Cancer therapy continues to face major challenges due to nonspecific drug distribution, systemic toxicity, and the emergence of drug resistance. Repurposing established drugs in combination with bioactive natural compounds and delivering them through nanocarriers represents a promising strategy to overcome these limitations. The present study focuses on the formulation, characterization, and combined efficacy evaluation of metformin hydrochloride and quinic acid–loaded niosomes for enhanced anticancer activity. Metformin, a widely used antidiabetic agent, exhibits anticancer effects through AMPK activation, mTOR inhibition, and metabolic reprogramming, while quinic acid, a natural polyphenolic compound, possesses antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and pro-apoptotic properties. Co-encapsulation of these agents in niosomal nanocarriers was undertaken to improve bioavailability, ensure synchronized delivery, and achieve synergistic therapeutic effects. The niosomes were prepared using suitable non-ionic surfactants and cholesterol and evaluated for physicochemical characteristics, including particle size, polydispersity index, zeta potential, entrapment efficiency, drug content, and in-vitro drug release. Morphological analysis confirmed the formation of uniformly distributed nanosized vesicles. In-vitro cytotoxicity studies demonstrated that the co-loaded niosomes exhibited significantly enhanced anticancer activity compared to individual drugs and their free combination, indicating synergistic efficacy. Overall, the findings suggest that metformin and quinic acid co-loaded niosomes offer a promising, cost-effective, and multi-targeted nanotherapeutic approach for cancer management with potential for further translational development.

Introduction: Tuberculosis remains a major public health problem in Senegal and, despite effective treatment, it frequently leaves respiratory sequelae that cause chronic morbidity. This study was conducted to determine the epidemiological, diagnostic, therapeutic and evolutionary aspects of post-tuberculosis respiratory sequelae. Methodology: Retrospective and descriptive study including patients with post-tuberculosis respiratory sequelae followed at the Saint-Jean de-Dieu Hospital in Thiès (Senegal). Results: Over a period of 63 months, we identified 133 cases of post-tuberculosis respiratory sequelae. There was a male predominance (67%) with a sex ratio of 2 and an average age of 51 years. In 83% of cases, a single episode of tuberculosis was sufficient to cause respiratory sequelae. Radiological abnormalities were mainly located in the lung parenchyma (61%) and were bilateral in 86% of cases. The main types of abnormalities were fibrous condensation blocks (15.03%), followed by emphysema (14.2%), pulmonary calcifications (13.53%) and fibrosis (9.02%). The complications found mainly included aspergillosis graft (32%) and chronic pulmonary heart disease (CPC) (32%). Conclusion: Post tuberculosis pulmonary sequelae remain common in vulnerable patients, with persistent symptoms and varied lesions. The lack of targeted functional assessment calls for more comprehensive prospective studies.

Auricular perichondritis is an uncommon but potentially serious complication of ear piercing, particularly when the cartilaginous part of the auricle is involved. It is most often caused by bacterial infection, with Pseudomonas aeruginosa being the predominant pathogen, and may lead to cartilage necrosis and permanent deformity if not promptly treated. We report the case of a patient who developed auricular perichondritis following ear piercing, presenting with painful swelling, erythema, and tenderness of the pinna while sparing the lobule. Clinical diagnosis was supported by physical examination, and management consisted of early systemic antibiotic therapy combined with local care, leading to a favorable outcome. This case highlights the importance of early recognition of auricular perichondritis, appropriate antimicrobial treatment, and awareness of piercing-related risks to prevent functional and cosmetic sequelae.

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly embedded in the structures of work, education, and everyday life, questions of ethics and digital wellbeing have grown urgent. Algorithmic bias, surveillance practices, and digital addiction pose profound risks to equity, autonomy, and human flourishing in the AI age. While technical and regulatory frameworks have attempted to mitigate these challenges, they often overlook the embodied, affective, and participatory dimensions of public engagement with AI ethics. This paper proposes participatory theatre as a powerful methodological and pedagogical tool for critically interrogating and reimagining human–AI relations. Drawing on traditions of applied theatre and Theatre for Development, the study demonstrates how performance-based interventions can democratise dialogue, foreground marginalised voices, and cultivate ethical reflexivity among diverse stakeholders. By staging scenarios of algorithmic discrimination, surveillance in learning and workplace contexts, and compulsive digital behaviours, participatory theatre creates a safe yet critical space for collective inquiry and ethical imagination. The paper argues that integrating such performative practices into discussions of AI governance and digital wellbeing not only enhances public literacy but also strengthens inclusive policymaking and educational strategies. Ultimately, this approach situates participatory theatre as both an artistic practice and a socio-ethical instrument for shaping the future of work, education, and wellbeing in an AI-mediated world.

Introduction: Clear aligners are an aesthetic alternative to fixed appliances, yet their predictability in arch expansion is still debated. This systematic review evaluates the efficiency of aligners in achieving planned expansion and identifies factors influencing outcomes. Materials and Methods: A systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines. Electronic searches were performed in PubMed, Cochrane Library, and ScienceDirect using a PICOS-based strategy. Methodological quality and risk of bias were assessed using standardized tools (AMSTAR 2, NHLBI/NIH). Results: Nine studies were included in the final analysis, consisting of two systematic reviews and seven cohort studies. The review found that arch expansion predictability is highest in the premolar region (reaching up to 93.53%) but decreases progressively toward the posterior segments, with the lowest accuracy observed at the first molar level (approximately 55-68%). Expansion is primarily achieved through coronal tipping rather than true bodily translation. Conclusion: Aligners effectively manage mild crowding but often result in uncontrolled tipping. To improve predictability, clinicians should utilize overcorrection strategies and pre-program negative torque. Higher-quality randomized clinical trials are necessary to establish standardized protocols.

The current project is based on the experimental work of Dr, Ashwani Kumar. Drug tolerance and resistance are the major proponents of any bacterial disease like TB. These mechanisms are achieved through unique phenomenons like the formation of a biofilm. The current project focuses on the formation of biofilms in Mycobacterium smegmatis (Msm) cultures. These biofilms are in the form of pellicles. The principal work done in the current project is the induction of biofilm using DTT at a range of concentrations in a 96 well plate. The films were then visualised using the Crystal Violet assay. The entire project focuses more on the process of biofilm formation and the mechanisms. The performed work can be further used for screening drugs and exploring ways to combat AMR.

Background: Oligohydramnios is a clinically significant obstetric condition associated with increased intrapartum intervention and adverse perinatal outcomes. Reduced amniotic fluid volume compromises fetal well-being by increasing the risk of umbilical cord compression and uteroplacental insufficiency, thereby influencing delivery decisions and neonatal outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate the mode of delivery and fetomaternal outcomes in pregnancies complicated by oligohydramnios. Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional observational study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Sir Salimullah Medical College and Mitford Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh, from December 2009 to June 2010. A total of 50 pregnant women with sonographically confirmed oligohydramnios were included in this study. Cardiotocography was performed upon admission to assess the fetal status. The mode of delivery, indications for caesarean section and neonatal outcomes were recorded. Associations between oligohydramnios severity and outcomes were analyzed. Results: Non-reassuring cardiotocography patterns were observed in 64% of the cases. Caesarean section was the predominant mode of delivery (72%), with fetal distress being the leading indication (61.1%). All women with severe oligohydramnios required caesarean delivery, demonstrating a significant association between severity and delivery mode (p < 0.001). Neonates born to mothers with severe oligohydramnios had a higher incidence of Apgar scores below 7 at five minutes (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Severe oligohydramnios is strongly associated with non-reassuring fetal surveillance, increased operative delivery rates and adverse neonatal outcomes. Severity-based risk stratification and vigilant intrapartum monitoring are essential for optimizing fetomaternal outcomes.

Many countries around the world have fully integrated Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into their educational systems. The expansion of ICT use in educational settings has sparked a rush of research work examining the link between ICT and academic performance. In Nigeria's education sector, ICT is integrated in secondary school’s syllabus. However, their use in teaching and learning has remained sporadic. This paper sought to determine teachers’ competence on ICT in teaching and learning and their influence on students’ performance. The hypothesis tested was there is no significant relationship between teachers’ competence on ICT in teaching and learning and students’ performance. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) by Venkatesh, Davis, and Morris (2003) was used to guide the study. The sample size consisted of 152 teachers and 297 students from 16 schools. Questionnaires for teachers and document analysis for students were used to collect data in this study. Descriptive statistics included frequency counts, percentages, means and standard deviation, whereas inferential statistics involved Pearson Product Moment correlation coefficient, factor and multiple regression analysis. The results of the study revealed a weak negative relationship (r=-.021, p>.05) between teachers’ competence on ICT and students’ performance. It can be concluded that teacher’s competences among the ICT users in the studied schools are generally limited especially to the staff members of older age, and the connection between teachers’ competences on ICT and students’ performance were negative. It is recommended that teacher training colleges should incorporate computer education and training on how to integrate ICT in education in the curriculum so that pre-service teachers leave the college being well prepared with ICT skills. This would enhance and maintain teachers’ ICT passion for effective ICT integration in teaching and learning for better student’s performance in secondary schools.

This study examines the difficulty local governments experience in fulfilling their constitutional responsibilities as the third level of government, even in the face of government changes aimed at improving their performance and offering lessons learnt to address the issues. Local government administration, Nigeria's third tier of government, is in charge of bringing about socioeconomic development locally. Since the establishment of the nation's local governments, numerous reforms have been tried, but unsuccessfully, to achieve the goal of local government establishment. The study collected and analyzed data using a qualitative approach. According to the survey, local government is finding it more and more challenging to successfully serve the public. The study came to the conclusion that both the federal and state governments could address the institutional and attitudinal aspects of the problems. It suggested giving the local government the same level of autonomy as the other levels of government in order to enable it to function freely. A legislative framework should also be in place to prevent the state government from needlessly interfering in local governments' internal matters. Finally, human resources should be available to provide effective leadership and accountability in order to accomplish the goals outlined by the establishment of local governments in Nigeria.

Digital health portals increasingly depend on highly “popular” physicians to anchor user traffic and drive revenue. Existing work, however, (i) conflates popularity with a single behavioural cue (consultation count) and (ii) relies on linear or shallow machine-learning models. We introduce PopNet, a hybrid TabTransformer + GRU that fuses demographic, behavioural, visual-cue and temporal-momentum signals to predict a composite Popularity Index (PopIdx) built from four pillars: demand, monetary appreciation, social proof and visibility. Across a five-fold group-wise cross-validation on 19 200 physician-quarter snapshots, PopNet attains MAE ≈ 0.091, beating ElasticNet by >40 %. Nevertheless, modern tree ensembles still edge it out (LightGBM MAE ≈ 0.046). Integrated-Gradient explanations and a feature-family ablation reveal platform visibility (inv_rank) as the single most important driver of popularity, followed by raw patient demand and monetary gifts. Fairness audits show a modest 0.006 PopIdx MAE gap between genders; a simple inverse-propensity re-weighting halves this gap with <0.002 performance loss. The study provides actionable levers for platform managers and a reusable, bias-audited modelling pipeline for future research.

Communities in Nigeria, from the coastal region of the southern part of Nigeria to the Northern Sahel, contend with various environmental health challenges, ranging from crude and refined oil spillage, large-scale bush burning, unregulated mining and industrial waste disposal, open defecation just to mention but a few. Although, these challenges mainly anthropogenic in nature, exist in various communities with abundant mineral resources supply, their implications on the socio-economic and environmental well-being of communities calls for concern. Hence, the crux of this paper. From a qualitative methodological approach, mainly reliance on secondary source, revealed the existence of environmental health challenges like crude oil spillage in oil producing communities within the south-south region of Nigeria, with serious consequences on the socio-economic and environmental well-being of communities. More so, the environmental health quality of communities in south-west region was found to be affected with Lead exposure discharged from industrial waste, with adverse impact on the socio-economic and environmental well-being of host communities. While south-south and south-west contend with crude oil spill and lead exposure; communities within the south-east region face serious environmental health threats mainly attributed to heavy metals deposit such as lead, copper and cadmium resulting from illegal mining operation. Furthermore, the environmental health quality of communities in the north-west and north-central region of Nigeria was found to be affected with illegal (mainly, gold) mining operations and open defecation, with devastating implications on the well-being of communities. From these findings, the study advocates strengthening and improving environmental adult education programmes in complementing existing efforts, for ensuring desired socio-economic and environmental well-being of communities in Nigeria.

The Niger Delta region faces a complex security crisis rooted in decades of environmental degradation and the resultant resource-driven violence. Traditional state-centric approaches to peacebuilding have largely failed to address the core problem of ecological marginalization, which pushes large segments of the marginalized youth population into militancy and illicit economies as a response to profound grievance and environmental scarcity. This paper examines a critical, though underexplored, solution: the emergence and efficacy of youth-led eco-innovation and environmental entrepreneurship as proactive mechanisms for conflict de-escalation and peace advocacy. This study argues that youth-led initiatives, such as sustainable aquaculture, waste-to-wealth enterprises and bioremediation start-ups, disrupt the conflict cycle by achieving two strategic outcomes. First, they directly counteract the environmental scarcity stress multiplier by providing legitimate, high-value livelihoods, successfully neutralizing the economic desperation that fuels participation in oil bunkering and pipeline sabotage. Second, by creating tangible economic assets and demonstrating local capacity for ecological stewardship, these ventures transform young people from mere victims or perpetrators into legitimate stakeholders. This elevation provides a constructive platform for peace advocacy and formalized dialogue with international oil companies (IOCs) and environmental protection agencies (EPAs), strengthening non-violent conflict resolution pathways and rebuilding a critical measure of institutional trust. The paper concludes that sustained peace in the Niger Delta requires a fundamental shift in green security governance frameworks. Governments and development partners must transition from reactive amnesty programmes to proactive, large-scale investment in and integration of youth eco-innovation. Government can effectively address the root causes of grievance and establish a foundation for long-term human and environmental security when priority is given to ecological livelihoods.

The target of this investigation is focused on entrepreneurship teaching as a tool for dropping joblessness and promoting sustainable development in Nigeria. It is specifically to examine the extent entrepreneurship education programs are being integrated into the curricula, ascertain if entrepreneurship significantly serves as tool through which joblessness can drop in Nigeria, investigate how entrepreneurship education enhances employability of graduates, explore factors that affects implementation and outcomes of entrepreneurship education programs, and identify best practices and strategies for enhancing entrepreneurship education in Nigeria. Human Capital Entrepreneurship Theory by Becker (1975) was used for the study. Survey descriptive design was adopted, with Taro Yamane sampling method; we got four-hundred (400) participants. Self-structured questionnaire was issued to the respondent of which same four-hundred (400) responses were retrieved and validated for the study. The study made use of descriptive analysis and inferential statistics where data from field survey was analyzed using simple percentage, mean and standard deviation presented in frequencies and tables. Findings of the study concluded that entrepreneurship education is a powerful tool for addressing the persistent challenge of unemployment in Nigeria. This investigation reveals the crucial function of entrepreneurship education in equipping individuals, particularly the youth, with the important skills, knowledge, and mindset to become self-reliant and create job opportunities, rather than relying on the limited employment options available in the formal sector. The findings reveal that a well-structured entrepreneurship curriculum can foster creativity, innovation, and problem-solving abilities, all of which are essential for thriving in today's competitive economic environment. Therefore, the study recommends that Nigerian tertiary institutions should incorporate more practical entrepreneurship courses in their curricula. These courses should focus on hands-on experience in business creation, management, and innovation to equip students with the skills necessary to start and sustain successful businesses after graduation. Thus, the Nigerian government should provide increased financial support for entrepreneurship education initiatives. This includes offering grants, scholarships, and funding to institutions that implement entrepreneurship programs, as well as setting up incubation centres where students can receive mentorship and resources to turn their ideas into businesses.

Introduction: Clear aligners, introduced in the 1990s with the Invisalign® system, have transformed orthodontics by providing an esthetic and comfortable alternative to fixed appliances. However, questions remain regarding their effectiveness and predictability in achieving different tooth movements and specifically tooth rotation. This systematic review aimed to critically evaluate the efficiency of aligners in controlling rotational movements and to identify the factors influencing their predictability. Materials and Methods: A systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines. Electronic searches were performed in PubMed, Cochrane Library, and ScienceDirect using a PICOS-based strategy. Methodological quality and risk of bias were assessed using standardized tools (AMSTAR 2, NHLBI/NIH). Results: Studies published between 2014 and 2024 were included. After screening, 14 studies met the eligibility criteria, including prospective and retrospective cohort studies, and systematic reviews. The review revealed that accuracy of tooth rotation is moderate (≈37–60%), it can be improved with attachments and interproximal reduction, but decreases with large or rapidly staged movements. Despite some progress, rotational control remains a key clinical limitation requiring cautious planning and monitoring. Conclusion: Rotations with clear aligners are poorly predictable, particularly for canines and premolars due to limited aligner grip on rounded crowns which often requires the use of auxiliaries and overcorrection strategies. Future high-quality randomized clinical trials and standardized protocols are necessary to strengthen the evidence and improve clinical outcomes.

This paper examined community-based conflict-resolution processes and the role of social work in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area (LGA) in Rivers State, Nigeria. The study aimed at establishing the different local conflict-resolution practices; to ascertain how social work helps the community to engage in these practices and to assess the impact of social work in enhancing the results of the traditional dispute-resolution systems. The study is based on the Systems Theory. The research design was descriptive; a structured questionnaire was administered to 400 respondents selected randomly in four purposively sampled communities in the LGA. Multi-stage sampling was done to represent the community leaders, elderly, youth and simple residents who were involved in dispute resolution. The analysis was conducted with the help of the descriptive statistics, which included frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations. The results showed that the key community conflicts, such as land battles, marriage disputes, inheritance issues, youth struggles, and leadership conflicts, are usually mediated by the elders, family councils, customary courts, and community meetings. The social workers were found to enable the community to participate either through coordinating meetings, education of the residents on their rights, and inclusion of vulnerable groups. Moreover, social workers increased the fairness, sustainability, and acceptability of traditional dispute-resolution procedures through the incorporation of contemporary conflict-management methods. Based on these findings, the research suggested that community-based practices should be formally recognized by the local government, capacity building programmes of social workers should be conducted, and the interrelationship between social workers and traditional leaders should also be strengthened to enhance conflict-management procedures.