An overview of anti-diabetic plants used in Gabon: Pharmacology and Toxicology

© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Ethnopharmacological relevance: The management of diabetes mellitus management in African communities, especially in Gabon, is not well established as more than 60% of population rely on traditional treatments as primary healthcare. The aim of this review was to collect and present the scientific evidence for the use of medicinal plants that are in currect by Gabonese traditional healers to manage diabetes or hyperglycaemia based here on the pharmacological and toxicological profiles of plants with anti-diabetic activity. There are presented in order to promote their therapeutic value, ensure a safer use by population and provide some bases for further study on high potential plants reviewed. Materials and methods: Ethnobotanical studies were sourced using databases such as Online Wiley library, Pubmed, Google Scholar, PROTA, books and unpublished data including Ph.D. and Master thesis, African and Asian journals. Keywords including ‘Diabetes’ ‘Gabon’ ‘Toxicity’ ‘Constituents’ ‘hyperglycaemia’ were used. Results: A total of 69 plants currently used in Gabon with potential anti-diabetic activity have been identified in the literature, all of which have been used in in vivo or in vitro studies. Most of the plants have been studied in human or animal models for their ability to reduce blood glucose, stimulate insulin secretion or inhibit carbohydrates enzymes. Active substances have been identified in 12 out of 69 plants outlined in this review, these include Allium cepa and Tabernanthe iboga. Only eight plants have their active substances tested for anti-diabetic activity and are suitables for further investigation. Toxicological data is scarce and is dose-related to the functional parameters of major organs such as kidney and liver. Conclusion: An in-depth understanding on the pharmacology and toxicology of Gabonese anti-diabetic plants is lacking yet there is a great scope for new treatments. With further research, the use of Gabonese anti-diabetic plants is important to ensure the safety of the diabetic patients in Gabon.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Tech-enabled solutions for student hunger: A comprehensive analysis of food surplus, community dynamics, and usability

In this study, we explore the interconnected issues of food wastage, student hunger, and the potential of technology to facilitate food sharing. We begin by examining the general problem of food insecurity on university campuses and its impact on student well-being and academic performance. Through a mixed-methods approach involving 30 participants (13 Males (43%) and 17 Females (57%)), we gather both qualitative and quantitative data to understand attitudes towards surplus food and the challenges of accessing food when needed. Our quantitative findings reveal that while 69.6% of participants are willing to share surplus food, only 39.1% have access to a viable network for food distribution. Qualitative insights further uncover the profound effects of food insecurity on students, who advocate for technological solutions featuring financial tracking, transparent food distribution, and privacy measures to enhance the food-sharing experience. Building on these findings, we conduct a heuristic evaluation of a low-fidelity prototype designed to address the identified challenges. The results underscore the need for a user-friendly interface that aligns with students' preferences, with key areas for refinement highlighted for future development. Following this, we refine the application and evaluate it using the System Usability Scale, which provides valuable insights into user experiences with the FeedLine prototype. While the overall impressions are positive, the feedback also highlights the need for improved onboarding support and clearer communication of the app's capabilities. This research contributes to the development of a technology-driven solution aimed at alleviating food-related challenges among students

Nigerian Psychoactive Alcoholic Herbal Mixture Impacts Behavioural Performance and Caused Brain Biochemical and Histopathological Alterations in Mice

Psychoactive alcoholic herbal mixture is popularly consumed because of the belief on its stimulant and curative effects. This study investigated the neurobehavioral, biochemical and histopathological consequences following its single and repeated co-administration with ethanol to mice. Mice were assessed for sensorimotor, anxiety and memory functions following acute and repeated administration of alcohol herbal mixture (AHM). Alterations in brain acetylcholineterase, nitrite, reduced glutathione (GSH) and malondialdehyde levels were assessed in striatum, prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus. Neuronal cells counts were determined in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampal tissues. In the acute study, AHM significantly impaired locomotor activity and motor coordination in mice. Repeated administration of AHM and AHM combined with ethanol caused significant impairment of locomotor and motor coordination, increased anxiety-like behavior and impaired memory in mice. Acetylcholinesterase activity was significantly increased in the PFC while nitrite level was elevated in the striatum and PFC. There was significant elevation of malondialdehyde and depletion of GSH in all brain regions as well as reduced neuronal cell counts in the PFC and hippocampus. This study showed evidences of behavioral perturbation and brain biochemical changes in mice, hence repeated consumption of alcoholic herbal mixture might produce substance-attributable harm and quicken neurodegenerative diseases in humans

Risk Exposure to Hepatitis B infection among Senior Secondary School Students in a Metropolitan City of North-central Nigeria

Background: Hepatitis B is the most prevalent chronic infectious liver disease worldwide with serious sequelae. Reduction of hepatitis B infection is a national public health priority. Despite international efforts to prevent the infection through global vaccination programs, new cases are still being reported throughout the world.Objectives: This study aims to determine the risk exposure factors for hepatitis B infection among senior secondary school students in Ilorin East Local Government Area of Kwara state, Nigeria.Methods: Multistage sampling technique was used to recruit 424 adolescents into the study. Pretested interviewer administered semi-structured questionnaires were used for the study. Data were analyzed using STATA version 10.1 software. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.Results: The major risk exposure factors in the study population were contact with blood or body fluids (33.7%), family history of previous infection of HBV (30.4%) of the respondents; one sexual partner (16.5%), multiple sexual partners (15.3%) and ear or body piercing (14.9%). Majority (78.1%) of the respondents had low risk exposure, while 8.0% had medium risk exposure, only 59 (13.9%) of the respondents had high risk exposure for Hepatitis B virus infection. Significant relationships were found between risk exposure score and school type, gender, family history of the disease mothers’ and fathers’ educational background of the respondents (p<0.05).Conclusion: Risk exposure was low among the respondents. There is a need for a community wide campaign on health risk awareness and perception of HBV. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2016;30(2):96-102]Keywords: Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), Hepatitis B virus (HBV), Risk Exposur

Reaching the unreached: de-mystifying the role of ICT in the process of doctoral research

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become a necessary element of academic practice in higher education today. Under normal circumstances, PhD students from all disciplines have to use ICT in some form throughout the process of their research, including the preparation, fieldwork, analysis and writing phases of their studies. Nevertheless, there has been little research to date that explores PhD students’ first-hand experiences of using various ICT to support their research practices. This paper brings together the findings and the key points from a review of significant parts of the existing literature associated with the role played by ICT in the processes PhD students use in doctoral research. The review is based on 27 papers appearing in international peer-reviewed journals published from 2005 to 2014. The study seeks to address the under-researched area in the current literature of how ICT plays a role in the processes of doctoral research. While there are many contributions taking the ‘institutional’ or ‘teaching’ perspectives, papers focusing on ‘student’ perspective, or the viewpoint of engaging ICT in daily study routine, are relatively fewer. As far as research methodology is concerned, this review found that many of the papers that were examined were mostly based on perception data such as surveys or interviews, while actual practice data were rarely present. With their ready access to technologies, PhD students are well positioned to take advantage of a range of technologies in order to carry out their research efficiently (in terms of means to an end) and effectively (in terms of reaching goals within a task). This review reveals that in the literature, this important area is under-represented

The psychometric properties of the subscales of the GHQ-28 in a multi-ethnic maternal sample: results from the Born in Bradford cohort

Background: Poor maternal mental health can impact on children’s development and wellbeing; however, there is concern about the comparability of screening instruments administered to women of diverse ethnic origin. Methods: We used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to examine the subscale structure of the GHQ-28 in an ethnically diverse community cohort of pregnant women in the UK (N = 5,089). We defined five groups according to ethnicity and language of administration, and also conducted a CFA between four groups of 1,095 women who completed the GHQ-28 both during and after pregnancy. Results: After item reduction, 17 of the 28 items were considered to relate to the same four underlying concepts in each group; however, there was variation in the response to individual items by women of different ethnic origin and this rendered between group comparisons problematic. The EFA revealed that these measurement difficulties might be related to variation in the underlying concepts being measured by the factors. Conclusions: We found little evidence to recommend the use of the GHQ-28 subscales in routine clinical or epidemiological assessment of maternal women in populations of diverse ethnicity

Corrosion Inhibition Behaviour for Mild Steel by Extracts of Musa sapientum Peels in HCl Solution: Kinetics and Thermodynamics Study

Staff PublicationThe inhibition of the corrosion of mild steel by acid extract of Musa sapientum peels in 1M HCl was investigated using weight loss method. The results showed that the corrosion rate of mild steel in 1M HCl decreases with increase in concentration of the extracts and the values were in the range 0.013021 - 0.002127 ghr-1 cm-2 . The inhibition efficiency increases progressively as the concentration of the extracts increases up to about 4% (v/v), above which, further increase in extract concentration did not cause any significant change in the inhibition efficiency. Effects of temperature on the inhibition efficiency of the extracts showed that inhibition efficiency decreases with increase in temperature. Activation energy (Ea) was found to be 61.60 Kjmol-1 for 1M HCl and increases to 66.72Kjmol-1 in the presence of Musa sapientum extract. The values for enthalpy of activation and entropy were all positive indicating the endothermic nature of the mild steel dissolution process. Calculated Gibbs free energy was in the range -9.43 to -8.99KJ. Kinetics of the reaction in the presence of the extracts revealed that it follows a first order reaction and the half-life increases as the concentration of the extracts increases suggesting that inhibition efficiency increases with increase in the concentration of the extracts. Preliminary investigation of the phytochemical constituents showed that Musa sapientumcontains tannin, flavonoid, terpenoid and some other compounds in trace constituents

Fulminant necrotizing fasciitis following the use of herbal concoction: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Necrotizing fasciitis is a rare and life-threatening rapidly progressive soft tissue infection. A fulminant case could involve muscle and bone. Necrotizing fasciitis after corticosteroid therapy and intramuscular injection of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs has been reported. We present a case of fulminant necrotizing fasciitis occurring in a patient who used a herbal concoction to treat a chronic leg ulcer.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 20-year-old Ibo woman from Nigeria presented with a three-year history of recurrent chronic ulcer of the right leg. She started applying a herbal concoction to dress the wound two weeks prior to presentation. This resulted in rapidly progressive soft tissue necrosis that spread from the soft tissue to the bone, despite aggressive emergency debridement. As a result she underwent above-knee amputation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The herbal concoction used is toxic, and can initiate and exacerbate necrotizing fasciitis. Its use for wound dressing should be discouraged.</p