Mobile health clinic for the medical management of clinical sequelae experienced by survivors of the 2013-2016 Ebola virus disease outbreak in Sierra Leone, West Africa.

An Ebola survivor Mobile Health Clinic (MHC) was established to implement lasting changes in communities it operates by providing effective and efficient mobile healthcare. After months of development, the MHC solution was operationalised in February 2015, aiming to provide integrated primary healthcare services to address the medical and psychosocial needs of Ebola virus (EBOV) survivors living in areas with low medical coverage. A total of 910 medical consultations for 246 EBOV survivors were performed between 7 February 2015 and 10 June 2016. Females constituted 148 (60.2%) whereas 6 (2.44%) were children under 5 years of age. The most common complication was arthralgia 185 (75.2%), headache 98 (39.8%), abdominal pain 167 (68%), myalgia 182 (73.6%), and skin disease 25 (10%). Moreover, ocular problems were diagnosed in 84 survivors (34.1%), and 60 (24.4%) suffered from psycho-trauma. Some 16 female survivors (10.8%) had miscarriages, whereas 9 (6.1%) had complaints of oligomenorrhea, 7 (4.7%) loss of sexual desire and 4 (2.7%) premature menopause. Five male survivors (5.1%) reported erectile dysfunction and 10 (10.2%) loss of sexual desire. At least 221 (89.8%) reported more than one complication. Other infectious diseases were common and no clinically relevant differences were established from haematology and clinical biochemistry laboratory results. Ibuprofen, paracetamol, anti-malaria drugs and antibiotics were the most common medicines prescribed. Community participation is critical for implantation of MHC among EBOV survivors. Future strategies for the mobile clinics should include enrolment of survivors at discharge from treatment centres with close monitoring follow-up activities, to address sequelae as they arise, to reduce the potential for development of long-term disabilities.

Antibacterial and antifungal activities of various solvent extracts from the leaves and stem bark of Anisophyllea laurina R. Br ex Sabine used as traditional medicine in Guinea.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Anisophyllea laurina R. Br ex Sabine is a plant that has been used in the folk medicine to treat malaria, dysentery, diabetes and toothache against bacterial infection. Through this study, most likely we are reporting for the first time, its effectiveness as an antibacterial and antifungal agent. AIM OF THE STUDY: To evaluate antibacterial and antifungal activities of various solvent extracts from the leaves and stem bark of A. laurina R. Br ex Sabine. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The various solvent extracts of leaves and stem bark were tested for antibacterial and antifungal activities against eight bacteria strains and three fungal strains using the well diffusion and micro-dilution methods. RESULTS: Antibacterial and antifungal activities of methanol and ethanol extracts were higher than the ethyl acetate and water extract. Leaves extracts had the highest potential activity against bacteria than stem bark extracts, but showed low antifungal activity compared to stem bark extracts. They also exhibited potent growth inhibitory activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia coli ATCC 8739 and Bacillus subtilis with MIC value of 125µg/mL. CONCLUSIONS: The current study confirmed that the leaves and stem bark extracts of A. laurina R. Br ex Sabine proved to be most effective as antibacterial and antifungal activities.

Expression, purification, and characterization of NADP+-dependent malic enzyme from the oleaginous fungus Mortierella alpina.

Malic enzymes are a class of oxidative decarboxylases that catalyze the oxidative decarboxylation of malate to pyruvate and carbon dioxide, with concomitant reduction of NAD(P)+ to NAD(P)H. The NADP+-dependent malic enzyme in oleaginous fungi plays a key role in fatty acid biosynthesis. In this study, the malic enzyme-encoding complementary DNA (cDNA) (malE1) from the oleaginous fungus Mortierella alpina was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). The recombinant protein (MaME) was purified using Ni-NTA affinity chromatography. The purified enzyme used NADP+ as the cofactor. The K m values for L-malate and NADP+ were 2.19±0.01 and 0.38±0.02 mM, respectively, while the V max values were 147±2 and 302±14 U/mg, respectively, at the optimal condition of pH 7.5 and 33 °C. MaME is active in the presence of Mn2+, Mg2+, Co2+, Ni2+, and low concentrations of Zn2+ rather than Ca2+, Cu2+, or high concentrations of Zn2+. Oxaloacetic acid and glyoxylate inhibited the MaME activity by competing with malate, and their K i values were 0.08 and 0.6 mM, respectively.