Determination of elemental constituents for three herbal plants that are traditionally used to cure cancer

Elemental constituents of fresh leaves of the three herbal plants used traditionally for treatment of cancer namely: Guera Senegalense, Boswellia and Mangifera Indica were analyzed. Results show that all the three samples contain the highest amounts of calcium in parts per million (Guiera Senegalensis 5991 ppm, Boswellia 9413 ppm and Mangifera Indica 2405 ppm) as compared to other constituents. Further studies reveal that presence of calcium in appreciable amount within the metabolic system of human being helps to reduce the risk of cancer and related ailments. Other benefits of calcium in man include strengthening bones and teeth.Keywords: Herbal Medicine, Cancer, Constituents, Carcinoge

A statistical data selection approach for short-term load forecasting using optimized ANFIS

Volume of the forecasting data and good data analysis are the key factors that influence the accuracy of forecasting algorithm because it depends on data identification and model parameters. This paper focuses on data selection approach for short-term load forecasting. It involves formulating data selection algorithm to identify factors (variables) that influence energy demand at utility level. Correlation Analysis (CA) and Hypothesis Test (HT) are used in the selection, where Wavelet Transform (WT) is applied to bridge the gap between the forecasting variables. This results to three groups of data; data without CA, HT and WT, data with CA, HT but without WT and data with CA, HT and WT. An optimized adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) using Cuckoo Search Algorithm (CS) is used to conduct the forecasting. The essence is to reduce the computational difficulty associated with the gradient descent (GD) algorithm in traditional ANFIS. With the three data groups, it is observed that CHW data can give satisfactory results more than the NCNHNW and NCNHW data. Also the numerical results shows that CHW data selection approach can give a MAPE of 0.63 against the bench-mark approach with MAPE of 3.55. This indicates that it is good practice to select the actual data and process it before the forecasting

Pharmacognostic and Acute Toxicity Study of Burkea Africana Root

Burkea africana is a plant that belongs to then family Fabaceae; it is widely spread in tropical Africa including Nigeria. It is of valuable in  ethnomedicine especially in the treatment of antidote for venomous stings and bites, cutaneous and sub cutaneous parasitic infection, convulsion and pulmonary troubles. Despite the fact that roots of Burkea africana have several medicinal properties, no standardization parameter has been  assessed. Due to lack of standard parameters, proper identification and ascertaining quality and purity in the events of adulteration has been thwarted. The objective of the study was to establish some important pharmacognostic profile and safety margin of Burkea africana root with the hope of assisting in its standardization for quality, purity and safety. Elemental analysis was carried out using acid digestion method and phytochemical composition of the plants was evaluated using standard method. Acute toxicity was achieved using Lorke method to determine the LD50. Chemomicroscopical evaluation revealed the presence of cellulose, tannins, starch, lignin, calcium oxalate, suberin, aleurone grain and mucilage with the exception of calcium carbonate. The average moisture contents, total ash, acid insoluble, water soluble ash, alcohol extractive value and water extractive values in the powdered plant material were 3.8%, 7.5%, 4.43%, 8.07%, 25.0% and 20.33% respectively. In addition, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Cd and Cu were found to be within the safety limit. Phytochemicals which include alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, carbohydrates and triterpenes were detected in both aqueous and methanolic extracts. The LD50 of Burkea africana was found to be greater than 5000 mg /kg and could be considered safe for consumption. Keywords: Elemental analysis, Burkea africana, Pharmacognostic, Phytochemica