College of Basic and Applied Sciences

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://197.255.125.131:4000/handle/123456789/27639

Browse

Start date: 2000End date: 2009

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Ghana
    (Beyond Food Production: The Role of Agriculture in Poverty Reduction, 2007) Al-Hassan, R.M.; Jatoe, J.B.D.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Issues in mobile learning in Ghana
    (Innovative Techniques in Instruction Technology, E-Learning, E-Assessment, and Education, 2008) Millham, R.
    Ghana, a sub-Saharan country, faces a crisis in trying to keep its population in step with a technologically-changing world. With limited funding, a dispersed population, and a shortage of lecturers, the ability to manage lifelong learning, as required by a rapidly-changing technological world, for its populace is difficult. In this research-in-progress paper, we propose distance education, notably mobile learning, as a solution to the need of lifelong learning and to the constraints of the existing educational institutions. We also examine some of the issues surrounding distance education. A survey of Ghanaians as to their preferences for curriculum and training in this area is briefly presented. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Can ENSO help in agricultural decision-making in Ghana?
    (Climate Prediction and Agriculture: Advances and Challenges, 2007-01) Adiku, S.G.K.; Mawunya, F.D.; Jones, J.W.; Yangyouru, M.
    Rainfall variability has become a major agricultural issue in sub-Saharan Africa, especially since crop production is mainly rainfed. Irrigation technologies are expensive and their implementation is slow. Many researchers now believe that some understanding of the causes of rainfall variability would lead to measures that could be used to investigate reduction in total rainfall and/or drought effects. © 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Antiplasmodial Activity of Medicinal Plant Preparations T610 and S076 Using Plasmodium Falciparum in Vitro Culture System
    (University of Ghana, 2001-08) Appiah-Opong, R.; Gyang, F.N.; Nyarko, A.K.; Dodoo, D.; University of Ghana, College of Humanities, School of Arts, Department of Philosophy and Classics
    Some traditional medical practitioners use decoctions of the plants Tridax procumbens and Phyllanthus amarus, separately, to treat malaria in Ghana. These plants have however, not been investigated scientifically to establish their antimalarial activities. In this study, inhibition of chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum uptake o f 3H-hypoxanthine was used as an in vitro assay to assess the antiplasmodial activities of aqueous, ethanolic, chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts of Tridax procumbens and Phyllanthus amarus. Chloroquine was used as a reference antimalarial drug. Cytotoxicities of the extracts to red blood cells were also investigated. Furthermore, the aqueous extracts of the plants were evaluated for haem polymerisation inhibitory activity. The results show that high concentrations of chloroquine inhibited the uptake of 3Hhypoxanthine by Plasmodium falciparum, confirming the chloroquine-resistant nature of the parasites used. Both plant extracts also demonstrated antiplasmodial activity against the chloroquine resistant plasmodial parasites. Among the various extracts, the lowest 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC50) of 24.8 and 11.7 |ig/ml corresponded to the aqueous and ethanolic extracts, respectively, of Phyllanthus amarus. For Tridax procumbens, the lowest IC50 values were 225.0 and 143.4 |J.g/ml for the ethanolic and aqueous extracts, respectively. Unlike chloroquine, none of the extracts inhibited haem polymerisation. Within the concentration range used, the least cytotoxicity to RBCs was observed in the aqueous extracts of both plants, the ethanolic extract of Phyllanthus amarus and the ethyl acetate extract of Tridax procumbens. These results suggest that the aqueous and ethanolic extracts of both plants were more effective as antiplasmodial preparations than the other extracts.