1,720,958 research outputs found
Molecular Identification of Fungal Populations in Polyherbal Medicines used for the Treatment of Tuberculosis
No full textThe traditional systems of medicine have significantly become more accepted in the
developed and developing countries due to their curative property, less toxicity and minimal
side effects. However, several studies have shown that they are associated with microbial
contaminants. This study aimed at identifying fungi in nine polyherbal medicines used for the
treatment of tuberculosis in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Sequences of fungi DNA that
encodes internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region were retrieved from the remedies. The ITS
region of the fungal rRNA operon was amplified using ITS1 and ITS4 primers. The amplicons
were visualized on agarose gel electrophoresis, followed by end repair and adaptor ligation.
They were further purified and quantified using Library Preparation kit NEBNext® UltraT DNA
Library Prep Kit for Illumina and run on Illumina’s MiSeq platform. The study revealed that
the polyherbal medicines are contaminated with fungi species. The predominant mycoflora
obtained belongs to different genera or species of fungi. They include Aspergillus, Penicillium,
Alternaria, Candida, Ramularia, Cladosporium and Malassezia among others. Some of these
organisms are capable of causing infections in immunocompromised patients. Thus, the study
identified various fungal contaminants in polyherbal remedies sold to tuberculosis patients in
five communities in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa
Identification and Phylogenetic Profiling of Bacterial Populations in Perna perna L.
No full textThe consumption of molluscan shellfish is associated with health benefits such as reducing the risk of heart diseases, lowering the amount of cholesterol in the blood and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Despite these benefits, there is a potential risk of bacterial infections attributed to the consumption of mussels. Sequences of DNA that encode to 16S rRNA were determined from Perna perna collected in Algoa Bay, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The bacterial DNA was amplified by PCR with universal primer sets GM5F and 40 bp GC clamp 907R and visualized on agarose gel electrophoresis. Target amplicons 586 bp from each DNA were further purified and sequenced in ABI 3500 XL genetic analysers. Sequences of each of the bacterium were aligned while evolutionary history was inferred using the neighbour-joining method and a phylogenetic tree was constructed using MEGA 6 software. Twenty-eight bacterial strains were identified in the samples; while 89.30% of which belong to the Phylum Actinobacteria and were all Gram-positive, the remaining 10.70% belong to the Phylum Spirochaetes and were all Gram-negative. The bacterial isolates identified were predominantly members of the genera Saccharothrix with six species (21%) followed by Kocuria and Streptomyces with five species respectively (18%). Others include Spirochaeta (11%), Arthrobacter (7%), Rhodococcus (7%), Zhihengliuella (4%), Nesterenkonia (4%), Lechevalieria (4%), Citricoccus (3%) and Micrococcus (3%). This showed that Perna perna inhabiting Algoa Bay are reservoirs of various bacterial populations. This in turns emphasizes on proper cooking of Perna perna before consumption in order to safeguard the health of the consumers
Ethno-medicinal documentation of polyherbal medicines used for the treatment of tuberculosis in Amathole District Municipality of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
No full textContext: Tuberculosis (TB) has remained a devastating global public health problem. In the continuing search for effective treatment, polyherbal remedies used as alternative medicines in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa were surveyed. Objective: The survey collected information and documents the list of ingredients such as the name of the plants used including the non-herbal inclusions, type and dosage of polyherbal formulations used for the treatment of TB. Materials and methods: The survey was conducted over a period of 6 months using semi-structured questionnaires amidst informal conversations with the traditional healers in five communities in the study area. The chosen study area is the third infected Province with TB in South Africa. Results: A total of nine polyherbal preparations were collected. Information on the parts of the plant used, mode of preparation and the dosage used were documented. In total, the herbs belong to 20 families of which Apiaceae, Liliaceae, Strychnaceae, Rutaceae and Hypoxidaceae are the most prominent. However, members of Apiaceae were commonly mentioned for the preparation of the remedies. The two most frequently used plants were Allium sativum L. (Liliaceae) and Strychnos decussata (Pappe) Gilg. (Strychnaceae). Rhizome was the commonest parts used, followed by the roots and barks. Conclusions: This paper provides significant ethno-medicinal information on polyherbal medicines used for the treatment of TB in the study area. The therapeutic claims made on medicinal plants used for the preparations are well supported by the literature, with many of the species having antimicrobial properties
Identification of bacterial contaminants in polyherbal medicines used for the treatment of tuberculosis in Amatole District of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, using rapid 16S rRNA technique
Get PDFGoing Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Evaluation of important mineral nutrients and vitamins in polyherbal medicines used for the treatment of tuberculosis in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
Get PDFPolyherbal medicines are widely used for the treatment of various diseases in the developing countries. In order to validate their ability in boosting the immune system of tuberculosis patients, the mineral nutrients and vitamins present were determined. Their nutritive properties were analysed using an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer, while the vitamins were determined using standardized methods. The polyherbal preparations were found to be rich in mineral nutrients and vitamins. Calcium was the highest mineral nutrient detected, while the lowest nutrient was phosphorus. Quantitatively, calcium and magnesium contents in the remedies ranged from 973.30 to 6503.30 mg/100g and 80.00 to 406.00 mg/100g respectively. The amount of phosphorus and potassium was between 20.00 and 263.30 mg/100g; 160.00 and 2050.00 mg/100g respectively. Micro nutrients such as iron, manganese, zinc, aluminium and copper were also detected. Iron was the highest nutrient in the majority of the polyherbal preparations while the lowest value was recorded for copper. However, vitamin C was absent in the herbal preparations while vitamin A and E were detected. These findings indicate that these polyherbal formulations contain the essential mineral nutrients and vitamins that could probably be boosting the immune system of tuberculosis patients
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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