Michael Okpara University of Agriculture

Mixed ligand complexes (MXLCs) have received significant academic interest in the field of coordination chemistry due to their structural diversity, unique physicochemical properties, and wide-ranging industrial and therapeutic applications. This review explains their synthetic pathways, as defined by analytical methods of FT-IR, ¹H and ¹³C NMR, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and single crystal X-ray diffraction, and simultaneously attributes their prominent biological functions, which include antimicrobial, anticancer, antioxidant, antidiabetic, and anti-inflammatory. Significant synthetic approaches are described: direct mixing, template-directed assembly, sequential addition and ligand substitution are examined critically. This increased bioactivity of M-XLCs could be explained by the ligand-induced chelation effects, which make the complex more lipophilic and promote its interactions with cellular targets and thus outperform the activity of traditional complexes and free ligands. This flexibility makes M-XLCs powerful scaffolds to generate superior therapeutic and industrial catalysts. In this light, future studies must focus on the clarification of the thermodynamic principles that govern these complexes, thus making coordination systems to be designed and optimized rationally.

Cancer continues to be a significant global health liability characterized by high mortality rates and substantial treatment costs. The limitations of the existing therapeutic strategies, including chemotherapy, have led to the search for alternatives. This review categorizes the bioactive compounds from medicinal plants, including quinones, polyphenols, triterpenes, flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins, and saponins, and examines their antineoplastic effects. Plant bioactives exert anticancer effects through multiple mechanisms, including the inhibition of angiogenesis, induction of apoptosis, and cell cycle arrest, mediated by complex cellular signaling pathways. Therefore, exploring additional plant-based bioactives and their respective mechanisms of action is essential. This review highlights several medicinal plants with anticancer properties, including Artemisia annua , Coptis chinensis , and Curcuma longa . Many of these active compounds are currently in clinical use, such as paclitaxel, vinblastine, and topotecan. Biomarkers play a critical role in the diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of cancer, with key examples discussed, including the BRAF V600E mutation, the EGFR gene, and BRCA1/BRCA2 genes . Despite advancements in cancer treatment, medicinal plants continue to offer promising alternatives, emphasizing the need for further exploration for the development of antineoplastic drugs.

Nigeria’s power grid has been characterised by frequent collapses, leading to significant economic losses and disruptions across critical sectors. These failures have been attributed to various operational challenges including voltage instability and insufficient reactive power support, which are key vulnerability factors that aggravate grid disturbances and impede quick system recovery. The persistence of these partial or total voltage collapse events continues to degrade the national economy and the reliability of the electricity system. This study examines the grid performance data from the National Control Centre (NCC), Osogbo for the period 2000 to 2025 along with proffered mitigation measures utilising shunt compensators, solar generation and Adaptive Genetic Algorithm (AGA) optimisation. A 48-bus transmission system is developed to evaluate voltage stability under various compensation schemes. The results indicate that AGA optimisation significantly enhances the stability of power grids by adaptively optimising the compensator placement, increasing the average bus voltage from 297.39 ± 1.05 kV under baseline conditions to 309.20 ± 1.04 kV after optimization. This is better than the performances of the standalone shunt (301.85 ± 1.08 kV) and solar (307.29 ± 1.08 kV) compensators. The results indicate that heuristic-based optimisation can provide a robust and adaptive approach for improving voltage stability and reducing grid vulnerability. It is therefore suggested that AGA-based optimisation be implemented into the Nigeria’s power grid management to enhance voltage regulation and system resilience. Increasing integration of renewable energy, particularly solar, will additionally boost grid resiliency, while future work should focus on real-time adaptive control for sustainable grid operation in dynamic conditions.

Malnutrition according to WHO (2021) refers to deficiencies, excesses, or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and/or nutrients. In Nigeria, an estimated 2,300 children under 5 years lose their lives daily, as a result of sub-optimal Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices. This study assessed the feeding practices and the nutritional status of infants and young children (0-24months) living in selected urban areas of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja. The study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive design and was conducted in three hospitals/primary health centres in urban areas of Abuja. Using a multi-stage sampling method, a total number of 193 pairs of mothers and their infants/ young children (0-24months) were selected. Validated questionnaire was used to obtain information on the feeding practices of the respondents, while appropriate equipment was used for measurements of anthropometric parameters. The study revealed that less than 50% of respondents from these areas demonstrated appropriate feeding practice: Exclusive Breastfeeding (10.4%), Continued Breastfeeding (33.7%), Minimum Dietary Diversity (32%) and Meal Frequency (≥3/day) (15.5%) and Exclusive Breastfeeding (20.3%), Continued Breastfeeding (33.5%), Minimum Dietary Diversity (30%) and Meal Frequency (≥3/day) (15.2%) respectively. Anthropometric data were analysed and compared with reference standard. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. This revealed that more than 80% of infants in the study area had normal weight for age, height for age and weight for height. Less than 6% were stunted, underweight or wasted while less than 2% were severely stunted, underweight or severely wasted. Hence appropriate nutrition education is necessary to raise awareness on appropriate feeding practices. The findings revealed statistically significant associations between optimal feeding practices and improved nutritional outcomes., emphasizing the importance of not only promoting but also effectively implementing these practices to combat child malnutrition.

An unhealthy diet is a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), compounded by the rising incidence of overweight/obesity among adolescent girls. This study investigated adolescent girls' dietary adequacy and quality, their determinants and implications for NCDs. This descriptive cross-sectional study design employed a stratified random sampling technique to obtain data from a validated questionnaire and other assessments. Data was collected in 2023 from 2261 in-school adolescent girls in Nigeria. Dietary adequacy (All-5 food groups) and diet quality (NCD-Protect and NCD-Risk food groups) were assessed in accordance with global dietary recommendation (GDR). Body Mass Index-for-age (BMI) was determined using the WHO growth reference. All analyses were conducted using descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS Version 27, with statistical significance set at p < 0.05. Mean values recorded were age (14.9 ± 1.8), BMI (20.1 ± 3.7kg/m²), All-5 (3.8 ± 1.1), NCD-Protect (2.4 ± 1.4), NCD-Risk (1.8 ± 1.7), and GDR (9.7 ± 1.5). About 7% were overweight/obese. Older adolescents demonstrated higher GDR (β = 0.20, p = 0.04) scores than their younger counterparts aged 10-13. Adolescents living in urban areas had lower diet quality than their rural counterparts (p < 0.001), while those from the Southeast region had higher diet quality scores. Large households showed higher All-5, NCD-Protect, and GDR scores than smaller households (p < 0.05). Girls who took daily money to school had higher All-5 (β = 0.03 to 0.27) but lower GDR scores (β = -0.30 to -0.22) (p < 0.05). An inverse association exists between All-5 (r = -0.043, p = 0.039), NCD-Protect food group (r = -0.054, p = 0.010), and BMI. Personal and sociodemographic characteristics influenced the respondents' dietary adequacy and quality. Higher All-5 and NCD-Protect food group scores lowered BMI. This can positively impact overweight/obesity reduction, thereby delaying NCDs' onset in later years. Conscious efforts should be made to communicate the potential benefits of improving adolescents' diets.

The study examined the student-teacher ratio and internal efficiency of public secondary schools in Ondo State, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive research design of the survey type. The population for this study consisted of all 258 public secondary schools in Ondo State, while the sample size consisted of 200 teachers and 20 principals selected in 20 public secondary schools in Ondo State. Two research instruments were used for the data collection. The instruments tagged ‘Student -Teacher Ratio Questionnaire” (STRQ), and inventory specifically designed and administered to the principals (or Vice-Principals) to request the enrolment of students from JSS.1 to SSS III. Face and content validity of the instruments were ensured by experts, while the test-retest method of reliability was adopted to determine the reliability coefficient of 0.81 for the STRQ. The data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance. The finding revealed that there was a significant relationship between the student-teacher ratio and internal efficiency of secondary schools. It was recommended that government and school administrators should ensure that teachers are made available for students to reduce overpopulated classes, and teachers should be provided with opportunities to attend seminars, conferences, and training that will equip the teachers to apply innovative ideas in the classrooms. The Teaching Service Commission should ensure that experienced teachers are employed in public secondary schools in the State. This will enable the teacher to monitor the students when the class size is not so large.