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Introduction In the recent decades, there has been growing interest in the contribution of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) to livelihoods, development, and poverty alleviation among the rural populace. This has been prompted by the fact that communities living adjacent to forest reserves rely to a great extent on the NTFPs for their livelihoods, and therefore any effort to conserve such resources should as a prerequisite understand how the host communities interact with them. Methods Multistage sampling technique was used for the study. A representative sample of 400 households was used to explore the utilization of NTFPs and their contribution to households’ income in communities proximate to Falgore Game Reserve (FGR) in Kano State, Nigeria. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were used to analyze and summarize the data collected. Results The findings reveal that communities proximate to FGR mostly rely on the reserve for firewood, medicinal herbs, fodder, and fruit nuts for household use and sales. Income from NTFPs accounts for 20–60% of the total income of most (68%) of the sampled households. The utilization of NTFPs was significantly influenced by age, sex, household size, main occupation, distance to forest and market. Conclusions The findings suggest that NTFPs play an important role in supporting livelihoods, and therefore provide an important safety net for households throughout the year particularly during periods of hardship occasioned by drought. It is suggested that stakeholders should prioritize technical and financial support programs on agricultural value addition and handcrafts that would promote off-farm income generating activities, in addition, provision of alternative domestic cooking energy such as biogas in communities proximate to FGR in order to reduce pressure relating to fuelwood gathering from the forest, this will help to improve forest resources quality.

For many patients, diabetes Mellitus and Malignancy are frequently encountered comorbidities. Diabetes affects approximately 10.5% of the global population, while malignancy accounts for 29.4 million cases each year. These troubling statistics indicate that current treatment approaches for these diseases are insufficient. Alternative therapeutic strategies that consider unique signaling pathways in diabetic and malignancy patients could provide improved therapeutic outcomes. The G-protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) is receiving attention for its role in disease pathogenesis and treatment outcomes. This review aims to critically examine GPER’ s comparative role in diabetes mellitus and malignancy, identify research gaps that need to be filled, and highlight GPER’s potential as a therapeutic target for diabetes and malignancy management. There is a scarcity of data on GPER expression patterns in diabetic models; however, for diabetes mellitus, altered expression of transport and signaling proteins has been linked to GPER signaling. In contrast, GPER expression in various malignancy types appears to be complex and debatable at the moment. Current data show inconclusive patterns of GPER expression in various malignancies, with some indicating upregulation and others demonstrating downregulation. Further research should be conducted to investigate GPER expression patterns and their relationship with signaling pathways in diabetes mellitus and various malignancies. We conclude that GPER has therapeutic potential for chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus and malignancy.

Sub-Saharan Africa is profoundly challenged with African Animal Trypanosomiasis and the available trypanocides are faced with drawbacks, necessitating the search for novel agents. Herein, the chemotherapeutic potential of phloroglucinol on T. congolense infection and its inhibitory effects on the partially purified T. congolense sialidase and phospholipase A2 (PLA2) were investigated. Treatment with phloroglucinol for 14 days significantly (p < 0.05) suppressed T. congolense proliferation, increased animal survival and ameliorated anemia induced by the parasite. Using biochemical and histopathological analyses, phloroglucinol was found to prevent renal damages and splenomegaly, besides its protection against T. congolense-associated increase in free serum sialic acids in infected animals. Moreover, the compound inhibited bloodstream T. congolense sialidase via mixed inhibition pattern with inhibition binding constant (Ki) of 0.181 µM, but a very low uncompetitive inhibitory effects against PLA2 (Ki > 9000 µM) was recorded. Molecular docking studies revealed binding energies of −4.9 and −5.3 kcal/mol between phloroglucinol with modeled sialidase and PLA2 respectively, while a 50 ns molecular dynamics simulation using GROMACS revealed the sialidase-phloroglucinol complex to be more compact and stable with higher free binding energy (−67.84 ± 0.50 kJ/mol) than PLA2-phloroglucinol complex (−77.17 ± 0.52 kJ/mol), based on MM-PBSA analysis. The sialidase-phloroglucinol complex had a single hydrogen bond interaction with Ser453 while none was observed for the PLA2-phloroglucinol complex. In conclusion, phloroglucinol showed moderate trypanostatic activity with great potential in ameliorating some of the parasite-induced pathologies and its anti-anemic effects might be linked to inhibition of sialidase rather than PLA2.

Background Recent COVID-19 outbreak has prompted the search of novel therapeutic agents to treat the disease. The initial step of the infection involves the binding of the virus through the viral spike protein with the host angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). In this study, the interaction of some ACE or ACE2 inhibitors and their analogues as well as selected compounds with the viral spike protein as a strategy to hinder viral-ACE2 interaction were investigated. SARS-CoV-2  spike protein as well as the ligands were retrieved from protein databank and ChEBI database respectively. The molecules were prepared before initiating the virtual screening using PyRx software. Discovery studio was used to further visualize the binding interactions between the compounds and the protein. Results The ACE inhibitors and their analogues fosinopril (1-), fosinopril and moexipril have the best binding affinity to the protein with binding energies < − 7.0 kcal/mol while non-flavonoid stilben-4-ol binds with free binding energy of − 7.1 kcal/mol. Others compounds which belong to either the flavonoids, terpenes and alkaloid classes also have binding energies  < − 7.0 kcal/mol. Such high binding energies were enhanced via hydrogen bond (h-bond) interactions in addition to other interactions observed between the compounds and the amino acid residues of the protein. Conclusions The ACE inhibitors and their analogues as well as the selected compounds could serve as inhibitors of the spike protein as well as lead in drug discovery processes to target the SARS-CoV-2  virus.

The differential equations of pharmacokinetic models, obtained from the formulation based on the Fick's perfusion principle and law of conservation of mass action, deals with absorption, distribution, and elimination of drugs by the body systems. In the formulation, the ordinary differential equations obtained may result into highly stiff systems whereby suitable implicit methods have to be employed to solve accurately drug concentration in the body systems, owing to the complex nature of the exact solutions, if they exist. Further, because of the large and increasing interest in the problems of drug kinetics, it is necessary to apply considerably accurate implicit numerical methods in evaluating and in applying them to specific cases. These solutions are to help determine the distribution of drug concentration in different compartments (parts) of the human body network systems as a fundamental step to help in understanding and improving treatments. This is necessary since drug concentration in each compartment is different from one another because of the differences in drug affinity to tissues. From the study, the solution curves obtained show that drug level in the gastrointestinal tract decreases with the passage of time, while drug concentration in the blood increases from zero and reaches its maximum level and then decreases steadily again. We further, compared the model curves with some experimental data plots published in scientific papers. The results obtained from the study can be used extensively for various drug diffusion problems arising in pharmaceutical studies. The presented results widen the applicability of the continuous block implicit hybrid one-step collocation methods to diffusion process which have good number of applications in the drug control, drug dosage and other related problems in pharmaceutical and biomedical industries.

Existing scholarship in the field of traditional African ethics has identified three broad themes namely communitarianism, personhood, and the vital force, instrumental for the common good of all. The present paper argues that African traditional ethics allows ample room for an individual's personal cultivation, regardless of the community's view on the ultimate good. In order to substantiate this argument, the paper seeks to undertake an analysis of proverbs as used in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. The paper begins by surveying existing scholarly approaches to African ethics. It then compiles proverbs related to the =communitarian' aspects of ethics and those that depict =individual cultivation' in Achebe's African trilogy (Things Fall Apart, No longer at Ease, Arrow of God).It examines how the proverbs are woven into the first novel, guiding the actions of the protagonist and other characters toward personal growth, illustrating ethical principles of personal development. Finally, the paper concludes by summarizing the arguments developed through this analysis.

Asphalt pavement surfaces deteriorate fast due to poor maintenance planning and implementation, use of inappropriate decision tools, and underestimating the effects of climate change in their design and maintenance. Excessive pavement surface distress results in increased Vehicle Operating Costs (VOC), many accidents, and generally reduced reliability of transport services. To prioritize pavement maintenance activities, Pavement Management System (PMS) presents several decision-making tools. These tools vary from simple ranking to complex optimization. Accordingly, a well-defined condition-rating system that can simulate the effects of climate, physical, and operational factors on asphalt pavements is highly needed. Therefore, this research presents a comprehensive asphalt pavement condition-rating model that integrates an extensive range of potential factors influencing flexible-pavement performance in the northwestern region of Nigeria. Experts from transportation ministries, departments, agencies, and various pavement condition surveys provided data for the development of the pavement condition rating model using Multi-attribute Utility Theory (MAUT). The model shows that rutting amount, with a weight of 26.85%, has the highest impact on the flexible-pavement condition, followed by longitudinal cracking, with a weight of 17.47%, and then subgrade type, with a weight of 17.44%. For the climate factors, rainfall amount has a more negative impact on flexible pavement condition rating with the weight of 10.41% than the air temperature which weighs 1.48%. The performance of the MAUT model and the traditional Pavement Condition Rating Index (PCI) was compared and the model shows 88% accuracy based on statistical validations. Finally, the model was applied to some case studies, and the results compared well with a widely used Pavement Condition Index (PCI) rating method. The MAUT model can assist transportation agencies in taking appropriate decisions for maintaining their road networks.

In this Data Note, we present details regarding Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health (MNCH) datasets sourced directly from patients' medical records. These datasets consist of 538 maternal, 720 neonatal, and 425 child records, all collected at St Luke's General Hospital in Anua, Uyo, Nigeria, spanning from 2014 to 2019. Variables included in the datasets are: Maternal {patient number, date of visit, gender, age, class of patient, address, LGA, diagnose, symptom, prescription, blood pressure (mm Hg), temperature (degree centigrade), weight (Kg), latitude, longitude, elevation, (MSL), date record, GPS Accuracy (m)}; Neonatal {patient number, date of visit, gender, age, class of patient, address, LGA, symptom, health status, height (cm), weight (Kg), latitude, longitude, elevation (MSL), date record, GPS Accuracy (m)}; and Child Health {patient number, date of visit, gender, age, class of patient, address, LGA, diagnose, health history, temperature (degree centigrade), weight (Kg), latitude, longitude, elevation (MSL), date record, GPS accuracy (m)}. The purpose of sharing these datasets is to provide a resource for researchers interested in their potential reuse, whether for analysis, research, quality assurance, policy formulation, decision-making, patient safety, or other purposes. The datasets also include location information obtained through GPS (Global Positioning System) data from the study area, facilitating spatiotemporal analysis. We outline the methods used for curating the datasets, including the protocol for selecting and processing variables. To protect patient privacy, certain personal details such as names were replaced with unique patient numbers generated using Microsoft Excel. Furthermore, specific patient information, including addresses/locations, date of visit, latitude, longitude, elevation, and GPS accuracy, has been restricted for privacy reasons. Readers interested in accessing restricted data can make a formal request to the corresponding author (see data restriction statement). The curated datasets are available at the Open Science Framework.

The gut microbiome is increasingly implicated in colorectal cancer (CRC), yet the functional signatures associated with disease progression remain poorly resolved across populations. We performed an assembly-based metagenomic analysis of more than 500 samples from three geographically distinct cohorts to characterize resistome and virulome patterns associated with CRC. Using a cross-validated modeling framework based on Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression, we identified two reproducible latent functional gradients that structured variation in antimicrobial-resistance and virulence-factor profiles. One gradient was enriched for adhesion, efflux, and biofilm-associated functions, while the second reflected immunomodulatory and barrier-related pathways. These components were statistically robust, directionally stable across cohorts, and consistent with functional themes frequently reported in CRC microbiome studies. To summarize variation along these gradients, we derived an exploratory Dual-Axis Index (DAI) based on the two stable PLS components. Although its discriminative performance was moderate, the DAI provided an interpretable low-dimensional representation of how resistome-virulome patterns differed across healthy, adenoma, and carcinoma states. These results suggest that functional gene profiles in CRC are organized along reproducible statistical axes, and highlight functional modules, such as adhesion-, iron-associated, and immune-interaction pathways that may complement taxonomic or metabolic biomarkers in future multimodal approaches. Our work provides a reproducible, assembly-based framework for examining the functional organization of CRC-associated microbiomes across diverse populations.