Prospect of using ethnobotanicals to manage snakebites in a cost-effective manner: validating Senegalia mellifera extract's inhibitory potential on Naja nigricincta nigricincta (zebra cobra) venom.

Background: Despite Naja nigricincta nigricincta being responsible for most snake envenomation in remote Namibian regions, an effective intervention against its venom remains undiscovered. This study aimed to scientifically validate Namibian folklore claims about Senegalia mellifera extract's efficacy against snake envenomation.

Methods: In vitro assays were conducted to assess the inhibitory potential of S.

Hypoglycemic Assessment of Aqueous Leaf Extract of on Diabetic Wistar Rats.

leaf is used for diabetes due to its pharmacologic effects. Patients with hyperglycemia experience beta cell destruction. However, no research on risk awareness has been done to ascertain its safety.

Preparation of medicinally active extracts and phytochemical characterisation of phytoconstituents from medicinal plants.

Medicinal plants contain many bioactive compounds that are often hosted in medicinally active extracts generated from their various parts. The quest for reliable products from medicinal plants escalated in recent years as an answer to emerging health complications and the much-needed sufficient scientific backing that is dependent on proper preparation and characterisation principles of active extracts. This study described the Soxhlet and the maceration methods that are used to process extracts from the inert materials of medicinal plants using appropriate biocompatible solvents, the phytochemical screening assays, and TLC, UV spectrometry, FT-IR, and GC-MS techniques used in phytochemical studies.

Phytochemical characterization and antimicrobial activity of Nigella sativa seeds.

Nigella sativa is one of the medicinal plant species that gained popularity for a wide range of medicinal applications due to its seeds which are rich in phytoconstituents. Continuous scientific investigations on N. sativa seeds are needed to better understand its many medicinal potentials.

An investigation of the phytochemical contents of root and its antibacterial activity against selected foodborne pathogens.

Introduction: Marsdenia macrantha is a crucial source of traditional medicine in Northern Namibia. Its roots are used to treat various health conditions ranging from mouth infections to urinary retention. Despite its medicinal application, there is no known knowledge of its therapeutic properties.

New insights from Whole Genome Sequencing: BCLAF1 deletion as a structural variant that predisposes cells towards cellular transformation.

Cancer arises from a multi‑step cellular transformation process where some mutations may be inherited, while others are acquired during the process of malignant transformation. Aberrations in the BCL2 associated transcription factor 1 () gene have previously been identified in patients with cancer and the aim of the present study was to identify structural variants (SVs) and the effects of gene silencing on cell transformation. Whole‑genome sequencing was performed on DNA isolated from tumour biopsies with a histologically confirmed diagnosis of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC).

Predictive functional analysis reveals inferred features unique to cervicovaginal microbiota of African women with bacterial vaginosis and high-risk human papillomavirus infection.

Mounting evidence suggests that Lactobacillus species may not necessarily be the sine qua non of healthy cervicovaginal microbiota (CVM), especially among reproductive-age African women. A majority of African women have high-diversity non-Lactobacillus-dominated CVM whose bacterial functions remain poorly characterized. Functional profiling of the CVM is vital for investigating human host-microbiota interactions in health and disease.

The need for a balanced hospital-based care (HBC) and home- and community-based care (HCBC) approach for mitigating COVID-19 pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa.

The onslaught of COVID-19 pandemic has greatly overwhelmed some of the best healthcare systems in the world. Medical practitioners working in hospitals at the epicenters of COVID-19 pandemic have emphasized on the need to manage mildly ill and convalescent COVID-19 patients at home or community facilities rather than at hospitals during a pandemic. In this article, we highlight that a standardized home- and community-based (HCBC) approach for management of COVID-19 patients will be a key component for preparing hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for a potential surge in COVID-19 cases.

Characterization of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli in raw beef from informal and commercial abattoirs.

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli are foodborne pathogens that are mostly associated with beef products and have been implicated in human illness. E.coli-associated illness range from asymptomatic conditions of mild diarrhoea to haemorrhagic colitis which can progress into life threatening haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).

Corrigendum to "RANTES Gene Polymorphisms Associated with HIV-1 Infections in Kenyan Population".

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2016/4703854.].

Delineation of the HPV11E6 and HPV18E6 Pathways in Initiating Cellular Transformation.

Although high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are the major risk factors for cervical cancer they have been associated with several other cancers, such as head and neck and oral cancers. Since integration of low-risk HPV11 DNA has been demonstrated in esophageal tumor genomes, this study compared the effects of low-risk HPV11E6 and high-risk HPV18E6 on cellular gene expression. The HPV11E6 and HPV18E6 genes were cloned into an adenoviral vector and expressed in human keratinocytes (HaCaT) in order to investigate early events and to eliminate possible artifacts introduced by selective survival of fast growing cells in stable transfection experiments.

Cancer Stem Cell Hypothesis for Therapeutic Innovation in Clinical Oncology? Taking the Root Out, Not Chopping the Leaf.

Clinical oncology is in need of therapeutic innovation. New hypotheses and concepts for translation of basic research to novel diagnostics and therapeutics are called for. In this context, the cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis rests on the premise that tumors comprise tumor cells and a subset of tumor-initiating cells, CSCs, in a quiescent state characterized by slow cell cycling and expression of specific stem cell surface markers with the capability to maintain a tumor in vivo.

RANTES Gene Polymorphisms Associated with HIV-1 Infections in Kenyan Population.

Previous studies have reported that two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the RANTES gene promoter region, -403G/A and -28C/G, are associated with a slower rate of decline in CD4+ T cell count. In addition, as a ligand of the major HIV coreceptor CCR5, it is known to block HIV-CCR5 interactions in the course of the HIV infection cycle. This study was carried out with the aim of determining the occurrence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) -403G > A and -28C > G in the promoter region of RANTES, in a subset of the Kenyan population.

The cumulative effects of polymorphisms in the DNA mismatch repair genes and tobacco smoking in oesophageal cancer risk.

The DNA mismatch repair (MMR) enzymes repair errors in DNA that occur during normal DNA metabolism or are induced by certain cancer-contributing exposures. We assessed the association between 10 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 5 MMR genes and oesophageal cancer risk in South Africans. Prior to genotyping, SNPs were selected from the HapMap database, based on their significantly different genotypic distributions between European ancestry populations and four HapMap populations of African origin.