ABSTRACT:The effect of waste paper on biogas production from the co-digestion of fixed amount of cow dung and water hyacinth was studied at room temperature in five batch reactor for over 60 days. Waste paper addition was varied for a fixed amount of cow dung and water hyacinth until maximum biogas production was achieved. Biogas production was measured indirectly by water displacement method. The production of biogas showed a parabolic relationship as the amount of waste paper (g) increased with a goodness of fit of 0.982. Maximum biogas volume of 1.11liters was observed at a waste paper amount of 17.5g which corresponded to 10.0% total solids of the biomass in 250ml solution. Thus, an optimum waste paper amount of 17.5g needs to combine with 5g of cow dung and 5g of water hyacinth in 250ml of water for maximum biogas production. Similar equivalents in kilograms and tonnes can be utilized in large-scale production of biogas which can provide decentralized source of fuel for university laboratories and also local supply of energy for electricity production. Also, the air pollution problems associated with open burning of waste papers can be eliminated. The biogas process has established to be cheap and practically feasible. @ JASEM The anaerobic digestion of organic materials has long been used to generate useful resources, which have been harnessed for the use of mankind. Biogas, which is one of the byproducts of anaerobic digestion, comprises about 60% methane and 40% carbon dioxide. It has been used as a source of fuel in countries like India, China, Sweden, Bangladesh etc. for lighting and cooking purposes. In addition co-digestion of organic waste with sludge or cow dung has been mentioned in the works of Anhuradha et al (2007) and Godliving (2007) with improvements in biogas production. Apart from biogas, useful soil conditioner and manure have been obtained from the slurry residual after anaerobic digestion. Organic sources of biogas generation abound in the environment and these are well documented in literature. Works of authors like Jain et al (1981), Dunlop (1978) and Jash and Basu (1999) have studied biogas generation from animal and agricultural wastes. Biogas, being a renewable source of energy has the potential of supplementing other available energy sources in a bid to encouraging the principles of sustainable development, and reduces the practice of total dependence on fossil oil that are finite. This research work explores a suitable way to use organic waste in the environment -cow dung, which constitutes a serious problem in abattoirs, served as useful raw material for this research, because it contains the necessary micro-organism (acid formers and the methane formers) for biogas production. Waste paper at dumpsites from administrative offices, educational institutions etc, was another raw material. Finally, water hyacinth, which is rich in nitrogen and other essential nutrients (Mark and Ken, 2006) usually responsible for clogging water ways, affecting navigation, fishing and recreational ...

ABSTRACT:The effect of waste paper on biogas production from the co-digestion of fixed amount of cow dung and water hyacinth was studied at room temperature in five batch reactor for over 60 days. Waste paper addition was varied for a fixed amount of cow dung and water hyacinth until maximum biogas production was achieved. Biogas production was measured indirectly by water displacement method. The production of biogas showed a parabolic relationship as the amount of waste paper (g) increased with a goodness of fit of 0.982. Maximum biogas volume of 1.11liters was observed at a waste paper amount of 17.5g which corresponded to 10.0% total solids of the biomass in 250ml solution. Thus, an optimum waste paper amount of 17.5g needs to combine with 5g of cow dung and 5g of water hyacinth in 250ml of water for maximum biogas production. Similar equivalents in kilograms and tonnes can be utilized in large-scale production of biogas which can provide decentralized source of fuel for university laboratories and also local supply of energy for electricity production. Also, the air pollution problems associated with open burning of waste papers can be eliminated. The biogas process has established to be cheap and practically feasible. @ JASEM The anaerobic digestion of organic materials has long been used to generate useful resources, which have been harnessed for the use of mankind. Biogas, which is one of the byproducts of anaerobic digestion, comprises about 60% methane and 40% carbon dioxide. It has been used as a source of fuel in countries like India, China, Sweden, Bangladesh etc. for lighting and cooking purposes. In addition co-digestion of organic waste with sludge or cow dung has been mentioned in the works of Anhuradha et al (2007) and Godliving (2007) with improvements in biogas production. Apart from biogas, useful soil conditioner and manure have been obtained from the slurry residual after anaerobic digestion. Organic sources of biogas generation abound in the environment and these are well documented in literature. Works of authors like Jain et al (1981), Dunlop (1978) and Jash and Basu (1999) have studied biogas generation from animal and agricultural wastes. Biogas, being a renewable source of energy has the potential of supplementing other available energy sources in a bid to encouraging the principles of sustainable development, and reduces the practice of total dependence on fossil oil that are finite. This research work explores a suitable way to use organic waste in the environment -cow dung, which constitutes a serious problem in abattoirs, served as useful raw material for this research, because it contains the necessary micro-organism (acid formers and the methane formers) for biogas production. Waste paper at dumpsites from administrative offices, educational institutions etc, was another raw material. Finally, water hyacinth, which is rich in nitrogen and other essential nutrients (Mark and Ken, 2006) usually responsible for clogging water ways, affecting navigation, fishing and recreational ...

ABSTRACT:The antioxidant activity of the aqueous crude extract of Ocimum gratissimum Linn. leaf on the basal and traumatized (cadmium-induced) serum levels of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total acid phosphatase (ACP T ) and prostatic acid phosphatase (ACP P ) of the male guinea-pig (GP) were evaluated. Preliminary experimentation showed that the effects of the aqueous crude extract of O. gratissimum on basal serum phosphatases were slightly more in the oral than the intraperitoneal (i.p) route. Oral administration of 20mg of O. gratissimum caused a timedependent decrease in the basal serum levels of ACP T and ACP P without an effect on ALP values. The inhibitory effects compared to the control were maximum at 4 hours. Furthermore, O. gratissimum given orally, caused significant dose-dependent decreases (p<0.05) of the basal serum levels of ACP T and ACP P at p<0.05. Basal serum concentrations of ACP T and ACP P changed from 23.50±1.04 and 7.50±0.29 to 8.25±0.75 and 2.25±0.29 IU at 20mg, representing 65 and 70 % decreases respectively. In contrast, 0.25-8mg/kg of cadmium (Cd) given intraperitoneally, caused significant dose-dependent increases (p<0.05) in the phosphatase enzymes. However pretreatment with 5mg of the crude extract, which on its own had little effect on basal serum phosphatase levels, followed by i.p administration of Cd, caused a reversal of the Cd-induced dose-response curves on the various phosphatase levels to negative values. These results may be due to the oxidative and the antioxidative biochemical antagonistic properties of the agents used in these experiments. They may also be due to enzyme conformational changes and effects of eugenols and flavonoids in the crude extract of O. gratissimum. @ JASEM Oxidation is an essential process in all organisms which involves redox reactions. These reactions normally generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) or highly reactive free radicals that can react virtually with all cell components to cause tissue injury (Collier et al., 1992). Exogenous sources of free radicals include tobacco smoke, ionization radiation, certain pollutants such as cadmium, vanadium, crude oil, organic solvents and pesticides (Robinson et al., 1997). The resulting oxidative free radicals are obligate intermediates of many metabolic reactions but may also cause pathological damage (Floyd et al., 1990). Similarly, antioxidation is the reversal of the above described processes mediated through scavenging of the free radicals, by dismutase enzyme systems, and phenolic-rich compounds such as flavonoids (Sardesai 1995;Rice-Evans et al., 1996). The body has evolved a number of interrelated antioxidant mechanisms to maintain redox homeostasis (Toyokuni et al., 1999). These antioxidant mechanisms include antioxidant enzymes: superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), gluthathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), heme oygenase (HO) etc (Ames et al., 1993;Sardesai 1995;Sies, 1997;Vertuani et al., 2004). A disturbance in the balance between the production of reactive oxygen species or free radicals an...

Aim: Commelina benghalensis and Newbouldia laevis are tropical plants which are widely used in ethnomedicine. Acute and subacute toxicity profiles of both plants were herein studied.

ABSTRACT:The antioxidant activity of the aqueous crude extract of Ocimum gratissimum Linn. leaf on the basal and traumatized (cadmium-induced) serum levels of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total acid phosphatase (ACP T ) and prostatic acid phosphatase (ACP P ) of the male guinea-pig (GP) were evaluated. Preliminary experimentation showed that the effects of the aqueous crude extract of O. gratissimum on basal serum phosphatases were slightly more in the oral than the intraperitoneal (i.p) route. Oral administration of 20mg of O. gratissimum caused a timedependent decrease in the basal serum levels of ACP T and ACP P without an effect on ALP values. The inhibitory effects compared to the control were maximum at 4 hours. Furthermore, O. gratissimum given orally, caused significant dose-dependent decreases (p<0.05) of the basal serum levels of ACP T and ACP P at p<0.05. Basal serum concentrations of ACP T and ACP P changed from 23.50±1.04 and 7.50±0.29 to 8.25±0.75 and 2.25±0.29 IU at 20mg, representing 65 and 70 % decreases respectively. In contrast, 0.25-8mg/kg of cadmium (Cd) given intraperitoneally, caused significant dose-dependent increases (p<0.05) in the phosphatase enzymes. However pretreatment with 5mg of the crude extract, which on its own had little effect on basal serum phosphatase levels, followed by i.p administration of Cd, caused a reversal of the Cd-induced dose-response curves on the various phosphatase levels to negative values. These results may be due to the oxidative and the antioxidative biochemical antagonistic properties of the agents used in these experiments. They may also be due to enzyme conformational changes and effects of eugenols and flavonoids in the crude extract of O. gratissimum. @ JASEM Oxidation is an essential process in all organisms which involves redox reactions. These reactions normally generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) or highly reactive free radicals that can react virtually with all cell components to cause tissue injury (Collier et al., 1992). Exogenous sources of free radicals include tobacco smoke, ionization radiation, certain pollutants such as cadmium, vanadium, crude oil, organic solvents and pesticides (Robinson et al., 1997). The resulting oxidative free radicals are obligate intermediates of many metabolic reactions but may also cause pathological damage (Floyd et al., 1990). Similarly, antioxidation is the reversal of the above described processes mediated through scavenging of the free radicals, by dismutase enzyme systems, and phenolic-rich compounds such as flavonoids (Sardesai 1995;Rice-Evans et al., 1996). The body has evolved a number of interrelated antioxidant mechanisms to maintain redox homeostasis (Toyokuni et al., 1999). These antioxidant mechanisms include antioxidant enzymes: superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), gluthathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), heme oygenase (HO) etc (Ames et al., 1993;Sardesai 1995;Sies, 1997;Vertuani et al., 2004). A disturbance in the balance between the production of reactive oxygen species or free radicals an...