Asian Journal of Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Background: Children less than five years worldwide are known to be vulnerable and susceptible in many respects, especially on matters on health. Nutritional deficiencies and malnutrition generally affect children more than any other group. Poor nutrition occurs in developing countries, as well as in more prosperous areas of the world.

Objective: The objective of this study focused on the effect of maternal Occupation and Age on feeding habit, and nutritional status of under-five children in Kibiya (rural) and Dala (Urban) local government areas of Kano State Nigeria,

Study Design: A descriptive research design was adopted by this study to assess the level of nutritional status of under-five-children and to determine the relationship between age, occupation, economic status, attitudes and practices of mothers. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data on nutritional status, knowledge, attitudes and nutrition-related practices for a limited time period.

Place and Duration of the Study: The study was conducted in two local government areas in Kano State, DALA and KIBIYA LGA, between February, 2019 to July, 2019.

Methods: Descriptive research design was used for data collection. 198 and 170 mothers with their children from Kibiya and Dala respectively, were used for the study. Data generated was analyzed using Spss, Excel and was presented using frequency table, percentage, mean, standard deviation and correlation.

Results: In Kibiya, there was a very weak, positive correlation between maternal age under-five nutritional status with the exception of weight-for-height, which was found to be statistically significant (p<0.005). In Dala, the relationship was a very weak negative correlation with the exception of height-for-age which is positive correlated (p<0.005). Majority of the children were severely stunted with 44.1% in Dala and 56.1% in Kibya, but there was no significant difference in the prevalence of severe stunting between the two LGAs. Furthermore, majority of the under-fives were within the range of adequate weight: 45.5% Dala and 58.2% Kibiya. However, the prevalence of severely underweight children in Kibiya is 11.2%. This is significantly higher compared to Dala with 2.4% which means severe underweight children in Kibiya is almost five times that in Dala. Prevalence of wasting (mild, moderate and severe) among under-five children were significantly higher in Dala compared to Kibiya (p<0.01).

Conclusion: The findings from this study shows that maternal Age is a significant factor that affect the nutritional status of the children in  both local government but maternal Occupation has less impact on nutritional status of the children.

Introduction: Cholera is a destructive disease that causes extreme and intense water loss in the body. It takes between 12 hours and 5 days for an individual to show symptoms after ingesting contaminated food or water. It causes acute watery diarrhea in children and adults and if left untreated, it can lead to death within hours. Unfortunately, children are the most severely affected. In this study, molecular interactions of 24 bioactive compounds of Psidium guajava leaves against Vibrio cholerae targets proteins namely: Alanine racemase (PDB ID: 4BEQ), Cholera enterotoxin, A chain (PDB ID: 1S5F) and ToxT (PDB ID: 3GBG) were evaluated.

Methods: Molecular docking study was conducted and the 3D structures of bioactive compounds, Enzymes and the Enzyme-ligand interaction were visualized while Swiss ADME was employed to assess other physiochemical properties of these bioactive compounds.

Results and Discussion: The results from the molecular docking revealed that five bioactive compounds showed promising inhibitory activity, which include Spathulenol (Binding energy; -7.5, -6.5 and -9.1 kcal/mol in 4BEQ, 1S5F and 3GBG ), Humulene oxide II (Binding energy; -7.1, -6.0 and -8.5 kcal/mol in 4BEQ, 1S5F and 3GBG), Globulol(-)-Globulol were -7.2, -6.5 and -9.0 kcal/mol in 4BEQ, 1S5F and 3GBG), Cadala-1(10),3,8-triene (Binding energy; -7.8, -6.8 and -9.8 kcal/mol in 4BEQ, 1S5F and 3GBG) and Bicyclo[5.3.0]decane, 2-methylene-5-(1-methylvinyl)-8-methyl (Binding energy; -6.9, -6.7 and -9.4 kcal/mol in 4BEQ, 1S5F and 3GBG) respectively.

Conclusion: In this study, it has been revealed that the carefully chosen bioactive compounds have the potential to be used alone or in combination with other natural products for developing potent antibacterial drugs (against cholera). They can be further subjected to fractionation and isolation to confirm their activity towards in vitro and in vivo studies and can be commercialized as a potent antibacterial agent.

Commelina benghalensis is a troublesome but exotic weed native to the African and Asian subregions used traditionally for the treatment and management of various disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential antioxidant activity of the methanolic leaf extract of Commelina benghalensis using various in vitro models. This was done by investigating the ability of the extract to scavenge hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radical. Other activities assessed were the reducing ability, ability to inhibit erythrocyte damage and reduce ferrous-ascorbate induced lipid peroxidation on bovine liver and egg yolk homogenates. The results revealed that the plant extract possessed significant hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radical scavenging abilities. The extract also possessed  significant ability to reduce ferric ions and molybdate VI. The methanolic extract also significantly inhibited hydrogen peroxide-induced erythrocyte hemolysis and lipid peroxidation. Lipid peroxidation in bovine liver and egg yolk homogenates induced       by the ferrous-ascorbate system was also reduced by the extract. In many instances, the effect of the extract was concentration-dependent. (p < 0.05). This antioxidant activity of the extract is ascribed to the phytochemicals which probably acted in synergy thus the Commelina benghalensis leaves could be exploited both nutraceutically and pharmacologically.

Aim: Frankincense tree (Boswellia dalzielii) and Kenaf (H. cannabinus) are plants abundantly found in north-western Nigeria. These plants are very popular among the locals as potent sources of ethno medicine. The present study investigates the oral acute toxicity potentials of methanolic stem bark extract of frankincense tree and Kenaf leaves, as well as sub-chronic toxicity potentials of the plants extracts on the kidney and liver of Albino rats.

Study Design: Laboratory-experimental design was used for this study.

Place and Duration of Study: This study was carried out between September 2019 and November

2019 at Biochemistry laboratory, Sokoto State University, Sokoto, Nigeria.

Methodology: For the oral acute toxicity study, the revised “Up and Down” test (Limit Dose Test) was used to determine the LD₅₀ of the extracts. For sub-chronic toxicity study, twenty albino rats were used for each plant, and were divided into four groups of five animals each. Group I (control), Group II (received 200 mg extract/kg body weight), Group III (received 400 mg extract/kg body weight) and Group IV (received 800 mg extract/kg body weight). All administrations were given orally for 28 days. Liver and kidney markers were determined using standard methods.

Result: The oral acute toxicity test of the plant extracts at 3000 mg/kg body weight showed no mortality for 24 hours and subsequent 14days of administration. LD₅₀ for both plants is therefore greater than 3000 mg/kg. The result shows no significant differences (p > 0.05) on liver and kidney function biomarkers investigated when Group II, III and IV are compared with control.

Conclusion: This suggests that Frankincense stem bark and kenaf leaves extracts may be safe in rats at doses less than or equal 3000 mg/kg.

Maize is an economically important cereal crop cultivated worldwide depending on suitable climate condition. maize production is hindered by biotic and abiotic factors. Salinity is one of the major factors that affect maize yield. Plant respond to salinity by changes in their antioxidant enzymes activities which include Catalase (CAT), Superoxide dismutase (SOD), Peroxidase (POX), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and glutathione reductase (GR). In the present study, maize seedlings were subjected to salinity stress at a different concentrations of 50 mM, 100 mM and 150 mM NaCl and were watered regularly with normal pure water. Root, mature leaves and young leaves were collected after 21 days of sowing and antioxidant enzyme activities in the collected samples were assayed using enzymatic method. A significant (P<0.05) increase in MDA and H₂O₂ concentration was observed in the roots and young leaves for NaCl-treated samples as compared to the control. Activities of CAT increased significantly (P<0.05) in all organs (root, mature leaves and young leaves) of salt treated maize seedling, while SOD and POX increased specifically in mature leaves. This indicates a possible role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the systemic signalling from roots to leaves, allowing leaves to activate their defence mechanism for better protection against salt stress.