ABSTRACT Bush encroachment, characterized by increase in woody plants in ecosystems, is one of the manifestations of environmental degradation that is prevalent in many parts of Namibia. The present study was conducted in Ben Hur area in the Omaheke Region, about 60 km South-East of Gobabis with the objectives of comparing family diversity, abundance and composition of ground dwelling invertebrates in habitats that are at different levels of bush encroachment and determining their seasonal v...
Abstract Ganoderma lucidum (Fr.) Karst. (Ganodermataceae) is a natural scarce basidiomycetous polypore fungus that has a variety of uses such as providing nutrition and as a medical remedy. It has been used in the Asian countries for many years to treat a wide range of ailments with polysaccharides, triterpenes, sterols, lectins and proteins as major active constituents. However, in Namibia, the traditional usage of the Ganoderma mushrooms have been used to relieve stress, calm nerves, heal ...
Abstract Bush encroachment is a form of land degradation common predominantly in semi-arid areas of the world. The resulting habitat degradation and loss of resource productivity make bush encroachment a serious environmental and economic problem in Namibia. Despite these negative effects, bush encroachment offers potential woody carbon stock storage, which can render Namibia a net carbon sink. This study was, therefore, aimed at quantifying potential woody carbon stock storage from differen...
Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a perennial tropical crop grown for its starchcontaining tuberous roots. It is cultivated mainly by small-scale farmers and consumed daily by an estimated 500 million people. Cassava mosaic disease (CMD) has long been recognized as a major limiting factor to cassava production in Africa and severe epidemics hit Uganda in the late 1920’s and late 1980’s. In spite of its importance as a major food crop it is the least researched major crop and many ques...
ABSTRACT Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the major life-threatening infectious diseases of public health concern globally. Its treatment is long and complex, requiring a cocktail of four drugs administered for six months. Pyrazinamide (PZA) is a cornerstone drug in the treatment regimen for tuberculosis that has contributed to reducing the treatment time from nine to six months. PZA is a pro-drug that is converted to its active form, pyrazines acid (POA) by the bacterial enzyme nicotinamida...
ABSTRACT The Catfish, Chrysichthys Nigrodigitatus (Lacepede) is widely distributed in Nigeria.
ABSTRACT Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease that affects 200 million people and accounts for 100, 000 deaths annually. In endemic geographical areas, schistosomiasis has been implicated as an etiological agent in the pathogenesis of bladder, colorectal and renal carcinoma largely due to chronic infection of tissues with Schistosoma eggs. Several studies have also reported cases of association between Schistosoma infection and prostate cancer, one of the most common cancers in men...
ABSTRACT Cleome viscosa Linn (Capparaceae) commonly known as “wild or dog mustard” is an annual sticky herb found as a common weed all over the plains of India and through the trophics of the world. The whole plant and its parts (Leaves, pods and roots) are widely used in traditional and folkloric systems of medicine. Cleome viscosa were extracted with and all these extract were screened for the presence of various metabolites (primary and secondary) including proteins, carbohydrates, et...
ABSTRACT Antioxidants have been shown to play protective role in the treatment of bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis. The goal of the study was to determine the effect of Cissampelos owariensis (CO) leaves, an alkaloid rich antioxidant on BLM-induced lung fibrosis in rat models. The CO (UIH22559) leaves were extracted using methanol and fractionated using vacuum liquid chromatography (VLC) to obtain the ethyl-acetate fraction (EAF) and methanol fraction (MEF). The active component of CME was de...
ABSTRACT This study aimed at investigating the influx of unqualified teachers in teaching Biology in secondary school in Sokoto metropolis. With the view of finding solutions to improve the situation at stake. Criteria used in selecting the schools were random selection technique in which five schools were selected from each of the two (2) local government areas of the Sokoto metropolis, namely (Sokoto North and Sokoto South respectively), as a sample for this research. Questionnaire was use...
INTRODUCTION Despite wide interest in the nutrition and health of children in underdeveloped areas of the world, countries in Africa have been neglected by individuals and groups in the United States as sites for dietary and health studies. Reasons for this doubtless lie elsewhere than in a lack of interest. Such study not only offers the possibility of providing information needed by the indigenous population, but also information concerning the nutritive needs of children in relation to con...
ABSTRACT The extensive redundancy in the use of invasion ligands by Plasmodium falciparum, and its unique ability to switch between invasion pathways have hampered vaccine development. The Dd2 and W2mef strains of P. falciparum have been shown to change from sialic acid (SA)-dependent to SA-independent phenotypes when selected on neuraminidase-treated erythrocytes. Following an observation of increasing ability of Dd2 to invade neuraminidase-treated cells when cultured for several weeks, a sy...
ABSTRACT The experiment was designed to determine the effect of two different solvent (N-hexane and petroleum ether) on chemical composition of lemongrass oil. The oil was extracted from lemongrass using Nhexane and petroleum ether using soxhlet extraction method. The chemical composition of essential oil obtained were analyse using GC-MS machine. The result shows 4.4% of oil were obtained from lemongrass using N-hexane and 4.9% were obtained using petroleum ether. The composition analysed b...
ABSTRACT The antinutritional composition of leafs and stem bark s. longepedunculata were investigated using standard analytical methods. The leafs and stem bark of S. longepedunculata was air dried and the sample was pulverized for the determination of anti-nutritive contents. The antinutritional continents viz phytate, oxalate, nitrate and cyanide were determined in this investigation. Nitrate content was significantly (p
ABSTRACT Ensuring food safety to protect public health remains a significant challenge in both developing and developed countries and food borne illness prevention system will depend on the extent of food safety control in place through food production, processing and distribution, keeping food at safe temperature and using safe water and raw materials. These stages of production are some of the important points determining food safety. The high level of bacterial contamination leading to in...