Application of Extremophiles in Medicine and Pharmaceutical Industries

Extremophiles are at center stage of scientific interest owing to their peculiar properties in terms of physiology, ecology, biochemistry, and molecular genetics. The bio-active compounds from extremophiles involve various types of extremolytes. The functional applicability of extremophiles has been far-reaching. Looking to the global scenario medical, pharmaceutical and allied healthcare sectors have a persistent surge for a novel anticancer, antimicrobial, stable drug deliverables, nutraceuticals, fine chemicals, natural antioxidants, and bio-polymers compounds. Genetic engineering tools clubbed with -omics approach enhance and better the chances for applicability of the extremophilic metabolites in varied sectors of red and yellow biotechnology. The chapter provides an insight into the various types of bio-active molecules from extremophiles and their wide biotechnological applicability in the medical and pharmaceutical industry.

Reflections on Melvin Richter’s Tocqueville and the Two Napoleons

This essay explores the significance of Napoleon for contemporary history and public affairs by reflecting on the career of Melvin Richter (1921-2020) and his forthcoming Tocqueville and the Two Napoleons. Richter maintains that Tocqueville’s ever-deepening analysis of the Napoleonic model, a new and sinister form of the administrative state, achieved dystopian dimensions in his thought and serves as an important thread by which we can re-assess Tocqueville’s entire oeuvre and political career. The article argues that Tocqueville’s historical method, which takes center stage in Richter’s reconstruction of the way in which Tocqueville submits Napoleon to the discipline of history, continues to inspire, even as contemporary concerns shift away from the dangers of the administrative state. It also speculates that the mythical Napoleon who transcended time, a figure inevitably neglected in “Tocquevillian” histories but made compelling by a generation of romantic writers, is newly relevant in a world of mysterious affective attachments to populist leaders and the waves of expressive violence in which such attachments are enmeshed.

The Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons in Nigeria: Corruption a Major Challenge

The proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW) is gradually and perilously becoming a transnational organized crime. In Nigeria, this peril assumed its delicate stage with incessant killings by Boko Haram insurgents, herdsmen-farmers clashes, kidnappings, communal and religious crisis, and armed robbery. The drift of this threat is the availability of weapons that are trafficked through Nigeria’s porous borders. Regulating the proliferation of small arms and light weapons has been challenged by several factors such as border porosity, inadequate personnel, lack of equipment, lack of data, weak enforcement, stockpile management, local arms manufacturers. Corruption takes center stage and is the focus of this paper. Corruption directly or indirectly is related to other challenges. The paper recommends that corruption must be addressed if all legal and institutional measures for border security and curtailing the spread of weapons in Nigeria are to achieve their objectives.