What is the meaning of Africa and of being African? What is and what is not African philosophy? Is philosophy part of Africanism ? These are the kind of fundamental questions which this book addresses. North America: Indiana U Press

The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy and the Order of Knowledge

Population-based study からみた神経予後不良因子の検討

The high water permeability characteristic of mammalian red cell membranes is now known to be caused by the protein AQP1 This channel freely permits movement of water across the cell membrane, but it is not permeated by other small, uncharged molecules or charged solutes AQP1 is a tetramer with each subunit containing an aqueous pore likened to an hourglass formed by obversely arranged tandem repeats Cryoelectron microscopy of reconstituted AQP1 membrane crystals has revealed the three-dimensional structure at 3-6 A AQP1 is distributed in apical and basolateral membranes of renal proximal tubules and descending thin limbs as well as capillary endothelia Ten mammalian aquaporins have been identified in water-permeable tissues and fall into two groupings Orthodox aquaporins are water-selective and include AQP2, a vasopressin-regulated water channel in renal collecting duct, in addition to AQP0, AQP4, and AQP5 Multifunctional aquaglyceroporins AQP3, AQP7, and AQP9 are permeated by water, glycerol, and some other solutes Aquaporins are being defined in numerous other species including amphibia, insects, plants, and microbials Members of the aquaporin family are implicated in numerous physiological processes as well as the pathophysiology of a wide range of clinical disorders

Cellular and molecular biology of the aquaporin water channels.

Beyond Objectivism and Relativism: Science, Hermeneutics, and Praxis

The effect of drying temperature (60, 100, and 140 °C) on the polyphenols' content and antioxidant activity of red grape pomace peels was studied. Freeze-dried samples were used as reference. Differences on the CIE-LAB color, total extractable polyphenols, condensed tannins, UV−vis spectra, and antioxidant activity were evaluated. When drying temperature was 100 and 140 °C, a significant reduction in both total extractable polyphenols (18.6 and 32.6%) and condensed tannins (11.1 and 16.6%) was observed, as well as a decrease of 28 and 50% in the antioxidant activity of the samples, respectively. Hue angle and total color difference in the sample dried at 140 °C were significantly higher than in the freeze-dried reference material. A red color loss at 140 °C was also confirmed by lower absorbance values in the spectra at 525 nm. Drying at 60 °C did not significantly affect the sample characteristics evaluated. Keywords: Wine byproducts; grape pomace peels; antioxidant activity; drying temperature

Effect of drying temperature on the stability of polyphenols and antioxidant activity of red grape pomace peels

In this essay, an attempt is made to re-present African Communitarianism as
a discursive formation between the individual and community. It is a view which eschews the dominant position of many Africanist scholars on the primacy of the community over the individual in the ‘individual-community' debate in contemporary Africanist discourse. The relationship between the individual and community is dialogical for the identity of the individual and the community is dependent on this constitutive formation. The individual is
not prior to the community and neither is the community prior to the individual. Contemporaneity explains this dialogic relationship and to argue otherwise threatens the individual's subjectivity to a vanishing point, or simply, to deny the individual a presence. On this trajectory, the politics of common good within the African value system can neither be described nor represented through consensus or unanimity but through a realist perspectivism or a worldview not held in abstraction from living traditions, cultures, and
values that characterize the people(s) of sub-Saharan Africa. South African Journal of Philosophy Vol. 27 (4) 2008: pp. 386-399

What is African Communitarianism? Against Consensus as a regulative ideal

Free radical scavenging activity, phenolic contents and cytotoxicity of selected Nigerian medicinal plants

Entry of opsonized pathogens into phagocytes may benefit or, paradoxically, harm the host. Opsonization may trigger antimicrobial mechanisms such as reactive oxygen or nitric oxide (NO) production but may also provide a safe haven for intracellular replication. Brucellae are natural intramacrophage pathogens of rodents, ruminants, dogs, marine mammals, and humans. We evaluated the role of opsonins in Brucella-macrophage interactions by challenging cultured murine peritoneal macrophages with Brucella melitensis 16M treated with complement- and/or antibody-rich serum. Mouse serum rich in antibody against Brucella lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (aLPS) and human complement-rich serum (HCS) each enhanced the macrophage uptake of brucellae. Combinations of suboptimal levels of aLPS (0.01%) and HCS (2%) synergistically enhanced uptake. The intracellular fate of ingested bacteria was evaluated with an optimal concentration of gentamicin (2 μg/ml) to control extracellular growth but not kill intracellular bacteria. Bacteria opsonized with aLPS and/or HCS grew equally well inside macrophages in the absence of gamma interferon (IFN-γ). Macrophage activation with IFN-γ inhibited replication of both opsonized and nonopsonized brucellae but was less effective in inhibiting replication of nonopsonized bacteria. IFN-γ treatment of macrophages with opsonized or nonopsonized bacteria enhanced NO production, which was blocked by NG-monomethyl l-arginine (MMLA), an NO synthesis inhibitor. MMLA also partially blocked IFN-γ-mediated bacterial growth inhibition. These studies suggest that primary murine macrophages have limited ability to control infection with B. melitensis, even when activated by IFN-γ in the presence of highly opsonic concentrations of antibody and complement. Additional cellular immune responses, e.g., those mediated by cytotoxic T cells, may play more important roles in the control of murine brucellosis.

https://iai.asm.org/content/iai/68/1/257.full.pdf

Effects of opsonization and gamma interferon on growth of Brucella melitensis 16M in mouse peritoneal macrophages in vitro.

Introduction * South Africa: The Past is another country * South African (black) Nationalist ideologies and Resistance Movements * The 'prophets' and the 'Apocalypse' * When the chickens come to roost * Ubuntu: Many voices of a History * Ubuntu: A critique of Colonial/Apartheid reason? * Ubuntu and the making of South African Imaginary * Ubuntu: Towards a new public discourse * Conclusion: Towards a new humanism?

Michael O. Eze

Papers

What is African Communitarianism? Against Consensus as a regulative ideal

Free radical scavenging activity, phenolic contents and cytotoxicity of selected Nigerian medicinal plants

Effects of opsonization and gamma interferon on growth of Brucella melitensis 16M in mouse peritoneal macrophages in vitro.

Intellectual History in Contemporary South Africa

Free radical scavenging activity and immunomodulatory effect of Stachytarpheta angustifolia leaf extract.