The variations in biochemical as well as molecular characteristics among several members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex that are not M. tuberculosis have been assessed to facilitate an unambiguous species identification. Altogether, 96 M. tuberculosis complex strains including 52 M. bovis isolates and 44 M. africanum isolates were analyzed by spoligotyping. The strains could be clust...

BACKGROUND The current treatment of onchocerciasis relies on the use of ivermectin which is only microfilaricidal and for which resistant parasite strains of veterinary importance are increasingly being detected. In the search for novel filaricides and alternative medicines, we investigated the selective activity of crude extracts of Margaritaria discoidea and Homalium africanum on Onchocerca o...

In this study, the in vitro anticholinesterase activity of the volatile oils of both O. basilicum and O. africanum was investigated and both samples showed significant activity. The major constituents of the two oils were isolated using several column chromatographies. Linalool, 1,8-cineol and eugenol were isolated from the volatile oil of O. basilicum and camphor was isolated from the volatile...

Diadenia africanum sp. nov. Rodríguez et al. 2013 occurs in the eastern Atlantic Ocean at depths of 1-80 meters off Ma- deira Islands, Salvage Islands, Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, Sâo Tome Islands and at the continental coast off Sen- egal and Ghana. This species was previously considered an eastern Atlantic population of D. antillarum. Genetic distances between the holotype of D. afric...

Although the virulences and host ranges differ among members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (TBC; M. tuberculosis, M. africanum, M. canettii, M. microti, M. bovis, and M. bovis BCG), commercially available molecular assays cannot differentiate these organisms because of the genetic identities of their 16S rRNA gene sequences. Comparative genomic analyses with the complete DNA sequenc...

16S/23S intergenic spacer regions from the rRNA operons of two strains of “Candidatus Liberobacter asiaticum” and one strain of “Candidatus Liberobacter africanum” were cloned and sequenced. The intergenic spacers of the two “Candidatus L. asiaticum” strains studied are identical and contain the genes for isoleucine tRNA (tRNA”‘) and alanine tRNA (tRNAMa) separated by 11 nucleotides. The interg...

Extracts from Piptadeniastrum africanum Brenan (Mimosaceae), Petersianthus macrocarpus (Breauv) L. (Lecydaceae), Cissus debilis Planch (Vitaceae) and Dieffenbachia seguine Jacq. (Araceae) were tested in vitro for their antiproliferative activity on human colon cancer cell line (CaCo-2). The highest antiproliferative activities were obtained with the alcoholic extracts of the roots of Piptadenia...

Experiments were conducted to study the effectiveness of powders of some underutilized botanicals for the control of Sitophilus zeamais. The tested plants are: Piptadeniastrum africanum, Piper guineense, Alstonia boonei, Garcinia kola, Xylopia aethiopica, Picralima nitida and Aristolochia repens. The effects of the powders were observed at different dosage rates : 0.0g (Control), 0.5g, 1.0g, 1....

The 70% ethanolic extract of Peltophorum pterocarpum leaves were investigated for its hepatoprotective effect against paracetamol induced acute liver damage on albino wister rats. Paracetamol (2gm/kg, po) significantly elevated the serum levels of biochemical markers like SGPT, SGOT, ALP, bilirubin (total and direct), total cholesterol, triglycerides and depleted tissue GSH and increased the li...

Extracts of Peltophorum pterocarpum we attempted to evaluate the cardiotonic activity. Petroleum ether extract produced significant positive inotropic and positive chronotropic actions similar to that of adrenaline on frog heart and it is indicated by an increase in the force of contraction and the heart rate. Ethanol extract produced significant positive inotropic and a slight negative chronot...