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In the quest for novel bioactive metabolites, which can also be used as therapeutic agents, Adiantum philippense (A. philippense), an ethnomedically important fern, has become a fascinating herb. In this study, the predictive mathematical modelling of A. philippense crude extract was tested against Shigella flexneri, a common food pathogen for its phytochemical constituents, antagonistic ability, and effect on bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation was calculated. Various kinetics models such as Von Bertalanffy, Baranyi-Roberts, modified Schnute, Modified Richards, Modified Gompertz, Modified Logistics and latest Huang were used to get values for the above kinetic constants or parameters. modified Gompertz of the entire model was found to be the best model with the highest adjusted R2 value and lowest RMSE value. The accuracy and bias factors values were close to unity (1.0). The maximum specific growth rate (mmax (h-1) for S. flexneri treatment with A. philippense extract was significantly much lower (p<0.05) with a value of 0.292 (95% confidence interval of 0.254 to 0.331) compared to control with a value of 0.540 (95% confidence interval of 0.481 to 0.599) indicating potential biofilm inhibition.

This study was conducted to assess the health risk of heavy metals from some fruits and vegetables sold in the Dutse Ultra-modern market, Jigawa State. Two fruits (watermelon and orange) and two vegetables (okra and spinach) were selected randomly from two vendors for two consecutive periods within one week. The samples were transported to the laboratory for acid digestion. Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) was used for the determination of heavy metal (Cd, Pb, Zn, Fe, Mg, Cr and Ni) concentration in the various samples. Bioaccumulation factor, pollution index, hazard quotient and hazard index were calculated and compared with WHO standard. Results obtained in the present study revealed that Cd levels in the samples were significantly higher as compared with the control value (0.2 mg/mL). Pb, Fe, Cr and Ni evaluated were insignificant as compared with their control (2 mg/mL, 1 mg/mL, 1.3 mg/mL and 10 mg/mL, respectively). The results revealed only Cr (1.5) and Ni (1.7) have significantly high bioaccumulation factors while all other heavy metals show relatively low bioaccumulation. The pollution index of heavy metals in the samples of fruits and vegetables evaluated shows a relatively low pollution index, values obtained vary from 0.11 in Pb to 0.9 in Ni. While hazard quotients and hazard index were insignificant. The study concludes that okra, spinach, orange and watermelon in the Dutse ultra-modern market in Jigawa state despite their proximity to the mechanic village and a lot of activities occurring may not cause a serious health threat to human consumption. The study recommends further studies on other fruits and vegetables not selected for this study.

Groundwater is sometimes considered as the cleanest form of water available to Nigerians. A total of two hundred water samples (10 from each of the 20 cities) were analyzed for the presence of coliform bacteria as an indicator of water quality. The mean coliform viable counts, aerobic mesophilic bacterial count as well as a biochemical test were conducted. Based on the result obtained, seven cities were found to contain coliform count above the acceptable limit of the World Health Organization (WHO) for drinking water. Escherichia coli was also found in water samples of four cities. Presence of faecal coliform is an indication of faecal contamination of any drinking water which can be due to leakage of pipes from the main source. Efforts need to be intensified in the monitoring of activities in this rapidly expanding industry with a view to raising standards.

Alkaline cellulase producing Fusarium oxysporum VSTPDK was isolated and screened from the soil of Kapurthala district Punjab, India. This organism produced endoglucanase (CMCase) and exoglucanase (FPase) when grown at a different range of parameters pH (6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11), temperature (30, 40, 50 and 60OC), incubation time (4th 6th 8th 10th and 12th day) and nitrogen source (NH4SO4, NH4Cl, NaNO3 and NH4HCO3). Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and cellulose powder were used as the sole carbon source. In this research, statistical tools called Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used for the optimization of cellulase enzyme by selecting three important parameters after one factor at a time (OFAT) approach. Using OFAT, optimum production of both CMCsase (3.52U/mL) and FPase (4.07U/mL) were achieved after 8 days incubation at pH 8, temperature 30OC and 1.0g/L ammonium sulphate while RSM produced CMCase 3.91U/mL and FPase 4.26U/mL respectively when incubated for 8 days at pH 8.5, temperature 45 and 3% ammonium sulphate concentration. Optimization of the culture conditions using RSM leads to an increase of 0.39U/mL (CMCase) and 0.19U/mL (FPase). The use of RSM has gained considerable attention in the past decade in the optimization of various physicochemical parameters and nutritional factors. Its application in different industries may find ways of selecting different factors influencing cellulase activity. The fungus can produce a considerable amount of cellulase enzyme at a pH of up to 10 and 50OC. To our knowledge, this is the first report of alkalothermophilic oxysporum VSTPDK from Punjab, India.

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Breast Cancer (BC) is a prevalent disease that affects mostly women in the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), BC represent about 25 percent of all cancers in women with 685 000 deaths in 2020. An early detection of this disease can greatly increase the chances of taking the right decision on a successful treatment plan. This resulted in the need of new research avenues most especially in a country like Nigeria where there is low awareness of the disease and late presentation of BC by patients is normal. To achieve this, Support Vector Machine (SVM), KN Neighbor (KNN) and Decision Tree (DT) was used on a local dataset obtained from Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital Zaria to provide some effective diagnostic capabilities. The dataset was classified into three classes (Benign, Pre-malign and Malign) and the SVM obtained a good classification accuracy of (99.2%). Late presentation of breast cancer is normal because of low awareness of the disease in the country therefore more awareness of the disease is highly recommended and women above the age of 34 years should always go for the breast cancer screening at least once a year with or without sign, sickness or symptoms.