Abstract:Wheat flour is an important source of nutrient and as such is widely consumed in most part of the world, as bread and other pastries. Due to its high consumption, the presence of heavy metal at high concentration would be a significant health risk. Based on the soil in which the wheat was grown and the milling technology employed in making the flour, the heavy metal content of wheat flour varies. In analyzing heavy metal content of flour on the Ghanaian market, (one made in Ghana and another made in Turkey) an atomic absorption spectrophotometric analysis of milestone acid digested flour was used with the appropriate standards. With a 9% -100.4% recovery rate, Fe, Zn, Mn, Cd, Pb were detected at varying concentrations in both flour brands, while Co, Ni, Cu, Cr, As, Hg were below detection limits. The levels of the nutritionally important elements such as Fe and Zn would be beneficial to human health, while those of the toxic element present are not likely to pose any health risk to consumers of this flour.

BackgroundFresh coconut (Cocos nucifera L) water is a clear, sterile, colourless, slightly acidic and naturally flavoured drink, mostly consumed in tropical areas. It is a rich source of nutrients and has been used for medical purposes. This study was designed to investigate changes in selected characteristics of coconut water after autoclaving, gamma irradiation and storage. Also, the study was designed for assessing the possibility of measuring the growth of bacterial in fresh, stored or sterilised coconut water using turbidity measurements (at wavelengths between 600 nm and 800 nm) or by dry biomass determinations.ResultsPortions of coconut water aseptically extracted from the matured fruit, (average pH of 6.33 ± 0.17) were either stored at 4°C, autoclaved at 121°C for 20 min., or irradiated with gamma rays at 5 kGy. Subsequent changes in selected characteristics were determined. Autoclaving, gamma irradiation and long term storage of coconut water at 4°C resulted both in the development of a pale to intense yellow colour and changes in turbidity. After storage, the dry matter content of fresh, autoclaved and irradiated coconut water by 52.0%, 23.5% and 5.0% respectively. There were also significant differences in the UV spectra before and after sterilisation and during the storage of the coconut water. Although changes in total carbohydrates were observed, they were not significant (p > 0.05).ConclusionsThe enormous differences in the characteristics before and after storage suggests that the use of turbidity and dry biomass measurements for measuring the growth of bacteria in fresh, autoclaved and gamma irradiated coconut water before storage is practicable without any possibility of interference by the innate turbidity, colour and dry matter of the coconut water. However, this is not practicable after storing the coconut waters at 4°C, since there were increases in the turbidity and dry matter of the coconut water to levels that will mask the turbidity of a growing bacteria culture.

Leishmaniasis, is a vector-borne disease transmitted to humans through the bite of infected female sand flies. Active and continuous monitoring of the sand fly is an important aspect of disease control. Thus, the correct identification of its vectors is paramount in this regard. Objective: The study was conducted to morphologically and molecularly identify female sand fly species in a cutaneous leishmaniasis endemic focus collected in three villages in the Ho Municipality of the Volta region based on taxonomic keys. CDC light traps and sticky paper traps was used for the collection of the sand flies. The morphologically identified sand flies was molecularly confirmed by running PCR with the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase gene subunit I (COI) primers and DNA sequenced. A total of 537 sand flies was collected, made up of 363 females and 174 males.  Eleven different species of sand flies was morphologically identified – one Phlebotomus species and ten Sergentomyia species. The PCR amplified products showed bands of molecular weights 658 base pairs for the primers. The molecular identification using the 658-bp fragment of the (COI) gene was congruent with the morphological identification.

BackgroundThe emergence of drug resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex has made the management of tuberculosis difficult. Also, Mycobacterium species has a peculiar cell wall, made of an impermeable complex structure rich in mycolate, making the lyses of its cell difficult. In order to apply a radio-labelled-probe based detection of mutations in selected genes leading to drug resistance, we concede that the evaluation and modifications of nucleic acid extraction protocols that are less sophisticated and less prone to contamination would be useful in the management of tuberculosis in a resource-constrained setting.FindingsThe average amount of nucleic acids was determined for different extraction treatments. High temperature treatment only, yielded the lowest amount of nucleic acids, i.e. 15.7 ± 3.2 μg. The average amount of nucleic acids obtained with the addition of TE and triton-X100, was 133.7 ± 8.9 μg, while that obtained with the addition of TE only, and TE and SDS were 68.4 ± 22.7 μg and 70.4 ± 20.3 μg respectively. Other treatments yielded 28.8 ± 6.7 μg, 32.5 ± 2.4 μg and 36.9 ± 15.5 μg. The average amount of nucleic acids obtained with high temperature treatment in TE, and that obtained by freezing prior to high temperature treatment, successfully amplified for the genes of interest (rpoB, KatG, rrs).ConclusionWe strongly recommend the use of 1× TE buffer, and freezing and heating for improved lysis of cultured M. tuberculosis, and therefore, as an effective method for the preparation of M. tuberculosis nucleic acid useful for PCR.

Coconut (<i>Cocos nucifera</i> L.) water is a refreshing drink consumed mostly directly from the fruit. However, in recent times, consumers in Accra prefer to have it transferred into plastic bags for later consumption; this favours a high risk of bacterial contamination. Since it is rich in nutrient, it may become unwholesome with possible high bacteria loads. However, its use for managing and preventing diarrhoeal diseases and the report that coconut water contains anti-bacterial proteins, suggests a bacteria growth inhibition potential for it. Therefore, the propensity of fresh coconut water to support the growth of two pathogenic bacteria was studied. Using mostly optical density measurement, and where possible, growth parameters and bacteria loads were estimated for the growth of two gram negative bacteria in fresh, stored and sterilized coconut water, and also in Luria-Bertani (LB) broth as a control. The study revealed that fresh coconut water is a drink favourable for the survival and growth of <i>Escherichia coli</i>, and <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i>. It supported the growth of these bacteria recording lag times of 101.4 ± 1.00 minutes for E. <i>coli</i> and 154.8 ± 0.45 minutes for K. <i>pneumoniae</i>, and high loads of viable cells of ~ 2.27 × 10⁸ cfu/mL and > 2.83 × 10⁸ cfu/mL at the stationary phase for E. <i>coli</i> and K. <i>pneumoniae</i> respectively. These and other growth parameters in coconut water were comparable to those in Luria-Bertani (LB) broth medium. However, when autoclaved, gamma irradiated or stored at 4℃ for two weeks or more, the growth of these bacteria becomes extremely limited. Fresh coconut water will support the growth of these bacteria to high and infective load of viable cell if it becomes contaminated with and is kept at ambient temperatures for two or more hours. Thus, it will be safer to consume coconut water directly from the fruit, since there is a high risk for bacteria contamination associated with the transfer and storage in other containers