Introduction. Worldwide, in children of under five years of age, diarrhea is responsible for more than 760,000 annual deaths. It is treated with both modern drugs and traditional medicinal plants, including O. lamiifolium. But the use of this plant as an antidiarrheal agent is not scientifically validated. Therefore, this study was aimed to evaluate antidiarrheal efficacy of the plant. Method. The leaf powder was macerated by 80% methanol and then fractionated using n-hexane, n-butanol, and distilled water. Antidiarrheal activity was evaluated through different models (castor oil-induced diarrhea, enteropooling, and motility) using onset, number of wet feces, fluid content, weight and volume of intestinal content, and motility as test parameters by administering treatment doses to groups of mice. Group I received 10 mL/kg of the dissolving vehicle, Group II received either loperamide or atropine, and Groups III-V received extract doses of 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg, respectively. One-way ANOVA was used to analyze the data, followed by Tukey’s post-hoc test. Results. The crude extract exhibited a significant effect on the fluid content of feces at all tested doses. Additionally, the n-butanol and distilled water fractions revealed significant effects on onset of diarrhea at 400 mg/kg ( p < 0.05 ), while the n-hexane fraction showed significant effects on number of wet feces, onset, and fluid content of feces at all tried doses. The crude extract and all the fractions (at 200 and 400 mg/kg) decreased the weight and volume of intestinal content significantly. Similarly, both the crude extract and distilled water fraction at 400 mg/kg as well as n-butanol and n-hexane fractions at 200 and 400 mg/kg showed meaningful differences on peristaltic index as compared to the negative control. Conclusion. The results revealed that the leaf extract of O. lamiifolium has an antidiarrheal activity, which supports the traditional medical practice.

Background. Diarrhea is one of the tempting symptoms of diseases in the world. In Ethiopian traditional medicine practices, Clerodendrum myricoides is utilized for the treatment of diarrhea without scientific evidence. Objective. This study was aimed to evaluate the antidiarrheal activity of 80% methanol extract and fractions of the leaf of Clerodendrum myricoides in mice. Methods. The crude extract was prepared by maceration in 80% methanol and then fractionated using hexane, chloroform, and distilled water. Antidiarrheal activity was assessed by castor oil-induced diarrhea, enteropooling, and gastrointestinal motility models using onset of diarrhea, number and weight of feces, volume and weight of intestinal contents, and distance travelled by charcoal meal as main parameters. Negative controls received either distilled water or 2% Tween 80 (10 ml/kg), positive controls received 3 mg/kg loperamide or 1 mg/kg atropine, and the test groups received 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg doses of the extract. Results. The crude extract and chloroform fraction significantly prolonged the onset of diarrhea at 200 and 400 mg/kg and decreased the number of wet, total, and weight of fresh feces at all tested doses. Hexane fraction has a significant antidiarrheal effect on the onset, number, and weight of feces at 400 mg/kg. The crude extract and chloroform fraction at all tested doses, as well as aqueous fraction at 200 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg, produced significant reduction in volume and weight of intestinal contents. Additionally, hexane fraction showed significant reduction of volume and weight of the intestinal content at 400 mg/kg. In the gastrointestinal motility test model, both chloroform fraction and crude extract at all tested doses and aqueous fraction at 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg showed a significant antidiarrheal effect as compared to the negative control. Conclusion. The leaf of Clerodendrum myricoides showed antidiarrheal activity which supports the traditional use.

Background Irrational prescription has a lion share for uncontrolled blood pressure. There is no study assessing prescription pattern among hypertensive patients at the study sites. Therefore, the objective of the current study was to evaluate prescription patterns for hypertension and blood pressure (BP) control at randomly selected hospitals of South Gondar Zone. Methods A hospital based cross sectional study was conducted from December 1, 2020 to February 30, 2021. Hypertensive patients were selected by systematic random sampling proportionally from study hospitals. Structured questionnaires were used to collect socio-demographic chacteristics and adherence. Data abstraction form was used to collect prescription patterns, BP level and other necessary information. The association of prescription patterns and other variables with blood pressure control was determined by using binary logistic regression. Results All recruited 423 patients were included in data analysis. Among prescriptions for hypertension, on average 93.5% were found to be in line with WHO guideline. About 53% of prescriptions for hypertension were monotherapies. Patient level low medication regimen complexity, and monotherapy were associated with blood pressure control (Ajusted Odds Ratio [AOR] = 2.04, [1.07–3.91]; AOR = 3.83 [1.42–10.35], respectively). Patients with inappropriate drug selection, and non-adherence were less likely to have controlled BP (AOR = 0.47 [0.26–0.85]; AOR = 0.52 [0.34–0.85], respectively). Moreover, patients who didn’t have health insurance and follow regular aerobic exercise were less likely to have controlled BP (AOR = 0.42 [0.26–0.68]; AOR = 0.53 [0.32–0.88], respectively). Conclusion Diuretics were the most frequently prescribed drug in monotherapy and in combination with calcium channel blockers (CCBs) as dual therapy. On average, more than 90% of prescription was in accordance with WHO guideline and around one-third of participants experienced at least one moderate or major drug-drug interaction. Patient level low medication regimen complexity and monotherapy were positively associated with BP control whereas, non-adherence, inappropriate drug selection, having no health insurance, and didn’t follow regular aerobic exercise were negatively associated with BP control. Clinicians should be adherent to treatment guidelines and focus on modifiable factors to improve BP control.

Background. Malarial infection has significant negative impact on the health of the world population. It is treated by modern and traditional medicines. Among traditional medicinal plants, Acacia tortilis is used by different communities as antimalarial agent. Therefore, the objective of this study is to validate antimalarial activity of the stem bark of Acacia tortilis in mice. Methods. To evaluate antimalarial activity of the plant, 4-day suppressive, curative, and prophylactic antimalarial test models were used. Parasitemia, packed cell volume (PCV), survival time, rectal temperature, and body weight were used to evaluate the effect of the plant extracts. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 26 followed by Tukey’s post hoc multiple comparison test. Results. The crude extract and dichloromethane fraction significantly suppressed the level of parasitemia ( p < 0.001 ) and increased mean survival time ( p < 0.01 ) at all tested doses. Similarly, significant effects were observed in mean survival time, % change of PCV, weight, and temperature in both curative and prophylactic antimalarial test models. Conclusions. The methanolic extract and solvent fractions of the stem bark of Acacia tortilis has shown antimalarial activity, and the finding supports the traditional use and the in vitro studies. Thus, this study can be used as an initiation for researchers to find the most active phytochemical entity and to conduct additional safety and efficacy tests.

Background: The leaf of Withania somnifera has been used for the treatment of diarrhea without evaluation of its efficacy. This study was aimed to evaluate the antidiarrheal activity of 80% methanol extract and the solvent fraction of Withania somnifera leaf in mice.Materials and Methods: The extraction was done using a cold maceration technique. The antidiarrheal activity was investigated on the castor oil-induced diarrhea, castor oil-induced gastrointestinal transit tests, and castor oil-induced enteropooling models. The mice were randomly grouped into negative control received 10ml/kg 2% tween-80 in distilled water, positive control received 3mg/kg loperamide, and group III - V received 100 mg/kg, 200 mg/kg, and 400mg/kg of the extract orally.Result: The crude extract, aqueous, and n-butanol fractions significantly delayed the onset of diarrhea at 200mg/kg and 400mg/kg doses. All three doses of the crude extract showed significant activity on the three models (castor oil induced diarrhea, castor oil induced gastro-intestinal motility, and castor oil-induced enteropooling test), whereas the aqueous and n-butanol fractions revealed a significant result at 200mg/kg and 400mg/kg. The phytochemical screening showed that flavonoids, tannins, alkaloid, phenols, saponin, terpenoids, and steroid were presented in the crude, flavonoid, phenol, tannin, saponin, alkaloid, and steroid were possessed in aquas fraction, while the n-butanol fraction contained flavonoid, tannins, phenols, alkaloid and terpenoids, the chloroform fraction showed the presences of flavonoids, steroids and terpenoids. The acute oral toxicity test revealed that the crude extract was safe at 2000 mg/kg.Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the crude and fractions of Withania somnifera leaf has antidiarrheal activity and supports the folklore use of the plan for the treatment of diarrhea.