The screening of lesser-known underutilized seeds as source of food has been a way of finding solution to food insecurity in developing nations. In this regard, oil as a class of food was extracted from the seeds of Diospyros mespiliformis  (4.72 ± 0.2%), Albizia lebbeck  (6.40 ± 0.60%), and Caesalpinia pulcherrima  (7.2 ± 0.30%). The oils were finally analyzed for their fatty acid composition,...

BACKGROUND Candida albicans has become resistant to the already limited, toxic and expensive anti-Candida agents available in the market. These factors necessitate the search for new anti-fungal agents. METHODS Sixty-three plant extracts, from 56 Tanzanian plant species obtained through the literature and interviews with traditional healers, were evaluated for anti-Candida activity. Aqueous m...

The present study investigated the in vitro antiprotozoal activity of sixteen selected medicinal plants. Plant materials were extracted with methanol and screened in vitro against erythrocytic schizonts of Plasmodium falciparum, intracellular amastigotes of Leishmania infantum and Trypanosoma cruzi and free trypomastigotes of T. brucei. Cytotoxic activity was determined against MRC-5 cells to a...

It is well known that few halophilic bacteria and archaea as well as certain fungi can grow at the highest concentrations of NaCl. However, data about possible life at extremely high concentrations of various others kosmotropic (stabilizing; like NaCl, KCl, and MgSO4) and chaotropic (destabilizing) salts (NaBr, MgCl2, and CaCl2) are scarce for prokaryotes and almost absent for the eukaryotic do...