Micrometrics and Morphological Properties of Starch

Starch occurs in form of granules and constitutes a primary manner in which of carbohydrates are stored chiefly in seeds and underground organs and sparingly in other morphological parts such as leaf and bark parts of plants. Grains of transitional starch can be found in the stroma of chloroplast and cytoplasm in leaf parts when exposed to the sun and transferred to organs for storage at dark times. The shape and size, ratio of amylose and amylopectin content of starch grains are peculiar to different biological sources. A literature survey was carried out using various search engines. Journals were searched for using keywords such as microscopy, amylopectin, starch granules etc. The relative qualitative and quantitative properties of starches from various morphological parts of 35 species from 15 families were studied. The qualitative features of shape and size as observed from microscopy were not specific or peculiar to each genus and family as similar shapes and sizes cut across different species. Amylopectin and amylose contents varied considerably among all the species and can be used as one of the means of identification for medicinal plants and the delineation of plant species along with other genetic and physicochemical properties

Evaluation of Phenolic Content, Anti-oxidant and modulation of blood indices of Pavetta crassipes

IntroductionPavetta crassipes is a medicinal plant with various documented biological activities. It has a folkloric use as an anti-viral therapy and pharmacologically documented anti-microbial activity. However, its immune modulatory property has not been explored. The study is designed to evaluate the phytochemical profile as well as the anti-oxidant and immunomodulatory potential of the methanol extract of Pavetta crassipes leaf. Methodology In vitro antioxidants activity was determined by nitric oxide inhibitory assay. phenolic and flavonoid content of the extract was also determined. The immunomodulatory activity was evaluated using cyclophosphamide induced immunomodulation model in mice. Phytochemical evaluation of leaf extract was done using HPLC analyses. Results were expressed as the mean ± SEM, IC50 value for the antioxidant activity was determined, One-way ANOVA was used for differences in mean followed by Dunnett’s test for multiple comparison for the immunomodulatory activity. To test for level of significance, P< 0.05 was considered significant. ResultsThe extract had phenolic and flavonoid contents of 17.6 ±0.1 mg/GAE/g and 8.4 ± 0.3 mg/QE/g respectively. The extract also showed nitric oxide inhibitory antioxidant activity with IC50 of 2.3± 0.4 while gallic and ascorbic acid had IC50 of 1.6 ±0.1 and 8.0 ±0.6 respectively. P. crassipes leaf extract indicated a significant (p<0.05) countering influence to cyclophosphamide induced decrease in total white blood count, differential leucocyte counts and red blood count. HPLC analysis indicated the presence of phenolic compounds such a rutin, quercetin and chlorogenic acid. ConclusionThe phytochemical profile, anti-oxidant and immunomodulatory properties of the methanol extract of P. crassipes leaf as evaluated in this study corroborates and justifies its folkloric use

Piloting a smartphone-based application for tracking and supply chain management of medicines in Africa.

A confounding factor for healthcare programmes in African countries is the inability of essential health tools to reach targeted locations and populations, due to poor Logistics Management Information System (LMIS). In a bid to contribute towards addressing these challenges, a pilot study was undertaken to evaluate the tracking ability, reliability and applicability of EASE App, a novel Smart Phone based Application. The App is designed to provide real-time tracking and tracing of commodities as well as curation of data in a cloud based database with restricted access which can be linked with other databases. In this study, NIPRIMAL was labelled with QR codes, and tracked within the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria, using the smartphone based EASE App. Data collected showed that the "EASE App" tracking had accuracy of 100% for date and time of scan, operators' codes and product identity; and 92.83±1.69% and 99.83±0.27% accuracy for GPS mapping label for the city and country, respectively. The GPS mapping label for specific streets, roads or districts, gave an accuracy of about 64.28±3.14%. The technology was able to provide real-time data on user unique identity, user location as well as date/time of use, and the feedback report indicated that it was readily deployable and easy to use. The results demonstrate that the "EASE App" is a promising technology that can support supply chain and related data management challenges in resource poor settings. The potential benefit of the EASE App in strengthening LMIS and distribution chain system in Africa as well as future optimization of the App are discussed