Groundwater quality study of the Birimian, Cape Coast granitoid and the Densu River have been carried out using Water Quality Index (WQI) and multivariate statistics with the aim of determining their suitability for drinking and irrigation. The results showed that the Cape Coast granitoid generally had elevated values of dissolved ions as compared to the Birimian and surface waters. The WQI values were found ranging from 0 to 50 belonging to "excellent" and "good" water quality. The visualization of the WQI distributions using GIS software suggests point source pollution to areas of deteriorating water quality. Chemical indices like percentage of sodium (Na%), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), residual sodium carbonate (RSC), and permeability index (PI) indicate that the groundwater in the study area are suitable for irrigation. Cluster and Principal Component Analysis with varimax rotation were also used as a complementary tool to help organize and interpret the chemical analysis. Four principal components with eigen-values greater than unity accounting for 73.16% of the variability in the data were delineated. The factor score plot also separated the polluted areas and identified areas with potential deteriorating water quality. Even though the geology is the main factor controlling the presence of the dissolved ions, the study shows an increase in anthropogenic contributions in some areas.

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Background: Holarrhena floribunda is a plant of wide usage in the Togolese folk medicine. A previous ethnobotanical survey on the latex plants of the Maritime region of the country revealed that this plant was included in several recipes curing malaria and microbial infections. Therefore, this study aimed to seek for the effectiveness of the ethanolic extract of the plant in the treatment of these diseases. Methods: The antimicrobial test was performed using the agar well-diffusion and the NCCLS broth microdilution methods, while the in vivo antimalarial activity was evaluated following the four-day suppressive test of Peters. The acute toxic effects of the extract were monitored after a single oral dose (5,000 mg/kg body weight) administration in NMRI mice. Results:The results indicated that the ethanolic extract of leaves of H. floribunda was active on Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213 and clinical strains of Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi and Klebsiella pneumoniae with MICs ranging from 0.62 to 1.25 mg/mL. The extract also showed significant parasitaemia suppression in a dose-dependent manner. In the acute toxicity assay, the oral administration of the extract to the mice did not affect the relative weight of vital organs, and there were no signs of toxicity or death during the study period. The LD 50 of the tested extract was found to be greater than 5,000 mg/kg, indicating its safety. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the antibacterial and antimalarial activities of leaves of H. floribunda and then, supports its medicinal use in the treatment of microbial infections.Key words: Holarrhena floribunda, ethanolic extract, antibacterial, antimalarial, toxicity. IntroductionHolarrhena floribunda (G. Don) T. Durand and Schinz, is a plant belonging to the family of Apocynaceae. It grows as a shrub or a tree. The plant is widely distributed in West Africa, where several parts of the plant are used for medicinal purposes (Yemoa et al., 2015). The stem-bark and leaves are used to treat various diseases including malaria, fever, dysentery, amoebic diseases, diarrhoea, sterility, amenorrhea and diabetes (Bouquet & Debray, 1974;Kerharo & Adam, 1974;Arbonnier, 2000;Fotie et al., 2006;Bayala et al., 2006). The roots are boiled in milk and used to bathe boys attaining puberty in addition to cure snakebites and venereal diseases (Iwu, 2014). In our previous study on the latex plant used in the maritime region of Togo, we found that the decoction of the plant was administrated by oral route for the treatment of malaria and bacterial infections (Hoekou et al., 2016).Some previous pharmacological screenings showed that, the stem bark of H. floribunda was febrifuge and could be a quinine substitute, since it showed remarkable inhibitory activity against drug-resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum. The chemical screening of the plant revealed the presence of steroid alkaloids notably conessine, that is used for the destruction of amoeba without emetic effects (Berhaut, 1971;Fotie et al., 2006). The antioxida...

Evaluation of seasonal variations in river water (raw), treated and distributed water quality is vital for assessing spatial and temporal changes in the quality of water delivered to consumers. In this study, raw water, treated and distributed water collected from 27 sampling points in the dry and rainy seasons were analyzed for 21 physical, chemical and bacteriological parameters from the Barekese dam. The results showed a seasonal trend in the physical, chemical and coliform bacteria with the rainy season having higher values of the measured parameters. Langelier Saturation Index (LSI) and two well documented Water Quality Index models, Canadian Council of Ministers of Environment (CCME) and Tiwari and Mishra (Indian J. Environ. Prot. 5:276-279, 1985) were used as a complementary tool to assess the overall suitability of the water for industrial and drinking purposes. The LSI indicated that all the samples are under saturated, and thereby, suitable for domestic and industrial purposes. The CCME and TM models showed that the raw water in both seasons was unsuitable for drinking without any form of treatment, while the treated water in both seasons was of 'excellent' quality. The distributed water in both seasons showed a wide variation in the quality rating in the two models. The CCME model rated 52%, 30% and 17% of the distributed water as "excellent", "very good" and "good", respectively, while the TM model rated 74% of the distributed water as "excellent" and 26% as "very good" in the dry season. In the rainy season, the CCME rated 43% of the distributed water as "excellent", 48% as "very good" and 8% as "good" while the TM model rated 87% of the distributed water as "excellent" and 13% as "good". The CCME and TM models showed comparable results, even though they were developed for surface water and groundwater, respectively. The calculated efficiency (E%) of the treatment process using the CCME WQI was found to be 52% and 57%, while the average distributed water quality deterioration (D%) was 2.79% and 2.70% for the dry and rainy season, respectively. The study also showed great improvement in the water quality after the treatment process, however, maintenance of free chlorine residual was found to be insufficient to control coliform occurrences in the distribution system. Furthermore, the distribution line, especially the service lines, impacted negatively on the water quality resulting in high coliform bacteria. This is partly due to illegal connections, leakages or pipe burst along gutters or drainage systems and low pressure leading to back sucking. The study has also shown a high rise in nutrients load in the raw and distributed water. This phenomenon is likely to cause algae growth in the dam and the distribution networks, thereby increasing the risk of coliform bacteria and production cost.

The aim of this study was not only to obtain basic technical prerequisites for the establishment of capacity of biological dosimetry at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) but also to stimulate interest in biological dosimetry research in Ghana and Sub-Saharan Africa. Peripheral blood from four healthy donors was exposed to different doses (0–6 Gy) of gamma rays from a radiotherapy machine and lymphocytes were subsequently stimulated, cultured, and processed according to standard protocols for 48–50 h. Processed cells were analyzed for the frequencies of dicentric and centric ring chromosomes. Radiation dose delivered to the experimental model was verified using GafChromic® EBT films in parallel experiments. Basic technical prerequisites for the establishment of capacity of biological dosimetry in the GAEC have been realized and expertise in the dicentric chromosome assay consolidated. We successfully obtained preliminary cytogenetic data for a dose-response relationship of the irradiated blood lymphocytes. The data strongly indicate the existence of significant linear (α) and quadratic (β) components and are consistent with those published for the production of chromosome aberrations in comparable absorbed dose ranges.