Abstract This study investigates the diet of breeding Black Sparrowhawks (Accipiter melanoleucus) on the Cape Peninsula of South Africa. Macro-remains of prey were collected from below and around the vicinity of nests throughout the breeding seasons of 2012 and 2013. These prey items were then identified down to species where possible through the use of a museum reference collection. In both years 85.9% of the individual remains were those of Columbidae, which corresponds with the only other ...
Abstract Interest in commercial sea urchin aquaculture is growing worldwide. This is because sea urchins have good quality roe which is a delicacy in many countries. Since the quality of sea urchin roe is dependent on what the sea urchin eats, increased research is being carried out to understand sea urchin feeding preferences. Feeding preference is related to the attractiveness/palatability of the feed, which is thought to be based on its chemical composition. Since an unpalatable feed will ...
Abstract Malaria is a major health concern in Sub Saharan Africa and there are few effective treatment options. Namibia has diverse flora with potent antimalarial phytochemicals and high ethnomedicinal plants uses. This study investigated the phytochemical and in vitro antiplasmodial activity of ten ethnomedicinal plants namely: Baikea plurijuga, Cyphostemma spp, Guibourtia coleosperma, Mundulea sericea, Neptunia oleracea, Diospyros mespiliformis, Acrotome inflata, Oxygonum dregeanum, Ziziph...
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...