Tijjani Salihu Shinkafi

Usmanu Danfodiyo University · Department of Biochemistry

Drosophila melanogaster is a highly versatile model organism that has profoundly advanced our understanding of human diseases. With more than 60% of its genes having human homologs, Drosophila provides an invaluable system for modelling a wide range of pathologies, including neurodegenerative disorders, cancer, metabolic diseases, as well as cardia...

For decades, patients in East Africa have used herbal medicine as an alternative and affordable therapeutic option for the treatment of diseases such as Diabetes Mellitus (DM). As a result, the primary objective of this research was to thoroughly investigate the plants employed for treating DM in Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic...

Zinc deficiency is a common nutritional disorder with detrimental health consequences. Whether parental zinc deficiency induces intergenerational effects remains largely unknown. We investigated the effects of a combined maternal and paternal zinc deficiency on offspring’s metabolic outcomes and gene expression changes in Drosophila melanogaster. T...

The polyphenol epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), which is present in green tea, has been demonstrated to possess antioxidant qualities, possible advantages for cardiovascular health, and therapeutic effects in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a common ailment that impairs liver function. This work looked at the effects of EGCG on the dif...

Objective Piliostigma thonningii is a medicinal plant commonly found in Eastern and Western Africa with a potential traditional usage to treat various diseases. Several studies have revealed interesting pharmacological activity of the plant and different phytochemicals were identified. This study critically reviewed the medicinal uses, phytochemist...

Background Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) has been linked to oxidative damage to kidney cells leading to renal disease in people living with HIV/AIDS on HAART treatment. The toxic effects of HAART affect the patients’ quality of life leading to poor adherence to their regimen. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate th...

The polyphenol epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), which is present in green tea, has been demonstrated to possess antioxidant qualities, possible advantages for cardiovascular health, and therapeutic effects in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a common ailment that impairs liver function. This work looked at the effects of EGCG on the dif...

Introduction Adolescent sexual and reproductive health care needs are rising in both low and middle-income countries. This need is even higher in refugee settlements. This study aimed to assess the healthcare workers’ attitudes and the factors affecting adolescent sexual and reproductive health care in the Nakivale, Kyaka II, and Rwamwanja refugee...

According to epidemiological research, as the population ages, neurological illnesses are becoming a bigger issue. Despite improvements in the treatment of these diseases, there are still widespread worries about how to find a long-lasting remedy. Several neurological diseases can be successfully treated with natural substances. As a result, curren...

Significant levels of flavonoids with antioxidant properties can be found in citrus species. Flavonoids are a class of plant chemical known for a wide range of pharmacological activities. Notable among these flavonoids is Hesperidin. It has quite a number of biological properties, like anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Numerous studies...

Microalbuminuria is persistent albumin excretion between 30 and 300 mg/day. In patients with diabetes, it is usually indicative of diabetic nephropathy which is the most common cause of end-stage renal disease; it is also associated with cardiovascular disease. The main objective was to determine the prevalence of microalbuminuria and its associati...

Ketosis-prone diabetes mellitus is a diabetes subtype that occurs in adults with hyperglycemia and ketosis without evidence of autoimmunity. Ketosis-prone diabetes is one of the diabetes subtypes that are on the rise in our black community. This study was designed to estimate the prevalence of ketosis-prone diabetes mellitus at a specialist hospita...

The influence of bioinformatics is pervasive affecting many biological disciplines resulting in changes in biosciences globally but not so in, Nigeria as the course is never taught in any public tertiary institution. This article describes development and teaching of bioinformatics integrated into bachelor's degree programme in biochemistry, during...

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder whose complications are among the leading cause of death. In this study, the antidiabetic effect of L‐alanine was tested in alloxan‐induced diabetic rats. Thirty‐five male albino Wistar rats were divided into five groups viz; Group I and II: nondiabetic and diabetic controls respectively; Group III and IV: 150 and 3...

Objective: People's compliance to control measures is dependent on their perception, attitudes and practices towards COVID-19. This survey evaluated the perception, attitude and practice of personal protective measures by Nigerians during the COVID-19. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study using an internet-based survey/questionnaire. A total o...

Abstract Personalized care, which includes personalized medicine, personalized nutrition, and even personalized exercise, is a useful and a more effective method for the treatment and control of lifestyle diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The relationship between nutrients, diet and gene expression (commonly called as nu...

Kebbi state is endowed with medicinal plants that have been used by different tribes especially the Hausa-Fulani, Dakarkari and Gungawa to treat different ailments such as cancer for decades. Therefore, this study is aimed at documenting the medicinal plants used for treating cancer in Kebbi state. Demographic data, personal information of willing...

Some pesticides increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, but whether fetal exposure carries transgenerational risk remains unknown. We evaluated the metabolic effects of gestational exposure to chlorpyrifos and imidacloprid in female Wistar rats and their offspring. We studied female nulliparous Wistar rats, including six exposed to imidacloprid (IMI)...

Early career researchers (ECRs) are those researchers or academics (having not more than 8 years post PhD experience) at a very early stage which is the most active phase of research following the award of PhD. African universities have a fewer number of researchers with PhD in the world. Most universities have challenges of funding that could not...

This study identifies and validates hexokinase type 4 (HK4), an isozyme of hexokinase in the liver and pancreas, as an important target of C2-β-D-glucopyranosyl-1,3,6,7-tetrahydroxyxanthone (βdGT), a xanthone glucoside suggested to have antidiabetic property. In the study, we applied the computational pipeline of molecular docking followed by the m...

Pesticide exposure may induce biochemical alterations including oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation. However, in the context of developmental origin of health and disease, putative trans-generational effect of exposure to pesticides are insufficiently studied. We therefore aimed to evaluate the biochemical effect of gestational exposure to four...

Milk is a rich and complete nutritive food provided by nature. The present study, reports the hypolipidemic and antioxidant effects of camel milk supplementation in the management of hyperlipidemia associated with obesity. Rats were rendered obese by feeding them with a high-fat diet for eight weeks to induce hyperlipidemia. The supplementation of...

Over the years, modern medicines have evolved from use of a single drug to two or more drug combination to treat a particular disease as in the case of drug resistance. In addition, drugs given in combination with other substances/drugs often result in causing the synergistic effect to the various signaling proteins in the body. Many of these disea...

Dried flower bud of Syzygium aromaticum (clove) is rich in eugenol, an antioxidant and antiinflammatory compound that can protect liver against injury. Clove, besides eugenol, also contains other pharmacologically active phytochemicals such as β-sitosterol and ascorbic acid. This study reports the effect of eugenol-rich fraction (ERF) of clove on l...

Maerua angolensis DC is traditionally used for the treatment of epilepsy and insomnia. The present study was designed to investigate the anxiolytic, sedative and toxicological effect of hydromethanolic stem bark extract of M. angolensis using animal model. Sub-chronic doses of the plant extract on liver and kidney function test were investigated. E...

Context: Mineral pitch (MP), a traditional medicine, is proposed to boost immunity in conditions that suppress Th1 cytokines such as AIDS/HIV, tuberculosis, leishmaniasis and cancer. Objective: This study investigates the immunoregulatory mechanisms of MP in innate, humoral and cell-mediated immunity. Materials and methods: Mice given MP (100,...