Students of the health sciences are the future frontliners to fight pandemics. The students’ participation in COVID-19 response varies across countries and are mostly for educational purposes. Understanding the determinants of COVID-19 vaccine acceptability is necessary for a successful vaccination program. This study aimed to investigate the factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among health sciences students in Northwest Nigeria. The study was an online self-administered cross-sectional study involving a survey among students of health sciences in some selected universities in Northwest Nigeria. The survey collected pertinent data from the students, including socio-demographic characteristics, risk perception for COVID-19, and willingness to accept the COVID-19 vaccine. Multiple logistic regression was used to determine the predictors of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. A total of 440 responses with a median (interquartile range) age of 23 (4.0) years were included in the study. The prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance was 40.0%. Factors that independently predict acceptance of the vaccine were age of 25 years and above (adjusted odds ratio, aOR, 2.72; 95% confidence interval, CI, 1.44–5.16; p = 0.002), instructions from heads of institutions (aOR, 11.71; 95% CI, 5.91–23.20; p<0.001), trust in the government (aOR, 20.52; 95% CI, 8.18–51.51; p<0.001) and willingness to pay for the vaccine (aOR, 7.92; 95% CI, 2.63–23.85; p<0.001). The prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among students of health sciences was low. Older age, mandate by heads of the institution, trust in the government and readiness to pay for the vaccine were associated with acceptance of the vaccine. Therefore, stakeholders should prioritize strategies that would maximize the vaccination uptake.

Many patients combine conventional and herbal drug for malaria treatment. The pattern and extent of such concurrent medication among medical and non undergraduate students of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria was evaluated in this Three hundred and eighty (380) structured questionnaires were administered based on faculties of study to retrieve data. The study indicates that 60.1% of the students utilize hospitals for treatment, while self-medication and patronage of tradition 30.4% and 9.5%, respectively. Majority (57.3%) use orthodox antimalarials alone, 7.6% utilize herbal antimalarials alone, while 35.1% use both concurrently. Non students recorded highest incidence Evaluation of perception on effectiveness revealed that 48.1% ranked concomitant medication as "relatively effective", 28.7% regarded it as "considerably effective", and only 23.3% considered it as "not effective". This study report that concurrent use of orthodox and herbal antimalarials among medical and non-medical science uncommon and that healthcare professionals are not always informed about concomitan usage when visited by clients for treatment. Further studies should evaluate the clinical safety and efficacy of such concurrent use of the antimalarials and prescribers should always inquire and counsel potential parallel medications accordingly.

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Background Computer-aided formulation design is gaining fantastic attention in chemical engineering of high functionality pharmaceutical materials for dosage form manufacture. To accelerate development of novel formulations in a quality-by-design perspective, SeDeM Expert System preformulation algorithm was developed as a tool for the design of solid drug delivery systems and for prediction of direct compression manufacturability of solid formulations. This research aims to integrate SeDeM Expert System into particle engineering design space of co-processing of solid excipients to develop novel composites with optimum direct compression propensity, using corn starch and microcrystalline cellulose powders as model primary excipients. Result The data and information generated from the expert system have elucidated the bulk-level characteristics of the primary excipients, enabled computation of the optimum co-processing ratio of the ingredients, and validated the impact of co-processing on material functionality. The experimental flowability (7.78±0.17), compressibility functions (5.16±0.14), parameter profile (0.92), and parametric profile index (6.72±0.27) of the engineered composites, were within the acceptable thresholds. With a reliability constant of 0.961, the net direct compression propensity of the composites expressed as Good Compression Index (6.46±0.26) was superior to that of the primary excipients, but comparable to reference co-processed materials, StarLac® (6.44±0.14) and MicroceLac®100 (6.58±0.03). Conclusion Application of SeDeM Expert System in particle engineering via co-processing has provided an accelerated upstream proactive mechanism for designing directly compressible co-processed excipients in a quality-by-design fashion. A four-stage systematic methodology of co-processing of solid excipients was postulated. Stage I entails the characterization of CMAs of both defective and corrective excipients, and elucidation of their physicomechanical limitations using SeDeM diagrams. Stage II involves computation of loading capacity of the corrective excipient using dilution potential equation. Stage III entails the selection of co-processing technique based on desired Critical Material Attributes as revealed by the information obtained from Stage I. Stage IV evaluates the impact of co-processing by monitoring the critical behavior of the engineered composites with a decision on either to accept or reject the product.

The versatility of starch as pharmaceutical excipient is gaining attention in the development of natural polymers for application in tablet formulations. In this study, we reported the binder and disintegrant properties of native and modified starches extracted from Dioscorea cayenensis. The extracted starch was modified by pregelatinization (PGS1) and ethanol dehydrated pregelatinization (PGS2) and was employed as binder and disintegrant in paracetamol tablet formulations via wet granulation. Two-way analysis of variance indicated significant differences between tablet properties, measured in terms of hardness, friability and disintegration time, with respect to the starch type and concentration. Multiple comparison computed using Bonferroni post-hoc analysis indicated higher values of tablet hardness in PGS2 than PGS1 and unmodified starch (UMS) (p<0.01). UMS had the highest friability implying poor mechanical quality (Friability >3%). At 2-7% concentrations, PGS1, PGS2 and UMS demonstrated acceptable United State Pharmacopoeial disintegration time profiles for uncoated tablets. Overall results demonstrated an improved quality of the modified starches compared to the UMS with the potential application of PSG1 as binder and disintegrant in different ratios for immediate release tablet formulation. PSG2 was shown to make a good binder when sustained-release of API is required.