Magister Pharmaceuticae - MPharm / Leonotis leonorus and Mentha longifolia are two herbs commonly used in South Africa, mostly in oral liquid dosage forms. Several disadvantages are associated with these traditional dosage forms which can perhaps be remedied by using an appropriate oral solid dosage form, provided the actual plant material in the latter still resemble, as closely as possible, the traditionally used material and provide products of suitable pharmaceutical quality. The objectives of this study were to prepare and evaluate the pharmaceutical suitability of the freeze-dried aqueous extracts of Leonotis Leonorus and Mentha Longifolia as plant raw material for the capsule dosage of these two therapies and to formulate and manufacture capsules of Leonotis Leonorus and Mentha Longifolia aqueous extract that would contain amounts of the plant materials equivalent to that found in their traditional liquid dosage forms, and have immediate release characteristics and suitability stability. / South Africa

Magister Scientiae - MSc / The incidence of cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension, is on the increase worldwide. Medicinal plants played an important role in the treatment of hypertension for centuries. Very few scientific studies have, however, been done to validate the use of these phytotherapies. O africana is on of the many phytotherapies that has been use indigenously for years to treat hypertension. The objectives of this study were to determine the most effective does of O africana aqueous extract which will reduce blood pressure; to determine whether chronic administration of O africana can be used to prevent and treat hypertension; to determine whether O africana exert its effects by modulation of the renin-angiotensin system. / South Africa

Malaria continues to be a major cause of mortality and morbidity especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. The emergence and spread of drug resistant parasites has highlighted the need for new chemically diverse, effective drugs. Historically, one of the major sources of antimalarial agents and novel template compounds has been higher order plants. The widespread use of medicinal plants for the treatment of malaria in South Africa represents a diverse resource of potential antimalarial drugs. Two South African plants, Vernonia staehelinoides and Oncosiphon piluliferum, were identified as potential sources of new antimalarial drugs through a national multidisciplinary-consortium project aimed at scientifically validating South African medicinal plants for the treatment of malaria. The in vitro antiplasmodial activity of extracts of these plants warranted further investigation to identify the biologically active components. Bio-assay guided fractionation based on in vitro antiplasmodial activity against the D10 P. falciparum strain was used to identify the compounds responsible for the observed activity. Compounds were purified using silica gel column chromatography. The structures of the isolated compounds were elucidated using spectroscopic techniques. Bioassay-guided fractionation of the organic extracts of V. staehelinoides leaves identified a pair of structurally-related hirsutinolides with significant in vitro antiplasmodial activity. The compounds were found to be cytotoxic at similar concentrations but proved to be interesting scaffolds for potential structure-activity relationship studies. Three germacranolides and two eudesmanolides were identified through bioassay-guided fractionation of the organic O. piluliferum extract. Selected derivatizations were conducted in order to fully characterize the compounds. The absolute configuration of the major active germacranolide was determined using Mosher's method. The effect of the reduction of the <font face="symbol"> a</font>-methylene group of the major active germacranolide on antiplasmodial activity and cytotoxicity was also investigated. The 5 compounds and the reduction product were found to possess varying degrees of in vitro antiplasmodial activity and cytotoxicity. None was sufficiently active or selective to be a viable drug candidate but the potential for further structure-activity relationship studies exists. / Dissertation (MSc (Chemistry))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Chemistry / unrestricted

Diarrhea is a global concern that the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), have confirmed to be the second major cause of death in children under the age of five. Major bacterial pathogens that cause diarrhea include Escherichia coli, Salmonella species, Shigella species and Staphylococcus aureus. Antibiotic therapy is recommended depending on the severity and presentation of the disease; however, the appearance of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is an emerging global threat to the ability to treat these bacterial infections. This situation could be overcome by the discovery of new natural antibiotics. Plants have been a source of medicine for centuries and have been used to treat diseases including diarrhea. This makes plants a natural potential target to study for their antibiotic properties. The objective of this study was to determine the antibiotic properties of medicinal plants against known pathogens that cause bacterial diarrhea. Three medicinal plants, Cassia abbreviata, Kigelia africana, and Geranium incanum were investigated for their antimicrobial properties against these strains of microorganisms: American Type Culture Collection (ATTC) and Clinical Strains (CS). The plant materials were ground into powder, which was then dissolved in methanol, acetone and distilled water to extract the active compounds. The plant extracts were then used to (i) determine their antibiotic activity, (ii) determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MICs), (iii) analyze the thin layer chromatography (TLC) fingerprints, and (iv) analyze the autobiography assay. The results obtained in this study met the aim and objectives of this study. The antimicrobial activities of the selected plants were obtained as discussed in Chapter 2 and 3. These results indicated that the traditional plants could be used as antimicrobials. In the screening assays, the test microorganisms were inhibited by the plant extracts, when they were subjected to plant extracts. This was performed on Mueller Hinton agar as sensitivity testing, which revealed clear zones of inhibition. The MIC values for each plant extract were established which ranged from 0.101 to 13.3 mg/dl. The TLC analysis revealed the spots which contained the active compounds which inhibited the bacterial growth. A bioautography assay was performed on the TLC plates, which exposed the exact spots containing the active compound inhibiting the bacteria. These results are clearly consistent with what former scientists have observed. Detailed explanations on the results are in Chapter 3 and 4 of this paper. It is important to note that all the procedures performed in this study were in vitro assays. Some effective in vitro assay activity may not always result in the same effective in vivo activity, because some active compounds may be metabolized and degraded into inactive metabolites. For this reason, the in vitro results obtained in this study, may not reflect the true effectiveness of the compounds in in vivo trials. It is therefore advised that future scientists should take a step further in analyzing the plant extracts through in vivo assays. Further testing and study on these plants at an advanced molecular level will be beneficial in the medical fields in the search for new antibiotics to treat infectious diseases. Purification and further analysis of their products can be helpful in the production of pure natural medicines. This will discover the active ingredients and compounds responsible for inhibition of the microorganisms. This will make the compounds potential candidates for a scientific validation and analysis for future scientists to bring a new dawn in the fight against infectious diseases.

Helicobacter pylori classified as a class 1 carcinogen is a common human pathogen implicated in certain gastrointestinal diseases. Helicobacter pylori infection is acquired mainly in childhood, especially in developing countries. H. pylori infection causes peptic ulcer, duodenitis, gastritis and cancer. The growing resistance of H. pylori to antibiotics used in its treatment as well as other innate limitations of the triple therapy has necessitated a search for alternative treatment from natural sources which could be readily available, less cost effective. The antimicrobial activity of solvents (acetone, ethanol, methanol, chloroform and water) crude extracts of Lippia javanica were investigated against 31 H. pylori strains by the agar well diffusion technique. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined by spectrophotometric analysis at 620 nm using the broth micro dilution method and the rate of kill by broth dilution method. Phytochemical analysis was also performed. H. pylori standard strain NCTC 11638 was included as a positive control. Metronidazole and amoxicillin were used as positive control antibiotics. The ANOVA test was used to analyze the results using SPSS version 17.0. The strains were inhibited by all the extracts with inhibition zones of diameter ranging from 0-36 mm and 0-35 mm for the control antibiotic, clarithromycin. The MIC90 ranged from 0.039- 0.625 mg/mL for acetone; 0.039-1.25mg/mL for methanol, 0.00195-0.313 mg/mL for ethanol; 0.01975-2.5 mg/mL for metronidazole and 0.0048-2.5 mg/mL for amoxicillin. Acetone extract completely inhibited strain PE369C at MIC (0.1 mg/mL) and 2× MIC (0.2 mg/mL) in 18h and at ½× MIC (0.05 mg/mL) in 36h. Strain PE466C was completely inhibited at 4× MIC in 72h. Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of flavonoids, saponins, tannins, steroids and alkaloids. The results indicate that the extracts of the leaves of L. javanica may contain compounds with anti-H. pylori activity and merits further study to identify the compounds.

No description available.

In this thesis the successful synthesis of a novel tricyclic scaffold containing a ring fused triazole and piperidine will be discussed and furthermore its utility as a new potential privileged structure will be evaluated. As starting material for the synthesis of the considered scaffolds the commercially available ethyl 4-oxopiperidine-1-carboxylate 108 was used. Piperidone 108 was converted into scaffolds 96, 97 and 98 alternating the ring size (n=1, 2, 3) of the fused bicyclic ring. This tricyclic triazole scaffold was incorporated into known biologically active molecules (Sitaglitpin, a DPP-4 inhibitor; Maraviroc, a CCR-5 receptor antagonist and GDC-0941, a pi3K inhibitor) to test its potential to serve as a new possible Privileged Scaffold. Through scaffold hopping, analogues with excellent biological activity against the chosen biological targets were achieved. Additionally, the stereoselective synthesis of one of the four possible isomers of the tricyclic triazole 178 was obtained in 4 steps to give the synthetically access towards the synthesis of all feasible enantiomeric and diastereomeric analogues.

M.Tech. (Homoeopathy) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MSc (Plant Physiology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Plant Science / unrestricted

Orientador: Maria Luiza Moretti Branchini / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-31T17:02:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Caraccio_MariaBeatrizBonin_M.pdf: 12185696 bytes, checksum: 81b7309f2cc4c53e9884894790fcdba9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2001 / Resumo: Mais da metade de todas as novas infecções pelo HIV ocorrem entre adolescentes de 15 a 24 anos em todo o mundo. Nos países em desenvolvimento, o desequilíbrio social e econômico contribui para a contínua disseminação do vírus da imunodeficiência humana (HIV) nesta população de alto risco. Casuística e Métodos: Foram avaliadas características epidemiológicas, clínicas e a evolução nos adolescentes infectados pelo mv assistidos no Hospital de Clínicas da Universidade Estadual de Campinas, de agosto de 1994 a junho de 2000. Resultados: Foram incluídos adolescentes com idade entre 13 e 19 anos. Trinta e oito pacientes foram estudados com idade média de 17, 6 anos. Os pacientes foram divididos em 2 grupos. Grupo 1- inclusão entre 1994 e 1996 (26 pacientes) e Grupo 2-inclusão entre 1997 e 2000 (12 pacientes). A transfusão sanguínea foi responsável pela infecção pelo mv em 12 (46,2%) pacientes do grupo 1, e a transmissão heterossexual isoladamente correspondeu a 73% dos adolescentes sem doenças hematológicas, seguido do uso de drogas. Não houve diferença estatística entre os dois grupos quanto a: evolução clínica, número de óbitos, densidade de incidência de infecções oportunistas/100 pacientes ano e marcadores sorológicos para doenças infecciosas. Ocorreu um alto número de gestações entre as mulheres (13 gestações/lO adolescentes) e 40% do total de pacientes estudados apresentavam anticorpos para Hepatite C. Quatorze pacientes morreram, e 78,5% dos óbitos ocorreram por condições diretamente relacionadas à Aids. Conclusões: Estes dados mostram a urgente necessidade da utilização de novas formas de atendimento a adolescentes infectados. É necessário que educação, aconselhamento e suporte psicológico, associados a uma assistência médica adequada sejam especialmente dirigidos aos adolescentes infectados pelo HIV / Abstract: More than half of all new mv infections are arnong adolescents aged from15 to 24 year-old, worldwide. In developing countries disadvantaged social and economics issues have contributed to continually disseminate HIV in this high-risk population. Methods: We evaluated the epidemiologica, clinical and outcome of HIV infection in adolescents assisted in the Hospital and Clinics of Universidade Estadual de Campinas, from August 94 to June 2000. Results: Adolescents aged 13 to 19 years were included. Thirty-eight patients were studied with median age of 17.6 year-olds. Patients were divided in two groups. Group 1- from1994-96 (26 patients) and group 2- from1997 to 2000 (12 patients). Blood transfusion was responsible for HIV infection in 12 (46.2%) patients from group 1 and heterosexual transmission corresponded to 73% of the adolescents without hematological diseases, followed by the use of injecting drugs. No statistical difference was observed between the two groups to: clinical outcome; number of deaths; density of incidence/lOO patients-year of opportunistic infections and serological markers for infectious diseases. A high number of pregnancies was reported by females (13 pregnancies/lO adolescents) and 40% of all our patients had hepatitis C antibodies. Fourteen patients died and 78.5% of deaths occurred in our patients were directed related to AIDS conditions. Conclusions: These data supported the urgent need for the application of new approaches to assist mv infected adolescence. Educational, counseling and psychological support coupled with appropriated medical assistance must be specially directed to adolescents livingwith HIV infection / Mestrado / Clinica Medica / Mestre em Clinica Medica