10.18639/RABM.2017.03.443648
Original Research Article
Apr 13, 2017
The prevalence of parasitic infections such as malaria, which leads to decrease in hematological indices, the major cause of anemia, constitutes a serious health challenge in many developing countries such as Nigeria. This study investigated the effect of methanol seed extract of Aframomum melegueta on selected hematological indices of 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (2,4-DNPH)-induced anemic rats model. The toxicity study and qualitative phytochemical screening of the extract were carried out using standard procedure. Twenty Wistar rats were grouped into five of four rats each (n 5 4). Group I: Normal control; Group II: Negative control; Group III: administered 20 ml/kg b.w. of Astifer (Standard drug); Group IV and V were administered 200 and 400 mg/kg b.w. of the extract, respectively. The animals of Groups II to V were induced with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (20 mg/kg b.w.) once daily for seven consecutive days; their blood samples were collected by ocular puncture into heparinized capillary tubes for hematological analysis and animals with packed cell volume (PCV) 30% reduction were considered anemic for the study. The result of the qualitative phytochemical analysis showed that the methanol extract tested positive to alkaloids, carbohydrate, saponins, flavonoids, steroids, terpenoids, and anthraquinones. Acute toxicity and lethality studies on methanol extract showed an oral LD50 equal or less than 5000 mg/kg b.w. in mice. The rats administered 20 ml/kg b.w. of Astifer showed significant (P 0.05) increase in PCV, hemoglobin, red blood cell (RBC) count, white blood cell (WBC) count, and neutrophils count compared with the normal control animals. The rats administered 200 mg/kg b.w. of A. melegueta showed significantly (P 0.05) higher PCV and WBC count; non significant (P 0.05) decrease in hemoglobin count, RBC, platelet, neutrophils and lymphocyte count compared with the normal control animals. The rats administered 400 mg/kg b.w. of A. melegueta showed significant (P 0.05) increase in hemoglobin, platelet, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and neutrophils count; non significant (P 0.05) lower PCV, RBC, WBC count, and lymphocyte count compared with anemic rats administered with 0.3 ml of normal saline. It can be concluded that Aframomum melegueta seed has beneficial immunological and hematological properties in Wistar rats and possessed erythropoietic potentials at minimal dose that support its use for treating anemia.
10.18639/RABM.2017.03.355635
Original Research Article
Feb 17, 2017
Deep eutectic solvents as a new type of eco-friendly solvents have attracted attention in chemistry, medicine, and other fields for the extraction and separation of target compounds from medicinal plants. Deep eutectic solvents are easy to prepare and have many advantages as solvents, such as chemical inertness with water, low cost, easy biodegradability, and pharmaceutically acceptable toxicity. In this study, a deep eutectic solvent made up of choline chloride-glycerol (1:2) was used for the extraction of flavonoids from Catharanthus roseus plant parts (flower petal, leaves, stem, and root). The highest amount of phenolic content was detected in flower petal, that is, 194.50 mg GAE/g. In DPPH test, the maximum amount of antioxidant activity determined in the flower petal was 73.13%; IC50 was calculated by using a linear regression equation; IC50 value of the standard, stem, root, leaf, and flower petal was 13.22, 90.44, 83.93, 120.14, 79.49 μg/ml, respectively. The result of this research is that Catharanthus roseus has a compatible antioxidant activity. This can be helpful for the treatment of diseases caused by free-radical oxidative stress.
10.18639/RABM.2017.03.347628
Original Research Article
Feb 04, 2017
Green technology is the most important topic in the pharmaceutical field because it reduces the cost of medicines and minimizes the environmental impact of the field and is better for human health and safety. Green chemistry emphasizes that the solvent should be nontoxic, safe, cheap, green, readily available, recyclable, and biodegradable. Deep eutectic solvents, a new type of green solvent, have some renowned properties—for instance, high thermal stability, low vapor pressure, low cost, biodegradability, and high viscosity. In this study, deep eutectic solvents made up of choline chloride-glycerol (1:2) were used for the extraction and isolation of flavonoid (rutin, gallic acid, and quercetin) from Catharanthus roseus plant parts, flower petal, leaves, stem, and root. The amounts of rutin and quercetin in flower petal are 29.46 and 6.51%, respectively, whereas, rutin, gallic acid, and quercetin amounts in leaves are 25.16, 8.57, and 10.47%, respectively. In stem the amounts of rutin, gallic acid, and quercetin are 13.02, 5.89, and 7.47%, respectively. In root, only quercetin has been obtained that is 13.49%. The HPLC is an analytical method, which was found to be an excellent technique for determination of rutin, gallic acid, and quercetin using deep eutectic solvent extraction from plant parts of Catharanthus roseus.
10.18639/RABM.2016.02.341436
Case Report
Dec 20, 2016
Congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) is a consequence of rubella infection that can occur when the virus is transmitted in utero during maternal primary infection. A newborn male baby was admitted for delayed cry, respiratory distress, having a birth weight of 2,150 g. A history of consanguinity marriage of parents. Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), cataractous lens, patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), and a positive serology test are present. Vaccination at high-risk groups is necessary in order to avoid the appearance of CRS.
10.18639/RABM.2016.02.335391
Diabetes
Nov 27, 2016
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is one of the threatening disorders in the world. It affects people of all ages. Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a condition in which the glucose level in the blood is elevated due to improper function of the secretion of insulin from beta cells of the pancreas. It is a multifactorial disease because it is caused by both environmental and hereditary factors. One of the genes which play an important role in type 2 diabetes mellitus is SLC30A8 which encodes for zinc transporter ZnT8. The common polymorphic site for SLC30A8 is rs13266634. This single-nucleotide polymorphism leads to type 2 diabetes mellitus by replacing the arginine residue with tryptophan residue. This review mainly focuses on the polymorphic studies in the gene SLC30A8 and its association with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
10.18639/RABM.2016.02.341789
Agriculture and Allied Sciences
Oct 17, 2016
Pollution in water bodies and soil is a major and ever-increasing environmental issue nowadays, and most conventional remediation approaches do not provide appropriate solutions. The contamination of soil is a major concern for the environment and needs to be remediated. These pollutants include complex organic compounds, heavy metals released from industries and plants and natural products such as oils from accidental release. Further the nature of pollution will be governed by the source and type of the contaminant, and other inorganic compounds are released into the environment from a number of sources like mining, smelting, electroplating, and farming. Plants can clean up many types of contaminants like metals, pesticides, oils, and explosives. Phytoremediation is emerging as a bio-based and low-cost alternative in the cleanup of heavy metal-contaminated soils.
10.18639/RABM.2016.02.343082
Original Research Article
Oct 17, 2016
Dysmenorrhea is a notably serious crisis among young adult girls and it distresses their quality of life. After menarche, most young adult girls suffer severe pain, irregular menses, too much bleeding, and dysmenorrhea. It is a common gynecological complication affecting more than half of the young adult girls resulting in episodic school absenteeism coupled with a negative impact on social behavior, educational, and sports activities. This study was a cross-sectional descriptive, conducted from September to November 2013 among 210 young adult, female medical students of Management and Science University, using a semi-structured questionnaire. The questionnaire used in this study was associated with the health-related quality of life among young adult girls; questions were related to demography, family menstrual history, prevalence, symptoms, absentees of school, involvement in sports activities, and self-care strategies. This survey was completed and the data was analyzed for the results with percentages and chi-square test applied.
10.18639/RABM.2016.02.338815
Toxicology and Pharmacology
Oct 01, 2016
The genus Aconitum has been reviewed for distribution in the world, traditional use, isolated chemical constituents, and pharmacological activities of some common species. Aconitum species are traditionally used throughout Asia, particularly in China and Japan, as an analgesic and antiinflammatory medicine. Lappaconitine and Yunaconitine are common chemical constituents that may justify the use of these species as analgesic and antiinflammatory agents in Asian traditional medicine. The aim of the present paper is to further review the comprehensive knowledge of the plants of this genus including the traditional uses, chemical constituents, and pharmacology.
Agriculture and Allied Sciences
Sep 24, 2016
There is no existence of life without plants. Plants are the essential foundation of medicine. Some important drugs that are still in use today are derived from traditional medicinal herbs. The hunt for new medicines has engaged ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology—a new route as an important source of knowledge, which led toward different sources and classes of compounds. Nowadays, studies on structure-activity relationships, and their impact on the design of novel drugs have rendered them one of the utmost valuable and thus significant accomplishments of pharmacochemistry, an advance constituent in the group of pharmaceutical sciences. In this paper, we have discussed the historical importance of medicinal plants, geographical importance throughout the world, some important historical observations of medicinal plants, and leading drugs of plant origin which are still being used to treat various ailments, with or without any structural modifications.
10.18639/RABM.2016.02.338812
Original Research Article
Sep 23, 2016
This study deals with the study of water-quality index (WQI) of a tropical, urban water body in Gorakhpur region (India). Water-quality index was determined on the basis of various physico-chemical parameters like pH, temperature, total solids, total dissolved solids, total suspended solids, dissolved oxygen, biological oxygen demand, hardness, calcium, magnesium, etc. Then, on the basis of calculated WQI, the water was correlated for its use for public consumption, recreation, or any other purpose. A number of parameters directly regulate the utility of water for a particular purpose. The water-quality index obtained for the water body in different seasons of study periods, i.e., rainy season, winter season, and summer season are 78.29, 74.01, and 116.94, respectively; this indicates the water quality of the collected samples to be very poor.
10.18639/RABM.2016.02.293654
Original Research Article
Sep 20, 2016
In this study, the effect of extraction parameters (ethanol concentration, sonication time, and solvent-to-sample ratio) on Ficus deltoidea leaves was investigated using ultrasound-assisted extraction by response surface methodology (RSM). Total phenolic content (TPC) of F. deltoidea extracts was identified using Folin-Ciocalteu method and expressed in gallic acid equivalent (GAE) per g. Box-Behnken statistical design (BBD) was the tool used to find the optimal conditions for maximum TPC. Besides, the extraction yield was measured and stated in percentage. The optimized TPC attained was 455.78 mg GAE/g at 64% ethanol concentration, 10 minutes sonication time, and 20 mL/g solvent-to-sample ratio whereas the greatest extraction yield was 33% with ethanol concentration of 70%, sonication time of 40 minutes, and solvent-to-material ratio at 40 mL/g. The determination coefficient, R2, for TPC indicates that 99.5% capriciousness in the response could be clarified by the ANOVA model and the value of 0.9681 of predicted R2 is in equitable agreement with 0.9890 of adjusted R2. The present study shows that ethanol-water as solvent, a short time of 10 minutes, and adequate solvent-to-sample ratio (20 mL/g) are the best conditions for extraction.
10.18639/RABM.2016.02.336646
Microbiology and Immunology
Sep 20, 2016
The present research is a biological screening of Eichornia crassipes (Pontederiaceae). Dichloromethane and methanol extracts of the whole plant were investigated for their antibacterial, antifungal, phytotoxic, and cytotoxic activities. The antibacterial activity was evaluated using agar well-diffusion method against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Shigella flexneri, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Salmonella typhi. The antifungal activity was evaluated using the agar tube–dilution method against Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, Aspergillus flavus, Microsporum canis, and Fusarium solani. The phytotoxicity activity was determined using Lemna bioassay against Lemna minor. Brine shrimp– cytotoxicity assay was determined against brine-shrimp larvae. Dichloromethane extract exhibited significant phytotoxicity (100% growth regulation) at 1,000 μg/ml concentration against Lemna minor whereas methanolic extracts showed moderate (75% growth regulation) phytotoxicity at the same concentration. Methanolic extract showed cytotoxicity at the highest level of dose whereas dichloromethane extract showed no activity having Etoposide as standard drug. Both of the extracts have nonsignificant antifungal and antibacterial activity.
10.18639/RABM.2016.02.292685
Toxicology and Pharmacology
Sep 11, 2016
Charcoal hemoperfusion (CHP) is one of the extracorporeal removal techniques that are used to remove toxins from the body. CHP generally is considered the preferred method for extracorporeal extraction of several toxins—toxins that are adsorbed by activated charcoal. Assessments of the tannic acid’s protective effects on ophidian poisoning are associated with the toxic proteins’ precipitation by tannic acid. The challenge in treating a snakebite lies in removing the injected poison with minimal damage to blood constituent proteins. An alternative is CHP, and this investigation proposed to develop a column for hemoperfuser cartridge, combining charcoal granules trapped between layers of polymeric material conjugated to tannic acid, using an in vitro model scaled to the Wistar rat, which can be tested in an animal model. The cartridge was evaluated using the 22 full factorial design, in duplicate, as a method to study the effects of granulated-charcoal size and tannic acid concentration on the hematologic profile (platelet and leukocyte counts) and biochemical profile (total serum protein and albumin dosages) of sheep blood. The results demonstrate that charcoal in hemoperfuser cartridge: (1) decreases the serum in sheep blood volume, as consequence, (2) increases the serum proteins’ concentration, and (iii) exerts slight influence on albumin. The inclusion of tannic acid in hemoperfuser column precipitates some of serum proteins and albumin, decreasing their concentrations in the plasma serum. In conclusion, based on these effects we can suggest the use of 0.02 g tannic acid concentration and 8–20 mesh granulated charcoal in hemoperfuser cartridge for precipitating toxic proteins from snake venoms.
10.18639/RABM.2016.02.293742
Original Research Article
Aug 06, 2016
The aim of this study is to compare the use of plant-based insect repellents that are environment friendly with the use of insect repellents based on chemical substances which can be harmful to the environment and human health. The plant studied here is “tea tree”; its scientific name is Melaleuca alternifolia. Essential oil from this plant is extracted by steam distillation method. Based on the previous research, tea tree oil has antimicrobial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, and insect repellent properties. Some experiments were done on tea tree oil to determine its insect repellent properties and the suitable concentration that can be used to make sure its repelling effect is optimum. The purpose of this determination is to avoid its harmful effect on humans because it can be toxic if it is used at high concentration. The results showed that tea tree oil repelled Tribolium castaneum. Furthermore, the toxicity assays also gave positive result where the tea tree oil has toxic properties against Solenopsis invicta. The lethal dose (LD) of tea tree oil to kill 50% of a group of S. invicta is 23.52 μL/mL. This LD50 is determined by using the arithmetic method of Karber. Broadly, the results showed that M. alternifolia has insect repellent properties and shows toxicity against certain insects.
10.18639/RABM.2016.02.292390
Original Research Article
Aug 05, 2016
In this paper, we have studied the abilities of shark in the sea environment. Sharks are mysterious and misunderstood creatures that have fascinated the people for generations. This trunk will introduce students to the biology and behaviors of sharks. The main purpose of this paper is to discover this animal’s abilities, especially its olfactory bulbs, and the reasons which makes the shark a successful hunter. After studying the characteristics of this animal, we will analyze each of them to answer: “how we can use these capabilities in our life?” Accordingly, we will focus on shark’s swimming and olfactory bulbs to achieve mathematical model. This model can be used in several engineering and other problems in human life.
