Aims: The aim of this study is to investigate the heavy metals pollution status and health risks assessment of the vegetables grown at Danbatta irrigation lands. Study Design: The research involved the collection of soil, water and cultivated vegetable from irrigation lands as well as analyzing their heavy metals pollution status. Place and Duration of Study: Samples were collected from Danbatta irrigation lands of Kano state, Nigeria. The research study covered a period of one year. Methodology: This study investigates the prevalence of heavy metals pollution and related health risks associated with the vegetables grown at Danbatta local government of Kano state. This was achieved by collecting irrigation soil, water and vegetables (onion, spinach and lettuce) from the irrigation sites, which were subsequently assayed for several heavy metals such as; Pb, Mn, Cu, Fe, Zn and Co using atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS). Results: The results obtained show that the concentrations of Pb, Cu and Zn in water samples to be 0.033, 0.8, and 0.89 mg/ml, respectively, while Mn and Co were not detected. Even though concentrations of these metals in water are within FAO/WHO limits, the soil was found to be contaminated with Cu (12.17 mg/kg), Fe (152.29 mg/kg) and Zn (55.75 mg/kg). Furthermore, both spinach, lettuce and onion were contaminated with Pb, and Mn. However, only lettuce and spinach were contaminated with Cu, Fe and Zn. Health risk assessment of both adults and children show that Pb, Mn, Co and Cu, posed a significant health risk to the population as their health risk index (HRI) is greater than one. The result shows that poor agricultural practices could be responsible for contaminating the soil with heavy metals, which eventually gets accumulated in the edible parts of the plants and posed a great risk to its consumers. Impacts of heavy metals pollution is on the rise across the globe. As such, it becomes necessary to monitor our environment to checkmate the threat of these contaminants and implement a reliable strategy and stable treatment of the pollution to ensure food safety.

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease characterized by raised levels of blood glucose, which over time leads to serious damage to the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, and nerves. α-amylase Plays a major role in the digestion of starch and glycogen. Thus, inhibitors of this enzyme delay the breakdown of carbohydrates in the small intestine, thereby diminishing postprandial blood glucose in the diabetic patient. In this study, a DPPH radical scavenging activity and computational approaches were employed to uncover the potential of Aframomum Melegueta phytochemicals against type two diabetes mellitus mainly by molecular docking, molecular dynamic simulation, MMPBSA and ADMET analysis. The results show that it has high antioxidant properties. Molecular docking indicates that laurifolin, genkwanin and gulunalactone have good binding scores of -9.9 kcal/mol, -8.9 kcal/mol and -8.2 kcal/mol, respectively. And have interacted with at least two of the catalytic triads of α-amylase; Asp 300, Glu 233 and Asp 197. Molecular dynamic simulation results show that all the compounds are stable at the active site of the enzyme. Furthermore, MMPBSA analysis revealed they bind strongly with the binding energy of -21.77± 1.03 Kcal/mol, -17.82 ± 0.84 Kcal/mol and 15.07± 0.26 Kcal/mol for laurifolin, genkwanin and galanolactone. ADMET analysis indicated that all the ligands are water-soluble, drug-like and safe. This study shows that A. Melegueta extract has antioxidant properties and possess phytochemicals that can be exploited for further anti-diabetic drug development.

<abstract> <p>Severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for the current pandemic that led to so many deaths across the globe and still has no effective medication. One attractive target is Papain-like protease (PLpro), which plays a critical role in viral replication. Several important structural features dictate access to the PLpro narrow active site, which includes a series of loops surrounding the area. As such, it is difficult for chemical compounds to fit the SARS-CoV-2 PLpro active site. This work employed a computational study to discover inhibitors that could bind to the SARS-COV-2 PLpro active site, mainly by virtual screening, molecular dynamic simulation, MMPBSA and ADMET analysis. Eight potential inhibitors were identified: carbonoperoxoic acid, Chrysophanol-9-anthrone, Adrenolutin, 1-Dehydroprogesterone, Cholest-22-ene-21-ol, Cis-13-Octadecenoic acid, Hydroxycarbonate and 1-(4-(4-Methylphenyl)-5-phenyl-1,3-oxazol-2-yl) isoquinoline, with binding scores of −4.4, −6.7, −5.9, −6.7, −7.0, −4.6, −4.5 and −5.6 kcal/mol, respectively. All these compounds interacted with critical PLpro catalytic residues and showed stable conformation in molecular dynamics simulations with significant binding energies of −12.73 kcal/mol, −10.89 kcal/mol, −7.20 kcal/mol, −16.25 kcal/mol, −19.00 kcal/mol, −5.00 kcal/mol, −13.21 kcal/mol and −12.45 kcal/mol, respectively, as revealed by MMPBSA analysis. ADMET analysis also indicated that they are safe for drug development. In this study, we identified novel compounds that interacted with the key catalytic residues of SARS-CoV-2 PLpro with the potential to be utilized for anti-Covid-19 drug development.</p> </abstract>

The research was carried out to evaluate the effect of sprouting on chemical and micronutrient contents of Bambaranut (Vigna subterranea [l] verdc.) grown in Kano, Nigeria. Three landraces of Bambaranut (cream, black and zebra) were used for the study. The proximate and mineral contents were analyzed in accordance with the standard methods of analysis. The result of the proximate analysis showed that the moisture and carbohydrate contents reduced significantly (P&lt;0.05) after sprouting while ash, crude protein, crude fat, and crude fiber significantly increased, there was no significant (P&lt;0.05) difference in moisture, crude fiber, and carbohydrate contents between the landraces. The landraces differ in crude protein and fat contents. The results of minerals analysis shows that the landraces differ significantly in Na, Fe, Ca, K, Mg, and Se. However, the amount of Zn, Mn did not significantly differ between the landraces irrespective of sprouting or not. All the three landraces did not differ (P&lt;0.05) in Cu contents. Sprouting leads to decrease in Na, Fe, K, Zn, Mg and Se and increase in Ca and Mn. This study showed that sprouting improves the nutritional quality of Bambaranut irrespective of the landrace.