Analyse des déterminants de la promotion des énergies renouvelables au Cameroun

This article aims to analyze the main determinants of the promotion of renewable energies (RE) in Cameroon. To achieve this objective, we conducted an econometric study based on the VAR (Vector Autoregressive) model over the period 2002-2014. The empirical results show that the electric park, the level of CO2 emissions due to the electricity sector, and the quality of institutions have a significant effect on the promotion of renewable energies in Cameroon. On the other hand, the level of per capita income has no significant effect.Cet article a pour objectif d’analyser les principaux déterminants de la promotion des énergies renouvelables (ENR) au Cameroun. Pour que cet objectif soit atteint, nous avons fait une étude économétrique en se basant sur le modèle VAR (Vectoriel Autorégressif) sur la période de 2002-2014. Les résultats empiriques montrent que le parc électrique, le niveau d’émission de CO2 due au secteur électrique, et la qualité des institutions ont un effet significatif sur la promotion des énergies renouvelables au Cameroun. Par contre, le niveau de revenu par habitant n’a pas d’effet significatif

Effect of Plectranthus glandulosus and Ocimum gratissimum Essential Oils on Growth of Aspergillus flavus and Aflatoxin B1 Production

Essential oils of Ocimum gratissimum and Plectranthus glandulosus leaves were extracted by steam distillation and analysed by GC-MS, and their effects on growth and aflatoxin B1 production by Aspergillus flavus were tested at five levels (i.e 200, 400, 600, 800 and 1000 mg/l) using SMKY agar medium. The main components of O. gratissimum were thymol (47.7%) and -terpinene (14.3%) whereas those of P. glandulosus were represented by -terpinene (30.8%) and terpinolene (25.2%). After 8 days of incubation on essential oil-supplemented medium, growth of A. flavus was totally inhibited by 800 mg/l of O. gratissimum essential oil and by 1000 mg/l of P. glandulosus essential oil. The effect of essential oils on aflatoxin B1 synthesis was evaluated in SMKY broth. The medium supplemented with different essential oil concentrations, was inoculated with A. flavus mycelium and incubated at 25 °C. At 2, 4, 6 and 8 days, aflatoxin B1 concentrations in the supernatant were estimated using Enzyme Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay (ELISA). Results showed that aflatoxin B1 synthesis was inhibited by 1000 mg/l of both essential oils of O. gratissimum and P. glandulosus after 8 days of incubation. Results obtained in the present study indicate the possibility of exploiting O. gratissimum and P. glandulosus essential oils in the fight against strains of A. flavus responsible for biodeterioration of stored food products

Le juge, le pape, la croix... et le calvaire de l’article 28 de la loi de 1905

Dans la décision objet de ce commentaire, le Conseil d’État se prononce sur la validité, au regard de l’article 28 de la loi de séparation des Églises et de l’État, d’une statue monumentale du pape Jean-Paul II installée sur une place publique de la ville de Ploërmel. Mais, loin d’éteindre les polémiques en matière de respect de la laïcité, l’arrêt de la haute juridiction administrative interroge au contraire sur la consistance – ou la perte de consistance – de ce principe et de l’un de ses corollaires : la neutralité religieuse des espaces publics

Anti-bacterial profile of some beers and their effect on some selected pathogens

The investigation of the therapeutic properties of some beers, allow us to study their anti-bacterial profile against food born diseases caused by bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Staphilococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus anthracis and Bacillus subtilis. The results obtained show that beers B2 and B3 had no anti-bacterial activity on the tested bacteria, whereas, beer B1 had bactericidal activity on gram positive and gram negative bacteria. The anti-spore activity of beer B1 on B. anthracis, B. cereus and B. subtilis exhibited a microcycle (sporulationgermination-sporulation), which could permit the application of soft preservation methods during the first 5 h for B. cereus and B. subtilis and during the first 10 h for B. anthracis. Finally, the results seem to confirm some popular practices. The beer B1 presents some potentialities for the treatment of gastro-enteritis.Keywords: Food contaminations, beer, anti-bacterial substance, gastro-enteritisAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 9(36), pp. 5938-5945, 6 September, 201

Development of Water Melon (Citrullus vulgaris L.) Red Wine

This work aims at developing an alcoholic drink from water melon fruit in order to reabsorb the water melon surpluses and to reduce the pressure made on cereals (sorghum and corn) for the manufacture of artisanal alcoholic drinks. Antioxidant effect of polyphenols, was studied, total polyphenols, ethanol, methanol and total acids content of red water melon wines were determined and compared to a product used in human therapeutic; an extract of the Ginkgo biloba, one local sorghum beer, palm wine and few industrial wines. Results indicate that water melon based alcoholic drinks present an ethyl alcohol content varying from 8±1% to 13±1%, a total acidity from 1.2±0.1 g/l to 1.7±0.0 g/l. The newly produce water melon based wines present high content of polyphenols, and strong antioxidant capacity compare to the Ginkgo-biloba, sorghum beer and the tree other samples wines. A reasonable consumption of 240 ml/day of water melon wines represents a polyphenol contribution of 403 mg/day and an anti capacity oxidizing respectively of 4.25 or 2.4 mmol/day versus 0.18 mmol/day for the Ginkgo biloba extract

Anterior Pituitary Endocrine Dysfunctions in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury in the Neurosurgical Units of the Yaounde Central and General Hospitals: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Post-traumatic endocrine dysfunction (PTED) is an important and relatively common complication of TBI (traumatic brain injury). It is usually undiagnosed and untreated making it a major cause of poor outcome in TBI patients as it can lead to death, delayed recovery, cognitive impairment, depression, sexual dysfunctions and infertility. Study Design: Analytic cross-sectional study at the Yaounde Central and General Hospitals from January 2022 to April 2022. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the endocrine dysfunctions and factors associated to their occurrence in patients presenting TBI at the neurosurgical units of the Yaounde Central and General Hospitals. Methods: Patients were enrolled at the neurosurgical units Data was collected with the help of a questionnaire after obtaining their informed consent alongside with blood samples in the morning (between 8AM and 10AM) for screening of anterior hypothalamo-pituitary axis hormones (FSH, LH and TSH) and relative peripheral hormones (cortisol, T4, oestrogene in women and testosterone in men) using fluorescence immunoassay. The study population was made up of all patients diagnosed with TBI during the study period at study sites. Patients taking medications affecting the hypothalamo-pituitary axis were excluded. Variables of interest included socio-demographic variables, clinical variables and paraclinical variables. Data was inserted and analyzed using the software Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26.0. Association between variables was done using Fisher’s exact test. The association measure used was odd’s ratio (OR) with confidence interval (CI) of 95%. Results: A total of 33 participants were enrolled, out of which 26 responding to our inclusion criteria were retained and 7 excluded because they were on medications affecting the hypothalamo-pituitary axis. The median age of participants was 34 (26,75–41,25) years. There was a predominance of the male population with a sex ratio of 12:1. A total of 17 participants developed PTED (65.38%). The PTED encountered were FSH deficiency (12 patients at 46,1%), LH deficiency (10 patients at 38,4%), morning cortisol deficiency (5 patients at 19,2%), TSH deficiency (7 patients at 26,9%), testosterone deficiency (5 patients at 19,2%) and multiple deficiencies (12 patients at 46,1%). PTED was also found in 6 patients with severe TBI, 6 patients with moderate TBI and 5 patients with mild TBI (35.3%, 35.3% and 29.4%). In ≤7 days from TBI, 11 patients suffered PTED (64.7%) while after 7 days post-TBI, only 6 patients suffered PTED (35.3%). Tiredness was the most frequent symptom observed in 15 patients with PTED (88.2%). No factors associated to the occurrence of PTED were found in this study (p-values were all >0.05). Conclusion: This study suggests that PTED is a common condition amongst sufferers of TBI. PTED occurs in both genders and the most frequent types of anterior pituitary endocrine dysfunctions were hypogonadism, hypothyroidism and lastly corticotropic insufficiency. Most patients with PTED had associated CT-scan lesions. No factors was significantly associated to the occurrence of PTED probably due to small sample size

Chemical composition, antioxidant effects and antimicrobial activities of some spices’ essential oils on food pathogenic bacteria

Thymus vulgaris, Cinnamomum zeylanicum and Ocimum gratissimum are spices widely used as aroma enhancers and food preservatives. This work assessed the chemical composition, antioxidant and antimicrobial effect of their essential oils on some food pathogenic bacteria, namely, Staphylococcus aureus, Citrobacter freundii, Enterobacter cloacae, Morganella morganii, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Proteus vulgaris and Shigella flexineri. After chemical analyses of the essential oils by gas chromatography and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectroscopy, the antimicrobial effects were subsequently assessed by disk and microdilution methods, while the antioxidant evaluations were performed by free radical scavenging activity. T. vulgaris essential oil composed of p-cymene (45.90%) and thymol (23.72%) which exhibited the highest inhibitory diameters of 20.33±0.58 and 18.00±1 mm, respectively, on the growth of S. aureus and C. freundii. O. gratissimum essential oil with thymol as major compound (47.11%) was more active to inhibit the growth of C. freundii and S. flexineri with respective inhibitory diameters of 18±1.73 and 16±2 mm. Essential oil from dry leaves of C. zeylanicum containing cinnamaldehyde (82.23%) and linalool (12.12%) was found to have the lowest values for minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) (≤3.53 mg/mL)considering the growth of S. flexineri, C. freundii and E. cloacae. Regarding the antioxidant effect, C. zeylanicum and T. vulgaris essential oil showed the most scavenging effect with half-maximal DPPH scavenging concentration (SC50) of 2.5 × 10-5 and 6.5 × 10-5 mg/ml, respectively. Their antioxidant effects were higher than conventionally used antioxidants in food products, butylhydroxyltoluene (BHT) and vitamin C.Key words: Spices, essential oils, chemical composition, antibacterial and antioxidant effects

Evaluation of antidiarrhoeal activity of the stem bark of Cylicodiscus gabunensis (mimosaceae)

The ethyl acetate (EA) extract of the stem bark of Cylicodiscus gabunensis (CG) (Mimosaceae) was analysed for its anti-diarrhoeal activity. Like loperamide (3 mg/Kg body weight), a single oral dose of C.gabunensis ethyl acetate extract (CG-EA) (375, 750 mg/Kg body weight) produced a significant decrease in the severity of diarrhoea. To understand the mechanism of its anti-diarrhoeal activity, its effect was further evaluated on intestinal transit, castor oil induced intestinal fluid accumulation(enteropooling) and electrolyte concentration in the small intestinal fluid. CG-EA produced a decrease in intestinal transit (10.26-30.75%), and unlike atropine, it significantly inhibited castor oil induced enteropooling. However, it did not alter the electrolyte concentration in intestinal fluid as compared tocastor oil-treated rat