Anti-plasmodial activity of Norcaesalpin D and extracts of four medicinal plants used traditionally for treatment of malaria.

Background: Malaria is an old life-threatening parasitic disease that is still affecting many people, mainly children living in sub-Saharan Africa. Availability of effective antimalarial drugs played a significant role in the treatment and control of malaria. However, recent information on the emergence of P.

In vivo antimalarial activity of extracts of Tanzanian medicinal plants used for the treatment of malaria.

Plants used in traditional medicine have been the source of a number of currently used antimalarial medicines and continue to be a promising resource for the discovery of new classes of antimalarial compounds. The aim of this study was to evaluate in vivo antimalarial activity of four plants; Erythrina schliebenii Harms, Holarrhena pubescens Buch-Ham, Phyllanthus nummulariifolius Poir, and Caesalpinia bonducella (L.) Flem used for treatment of malaria in Tanzania.

Development of a simple microarray for genotyping HIV-1 drug resistance mutations in the reverse transcriptase gene in rural Tanzania.

Objective: Aiming at a simple, inexpensive and robust tool for HIV-1 drug resistance genotyping during antiretroviral therapy (ART) we developed and validated a microarray-based detection of 25 drug resistance mutations most relevant for the Tanzanian ART regimen.

Methods: A reverse transcriptase gene fragment was reverse-transcribed and amplified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Primers for mini-sequencing were designed based on alignments of the most prevalent local HIV-1 variants.

Prevalence of drug resistance mutations and HIV type 1 subtypes in an HIV type 1-infected cohort in rural Tanzania.

The development of resistance mutations in drug-targeted HIV-1 genes compromises the success of antiretroviral therapy (ART) programs. Genotyping of these mutations enables adjusted therapeutic decisions both at the individual and population level. We investigated over time the prevalence of HIV-1 primary drug resistance mutations in treatment-naive patients and described the HIV-1 subtype distribution in a cohort in rural Tanzania at the beginning of the ART rollout in 2005-2007 and later in 2009.

Antimicrobial and brine shrimp toxicity of some plants used in traditional medicine in Bukoba District, north-western Tanzania.

Herbal medicines constitute a potentially important resource for new and safe drugs for the management of microbial infections and other diseases. In this study, dichloromethane, ethylacetate and ethanol extracts of Canarium schweinfurthii Engl., Dissotis brazzae Cong.