COMPARATIVE QUANTITATIVE PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF THE LEAVES OF SENNA ITALICA COLLECTED FROM DIFFERENT AREAS IN LIMPOPO PROVINCE, SOUTH AFRICA

Objective: The current study was aimed at comparative quantitative phytochemical analysis of the leaves of S. italica collected from four districts in Limpopo province, South Africa, in order to establish whether geographical location have an effect on the accumulation of phytochemicals within the leaves of the plant species under study.Methods: The leaves of S. italica were collected from four districts in Limpopo province of South Africa namely; Capricorn, Sekhukhune, Vhembe and Waterberg districts, dried, ground to powder and extracted using different organic solvents. The extracts of the leaf samples from different locations were subjected to quantitative phytochemical analysis for total phenolic content, total tannin content, total flavonoid content and total saponin content using spectrophotometric measurements. The resultant quantities were analysed for statistical differences.Results: The leaf samples of S. italica from the four districts in Limpopo province showed significant differences (*p<0.05) in their phytochemical quantities, with main data expressed as mean±SD. Total phenolic content was in highest amounts in leaf samples from Waterberg district compared to samples from other districts. Total tannin content was in highest amounts in the Vhembe district leaf samples compared to samples from other districts. Total flavonoid content was in highest amounts in the leaf samples from Waterberg district compared to samples from other districts. Total saponin content was in highest amounts in the Vhembe district leaf samples compared to samples from other districts.Conclusion: The findings of the study thus suggest that geographical location has an effect on the accumulation of phytochemicals in the leaves of S. italica

Adolescent mothers' utilisation of reproductive health services in the Gauteng Province of the Republic of South Africa

A financial grant was received from the World Health Organization (WHO) during 1998 to establish whether adolescent mothers (aged 19 or younger at the birth of their babies) utilized contraceptive, emergency contraceptive and termination of pregnancy (TOP) services in the Republic of South Africa (RSA). This report refers to data obtained from 111 questionnaires completed by dolescent mothers between January 2000 and May 2000 in the Gauteng Province; 61 in the Pretoria and 50 in the Garankuwa areas, and excluding the 12 completed questionnaires used foi pretesting the research instrument. The biographic data of the 111 adolescent mothers indicated that the minority were married, employed or earned sufficient income to care for themselves and their babies. However, the minority used contraceptives prior to conception, none used emergency contraceptives or termination of pregnancy (TOP) services. The minority attended ante-natal clinics five or more times during their pregnancies, and a negligible number indicated that they had ever been treated for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). These findings indicate that the 111 adolescent mothers in Gauteng who participated in this survey did not make optimum use of the available reproductive health (RH) care services. Education about sex, pregnancy and contraceptives should commence at the age of 10, but no later than the age of 12 as the majority of respondents did not have the necessary knowledge to make informed decisions about their futures. The accessibility of contraceptive, emergency contraceptive , s and TOP services for adolescents should be investigated in .< \ v specific areas and attempts made to enhance such accessi- \ ; bility. This might necessitate offering these services over weeker| ds or during evenings when school girls could attend without fear of meeting their mothers, aunts or teachers at these clinicsHealth Studie

Studies of new Higgs boson interactions through nonresonant HH production in the b¯bγγ fnal state in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for nonresonant Higgs boson pair production in the b ¯bγγ fnal state is performed using 140 fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. This analysis supersedes and expands upon the previous nonresonant ATLAS results in this fnal state based on the same data sample. The analysis strategy is optimised to probe anomalous values not only of the Higgs (H) boson self-coupling modifer κλ but also of the quartic HHV V (V = W, Z) coupling modifer κ2V . No signifcant excess above the expected background from Standard Model processes is observed. An observed upper limit µHH &lt; 4.0 is set at 95% confdence level on the Higgs boson pair production cross-section normalised to its Standard Model prediction. The 95% confdence intervals for the coupling modifers are −1.4 &lt; κλ &lt; 6.9 and −0.5 &lt; κ2V &lt; 2.7, assuming all other Higgs boson couplings except the one under study are fxed to the Standard Model predictions. The results are interpreted in the Standard Model efective feld theory and Higgs efective feld theory frameworks in terms of constraints on the couplings of anomalous Higgs boson (self-)interactions

Measurement of exclusive pion pair production in proton–proton collisions at √s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The exclusive production of pion pairs in the process pp→ ppπ+π- has been measured at s=7TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, using 80μb-1 of low-luminosity data. The pion pairs were detected in the ATLAS central detector while outgoing protons were measured in the forward ATLAS ALFA detector system. This represents the first use of proton tagging to measure an exclusive hadronic final state at the LHC. A cross-section measurement is performed in two kinematic regions defined by the proton momenta, the pion rapidities and transverse momenta, and the pion–pion invariant mass. Cross-section values of 4.8±1.0(stat)-0.2+0.3(syst)μb and 9±6(stat)-2+2(syst)μb are obtained in the two regions; they are compared with theoretical models and provide a demonstration of the feasibility of measurements of this type

Comparison of inclusive and photon-tagged jet suppression in 5.02 TeV Pb+Pb collisions with ATLAS

Parton energy loss in the quark–gluon plasma (QGP) is studied with a measurement of photon-tagged jet production in 1.7 nb−1 of Pb+Pb data and 260 pb−1 of pp data, both at sNN=5.02 TeV, with the ATLAS detector. The process pp →γ+jet+X and its analogue in Pb+Pb collisions is measured in events containing an isolated photon with transverse momentum (pT) above 50 GeV and reported as a function of jet pT. This selection results in a sample of jets with a steeply falling pT distribution that are mostly initiated by the showering of quarks. The pp and Pb+Pb measurements are used to report the nuclear modification factor, RAA, and the fractional energy loss, Sloss, for photon-tagged jets. In addition, the results are compared with the analogous ones for inclusive jets, which have a significantly smaller quark-initiated fraction. The RAA and Sloss values are found to be significantly different between those for photon-tagged jets and inclusive jets, demonstrating that energy loss in the QGP is sensitive to the colour-charge of the initiating parton. The results are also compared with a variety of theoretical models of colour-charge-dependent energy loss

Search for non-resonant Higgs boson pair production in the 2b+2l+ETmiss final state in pp collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for non-resonant Higgs boson pair (HH) production is presented, in which one of the Higgs bosons decays to a b-quark pair (bb ̄) and the other decays to WW*, ZZ*, or τ+τ−, with in each case a final state with l+l−+ neutrinos (l = e, μ). The analysis targets separately the gluon-gluon fusion and vector boson fusion production modes. Data recorded by the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb−1, are used in this analysis. Events are selected to have exactly two b-tagged jets and two leptons with opposite electric charge and missing transverse momentum in the final state. These events are classified using multivariate analysis algorithms to separate the HH events from other Standard Model processes. No evidence of the signal is found. The observed (expected) upper limit on the cross-section for non-resonant Higgs boson pair production is determined to be 9.7 (16.2) times the Standard Model prediction at 95% confidence level. The Higgs boson self-interaction coupling parameter κλ and the quadrilinear coupling parameter κ2V are each separately constrained by this analysis to be within the ranges [−6.2, 13.3] and [−0.17, 2.4], respectively, at 95% confidence level, when all other parameters are fixed