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Overhunting and habitat loss from the expansion of agriculture and extractive industries are the primary threats to primate species, 65% of which are threatened with extinction. In Africa, red colobus (Piliocolobus spp.) are the most endangered group of monkeys due to their vulnerability to these human pressures. The conservation status of the Critically Endangered Preuss’s red colobus (P. preussi), found in southeastern Nigeria and western Cameroon, is not well understood, impeding conservation efforts. We reviewed historical records and recent data on the distribution and abundance of Preuss’s red colobus to assess the species’ population status and provide recommendations for its conservation. Preuss’s red colobus has historically been found in two widely separated populations: one in the contiguous transboundary forests of Nigeria’s Cross River National Park (Oban) and Cameroon’s Korup National Park, and the other in Cameroon’s Ebo–Makombe–Ndokbou forests. Today, Preuss’s red colobus is mostly restricted to Korup and Oban and has largely disappeared from the Ebo–Makombe–Ndokbou forests. Systematic surveys indicate that the population in Korup, where Preuss’s red colobus reaches its highest density, has declined over the last 30 years with possibly 3290–4430 red colobus monkeys remaining. Improving protection of the Korup–Oban population, through improved law enforcement, transboundary conservation, ecological monitoring, and engagement with adjacent local communities, is essential to secure the long-term survival of Preuss’s red colobus. Locating and protecting remnant groups in other forests is also urgently needed. Protecting Preuss’s red colobus will help safeguard some of West Africa’s largest remaining intact forests and other threatened wildlife species.

Food-drug interactions (FDIs) are a significant clinical concern, impacting the effectiveness and safety of treatments. Healthcare professionals (HCPs) play a crucial role in minimizing these risks through appropriate patient education. The Ho Teaching Hospital (HTH) in Ghana serves a large patient population with varying medication needs. However, there is limited data on the knowledge and attitudes of HCPs regarding FDIs in this setting. This study assessed and modelled the knowledge and attitudes of HCPs towards FDIs at HTH. A cross-sectional survey of 300 HCPs, including medical doctors, pharmacists, nurses, midwives, and dietitians, was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis tests, logistic regression models and path analysis. The mean knowledge score on FDIs was 27.52 (SD = 8.71) out of 61, indicating low knowledge. Pharmacists scored the highest, while profession and sex significantly influenced knowledge levels (p < 0.05). Only 39% of participants demonstrated high knowledge, and 49.70% exhibited a good attitude towards FDIs. Males were less likely to show good attitudes compared to females (aOR = 0.15; p = 0.038). HCPs who attended FDI training (aOR = 1.83; p = 0.027) and Christians (aOR = 2.17; p = 0.048) displayed more favorable attitudes. The mediation analysis revealed that knowledge of alcohol-drug interactions influences overall attitudes through pathways involving knowledge of drug-food time intervals. Knowledge of FDIs among HCPs is inadequate, with significant variability across professions. Pharmacists demonstrated the highest knowledge levels, while overall attitudes varied by sex, training, and religious affiliation. These findings highlight the need for targeted educational programs and training for HCPs regarding FDIs.

Numerous protected areas (PAs) have been created in Africa to safeguard wildlife and other natural resources. However, significant threats from anthropogenic activities and decline of wildlife populations persist, while conservation efforts in most PAs are still minimal. We assessed the impact level of the most common threats to wildlife within PAs in tropical Africa and the relationship of conservation activities with threat impact level. We collated data on 98 PAs with tropical forest cover from 15 countries across West, Central and East Africa. For this, we assembled information about local threats as well as conservation activities from published and unpublished literature, and questionnaires sent to long-term field workers. We constructed general linear models to test the significance of specific conservation activities in relation to the threat impact level. Subsistence and commercial hunting were identified as the most common direct threats to wildlife and found to be most prevalent in West and Central Africa. Agriculture and logging represented the most common indirect threats, and were most prevalent in West Africa. We found that the long-term presence of conservation activities (such as law enforcement, research and tourism) was associated with lower threat impact levels. Our results highlight deficiencies in the management effectiveness of several PAs across tropical Africa, and conclude that PA management should invest more into conservation activities with long-term duration.

Aim: To predict the distribution of suitable environmental conditions (SEC) for eight African great ape taxa for a first time period, the 1990s and then project it to a second time period, the 2000s; to assess the relative importance of factors influencing SEC distribution and to estimate rates of SEC loss, isolation and fragmentation over the last two decades. Location: Twenty-two African great ape range countries. Methods: We extracted 15,051 presence localities collected between 1995 and 2010 from 68 different areas surveyed across the African ape range. We combined a maximum entropy algorithm and logistic regression to relate ape presence information to environmental and human impact variables from the 1990s with a resolution of 5 × 5 km across the entire ape range. We then made SEC projections for the 2000s using updated human impact variables. Results: Total SEC area was approximately 2,015,480 and 1,807,653 km 2 in the 1990s and 2000s, respectively. Loss of predicted SEC appeared highest for Cross River gorillas (-59%), followed by eastern gorillas (-52%), western gorillas (-32%), bonobos (-29%), central chimpanzees (-17%) and western chimpanzees (-11%). SEC for Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees and eastern chimpanzees was not greatly reduced. Except for Cross River and eastern gorillas, the number of SEC patches did not change significantly, suggesting that SEC loss was caused mainly by patch size reduction. Main conclusions: The first continent-wide perspective of African ape SEC distribution shows dramatic declines in recent years. The model has clear limitations for use at small geographic scales, given the quality of available data and the coarse resolution of predictions. However, at the large scale it has potential for informing international policymaking, mitigation of resource extraction and infrastructure development, as well as for spatial prioritization of conservation effort and evaluating conservation effectiveness.

OrientationEmployee empowerment has received widespread attention in both academic and business literature. The idea is that an empowered employee is a productive worker; a productive worker is, in turn, a competitive asset to the organisation. However, the banking industry in many developing nations still falls short in employee empowerment.Research purposeThis study aims to analyse the robust strategies for empowering bank workers and their effects on job performance.Motivation for the studyThe study was motivated by the fact that extant studies seem inconsistent in identifying the precise empowerment strategies capable of igniting better work performance in the banking industry.Research approach/design and methodThe study adopted a cross-sectional survey design targeting 316 middle-level bank managers in the five biggest banks in Nigeria. Data were collected using the structured questionnaire and processed using the structural equation modelling in SmartPLS software.Main findingsResults showed that employee empowerment variables (employee input acknowledgment, mutual decision-making, joint resolution implementation, and sense of belonging climate) were positively related to improved job performance.Practical/managerial implicationsThe study has shown that improved employee performance can be achieved when the adopted empowerment strategy is a mix of employee input acknowledgment, mutual decision-making, joint resolution implementation, and a sense of belonging climate.Contribution/value-addThe study has addressed the existing gaps in the banking sector employee empowerment by highlighting four new strategies.

Nigeria's most consumed potable water plastic wastes are indiscriminately dumped into agricultural soil despite their ability to become microplastics. The study evaluates the potential impacts of these microplastics on soil physico-chemical parameters, soil bacterial diversity and functions as well as antibiotic resistance. Soil sample was collected using a sterile hand-held auger and its physico-chemical parameters evaluated. Baseline microplastic concentration was determined via the flotation method while microbial isolates were obtained from the test (enriched with microplastics) and control samples using cultural technique and metagenomics. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) was done using the Illumina Miseq platform. The cluster of orthologous genes (COG) tool was used in the prediction of bacterial functional roles. Replicate readings were analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and means compared using the student’s t test. Observed baseline microplastic concentration was 0.08 particles/g of soil. The addition of the microplastics to the soil sample decreased the concentrations of some metals (iron, zinc, lead and nickel) while cobalt concentration, pH level and microbial counts increased. Microbial count and pH clustered together while iron, magnesium, nitrate, nitrite, chromium, cobalt, total organic carbon, zinc, lead, and nickel showed positive loading values suggesting that the addition of microplastics could alter them. Dominant taxa were proteobacteria , unknown , firmicutes at the phyla level. At the level of species,  Pseudomonas  species dominated microplastics incubated soil while potential pathogenic species such as  Klebsiella  dominated the control sample. A higher level of multi-drug resistance and altered metabolisms was observed in the test sample. Sachet water microplastics could have serious implications for public health and food security. Article Highlights Sachet water microplastics altered the physicochemistry of the soil. Sachet water microplastics enhance typical degraders while deselecting pathogens Microplastics degraders showed higher multi-drug resistance than the non-degraders.

In South-Eastern Nigeria, several quarry operations provide 8.7% of the country’s annual GDP to the economy. These businesses do, however, frequently cause air pollution. Extech Model VPC300 was used to measure PM 2.5 , PM 10 , and various meteorological factors, and conduct a social survey to determine the impact of particulate matter on the nearby crops. The four quarry locations and their surroundings were found to have high concentrations of particulate matter that exceeded the international standard. A kilometer distant from the quarry sites, PM 2.5 , and PM 10 show the strongest association matrix with the highest value of 0.9358. Additionally, at the quarry, there is a strong relationship between the temperature and PM 2.5 of 0.7860. According to respondents’ responses, quarrying has a significant detrimental impact on a variety of local plants, with vegetables suffering the greatest harm at a 30% response rate, along with habitat loss, plant biodiversity, and local crop survival. The outcome also demonstrates that quarry operations contribute to soil erosion and water contamination, both of which lower local agriculture yields in the areas. Based on the findings, it is strongly advised that a dust control system be established, with the quarrying area being surrounded by a green belt planted with pollutant-tolerant plants to limit the spread of dust and the industries being subject to self-regulatory rules.

Unsafe disposal of unused and expired antimicrobial drugs increases their presence in the environment, thereby contributing to the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance. This study addressed the lack of sufficient data on unused and expired antimicrobial disposal practices among peri-urban residents in Ghana. This knowledge–attitude–practice (KAP)-based study offers context-specific insights to inform public health education and antimicrobial disposal policy interventions. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 310 residents in the Ho municipality using a well-structured questionnaire. Data was collected on the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of households on how they dispose of unused and leftover antimicrobials. Origin Pro 2022 software was used to analyze the data. Many respondents were males (n = 175, 56.5%) and aged between 18 and 30 years (n = 196, 63.2%). About 87.1% (n = 270) of the respondents agreed that improper disposal of unused antimicrobials could negatively affect the environment. Most of the respondents (71.9%, n = 223) had not received counseling on recommended antimicrobial disposal; 75.5% (n = 234) of respondents were not aware of institutions collecting unused or expired medicines; and 73.5% (n = 228) had never participated in a medicine-return program. Discarding antimicrobials into household trash bins was the most common way of disposal among respondents. The preferred sites to return unused/leftover antimicrobials were community pharmacies and hospitals. Although respondents showed some knowledge and positive attitudes toward safe antimicrobial disposal, further education is needed. Furthermore, most respondents disposed of antimicrobials in household trash, highlighting the need for take-back programs and community pharmacy-based collection. Incorporating disposal guidance into medication counseling and patient information leaflets can enhance awareness and promote appropriate practices.

A porcine model of spinal cord injury (SCI) was used to evaluate the neuroprotective effects of magnesium chloride (MgCl2) within a polyethylene glycol (PEG) formulation, called “AC105” (Acorda Therapeutics Inc., Ardsley, NY). Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that AC105 would lead to greater tissue sparing at the injury site and improved behavioral outcome when delivered in a clinically realistic time window post-injury. Four hours after contusion/compression injury, Yucatan minipigs were randomized to receive a 30-min intravenous infusion of AC105, magnesium sulfate (MgSO4), or saline. Animals received 4 additional infusions of the same dose at 6-h intervals. Behavioral recovery was tested for 12 weeks using two-dimensional (2D) kinematics during weight-supported treadmill walking and the Porcine Injury Behavior Scale (PTIBS), a 10-point locomotion scale. Spinal cords were evaluated ex vivo by diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and subjected to histological analysis. Treatment with AC105 or MgSO4 did not result in improvements in locomotor recovery on the PTIBS or in 2D kinematics on weight-supported treadmill walking. Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) showed severe loss of tissue integrity at the impact site, with decreased fractional anisotropy and increased mean diffusivity; this was not improved with AC105 or MgSO4 treatment. Histological analysis revealed no significant increase in gray or white matter sparing with AC105 or MgSO4 treatment. Finally, AC105 did not result in higher Mg2+ levels in CSF than with the use of standard MgSO4. In summary, when testing AC105 in a porcine model of SCI, we were unable to reproduce the promising therapeutic benefits observed previously in less-severe rodent models of SCI.

The past three decades have seen an explosion of research interest in spinal cord injury (SCI) and the development of hundreds of potential therapies that have demonstrated some promise in pre-clinical experimental animal models. A growing number of these treatments are seeking to be translated into human clinical trials. Conducting such a clinical trial, however, is extremely costly, not only for the time and money required to execute it, but also for the limited resources that will then no longer be available to evaluate other promising therapies. The decision about what therapies have sufficient pre-clinical evidence of efficacy to justify testing in humans is therefore of utmost importance. Here, we have developed a scoring system for objectively grading the body of pre-clinical literature on neuroprotective treatments for acute SCI. The components of the system include an evaluation of a number of factors that are thought to be important in considering the “robustness” of a therapy's efficacy, including the animal species and injury models that have been used to test it, the time window of efficacy, the types of functional improvements effected by it, and whether efficacy has been independently replicated. The selection of these factors was based on the results of a questionnaire that was performed within the SCI research community. A modified Delphi consensus-building exercise was then conducted with experts in pre-clinical SCI research to refine the criteria and decide upon how to score them. Finally, the grading system was applied to a series of potential neuroprotective treatments for acute SCI. This represents a systematic approach to developing an objective method of evaluating the extent to which the pre-clinical literature supports the translation of a particular experimental treatment into human trials.