Annual Research & Review in Biology

Glandular odontogenic cyst is a rare odontogenic jaw cyst which exhibits a locally aggressive behaviour with high recurrence rate. It is a relatively new entity that was first described in 1987. Because of the paucity of reported cases, there is no consensus or established protocols about many aspects of management of this lesion. In this article, we present a case of glandular odontogenic cyst in maxilla in a 48 year old male patient and focus on the review of clinico-pathologic features and differential diagnosis, which can be often challenging.

A photographic checklist of the Chirominids under the subfamily Chironominanea from the Niger Delta of Nigeria was compiled using records of specimens collected over a period of thirty years from many field trips. The photographic keys were described to show the cephalothorax with mentum, mandibles, premandibles and ventromental plates. A total of twelve illustrations, consisting of nine genera and twelve species, were documented. These were Chironomus imicola, Chironomus transvaalensis, Endochironomus sp., Parachironomus biannulatus,  Parachironominae sp., Limnochironomus sp., Pseudochironomus prasinatus, Tanytarsus curticornis and Tanytarsus thienemanni, Paratanytarsus sp., Microtendipes sp., Pentapedilum sp. Six of these species namely Microtendipes sp., Parachironomus biannulatus, Pentapedilum sp., Pseudochironomus prasinatus, Tanytarsus curticornis and Tanytarsus thienemanni occur in both lotic and lentic waters. Those that occurred only in lentic waters were Chironomus imicola, and Parachironominae sp., while Endochironomus sp., Limnochironomus sp. and Paratanytarsus sp. occurred only in lotic water. Three of the genera recorded in the literature of studies in the Niger Delta, namely Chironomus, Pseudochironomus and Tanytarsus, are in the current description while new genera to the literature of the Niger Delta were Parachironomus, Endochironomus, Limnochironomus, Paratanytarsus, Microtendipes and Pentapedilum. This current contribution to the taxonomy of the Chironominae provide the basis to further study the associations of taxa and how well these associations can be used for selecting indicators for biomonitoring and conservation.

Aims: Mosquitoes constitute important vectors of diseases of public health importance. The study was carried out to determine the species composition of man-biting mosquitoes and their infection rate following indoor residual spraying (IRS) in order to currently assess the epidemiology of mosquito-borne diseases in the study communities.

Study Design: A six-month study was carried out in Urum, Mgbakwu and Isuaniocha communities in Awka North L.G.A where no information exists on the infection rates of mosquitoes following the indoor residual spraying exercise. Sample collection was carried out between June and December 2015 using Knockdown and Human Landing Catches (HLC) techniques.

Methodology: Adult indoor and outdoor man-biting mosquitoes were collected in the three study communities. Ten houses were randomly selected in each community using Simple Random Sampling method. Adult female mosquitoes were morphologically identified and dissected following standard keys and procedures.

Results: A total of 684 indoor adult biting mosquitoes comprising of 3 species were collected. Culex quinquefasciatus had the highest distribution of 414 (60.5%) followed by Anopheles gambiae 269 (39.3%) and An. moucheti 1 (0.2%). One hundred and forty-three (143) outdoor adult biting mosquitoes comprising 4 species were collected. Aedes aegypti had the highest distribution of 104 (72.7%) followed by Ae. albopictus 33 (23.1%), Ae. africanus 4 (2.8%) and Ae. simpsoni 2 (1.4%). There was a significant difference among the species of the indoor and outdoor biting mosquitoes collected in the communities (P<0.05). Female mosquitoes dissected for infection showed zero infection rates.

Conclusion: Our data demonstrates that the IRS exercise may have been effective in reducing mosquito infection rates in the study area. This work may provide an entomological baseline data required for evaluation and implementation of future vector control interventions in the study area.

Nine isolates of Lasiodiplodia theobromae were collected from cashew inflorescences showing typical symptoms of dieback disease in nine different farms belonging to various cashew growing ecologies of Nigeria. The result revealed that most of the L. theobromae isolates exhibited significant differences in morphology, colour and spore dimensions. The colony growth rate of L. theobromae range from 11.95 mm to 14.17 mm, colony texture and colour of the isolates in the obverse were fluffy dark mouse grey, fluffy mouse grey, fluffy olivaceous grey or fluffy groh grey while the reverse colour of the isolates was either greyish blue or sky grey. Sporulation was observed at varied degrees in all the L. theobromae isolates except in isolates from Oro and Ejule and likewise is the numbers of pycnidia produced varied in all the isolates across growing ecologies. Significant variations were observed in the characters and morphology of the L. theobromae isolates causing inflorescence dieback of cashew in Nigeria.

Aims: Cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA4), an important regulatory molecule in the process of antigen presentation, was previously associated with the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases and asthma. Therefore, the goal of our study was to determine the expression of CTLA4 in asthmatics, and the effect of CTLA4 CT60 genotype and antiasthmatic treatment on CTLA4 expression.

Study Design:  We analyzed a case-control cohort of 229 children with mild to moderate persistent asthma. Blood samples were collected before treatment from 229 asthmatics, with matching samples obtained 4-6 weeks after treatment with inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) in 69 subjects and after treatment with leukotriene receptor antagonist (LTRA) in 105 subjects.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Pediatric Medicine, General Hospital Murska Sobota and University Medical Centre Maribor between January 2008 and May 2012.

Methodology: We measured and compared CTLA4 expression in blood leukocytes of healthy controls and children with persistent asthma by qPCR and determined CTLA4 CT60 genotype by High Resolution Melting analysis. We further analyzed how antiasthmatic treatment with ICS or LTRA affected CTLA4 expression.

Results: Median relative expression of full length CTLA4 (flCTLA4) isoform in asthmatics was 0.440±0.425, compared to 1.000±0.738 in controls (corrected P<.0001), and of soluble CTLA4 (sCTLA4) isoform in asthmatics was 0.580±0.468 compared to 1.040±1.080 in controls (corrected P<.0001). After ICS therapy the median relative expression of sCTLA4 significantly increased only in asthmatics with A allele, from 0.400±0.258 to 0.710±0.608 (corrected P=.0146). On the other hand, after LTRA therapy the median relative expression of sCTLA4 decreased only in asthmatics with A allele from 0.450±0.410 to 0.300±0.300 (corrected P=0.0006).

Conclusion: We show that CTLA4 expression is decreased in asthmatic subjects. ICS and LTRA treatments, dependent on CTLA4 CT60 genotype, caused opposite effects on sCTLA4 expression, suggesting both drugs differently affect molecular pathways of antigen presentation during their action.

The longitudinal zonation of polychaetes was studied across 13 stations on the Bonny River estuary. A total of eighty-eight (88) species of polychaetes, from 68 genera, belonging to 31 families, were identified. Based on salinity values, three major salinity zones were identified: The alpha-Polyhaline – beta-Polyhaline and Mesohaline. The dendrogram shows four polychaete associations which correlated with salinity variation. The first group comprises of species which occurred in a very narrow salinity range (0.9-2.0 gL^-1) and are referred to as the true marine or the alpha-polyhaline inhabitants. The second were group of species that colonize the transition zone where salinity oscillates from alpha to beta-polyhaline (0.9-5.3 gL^-1). The third group comprises of species that are specific to the beta-polyhaline which has a constant salinity of 5.3 gL^-1. The fourth association was the euryhaline group which composed of species that occurred at all the stations from salinity variation of 0.9 to 15.4 gL^-1. The study observed that some genera with more than one species have ecological divergence along the salinity gradient. The three species of the genus Aricidea namely (Aricidea sp.; Aricidea simplex; and Aricidea (Acrima) assimillis) occur over the range with Aricideasp. occurring at the alpha-polyhaline, Aricidea simplex occurring at both the alpha and beta polyhaline zone while Aricidea (Acrima) assimillis) occur strictly at the beta-polyhaline zone. Similarly the Lumbrineris aberrans and Lumbrineris fragilis occur only in the alpha-polyhaline while their sympatric species Lumbrineris latreilli and Lumbrineris tetraura occur in both the alpha and beta polyhaline zones. Similarly the salinity preferences for Eteone siphonodonta were the alpha-polyhaline zone while Eteone picta were in the beta-polyhaline zone only. The Scoloplos spp group was observed to be spaced with Scoloplos dayi,occurring in the alpha-polyhaline zone while two species, Scoloplos (Scoloplos) armiger and Scoloplos(Leodamas) johnstonei occur in both the alpha and beta polyhaline zones. The Notomastus spp group have two species Notomastus sp. which occur in salinity gradient of alpha and beta polyhaline zones while Notomastus aberrans were observed to occur in the alpha-beta polyhaline and mesohaline zones. Similar salinity spacing preferences in the Notomastus genus were observed for Glycera prashadi and Glycera tridactyla. Two species namely Phyllodoce mucosa and Phyllodoce tubicola were spaced between salinity gradients of alpha-polyhaline and beta-polyhaline respectively. This divergence suggests that other biotic and abiotic factors other than salinity may be responsible for the zonation. Therefore understanding observed polychaete distribution along the salinity gradient need additional studies that consider nonlinear abiotic and biotic variables.

Kochia plant adapting to extreme environmental factors provide an important part of forage requirements for livestock grazing in arid and semi-arid regions. Many wild Kochia species are undervalued mainly because of insufficient knowledge about their potential feeding value, yields and their effect on animal performance. Therefore this review paper gives knowledge on Kochia plant as salt tolerant forage for feeding small ruminants under desert conditions. Many studies show that this plant could be used successfully as alternative feed to replace partially common feedstuff. However, the presence plant secondary metabolites should be taken into consideration in rations containing Kochia forage for small ruminants feeding. Most of feeding studies reported in this review have been carried in Egypt, results indicate that Kochia spp. provide a high crop production under salinity condition, improve animal performance and decrease feed cost.