Antioxidant activity and effects of Kenyan Tea (Camellia sinensis) on the liver function and serum biochemistry in male Wistar rats

Background: Tea is a beverage that is most widely consumed worldwide. Studies have shown that oral consumption of tea has health benefits however, there is paucity of data in Kenya detailing the biochemical effects of tea in the liver and elucidation of its mechanism of action.Methods: The polyphenol composition and antioxidant capacity of tea were determined by HPLC and the Folins Ciocalteu spectrophotometric methods. Metal levels were determined using flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS). Aqueous black and green tea extracts were administered to the rats at dosages of 400mg/kg b.w.t. The effect of tea on total blood proteins, Albumin, ZHX1, TBARS, AST, ALP and ALT were determined by spectrophotometric methods. The body weight of each rat was also determined at one week interval.Results: Total Polyphenols (TP), Total Catechins (TC) and Antioxidant Activity (AA) between the black and green teas were significantly (P<0.05) different. Green tea had the highest levels of TP (19.70-26.12%), TC (8.51%-17.60%) and AA (86.65%-94.50%). Tea did not have a significant (P>0.05) effect on TP, ALB, ALT, AST, ALP, MDA and ZHX1 in the test animals compared with the controls. This data indicates that green tea is rich in catechins while black tea being rich in Theaflavins (TFs) and Thearubigins (TRs). Both tea products possess essential and non-essential metals well within the maximum permissible concentrations.Conclusions: Findings from this study indicate both green and black tea aqueous extracts have polyphenols and high antioxidant activity. Administration of the aqueous tea extracts have no toxicological effect on the liver.

Primary isolated renal hydatid cyst simulating renal malignancy

Renal hydatid disease occurs in only 2 to 3 percent of cases. Primary isolated renal hydatid cyst is an extremely rare manifestation. A case of 20 year old male is reported who presented with left lumbar pain and weight loss. Preoperative diagnosis was renal malignancy. During surgery renal hydatid cyst was found

Biliary ascariasis- atypical infestation of ascaris lumbricoides

Ascaris lumbricoides is the most frequent parasitic infestation in developing countries. Its usual habitat is small intestine. The less frequent sites are biliary tree, gall bladder, appendix and pancreas. This is a report of 36 year old woman who presented with the symptoms of acute cholangitis in whom at endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, worm was removed from bile duct through duodenal papilla

Gossypiboma- manifesting as a diagnostic puzzle

The term gossypiboma indicates a mass of cotton that is missed accidently in the body after surgery. Accidental retention of any foreign body usually requires another surgery and increases the morbidity and mortality. We here report a 20 year old female who presented with lower abdominal pain, vomiting and constipation. She had a history of previous two cesarean sections; last one was performed one year back in another country. On the basis of history and examination the diagnosis of intestinal obstruction was made. Exploratory laparotomy was done and resection anastomosis of terminal ileum was performed. When resected part was opened, a gauze piece was found and diagnosis of gossypiboma made. Although the intraluminal migration of retained surgical gauze has been reported but complete intraluminal migration without leaving any scar is very rare. In spite the fact that gossypiboma is rare, it should be considered in the differential diagnosis of intestinal obstruction in patients who has previous history of laparotomy

Prospective teachers' beliefs regarding information seeking and responsible behaviour towards environment at post graduate level

The study was carried out to identify the prospective teachers' beliefs regarding information seeking and responsible behaviour towards environment at postgraduate level. The main emphasis was in this study to measure the male and female prospective teachers' beliefs about information seeking and responsible behaviour towards environment among different disciplines. A sample consisting of 128 prospective teachers enrolled in science teacher education programs responded to this study. Data was collected from prospective teachers, through a self-administered questionnaire based on two subscales: beliefs about information seeking and responsible behavior towards environment. Results indicated a significant mean difference in male and female prospective teachers' beliefs regarding information seeking and responsible behaviour towards environment. Male prospective teachers held more significant, mean scores on both subscales compared to female prospective teachers. Moreover significant mean scores difference was found among prospective teachers of different discipline on information seeking behavior towards environment subscale

Student's causal attribution towards their success and failure in examination at post graduate level

This study explored the post graduate students' causal internal and external attribution regarding their success and failure in examination. It is based on Heider's attribution theory concerned with how the people attribute their own or others behaviors to certain set of behaving patterns. The purpose of the study was to measure the students' internal and external attribution, how they attributed their success [high marks] and failure [low marks] in examination. A sample of 300 students enrolled in second year at post graduate level was selected randomly from the six disciplines. Two instruments were used to gather the data of high and low achiever students' internal and external causal attribution towards their success and failure in examination. High and low achiever students were identified from each discipline on the basis of their GPA 's attained in first year. Results indicated that high and low achiever female students significantly attributed internally and externally towards their success and failure in examination rather than low and high achiever male students

Typhoid hepatitis: a case report

Enteric fever is a very common illness in our country. The patient presenting with jaundice is rarest form of its manifestation. It mimics clinical picture seen in other common infectious conditions like viral hepatitis, amoebic liver disease, and malaria with jaundice. We are reporting this case because of its rarity which responded very well to Ceftriaxone