HIV knowledge, risky behaviours and public health care services attendance among adolescents from the Grassroot soccer Zimbabwe programme.

Background: Interventions aimed at improving accessing of health care services, including HIV testing, remain a priority in global HIV eradication efforts. Grassroot Soccer Zimbabwe (GRSZ) is an adolescent health organisation that uses the popularity of soccer to promote healthy behaviours. We assessed HIV knowledge levels, risky behaviours and attitudes in school going adolescents and young adults who attended GRSZ programmes and determined if HIV knowledge levels were associated with increased levels of accessing of health care services by youths.

Triterpene derivative improves the renal function of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats: a follow-up study on maslinic acid.

Reports indicate that oral administration of plant-derived maslinic acid (MA) exhibits hypoglycemic and renoprotective effects in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Challenges with triterpenes such as MA include low bioavailabilty which affects treatment efficacy in experimental animals. The goal of this study was to synthesize the MA derivative phenylhydrazine (PH-MA) in an effort to improve the efficacy of MA.

Asiatic acid influences parasitaemia reduction and ameliorates malaria anaemia in P. berghei infected Sprague-Dawley male rats.

Background: Current malaria treatment is either "anti-parasitic", "anti-infectivity" or both without addressing the pathophysiological derangement (anti-disease aspect) associated with the disease. Asiatic acid is a natural phytochemical with oxidant, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties whose effect on malarial and accompanying pathophysiology are yet to be investigated. Asiatic acid influence in P.

Pre-infection administration of asiatic acid retards parasitaemia induction in Plasmodium berghei murine malaria infected Sprague-Dawley rats.

Background: Malaria prevention has remained a critical area in the absence of efficacious vaccines against malaria. Drugs currently used as chemotherapeutics are also used in chemoprophylaxis increasing possible drug resistance. Asiatic acid is a natural phytochemical with oxidant, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties with emerging anti-malarial potential.

Haptoglobin polymorphism is not associated with prostate cancer in blacks.

Background: Prostate cancer (Pca) disease burden is highest among male blacks. Oxidative stress due to hemoglobin-related oxygen reactive species is a risk factor for cancer development. The polymorphic haptoglobin (Hp) protein inhibits hemoglobin-related oxidative stress.