Phytochemical analysis and antimicrobial activity of Phytolacca dodecandra, Cucumis aculeatus and Erythrina excelsa

Three medicinal plants, Erythrina excelsa, Phytolacca dodecandra and Cucumis aculeatus, collected from Siaya and Migori District in Kenya, were screened for the presence of phytochemicals. These plants have diverse compounds including phenolics, terpenoids, anthraquinones, alkaloids and flavonoids, whereby the terpenoids were the most abundant. The antimicrobial activity of the hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, methanol and water extracts from the stem barks, root barks and the leaves of selected medicinal plants were assayed against eight microorganisms. In comparison with the standard antibiotics (chloramphenicol), the dichloromethane extract presented a high activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 and a moderate activity on Salmonella typhi (Clinical isolate). The methanol extract presented significant activity against clinical fungal isolates, Microsporum gypseum and Trychophyton mentagrophytes. The hexane and ethyl acetate extract of Cucumis aculeatus leaves were active against P. aeruginosa ATCC 27853, whereas the dichloromethane extract of Erythrina excelsa had antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923. Hexane, dichloromethane and water extracts of Erythrina excelsa also showed activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853. These investigations shows that various extracts obtained from Erythrina excelsa, Phytolacca dodecandra and Cucumis aculeatus could be used in vitro to inhibit the growth of some important bacteria and fungi. The above results justify the reason why these medicinal plants have been and are being used to treat the fungal and bacterial infections by the Luo community.Keywords: Phytochemicals, Erythrina excelsa, Phytolacca dodecandra, Cucumis aculeatus, antimicrobial propertie

Human-wildlife conflict, benefit sharing and the survival of lions in pastoralist community-based conservancies

No abstract available

Pheochromocytoma in pregnancy: Case report

This is a case presentation of a 32 year old woman with pheochromocytoma diagnosed at 27 weeks of gestation, she was managed till term, induced and had assisted vaginal delivery. The pheochromocytoma was surgically re-sected successfully at six weeks postpartum

Examination of the Catalytic Role of the Axial Cystine Ligand in the Co-Type Nitrile Hydratase from \u3cem\u3ePseudonocardia thermophila\u3c/em\u3e JCM 3095

The strictly conserved αSer162 residue in the Co-type nitrile hydratase from Pseudonocardia thermophila JCM 3095 (PtNHase), which forms a hydrogen bond to the axial αCys108-S atom, was mutated into an Ala residue. The αSer162Ala yielded two different protein species: one was the apoform (αSerA) that exhibited no observable activity, and the second (αSerB) contained its full complement of cobalt ions and was active with a kcat value of 63 ± 3 s−1 towards acrylonitrile at pH 7.5. The X-ray crystal structure of was determined at 1.85 Å resolution and contained no detectable cobalt per α2β2 heterotetramer. The axial αCys108 ligand itself was also mutated into Ser, Met, and His ligands. All three of these αCys108 mutant enzymes contained only half of the cobalt complement of wild-type PtNHase, but were able to hydrate acrylonitrile with kcat values of 120 ± 6, 29 ± 3, and 14 ± 1 s−1 for the αCys108His, Ser, and Met mutant enzymes, respectively. As all three of these mutant enzymes are catalytically competent, these data provide the first experimental evidence that transient disulfide bond formation is not catalytically essential for NHases