Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine

255-259

Authors: Alcides Troncoso

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are remediable injustices of our times. Poverty is the starting point, and the ultimate outcome, of NTD. Ebola is just one of many NTDs that badly need attention. Ebola exacerbates West Africa’s poverty crisis. The virus spreading in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone has led to food shortages and neglect of other devastating tropical illnesses. A health crisis that was ignored for months until it was out of control is now beginning to get the attention required, if not the resources. So far, the world´s nations have contributed far less than the $ 1 billion. The U.N. estimates would need to control the epidemic before it becomes endemic. Past outbreaks of Ebola have flared up in remote, forested communities, disconnected from much of the outside world. But the outbreak in West Africa has not slowed yet, and it worsens there the chances of it spreading to other countries. Ebola draws attention to NTD. Ebola is not only a health emergency, but also it´s a poverty crisis. The current Global Ebola crisis presents a multitude of challenges in terms of our capacity to respond; the future is even less predictable. Ebola outbreak represents inequity in health as the occurrence of health differences considered unnecessary, avoidable, unfair, and unjust, thus adding a moral and ethical dimension to health inequalities. Health equity does not refer only to the fairness in the distribution of health or the provision of health care; rather, it is linked with the larger issues of fairness and justice in social arrangements.

268-273

Authors: James David Adams Jr., Xiaogang Wang

Pain is normally treated with oral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents and opioids. These drugs are dangerous and are responsible for many hospitalizations and deaths. It is much safer to use topical preparations made from plants to treat pain, even severe pain. Topical preparations must contain compounds that penetrate the skin, inhibit pain receptors such as transient receptor potential cation channels and cyclooxygenase-2, to relieve pain. Inhibition of pain in the skin disrupts the pain cycle and avoids exposure of internal organs to large amounts of toxic compounds. Use of topical pain relievers has the potential to save many lives, decrease medical costs and improve therapy.

275-276

Authors: Vagish Kumar Laxman Shanbhag

Snake venoms are folk medicines used since ages. The components of snake venoms have high specific affinity and actions on cells and cell components. Also snake venoms are largely cytotoxic to tumor cells than normal cells. In addition to these, they have several therapeutic actions that make them an attractive option in the management of cancer. The advent of modern technologies has greatly helped in extracting and identifying new components of therapeutic interests in short time. The article highlights the importance of snake venoms in the management of cancer, so as to motivate curious researchers to devote their skills in this fascinating area. This in turn may bring hope, smile and relief to several cancer patients in future.

281-286

Authors: Chen-Kai Chang, Shu-Chen Wang, Chih-Kwang Chiu, Shih-Ying Chen, Zong-Tsi Chen, Pin-Der Duh

Objective: To investigate the effect of lactic acid bacteria isolated from fermented mustard on immunopotentiating activity Methods: One hundred and fifty nine strains of lactic acid bacteria isolated from traditional Taiwan fermented mustard were evaluated for their immunopotentiating activity on a murine macrophage cell line RAW 264.7. Results: Of the strains, pronounced increases in the levels of nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6 were observed in strains B0040, B0110 and B0145. Among them, strain B0145 had the highest NO and tumor necrosis factor-α generation in RAW 264.7 cells; strains B0040 and B0110 were also superior to that of Lactobacillus casei. These results demonstrated that NO and cytokines were effectively induced when the bacterial stimulants were treated with macrophages. In addition, strains B0040 and B0110 were identified as Lactobacillus plantarum, and B0145 as Weissella cibaria using 16S rDNA analysis. Conclusions: The results implicated selected strains may be regarded as a biological response modifier and had a broad application prospects in exploiting new functional food or as a feed additive.

292-299

Authors: Muhammad Shoaib Amjad

Objective: To document the medicinal and other folk uses of native plants of the Bana Valley of district of Kotli-Azad Jammu Kashmir with a view to preserve the ethnobotanical knowledge of this area and to develop an ethnobotanical inventory of the species diversity. Methods: The fieldwork was conducted during a period of one year. Data were collected through semi-structured questionnaire and interview of the informants including indigenous people, tribal people, and traditional health practitioners residing in the study area. Results: The present study documented etnobotanical uses of 86 plant species belonging to 81 genera and 47 families. This study revealed that most of the species were used medicinally (74 spp; 42.29%). Leaves found to be the most frequently used part (56 spp., 36.13%) for preparation of indigenous recipes and fodder purpose. Conclusions: The current research provides a huge lump of ethnobotanical knowledge and depicts strong human-plant interaction. It is an urgent need to document indigenous uses of plants for future domestication.

310-318

Authors: Donald Sédric Tala, Donatien Gatsing, Siméon Pierre Chegaing Fodouop, Charles Fokunang, Fabrice Kengni, Merline Namekong Djimeli

Objective: To investigate the in vivo anti-salmonella activity and the safety of aqueous extract of Euphorbia prostratra (E. prostratra), a plant commonly used in Cameroon by traditional healers. Methods: A Salmonella typhimurium-infected rat model was used for the study. The physiological, biochemical and histopathological markers of possible side effects of this extract were studied using standard methods. Results: The extract had a significant effect on the number of viable Salmonella typhimurium recovered from faeces, and could stop salmonellosis after 8 and 10 days of treatment for male and female rats, respectively, with non-toxic doses. However, the biochemical and histopathological analyses revealed that at relatively high doses (≥ 73.48 mg/kg for female and ≥ 122.71 mg/kg for male) the extract could induce liver damage, as illustrated by a rise of serum transaminases’ levels and significant inflammation of the parenchyma and portal vein. Side effects were also observed on the kidneys, as shown by both serum and urinary creatinine, and urinary proteins. Conclusions: The overall results indicate that the aqueous extract of E. prostrata has the potential to provide an effective treatment for salmonellosis, including typhoid fever. However, it is necessary to extrapolate these results in large animals, in further studies.

324-330

Authors: Omnia Mohamed Kandil, Somia Ayesh Nassar, Soad Mohamed Nasr, Hatem Abdel Mawgoud Shalaby, Seham Hendawy, Faragalla Mohamed El Moghazy

Objective: To evaluate the synergetic effect of an ethanolic extract of Egyptian propolis in immunization of BALB/c mice with Taenia saginata (T. saginata) crude antigen against bovine cysticercosis, with reference to its effects on liver and kidney functions. Methods: Sixty female mice BALB/c strain weighing 20 to 25 g and 6-8 weeks old were randomly allocated into six groups of ten mice each. Mice in groups 1 and 2 (G1 and G2) were immunized intraperitoneally with 100 μg of T. saginata crude antigen in 100 μL phosphate buffer saline emulsified in Freund’s adjuvant. Besides, the mice in G2 were administered with propolis extract simultaneously with immunization. Control mice were either administered with propolis extract (G3) or injected with the same volume of phosphate buffer saline emulsified in Freund’s adjuvant (G4). The mice in G5 were non-immunized infected control while, those in G6 were non-immunized non-infected control. Two weeks after the last immunization, each mouse was challenged intraperitoneally with 5 000 oncospheres except those of G6. Ethanolic extract of propolis was prepared at a dose 50 mg/kg body weight. Results: After 24 weeks of challenge, the mice in G2 showed the highest level of protection (100%), with no cyst being detected rather than mice in G1 (33.3% protection). Additionally, the ELISA results, in this study, showed higher antibody titer in G2 with reduction the alteration in liver and kidney functions compared to G1. Conclusions: Egyptian propolis could increase the level of protection against experimental challenge infection with T. saginata eggs when administered simultaneously with immunization. Furthermore, it could enhance the production of antibodies to immunized antigen and decrease the alteration in liver and kidney functions.