Malaria merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP1) is cleaved in an essential step during erythrocyte invasion. The responses of children to natural malaria infection included antibodies that inhibit this cleavage and others that block the binding of these inhibitory antibodies. There was no correlation between the titer of the antibody to the 19-kDa fragment of MSP1 and its inhibitory activity. These findings have implications for the design of MSP1-based vaccines.
Abstract Malaria remains a major parasitic disease in Africa, with 300–500 million new infections each year. There is therefore an urgent need for the development of new effective measures, including vaccines. Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface protein-119 (MSP-119) is a prime candidate for a blood-stage malaria vaccine. Blood samples were collected from children aged 10 days to 15 years in the months of January–March (N = 351) and October–November (N = 369) corresponding to the d...
ABSTRACT GLURP and MSP3 are targets for antibodies involved in antibody-dependent cellular inhibition that may lead to protective immunity against malaria. Comparative assessment of IgG and subclass responses to GLURP and MSP3 in relation to immunity against malaria will provide relevant information that will be useful in future malaria vaccine development. Several studies have led to the recent recognition of the importance of T- cell in the generation of long-term antibody responses in...
ABSTRACT A revision of the Afrotropical members of the subgenus Uresipedilum Sasa et Kikuchi, 1995 showed that most of the earlier species were misidentified. Ten new Afrotropical species are identified and described: P. (U.) spinibojum sp. n., P. (U.) plautum sp. n., P. (U.) lehmanni sp. n., P. (U.) praegnans sp. n., P. (U.) hanisoni sp. n., P. (U.) freemani sp. n.,P. (£/.) dossenudum sp. n., P. (U.) acutulum sp. n., P. (U.) kakumense sp. n., and P. (t/.) gladysae sp. n. Two species, P....
ABSTRACT Ticks continue to facilitate the spread of pathogens globally, thereby influencing the health of both humans and animals. Ticks have been documented to infest animals including pets and livestock, transmitting bacterial pathogens including Rickettsia species. It is common to find many Ghanaian households rearing animals, thus increasing the risk of infection. It is therefore important to identify the present tick species and determine their potential to transmit diseases. This...
Malaria and HIV co-infected mothers have an increased risk of poor birth outcome, spontaneous abortion, malaria infection and early progression of HIV to AIDS. This study examines the impact of HIV and malaria on the levels of cytokines in peripheral blood from mothers and their new borns. 149 pregnant mothers and 30 babies born to 63 HIV infected mothers were engaged in longitudinal study for 18 months in the endemic area of Saki and Ibadan. Blood samples collected from mothers and ba...
This project work studied and compared the common protozoan parasites of Africa cat fish (Clarias gariepinus) from wild and cultured environment within Bauchi metropolis, a total of 48 samples of C. gariepinus comprising 24 each from both wild and cultured environment were examined for protozoan parasites and only 18 and 13 fishes were infected by protozoa parasites respectively. Ichthyophthirus multifiilis was the most common protozoan parasites found in C. gariepinus from the wild and Trich...
Abstract Culex quinquefasciatus is a dorminant mosquito species in Nigeria and a major cause of several diseases. The study seeks to determine the effects of S-Hydroprene and leaf extracts of Azadirachta indica on life expectancy of third instar larvae of Culex quinquefasciatus. Concentrations (ranging from 10 mg/L to 60 mg/L) were tested on the larvae for mortality, survival and life expectancy of the medically important Cx. quinquefasciatus mosquito species under laboratory conditions of te...
Abstract: The physico-chemical parameters of Ikwu River were studied between January and June 2016 in 3 stations to assess its drinking water quality using water quality index. Weighted arithmetic water quality index (WAWQI) method was used. Thirteen parameters were evaluated which included temperature, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solid (TDS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), nitrate, alkalinity, phosphate, sulphate, chloride and calcium. The physico-c...
ABSTRACT Laboratory experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of deltamethrin dust as a protectant of maize against Sitophilus zeamais under ambient laboratory conditions of 27 ± 3°C and 70 ± 5% relative humidity. Four sets of fifty grams of disinfested maize grains were measured into jars in four replicates. Each replicate was infested with ten 0-7days old adult S.zeamais. Each set of three replicates were treated separately with 0.25g, 0.187g and 0.125g of deltamethrin while th...
ABSTRACT This project details the results of a research work carried out to develop fish feed compounded from locally available materials in the institute of oceanography fish farm and analyzed its nutritional values, in the biochemistry department all in the University of Calabar. On the basis of the feed production, it is recommended that the feeding regime of the animal (fish) for intended culture is known, a dry diet formulation of two distinct feed lines was produced (fingerlings and...
ABSTRACT Nymphalid butterflies are excellent ecological indicator and portray a good picture of the ecological status of an area. Study on Nymphalid butterflies were carried out in the Delta state University, Abraka campus from five (5) different habitats (Grassland, Farmland, Riverside, Flowering shrub and Moderately disturbed habitat), for the period of four (4) months (May-August, 2015) using baited traps and Pollard sampling method. A total of 167 individuals of Nymphalid butterflies belo...
The study was a randomized mother –infant dyad placebo controlled field trial that evaluated the effect of maternal vitamin A supplementation on time to first episode of parasitaemia and on malaria parasite densities among infants in three rural communities in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. One hundred and fifty-two (152) pregnant women with pregnancies that had mature to at least six (6) months were equally randomized into supplemented and placebo groups. Ten thousand international unit (10,0...
Eating dried fish is one prevalent dietary habit for local Nigerians due to the requisite for nutritional quality, infested or not. The aim of this study is to investigate the infestation of smoked ready-to-eat dried Clarias gariepinus obtained from Oja-Oba market in Ikare, Ondo State, Nigeria and fresh catfishes processed in the laboratory by Dermestes maculatus at different intervals. A total of twenty catfish was obtained for the study. The twenty catfish were divided into 2 groups of ten ...
Fish for food is a vital resource for indigenous people in Nigeria, known for their hyper-prolific proteins and immerse contribution in rich dietary symbolism for daily nutritional healthiness. Due to high cost and shortage in commercialized fish meal, it was deemed to design a formulated preparation and processing techniques for local integrated fish meal which would provide a guide to unmarketable production and the catalyst for commercialization of integrated fish feed production process t...