BACKGROUND Heliotropium indicum is used as a traditional remedy for hypertension in Ghana. The aim of the study was to evaluate the anti-glaucoma potential of an aqueous whole plant extract of H. indicum to manage experimentally-induced glaucoma. METHODS The percentage change in intraocular pressure (IOP), after inducing acute glaucoma (15 mLkg(-1) of 5 % dextrose, i.v.), in New Zealand White...

BACKGROUND While high doses of caffeine may affect pulmonary function and bronchial challenge tests in patients with mild asthma, the effects of lower doses (< or = 5 mg/kg) are less well documented. Specific recommendations exist for withholding theophylline, but not caffeine, before bronchoprovocation and pulmonary function testing. METHODS To assess the effect of a single oral dose of caff...

Objectives. We investigated whether amlodipine could improve angiogenic responses in a diabetic rat model of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) through improving bone marrow endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) mobilization, in the same way as angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors. Methods. After induction of AMI by coronary artery ligation, diabetic rats were randomly assigned to receive perind...

OBJECTIVE To study the impact of obesity on postoperative morbidity and outcome following surgical resection of primary oesophageal adenocarcinoma (EADC). METHODS From a prospective database, we compared clinicopathological findings (age, gender, surgical approach, tumour differentiation and stage), postoperative mortality, morbidity, length of hospitalisation, disease-free survival (DFS) and...

INTRODUCTION AND METHODS. Serotonin N-acetyltransferase (NAT) is a rate-limiting enzyme in melatonin biosynthesis. Its activity (which parallels melatonin levels) follows a diurnal rhythm with high values at night and low values during day-hours of any light-dark illumination cycle (1). In retinas NAT is expressed by photoreceptors (2). Exposure of animals to light at night suppresses the noctu...

BACKGROUND Conflicting reports about the toxicity of Synedrella nodiflora (L) Gaertn (family Asteraceae), a plant traditionally used in Ghana for the management of epilepsy, abound in literature. The present study evaluates the effect of a 90-day continuous oral administration of a hydro-ethanolic whole plant extract of Synedrella nodiflora (SNE) in male Sprague-Dawley rats. METHODS The toxic...

there is a great call for using microbial bio-decaffeination approach to remove caffeinefrom caffeinated products and industrial wastes. we aimed in this study to screen strainsof yeasts which exhibit high caffeine tolerance and to investigate the bio-degradation ofcaffeine under growth conditions. sixteen yeast strains were isolated from the cultivatedtea soils collected from sites of northern...