Abstract The occurrence and distribution of mercury (Hg) and other co-occurring heavy metals in the mining towns of Berg Aukas and Tsumeb in northern Namibia were studied Different forms of Hg and other heavy metals were characterized in soils, water and plants collected in these areas. Total metal concentration was determined using ICP–OES and total Hg was determined using the DMA 80 mercury analyser. Fractionation of Hg and other heavy metals were determined by performing a four step seq...
ABSTRACT Natural products present in medicinal plants are an important source of therapeutic agents and many research groups are currently screening different biological activities of plants. This study aimed to investigate the antibacterial, antioxidant properties and phytochemical analysis of Acacia arenaria (Fabaceae), Aloe esculenta (Alliaceae) and Pechuel-Loeschea leubnitziae (Asteraceae) that are used in traditional settings. The antimicrobial activity of the methanol-dichloromethane (...
ABSTRACT Namibian ethno-medicinal plants have not yet been evaluated for their efficacy in inhibiting the activities of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) reverse transcriptase (RT) and their toxicological effects to mammalian cells have not yet been reported. Hence the aims of this study were: (1) to evaluate selected Namibian plants for their biological activities against RT; (2) to evaluate their toxicity to mammalian cells, and (3) to isolate and characterize the active compounds from se...
ABSTRACT Assistive Technology for Children with Learning Disabilities (ATCLD) was developed in response to the language and arithmetic challenges faced by learners with dyslexia of Eros Girls School (EGS). This development followed from requirement elicitation and is intended for grades 5 - 7. Having discussed the above, Assistive Technology (AT) is any item, piece of equipment or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customised, that is used to increase, ...
Abstract The High-Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) is an array of five imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes located in the Khomas Highland in Namibia, dedicated to very-high-energy (VHE, 100 GeV – 100 TeV) gamma-ray astronomy. It consists of four identical 12 m diameter telescopes (H.E.S.S.-I) which started operating in 2003 and a large 28 m diameter telescope (H.E.S.S.-II) which was brought online in 2012 [1]. The H.E.S.S.-I camera upgrade project was aimed to increase the stabil...
ABSTRACT Inappropriate slaughtering and retail operations can compromise food safety specifically in densely populated areas like informal markets. The bacteriological quality and prevalence of Salmonella spp. and Escherichia coli O157:H7 on beef samples from the three different outlets (supermarket, butchery and open market) were assessed to determine their safety for human consumption. A total of 138 of beef samples were collected at random from three different outlets. The bacteriological...
ABSTRACT The objective of this research was to discover new drug leads from Namibian marine algae. Plocamium extracts were screened and their phytochemical contents were quantified. Both the antioxidant activity and the antimicrobial activity of the crude extracts were determined, as well as the dose-response relationship for Plocamium extracts in BALB/c mice. This was done by using acute and sub-acute toxicity parameters. In addition, the structural elucidation of the major metabolite found...
ABSTRACT Asterisk is a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) software used to connect telephony applications such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). In the Department of Computer Science at the University of Namibia (DCS-UNAM), Asterisk is currently set up to provide basic VoIP services to staff and students. However, this system currently has limited accessibility because it can only be accessed with VoIP clients such as hard and soft phones. Alternatively, Browser-based VoIP clients (BBVCs) c...
ABSTRACT In Namibia, non-communicable diseases are on the increase. Statistics on noncommunicable diseases (cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension etc.) as a cause of morbidity and mortality indicate that it is a public health concern although population based estimates in the area are lacking. The Ministry of Health and Social Services stated that between 2004 and 2008, hospital based mortality due to cancer (all types) increased from 3.2% to 54.7%, cardiovascular diseases ...
ABSTRACT Namibia has a rich biodiversity of plant species of which a great variety is used for food, cosmetics and medicinal applications. Seed oil production from indigenous sources has economic importance for Namibia and is an asset for improving the livelihoods of local communities. Knowledge of the quality and composition of these oils can be used towards value-added product development strategies and improved marketing of indigenous resources. A comprehensive profile of indigenous seed ...
ABSTRACT In recent years, there has been an increase in fatal road accidents in Namibia claiming many lives each year. Traffic accidents are often related to the use of alcohol, illegal drugs or psychoactive medicines. A rapid low volume dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) method in combination with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) detection was developed for the simultaneous determination of illicit psychoactive drugs in blood (those used most commonly in Namibia: c...
ABSTRACT Cancer is a universal disease that affects people regardless of race, sex, socio-economic status and culture. With just an approximated population size of 2.3 million people NSA (2011), Namibia is not excluded from this. If not detected on time and treated on time, cancer can make treatment less likely to succeed and reduce the chances of survival. The study was aimed at examining the prevalence and trends for breast cancer patients, regardless of patients’ sex, as well as establi...
ABSTRACT Studies were conducted over a period of three years (2011 to 2013) at the Ogongo Campus of the University of Namibia (UNAM), to compare the differences between tractors and animaldrawn implements both using conventional and Namibia Specific Conservation Tillage (NSCT) technologies. Two conventional tillage (CV) treatments (i.e. tractor-drawn disc harrow (TDH) and animal-drawn mouldboard plough (AMP) were compared to two NSCT treatments (tractor-drawn ripper furrower (TRF) and animal...
Abstract Metal nanoparticles are endowed with optical, electrical physical and chemical properties and have become attractive materials for commercialization applications in optical spectroscopies, electrical devices and catalytic applications. Among them, silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) have distinctive physico-chemical and biological properties such as antimicrobial, chemical stability and catalytic properties. Namibia, a semi-arid country, relies on man-made dams to obtain water for potable...
ABSTRACT Tephrosia lupinifolia is used traditionally for the treatment of malaria, diarrhea, toothache and tuberculosis. Two flavonoids, lupinifolin and lupinifolinol were previously isolated from the hexane root extract of T. lupinifolia, but there are no reports on phytochemical and pharmacological studies conducted on the stems and leaves of the plant. The purpose of this study was to prepare and fractionate crude extracts from the leaves and stems of T. lupinifolia, and to evaluate their...