Latest Articles
Original Research Article
ABSTRACT
Inflammatory skin allergies, including atopic dermatitis, allergic contact dermatitis, and urticaria, represent a significant global health burden affecting millions of individuals worldwide. The Janus kinase 3 (JAK3), a critical member of the JAK-STAT signaling pathway, has emerged as a promising therapeutic target due to its selective expression in immune cells and its pivotal role in mediating cytokine-driven inflammation. While synthetic JAK inhibitors have demonstrated clinical efficacy, their systemic immunosuppressive effects, hepatotoxicity, and high costs limit their widespread application. This study presents a comprehensive in silico approach to identify, characterize, and evaluate natural product-based JAK3 inhibitors as safer alternatives for topical management of skin allergies. Using the Protein Data Bank (PDB ID: 7C3N) as the target receptor, we performed database screening via IMPPAT and Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases to identify medicinal plants with established anti-allergic and anti-inflammatory properties. From an initial pool of over 1,500 plants, seven medicinally important species—Aloe vera, Ocimum sanctum, Cucumis sativus, Azadirachta indica, Withania somnifera, Cocos nucifera, and Lawsonia inermis—were selected based on local availability and accessibility. Phytochemical profiling yielded 92 phytoconstituents, which were subjected to molecular docking analysis using Schrodinger Maestro 12.5 against the delgocitinib binding site of JAK3. The docking results revealed cucurbitacin-C (docking score: -12.406), quercetin (-9.98), luteolin (-9.243), and chrysophanic acid (-9.015) as top-scoring candidates with binding affinities comparable to the standard drug delgocitinib (-12.406). ADMET and physicochemical profiling via pKCSM and SwissADME demonstrated that all lead compounds adhered to Lipinski's Rule of Five and Veber's rules, indicating favorable drug-likeness, oral bioavailability, and safety profiles. The identified
Original Research Article
ABSTRACT
Vigna Unguiculata (cowpea) is a globally significant tropical legume valued for its high protein content, drought tolerance, and adaptability to marginal agro-climatic conditions. However, abiotic stresses, particularly soil salinization, severely constrain its productivity in arid and semi-arid regions. The RD22 (Responsive to Dehydration 22) gene family, encoding BURP domain-containing proteins, plays pivotal roles in regulating plant responses to abiotic stress, including salt and drought tolerance. This study presents an integrated bioinformatics pipeline to identify, characterize, and analyze putative salt stress-responsive RD22 genes in V. Unguiculata. Using Arabidopsis thaliana RD22 (UniProt: P22247) as a reference, we performed homology-based screening against the V. Unguiculata genome via Ensembl Plants BLAST. Candidate sequences underwent rigorous physicochemical profiling (ProtParam), conserved domain analysis (NCBI-CDD), motif elucidation (MEME Suite), phylogenetic reconstruction (MEGA), gene structure visualization (GSDS), and subcellular localization prediction (WoLF PSORT). Iterative filtering based on domain architecture and motif conservation yielded a high-confidence set of RD22 candidates. Phylogenetic analysis revealed diversification across the RD22-like subfamily, with evidence of legume-specific expansion. The majority of candidates exhibited predicted apoplastic and vacuolar localization, acidic to mildly basic isoelectric points, and thermostable aliphatic indices consistent with stress-responsive regulatory functions. Gene structural analysis revealed intron-exon architectural diversity, suggesting evolutionary divergence and potential alternative splicing regulation. This work establishes a foundational genomic framework for understanding RD22-mediated salt stress signaling in cowpea and identifies candidate targets for future functional validation and translational breeding toward salinity-tolerant cultivars.
Original Research Article
ABSTRACT
Secondary bacterial infections in intensive cardiac care settings necessitate a transition toward automated bedside screening systems. To understand the mechanics behind these devices, this paper reviews the foundational physics of light-guiding pathways, solid-state circuits, and nanoscale layers. Integrating these engineering frameworks enables clinical teams to clearly track sensitive patient immune responses. In practice, the platform evaluates a patient's host defense status by measuring local C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin levels. Time is critical; traditional laboratory cultures require two full days to yield results, thereby squandering the narrow therapeutic window available during sudden coronary emergencies. Rapid-onset sepsis poses a severe threat to vulnerable cardiac patients, directly increasing hospital mortality rates. While high production costs and sensor fouling from whole-blood samples remain engineering bottlenecks that slow widespread clinical deployment, their potential is significant. Ultimately, linking decentralized electronic networks with localized testing instruments simplifies hospital logistics and protects at-risk patients during acute medical crises.
ABSTRACT
This study examines Charles Darwin's legacy and demonstrates how the principles of evolution by natural selection have transitioned from a 19th-century explanatory theory into a practical framework guiding modern biotechnology. The methodology combined a historical-analytical review of Darwin's scientific trajectory—from the voyage of the Beagle to the publication of On the Origin of Species—with an assessment of contemporary applications supported by genomic data analysis from databases such as NCBI and Ensembl and the use of bioinformatics tools including MEGA and BioEdit to construct phylogenies and compare conserved DNA regions. Results show that Darwinian understanding explains the mechanisms by which pathogens evolve and acquire antimicrobial resistance, informs vaccine design targeting conserved sequences for longer-lasting efficacy, and enables protein engineering through directed evolution to produce enzymes and antibodies with enhanced properties. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis rooted in Darwin's tree of life has become central for predicting gene function, diagnosing disease mutations, and developing crops resistant to drought and pests. The study concludes that Darwin's legacy constitutes the theoretical and methodological cornerstone of modern biotechnology, reinforcing interdisciplinary collaboration and evidence-based experimentation, and providing an essential explanatory and predictive model for addressing health, agricultural, and industrial challenges in a rapidly changing world.
ABSTRACT
Nanobiotechnology has made a significant impact in the field of cancer treatment and diagnosis, as it merged the finest aspects of materials science, molecular biology, and clinical medicine to give the process a new level of precision and quality. Presently nanoparticles are engineered to be cross agents—very different from the past when they would be simply designed to be in blood circulation for long time, detect the tumor area, notify the cell's condition by their own and drug delivery in the predetermined way. The processing of modern innovations has been grouped into five related areas: rational materials designing and surface functionalization; the application of nanoparticles for diagnostics and liquid biopsy platforms; precision delivery systems with stimuli-responsive release; the establishment of integrated theragnostic constructs that embrace imaging and therapy; and the assessment of the translational challenges of safety, manufacturability, and regulation. We proposed design principles that balance the durability of circulation with the penetration of the tissue, talked about the analytical advantages supplied by nanoscale contrast agents and biosensors for detection that is earlier and more specific, and reviewed the approaches for delivery that merge active targeting and responsive chemistries to increase on-target efficacy and at the same time reduce systemic toxicity. The use of multimodal imaging reporters and therapeutic modalities in combination as theragnostic platforms has provided few advantages among which real-time monitoring and adaptive therapies are the one. Yet, the issues of the practical clinical translation that were previously mentioned—robust characterization, mechanism-focused toxicology, immunogenicity profiling, scalable manufacturing, and regulatory alignment—must still be dealt with; hence we still need to maintain that multidisciplinary development pathways and companion diagnostics are critical for having an influence in the
Original Research Article
ABSTRACT
In foot biomechanics, the medial longitudinal plantar arch plays a critical role. It is the most essential reference in determining the degree of flat foot since it serves as a footing and shock absorber while walking. It operates as an adaptable support basis for the entire body, dissipates weight-bearing forces, and stores energy throughout the gait cycle. Although arch complex dysfunction is typically asymptomatic, it can affect the biomechanics of the lower limbs and lumbar spine, increasing the risk of discomfort and injury. Consistent measurements can be used to ascertain foot types (such as flat feet and normal feet) based on their arches, as these describe the foot’s plantar surface contact area. Staheli's Plantar Arch Index (SPAI) is used to analyze these arches where a ratio between the widths of the mid foot and the heel region of the foot is gotten; this is called the Plantar Arch Index (PAI). A descriptive cross-sectional design was used to recruit 427 Rivers State indigenes of the university. The students were clustered into 15 tribes in Rivers State and 29 students were randomly selected from each of the tribes. Foot impressions were retrieved via the ink and paper method. The plantar arch index was used to diagnose and analyze for flat foot. 211 males and 216 females were recruited for the study with a mean age of 24 years ±3. The prevalence of flat feet among the respondents was 12.6% where males accounted for 42.6% and females accounted for 57.4%. Females were recorded to have a higher prevalence. It was also observed that among the respondents, there was an 11.1% and 88.9% prevalence of unilateral and bilateral flat feet respectively. This study among Rivers State indigenes in Rivers State University disclosed a prevalence rate that is comparable to other adult population. Females exhibited a greater risk of this disorder, so should be given special attention. It is recommended that proactive efforts be made in the areas of screening, prevention
Original Research Article
ABSTRACT
The medicinal plant CIM-Soumya (Ocimum basilicum) variety has been globally adopted for the extraction of essential oil. This crop is capable of producing 400-500 kg of seeds per hectare. This seed-oil has been explored in the present study for its nutraceutical application. Ocimum, a non-explored seed-oil, contains ω-3 fatty acids (linoleic acid: 24.8%, and linolenic acid: 51.4%). It contains saturated fatty acids (SFA-12.0%), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA-10.7%) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA-76.2%). The process has been optimized for the production of free fatty acids (FFAs) from ocimum oil using aqueous-alkali solution at temperature (78 oC), agitation (180 rpm), time (4 h), and aqueous alkali-FFAs ratio (6:1) with 93% of total FFA yield. The SFAs were separated from unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) through the urea-complexation process at the optimized conditions such as fatty acid-urea ratio (1:2), crystallization temperature (8 oC), crystallization time (100 min), reflux temperature (75 oC), and reflux time (65 min) with a yield of 75%. The enriched UFAs was composed of ω-6-fatty acid (27%) and ω-3-fatty acid (61%).