Household and environmental factors influencing anthropometric outcomes in preschool children in a rural Ethiopian community

This article tests the hypothesis that anthropometrical outcomes in preschool children are a function of complex interaction between food, nutrition, health, and other physical environmental conditions within which children live and grow. A system of simultaneous equations is used to test the above hypothesis using data from an Ethiopian highland community. The results show that a child's nutritional and health status are jointly determined by dietary intake, well-being of the mother as the primary caregiver, and the state of the physical environment for agricultural production and healthy living. Among other factors, children were found to be in better health with an increase in the number of cows in their households' livestock herds. The revealed interrelatedness and complexities of cause and effect clearly dictate the need for a multi- or transdisciplinary approach to research and development addressing health, nutrition, sanitation, agricultural production practices, among other factors for alleviating the nutritional and health problems of children and rural households.     

非洲别样茶的研究进展

非洲有许多传统草药,长久以来被当地人用来治疗疾病,其中有些草药可当作茶饮,对身体健康起了重要作用。研究表明这部分茶具有抗肿瘤、降血压、抗氧化、降血糖等多种作用,并且越来越受到国际市场的关注。综述了非洲主要别样茶的来源、分布、民间用途、主要化学成分、药理作用、目前开发状况及其在中国的应用现状,为进一步研究开发提供参考。     

我国中医药在非洲发展现状与合作战略思考

随着“一带一路”的提出与中非合作论坛峰会的成功举办,我国与非洲交流愈加密切,中医药贸易往来也加快了步伐。现在阐释国家的政策支持及双方合作加强、中医药自身的特色优势、非洲国家特有的社会发展环境、中医药及其他医药产品在非洲贸易额及中国药企发展4大优势的基础上,对中非中医药合作存在的评价标准欠缺、渠道建设不足、医药学文化差异、市场针对不强、教育体系缺乏、市场竞争激烈、内部问题突出7项问题进行分析,旨在对加强我国与非洲国家中医药合作提出战略思考,并提出需要建设标准体系、重视渠道建设、推广中医药文化、研发市场产品、培养精新人才、打造中医药品牌6项合作战略。     

Quantitative analysis by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography and retinal neuroprotection after topical administration of moxonidine

AIM: To determine moxonidine in aqueous humor and iris-ciliary body by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), and to evaluate the retinal neuroprotective effect after topical administration with moxonidine in a high intraocular pressure (IOP) model. METHODS: The eyes of albino rabbits were administered topically and ipsilaterally with 0.2% moxonidine. A RP-HPLC method was employed for the identification and quantification of moxonidine between 2 and 480min, which presented in the aqueous humor and iris-ciliary body. Flash electroretinography (F-ERG) amplitude and superoxide dismutase (SOD) level were measured between day 1 and day 15 after topical administration with moxonidine in a rabbit model of high IOP. Histological and ultrastructural observation underwent to analyze the changes of retinal morphology, the inner retinal layers (IRL) thickness, and retinal ganglion cell (RGC) counting. RESULTS: Moxonidine was detectable between 2 and 480min after administration, and the peak concentration developed both in the two tissues at 30min, 0.51 μg/mL in aqueous humor and 1.03 μg/g in iris-ciliary body. In comparison to control, F-ERG b-wave amplitude in moxonidine eyes were significantly differences between day 3 and day 15 (P<0.01) in the high IOP model; SOD levels were significantly higher at all time-points (P<0.01) with a maximum level of 20.29 U/mgprot at day 15; and RGCs were significantly higher (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Moxonidine is a viable neuroprotective agent with application to high IOP model. All layers of retina, including RGC layer, retinal nerve fiber layer and INL, are more preserved after moxonidine administration. SOD plays a neuroprotective role in ocular hypertension-mediated RGC death.     

Effects of permethrin as Simulium larvicide on non-target aquatic fauna in an African river

The side-effects of permethrin (20% EC) as a Simulium larvicide on aquatic invertebrates and fish was studied under operational vector control conditions to contribute to the evaluation of the product for its possible adoption by the Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa. After 15 weekly applications of the formulation at 0.045 litre per m³ of water discharge, drift samples virtually contained no Ephemeroptera. Saxicolous fauna density and proportional diversity were also affected. However, both drift and saxicolous fauna recovered to almost pretreatment levels a month after treatment was terminated. Fish showed some evidence of stress but remained in the active treated zone to make trends of catches in the area comparable with those of the control station. The treatment did not result in fish mortalities, and the condition of fish before and after the experimental period was significantly unchanged. Thus, operational use of permethrin by the Programme would not be expected to have permanent adverse effects on the non-target fauna.     

Anti-trypanosomal activity of African medicinal plants: A review update

Ethnopharmacological relevance

African trypanosomiasis is one of the neglected tropical diseases caused by different species of trypanosomes that affect both human and livestock with devastating consequences in the continent. Most of the affected populations commonly use traditional medicinal plants for the treatment of the disease. Consequently, this prompted ethnopharmacological research activities on the anti-trypanosomal activity of a number of these African medicinal plants in order to validate their ethnomedicinal use. Furthermore, such studies could lead to the identification of chemical leads for the development of newer anti-trypanosomal agents from those plants. This review aims to provide updated information on the ethnopharmacological evidence of African medicinal plants with anti-trypanosomal activity.

Methods

Literature was collected via electronic search (PubMed, Sciencedirect, Medline and Google Scholar) from published articles that report on the in vitro or in vivo anti-trypanosomal activity of plants that were collected from different parts of Africa.

Results

African medicinal plants investigated for in vitro and in vivo anti-trypanosomal activity from January 1993 to October 2013 are systematically compiled and all the in vivo studies are critically discussed. A total of 264 plant species belonging to 79 families were investigated for anti-trypanosomal activity. However, only 48 bioactive anti-trypanosomal compounds were successfully isolated in pure forms. Furthermore, some of the plants were investigated for possible ameliorative effects on the trypanosome-induced pathological changes out of which 18 plants were reported to be effective while a few others were not. In spite of interesting preclinical ethnopharmacological evidence for anti-trypanosomal activity, not a single African medicinal plant was investigated in a clinical study.

Conclusion

Several African medicinal plants have demonstrated promising anti-trypanosomal effects but the studies on the anti-trypanosomal potentials of these plants are not taken beyond proof of concept stage. It is hoped that the article would stimulate future clinical studies because of the paucity of knowledge in this area.     

南非中医药发展现状与分析

南非是种族多样、文化多元的总统共和制国家,医疗卫生体系由公立和私立两部分组成,导致该国人口死亡的主要因素依次为艾滋病、下呼吸道感染、新生儿疾病、人际暴力和道路伤害。南非草药资源丰富,其传统医学以非洲传统医学为主。自1998年中南两国建交后,中医药在南非的发展得到明显改善和提高,并于2000年确立了合法地位,但尚未形成规范化、产业化的中药发展模式,中医药应用规模仍显不足,且中医药教育的发展并不完善。建议通过促进中医药标准化建设、加强药业实体对中医药的推广、开展高水平中医药学位教育,为南非中医药发展提供持续的储备人才,逐步形成规模化、产业化、规范化的发展模式,让中医中药更好地为南非人民健康服务。     

A review of the taxonomy, ethnobotany, chemistry and pharmacology of Sutherlandia frutescens (Fabaceae)

Sutherlandia frutescens (tribe Galegeae, Fabaceae), a popular plant in traditional medicine, is indigenous to South Africa, Lesotho, southern Namibia and southeastern Botswana. It is chemically, genetically and geographically extremely variable and has been divided into three subspecies and several regional forms. A second species, Sutherlandia tomentosa, is localized along the Cape coast. Sutherlandia is sometimes treated as part of the genus Lessertia. There are numerous vernacular names and a wide diversity of uses, including poor appetite, indigestion, stomach complaints, dysentery, colds, influenza, kidney conditions, fever, diabetes, internal cancers, uterine troubles, liver conditions, backache, rheumatoid arthritis, urinary tract infections, stress and anxiety, dropsy and heart failure. Notable is the use as a bitter tonic ("blood purifier"), anti-stress medication ('musa-pelo) and, at least since 1895, specifically as a cancer tonic (both as treatment and as prophylaxis). Externally it is applied to haemorrhoids, inflamed wounds and eye infections. Recent in vitro and in vivo studies have shown antiproliferative, anti-HIV, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antibacterial, anti-stress, anticonvulsant and antithrombotic activities. Aqueous extracts often differ in activity from organic solvent extracts. The presence of high levels of free amino acids, non-protein amino acids such as canavanine and GABA, the cyclitol pinitol, flavonols and triterpenes (including SU1, a cycloartane-type triterpene saponin) provide plausible hypotheses on how these compounds, individually or collectively, may be responsible for the reputed efficacy in a wide range of ailments. Results of animal studies, as well as a phase I clinical study, have shown no indications of toxicity. Sufficient preclinical data are now available to justify controlled clinical studies.     

Therapeutic uses of Aloe L. (Asphodelaceae) in southern Africa

Ethnopharmacological relevance

The African-Arabian succulent genus Aloe L. (Aloaceae/Asphodelaceae) is represented by approximately 120 infrageneric taxa in southern Africa, including A. ferox Mill., a species long used in commercial natural products.

Aims of the study

To assess the documented ethnobotanical knowledge and biocultural value of utility in the genus in southern Africa.

Materials and methods

A survey of over 350 multidisciplinary publications was undertaken.

Results

Local uses for medicine and wellbeing were identified for over half the species of Aloe occurring in the Flora of Southern Africa region. The most frequently cited medicinal uses were the treatment of infections and internal parasites, digestive ailments and injuries. Numerous species were recorded for their social uses, notably as ingredients in tobacco snuff.

Conclusion

The exceptional infrageneric diversity of Aloe, and extensive therapeutic uses in southern Africa, indicate its cultural importance in the subcontinent. These factors highlight the need for the conservation of the species as well as their potential as a source of natural products.     

Population interconnectivity over the past 120,000 years explains distribution and diversity of Central African hunter-gatherers

The evolutionary history of African hunter-gatherers holds key insights into modern human diversity. Here, we combine ethnographic and genetic data on Central African hunter-gatherers (CAHG) to show that their current distribution and density are explained by ecology rather than by a displacement to marginal habitats due to recent farming expansions, as commonly assumed. We also estimate the range of hunter-gatherer presence across Central Africa over the past 120,000 years using paleoclimatic reconstructions, which were statistically validated by our newly compiled dataset of dated archaeological sites. Finally, we show that genomic estimates of divergence times between CAHG groups match our ecological estimates of periods favoring population splits, and that recoveries of connectivity would have facilitated subsequent gene flow. Our results reveal that CAHG stem from a deep history of partially connected populations. This form of sociality allowed the coexistence of relatively large effective population sizes and local differentiation, with important implications for the evolution of genetic and cultural diversity in Homo sapiens.

The evolutionary history of African hunter-gatherers may hold key insights into patterns and processes behind the evolution of modern human diversity. Recent genomic studies have revealed that these populations represent the oldest and most diverse human genetic lineages and have been genetically differentiated from one another since the origin of humans (1–3) (SI Appendix, Table S1). Therefore, a first question is whether their current ecological niches were also characteristic of early Homo sapiens populations. However, genetic data alone can neither determine the geographic distribution of hunter-gatherers in the past nor demonstrate a deep history of adaptation of hunter-gatherers to their current environments. In fact, various studies have proposed that farming expansions within the past 5,000 years (in particular by the ancestors of Bantu speakers) would have only recently displaced hunter-gatherers to marginalized regions less favorable to agriculture (such as rainforests and deserts) (4–7).For example, the central part of Africa, between latitudes 5°N and 5°S currently is inhabited by ∼20 scattered hunter-gatherer ethnic groups (8). These Central African hunter-gatherers (CAHG) form a genetic clade thought to have diverged from other African populations as far back as 120,000 to 200,000 years ago (2, 9). The lack of any major linguistic specificity between them is often implied to reflect extensive contacts with surrounding farmer populations (8, 10), and seen as evidence of recent displacement into marginal forest environments by expanding farming populations. However, anthropologists have remarked on the huge variability in lifestyle, habitat, techniques, and tools between CAHG (11), suggestive of long-term cultural diversification and adaptation to forest environments. Research on the drivers of demography and adaptation of CAHG populations remains extremely limited, which can be partially attributed to the lack of archaeological and osteological data resulting from a rapid disintegration of fossil remains in the rainforest’s acidic soils, in addition to social instability in the region (12). Therefore, we are still left with crucial questions regarding the time depth of occupation of Central Africa by hunter-gatherers, the breadth of the niche exploited by earlier populations in the region, and variations in levels of interconnectivity at different points in time.To address those questions, we first compiled ethnographic data on the distribution of 749 camps from 11 hunter-gatherer groups extending from West to East Central Africa. We used them as inputs for environmental niche models (ENMs) to determine the relative influence of several bioclimatic and ecological factors, as well as the presence of farming populations, on the distribution and abundance of CAHG (13, 14). Then, we used high-resolution paleoclimatic reconstructions and topographic maps to make continuous predictions about where CAHG could have lived over the past 120,000 years and the potential extension of their interaction networks. Next, we compiled all reliably dated archaeological assemblages ascribed to hunter-gatherer groups in the Congo Basin (n = 168) and confirmed the model’s ability to predict the location and date of the sites. We further contextualized genomic estimates of population divergences with changes in population densities and interpopulation connectivity predicted by our model. Last, we complemented these analyses with a detailed assessment of present and historical gene flow between nine CAHG populations (n = 265 individuals), which we used to assess recent interactions between previously diverged CAHG populations, after farming expansions. Our study therefore provides a causal link between past environmental changes and human population dynamics over evolutionary time, by predicting where and when populations across Central Africa could have exchanged genetic and/or cultural information throughout their evolutionary history.