Annual Research & Review in Biology

Toxicity of Nittol detergent on the histopathology of the African catfish (C. gariepinus) sub adult was investigated. The experiment was conducted in triplicates of four treatments. Behavioral changes in fish exposed to different concentrations of Nittol detergent ranged from erratic swimming, moribund movement, jumping and lack of balance. Similar changes were not observed in the control throughout the experiment. Nittol detergent is composed of linear Alkyl Benzene Sulphonate (LABS), sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP), sodium carbonate, sodium sulphate, sodium perborate and sodium silicate (perfume) as active ingredients. The fish were exposed to concentrations 1.0 g/L, 2.0 g/L, 3.0 g/L and 4.0 g/L. At 1.0 g/l concentration, the mean mortality was 80% with an initial erratic swimming. It was observed that mean mortality increased drastically with increase in concentration of the pollutant (Nittol detergent). At concentration 3.0 g/L, total mortality was observed within 72 hours of exposure preceding moribund swimming while total mortality was observed in 4.0 g/L. The concentration at which 50% of the experimental fish were killed (LC50) was 1.9 g/L. Results from statistical analysis indicated that mortality varied (p<0.05) significantly with concentrations as higher values recorded higher mortalities. However, mean values showed highest mortality (74%) with Nittol detergent. Histopathology of the liver of fish exposed to Nittol after 96hrs revealed severe damage and necrosis of the liver cells when compared with the control which had a normal distribution of hepatic cells. Similarly, results from histopathology of the gills of the exposed fish to Nittol detergent revealed fusion and damages to gills lamellae when compared with the control which has normal distribution of the gills lamellae. Severe changes in the epithelia of the gill arch were also observed. Findings from histopathology of the intestine also revealed severe damages to the intestinal walls and mucosa when compared with the control. Images from the histopathology of the gills revealed severe damages to the gill lamellae by the Nittol detergent whereas the control showed a normal distribution of gills lamellae. And in the same vein, histopathology result on the effect of Nittol Detergent on the intestine of the exposed fish revealed chronic damages to the intestinal mucosa when viewed with motic electron microscope at x10 magnification. It was therefore concluded that Nittol Detergent causes significant and severe damages to C. gariepinus and recommended the control disposal of this detergent into aquatic bodies to reduce the negative impact on the histopathology of aquatic organisms.

In this work, we are interested in proposing a mathematical model for the evolution of the pandemic of covid 19. And this in order to answer the question of the control of this pandemic, by giving the spade number of infected people and the duration of the fight against this pandemic. If we talk about the place and Duration of Study, as you Know, and because of the confinement, we were forced to work remotely between Finance, Entrepreneurship and Development laboratory, Faculty of Legal, Economic and Social Sciences of Sale, and Engineering Systems and Applications Laboratory, National School of Applied Sciences of Fez, between March 02, 2020 and April 16, 2020.

Aims: Morphology and molecular biology of a rare shark-rays Rhina ancylostoma caught from Java sea.Indonesia.

Study Design: Morphology, morphometry and DNA analysis of the fish specimen.

Place and Duration of Study: Sample wascollected from fish auction hall at north Java, specimen now stored in Lab of Ichtiology. Department of Fisheries. Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Science. Diponegoro University, between March to December 2019.

Methodology: DNA extraction, amplification and molecular identification of fish sample.Yield of DNA supernatant transferred in an eppendeorf tube and stored in 4°C for further process. PCR amplification. Part of Mithocondrial DNA COI (Cytochrome Oxidase subunit-I) gen was amplified using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method. Then matched up with GenBank database at NCBI using Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) analysis. Philogenetic tree was set using Neighbor-Joining method, Kimura-2 parameter model and 1,000 bootstrap replication. Some sequence from NCBI GenBank were inputted into philogenetic tree as comparison.

Results: Rhina ancylostoma as one of demersal shark rays catch from tropical shallow Java sea. Range of Total Length 73 – 200 cm and dominant Total Length catch 125 cm. Morphologyis characterised with three lines of spine thorn on the head, morphometry characteriswide of head to TL ratio 0.77. DNA analysis had confirmed the specimen of AH2 as Rhina ancylostoma based on homological match up of sequence of Gen Bank database with reference accesion number KU721837.1 with length sequence of 665 bpand identical similarity of 99.84% for specimen Accession number LC 505461.

Conclusion: Rhina ancylostoma as one of demersal shark rays catch from Java sea. Range Total Length (TL) of catch 73 – 200 cm and dominant TL catch range 101 – 125 cm. Morphologically character of wide head ratio with three lines of spine thorn on the head. Nearest genetic distance of 0.02 to Rhincobatushorkelii and 0.017 to R. australiae. Longest genetic distance of 0.243 to Potamotrygon motoro.

This study was done to determine the level of iron in selected indigenous vegetables (grown in Ede, Osun State, Nigeria) using colorimetric method. The six indigenous and  three common ones selected for the study are; Basella alba (Amunututu), Ocimum gratissium (Efirin), Talinum fruticosum (Gbure), Amaranthus hybridus (Tete adayeba), Amaranthus hybridus (Tete olowojeja), Corchorus olitorius (Ewedu), Telfairia occidentalis (Ugwu), Celosia argentea (Soko) and finally Amaranthus hybridus (Tete). The vegetables were ashed and iron content of the vegetables was determined colorimetrically at 470 nm. The results showed that, amongst the indigenous vegetables the iron concentration ranged from 0.094 to 0.66 ppm with Amaranthus hybridus (Tete adayeba) and the Basella alba (Amunututu) recording the highest and lowest levels respectively. The common vegetables had iron levels ranging from 0.0304 to 0.703 ppm with Amaranthus hybridus (Tete) recording the lowest level and Telfairia occidentalis (Ugwu) recording the highest level respectively. The findings showed that the sampled indigenous vegetables are a good source of iron in diet.

Background: In vitro fertilization (IVF) is an assisted reproductive technology (ART) that is widely used globally in the treatment of infertility. Infertility can occur due to male factors, female factors or both.

Aim: This is the first Nigerian study that sets out to observe the levels and relationship between circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines (IFN-γ, TNF-α) and progesterone (PG) in Nigerian women undergoing in vitro fertilization pre and post treatment and their possible effect on pregnancy outcome.

Materials and Methods: This observational study randomly selected sixty-two (62) infertile females below 45 year of age who enrolled in the IVF treatment at Lily Hospitals, Warri and Shepherd Specialist Hospital, Warri, Southern Nigeria. Only data of the thirteen (13) infertile females who became pregnant after the IVF treatment where followed up and presented in this study. Five (5) ml of whole blood were collected into plain tubes on day 3 of the menstrual cycle of all the participants from the ante-cubital vein before and after IVF procedure using standard laboratory collection technique. Ovarian stimulation was done using the long gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist protocol. Oocyte retrieval transfer was done using ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration and embryo transfer was done using ultrasound-guided embryo transfer. IFN-γ, TNF-α and PG were estimated using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method.

Results and Conclusion: Significant increase in the levels of TNF-α and PG at the second trimester and third trimester of pregnancy when compared with the first trimester of pregnancy (p = 0.000). While the level of IFN-γ was significantly increased in the second trimester of pregnancy when compared with the first trimester of pregnancy (p = 0.000). It is evident from the study that both pro-inflammatory cytokines (IFN-γ and TNF-α) act in synergy to maintain the level of progesterone which act as an anti-inflammatory agent to regulate the activities of the pro-inflammatory cytokines for successful oocytes implantation and maturation.

Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) is one of the most important viral pathogens infecting a wide range of plant species in Nigeria. Mosaic and mottle symptoms were observed on Lagenaria siceraria L. in Adim Southern-Nigeria in 2018 and the infected leaves collected for investigation. This research was aimed at characterising the virus responsible for this infection with a view to identifying it.  Antigen coated plate (ACP) enzyme linked-immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and gene sequencing were employed methods in the characterisation process. The Amplified Complementary Deoxyribonucleic Acid (cDNA) was cloned and the nucleotide sequence was determined. Result of serology revealed that the virus belonged to the genus Cucumovirus while the gene sequence obtained when compared to known virus sequences present in the GenBank using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) program available at National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) revealed 97% sequence homologue with Cucumber mosaic virus confirming it as Cucumber mosaic virus. This is the first report of CMV infecting L. siceraria in Nigeria. I recommend further studies on insect and host range test of this virus be carried on.

Background: The toxic effect of Nittol detergent on the haematological parameters of the African catfish (C. gariepinus) sub-adult was investigated. The experiment was conducted in triplicates forthe four treatments. Behavioral changes in fish exposed to different concentrations of Nittol detergent ranged from erratic swimming, moribund movement, jumping and lack of balance. Similar changes were not observed in the control throughout the experiment. Nittol detergent is composed of linear alkyl benzene sulphonate (LABS), sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP), sodium carbonate, sodium sulphate, sodium per-borate and sodium silicate (perfume) as active ingredients. The fish were exposed to concentrations 1.0 g/L, 2.0 g/L, 3.0 g/L and 4.0g/L. At 1.0 g/l concentration, the mean mortality was 80% with an initial erratic swimming.

Results: It was observed that mean mortality increased drastically with increasing Nittol Detergent  concentrations. At a concentration 3.0 g/L, total mortality was observed within 72 hours of exposure preceding moribund swimming while total mortality was observed at 4.0 g/L. The concentration at which 50% of the experimental fishes were killed (LC50) was 0.9 g/L. Results from statistical analysis indicated that mortality varied significantly with concentrations as higher values recorded higher mortality rates. However, mean values showed the highest mortality (74%) with Nittol detergent. Haematological results obtained from blood profile analysis showed various degrees of alterations and changes in values when compared to the control. The PCV of the exposed fish was 26% when compared to 27% in the control, HB was 8.9 (GDL) as against 9.0 Gdl of the control, total WBC was 640 x 10⁹/L as against 1280 x 10⁹/L of the control. The RBC reading was 4.7 compared to 5.3 (mm³) of the control. For the differential counts, the lymphocyte was 80%. Neutrophils were 4 % and monocyte 16% compared to 62%, 8% and 30% of the control respectively. The results revealed a significant decrease in PCV counts for 8.0, 16.0, 25.0, and 50.0ml/l concentration when compared to the control. There revealed significant decrease of haemoglobin count for 8.0 ml/l group (p>0.05) and significant decrease for 16.0 ml/l, 25.0 ml/l and 50.0 ml/l groups (p<0.05), when compared to the control. The results showed insignificant decrease of RBC count for 1.0 g/l (p>0.05) and a significant decrease for the 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 g/l groups (p<0.05), compared to the control. This means that as the toxicant concentration increased, the fish red blood count decreased the more. This further implies that at higher concentration of, RBC reduces correspondingly. Lymphocytes, monocytes, and neutrophils in the control set showed (apparently normal cell after) hematoxylin and eosin staining. Differential blood samples exposed to various concentrations of Nittol Detergent showed denatured cells, haemolysis and blood cell shrinkage.

Conclusion: It was therefore concluded that Nittol Detergent has significant toxic effect on the haematological parameters of C. gariepinus and recommended the control disposal of this detergent into aquatic bodies to reduce the negative impact on the blood quality of aquatic organisms.

For the past few decades, environmental pollution is considered a major global problem for public health and this problem has continued to impact aquatic environment. Pharmaceutical discharges are major sources of pollution that poses serious threat to aquatic animals like fish, therefore, this work aimed at evaluating the histological architecture of the gill tissues of Clarias gariepinus on exposed to sub-lethal concentrations of pharmaceutical effluents using standard laboratory procedure. The physicochemical characteristics of the pharmaceutical effluent used revealed varied level of deviations from World Health Organization standard for waste discharge into any categories of water bodies. The histological studies of the sectioned gills of the exposed fish showed varied level of histological alterations which are concentrations dependent. The observed histopathological lesions recorded include infiltration of secondary lamellae, inter-lamellae hyper plastic lesion, and oedema, congestion of the blood vessels, epithelial thickening and lifting, and necrosis of various degrees. All the fish held in the control stock showed inappreciable or no histological degradation and their staining patterns and cellular arrangement remained unaffected and this showed that even low concentration of such effluent is enough to induce physiological imbalances in aquatic organisms. The degrees of all these recorded anomalies were concentration dependent. Therefore, indiscriminate disposal of this effluent is detrimental to aquatic community and to combat this, strict compliance of the laws with total vigilance against illegal discharge of effluent should be enacted and enforced.

Infections of the urinary tract are one of the most prevalent bacterial infections in developing countries. It is a challenge that is most often encountered in pediatrics. Uncontrolled use of antimicrobial drugs has led to the development of drug-resistant organisms. Hence, this study was aimed at isolating, characterizing, and identifying the pathogens associated with urinary tract infection (UTI) in children attending Tertiary Health Care Centre in Enugu metropolis and to determine their antimicrobial susceptibility profiles. Urine samples were collected from 260 patients with signs and symptoms suggestive of urinary tract infection (UTI). The children were seen in children out-patients, children emergency departments of the hospital, and pediatric ward. Their ages ranged from 0-17 years. The urine samples were analyzed in the laboratory using standard bacteriological methods. Antibiotic sensitivity of the isolates was determined by the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique. Of the 260 urine samples, significant bacterial agents were recorded in 98(37.7%). Escherichia coli ranked highest with 30(32.6%) followed by Klebsiella spp. 17(18.5%) and the least was Enterococcus fecalis 1(1.1%). Gender distribution showed a higher prevalence in females (p <0.05). The highest positive result was obtained from children between 0-5years. Most of the isolates were sensitive to Imipenem, Nitrofurantoin, Ceftriaxone, and Ciprofloxacin but resistant to Augmentin and Amoxicillin. There is a need to regularly monitor the antimicrobial susceptibility profile of these etiological agents to keep track of the effectiveness of certain therapeutic agents.  

More sustainable cereal sector will conserve the agriculture (sustainable agriculture) and promoting wellbeing (physiological sustainability) at a quality appropriate to customers, regardless of their Social status (Sustainability Socio-economic). May increase the safety quality of cereal products A more integrative approach focused on reverse engineering, in the cereal market. Overall, full-grain products must be developed which contain less sugar, fat and salt. Hence the first key. The aim is to better understand the acceptance by consumers of these new, higher-nutritional cereal products value. Then there must be levers and locks at the technological, agrarian and genetic selection levels recognized. Latest reviews of literature and Committee reports stressed the value of maintaining structure of cereal foods by less extreme hydrothermal and mechanical processes, and increased use of prefermentation and/or preserva. Results of a analysis of human action required to fill the gap between observational and mechanical / animal studies, notably in reaching a conclusion on the health-promoting potential of whole grain antioxidants made from cereals.