Effets de l’extrait aqueux de gomphrena celosioides (amaranthaceae) sur les enzymes hépatiques

Gomphrena celosioides est une plante utilisée en médecine traditionnelle dans le traitement des maladies hépatiques. Le tétrachlorure de carbone (CCl4) a été utilisé pour induire une hépato toxicité chez les rats. Ce hépatotoxique provoque une montée significative des taux des enzymes hépatiques et de la bilirubine. Les différents traitements avec l’extrait aqueux de Gomphrena celosioides (EAG) à la dose de 500 mg/kg de Poids Vif (PV) et de la silymarine (SIL) reconnue pour ses propriétés hépatotoxiques, à la dose de 300 mg/kg PV entrainent une baisse des taux de ces paramètres. Les traitements préventifs des animaux avec l’EAG et la SIL ont entraîné une baisse du taux des transaminases sériques, des phosphatases alcalines et de la bilirubine avec une protection de 65,06 % pour l’EAG et 78,34 % pour la SIL en ce qui concerne l’Alanine amino transférase (ALAT). Les traitements curatifs des animaux à l’EAG et à la SIL ont donné une protection de 56,35 % pour l’EAG contre 70,45% pour la SIL en ce qui concerne l’ALAT. L’activité hépato protectrice de l’EAG est donc plus protective que curative. Cette activité est comparable à celle de la SIL. Les mécanismes possibles de cette activité peuvent être dus à l’action des antioxydants contenus dans les flavonoïdes, présents dans l’EAG.Mots-clés : affections hépatiques, silymarine, médecine traditionnelle, hépato toxicité, flavonoïdes.The aqueous extract effect of Gomphrena celosioides in liver enzymes Gomphrena celosioides is a plant used in traditional medicine in the treatment of liver disease. Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) was used to induce hepatotoxicity in rats. This hepatotoxic causes a significant rise in liver enzymes and bilirubin. The various treatments with the aqueous extract of Gomphrena celosioides (EAG) at a fixed dose of 500 mg/kg body weight (bw) and silymarin (SIL), which is known for its hepatoprotective properties, at a fixed dose of 300 mg/kg bw, decrease the activity of these parameters. Preventive treatments of animals with EAG and SIL resulted in a decrease in serum transaminases, alkaline phosphatase and bilirubin with the protection of 65, 06 % for EAG and 78, 34 % for SIL in Alanine Amino Transferase (ALT) respectively. With regards to ALT, curative treatments with EAG and SIL gave a protection of 56, 35 % for EAG against 70, and 45 % for SIL. The activity of EAG is more protective than curative. This activity is comparable to that of SIL. Possible mechanisms of this activity may be due to the action of antioxidants in flavonoids, whose presence is known in EAG.Keywords : liver disease, silymarin, traditional medicine, hepatotoxicity, flavonoids

Repellent effect and insecticidal activities of Bridelia ferruginea, Blighia sapida, and Khaya senegalensis leaves powders and extracts against Dinoderus porcellus in infested dried yam chips

Open Access Article; Published online: 21 June 2017Dinoderus porcellus is considered as the most important pest of stored yam chips and compounds extracted from plants can be used for its control. The present study aimed to test the insecticidal and repellent activities of powders and extracts of leaves of Bridelia ferruginea, Blighia sapida, and Khaya senegalensis against D. porcellus. The efficacy of plant powders was compared with the synthetic pesticide Antouka (Permethrin 3 g/kg + pirimiphos 16 g/kg). The results of the experiment revealed that all plant powders were effective as repellents. Antouka was more effective as insecticidal than the plant powders and minimal weight loss was observed with B. sapida at 2%. Among treatments, propanol extract of K. senegalensis at 5% was found to elicit the highest repellent effect on D. porcellus. The LC50 results revealed that the acetone extract of K. senegalensis is the most toxic (0.29 μL/insect) to the pest, while the propanol extract of B. ferruginea at 5% exhibited strong fumigant toxicity against D. porcellus, with 88.89% of pest mortality at 160 μL/L air. The findings from the current work proved that plant powders and extracts of the three plants are sources of botanical insecticides which may be used in the integrated management of D. porcellus

Evaluation de la qualité sanitaire des poudres de feuilles de Moringa oleifera Lam. commercialisées au profit des Personnes Vivant avec le VIH à Cotonou (Bénin)

Face au péril des carences nutritionnelles, la promotion des compléments alimentaires prend de l’ampleur au Bénin. L’objectif de cette étude est d’évaluer la qualité hygiénique des poudres de feuilles de Moringa oleifera commercialisées à Cotonou. 24 échantillons ont été achetés dans 12 points de vente et soumis à des analyses de laboratoire. L’enquête a révélé que, 25% des échantillons ne sont pas scellés, 58% des emballages sont non opaques, les dates de conditionnement et dates limites d’utilisation ne figurent pas sur 50% des échantillons. 43% des poids marqués ne sont pas conformes aux poids nets réels. La concentration moyenne des germes aérobies mésophiles (1,4.106 à 3.106 UFC/g) dépasse significativement la limite maximale d’acceptation du produit au plan microbiologique. Cette insalubrité des échantillons se confirme par la forte présence de Staphylocoques à coagulase positive (3.104), Escherichia coli (1,5.103 à 30.103), levures (1,1.103 à 15.103) et moisissures (3,4.103 à 30.103) respectivement dans 100%, 92%, 50% et 17% des poudres analysées. Par ailleurs, les bactéries Anaérobies Sulfito-Réductrices sont dans les limites d’acceptation de l’aliment. Au total, l’innocuité des poudres de Moringa commercialisées n’est pas garantie et il importe que les fabricants corrigent les failles en matière d’hygiène dans le processus de fabrication.Mots clés : Moringa oleifera, Complément alimentaire, nutrition, qualité, hygiène

Genetic Divergence in Northern Benin Sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor

Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is an important staple food crop in northern Benin. In order to assess its diversity in Benin, 142 accessions of landraces collected from Northern Benin were grown in Central Benin and characterised using 10 qualitative and 14 quantitative agromorphological traits. High variability among both qualitative and quantitative traits was observed. Grain yield (0.72–10.57 tons/ha), panicle weight (15–215.95 g), days to 50% flowering (57–200 days), and plant height (153.27–636.5 cm) were among traits that exhibited broader variability. Correlations between quantitative traits were determined. Grain yield for instance exhibited highly positive association with panicle weight (r=0.901, P=0.000) and 100 seed weight (r=0.247, P=0.000). UPGMA cluster analysis classified the 142 accessions into 89 morphotypes. Based on multivariate analysis, twenty promising sorghum genotypes were selected. Among them, AT41, AT14, and AT29 showed early maturity (57 to 66 days to 50% flowering), high grain yields (4.85 to 7.85 tons/ha), and shorter plant height (153.27 to 180.37 cm). The results obtained will help enhancing sorghum production and diversity and developing new varieties that will be better adapted to the current soil and climate conditions in Benin

Does R&D, human capital and FDI matter for TFP in OECD countries?

This study investigates the interplay between research and development (R&D), human capital (HC), foreign direct investment (FDI) and total factor productivity (TFP) in OECD countries. We divide the sample into two sub-groups; the European and the non-European states so as to account for underlying country heterogeneity. The analysis follows a panel data approach over the period 1995–2015, taking into account the modelling on non-stationarity, long-run relationships and short-run dynamics with a panel VAR. Both R&D and HC have a positive effect on TFP, whilst FDI has a positive and significant effect only in the case of non-European countries. Moreover, the contribution of R&D is higher than that of HC and FDI in all cases. Thus, based on these findings, policymakers should design and implement policies to increase resources invested in R&D, with a consistent ongoing spending review, to attract foreign direct investment, especially for the majority of the European and some of the non-European countries and to improve education system on a more productive innovation and research base

Interventions to reduce pesticide exposure from the agricultural sector in Africa: a workshop report

Despite the fact that several cases of unsafe pesticide use among farmers in different parts of Africa have been documented, there is limited evidence regarding which specific interventions are effective in reducing pesticide exposure and associated risks to human health and ecology. The overall goal of the African Pesticide Intervention Project (APsent) study is to better understand ongoing research and public health activities related to interventions in Africa through the implementation of suitable target-specific situations or use contexts. A systematic review of the scientific literature on pesticide intervention studies with a focus on Africa was conducted. This was followed by a qualitative survey among stakeholders involved in pesticide research or management in the African region to learn about barriers to and promoters of successful interventions. The project was concluded with an international workshop in November 2021, where a broad range of topics relevant to occupational and environmental health risks were discussed such as acute poisoning, street pesticides, switching to alternatives, or disposal of empty pesticide containers. Key areas of improvement identified were training on pesticide usage techniques, research on the effectiveness of interventions targeted at exposure reduction and/or behavioral changes, awareness raising, implementation of adequate policies, and enforcement of regulations and processes

Can serum hyaluronic acid replace simple non-invasive indexes to predict liver fibrosis in HIV/Hepatitis C coinfected patients?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hyaluronic acid (HA) serum levels correlate with the histological stages of liver fibrosis in hepatitis C virus (HCV) monoinfected patients, and HA alone has shown very good diagnostic accuracy as a non-invasive assessment of fibrosis and cirrhosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate serum HA levels as a simple non-invasive diagnostic test to predict hepatic fibrosis in HIV/HCV-coinfected patients and to compare its diagnostic performance with other previously published simple non-invasive indexes consisting of routine parameters (HGM-1, HGM-2, Forns, APRI, and FIB-4).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We carried out a cross-sectional study on 201 patients who all underwent liver biopsies and had not previously received interferon therapy. Liver fibrosis was determined via METAVIR score. The diagnostic accuracy of HA was assessed by area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROCs).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The distribution of liver fibrosis in our cohort was 58.2% with significant fibrosis (F≥2), 31.8% with advanced fibrosis (F≥3), and 11.4% with cirrhosis (F4). Values for the AUROC of HA levels corresponding to significant fibrosis (F≥2), advanced fibrosis (F≥3) and cirrhosis (F4) were 0.676, 0.772, and 0.863, respectively. The AUROC values for HA were similar to those for HGM-1, HGM-2, FIB-4, APRI, and Forns indexes. The best diagnostic accuracy of HA was found for the diagnosis of cirrhosis (F4): the value of HA at the low cut-off (1182 ng/mL) excluded cirrhosis (F4) with a negative predictive value of 99% and at the high cut-off (2400 ng/mL) confirmed cirrhosis (F4) with a positive predictive value of 55%. By utilizing these low and high cut-off points for cirrhosis, biopsies could have theoretically been avoided in 52.2% (111/201) of the patients.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The diagnostic accuracy of serum HA levels increases gradually with the hepatic fibrosis stage. However, HA is better than other simple non-invasive indexes using parameters easily available in routine clinical practice only for the diagnosing of cirrhosis.</p