on the nature of symptoms observed in patients who were presumptively treated for malaria based on observed symptoms from which analysis was done on the occurrences of each of these symptoms. Then, the prevalence of malaria infection was investigated through data collection at the same hospital. These sets of data collected was centred on patients who attended the hospital (UMTH) between January, 2011 to December, 2011. The age of the patients ranged from 1 to 90 years. Results from questionnaire completed by the medical personnel at the hospital indicated that vomiting had the highest occurrence at 100%. Other symptoms such as fever, headache, joint pain and nausea ranked next to vomiting in occurrence with figures of between 64.7% and 94.1%, while symptoms such as jaundice, loss of consciousness, weight loss, arthralfia, bleeding, pyrexia, cough, backache, and reduced uterine output were the least in occurrence at between 5.9% and 11.8%. Apparently, symptoms such as Bleeding, jaundice, reduced uterine output are associated with pathologies of malaria parasites which appear to be flourishing in proliferation and are ferried to other parts of the body by the blood, where they are establishing new sites of more pronounced damages to host tissues (blood cells and other systemic related cells) associated with the related pathologies and emergence of these symptoms. It is suggested that treatment for patients should take into cognizance the most occurring symptoms, the reasons for this trend and incorporation certain drugs or slight adjustments of spectrum of drugs to accommodate effective management of this issue; while the skewed peak transmission season seem to indicate increased level malaria control steps during these period. A total of 271 of these individuals were examined by laboratory technicians through a method that involved blood smear making, appropriate staining of slides and examination of the blood smears for the presence of malaria parasites. Male patients recorded malaria parasite prevalence of 43.9% while for female patients it was 56.1%. This %prevalence difference based on gender does not appear significant. Peak malaria prevalence was recorded in the month of September and followed by June (15.58% and 14.02% respectively) while the value was least for March followed by November (2.21% and 3.69% respectively). This is indicative of skewness of most of the peak related values in the rainy season compared to the dry season. The sahel savannah related long stretch of dry climatic conditions of this area which provide breeding conditions during the rainy seasons is likely to be one of the contributors to this observation, alongside other human malariogenic and environmental factors which favour increased breeding of the mosquito vector.

An Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA),

Apical membrane antigen (called AMA) found in Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasite, has been one of the leading malaria vaccine candidates and a subject of study for its potentials as an effective vaccine. The burden posed by malaria over the decades, moreso in the underdeveloped tropical world, re-emergence of malaria in regions it has been perceived to have once been eradicated, problem posed by resistance to effective drug by the parasite are among other reasons for spirited attempts by researchers to come up with good products from their efforts to support malaria control programmes. Most of the discovered and developed vaccines have protected animal models. Immunity in humans seem short-lived, ineffective and results in milder, sometimes asymptomatic infections in spite of the parasites' persistence. It has been suggested that cell and antibody mediated immunities jointly confer the protection observed in animal models and this may have important implications for developing human vaccines. The vital role played by AMA1 during the process of merozoite invasion of red blood cells by the parasite, a key event needed by the parasite to complete its life cycle has been part of the major reasons for considering this antigen for candidacy as a vaccine either as monovalent or polyvalent (some of which have been multi-stage or multi-antigen) AMA1 based or incorporating vaccines. So far, the most successful vaccine candidate to get to the highest level of clinical trials has been the RSS,S/AS02A, the first vaccine to pass through the phase II clinical trials. The polymorphic nature of AMA1 and some other malaria vaccine candidates such as MSP1 among other issues highlighted in this article have been part of the major problems that appeared to have limited its success in humans, despite successes in certain animal models in clinical trials. Thus, for AMA1 based malaria vaccines, the tasks for the future has been to seek to improve its immunological responses irrespective of the major bio-technical problems inherent in the parasite's features at levels good enough to confer protection in both animals and adult humans and able to translate into efficacy when attempted in children recipients. As man, through vaccine scientists seek to declassify the classified perceived elusive myth that has surrounded successful boding of malaria vaccines for paediatric immunization over the decades, human subjects known to be at highest risks of infection and experiencing clinical diseases, may be near breathing sigh of relief in the event of eventual success of the most clinically advanced form of a malaria vaccine, the RSS,S/AS2OA or the other vaccine candidates being actively worked on to support man's fight back against the tiny parasite which has boxed its comparatively much bigger man to a tight corner for scores of decades.

The plant herb Artemisia annua (Qing Hao) has been used in China for over 400years to treat malaria disease, which has a mostly higher prevalence in the tropics where it is more endemic. Also, it has been used to kill parasitic worms, as anti-microbial agents, and has found non-medicinal uses in the United States and Europe. The active anti-malarial compound in A. annua called Artemisinin was isolated in the 1970s. Evidence of drug resistance by malaria parasite to Artemisinin based monotherapy in some Southeast Asian countries propelled development and introduction of Artemisinin based combination therapies (ACTs) which the WHO now encourages over monotherapy. A research team in the United States appear to have pioneered a "chemotherapeutic research revolution in Cancer treatment" involving use of Artemisinin based compounds, with reported successes on human breast cancer cells in-vitro-from bench work, as the cancerous cells were killed within some hours on treatment with an Artemisinin based compound. With work on the first genetic map of A. annua done and published by a United Kingdom based research team, and ongoing funded studies to develop more effective non-synthetic and semi-synthetic analogues of Artemisinin underway, a plethora of more opportunities stand to become available to be exploited and utilized in other investigations; but whether this would translate to authenticated successes that could do well or/and pass anti-cancer drug screening yardsticks of related National Drug approving and standardization agencies remains the real task. Worthy of note is the discovery and use of some new and other herb plants which have been screened and found to show anti-cancer properties to battle cancer. This should complement efforts through studies on use of artemisinin and its derivative compounds to battle cancer. These efforts are part of the multi-faceted attempts by man against "these strange and deranged cells that grow for the sake of growth but with no clearly constituted means of modulating the growths". The historical developments in use of Artemisia/artemisinin and its various derivatives, the active chemical compounds, shortcomings and attempts and improvements in relation to malaria and cancer treatment have been elucidated in this article.

Systematic sampling was engaged to determine the migratory soil nematode fauna with respect to functional feeding groups, present in a cultivated farmland within the University of Maiduguri, using two methods which were the sieving and extraction tray methods. This was done to determine the abundance of the various migratory soil nematode feeding groups, their spatial distribution and trophic structure within a measured sampling plot of 9m by 8m (72m2).Nematodes can be classified into functional feeding groups based on their feeding habits, which can often be deduced from the structure of their mouth parts. Five groups of these soil nematodes were recorded, implying that nematodes that are both beneficial and harmful to plant fauna were present in the sampled area.Soil nematodes were recorded along all five horizontal sampling plains (coded as SMA-SME). On each of these five horizontal plains -with each containing ten (10) sampling points, some of the sampling points did not record nematodes. Bacteria feeders recorded the highest %abundance of 26.3% while Omnivore feeders had the least % abundance of 11.6%. The combined abundance of bacterial and fungal feeders was 43.2%, which represents the nematode groups that help in re-cycling of nutrients through the provision of nitrogen in the soil. The trophic level stratification based abundance in terms of ratio of soil nematode groups was 7: 2 for ratio of "2nd + 3rd trophic levels" to "1st trophic level", a value that indicates that the combined activities of soil nematode groups in the 1st and 2nd trophic levels may assist in soil quality maintenance activities which may also help check the activities of those of the 1st trophic level (Herbivore feeders). The major plant parasitizing nematodes (Herbivore feeders) accounted for 23.2% of the total abundance of these migratory soil nematode groups. However, out of the total of 50 sampling points examined from the marked out portion on the farmland, 15 points (30%) recorded no nematodes while 35 points (70%) recorded soil nematodes indicating a significant spatial spread or representation of these migratory soil nematode groups. Thirty percent (30%) of the sampling points recorded two groups of these soil nematodes and 2% recorded three groups. The nature of the compositional aggregations may likely allow for ecosystem related interactions between different soil nematode groups which could be useful for support of soil fertility related activities.