INNATE IMMUNITY AND MICROBIAL INVASION

Aim of Review: Studies have been published in the field of innate system and microbial invasion but much is not know on the mechanisms involved. This review is organized into areas of components and function of the immune system, microbial detection, cells of the innate immune system and homeostasis.

Findings: The innate immune system activates and instructs adaptive immune responses, regulates inflammation, and mediates immune homeostasis which is the balance between opposing pro inflammatory and anti-inflammatory processes. The cells of the innate immune system use pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), which recognize pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) on microorganisms, and communicate through cytokines. Activation of the innate immune system begins with resident cells such as the macrophages, epithelial cells and mast cells in the tissues at the site of the infection. If the threat of infection accelerates, these cells recruit other cells such as the neutrophils, NK cells, dendritic cells, monocytes and platelets from the circulation into the inflamed tissues. Many of the same cells and mechanisms used to recognize and attack microbes and initiate inflammatory reactions are also used to clear away damaged and dying cells and down regulate inflammation to maintain homeostasis within the host.

Conclusion: The innate immune system refers to germline defense mechanisms that are directed against molecular components found only in microorganisms. These mechanisms are not learned, adapted, or permanently heightened as a result of exposure to microorganisms, although they are refined by evolution over generations.

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WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN KENYAN POLITICS: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

The constitution of Kenya promulgated in August 2010 acknowledged the historical marginalization of women in elective and appointive positions by expanding their representation, space and role in governance. This was aimed at creating a country a country anchored on the principles of equality and equity. However, ten years down the line, there is no legislative framework to operationalize the two thirds principle. Bridging the gender inequality gap in Kenya requires much more than a comprehensive legal framework. The first election Kenya held under the new constitution in March 2013 did not result in the required constitutional requirements that would have helped bridge the gender gap that had persisted since independence in 1963. Kenya is a bicameral system of governance. In the 2013 elections no single female Senator or Governor was elected. In the 2017 General elections, the country elected three female Governors and Four female senators. However, in as much as this was an improvement, it did not meet the required constitutional threshold. In the Global Gender Gap Report 2018 Kenya was ranked position 76 globally in closing the gender gap whereas regionally in the East Africa community it still lags behind in bridging the gender gap. Addressing gender marginalization in Kenya requires a holistic approach involving both state and non-state actors for its realization. Efforts geared towards addressing patriarchy domination are essential.

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“PRIMITIVE KNOWLEDGE”? REFLECTIONS ON UBUNTU AND DAOISM ON ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY IN THE ZAMBEZI RIVER BASIN

Plato lamented nearly 2500 years ago that land degradation in the city of Athens had stripped it off the lush hills of Greece. Among the key forms of degradation are deforestation, drought, siltation of rivers, destruction of water catchment areas, soil erosion, poaching and pollution due to industrialization. This destruction has been going on unabated despite awareness creation through education and also legislations. The greed of humanity for exploitation of the environment for profits has exposed the soft underbelly of human civilization giving rise to phenomena like global warming, floods, drought and now diseases associated with environmental degradation are a threat to the survival of mankind.

Ubuntu is a philosophy that recognizes the humanness of Africans whereby the sense of collectiveness imbues the collective responsibility to others. “We are, therefore I am”. However, this restriction of ubuntu to humanity only is problematic since it negates the special relationship homo sapiens have towards the flora and fauna. Traditional African knowledge systems utilizes proverbs, cultural beliefs, taboos, totems, shrines as ways of promoting man’s tolerance towards the environment whereby mankind is just but a mere caretaker. African philosophy encourages a collective sense of responsibility to conservation. In most African communities, the practice of meshing environmental seasons and animal identities with that of clan names, family lineage names, environment seasons creates a sense of human/animal similitudes which encourages a communal commitment to conservation of flora and fauna.  Majority of the communities living in the Zambezi river basin are grappling with challenges posed by climate change. These communities had and still have their own indigenous knowledge systems that enabled them to live harmoniously with the environment.

On the other hand, according to the earliest Daoist texts, when human nature is aligned with the rest of nature, order and harmony are inherent. Thus, according to Daoism we should therefore aspire to being simple and unadorned, with no illusions about our own significance in the cosmos. Here, Daoism treats humanity simply as a part of nature and not as a master of nature. This paper examines how, since time immemorial, ubuntu and Daoism has been used to conserve the ‘natural’ environment in the process making its use sustainable which could come in handy especially in addressing the challenges posed by environmental degradation in the Zambezi river basin.

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ASSESSMENT OF HEAVY METALS CONCENTRATIONS IN SURFICIAL WATER OF SILVER RIVER, SOUTHERN IJAW, BAYELSA STATE, NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA

Water samples were collected from three different locations along the Silver River, Bayelsa State and were analyzed for the concentrations of selected heavy metals. This was done with the aim to determine if the concentrations of the metals exceeded the minimum requirement for drinking water by WHO. The result showed that the examined metals; cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), nickel (N), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn) and mercury (Hg) concentrations were between 0.714±0.131-2.414±0.648, 1.742±0.214-3.812±1.136, 1.694±0.331-3.725±1.203, 0.443±0.06-2.717±0.782, 2.171±0.520-3.691±0.669, 5.167±2.063-8.239±2.411, 2.891±0.897-4.489±1.093, 0.349±0.062-2.891±1.033 and 0.0011±0.00-0.0024±0.00 mg/L respectively. All the values observed for the individual heavy metals except Hg were higher than the WHO value for domestic water. The contamination factor index analyzed from the concentrations of the heavy metals showed different degrees or levels of contamination – pollution of the water by the individual metals examined. Therefore, the water is not good for human consumption. The government should make practicable efforts to stop the input sources of these metals into the Silver River water body.

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SOLITON SOLUTIONS OF ONE-DIMENSIONAL GENERALIZED GROSS-PITAEVSKII EQUATIONS WITH CUBIC-QUINTIC-SEPTIC NONLINEARITY

Based on the cubic-quintic-septic nonlinear formulation for typical physical systems with higher-order nonlinearity, we solve the one-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation, and simulate the higher-order nonlinear effects of such systems under certain experimental conditions. Through F-expansion method and modulus-phase transformation, we reach the analytical solutions of the model, and the single and double soliton solutions are identified, and the septic-order nonlinearity is shown with the special nonlinear characteristics of the system.

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MICROBIOLOGICAL QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF POWDER MILK AT DHAKA METROPOLITAN AREA

Milk and milk powder are very rich in several nutrients and relished by everybody throughout the world. This study reports on the microbiological status of Powder milk samples belonging to seven different markets of Dhaka Metropolitan Area. The samples were tested for the Total Coliform Count (TCC), pathogenic bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella spp count. The number of Coliform organisms varied from 20±2.83 to 450±2 (MPN/g).  The Coliform counts of the powder milk samples were exceeded the 100 per gram limit for dried milk powder recommended by the International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Foods (ICMSF) and Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC). The number of E. coli varied from 3±0.00 to 44±2.83 (MPN/g). The presence of E. coli in most of the samples indicates pre and post-processing contamination of the milk. No Salmonella spp. could be isolated from the samples. Since the international agencies have not fixed any limit for E. coli count in dry milk, the hygienic quality of those samples must be improved considerably. These results highlighted the necessity to maintain appropriate sanitary and hygienic measures at each critical point to safeguard consumers from foodborne pathogens.

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INFLUENCE OF POLYAMINES ON In vitro REGENERATION AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY IN Sesamum indicum (L.)

The present study was carried out to develop an efficient plant regeneration protocol for Sesamum indicum (L.) from cotyledon explants prepared from 10-day-old in vitro grown plantlets. Cotyledon explants inoculated on MS medium containing 2 mg l⁻¹ N⁶ –Benzyladenine (BA) and 30 mg l⁻¹ spermidine induced the higher number of shoots (23.43 shoots/explant) and the induced shoots were elongated (5.63 cm/shoots) in the same medium. The maximum frequency (92.33%) of root induction was recorded in MS medium fortified with 10 mg l⁻¹ putrescine. Up to 95% of the regenerated plantlets acclimatized and developed further under the greenhouse conditions. Antibacterial activity of the regenerated plant extracts exhibited resistance against various pathogens such as, Escherichia coli, Vibrio cholerae, Bacillus subtilis and Micrococcus luteus. Highest zone of inhibition (13 mm) was recorded for B. subtilis and M. luteus at 50 μg ml⁻¹ extract.

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FRUIT AND NUT CHARACTERISTICS OF PROMISING PERSIAN WALNUT TREES IN VIETNAM

Persian walnut (Juglans regia L.) is the most economically important cultivated species for timber and nutritious nuts among 21 walnuts worldwide. Walnut has been planted in Vietnam personally in a small number of areas in Northern provinces sharing borderlines with China. The objective of this study was to survey characteristics of fruits and nuts of 15 J. regia promising trees and discuss their suitability as plus trees serving for intensive plantation. The results indicated that fruit diameter ranges 40.41-49.7 mm, fruit weight ranges 38.12-70.81 g, nut diameter ranges 24.19-34.96 mm, and nut weight ranges 9.07-25.26 g. The nut to fruit ratio for diameter ranges 57.8-70.4% and for weight ranges 20.4-35.7%. There existed positive linear relationships between fruit weight and nut weight for 10 of 15 promising trees with regression/R² >0.5. While relationships between fruit diameter and nut diameter generally did not exist or existed with low regression (R² <0.3). It is concluded that six of 15 promising trees could be selected as plus trees for intensive plantations through grafting technique. Those plus trees have a nut to fruit ratio for weight >30% and high regressions between fruit weight and nut weight.

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PROPERTIES OF THE SPECTRUM FOR THE SINGULAR DIFFUSION OPERATOR

In this study, singular diffusion operator is considered, we have derived integral equations for the solutions under certain initial conditions. We have also derived integral representations that satisfy initial conditions. Some features of the zeros of the characteristic functions have been obtained and with the help of these, we have investigated spectral properties of singular diffusion operator. Furthermore, we have obtained the asymptotic formulas for eigenvalues, eigenfunctions and normalizing numbers.

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ON A CERTAIN TWO-SMALL-PARAMETER CUBIC-QUINTIC NON-LINEAR DIFFERENTIAL EQUATION HAVING SLOWLY-VARYING COEFFICIENTS WITH APPLICATION TO DYNAMIC BUCKLING

The present research uses multi-timing regular perturbations in asymptotic expansions to analyze a certain differential equation having a cubic-quintic nonlinearity. The differential equation contains slowly-varying explicitly time-dependent coefficients as well as some small parameters upon which asymptotic expansions are initiated. The formulation is seen to be typical of a certain mass-spring arrangement (with geometric imperfection), trapped by a loading history that is explicitly time-dependent and slowly varying, but continuously decreasing in magnitude, while the restoring force on the spring has a cubic-quintic nonlinearity.  The dynamic buckling load of the elastic model structure is determined analytically and is related to the corresponding static buckling load. To the level of the accuracy retained, it is observed that the dynamic buckling load depends, among others, on the value of the first derivative of the loading function evaluated at the initial time. All results are asymptotic and implicit in the load amplitude.

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DENUMERABLE PRODUCT SPACES OF PSEUDOQUOTIENTS I

A space of pseudoquotients ß(X,G) is defined as the set of equivalence classes of pairs (x, g), where x ∈ X, an arbitrary non-empty set, and g ∈ G, a commutative semigroup acting on X such that (x, g)~(y, h) if hx = gy. In this paper, we shall construct the pseudoquotient space ß(ΠXi,ΠGi) where X is replaced by a cartesian product of countably infinite non-empty sets X_i and G by a direct product denumerable commutative semigroups G_i, i ∈ I an indexing set, such that ΠG_i acts injectively on ΠX_i.

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THE SEMI-TOTAL MONOPHONIC DOMINATION NUMBER OF A GRAPH

In this paper the concept of semi-total monophonic domination number of a graph is introduced. A set of vertices  of a graph  is called a total monophonic set if  is a monophonic set and its induced subgraph has no isolated vertices. The minimum cardinality of all total monophonic sets of  is called the total monophonic number and is denoted by.  A set of vertices  in  is called a monophonic dominating set if  is both a monophonic set and a dominating set. The minimum cardinality of a monophonic dominating set of  is its monophonic domination number and is denoted by . A monophonic dominating set of size  is said to be a  set. A set  of vertices in a graph  with no isolated vertices is said to be a semi-total monophonic set of   if it is a monophonic set of   and every vertex in  is within distance 2 of another vertex of . The semi-total monophonic AMS Subject classification:  05C12 number, denoted by , is the minimum cardinality of a semitotal monophonic dominating set of .

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RECENT ADVANCES ON RELIABLE METHODS FOR SOLVING TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM AND FUZZY TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM

The transportation problem is the most important and successful application of linear programming studied in the area of operations research. In the past few decades, new approaches have been developed to improve the components of the existing platform. This paper presents recent advances on reliable methods for solving transportation problem and fuzzy transportation problem through a survey table in which our comments as a remark has been included. An attempt has been made to provide a variety of methods to solve the transportation problem within a limited structure; through which ideas could be developed for designing new algorithms. It provides a better platform for further research work in the area of transportation problem.

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