Comparative Effect of Indole Acetic Acid and Salicylic Acid on Phytochemical Constituents and Antioxidant Potential of Three Genotypes of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum (L.) Mill)

Indole acetic acid (IAA) and salicylic acid (SA) are plant bioregulators that stimulate the desired growth and quality response in crops. This study examined the impacts of IAA or SA seed pre-treatment on phytochemical constituents and antioxidants potential in three genotypes of tomato plant. The results indicated that IAA and or SA treatments increased height of the three genotypes of tomato significantly (P ≤ 0.05) when compared with the control group. Lycopene, total flavonoid and phenolic contents of genotypes F2 cobra and panther 17 F1 treated with 40, 80, and 120 mg/L concentrations of IAA, respectively increased significantly as compared to the control group. Furthermore, IAA and or SA significantly increased H2O2 scavenging activity of F1 KIARA by 5.0% compared to the control (0.2%). Genotype F1 KIARA treated with IAA and or SA (80 and 120 mg/L) had a significant increase in DPPH scavenging activity by 55.0% and 53.0% respectively, relative to control group (11%). The Fe2+-chelating activity of IAA-treated (80 mg/L) F1 KIARA and F2 COBRA increased by 56.0% and 17.0%, respectively compared to the control. The synergistic effect of IAA and SA showed a significant effect on phytochemical constituents and antioxidant potential than individual treatment. The results showed that IAA application or in combination with SA could be used as an alternative bio-stimulant to improve the quality of tomato.

Clinico-Epidemiological Studies of Plasmodium Falciparum and Salmonella Typhi Co-Infection among Patients Attending Selected General Hospital in Northern Nigeria

Study on the prevalence of co-infection between Plasmodium falciparum and Salmonella typhi among patients in Northern Nigeria was carried out. The study is cross-sectional designed to determine the socio-demographic characteristics as well as the risk factors for malaria and typhoid. A total of 100 consented patients of age group of 21-40 years were recruited for the study. A structured questionnaire was administered, and venous blood samples were collected and analyzed using standard microbiological methods. The isolated salmonella species were biochemically characterized, and subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility test using Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. The prevalence of malaria and typhoid was found to be 56% and 68% respectively. The prevalence of malarial parasite and Salmonella typhi infections was 40%. Females recorded low malarial infection of 56.9% compared to their male counterparts 43.1% (P= 0.510). The age group, educational levels and occupations of the study participants were not associated with the likelihood of having malarial parasite infection (P= 0.297, 0.15 and 0.503 respectively). Participants who did not sleep under the insecticide treated nets were more likely to have malaria than those who did (P ≤ 0.0001). The educational levels of the study participants were statistically associated with Salmonella typhi infection (P= 0.026). Water sources, use of pit latrine, hand washing before and after meal were significantly associated with Salmonella typhi infections (P= <0.0001 and P= 0.003 respectively). The isolates of Salmonella typhi and Salmonella paratyphi were found to be sensitive to chloramphenicol (86.8%), ciprofloxacin (80.9%) and amoxicillin (79.4%), but relatively resistant to penicillin and augmentin that recorded sensitivities of 19.1% and 35.3% respectively. The prevalence of malaria and typhoid infections as well as malarial parasite and Salmonella typhi co-infections is high among the study population. Fortunately, the isolated bacteria are highly sensitive to chloramphenicol and ciprofloxacin.

Hypoglycemic Activities of Ethanolic Leave Extract of Acalypha Wilkesiana in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Wistar Rats

Diabetes is a rampant metabolic disorder of insulin deficiency or resistance. In support of the alternative therapy quest, this study investigates the antidiabetic actions of ethanolic leave extract of Acalypha wilkesiana (A. wilkesiana) in diabetic rats. The study was conducted in 3 phases using streptozotocin (50mg/kg) induced diabetic adult Wistar rats. In phase one, 18 diabetic rats were divided into 3 groups (n=6) and treated with distilled-water (10ml/kg), glimepiride (0.1mg/kg) and ethanolic leave extract of A. wilkesiana (250mg/kg) respectively. On separate 18 diabetic rats (phase two), 5% glucose (10ml/kg) was administered after treatments as in phase one. Blood glucose was measured at 0 and 30-minute intervals for 180 minutes in both phases. On another 18 diabetic rats (phase three), similar treatments were given daily for 14 days. Blood glucose was measured at day 0, 3 days after induction, 3, 7, 10, and 14 days treatments. ANOVA was carried out with p <0.05 as significant. The results showed progressively hypoglycemic actions significant from the 90th minute with glimepiride (285.17±12.09mg/dl) and the 120th minute with the extract (279.83±14.88mg/dl) through 180 minutes compared to control in 1st-phase. There was a significant obliterating effect on glucose-induced hyperglycemia in a time-dependent manner at 90th through 180th minutes after glucose loading in glimepiride and extract-treated groups compared to control (2nd phase). Streptozotocin-induced decreased body weight was improved in glimepiride and extract-treated groups by days 7 and 14 and there was a significant steady duration-dependent decrease in blood glucose from the 3rd to 14th day of treatments compared to control. The findings suggest that ethanolic leaves extract of A. wilkesiana possesses antidiabetic action probably through stimulation of pancreatic β-cells or improves insulin action.

In vitro Antioxidant and In vivo Hepatocurative and Nephrocurative Activities of Aqueous Leaf Extract of Newbouldia laevis in Albino Rats

The in vitro antioxidant activity and in vivo hepatocurative and nephrocurative potential of Newbouldia laevis aqueous leaf extract (NLALE) was evaluated. The study used 30 male, albino rats (Rattus norvegicus) weighing 180 ± 20 g, of which 25 were intoxicated by oral administration of a single dose of diclofenac (100 mg/kg b. wt.). Animals were treated by oral administration of silymarin (200 mg/kg b. wt.), furosemide (1.5 mg/kg b. wt.) and NLALE (200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg b. wt.) for seven consecutive days before animals were sacrificed on the 8th day and serum/plasma was analyzed for biochemical markers of hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity. Phytochemical screening of NLALE revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides, phenols, saponins, steroids and tannins. The extract scavenged DPPH radical, reduced Fe3+ and inhibited TBARs in comparable manner to ascorbic acid in vitro. NLALE also attenuated diclofenac-induced liver and kidney intoxication as indicated by the significantly (p<0.05) reduced levels of serum biomarkers of hepatotoxicity: ALT, AST, bilirubin, but increased total protein levels and nephrotoxicity: urea, creatinine, Na+ and K+. The observed effects are dose dependent as the 400 mg/kg b. wt. appeared to be more potent than the 200 mg/kg b. wt. dose. It may be concluded from this study that Newbouldia laevis leaf has ameliorative effect against diclofenac-induced hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity probably through antioxidative mechanism and the curative claim and the folkloric use of the plant in the treatment of liver and kidney diseases have been scientifically validated

Mini Review of Parasitoids Collected from Dipterans (Flies) in the Brazilian Cerrado Biome

These dipterans use decaying organic matter for food and ovi/ larviposition, so the species of these families easily adapt to anthropic environments, which makes them insects considered to be synanthropic cosmopolitans of importance for public health. The collection was built from articles (describing the objective and results) from 1999 and 2010 with the theme: dipterous parasitoids elaborated from 2000 to 2021 in the cerrado biome of the states of Goiás and Minas Gerais. The most used parasitoids in biological control are in the Hymenoptera. Within Hymenoptera Parasitic and the most used families are Braconidae, Ichneumonidae, Trichogrammatidae, Eulophidae and the superfamily Chalcidoidea (Pteromalidae, Encyrtidae and Aphelinidae) and Coleoptera parasitoids of the Staphilinidae family.

Biodiversity of Forest Elephants (Loxodonta Cyclotis) Diet in the Ogooué Leketi National Park, Congo Brazzaville

The Ogooué Leketi National Park (OLNP) is located within the Batéké-Léconi-Léfini Landscape in the central basin of the Congo River. The Ogooué Leketi Elephant Project (OLEP) area is important for biodiversity conservation from its significant populations of forest species (forest elephant, gorillas, chimpanzees, duikers, monkeys, etc.) combined with savanna species (Grimm’s duiker, side-striped jackal, etc). Elephant sign is highest 0.9/km in the northwest of the Landscape in the border area of the Batéké Plateau National Park in Gabon where a number of mineral-rich clearings, or bais, attract forest elephants and others wildlife. Elephants travel a long distance and consume diverse plants and occasionally animals’ species from one clearing to others throughout the forest. This paper intends to provide an overall preliminary list of plants consumed by forest elephants across their feeding trials. The results of the study points to the fact that, elephants were found to be feeding on 258 different vegetal species and three animal species recorded from twenty-six elephants feeding trials from March 2013 to December 2014 through different methods. Among these plant species, 156 were identified by us and checked by botanists in both the CERVE at Brazzaville and herbarium of Kinshasa University. Elephants were not only eating plants but they were also consuming occasionally some invertebrate such as bees, termites and ants. An analysis of 53 dung piles revealed that 43 dung piles had traces of 26 species of fruit consumed by elephants while 10 dung piles had no traces of fruits. The OLNP is among the least described protected areas in the Republic of Congo, despite its speculated high potential biodiversity. This lack of ground-truth knowledge is attributed to the status of the protected area that Congolese government classified as park in 2018 after 14 years of existence.

Ongoing Clinical and Immunization Trials for Novel Zoonotic Covid -19 Pandemic

Some of the contagious diseases have created history and also remains with us today. So it becomes utmost important to understand such infectious diseases and exploring their remedies. One such disease which has created havoc across the globe is COVID-19, caused by an agent SARS CoV-2 virus. The current threat of coronavirus is the human health and economy, which can be overcome by the development of a target vaccine at a specific level by blocking the entry of virus inside the host cell. This step not only will reduce the morbidity and mortality rate associated with this viral infection but will also improve upon the prevailing economy crisis. Hence, this review chapter aims at the ongoing clinical and immunization trials for novel zoonotic COVID-19 pandemic. Currently the clinical trials are happening throughout the world and all the trials are to be registered in publicly available domain which is recommended by ICMJE. Different phase of trials in various parts of the globe, includes Phase-I to Phase-III and insights of vaccine developers involved in the development of COVID vaccines are the focused areas in this review chapter.

Characteristic Features and Signalling Cascade of Novel Zoonotic Coronavirus

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to its highly virulent nature has created a health crisis worldwide. It has attracted biologists’ attention to understand the morphology, host-pathogen interaction and signalling cascade at the core level. The whole world has come to a standstill due to the contagious nature and transmission rate of this virus. To understand the risk of COVID-19 outbreak across different parts of the globe it is crucial to provide a mechanistic framework for the interrelation of comorbidities. This review chapter focuses on the characteristic features, signalling cascade, and the interplay between pathogenesis and unfolded protein response in coronavirus. Due to the complexity of the coronavirus genome and its replication cycle, our understanding of structural, non-structural and accessory proteins in virion assembly and involvement of host machinery is significant. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop effective antiviral doses and vaccines against coronavirus. Hence, updating the detailed mechanism of cross-talk between virus and host, signal and receptor and the evasion of cellular innate immune responses is of utmost importance to develop novel therapeutic strategies.

Activity of Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) In Two Clearings within Ogooué Leketi National Park, Congo Brazzaville

In order to increase our understanding of forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) vocal communication, this study examined the spatial and temporal activity of elephants from two forest clearings (Bissoloko and Madjouama). To obtain data on the visit of elephant in the clearings daily, it requires considerable human and financial resources for conservation programs observations. However, we deployed autonomous acoustic recorders “SM2” to assess elephants’ activities both day and night time from 2013 to 2014. Elephant visitation in these clearings depends on certain factors as, seasons, years, and preferences of elephant to use one or more site. As a results this study found that (i) elephants visited Bissoloko clearing more than Madjouama, although these two clearings were within 5 km distant one another; (ii) Eighty six per cent of elephant calls occurred at night, and large changes in call density at night often were not reflected in similar changes during the day; (iii) there were significant differences in the calls made at night; (iv) elephants were found to be visiting clearings more often in the wet season than in the dry season; (v) visitation was significantly higher in 2013 than in 2014. Elephants used randomly one or other clearings. This empirical study suggests that African forest elephant has two vocal communication practices. Spatially separated females engage in rumble exchanges that help them to coordinate their movements and to bring them together. Both male and female elephants produce "mate attraction" rumbles to inform the opposite sex of their reproductive status. These results show the value of acoustic monitoring as a tool for better understanding of forest elephant behaviour. We suggest that passive acoustic monitoring should be incorporated into forest elephant monitoring programs to complement direct observations at forest clearings.

Effect of Spoilage on the Antimicrobial Potential and Phytochemical Components of Ginger and Garlic

This study evaluated the effect of microbial spoilage on the phytochemical component and antimicrobial potential of Garlic (Alliums Sativum) and Ginger (Zingiber offinale). The antimicrobial activities of both spoilt and un-spoilt Ginger and Garlic were assessed by measuring the inhibition zone diameter using agar well diffusion method. The result showed that both spoilt and un-spoilt samples were active against all test organisms with ethanolic extract of un-spoilt Garlic showing the highest activity against Staphylococcus sp. and Aspergillus sp with mean inhibition zone diameter (21.00mm and 21.50mm) respectively. Similarly the ethanolic extract of un-spoilt Ginger exhibited greatest activity against Staphylococcus sp. and Aspergillus sp with mean inhibition zone diameter (20.00Smm and 20.00mm) respectively. The preliminary phytochemical screening of the samples revealed the absence of saponin in spoilt samples of both Ginger and Garlic while phenol and flavonoid became more prominent in the both spoilt samples. This study confirms that microbial degradation of some plant extracts does not affect the antimicrobial potential and suggest usage of these products even if spoilage is noticed.