The Prevalence of Multi-Drug Resistance-1 Gene of Plasmodium Falciparum Malaria in Gezira State-Central Sudan

Abstract:Malaria parasite resistance to chloroquine poses a severe and increasing health problem in tropical countries. Implementing molecular markers for monitoring the drug resistance may be essential to overcome the problem. The aim of the present study is to investigate the prevalence of multi-drug resistance of p. falciparum parasite in malaria patients. Blood samples for DNA extraction were collected from the positive malaria patients. The prevalence of mutations in P. falciparum multi-drug resistant gene-1 (pfmdr-1) was detected by polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) methods. Approximately; 74.1 of study populations are adults and 25.9 are children. Regression analysis shows a decrease in malaria incidence with increasing age. The prevalence of malaria is higher in males (58.6) compared to females (41.4). There were no statistical differences between malaria incidence and the socioeconomic level within the study population. The frequency of homozygous N/86 and Y/86 alleles were 51.7 and 37.9; respectively; and the heterozygous N/Y86 allele was 10.3.In conclusion the frequency of Pfmdr-1 N/Y86 allele among P. falciparum multi-drug resistant isolates support the hypothesis that Pfmdr-1 N/Y86 allele could be used as predictive marker to monitor multi-drug susceptibility in epidemiological surveys

Serum Resistin Levels in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and their Relationship to Severity of Liver Disease

Background: Resistin is a hormone that is linked to the development of insulin resistance (IR); but information on the direct relationship of resistin levels in humans with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD); and their effect on the histological severity of NAFLD; is lacking. Objective: The aim of the current study is to determine the circulating resistin levels obtained from patients with NAFLD and to correlate them with insulin resistance and hepatic histological features. Methods: Blood samples were collected from 30 consecutive patients with liver-biopsy-proven NAFLD and 30 subjects as controls. Serum resistin levels were measured. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated for all subjects; and serum insulin; C-peptide; and lipoprotein levels were also measured. Results: Mean serum resistin level and BMI in the NAFLD group were significantly higher than in the controls (both P 0.001). Both men and women in the NAFLD group had higher mean serum resistin levels than did the men and women in the control group (all P 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that the percentage of hepatic steatosis; sex; BMI; and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance [HOMA(IR)] were related to serum resistin levels. Conclusion: These data suggest increased resistin levels in NAFLD patients which are related to histological severity of the disease. These findings support the link between resistin; insulin resistance and BMI in these patients

Analgesic and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Asparagus Africanus Root Extract

The methanolic extract of the roots of Asparagus africanus Lam (Liliaceae) which contains mainly saponins and carbohydrate showed significant analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities (P0.05) in the tail-flick/hot-plate test and egg albumen-induced rat paw oedema tests that were comparable to the test drugs (morphine 20mg/kg and indomethacin 50mg/kg respectively). These results indicate that the extract possesses analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties