RÉSUMÉ
Aim: To investigate the antioxidant and antimicrobial potential of Chloroform and Pet ether extracts of Manilkara zapota (MZCE, MZPE), Polyalthia longifolia (PLCE, PLPE), Abroma augusta (AACE, AAPE) Ficus hispida (FHCE, FHPE), Vitex negundo (VNCE, VNPE) plants. Study Design: In vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Pharmacy, School of Science & Engineering, Southeast University, Banani, Dhaka between June 2011 and March 2012. Methodology: In vitro antioxidant activity was performed using DPPH radical scavenging, nitric oxide (NO) scavenging, reducing power, total antioxidant capacity, total phenol and total flavonoid content determination assays. The antimicrobial assay was performed by disc diffusion method using kanamycin and Nystatin as the standard. Results: The most prominent antioxidant activity was observed with PLPE in DPPH radical scavenging test (IC50 =191.308 ± 28.450 μg/ml) as opposed to that of standard ascorbic acid (IC50= 43.129 ± 1.181μg/ml). In total antioxidant capacity method, FHCE showed the highest activity (837.558 ± 110.835 mg ascorbic acid/g). The total phenolic and flavonoids content were determined by Folin–Ciocalteu Reagent and aluminum chloride colorimetric method respectively. The highest total phenols & total flavonoids content were found in VNPE (180.434 ± 142.19 mg Gallic acid/g & 1265.255 ± 165.593 mg quercetin/g, respectively). The ferric reducing capacity of the extracts was strong and dose dependent manner. PLPE displayed the highest antimicrobial actions against Bacillus megaterium (40 mm). Conclusion: Comparison of different plant extracts used in the present study in various tested models showed wide variations in phenolic content and varying degrees of radical scavenging & reducing capacity. The obtained results indicate that investigated plants could be potential sources of natural antioxidants & antimicrobial agents and can be used for infectious diseases.
RÉSUMÉ
BACKGROUND: Child health in developing countries including Nepal is a matter of serious concern as the prevalence of malnutrition among children continues to be high with 48.6% of children under five in Nepal being underweight. Since infant feeding practices adopted by mothers play a major role in influencing health of these children, there is a need to study the infant feeding practices prevalent in different areas in order to have pragmatic approaches to solve this problem. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted among mothers who attended the immunization clinics of 18 wards of Pokhara municipality area. They were interviewed with a semi-structured questionnaire on various aspects of infant feeding. RESULT: A total of 168 mothers were interviewed and prevalence of breastfeeding was 99.4% (167). Only 43.5% of the mothers initiated breastfeeding within one hour of birth and 60.5% were practicing exclusive breastfeeding at 5 months. Almost 40% of the mothers started complementary feeding before the recommended age of 6 months and 22.5 % delayed introduction of complementary feeding beyond the recommended age. CONCLUSION: Breast feeding practices adopted by mothers of Pokhara urban area are still lacking in terms of late initiation of and early starting of complementary feeding. There is a need to educate the mothers regarding proper infant feeding practices.