simultaneously analyze the zero counts and the frequency of occurrence. We investigate the effects of important healthcare capacities including hospital beds and number of medical doctors in the different countries. The results show that cases of the pandemic vary geographically across Africa with notable high incidence in neighboring countries particularly in West and North Africa. The burden of the disease (per 100,000) was most felt in Djibouti Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria. Temporally, during the first 4 weeks, the burden was highest in Senegal, Egypt and Mauritania, but by mid-April it shifted to Somalia, Chad, Guinea, Tanzania, Gabon, Sudan, and Zimbabwe. Currently, Namibia, Angola, South Sudan, Burundi and Uganda have the least burden. The findings could be useful in implementing epidemiological intervention and allocation of scarce resources based on heterogeneity of the disease patterns.

Purpose: To investigate the visible spectrophotometric and thermodynamic parameters of diclofenac with regard to charge-transfer complexation with 2, 3-dichloro-5, 6-dicyano-1, 4-benzoquinone. Methods: The wavelength of maximum absorption, stoichiometry, time-absorbance relationship, effect of pH, Beer’s plot and Beer’s law limit for the complex were evaluated for diclofenac. In order to validate an assay method based on the complexation reaction, the limit of detection and quantitation, precision, accuracy and selectivity were determined. The developed assay method was applied to the assay of diclofenac tablet and capsule brands. Results: A 1:1 complex that absorbed maximally at 506 nm and a Beer’s plot with a regression coefficient of 0.9970 ± 0.0010 were obtained. Beer’s law was obeyed in the concentration range of 0.0017 to 0.2111 mg/ml and precision was within acceptable limits. The limits of detection and of quantitation of the method was 0.000801 and 0.002426 mg/ml, respectively. The spontaneity of the complexation reaction was demonstrated by negative Gibb’s free and positive entropy energy changes. The drug content of commercial diclofenac products to which the assay method was applied was between 94 and 102 %. Conclusion: Charge-transfer complexation of diclofenac with 2, 3-dichloro-5, 6-dicyano-1, 4- benzoquinone is straightforward, and the assay method based on it is simple and robust for the determination of diclofenac in tablet or capsule formulation. Keywords: Spectrophotometry, Charge transfer complex, Diclofenac, Tablets, Capsules, Validation