Evaluation of the cytotoxic potential of Securidaca longepedunculata on human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) cells

The prevalence of cancer has increased interest in the role of complementary and alternative medicine, employing the use of plant products. Securidaca longepedunculata (SL) is an example of plant product which serves as a major component of anticancer decoctions in Nigeria. In other to scientifically ascertain this claim, this study was carried out to evaluates the cytotoxic potential of the crude extract and fractions of SL root bark against human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) cell line. The root back of SL was pulverized and extracted with 80% methanol to yield a crude extract which was then submitted to liquid–liquid fractionation with dichloromethane (DCM) and butanol (BUT). The extract and fractions were subjected to Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). MCF-7 cell line was treated with graded concentrations (9.77 – 5000 μg ml-1) of the aqueous methanol crude extract as well as the DCM and BUT fractions for 24 or 48 hours. Cell viability was thereafter measured by XTT proliferation assay. The inhibitory activities of the aqueous methanolic crude extract was found to be both dose-dependent and time independent with IC50 values of 2241 μg ml-1 and 1808 μg ml-1 after 24 and 48 hours respectively. The DCM and BUT fractions were significantly (p < 0.05) cytotoxic with IC50 values of 86.27 μg ml-1 and 12.08 μg ml-1 respectively after 48 hours of treatment. The study provide evidence that BUT fractions of SL has the highest potential to significantly show anticancer properties

Large-Scale Model-Based Assessment of Deer-Vehicle Collision Risk

Ungulates, in particular the Central European roe deer Capreolus capreolus and the North American white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus, are economically and ecologically important. The two species are risk factors for deer–vehicle collisions and as browsers of palatable trees have implications for forest regeneration. However, no large-scale management systems for ungulates have been implemented, mainly because of the high efforts and costs associated with attempts to estimate population sizes of free-living ungulates living in a complex landscape. Attempts to directly estimate population sizes of deer are problematic owing to poor data quality and lack of spatial representation on larger scales. We used data on 74,000 deer–vehicle collisions observed in 2006 and 2009 in Bavaria, Germany, to model the local risk of deer–vehicle collisions and to investigate the relationship between deer–vehicle collisions and both environmental conditions and browsing intensities. An innovative modelling approach for the number of deer–vehicle collisions, which allows nonlinear environment–deer relationships and assessment of spatial heterogeneity, was the basis for estimating the local risk of collisions for specific road types on the scale of Bavarian municipalities. Based on this risk model, we propose a new “deer–vehicle collision index” for deer management. We show that the risk of deer–vehicle collisions is positively correlated to browsing intensity and to harvest numbers. Overall, our results demonstrate that the number of deer–vehicle collisions can be predicted with high precision on the scale of municipalities. In the densely populated and intensively used landscapes of Central Europe and North America, a model-based risk assessment for deer–vehicle collisions provides a cost-efficient instrument for deer management on the landscape scale. The measures derived from our model provide valuable information for planning road protection and defining hunting quota. Open-source software implementing the model can be used to transfer our modelling approach to wildlife–vehicle collisions elsewhere