William W. Anokbonggo

Review of the Biological and Health Effects of Aflatoxins on Body Organs and Body Systems

Aflatoxins are a group of naturally occurring carcinogens that are known to contaminate dif‐ ferent human and animal food stuffs. Aflatoxins are poisonous by-products from soil-borne fungus Aspergillus, which is responsible for the decomposition of plant materials [1-9]. The occurrence of aflatoxins foods and food products vary with geographic location, agricultural and agronomic practices. The susceptibility of food product to fungal attack occurs during pre-harvest, transportation, storage, and processing of the foods [1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 10]. The prob‐ lem of aflatoxin contamination of the food products is a common problem in tropical and subtropical regions of the world especially in the developing countries such as the sub-Sa‐ haran countries with poor practices and where the environmental conditions of warm tem‐ peratures and humidity favors the growth fungi [1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 10]. The various food products contaminated with aflatoxins include cereals like maize, sorghum, pearl millet, rice and wheat; oilseeds such as groundnut, soybean, sunflower and cotton; spices like chillies, black pepper, coriander, turmeric and zinger; tree nuts such as almonds, pistachio, walnuts and coconut; and milk and milk products [11]. The aflatoxins were initially isolated and identi‐ fied as the causative agent in Turkey X disease that caused necrosis of the liver in 1960 and over 100,000 turkeys died in England and USA and the death was attributed to the con‐ sumption of a mould-contaminated peanut meal [2, 6, 9, 12, 13]. Very high concentrations of aflatoxins are most often found in nutritive seeds such as maize, nuts and cereal grains in Africa and rice in China and Southeast Asia [2, 6, 9, 12-14].

Antimalarial Activity of Aspilia pruliseta, a Medicinal Plant from Uganda

Aspilia pruliseta Schweinf. (Asteraceae) is a medicinal plant indigenous to Uganda and the neighboring countries of East Africa. It has been used extensively by the rural population for the treatment of fevers and malaria. During the antimalarial evaluation of this plant, four nontoxic diterpenes were isolated that possessed moderate activity against chloroquine-sensitive (D6) and chloroquine-resistant (W2) clones of Plasmodium falciparum, with IC(50) values ranging from 14 to 23 µM. These moderately active compounds included the previously undescribed diterpene, ENT-15 β-senecioyloxy-16,17-epoxy-kauran-18-oic acid that demonstrated an IC(50) value of 23.4 µM against clone D6, but was devoid of activity against clone W2. Four additional diterpenes were obtained from the aerial parts of A. pruliseta, but these known compounds were essentially inactive. The moderate activities of select diterpenes of A. pruliseta could account collectively for the historical and enduring use of this plant in traditional African medicine.

Chronic ethanol use in alcoholic beverages by HIV-infected patients affects the therapeutic window of stavudine, lamivudine and nevirapine during the 9-month follow-up period: using chronic alcohol-use biomarkers.

Abstract Background: Chronic ethanol use is a global problem including among HIV-infected patients on stavudine/lamivudine/nevirapine (d4T/3TC/NVP) regimen. The study determined the effect of chronic ethanol use on the therapeutic window of d4T, 3TC and NVP in HIV-infected patients using alcohol-use biomarkers to screen patients for chronic ethanol use. Methods: A case-control study using repeated measures design with serial measurements was used to quantify drugs in plasma. The WHO alcohol use disorder identification test (AUDIT) tool was initially used to screen patients for chronic alcohol use, and then they were further sorted using alcohol-use bioamarkers (γ-glutamyl transferase ≥55.0 IU; mean corpuscular volume, ≥96 fl, aspartate amino transferase/alanine aminotransferase ratio ≥2.0 value). A total of 41 patients (26 in the alcohol group and 15 in the control group) were followed up for 9 months with blood sampling done at 3-month intervals. Plasma drug concentrations were quantified using a Shimadzu Class-VP™ HPLC data system version 6.1. Data was analyzed using SAS 2003 version 9.1 statistical package with repeated measures fixed model. Means were compared using Student’s t-test. Results: The mean steady-state plasma drug concentrations of d4T and 3TC in the alcohol group were lower than that in the control group during the 9-month period of follow-up. For 3TC, there was a statistical difference in the mean steady-state plasma drug concentrations between the alcohol group and the control group (p≤0.05) in the 6- and 9-month period of follow-up. For NVP, in both groups they were within the reference ranges, although the drug plasma concentrations were higher in the alcohol group compared to the control group and were statistically significant (p<0.05) in 0, 3 and 6 months of follow-up. Conclusions: Chronic ethanol use by HIV-infected patients reduced the therapeutic steady-state plasma drug concentrations of d4T and 3TC and increased the NVP drug concentrations in the HIV-infected patients.