Bulletin of the National Research Centre

The VCAN gene provides instructions for making a protein called versican which is a type of protein known as a proteoglycan. Versican is a key ingredient of the extracellular matrix, and due to its widespread expression in the body, versican is involved in cell adhesion, proliferation, and migration. Mutations or alterations of this protein could result in the disintegration of the fine-tuned molecular machinery which can lead to uncontrolled cell proliferation. VCAN is a novel prognostic marker for multiple cancers, and it showed tremendous results on breast cancer prognosis based on the data available on multiple websites. So, we targeted VCAN to analyze the expression and the outcome of breast cancer. This is a server-based study, and the expression of VCAN shows upregulation in breast cancer subtypes as compared to the normal tissue. The promoter methylation analysis suggested that overexpression of VCAN may be due to hypomethylation. Mutation analysis showed a positive correlation with VCAN expression where missense-type mutation has the highest percentage (77.33%), truncating (17.33%), and splice (4%) and somatic mutation frequency is 1.8%. VCAN was closely related to ten different genes and coexpressed with five of the genes among them. Five distinct compounds are linked to the methylation and mutagenesis of VCAN, according to the gene–drug interaction. The upregulation of VCAN is closely correlated with promoter methylation and the clinical features of breast cancer patients. The whole study suggests that the breast cancer patient’s survival rate gets lower when the VCAN expression level gets higher. We anticipated that these findings will lead to further improvements in breast cancer prognosis and the significance of VCAN as a biomarker for breast cancer prognosis.

Food hygiene and safety is of utmost importance for public health, as it helps to protect the health of consumers from foodborne illnesses. Although, hundreds of plant species have been screened and tested for antimicrobial properties, the vast majority of these plants have not been adequately screened and evaluated. Considering the vast potentiality of plants as sources for antimicrobial drugs, the present research aimed to evaluate antioxidant, phytochemicals and determine the antibacterial activity of M. charantia (Linn) on pathogenic organism from Ready-to-eat food sold in Akure metropolis. Bacteria isolated from RTE food studied belong to the following genera; Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Citrobacter, Pectobacterium, Klebsiella, Bacillus, Kocuria, Kluyveria, Serratia, Pantoea, Enterobacter and Salmonella. The antibiotic susceptibility pattern revealed that the Gram negative organisms were more susceptible to Gentamycin (30 µg) while Streptomycin (30 µg) was found to be more potent on Gram positive organisms. Water and ethanol extracts showed significant to moderate antibacterial activity toward all tested isolates except; Escherichia vulneris and Kluyveria intermedia which are both resistant to the aqueous extracts of M. charantia and the latter which was resistant to the ethanoic extract. The highest inhibitory activity was observed for Bacillus cereus with zone of inhibition of diameters 28 ± 0.29l (mm), followed by Escherichia vulneris 25 ± 0.29l (mm). DDPH% Inhibition has higher value in the water extract (69.21 ± 0.882a) while lower value was recorded in the ethanol extract (67.89 ± 0.155b). % Iron chelation has higher value in the ethanol extract (121.87 ± 0.882a) while lower value was recorded in the water extract (97.28 ± 0.155b). In all the concentration, vitamin C was higher in the ethanol extract than in the water extract. The study revealed that all the Ready-to-eat food had a total bacterial count that are below potentially hazardous count although the presence of some microorganisms that are of health significance were observed. The study also confirmed that M. charantia (Linn) extracts had antibacterial effect against tested isolates from Ready-to-eat food sold in Akure metropolis. Based on the findings of this great research work, Mormordica charantia (Linn) possesses antioxidant activity that could prevent oxidative stress and degenerative diseases.

Pre-dental students’ perception and awareness about current technology in dentistry can influence their motivation and maturity during the learning experience and affect their dental education outcome. This observational survey aimed to examine pre-dental student's cognitive and behavioral traits as perception measures toward digital dentistry. The survey covered areas that the authors believed to impact dental education and future investments in institutional decision making. The survey was distributed over all pre-dental students representing two US dental schools in the state of Kentucky. The survey included four main categories: (1) career vision, (2) perception of digital dentistry, (3) prior knowledge of digital dentistry, and (4) personal intelligence. The feedback was positive toward the future use of digital dentistry. The findings are discussed in light of the implications of pre-dental students' perception to support teaching and learning in dental education. Despite the expected enthusiasm of pre-dental students toward digital technology, the results highlight the need to emphasize structured self-learning, self-evaluation, and a deeper understanding of research within the dental curricula.

This study attempts to review the role of slaughter facilities management of all zoonotic diseases encountered at the abattoirs as well as the safety of meat produced for public consumption in abattoirs in Nigeria. Good hygienic practices were totally absent in the abattoirs. There were dilapidated slaughtering and processing facilities, inadequate clean water supplies, no refrigerators and lack of facilities for the collection and storage of waste. Zoonotic agents demonstrated in slaughtered animals in Nigeria include Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium bovis, Leptospira species, Campylobacter species, Yersinia species, Clostridia species., Brucella abortus, Brucella melitensis, Brucella suis, and Salmonella spp. Other disease-causing infectious agents encountered at the abattoirs include Echerichia coli O157, Salmonella and Campylobacter species. The meat transportation is done by motor bike, wheel barrows and open vehicles and this become sources of physical contamination. Animals were not being examined regularly before or after slaughter, offals were washed with drainage water, effluent from drainage systems and that meat and organs cleaned from such drainages were sold to the public, leading to unsafe meat being released for public consumption. Meat and carcasses were conveyed out of the abattoir using unhygienic means of transport. Butchers and many abattoir workers were observed not using protective clothing during operations. Waste disposal was indiscriminate not regularly carried out which was hazardous to the environment, while the authorities concerned were not making any effort to improve the situation. Diseases such as Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia, Fasciolosis, Tuberculosis and Helminthoses were most frequently encountered some of the diseases were of public health and economic importance. Meat Inspection and hygiene Act shall be enacted and signed into law. Provision of waste disposal system such as incinerators are recommended. The drainage system should be upgraded and modernized. Use of abattoir waste as a manure and the slurry as fertilizer is also recommended. In Nigeria none of the abattoirs met the minimum hygienic standard of operation as recommended by the Codex Alimentarius and they could not have supported the production of safe meat and meat products for human consumption.

Poultry bacterial pathogens are mainly controlled by using high-cost sanitary measures and medical treatment. However, the drug-resistant strains of pathogens continuously emerge, and medical treatments are often ineffective. Moreover, there is increasing public objections to drug residues in poultry products. The other important type of control is the vaccination which depends on immunity. This immunological control is the major practical alternative to chemotherapy. Success of vaccines in combating poultry diseases depends mainly on the choice of the proper type of vaccines, correct time of its usage, and method of administration. The types of vaccines include attenuated live vaccines, and these vaccines were shown to be effective in inducing protection. The second type is killed vaccine or whole bacteria extracts which is less successful in providing protection compared to live vaccines. The metabolic product vaccine (toxoids) is the third type of vaccine. The recombinant DNA technique was adopted to produce the protective antigens in a sufficient amount and in cost-effective ways. Protection studies against bacterial diseases were performed by using several trials: living vaccines (live attenuated vaccines; live, non-pathogenic microorganisms; live, low virulence microorganism), inactivated (killed) vaccines (heat-inactivated, chemical inactivates, radiation), metabolic product vaccines (toxoids), subunit vaccines (whole cell proteins, outer membrane proteins, purified flagellar proteins (flagellin), fimbrial proteins, pilus proteins, lipopolysaccharides), vaccines produced by recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) technology, and DNA vaccines.

Misuse of analysis of variance alongside other statistical methods has been an important topic of discussion in many scientific gatherings. Although misuse of analysis of variance is of global concern, its prevalence in African-based biomedical journals has raised concerns among colleagues. We sampled the current issues/last published issues of all African biomedical journals aggregated in an African journal aggregator. We scanned through all the journals’ sample articles in the journal aggregator and retrieved articles that either applied analysis of variance or were supposed to use the test. Our results show that 126 articles of the total 1789 sampled articles employed analysis of variance test for analysis. Of these, 99 (78.6%) articles used the analysis of variance test correctly, while 27 (21.4%) misused the test. Not stating the type of analysis of variance test employed for analysis was the most prevalent misuse of analysis of variance test. In overall, the study demonstrated that misuse of analysis of variance test is prevalent in African biomedical journals. Therefore, all stakeholders (medical schools, reviewers, journal editors) need to do more to nip it in the bud.

Estuarine and marine water quality has remarkable importance because these water resources are used for multiple reasons for instance: transportation, tourism, recreation, and other human or economic ways to use water. The objective of the study was to assess the water quality of the coastal and estuaries of the Rambungan, Sibu, Salak, and Santubong rivers in Sarawak, Malaysia. Water samples were collected from 10 locations and analyzed by employing standard techniques. A fuzzy comprehensive evaluation, grey clustering evaluation methods, Thailand Marine Water Classification System, and the Malaysian Marine Water Quality Index (MMWQI) and its classification system were applied to compute the index of each water quality parameter. The results showed that all the analyzed water quality parameters were within the allowable threshold levels. The results obtained by the application of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation and grey clustering evaluation methods proved that the coastal and the estuaries waters were clean with exception of coastal location CZ9 and the estuary of Salak river which showed slight pollution. Based on the Malaysian Marine Water Quality Index, it was observed that all the locations were in the classification group of moderate (i.e. 50–79%). This suggests that the estuaries of selected rivers can be used for natural resource conservation, while the coastal regions are good for fish farming. It can be deduced that the suggested techniques were workable and logical. The method developed and the information in this study can serve as a reference and decision support for scientists and policymakers of concern.