Second molar length and body weight are used to test the correlation between tooth size and body size in living Hominoidea. These variates are highly correlated (r= 0.942, p less than 0.001), indicating that tooth size can be used in dentally unspecialized fossil hominoids as one method of predicting the average body weight of species. Based on tooth size, the average body weight of Aegyptopith...

Spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP) is an organizing principle of biological neural networks. While synchronous firing of neurons is considered to be an important functional block in the brain, how STDP shapes neural networks possibly toward synchrony is not entirely clear. We examine relations between STDP and synchronous firing in spontaneously firing neural populations. Using coupled he...

Molecular methodologies have become useful techniques for the identification of pathogenic Nocardia species and for the recognition of novel species that are capable of causing human disease. Two isolates recovered from immunocompromised patients were characterized as Nocardia nova by biochemical and susceptibility testing results. The restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) patterns ob...

An ethnobotanical study in Agew-Awi and Amhara peoples in northwest Ethiopia reported that Cordia africana is used traditionally in the treatment of liver disease, amebiasis, stomachache, and diarrhea. The root and root bark are reported to be used in the treatment of diarrhea. Therefore, this study was intended to evaluate the antidiarrheal effect of C. africana against castor oil-induced diar...

A new glyceryl derivative (Glyceryl-1-hexacosanoate) and a flavone derivative (methyletherapigenin) were isolated from the stem bark extract of Piptadenia africana, a western Cameroonian plant species. Common terpenes like sitosterol, beta-amyrin and eicosane were also isolated. These compounds were identified using physical and spectroscopic methods including mp, IR, (1)H and (13)C-NMR, DEPT, ...

BACKGROUND To determine the anti-dysenteric, phytochemicals and antioxidative properties of the root extracts of Hydnora africana. The use of plants for the treatment of dysentery and other diseases in traditional medicine has increased on the basis of these rich traditional medicine systems. Series of pharmacological tests are recommended since the aetiology of many diseases may be due to more...

Hydnora africana (HA) Thumb is a member of the genus Hydnora. The roots are used in the treatment of infectious diseases in South Africa folk medicine. Though the root extracts are used to treat various human diseases including inflamed throat, there is a dearth of scientific data on the biological activities of essential oil isolated from this plant in the literature. Therefore, the present st...

BACKGROUND Medicinal plants are used worldwide for several human ailments including bacterial infections. The present work was designed to assess the in vitro antibacterial activities of some Cameroonian medicinal plants including Entada abyssinica, Entada africana, Pentaclethra macrophylla, Allexis cauliflora, Anthocleista leibrechtsiana, Carapa procera, Carica papaya and Persea americana agai...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the antidiabetic properties of aqueous extract of stem bark of Afzelia africana (A. africana) and its beneficial effect on haematological parameters in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. METHODS A total of 30 rats including 24 diabetic and 6 normal rats were used for this study. Diabetes was induced in male Wistar rats by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin...