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Anti-diabetic activity of eriobotrya japonica leaf extracts in diabetic and non-diabetic rats
No full textBackground and Objectives
The increased prevalence of diabetes mellitus over the years has become a major public health problem and economic burden in many countries. The limitations of the available conventional therapeutic options for diabetes mellitus, have led to a determined search for more efficacious and cost-effective alternatives. The aim of the present study was to investigate the hypoglycemic effect and mechanisms of Eriobotrya Japonica ethanolic leaf extracts in alloxan induced diabetic rats.
Methods
Diabetes was induced in male albino Sprague Dawley rats (250-300g) by chemical induction using alloxan monohydrate 120mg/kg body weight. Eriobotrya Japonica ethanolic leaf extracts were orally administered to diabetic rats at 100mg, 200mg, and 400mg/kg body weight doses for 15 days to determine the hypoglycemic activity. Blood glucose level was measured from the tail vein and the weight change was recorded.
Results
The three doses of Eriobotrya Japonica (100mg, 200mg, and 400mg/kg b.w) lowered the blood glucose level of alloxan induced diabetic rats significantly (p≤0.01). The reduction in blood glucose level was not dose dependent. Histo-pathological analysis did not show any protective action or change in morphology on the pancreas.
Conclusion
Eriobotrya Japonica in doses of 100mg, 200mg, and 400mg/kg b.w does not have any effect on morphology of pancreatic β cells in alloxan induced diabetic rat models. Eriobotrya Japonica can be tried out as a functional food for its anti-diabetic potential
Prevalence and factors associated with risky sexual behaviour after male circumcision among clients circumcised at Spilhaus Clinic in Harare
No full textIntroduction:
The main objective of this study was to determine whether men who were circumcised in adulthood have risky sexual behavior after being circumcised.
Methods:
A cross sectional study was conducted. Men aged18-49 years, residing in the city of Harare, who had voluntary medical MC from 1 July 2011 to 31 December 2011 were interviewed
Outcome Indicators
The main outcome indicators were sexual behaviors known to place men at increased risk of acquiring HIV (Sex with casual acquaintance, sex without condoms with girlfriend, transactional sex).
Results:
A total of 131 respondents were interviewed. Ninety four percent were Christian, and 60%were in union. For those reporting to be in union 86% was living with their partners. The prevalence of multiple unions was 9%. Ninety two percent (121/131) had ever had sexual intercourse. Overall use of condoms for those who last had sex within one month preceding the study was 10.5%. The prevalence of risky behavior at last sex encounter within one month of the study was 20% .The prevalence of multiple partners was 29%,
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which is higher than national average of 10.65. The 30-34 years age group (chi square= 20.0, p=0.000) had significantly higher rates of multiple partnerships. 7.4% had paid for sexual intercourse in the 12 months preceding the study. This was significantly higher for those with than secondary education (Chi square 4.80, p=0.04) in the 12 months preceding the study.
There was 28.1%, early resumption of sex, and was higher for men in union (39.7%) (Chi square 14.61, p<0.0001).
Conclusion:
The prevalence for risky behavior was 20%. The prevalence for payment for sex and multiple partnerships was higher than national average suggesting risk compensation
Stigma and discrimination: Coping behaviours of people living with HIV and AIDS in an urban community of Mabvuku and Tafara, Harare, Zimbabwe
No full textObjectives: To assess how people living with HIV and AIDS reacted to the knowledge of the infection and hovv they are coping with stigma and discrimination. Settings: The study was conducted in the two high density urban suburbs of Mabvuku and Tafara in Harare,
Zimbabwe. Design: The study w as a descriptive cross sectional survey.Subjects: A total of 600 participants (160 men and 440 women) who had received their HIV results after Voluntary Counselling and Testing for HIV at the Zimbabwe AIDS Prevention and Support Organization (ZAPSO) Mabvuku/Tafara Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centre were interviewed. Main Outcome Measures: Reactions to the diagnosis of HIV, disclosure of sero-status, experiences of self, family and community induced stigma and discrimination, coping mechanisms and desired interventions to reduce stigma. Results: The majority, 61.7%, had been diagnosed HIV positive less than two years at the time of the study. While 33.3% felt hurt, 41% were immediately depressed when they discovered they were HIV positive. Eighty five percent had not disclosed their sero-status to anyone. While 55% experience self induced stigma, 56.7% experienced family induced and 38.3% experienced community induced stigma. People living with HIV and AIDS were coping with stigma through withdrawal (60%); joining support groups (83.3%); seeking counselling (95%) and praying (86.7%). Encouraging community counselling and HIV testing with disclosure of status was perceived by 98.3% of the respondents as an effective method to reduce HIV and AIDS related stigma and discrimination. Conclusion: While non disclosure of sero status is still high, self, family and community induced stigma pose a big challenge. Withdrawal (used mostly by men), seeking counselling and joining support groups (used mostly by older women) are the common coping behaviours being used by HIV positive clients. There is need to improve counselling capacities so as to meet the demands from a stigma reduction perspective as well as from a coping perspective
Approches to the synthesis of steroidal &-Methylene Lactones
No full textA brief review of the biological properties and the synthesis of a-methylene-y- and 6-lactones is presented.
Estrone 69_ was converted to estrololactone-methyl ether 71 which was a~foimylated with ethyl formate, diethylaminated, hydrogenated and underwent $-elimination to the 3-methoxy-l6-methylene-17-oxo-l7a-oxa- D-homo-estra-1,3,5(10)-triene 75 which was reduced to the 16-methyl lactone 77 and thiolated to the thiol-adduct 76. The estrololactone 70a was a-formylated, acetylated, diethylaminated, hydrogenated and underwent |3-elimination to the 3-acetoxy-l6-methylene-l7-oxo-l7a-oxa- D-homo-estra-1,3,5(10)-triene ^9 which was hydrolysed to the 3-hydroxy- 16-methylene lactone 78. The reaction of the estrololactone methyl ether 71 with triphenylphosphonium ethyl bromide gave 3-methoxy-l6-isopropylidene- -17-oxo-l7a-oxa-D-homo-estra-1,3,5(10)-triene 100.
Cholesterol 109 was first converted to 3-oxo-4-oxa-5a_cholestane 119 and eventually to 2-methylene-4-oxa-3-oxo-5a-cholestane 122 through similar procedures. The lactone 122 was thiolated to the ethyl and phenyl thiol-adducts 123 and 124 respectively.
Baeyer-Villiger oxidation of the steroidal arylidene 17-ketones 128 (a, b and c) and alkylidene 17-ketones 129 (a and b) with trifluoro- peracetic acid gave isomeric 16a- and g-epoxides 130 and 152 respectively. Similar oxidation of the p-methoxybenzylidene ketone 128d gave the epoxy- enol lactone 145 and (3-diketones 142 and 148.
Baeyer-Villiger oxidation of the arylidene ketones 128 (a, b, c and d) with 40-45% peracetic acid gave a-acetoxyketo-acids 153. The a-acetoxyketo-acid 153d was esterified with diazomethane to the methyl ester 154 d.
Reduction of the benzylidene ketones 128 (a and d) gave reduced mixtures which were oxidised with Jones' reagent to the ketones 163. The benzylidene ketone 163a was oxidised with45% peracetic acid to the
lactone 166a, which was brominated and dehydrobrominated to the benzylidene lactone 170 which was hydrolysed to 3(3-hydroxy-l6-benzylidene-17- -oxo-17a-oxa-D-homo-5a-androstane 171. The reduced ketone 165d was oxidised with UO-US% peracetic acid to the lactone 166d which was not treated further. The oxidation of the 16-isopropyl ketone 161 with peracetic acid was unsuccessful.
Reaction of 3-hydroxybenzylidene ketone 127awith thiophenol gave the thiol-adduct 174 but trifluoroperacetic acid oxidation of it did not give the expected benzylidene lactone 176. The 38-hydroxy-5a-androstan-l7-one 126a was o-silylated with trimethylchlorosilane to the silyl enol ether 178 but condensation with butyraldehyde in the presence of titanium chloride did not give the desired 8“hydroxylactone 181. The lithium enolate 18? of the 3^-hydroxy-l7-oxo-l7a-oxa-D-homo-5a_androstone 188 with butyraldehyde and zinc chloride did not give the3(3-hydroxylactone 190. The lithium enolate of the 3-methoxy-l7-oxo-l7a-oxa-D-homo-estra- -1,3,5(10)-triene 71_ was however deuterated to the lactone 191.
The cytotoxic activity (LD^Q) was determined by a tissue culture technique on HeLa S3 cells and preliminary results show considerable activity for the 3-acetoxy-l6-methylene lactone 99^ (0.14 pg/ml), the 3-methoxy-l6-methylene lactone 75 and its thiol-adduct 76 (0.24 jjg/ml) and the 3-hydroxy-16-methylene-lactone 78 (0.50 jjg/ml); the 3-acetoxy- -16-acyloxy-methylene lactone 94, the 3-methoxy-l6-methyl lactone 77, the 3-methoxy-l6-isopropylidene lactone 100 and the benzylidene lactones 170 and 171 are inactive (> 10.00 pg/ml)
An approach to the management of volvulus of the sigmoid colon
No full textThe colon involved with the sigmoid volvulus is much thicker than the normal colon. It is easy to handle and holds sutures well. Patients who have sigmoid-colon volvulus do not have much faecal loading. Most of the distension is gaseous. In the hands of experienced surgeons primary anastomosis can be done after sigmoid colectomy with safety and excellent results
The causes of delayed diagnosis of cancer of the cervix in Zimbabwe
No full textPatients in Africa often present with advanced malignancy. Fifty patients with cancer of the cervix were interviewed to determine factors contributing to the late diagnosis of cancer. The average patient delay in seeking advice was 8.1 months. The main reason for this delay was failure to realize the abnormal nature of the symptoms. Delay on the part of health workers was 4.6 months. Traditional healers were not a significant cause of delay. Primary health care duties are the level at which population education and earlier medical diagnosis may be feasible
Anxiolytic activity of a Boophone disticha: Behavioral analysis in mice subjected to early maternal separation followed by later stressors: paper presented at the International summit on past and present research systems of green chemistry;August 25-27, 2014 Hilton Philadelphia Airport, USA
No full textPaper presented at the International summit on past and present research systems of green chemistry;August 25-27, 2014 Hilton Philadelphia Airport, USABackground: Boophone disticha is one of the commonly used bulbous plants in the treatment of anxiety disorders by indigenous people of Zimbabwe and surrounding countries but there is currently lack of scientific evidence for such claims. Therefore, the current study aimed to evaluate the anxiolytic efficacy of B. disticha aqueous ethanolic extract in adult Onincis France I(OFI) mice subjected to early life stress followed by later stressors.
Methods: OFI mice were assigned to two groups at birth. Group Amice (control) were left undisturbed during stress procedures while Group B litter (MS+FS) was subjected to three hours daily maternal separation (MS) from PND2 to PND14,followed subsequently with twenty minutes of forced swim stress (FS) during adolescence (on PND35) and adulthood (on ND60 and PND90). On PND91, thirty MS+FS mice from Group B were randomly assigned to five groups (B1-B5; n=6 each) for further treatments. Group A (n=6) and Group B1 mice were given six daily oral doses from PND92-97 of normal saline (vehicle); Group B2received diazepam, 1mg/kg body weight (BW); whilst Group B3, B4and B5were given low, medium and high dose of B. disticha extract at dosages of 10, 25 and 40 mg/kg BW respectively. On PND98, the open field and elevated plus maze tests were used to obtain psychopharmacological properties of B. disticha.
Results: Mice subjected to repeated early MS and subsequent FS during adulthood showed robust phenotypic abnormalities as compared to control undisturbed littermates, suggestive of increased anxiety-like behavior and inhibited exploratory locomotion. The benzodiazepine receptor agonist diazepam (1 mg/kg) produced a significant anxiolytic-like effect in the open field and elevated plus maze in stressed anxious mice. Current results found that stressed Mice treated with B. disticha aqueous extract also expressed lower scores of anxiety-like behaviors and higher exploratory and locomotor activities than the vehicle treated group.
Conclusions: The present findings demonstrate that abnormal anxiety-like and exploratory behavioral phenotypes in stressed mice are sensitive to diazepam and suggest that B. disticha is also effective in ameliorating these abnormalities
Co-morbidity of diabetes mellitus and HIV in patients attending the ART clinic Parirenyatwa hospital 2015
No full textBackground: Zimbabwe has a double burden of diseases, with HIV epidemic and increased prevalence of diabetes mellitus. Since the roll out of Anti Retroviral Therapy in 2004 at Parirenyatwa OI clinic, Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors have been the backbone of antiretroviral therapy. At least 10% of OI clients at the institution are on 2nd line regimen with Protease Inhibitors. These drugs cause metabolic derangements which are potentially Diabetogenic. With improved care in HIV management, patients are living long enough to experience environmental and behavioural risk factors for diabetes mellitus. However diabetic screening is not done at Parirenyatwa OI clinic and the disease burden of HIV/Diabetes co-morbidity is not known.
Methods: An analytic cross-sectional study was conducted. Questionnaires were used to collect data on patient’s socio-demographic characteristics, medical history and symptoms of diabetes mellitus. Random blood sugar and glycated haemoglobin tests were done to ascertain diabetes status.
Results: Prevalence of diabetes was 15.42%. Treatment with Protease inhibitors (POR 2.36; 95% CI 1.06-5.23) and a CD4 count at diagnosis of HIV greater than 500 (POR 3.74; 95% CI 1.26-11.09) were associated with development of diabetes mellitus with statistical significance. Smoking (POR 2.34; 95% CI 0.69-7.96), alcohol abuse (POR 1.81; 95% CI 0.74-4.40) being overweight (POR 1.79; 95% CI 0.85-3.79), were also associated with the development of diabetes but not statistically significant.
Conclusions: Behavioural risk factors like smoking, alcohol use and being overweight were associated with developing diabetes. Protease inhibitors use was also associated with the development of diabetes mellitus