Quality assessment of some bottled water produced in Okitipupa, Ondo state, Nigeria

The aim of this study was to assess the safety level of some bottled water produced in Okitipupa, Ondo State Nigeria. Several packs of bottled water were obtained from three different manufacturers. Some physicochemical parameters and heavy metals were investigated to assess the quality of the bottle water using standard methods. The results from the physicochemical parameters and heavy metals were in with World Health Organization (WHO) standard for drinking water when compared. This study confirmed that the analyzed bottled water has good quality. Therefore, these bottled water are said to be safe for drinking

Concentration and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in some commercial herbal drugs used for cholera treatment in southwest Nigeria

The aim of this study was to investigate the cancer risk that could be incurred from the use of some anti-cholera herbal drugs sold in Southwest Nigeria. Three most popular anti-cholera herbal drugs were studied. The cancer risk estimation for the drugs at studied population ranges from 7.119 to 0.338 x 10-8 in children, 9.563 to 0.129 x 10-8 in preteen and 9.541 to 5.196 x 10-8 in adult. The cancer risk estimated values are below the USEPA set value 1 x 10-6. This established that the use of these herbal drugs might not lead to cancer if consumed at low dosage

Green synthesis of copper oxide nanoparticles for biomedical application and environmental remediation

Recent development in nanoscience and nanotechnology has contributed to the wide applications of metal and metal oxides nanoparticles in several field of sciences, research institutes and industries. Among all metal oxides, copper oxide nanoparticles (CuONPs) has gained more attention due to its distinctive properties and applications. The high cost of reagents, equipment and environmental hazards associated with the physical and chemical methods of synthesizing CuONPs has been a major setback. In order to puffer solution to the aforementioned challenges by reducing environmental pollution and production of cheaper nanoparticles with good properties and efficiency, this review focus on collection of comprehensive information from recent developments in the synthesis, characterization and applications from previous scientific findings on biological method of synthesizing CuONPs due to the acclaimed advantages of been cheap, environmentally friendly, convenient and possibility of been scale up in into large scale production reported by numerous researchers. Our finding also support the synthesis of CuONPs from plant sources due to relative abundance of plants for the production of reducing and stabilizing agents required for CuONPs synthesis, potential efficiency of plant biomolecules in enhancing the toxicity effect of CuONPs against microbes, prevention of environmental pollution due of nontoxic chemicals and degradation effectiveness of CuONPs synthesized from plant sources. Furthermore, this study provide useful information on the rapid synthesis of CuONPs with desired properties from plant extracts

Characterization and Pharmacological Efficacy of Silver Nanoparticles Biosynthesized Using the Bark Extract of Garcinia Kola

The delinquent peril of bacterial infections affecting human kind is becoming unbearable. This study was embarked on to investigate the antimicrobial activity of biosynthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using Garcinia kola bark extract against some bacteria strains. Fresh barks of Garcinia kola were obtained from the “Gbeleju” farm land in Irele town in Ondo state region of Nigeria. Exactly 0.4 g of previously pulverized bark of Garcinia kola was immersed into 20 mL of distilled water and heated at 60–70°C for 10 minutes yielding the extract. The biosynthesized nanoparticle was characterized with UV spectroscope, Fourier infrared spectroscope (FTIR), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and energy dispersive X-Ray analyzer (EDX). Then, 0.2 g of the silver nanoparticles was dissolved in 2 ml of water to yield 100 mg/ml of the stock solution which was further diluted for the antibacterial analysis via the disc diffusion method. The result obtained from the analytical characterization of the biosynthesized silver nanoparticles revealed a spherical particle shape, particle size in the range of 12.23 to 27.90 nm with an average size of 20.07 nm via TEM analysis. The FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of -OH functional group for the stabilization of the silver nanoparticles formed due to the broad peak at wavelength 3324.52 and 3344.21 cm−1. The EDX analysis revealed carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, aluminum, potassium, copper, and silver as the elements present in the nanoparticles. Results obtained from the antibacterial screening of the biosynthesized AgNPs showed inhibitory potential that are capable of obstructing the growth of the test bacteria. This investigation ascertained the biosynthesized AgNPs as a remedy for curing bacterial infections and also a promising source for novel antibacterial agent