Effects of Telfairia occidentalis leaf extract on plasma lactate and liver glycogen in rats

Summary: Telfairia occidentalis is a green vegetable popularly consumed among the native of Africa and it is generally believed to be of medicinal and nutritional value. Studies have reported its hypoglycaemic and hyperglycaemic effects in rats. In addition to these conflicting reports, the mechanisms for its effects on blood glucose remain inconclusive. The objective of this study was to investigate the mechanism involved in the increased blood glucose following treatment with T. occidentalis. Twenty five (25) male albino rats (200-250g) were randomly divided into 5 groups (n=5/group). Rats in the control group received normal saline while rats in other groups were orally treated with 100 or 200 mg/kg body weight of the extract for either 1 or 2 weeks. At the end of the treatment, the rats were anaesthetized and blood samples were collected for the estimation of some biochemical parameters. The results showed significant decreases in plasma glucose after 1 week of treatment with 100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg. However, after 2 weeks of treatment with both doses, plasma glucose levels increased significantly and were higher than those of the control and the rats treated for 1 week with both doses. There were also dose- and duration-dependent decreases in glycogen concentration in the treated rats, especially those treated for two weeks. Glucose-6-phosphatase activity and liver glycogen concentration were lower in rats treated for 2 weeks when compared with those treated for 1 week with both doses. Moreover, plasma lactate concentration was lower in the treated groups when compared with control. The results suggest that Telfairia occidentalis-induced lowering of plasma glucose after one week of treatment probably favoured lactate oxidation/gluconeogenesis and elicited breakdown of liver glycogen which resulted in increased plasma glucose after two weeks of treatment.Keywords: Blood glucose, Lactate, Liver glycogen, Glucose-6-phosphatase, Telfairia occidentalisNiger. J. Physiol. Sci. 33(December 2018) 169-17

D-Ribose-L-Cysteine-rich supplement attenuates doxorubicin-induced impaired Spermatogenesis, testicular steroidogenesis and redox status in sprague-dawley rats

Reproductive function is often impaired during chemotherapy and currently there is no universally approved drug/supplement that can effectively protect the testis from cellular assault due to chemotherapeutic agent such as doxorubicin (dox). This study was designed to investigate the efficacy of D-Ribose-L-Cysteine rich supplement, Cellgevity™ (cgt), in ameliorating some doxorubicin-induced testicular damage in Sprague-Dawley rats. At the end of the study, biochemical assays and sperm epididymal parameters analysis were done. Our results show that simultaneous administration of cgt and doxorubicin has ameliorative effect on the testis when compared to pre-treatment or post-treatment with cgt. Significant increase in testosterone, sperm concentration, progressive motility and significant decrease in immotility were observed in the cellgevity treated group. Also, simultaneous administration of cgt with dox reduced lipid peroxidation and boosted only glutathione level in testicular tissues. Nevertheless, pre-treatment or post-treatment with cgt did not play a significant role in modulating sperm parameters, hormones and tissue oxidative stress level. This result reveals that cellgevity has testiculo-protective effect against doxorubicin administration.Keywords: Cellgevity™; doxorubicin; antioxidant; testosterone, sperm parametersAfr. J. Biomed. Res. Vol. 22 (May, 2019); 179- 18

Deductive modification of S-box in AES algorithm for image steganography

No AbstractKeywords: Steganography,  Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), BCD-box, S-box, and image-mergin

Extraction and characterization of essential oils of seeds of maize, Zea mays L., soybean, Glycine max L., pumpkin Telfairia occidentalis Hook F. and lemon, Citrus limon L.

Essential oils are considered to be direct metabolites produced in plant organs (such as secretion ducts or glandular trichomes) by intracellular biogenetic pathways. Plant seeds contain complex mixtures of over 3000 essential compounds, of which about 300 are of commercial importance. The objective of this study was to examine the essential oil composition of seeds of maize, soybean, pumpkin, and lemon. The essential oils were extracted by hydro distillation using Clevenger-type apparatus and their chemical components were isolated by gas chromatography and then analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy. The major compounds found in the seeds of maize, soybean, pumpkin and lemon were oleic acid (32.80%), 1, 9 – tetradecadiene (46.52%), ethyl oleate (48.46%) and d-limonene (20.50%), respectively. Total components identified in maize, soybean, pumpkin and lemon seeds were 11, 10, 11 and 21, respectively including monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, and other components including aldehydes, acids, esters and oxides. The present study confirmed that these seeds contained varying degrees of bioactive components of nutritional and industrial values. The potentials of these oils for enrichment of human and other animal diets are therefore recommended.Keywords: Molecular compounds, Extraction, Isolation, Characterization, Essential Oils, Seed

Evaluation of testicular function in paradoxical sleep-deprived sprague-dawley rats treated with zinc and D-ribose -L- cysteine

Background: The prevalence of male infertility is currently on the increase and, to an extent, has drawn significant attention globally. The decline is most evident in reduced sperm quality and quantity which has been linked, among other things, to lifestyle such as poor night sleeping patterns This study was, therefore, designed to evaluate the effect of D-ribose- L-cysteine (RibCys) and Zinc (Zn) on testicular steroidogenesis and sperm quality in paradoxical sleep-deprived (PSD) rats.Material and Method: Twenty five (25) adult male rats were randomly assigned to 5 groups of 5 rats each. The PSD group was subjected to sleep deprivation only; while PSD+RibCys, PSD+Zn, and PSD+RibCys+Zn groups received 100 mg of RibCys, 10 mg of Zinc and combination of RibCys plus Zn (normalized for Kg body weight of rat) respectively in addition to subjection to PSD. The last group served as the Control. PSD lasted for 20 hours per day for 14 days, using the modified multiple platform method. After 14 days, the levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), testicular testosterone (TT), and sperm quality and quantity were evaluated and compared within the five groups.Results: Analyses of our data reveal that PSD significantly disrupts reproductive hormonal balance and impairs the quantity and quality of sperm production. However, there were no significant differences observed in the levels of FSH and TT in the PSD groups treated with RibCys and/or Zn compared with the control group. A significant reduction was observed in the progressive sperm motility of all the groups compared with the control. Compared with the control group, there was no significant difference in the sperm concentration between the control and PSD+RibCys+Zn group.Conclusion: This study provides evidence that indicates that treatment with RibCys and/or Zinc is effective in ameliorating the damaging capacity of sleep deprivation on testicular biology. Keywords: Paradoxical sleep deprivation (PSD), Steroidogenesis, Sperm, Zinc, D-ribose-L-cysteine

The ASOS Surgical Risk Calculator: development and validation of a tool for identifying African surgical patients at risk of severe postoperative complications

Background: The African Surgical Outcomes Study (ASOS) showed that surgical patients in Africa have a mortality twice the global average. Existing risk assessment tools are not valid for use in this population because the pattern of risk for poor outcomes differs from high-income countries. The objective of this study was to derive and validate a simple, preoperative risk stratification tool to identify African surgical patients at risk for in-hospital postoperative mortality and severe complications. Methods: ASOS was a 7-day prospective cohort study of adult patients undergoing surgery in Africa. The ASOS Surgical Risk Calculator was constructed with a multivariable logistic regression model for the outcome of in-hospital mortality and severe postoperative complications. The following preoperative risk factors were entered into the model; age, sex, smoking status, ASA physical status, preoperative chronic comorbid conditions, indication for surgery, urgency, severity, and type of surgery. Results: The model was derived from 8799 patients from 168 African hospitals. The composite outcome of severe postoperative complications and death occurred in 423/8799 (4.8%) patients. The ASOS Surgical Risk Calculator includes the following risk factors: age, ASA physical status, indication for surgery, urgency, severity, and type of surgery. The model showed good discrimination with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.805 and good calibration with c-statistic corrected for optimism of 0.784. Conclusions: This simple preoperative risk calculator could be used to identify high-risk surgical patients in African hospitals and facilitate increased postoperative surveillance. © 2018 British Journal of Anaesthesia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Medical Research Council of South Africa gran