ABSTRACT Cancer has become a global health burden accounting for about 8.2 million deaths every year worldwide. Cancer patients or people, who experience symptoms similar to that of cancer in Namibia’s rural settings, may endure suffering for months and may even die without receiving medical attention, due to the lengthy distance between the rural areas and the nearest medical centre and the long referral process. It may even take more time to get the correct medical attention for t partic...
Abstract Mutualisms, where organisms benefit from cooperation, are common in nature, but payoffs are dynamic and mutualists can incur costs as well as benefits from their association. Nevertheless, selection can favour the coevolution of behaviour that increases benefits. Such coevolution can potentially result in new mutualistic behaviours. Our study considered associations between Fork-tailed Drongos (Dicrurus adsimilis), birds which use both false alarms and aggression to steal food from o...
ABSTRACT Extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) are plasmid-mediated enzymes capable of hydrolysing beta-lactams except carbapenems and cephamycins but are inhibited by beta-lactamase inhibitors. Most of these ESBL plasmids also carry genes conferring resistance to several non-beta-lactam antimicrobials. Hence, ESBL-producing isolates limit therapeutic options, contribute to treatment failure, increase morbidity and mortality, prolong hospitalization and increase cost of healthcare. There ...
ABSTRACT Cassava bagasse and its extracted cellulose fibres have seen frequent application mostly in the packaging industry as reinforcement material in plastic composites development. However, the material properties such as the mechanical properties of the single elementary cassava cellulose fibres have not been examined and reviewed literature does not show its potential use in the development of tissue engineering scaffolds for cell culture. The study, therefore, characterized the mechani...
ABSTRACT Continuous and noninvasive method of monitoring and regulating the blood glucose level in diabetic patients is essential to avoid complications that may result from the condition. Over the last few years, efforts have been made to replace the existing invasive method of glycemic monitoring with the novel noninvasive approach by taking advantage of recent developments in biosensors and enhanced computing power of microprocessors. This work sought to explore the combined technologies ...
ABSTRACT A major rehabilitation goal in the care of limb amputees is to minimize the negative effects of this type of disability by using prosthesis, thereby improving the quality of life (QoL). Studies on QoL of amputees are sparse in Nigeria. Studies on the adoption and use of Post Operative Prosthesis are inexistent. The present study designed and fabricated a post-operative prosthesis and as well researched on the QoL of prosthesis-using-amputees using the Trinity Amputation Prosthesis E...
ABSTRACT The diagnostic value of Adenosine Deaminase was studied to evaluate and establish a cut-off point for the diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis and also to establish its levels in other diseases in the local setting. There were 358 subjects in the study. The mean age of the adults was 29 ± 2; with a range of 13-74 years, while the age of the infants ranged from one day to 13 years. These were made up as follows: ‘Apparently healthy donors’ (30); tuberculous meningitis (230); pulm...
ABSTRACT Background: Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is the accumulation of lymphoblasts in the bone marrow as a result of malignant transformation resulting in proliferation of immature lymphoid progenitors or lymphoblasts. It results from perturbation of several genetic loci. The chimeric BCR-ABL1 gene fusion is one of such genetic alterations. Even though the presence of BCR-ABL1 has been associated with poor prognosis, the incorporation of tyrosine kinase inhibitors in treatment proto...
ABSTRACT Xylopic acid (XA), the major constituent of the fruit of Xylopia aethiopica has shown several pharmacological properties. Consequently, the fruit is being used in the preparation of food. Traditionally, the plant is used to treat several diseases and it has been formulated into a nasal drop despite the lack of information about its safety, food-drug interaction, and other pharmacokinetic properties. Therefore, this study investigated the antiplasmodial effect of XA on P. falciparum, ...
ABSTRACT There is a crucial need to develop novel anthelminthic drugs due to the mounting disease burden and increasing evidence of hookworm resistance to drugs such as albendazole and mebendazole, which for decades have been used to treat the infection. Consequently, it is exigent to develop alternative drugs with improved therapeutic efficacy. Natural products due to their unique active ingredients have been shown to possess exceptional structures with chemical diversity that is unmatched b...
ABSTRACT Cirrhosis of the liver is an endstage chronic liver disease which is generally irreversible. About 75% of patients with posthepatitic cirrhosis have progressive disease despite supportive therapy and die within one to five years from serious complications such as variceal haemorrhage, hepatic encephalopathy or superimposed hepatocellular carcinoma. Records from the Pathology Department of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra-Ghana indicates that cirrhosis is the commonest liver...
ABSTRACT Background: The global burden of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) has increased. Consequently, exploring newer treatment modalities for HCC such as herbal medicines has become a necessary. Objective: The study investigated antiHCC effects of an alkaloidal extract derived from leaves of Zanthoxylum zanthoxyloides. Materials and methods: Alkaloidal extract (ZZAE) from cleaned dried leaves of Zanthoxylum zanthoxyloides was prepared using Soxhlet extraction and liquid-liquid extraction m...