Leachates are known to contain dissolved or suspended solid materials which may be toxic when it finds its way to water bodies or land meant for agricultural purposes. The study however investigated the physicochemical properties, anions and heavy metal composition of leachates from the solid waste dumpsite at Onitsha, Anambra State, Nigeria so as to ascertain the level of contamination by comparing values obtained with the FEPA/WHO standards. Analyses were carried out using leachates obtained from two portions of the sites marked active site and abandoned site (withdrawing dumpsite). The result of the physicochemical analysis revealed that there was significant increase at p<0.05 of mean values of Electrical Conductivity (EC), Total Dissolved Solid (TDS), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Total Hydrocarbon Content (THC) of the active site when compared to values from the abandoned site. Analysis has shown that leachate from the active site is a potential source of heavy metal poisoning and a source of pollution with potential effect on the environment and neighboring underground water if the present trend is not controlled.
Clinical manifestations of malaria primarily result from proliferation of the parasite within the hosts' erythrocytes. The malaria parasite digests hemoglobin within its digestive vacuole through a sequential metabolic process involving multiple proteases. The activities of these proteases could lead to the production of ROS which could lead to the death of the parasites due to the destruction of their membrane. The action of SDS on hemoglobins can be likened to the way malarial proteases destabilizes host hemoglobin. Hence, the study was designed to determine the binding parameters of SDS and H2O2 for normal, sickle trait carrier and sickle hemoglobins at pH 5.0 and 7.2 using UV-VIS Titration Spectrophotometry. Hb-SDS interactions were significantly different at pH 5.0 but were not at pH 7.2. Also, Hb-H2O2 interactions were statistically different at pH 5.0 and 7.2. The interactions suggest that HbA and HbS are easily destabilized than HbAS and that HbAS has more affinity for H2O2. These suggest a production of more ferryl intermediates or hydroxyl radicals. All these interactions may hinder the development of the malaria parasite at the intraerythrocytic stage and could likely account for a significant proportion of the mechanism that favours the resistance to malaria by individuals with HbAS.
Taxonomic relationships within seven species of Cucurbitaceae; melon seeds were examined at the molecular level with the help of seed storage proteins using electrophoretic methods. Water soluble seed proteins were resolved into 99 and 218 bands respectively under Native-and SDS-PAGE. Similarly 132 and 123 bands respectively were observed for buffer soluble proteins. For water soluble proteins under Native-PAGE, the Jaccard's similarity indexes indicated that Lagenaria siceraria/Cucurbita moschata showed highest similarity index (~96%) while Cucumis sativus/Colocynthis vulgaris showed the lowest similarity index (~35%). For buffer extracts, highest similarity index (~81%) was exhibited by C. sativus/C. maxima while C. sativus /C. mannii showed lowest similarity index (~51%). For water soluble proteins under SDS-PAGE, highest similarity index (~78%) was found between C. maxima /C. vulgaris and the lowest similarity index (34%) was observed between C. sativus /L. siceraria. For buffer extracts, highest similarity index (~98%) was exhibited by C. mannii /C. moschata while C. maxima/C. vulgaris showed the lowest similarity index (~41%). However, from the dendograms constructed, buffer soluble proteins under SDS-PAGE proved to be the best method as it was the only one that grouped C. mannii and C. edulis according to their taxonomic classification.
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