A number of terms have been defined and inconsistently used across various texts in enzymology which may attract the attention of undergraduate students and instructors. At some places, inconsistent use results in confusions as well as leads to the misuse of these terms. Although it is difficult to resolve such inconsistencies, attempts have…

Metabolic systems form the very foundation of life and as such are broadly taught in the molecular life sciences. Here, we describe the biochemistry educator community-based development and use of an assessment instrument designed to evaluate students' ideas about metabolic pathway dynamics and regulation in undergraduate biochemistry courses.…

In at least two papers published in this "Journal," enzyme free energy diagrams were presented showing enzyme--substrate binding to be nonspontaneous. I present here several different approaches showing that enzyme--substrate binding is "always" spontaneous, and the y-axis of the reaction progress diagrams presented previously…

Drought is a major environmental stress factor that affects the growth and development of plants. All plants have to maintain the reactive oxygen species within certain levels for normal cellular homeostasis by means of their antioxidant systems, which can be classified as enzymatic and non-enzymatic. Plants under drought stress generate an excess…

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,…

While metabolism is a fundamental process in physiology, the measurement of metabolism by living animals often requires specialized and expensive equipment. In 2016, I developed a novel laboratory exercise for animal physiology students where students were able to observe the effects of temperature and long-term temperature acclimation on the…

Students encounter antioxidants in many areas of their daily life. Antioxidants play a crucial role in cosmetics, in nutritional or dietary supplements, as additives for the preservation of food, and as a natural component in fruit and vegetables. Accordingly, antioxidants are believed to promote health through the prevention of oxidative stress…

Regulation is a key concept for understanding the dynamics of metabolism in bacteria. This report outlines a simple laboratory experiment aimed at studying a key form of regulation in bacterial metabolism, exemplifying how microbes switch the flux of carbon towards alternative metabolic fates as a function of nutrient availability and according to…

The emergence of Corona Virus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had unprecedented effects on medical education worldwide. Sustaining student engagement in virtual learning is an arduous task. Team based learning (TBL) is a learner-centered approach that can facilitate better student engagement. Adapting TBL to online platform may address the…

We present a course-embedded undergraduate research module that involves real-time polymerase chain reaction testing for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in environmental samples. A positive control RNA was constructed and two RNA extraction methods were compared and a range of primers were available to compare. Using a combination of published…

Enzymes are organic molecules known for their catalytic nature because they accelerate metabolic reactions in organisms. The study of enzyme functions and modes of action is essential to understand Biochemistry. This study aimed to analyse the acetylcholinesterase enzymatic activity, as well as the enzymatic inhibition mechanism in practical…

Purpose: To evaluate whether levels of cortisol, a stress-related hormone, predicted response to intensive speech-language intervention for individuals with chronic aphasia (IWA). Secondary analyses explored baseline cortisol levels, change following intervention, association between cortisol levels and aphasia severity, self-reported…

Pulse oximetry has become the standard of care in operating rooms, intensive care units, and hospitals worldwide. A pulse oximeter continuously and noninvasively monitors the functional oxygen saturation of hemoglobin in arterial blood (Sa[subscript O2]). Sa[subscript O2] is so important in medical care that it is often regarded as a fifth vital…

Purpose: The goal of this study was to use speech resynthesis to investigate the effects of changes to individual acoustic features on speech-based gender perception of transmasculine voice samples following the onset of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) with exogenous testosterone. We hypothesized that mean fundamental frequency (f[subscript 0])…

With the highly interdisciplinary nature of biochemistry, and the diverse range of students taking introductory biochemistry courses, it can be difficult to incorporate authentic applications of course content that appeal broadly to students. However, it is important to engage students' learning at the affective level. One mode to achieve this…