Annual Research & Review in Biology

Aedes aegypti (Diptera, Culicidae) is the predominant mosquito vector of several arboviruses such as dengue fever, yellow fever, chikungunya and zika. The larval stage is the major period of feeding and growth of these insects. Many of the products tested for Ae. aegypti control are ingested by the larvae in their natural environment or under laboratory conditions. In some situations, the identification of tissue lesions caused by the ingestion of such products serves as the primary way to understand their mechanism of action and confirm their effectiveness. Therefore, we aimed to conduct studies on the histological and histochemical characteristics of Ae. aegypti larvae in order to contribute to a better understanding of the pathogenicity caused by chemical or biological products for larval control. Therefore, we characterized tissues in the midgut of healthy Ae. aegypti larvae and present high quality images. These images are intended for comparison with results of morphohistochemical studies testing the effect of control substances in mosquito larvae.

Aim: The current study was intended to evaluate the nutritional and functional properties of quinoa flour for the potent of its use in food manufacturing.

Materials: Quinoa seeds were obtained from the Egyptian Company for Natural Oils, Cairo, Egypt. The collected seeds were cleaned of foreign materials and stored at room temperature (25 ± 2°C) for further analysis.

Methodology: Minerals, vitamins, phenolic contents and flavonoids, antioxidant activity and functional properties of quinoa flour were carried out in the department of food technology, Arid Lands cultivation research institute, City of Scientific research and Technological Applications.

Results: Quinoa flour has the most balanced and perfect minerals content such as potassium (443 mg/ Kg), sodium (858 mg/ Kg), magnesium (174 mg/ Kg), calcium (127 mg/ Kg) and iron (63 mg/ Kg). Quinoa flour is a good source of vitamins such as Vitamin C (1.93 mg/ Kg), B3 (0.15 mg/ Kg), B6 (11.22 mg/ Kg), and B12 (0.09 mg/ Kg). The total phenolic content of quinoa flour was 17.86± 0.49 μg GAE/g dry weight, while the total flavonoids was 14.82 ± 0.75 μg/g dry weight. Quinoa flour was presented a reasonable antioxidant activity with IC₅₀= 21.76 µg/ml. The water absorption of quinoa flour was 141.5±0.54%, whereas its oil absorption was 110±0.18%. Quinoa flour foaming capacity and stability were 14.33±0.76% and reached 9.63±1.72% after 60 min. while emulsion capacity and stability were 100.4± 0.25% and reached 45.83± 0.18% after 60 min. The protein digestibility of quinoa flour was 86.85±0.83%.

Conclusion: Quinoa flour is a likely nutritive source and can be used as a functional food supplement to be used in food manufacturing.

Mineral fertilizer is an environmental hazard and economic discouraging factor for rice farmers in Cameroon. The objective was to assess the effect of groundnut stover as a substitute to mineral fertilizer on agronomic performance of rainfed upland rice in bimodal HFZ. The experiment was carried out during short raining season (August – December 2015). Two doses of groundnut stover: 1.5 t/ha ± mineral fertilizers and 2.4 t/ha ± mineral fertilizers were used, design in a RCBD (randomized complete block designed) with four replications involving NERICA 8 progeny. Thirteen agronomic traits were collected, analyzed and Pearson’s correlation test was performed at 1% and 5% level of probability. There was an overall increase in rice paddy grain yield in the different treatments except in treatment 1.5 t/ha of groundnut Stover (3.5 t/ha) with the highest grain yield of 5.75 t/ha (SR1+ and SR2). Treatments 1.5 t/ha of groundnut Stover + urea+ NPK; 1.5 t/ha of groundnut Stover; 2.4 t/ha of groundnut Stover + urea+ NPK had the lowest number of tillers/plant. Panicle length (PL) correlates with the following traits: NSR (r = 0.762**); 1000SW (r = 0.463*); FG (r = 0.573**); NGP (r = 0.601**) and GY (r = 0.649**), similarly NSR correlated with GY (r = 0.649**). Panicle length (PL) and secondary ramifications (NSR) are NERICA traits important for an increase in grain yield under incorporated groundnut Stover in humid forest ecology.

Background: Microsatellites also known as simple sequence repeats (SSRs), which is also called as junk DNA, mainly used as a neutral genetic marker, presented across coding and non-coding regions of prokaryotes, eukaryotes, and viruses. They are subjects of different fields, such as gene mapping, population genetics, DNA fingerprinting, forensic studies and evolution.

Aim: The presented study is focused on the evolutionary relationship between poxviruses for the identification and systematic analysis of the nature and distribution of complex microsatellites, presenting in large DNA viral genomes of poxviruses (Poxviridae family) in vertebrates and invertebrates.

Materials and Methods: Genome sequences of seventeen species from the Poxviridae family were assessed by the National Center for Biotechnology (NCBI). The microsatellite was extracted using IMEx software, and statistical analysis was performed using Microsoft office Excel 2007. Furthermore, the molecular evolutionary analyses of poxviruses were conducted using MEGA6.

Results: In the current study, we screened 17 vertebrate and invertebrates of pox viral genomes and a total of 8539 SSRs which revealed a total of 2387 cSSRs distributed across all the genomes. From the sequences, poly A or poly T mononucleotide prevailed over a poly G or poly C. Among the identified motifs dinucleotides 51.73% which were the most common types of repeats followed by mononucleotides 36.12%, trinucleotides 11.28%, tetranucleotides 0.56%, pentanucleotides 0.10%, and hexanucleotides 0.21%. Polymorphism increases with genome length and decreasing GC content of repeat motifs for dinucleotides, trinucleotides, and tetranucleotides.  This result may help genome-wide evolutionary and quantitative analysis like genome size or GC content which has an influence on the number, simple and compound microsatellite of relative abundance and relative densities.

Conclusion: We conclude that largest DNA virus of invertebrates show a higher percentage of microsatellites and repeat motif than the vertebrate poxviruses. The genome size and GC content is an important factor in affecting the occurrence of repeat motif as well microsatellites, in vertebrate and invertebrate poxviruses. The analysis on the phylogenetic relationships and microsatellites in vertebrates and invertebrates, as well the pattern of their evolution, may help to understand (the understanding) of poxviruses in the course of natural evolution.

Background: Homeopathy, as an alternative treatment system for the treatment of various diseases, is widely used in various regions of the world. However the clinical benefits of homeopathy remains controversial.

Aim of the Study: This review highlights the most up-to-date and current clinical trials and research carried out in the field of homeopathy and to compare its effectiveness in combating various diseases.

Methodology: A retrospective literature search was performed from 2012 to 2017. All the articles, containing clinical trials in human subjects, were searched in different databases such as google scholar, science direct, web of science, Scopus, Springer Link and Sci Finder etc. using the keywords i.e. clinical trials in homeopathy, current clinical status of homeopathy, homeopathy and treatment of diseases, clinical cases in homeopathy and clinical studies in homeopathy.

Results: Twenty one articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. The results of these clinical studies showed an effective outcome for homeopathy treatment in various diseases such as atopic dermatitis, eczema, respiratory tract infections, asthma, hay fever and pulmonary tuberculosis etc. However, for some of the diseases such as depression, mental fatigue, cancer, HIV, anxiety, dementia, induction of labor, osteoarthritis, migraine and insomnia etc. no proper clinical evidence for a safe and effective use of homeopathy exists.  Furthermore, the research quality of most the homeopathy clinical trials are objectionable and negatively analyzed by various authors in terms of sample size, reproducibility and replication of data as well as lack of proper guidelines for performing homeopathy research.

Conclusion: To build credibility in health care system and attract more patients as well as professional practitioners towards this system of alternative treatment, more focus in terms of quality research and practically applicable clinical trials i.e. efficacy trials (near to optimal laboratory conditions) is needed.