Pyrenacantha staudtii and Trichilia monadelpha are herbal plants used indiscriminately to treat malaria by local people in Nigeria. Hence the need to examine the effects of these plants on the visceral organs of mice in order to determine their safety use. Crude aqueous extracts of the plants were prepared. Different concentrations such as 500mg/Kg, 800mg/Kg 1000mg/Kg, 2000mg/Kg and 4000mg/Kg of the extracts were separately administered to mice in different groups. After 24h post-administration of the extracts, the mice were sacrificed to examine the histology of their visceral organs. No mortality was recorded among the treated mice 24h post-administration of the extracts. There was no lesion on the lung and heart tissues of the treated mice. The extracts of P. staudtii caused necrosis in the liver and kidney tissues at high concentration. But no necrosis was observed in the liver and kidney tissues of mice administered with T. monadelpha extract. Generally, there were cellular infiltrations in the liver and kidney tissues of the mice administered with the extracts of both P. staudtii and T. monadelpha. No lesion was seen in the tissues of untreated mice. Both P. staudtii and T. monadelpha appeared to be toxic at high concentration. Indiscriminate use of these plants without standard measurement should be discouraged.

In order to determine ticks’ prevalence and abundance on cattle and sheep in the Poro Region of Côte d'Ivoire, 809 ticks were collected from 120 cattle and 311 ticks from 120 sheep. Six species have been identified: Amblyomma variegatum, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, Boophilus annulatus, Boophilus geigyi, Hyalomma truncatum and Rhipicephalus senegalensis. Cattle were more infested by these ticks excluding Rhipicephalus senegalensis, which had a higher prevalence in sheep (12.5% in sheep versus 4.17% in cattle). The species Boophilus geigyi was most abundant in cattle of Dikodougou department (42.96%), then in sheep of Sinématiali (60%) and M'Bengué (51.72%) departments. In addition, Rhipicephalus senegalensis was more abundant in sheep in Korhogo Department with a proportion of 51.39%. These results suggest that tick control needs to be strengthened to improve the productivity of domestic ruminants in the Poro Region of Côte d'Ivoire.

Several medicinal plants have been documented for their effects on physiological processes in the body, among are their effects on haematological parameters and plasma electrolytes. Several medicinal plants have the ability to synthesize wide varieties of chemical compounds that perform important biological functions, and defend against attack from predators such as insects, fungi and herbivorous animals. They also contain several phytochemical compounds that can alter the physiological processes to varying extent in animals and human. Objectives: The aims of this study were to investigate the effects of ethanolic extract of Aspilia africana on some haematological parameters and plasma electrolytes. Methods: Twenty five albino male wistar rats were divided into five groups: group I(control, received 1ml/kg of distilled water), Group II(received 1ml/kg of 70% ethanol), While Groups III, IV & V were given 50mg/kg, 100mg/kg and 150mg/kg of the extract respectively. After two weeks of administration, blood samples were collected via cardiac puncture into sample bottles for haematological and plasma electrolytes analysis. Results: It was observed that there was significant increase in; red blood cell count, haemoglobin concentration, packed cell volume, total white blood cell count, platelet, neutrophil, eosinophil, monocyte, and lymphocyte of treated groups, mostly in group that was given 150mg/kg of the extract, while ethanol reduced haematological parameters. There were dose dependent increase in plasma sodium (88.52±2.58mEq/l), potassium (4.89±0.20 mEq/l) and calcium (2.00±0.15 mEq/l) compared respectively with control (Na- 71.70±1.66mEq/l, K-3.19 ±0.24mEq/l and Ca-1.41 ±0.13mEq/l). Conclusion: Aspilia africana showed positive haemopoietic effect and also increase plasma electrolyte concentration.

Photophysical studies of water soluble Photoinduced Electron Transfer (PET) based dye with urea in the absence and presence of a globular protein, Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) were carried out in water. Addition of urea results in a fluorescence quenching of the dye such that the local excited (LE) state emission remains largely unaffected, whereas BSA results in a fluorescence quenching accompanied with larger extent of fluorescence enhancement and promotes the formation of a new emissive peak, assigned to the Charge Transfer (CT) nature of the dye. The loss of PET behavior of the dye in water and the subsequent addition of urea or BSA influences the excited state nature of the dye. Urea predominantly governs the LE state nature of the dye and promotes the formation a new microenvironment in the presence of BSA. The binding constant parameters portray that dye is influenced by urea rather than BSA such that urea-water and urea-urea hydrogen-bonding assemblies predominates over hydrophobic nature of the protein. Fluorescence spectral technique is employed as a tool in establishing the nature of interaction between dyes with more than one water soluble Competitive Hydrogen Bonding solute is established in the present study.

Kilishi is a great spicy beef jerky from Nigeria. Dry kilishi was analysed for its content of chemical components: proximate, vitamins, minerals using standard methods. From the minerals were calculated the mineral ratios and the mineral safety index (MSI). Highest concentrations of proximate contents came from crude protein (64.4 g/100g) and crude fat was 14.2g/100g. Proportion of total energy due to protein was 1,095 kJ/100g (66.0%) or 258 kcal/100g (65.3%) whereas in carbohydrate we had values of 39.1 kJ/100g (2.36%) or 9.20 kcal/100g (2.33%). Utilization of 60% of proportion of total energy due to protein percent ranged between 39.2 – 39.6. Minerals of high concentration in the sample were (mg/100g): K, 985 (44.3%); P, 781 (35.1%); Na, 320 (14.4%); reasonable contents were observed in Fe, Zn, Ca, Mg. Among all the minerals ratios calculated, only the value for Na/Mg (3.91) was very close to reference balance ideal (4.00) and within the acceptable ideal range (2 to 6). The MSI values showed that only Zn was higher than the recommended MSI showing that Zn might be deleterious in kilishi consumption. The two most concentrated vitamins were water soluble vitamins with values of (mg/100g): vitamin C, 6.53 (38.4%); B3, 5.98 (35.2%) and followed by two other fat soluble vitamins: vitamin A, 1.94 (11.4%) and vitamin E, 1.38 (8.10%). These results revealed that kilishi could be regarded as a protein-filled snack that still retains its nutritional value despite being dried.