Tradomedical Values of Cotton Leaf Plus Lemon Juice Against Clinical Bacterial Isolates

The antibacterial activity of the water and ethanolic extracts of cotton leaf (Gossypium spp.) plus lemon juice (Citrus limon) were tested against pure clinical isolates of Salmonella sp., Shigella sp., E. coli and Klebsiella sp. Cotton leaf is normally used in conjunction with lemon juice by the local populace in Nigeria for the treatment of enteric infections. Decoction method was used for the extraction of the active components from the plant in order to simulate the traditional method of extraction. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and the diameters of zones of inhibition were determined by broth dilution and Agar diffusion methods respectively. The ethanolic extracts are more effective than the water extracts on the test organisms. The MIC of the water and ethanolic extracts ranged between 1.25 -5.0 w/v on the test organisms. Similarly, the average diameter of zones of inhibition of the water extracts on the test organisms ranged between 3.0 to 13.0mm while that of the ethanolic extracts ranged between 12.0 to 21.0mm. The results of this study showed that E. coli was the most susceptible followed by Klebsiella sp., then Salmonella sp., and finally Shigella sp. at the concentrations used for both water and ethanolic extracts. This observation thereby justifies the traditional uses of these plant extracts among the Nigerian local populace for the treatment of some enteric infections such as dysentery and diarrhoea

Spatial Assessment of Public Water Supplies in Densely Populated Areas of Ilorin Metropolis, Kwara State, Nigeria

Water samples collected from public tap supplies at densely populated areas within Ilorin metropolis were analyzed for potability and safety. The study covered a period of twenty-four months. Physicochemical parameters such as pH, turbidity, residual chlorine, colour, suspended solids and total hardness were determined. The pH of the samples ranged from 7.0 - 7.90 while the range for residual chlorine was 0.5 - 10 mg/L. The suspended solids and total hardness ranged from 0.79 - 46.0 mg/L and 7.0 - 34mg/L respectively. Turbidity of the samples ranged from 0 – 5 NTU, while the colour range was 0 - 5 HU and temperature range was 21 - 30 0C. The results show that only four (20%) of the twenty samples were potable and free from pathogens while Escherichia coli, Klebsiella sp., Salmonella sp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shigellla sp. and Enterobacter aerogenes were detected in sixteen (80%) of the samples. The viable total bacterial count ranged between 0.00 – 2.6 x 102 cfu/mL, total coliform count ranged from 0 – 75 MPN/100mL while faecal coliform count ranged from 0.00 – 2.3 x 102 cfu/mL. The presence of coliforms in the samples is indicative of faecal and non-faecal contamination along the supply network, which in some cases could be due to leaching from contaminated environment into corroded pipes along the distribution network used for conveying the treated water that passed through drainage system. Keywords: Coliforms, contamination, safety, bacteriological, physicochemical parameter

Microbial Deterioration of Tomato Fruit ( Lycopersicon esculentum ) Sold in Three Popular Markets in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria

The economic loss as a result of spoilage and proliferation of microorganisms on tomato fruits with the possible health risks were the justification for this study. One hundred and fifty tomato fruit samples in different stages of spoilage from three different markets in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria were collected within five weeks and the effect of moisture content on each sample and resulting microflora examined. The pH of the samples ranged from 4.90 - 5.40, while the moisture content ranged from 89.10% - 90.70%. The bacteria counts ranged from 4.00 x 106 - 7.50 x 106 cfu/ml, while the fungal counts ranged from 1.60 x 106 - 3.50 x 106 cfu/ml. A total number of sixteen bacteria and eleven fungi including yeasts were associated with the samples. The bacterial isolates included Aeromonas veronii, Bacillus sp., Neisseria sp., Corynebacterium renale, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Micrococcus varians, Moraxella sp., Bacillus polymyxa, Aeromonas hydrophila, Pseudomonas sp., Bacillus megaterium, Corynebacterium ulcerans, Vibrio sp., Proteus mirabilis, Corynebacterium xerosis, and Bacillus brevis while the fungal isolates included Alternaria sp., Botrytis sp., Candida albicans, Candida guilliermondii, Candida tropicalis, Chrysosporium tropicum, Curvularia sp., Doratomyces microsporus, Geotrichum candidum, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Rhizopus stolonifer. The high moisture content of the tomato samples provides an enabling environment for proliferation of the microbial load and hence its spoilage and potential to become health risk to human beings. Keywords: Spoilage, proliferation, economic loss, pH and moistur

Small-angle x-ray scattering to analyze the morphological properties of nanoparticulated systems

Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) is a powerful technique that uses the scattering of a beam of X-rays to investigate the structure, morphology, and arrangement of submicron dimensions and particularly useful for studying systems at the nanometric scale. Herein, in this chapter book, we will examine the most representative features of several scattering intensity curves acquired from several nanoparticulated systems. We begin with the explanation of the most fundamental concepts behind the SAXS framework, to then introduce the principal features of a scattering pattern. Each section of this chapter is complemented with practical examples, many of which are simulations, while others come from real experimental data taken from real samples synthesized for this purpose in our labs. As an important part of this work, we present two models often used to fit SAXS curves acquired from granular nanoparticle samples, which are the fractal aggregate and the Beaucage models. In this last part of these sections, our goal is to explain how to obtain valuable structural information from systems consisting of either nanoparticles surrounded by liquids or solids. Finally, we present a complete description of the principal components needed to a SAXS instrument.Fil: Moscoso Londoño, Oscar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Autónoma de Manizales; Colombia. Universidade Estadual de Campinas; BrasilFil: Tancredi, Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Física. Laboratorio de Sólidos Amorfos; ArgentinaFil: Rivas Rojas, Patricia Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Física. Laboratorio de Sólidos Amorfos; ArgentinaFil: Muraca, Diego. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidade Estadual de Campinas; BrasilFil: Socolovsky, Leandro Martín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Santa Cruz. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Santa Cruz. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Santa Cruz. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Santa Cruz; ArgentinaFil: Knobel, Marcelo. Universidade Estadual de Campinas; Brasi

Mapping of drug-related problems among older adults conciliating medical and pharmaceutical approaches

PURPOSE: To lay the fundamentals of drug-related problems (DRPs) in older adults, and to organize them according to a logical process conciliating medical and pharmaceutical approaches, to better identify the causes and consequences of DRPs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A narrative overview. RESULTS: The causes of DRPs may be intentional or unintentional. They lie in poor prescription, poor adherence, medication errors (MEs) and substance use disorders (SUD). Poor prescription encompasses sub-optimal or off-label drug choice; this choice is either intentional or unintentional, often within a polypharmacy context and not taking sufficiently into account the patient's clinical condition. Poor adherence is often the consequence of a complicated administration schedule. This review shows that MEs are not the most frequent causes of DRPs. SUD are little studied in older adults and needs to be more investigated because the use of psychoactive substances among older people is frequent. Prescribers, pharmacists, nurses, patients, and caregivers all play a role in different causes of DRPs. The potential deleterious outcomes of DRPs result from adverse drug reactions and therapeutic failures. These can lead to a negative benefit-risk ratio for a given treatment regimen. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: Interdisciplinary pharmacotherapy programs show significant clinical impacts in preventing or resolving adverse drug events and, suboptimal responses. New technologies also seem to be interesting solutions to prevent MEs. Better communication between healthcare professionals, patients and their caregivers would ensure greater safety and effectiveness of treatments