Background of study Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
Abstract This study was carried out to determine the serum auto-antibody levels as primary markers and immunological correlates
ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to determine the physicochemical, nutrients, predominant microflora mainly looking at lactic acid bacteria and spoilage bacteria in Oshikundu samples collected from Omusati, Oshana, Ohangwena and Oshikoto regions. Oshikundu is brewed from pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L. R.Br.,) meal locally known as Mahangu, malted sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench), bran and water. Oshikundu pH ranged between 3.33 ± 0.127 in Oshana region and 3.60 ± 0.014 in Oshikot...
ABSTRACT Drug treatment of malaria is being hampered by the emergence of drug resistant strains of malaria parasites. Rapid methods for monitoring patients' response to treatment, applicable to field conditions, would aid management and control of drug resistant P. falciparum infect ions. In this study, mutation specific polymerase chain reaction assays using 3'-mismatched oligonucleotide primers which annealed to the wild or mutated parasites gene encoding dihydrofolate reductase-thymidylat...
Abstract Oshikundu/Ontaku is a nonalcoholic, acidic, opaque fermented beverage. It is comprised of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br) meal/flour, commonly known as mahangu, malts of pearl millet or sorghum (Sorghum bicolour (L.) Moench) and/or brans (pearl millet). Brewing of oshikundu remains an art in households with no empirical improvement of a controlled fermentation flow process to give a consistent product. Some of the major limitations to the formal commercialisation of thi...
ABSTRACT Medicinal plants are a rich source of phytochemicals, and are used traditionally for treatment of many ailments, and thus are of great ethnomedicinal importance. This study presents work on phytochemical analysis, in vitro antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity evaluation of medicinal plant Hydnora abyssinica. H. abyssinica is a medicinal plant indigenous to Namibia, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Africa and Sudan. Preliminary phytochemical screening was done by co...
ABSTRACT A central pathogenic feature in Plasmodium falciparum cerebral malaria (CM) is the sequestration of infected erythrocytes (IEs) which results in the obstruction of blood flow, inflammation and damage to the endothelial cell barrier integrity. Adhesion is mediated by a family of approximately 60 highly variant parasite proteins called P. falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1), which are displayed on the surface of infected cells. All PfEMP1 contain multiple extracellular ...
ABSTRACT Few reports could be found on screening, isolation and characterisation of enzymes in local Fauna and Flora and little is known about laccase enzymes from Namibia origin hence there is a niche for enzyme studies in this area. This research has qualitatively screened Termitomyces schimperi and Kalaharituber pfeilii fruiting bodies for laccase enzymatic activity using α-naphtnol and 2, 2-azino-bis 3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS). A clone of T. schimperi was also grown in...
ABSTRACT (' V ) Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) from adult Onchocerca volvulus was extracted in either 5OmM Tris-HCl, containing Triton X-100 (detergent buffer) or plain 50mM Tris-HCl (lowsalt buffer) Gel chromatography on Sephacryl S-300 column, of both the detergent buffer and the low-salt buffer extracts gave two components each./ The two components of the detergent buffer gave purification factors of 12 and 13 folds and yields of 22 and 23% respectively; those of the low-salt buffer had puri...
ABSTRACT Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) are promising third-generation photovoltaic devices that offer the conversion of light energy into electricity at a lower cost. At the heart of this device is a sensitizer (dye) adsorbed on TiO2-photoanode, which is responsible for the harvesting of visible light energy. However, the currently used sensitizers offer little improvement to the overall cell efficiency and this constitutes the main challenge to this technology. This work reports a comb...
Abstract Albizia anthelmintica belongs to the family Fabaceae. The plant is traditionally used to treat symptoms of microbial infections in both humans and animals. The present study was designed to evaluate the phytochemical content, antibacterial and antioxidant activities of A. anthelmintica leaves, roots and stem bark ethanol extracts. Antibacterial activity was carried out by means of the agar disc diffusion method. The anti-oxidative activities of the extracts were determined by means o...
ABSTRACT The purpose of this project was to study the antioxidant potential of selected Namibian Leafy Vegetables (NLV), using Total Phenolic Content (TPC), Total Flavonoid contents (TFC) as well as Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS), and Reducing Power (RP) assays. The study also aimed at detecting and characterizing eight phenolic acids (4- hydroxybenzoic, trans-ferulic, vanillic, gallic, syringic, sinapic and para-coumaric acids) ...
ABSTRACT Amaranth is an underutilised crop with great potential as a source of essential nutrients. It also contains bioactive compounds with potential health benefits. However, its characterisation for agronomic and nutritional traits is limited. Likewise, information on its hepatoprotective potential is scarce. In this study Amaranthus accessions were characterised using phenotypic and molecular markers. The quality of its seed protein and hepatoprotective activity of its Ethanol Seed Extra...
ABSTRACT Exposure to certain hexavalent chromate compounds (HCC) causes lung and colon cancers. Their mechanisms of cytotoxicity are unclear, but believed to be affected by ascorbate and particle size. However, their role is not clearly defined. Co-exposure with sodium arsenite (SA) is common, but its effect on HCC toxicity is unknown. Current therapy has side effects, necessitating the search for antidote from unexplored natural products such as Rauvolfia vomitora (RV). This study therefore ...
ABSTRACT Crinum jagus is a medicinal plant used traditionally to treat tuberculosis, malaria and other bacterial infections. However, there are limited documented scientific studies to substantiate the use of this plant. Due to increase in resistance to malaria and tuberculosis drugs, the need for the development of other drugs is pertinent. This study was designed to determine the pharmacological activities of extract and fractions of Crinum jagus. Methanol extract of C. jagus obtained by so...