Jesus Christ as Ancestor: An African Christian understanding

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Son of Man, Son of David, Lord (Kyrios), Rabbi and Messiah. These are some of the names used by Christians today and even by the people from the era of Jesus Christ to address him or to communicate with him. Others use them because they were taught that this is the way you talk about him or to him. People use all these different names to describe Jesus Christ according to their understanding, knowledge, trust and belief in him. This article will describe how the Sotho, who are African Christians, from the township of Mohlakeng in Randfontein, know, understand, trust and believe in Jesus Christ according to the title of Great Ancestor. Views of the inhabitants of Mohlakeng are used to describe the complexity of the issue. This article discusses what the meaning of the concept of ancestor entails and determines whether Jesus can indeed be referred to as Ancestor. There are different answers to this question

The need for a “bologna declaration” pronouncement for Africa’s chemistry programs at tertiary levels

Africa has a pressing need for more chemistry graduates of good quality, to take forward all forms of industrial and economic development. It also needs more chemistry graduates to build up the chemical education system itself by providing a strong new generation of teachers, college lecturers, academics and leaders in chemical industries and research. However, the way chemistry content is packaged to comprise levels 1–3 of a BSc degree program is skewed and does not facilitate learning. To-date over the years of adopting this setup, countries have not made any strides in terms of pass rates and the quality of graduates declines year-by-year. The use of NQF (National  qualification framework) levels and credits further complicate this matter. As a result, transfer of credits from one country in Africa to the other has become difficult as an agreed upon principle does not exist for countries to recognize one another’s  qualifications. Hence it is recommended that a declaration be adopted to mitigate the above scenario. The role of the Federation of African Societies of Chemistry in  championing this endeavor is suggested

Using microscience kits to address a student-teacher misconception in electric circuits: At the interface between chemistry and electricity

A test of education students’ understanding of electric circuits, written before their lectures on the topic began, led to practical work with micro-scale circuit apparatus that was designed to further probe and challenge the students’ misconceptions. Response data from one of the lab pracs revealed one very common misconception, that the current through a component was the cause of the potential difference across it. A practical activity based upon the Volta pile was designed to show that current is not the cause of voltage, and that voltage is to be traced to the chemical reaction inside the cells. While some aspects of the activity were successful in a workshop at 10th ISMC, others were not. Our reflections on the outcome lead us to the conclusion that it is necessary to engage with the chemical events inside the cell, in order to understand how it works. Systems-thinking may be the way forward

Synthesis and Evaluation of N-(3-Trifluoroacetylindol- 7-yl) Acetamides for Potential In Vitro Antiplasmodial Properties

A series of novel N-((2,5-diaryl-3-trifluoroacetyl)-1H-indol-7-yl)acetamides has been prepared via a successive and one-pot reaction sequence involving initial trifluoroacetic acid-mediated Beckmann rearrangement of the oximes derived from the 1-(2,5-diaryl-1H-indol-7-yl)ethanones, followed by trifluoroacetylation of the incipient N-(2,5-diaryl-1H-indol-7-yl)-acetamides with trifluoroacetic anhydride. The prepared compounds were evaluated for potential in vitro antiplasmodial properties. Preliminary results from antiplasmodial activity against the chloroquine-sensitive 3D7 strain of Plasmodium falciparum revealed that a combination of 2-(4-flurophenyl)- and 5-(4-fluorophenyl) or 2-(4-flurophenyl)- and 4-fluorostyryl groups in compounds 3(a,f) and 4(a,g), for example, is required for biological activity for both series of compounds. Their possible mode of action against the plasmodial parasite is explained theoretically through molecular docking of the most active compounds against the parasite lactate dehydrogenase (pLDH). These compounds were docked at the entrance of NAD+ in pLDH presumably hindering entry of lactate to cause the observed inhibition effect of pLDH. The four compounds were found to exhibit low toxicity against monkey kidney Vero cells at the highest concentrations tested

2-Aryl-6,8-dibromo-2,3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-ones as substrates for the synthesis of 2,6,8-triarylquinazolin-4-ones

Direct bromination of 2-aminobenzamide was achieved using N-bromosuccinimide in chloroform-carbon tetrachloride mixture at room temperature for 3 h to afford 2-amino-3,5-dibromobenzamide in high yield and purity. 2-Amino-3,5-dibromobenzamide was, in turn, condensed with benzaldehyde derivatives in the presence of boric acid to afford novel 2-aryl-6,8-dibromo-2,3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-ones. Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling of the latter with arylboronic acids yielded the corresponding 2,6,8-triaryl-2,3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-ones. These triarylquinazolin-4(1H)-ones were dehydrogenated using iodine (2 equiv.) in ethanol under reflux to yield the potentially tautomeric 2,6,8-triarylquinazolin-4(3H)-ones. KEY WORDS: 2-Amino-3,5-dibromobenzamide, 2-Aryl-6,8-dibromo-2,3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-ones, Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling, 2,6,8-Triaryl-2,3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-ones, 2,6,8-Triarylquinazolin-4(3H)-ones Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2014, 28(1), 81-90.   DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v28i1.1

Evaluation of Structurally Related 3-Substituted 4-Amino-2-arylquinolines and 2-Aryl-4-methoxyquinolines for Potential Antimycobacterial Activity

Series of structurally related 2-aryl-4-(amino/methoxy)quinoline derivatives were evaluated for potential antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain H37Rv. A complete inhibition of a drug sensitive strain of M. tuberculosis was observed at 20.0 µg/ml for 4-amino-2-(4-chlorophenyl)quinoline 3b, 4-amino-3-iodo-2-(4-methoxyphenyl)quinoline 5d, 4-amino-2,3-diphenylquinoline 6a, 4-amino-2-(4-fluorophenyl)-3-phenylquinoline 6b and 4-amino-2-(4-methoxyphenyl)-3-phenylquinoline 6d. These derivatives were further evaluated for activity against a multidrug resistant strain of M. tuberculosis. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against a two drug-resistant strain was found to be ≥5.0≤20.0 µg/ml. Systems 6a and 6b were, in turn, subjected to cytotoxicity assay using U937 human macrophages and their intracellular antimycobacterial activity was also determined. Moreover, these two 4-amino-2,3-diarylquinoline derivatives were also investigated for their immune modulatory effect according to Th1 and Th2-subset cytokines

Maternal effects on phenotype, resistance and the structuring of fungal communities in Eucalyptus grandis

The environmental experience of plants can modulate the development of the offspring and their interactions with other organisms. These effects, generally known as maternal effects, occur through seed provisioning and epigenetic modifications. This study considers the influence of differing environments of maternal plants on their progeny and their biotic interactions. Seeds were collected from two Eucalyptus grandis clonal seed orchards having different abiotic and biotic conditions. Seed and seedling development, and seedling responses to pest infestation and pathogen inoculation were measured. Finally, fungal communities in the foliage of the seedlings were assessed using a metabarcoding approach. The percentage of seed germination and height of seedlings were influenced by the maternal environments. Seedlings from one of the maternal environments were significantly more resistant to a pathogen than seedlings from the other. The composition and diversity of fungal communities also differed between the offspring from the two maternal environments. We found that the differences in the maternal environment affected the progeny performance and resistance. Moreover, we show for the first time that the maternal environment can influence the structure of fungal communities in the foliage in the subsequent generation.The Claude Leon Foundation, University of Pretoria, the Tree Protection Co-operative Programme, and the Genome Research Institute at the University of Pretoria.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/envexpbot2018-08-30hj2017Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI)GeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

Variability of the preC/C region of hepatitis B virus genotype A from a South African cohort predominantly infected with HIV

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a serious global health problem, and HBV genotype is an important determinant of disease progression and treatment outcome. The aim of this study was to assess variations of the precore/core (preC/C) region in HBV genotype A. Sequencing of the preC/C and surface (S) genes of HBV was performed on plasma samples from 20 HBV/HIV co-infected and 5 HBV mono-infected individuals. All preC/C study sequences clustered with subgenotype A1, except for two which clustered with subgenotype D4 reference strains. The nucleotide and amino acid variability was far higher in the preC/C region than in the S region. Mutations associated with reduction or failure of HBV e-antigen (HBeAg) production were observed, with a preC start codon mutation being common (24%). Other mutations (e.g., P5H/L and I97L) associated with severe liver disease were also noticed, some of which were located in the major histocompatibility restricted sites. PreC/C intergenotype nucleotide divergence was >7%, while subgenotypes differed by 2.5–7%. Several study sequences were highly divergent from other African subgenotype A1 strains. This study showed that HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B is underestimated in subgenotype A1, and also highlighted the variant South African A1 strains. The major advantage of preC/C sequencing is that it informs patient management as HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B responds poorly to conventional interferon-α therapy, and some guidelines treat HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B differently from HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B. These data suggest that subgenotype A1 may be more involved in severe HBV-related diseaseshttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1096-9071/hb201