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Publications (100)
Cassia auriculata (Senna auriculata), Hallea stipulosa, and Albizia anthelmintica are among the sources of herbal remedies used to treat tuberculosis and its related symptoms. However, the literature has limited information on the anti-mycobacterial properties of various parts of these plants. This study assessed different parts of C. auriculata, H...
Gentamicin is widely used to treat neonatal infections caused by both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, and the WHO recommends its use while monitoring serum creatinine and gentamicin concentrations to avoid drug-induced nephrotoxicity and ototoxicity. Yet in some resource-limited settings, the drug is used without monitoring. A population...
PurposeAfrocantharellus platyphyllus (Heinem.) Tibuhwa (family Cantharellaceae) is a wild mushroom that is used for food and in the management of diseases by communities in Southern Tanzania. The current study investigated the safety and potential of the mushroom A. platyphyllus to yield active antimycobacterial compounds.Methods
Preliminary safety...
Background
Aphloia theiformis is used in Makete district, Tanzania, and other areas by HIV and AIDS patients as a weight loss remedy and for treatment of tuberculosis. However, there is no literature information on its antimycobacterial activity.
Purpose
To evaluate antimycobacterial activity of A. theiformis root ethanolic extract and isolated co...
The article explains the anticonvulsant activity of extracts of Diospyros fischeri stem barks
Ethnopharmacological relevance:
Although the available medicines can cure almost all tuberculosis drug-susceptible patients some problems including the emergence of multi-drug resistant and extensively drug-resistant strains press for the need of new anti-TB medicines. Morella salicifoliais a common plant that is widely used in traditional medicin...
The present study focused on documentation of wild mushroom species used by the local communities in the Selous-Niassa corridor in Namtumbo district, Ruvuma region, Tanzania. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected by interviewing 50 local informants from different localities in the Selous-Niassa wildlife corridor in Namtumbo district. The...
Cyphostemma adenocaule (Vitaceae) is used by traditional health practitioners in northeastern Tanzania, for treatment of cancer but there is no information available regarding its safety and efficacy. This study was conducted to determine the activity of the root extracts against brine shrimps, antioxidant and cytotoxicity against HeLa cancer cells...
The mission of healthcare systems in Africa to deliver compassionate and effective care has been constrained by growing populations, increasing burden of disease, political conflict and limited resources. The impacts of these constraints can be substantially alleviated, and the healthcare services strengthened, through the creation and adoption of...
Aspiliamossambicensis(Oliv) Wild is used by Traditional Health Practitioners in northeastern Tanzania, for treatment of cancers. In order to evaluate these claims root powder of the plant was extracted with dichloromethane: methanol (1:1), followed by vacuum liquid chromatography fractionation to obtain dichloromethane, ethyl acetate and methanol f...
Aims: Plants used in traditional medicine have contributed to the development of modern medicines, but in order to boost the discovery of novel drugs to fight diseases such as HIV/AIDS and emerging new diseases, systematic evaluation of many more plants needs to continue. The aim of the present study was to document medicinal plants used in the man...
in Same district, north eastern Tanzania, for treatment of cancer and other diseases. The current study was done to determine its cytotoxic activity. Methodology: Dried root powder was extracted by cold maceration with a 1:1 mixture of methanol and di-chloromethane. Sequential VLC fractions (Petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, and methanol) of the extr...
(-)-5-Acetoxy-6-(1-benzoyloxy-2-acetoxyethyl)-pyr-3-en-2-one (cleistenolide) and (-)-2, 6-diacetoxy-5-hydroxy-cyclohex-3-enylidenemethyl benzoate (cleistodienol) were isolated as novel antimicrobial and cytotoxic constituents of Cleistochlamys kirkii (Annonaceae), together with (Z)-(+)-5-(2, 3-dihydroxy-propylidene)-5H-furan-2-one and its acetyl an...
Bioassay-guided screening of Hypoestes verticillaris whole plant CH2Cl2:MeOH (1:1) extract for anti-plasmodial activity yielded four new compounds: two lignans 2, 6-dimethoxysavinin (1), 2,6-dimethoxy-(7E)-7,8-dehydroheliobuphthalmin
(2); and two fusicoccane diterpenoids: 11(12)-epoxyhypoestenone (3) and 3(11)-epoxyhypoestenone (4). The chemical st...
Background:
Inadequate specialized cancer hospitals and high costs are contributing factors that delay cancer patients from accessing health care services in Tanzania. Consequently, majority of patients are first seen by Traditional Health Practitioners (THPs) before they access specialized services. This study presents ethnomedical information an...
Background
Malaria is an old life-threatening parasitic disease that is still affecting many people, mainly children living in sub-Saharan Africa. Availability of effective antimalarial drugs played a significant role in the treatment and control of malaria. However, recent information on the emergence of P. falciparum parasites resistant to one of...
Plants used in traditional medicine have been the source of a number of currently used antimalarial medicines and continue to be a promising resource for the discovery of new classes of antimalarial compounds. The aim of this study was to evaluate in vivo antimalarial activity of four plants; Erythrina schliebenii Harms, Holarrhena pubescens Buch-H...
Aim: The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of some Tephrosia species against the larvae; Anopheles gambiae and Culex quinquefasciatus. These plants have proven to have insecticidal properties and regenerate quickly. Reduction of mosquito borne diseases by killing mosquitoes at the larva stage is bio-control alternative method in the rural...
A number of medicinal plants used for treatment of malaria in Tanzania have been documented, but information on their safety and efficacy is still based on traditional knowledge accumulated over years and not on pre-clinical and clinical evaluation. The present study aimed to assess the cytotoxic activity of extracts of selected plant species used...
Despite the virtual revolution, the mainstream academic community in most countries remains largely ignorant of the potential of web-based teaching resources and of the expansion of open source software, hardware and rapid prototyping. In the context of Biomedical Engineering (BME), where human safety and wellbeing is paramount, a high level of sup...
Tanzania has over 12,000 plant species, some of which are endemic and have potential to yield useful medicines. This study seeks to document such plants used as traditional medicines for treatment of malaria in Kagera region of northwestern Tanzania and Lindi region in south eastern Tanzania. The study also reports on the antiplasmodial activity ag...
A decoction of Crassocephallum vitellinum (Benth.) S. Moore (Asteraceae) is used in Kagera Region to treat peptic ulcers. This study seeks to evaluate an aqueous ethanol extract of aerial parts of the plant for safety and efficacy.
An 80% ethanolic extract of C. vitellinum at doses of 100, 200, 400 and 800 mg/kg body wt was evaluated for ability to...
Africa is endowed with rich and high endemicity of plant biological diversity, and a number of species are used as traditional medicines. Many African countries, working within the guidelines of the Convention for Biological Diversity and the Global Strategy for Plants Conservation, have developed legislation for the management of plant biodiversit...
Natural products (NPs) are an attractive source of chemical diversity for small-molecule drug discovery. Several challenges nevertheless persist with respect to NP discovery, including the time and effort required for bioassay-guided isolation of bioactive NPs, and the limited biomedical relevance to date of in vitro bioassays used in this context....
Supplementary Information on Quantitative Microflow NMR.
(DOC)
NMR Spectra (1H, APT, HSQC, HMBC) of Rhynchoviscin.
(PDF)
Supplementary Information on Materials & Methods.
(DOC)
SUMMARY
AIM: This study aimed at investigating the antimicrobial potential of isolated compounds from a Tanzanian Antidesma venosum.
METHODS: The pure compounds were isolated from the stem and root barks of A. venosum using standard column chromatography procedures with silica gel as a stationary phase and organic solvents of different polarities a...
A well-articulated institutional health research agenda can assist essential contributors and intended beneficiaries to visualize the link between research and community health needs, systems outcomes, and national development. In 2011, Tanzania's Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) published a university-wide research agenda...
Background
The decoction of the aerial parts of Rhynchosia recinosa (A.Rich.) Bak. [Fabaceae] is used in combination with the stem barks of Ozoroa insignis Del. (Anacardiaceae), Maytenus senegalensis (Lam.) Excell. [Celastraceae] Entada abyssinica Steud. ex A.Rich [Fabaceae] and Lannea schimperi (Hochst.)Engl. [Anacardiaceae] as a traditional remed...
Antidesma venosum E. Mey. ex Tull root and stem bark ethanol extracts and their dichloromethane, petroleum ether and methanol fractions exhibited strong antibacterial activity against 5 Gram positive bacteria including Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC25923), Bacillus anthracis (NCTC10073), Bacillus subtilis (clinical isolate), Streptococcus faecalis (cl...
The Kagera region of north western Tanzania has a rich culture of traditional medicine use and practice. Traditional medicines are the mainstay of healthcare in this region and are known to support the management of many illnesses such as malaria, bacterial infections, epilepsy, gynecological problems and others. However, most of the plants being u...
Natural products still represent an important source of new molecules for drug discovery. Nevertheless, isolation procedures are time-consuming and high-throughput activity tests are often not adapted for the screening of natural products. The use of microfractionation and sensitive NMR methods as microflow NMR shortens the isolation process and re...
The leaves and roots of Cissampelos mucronata A. Rich (Menispermaceae) are widely used in the tropics and subtropics to manage various ailments such as gastro-intestinal complaints, menstrual problems, venereal diseases and malaria. In the Coast region, Tanzania, roots are used to treat wounds due to extraction of jigger. Leaves of Tephrosia villos...
Zebrafish have recently emerged as an attractive in vivo system for functional genomics and drug discovery. Because of their small size, rapid development, optical transparency, and high genetic, physiologic, and pharmacologic similarity with humans, zebrafish embryos and larvae are also an ideal model for natural product discovery. As zebrafish bi...
The Kagera region of north western Tanzania has a rich culture of traditional medicine use and practices. The dynamic inter-ethnic interactions of different people from the surrounding countries constitute a rich reservoir of herbal based healing practices. This study, the second in an ongoing series, reports on the medicinal plant species used in...
Medicinal plants used in Katoro ward; Bukoba District. The file contains a list of medicinal plant species, their uses, parts used and methods of preparation, together with information from the literature supporting the traditional therapeutic claims.
Dichloromethane and/or ethanol extracts of 30 plants used as traditional medicines in Bukoba district, northwestern Tanzania were evaluated for brine shrimp toxicity. Among the 50 extracts tested, 32 extracts (64%) showed very low toxicity with LC50 values above 100 microg/ml. Among these 12 (24%) which had LC50 >500 microg/ml can be categorized as...
Abstract Background: Emergence of new and re-emergence of old infections continue to elude prospects of reducing morbidity and mortality caused by microbial infections. Trends of resistance to currently in use antimicrobials and antimalarials threaten to increase mortality caused by these infections. This study explores the potential of marine inve...
The root dichloromethane and ethyl acetate extracts of Acanthus puberscens (Oliv.) Engl (ACANTHACEAE) exhibited weak antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus anthracis, Salmonella typhi, Streptococcus faecalis, Streptococcus agalactiae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, with MIC values ranging from 1.6-6.25 mg/ml....
A photograph of one of the traditional healers, Mr. Didas Ngemera and members of his family sitting at the traditional shrine in the Bukombe sacred forest. This photograph was taken at the shrine where a prayer was said to get permission to enter the Bukombe forest.
Aqueous ethanol (80%) extracts of six plants used traditionally for treatment of malaria, Vepris glomerata (F.Hoffm.) Engl (Rutaceae), Maranthus floribunda (Bak.) F.White (Chrysobalanaceae), Strophanthus eminii Asch. & Pax ex Pax (Apocynaceae), Cassia abbreviata Oliv. (Leguminosae) and Caesalpinia bonducella L. Fleming (Fabaceae) were screened for...
Four furanoditerpenoids were isolated from roots of Croton jatrophoides (Euphorbiaceae) collected in Tanzania. In addition to the known compounds penduliflaworosin and teucvin (mallotucin A), a new teucvin isomer, which was named isoteucvin, and a furanoditerpenoid with a new skeleton, for which the name jatrophoidin was adopted, were isolated. The...
Herbal medicines constitute a potentially important resource for new and safe drugs for the management of microbial infections and other diseases. In this study, dichloromethane, ethylacetate and ethanol extracts of Canarium schweinfurthii Engl., Dissotis brazzae Cong., Iboza urticifolia (Bak) E.A.Bruce, Isoglosa lacteal Lindau, Strombosia Scheffle...
The Kagera region, in north western Tanzania, is endowed with a strong culture of traditional medicine that is well supported by a rich diversity of medicinal plants. However, most of the plants in this region have not been documented nor evaluated for safety and efficacy. As an initiative in that direction, this study documented the knowledge on m...
Oropharyngeal candidiasis is the most common opportunistic infection affecting patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Because of convenience, cost, and reluctance to complicate antiretroviral treatment regimens, single-dose fluconazole may be a favorable regimen for treatment of moderate to severe oropharyngeal candidiasis. We...
Traditional healers from four wards of the Kilosa district, Morogoro region (Tanzania) were interviewed to assess their knowledge and competence in the management of noninsulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). Among 65 reputed healers who were interviewed, 21 (32.3%) recognised and were treating one or more symptoms related to NIDDM, but none c...
Aerial parts of Phyllanthus amarus are used by Traditional Healers of Tanga, northeastern Tanzania, to control symptoms of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). An aqueous extract of the aerial parts, 0.1 and 1 g/kg body weight, significantly enhanced clearance of glucose from the blood as compared to controls during an oral glucose tole...
Petroleum ether, dichloromethane, and ethanolic extracts of the stem bark and leaves of Uvaria scheffleri Diels (Annonaceae) exhibited antifungal activity against Aspergillus niger (wild strain), Aspergillus fumigatus (wild strain), and a Penicillium species (wild strain). The ethanol extract of the stem bark was also active against Candida albican...
Lantana viburnoides sp viburnoides var kisi is used in Tanzania ethnobotanically to repel mosquitoes as well as in traditional medicine for stomach ache relief. Bioassay-guided fractionation and subtraction bioassays of the dichloromethane extract of the root barks were carried out in order to identify the bioactive components for controlling Anoph...
HIV-infected patients in sub-Saharan countries highly depend on traditional medicines for the treatment of opportunistic oral infections as candidiasis. Previous investigations on antifungal activity of medicinal plant extracts utilized by traditional healers in Tanzania have revealed 12 extracts with potent antifungal activity. Although the plants...
In Tanzania, little is known on the species distribution and antifungal susceptibility profiles of yeast isolates from HIV-infected patients with primary and recurrent oropharyngeal candidiasis.
A total of 296 clinical oral yeasts were isolated from 292 HIV-infected patients with oropharyngeal candidiasis at the Muhimbili National Hospital, Dar es...
The ethanol extract of the root bark of Terminalia sericea yielded an unreported stilbene glycoside, 3'5'-dihydroxy-4-(2-hydroxy-ethoxy) resveratrol-3-O-beta-rutinoside (1) together with known compounds resveratrol-3-beta-rutinoside glycoside (2), 3',4,5'-Trihydroxystilbene (resveratrol) (3), triterpenoic acid arjungenin and a mixture of beta-sitos...
Ternimalia brownii Fresen (Combretaceae) is widely used in traditional medicine to treat bacterial, fungal and viral infections. There is a need to evaluate extracts of this plant in order to provide scientific proof for it's wide application in traditional medicine system.
Extraction of stem bark, wood and whole roots of T. brownii using solvents...
Evaluation of extracts of Diospyros fischeri Gurke (Ebenaceae), which is used traditionally for the treatment of epilepsy shows that the aqueous extract of the tem bark has no effect against picrotoxin induced convulsions in mice. However, an 80% ethanol extract of the bark caused dose-dependent suppression of convulsions induced by 10 mg/kg body w...
Collaboration between traditional healers and biomedical practitioners is now being accepted by many African countries south of the Sahara because of the increasing problem of HIV/AIDS. The key problem, however, is how to initiate collaboration between two health systems which differ in theory of disease causation and management. This paper present...
From the roots of Millettia puguensis (Leguminosae), a novel isoflavonoid (1), 2'-methoxy-4',5'-methylenedioxy-7,8-[2-(1-methylethenyl)furo]isoflavone, and four known compounds, i.e., lupeol, (-)-maackiain (2), 6,7-dimethoxy-3',4'-methylenedioxyisoflavone (3) and 7,2'-dimethoxy-4',5'-methylenedioxyisoflavone were isolated and identified by ¹H-, ¹³C...
From the roots of Millettia puguensis (Leguminosae), a novel isoflavonoid (5), 2'-methoxy-4',5'-methylenedioxy-7,8-[2-(1-methylethenyl)furo]isoflavone, and four known compounds, i. e., lupeol (1), (-)-maackiain (2), 6,7-dimethoxy-3',4'-methylenedioxyisoflavone (3) and 7,2'-dimethoxy-4',5'-methylenedioxyisoflavone (4) were isolated and identified by...
Using the ethnobotanical approach, some Tanzanian plants reported to be used by traditional healers for the treatment of oral candidiasis and fungal infections of the skin were collected and screened for their antifungal activity against Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, Candida tropicalis, Candida parapsilosis, Candida krusei and Cryptococcus ne...
Diospyros fischeri Gurke (Ebenaceae) is used in traditional medicine for the treatment of epilepsy. Dichloromethane, ethylacetate, and ethanol extracts of the roots, at doses between 100 and 1600 mg/kg BW, inhibited convulsions induced by the gamma-aminobutyric acid type A (GABAa) receptor antagonist, pentylenetetrazole (PTZ), in a dose dependent m...
Plants which are used by traditional healers in Tanzania have been evaluated to obtain preliminary data of their toxicity using the brine shrimps test. The results indicate that 9 out of 44 plant species whose extracts were tested exhibited high toxicity with LC50 values below 20μg/ml. These include Aloe lateritia Engl. (Aloaceae) [19.1μg/ml], Cass...
Using the disc diffusion method it was demonstrated that extracts of the leaves, stem and roots of Terminalia mollis Laws (Combretaceae) have antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus (NCTC 6571), Escherichia coli (NCTC 10418), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (NCTC 10662), Klebsiella pneumoniae (NCTC 9633), Salmonella typhi (NCTC 8385), and Bacil...
Evaluation of extracts of Diospyros fischeri Gurke (Ebenaceae), which is used traditionally for the treatment of epilepsy shows that the aqueous extract of the tem bark has no effect against picrotoxin induced convulsions in mice. However, an 80% ethanol extract of the bark caused dose-dependent suppression of convulsions induced by 10 mg/kg body w...
The aim of the study was to compare the prevalence and types of HIV-related oral lesions between children and adult Tanzanian patients on HAART with those not on HAART and to relate the occurrence of the lesions with anti-HIV drug regimen, clinical stage of HIV disease and CD4+ cell count.
Participants were 532 HIV infected patients, 51 children an...