Medicinal plants of the upper Aswa River catchment of northern Uganda - a cultural crossroads

BACKGROUND

This paper presents a comparative inventory of medicinal plant taxa and their uses by smallholder farming communities of four cultures in the Aswa River catchment of northern Uganda, situated in the eastern Sudanian savanna parkland ecotype of sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of the study was to document the ethnobotanical use of medicinal plants by the Lango, Acholi, Teso (Atesot) and Ethur (jo Abwor), in an historical moment before civil conflict and mass displacement of the respondent communities disrupted the inter-generational transmission of traditional technical knowledge within the study area.

METHODS

Following community consultations in four districts of northern Uganda during 1999-2000, interviews were conducted with holders of specialist knowledge on plants used as medicine on basis of a plant specimen allocated a voucher number and identified by the national herbarium. Use reports reflecting specific medicinal applications were compiled in aggregate to obtain a Relative Importance Index ranking. The commonality of medicinal taxa cited between each cultural interface was assessed by the Jaccard Index of Similarity, and the similarity of specific medicinal usage by taxon using Rahman's Similarity Index.

RESULTS

The data collected from 112 respondents comprise 280 medicinal use reports describing 263 applications for 62 medical conditions, citing 108 taxa from 44 botanical families of which Fabaceae comprised 20% of all use reports. No earlier mention could be found to corroborate 72 use reports (27% of the total), representing medicinal indications as yet undocumented, and potentially worthy of investigation. The RI values ranged between 15 and 94%, with 13 taxa having RI values above 50%. The JI ratios indicate the highest degree of similarity in the plant taxa used as medicine (21%) between the Lango and Teso cultures who share a common origin; however, Rahman's Similarity Index indicates the highest similarity of specific medicinal usage by taxon between the Lango and Acholi, who share a common language group through cultural assimilation over time.

CONCLUSIONS

As a comparative study, the results imply that cultural exchange and assimilation may be a greater driver of inter-cultural similarity of ethnopharmacological use of a given taxon, as compared to shared historical origins.

Traditional food plants of the upper Aswa River catchment of northern Uganda-a cultural crossroads

BACKGROUND

In the parkland agroforestry system of northern Uganda, smallholder farming households rely on a diversity of plant species to fulfil their nutritional requirements, many of which also serve a range of medicinal, cultural, and livelihood functions. The purpose of the study was to assemble an inventory of indigenous plant species used as food in four districts within the Aswa River catchment of northern Uganda, and to document their utilization and management by rural communities.

METHODS

From July 1999 to August 2000, a series of 61 community-based focus group discussions on the utilization of plant biodiversity were conducted in the vernacular language at 34 sites in four districts of northern Uganda, with participation by key informants self-selected on basis of their technical knowledge and personal interest. Of these, 232 respondents subsequently contributed to a collection of herbarium specimens, which were submitted to the Makerere University Herbarium for identification. On receipt of each specimen collected, a structured interview was conducted to document the botanical, ecological, seasonal, and alimentary attributes of each identified taxon, and details of its processing and utilization by the community from which it was obtained. The data analysis was undertaken during 2019 and 2020, including statistical tests to assess the relative importance of the cited taxa using the Relative Importance Index (RI), and to determine the similarity of edible plant use between the four cultures using the Jaccard Index of similarity (JI).

RESULTS

Key informant interviews yielded 1347 use reports (URs) for 360 identified specimens of 88 indigenous edible plant species. The data describes patterns of use of indigenous edible plants of four cultures of the Aswa River catchment of northern Uganda. RI scores ranged from 0.93 to 0.11, with fruit trees occupying the top 25 taxa (RI 0.45 and above). Jaccard similarity scores ranged from 25.8% between Lango and Acholi, to 15.8% between Acholi and Ethur, indicating that cultural factors appear to be more significant than shared ancestry as determinants of cultural similarity of plant use.

CONCLUSIONS

The data constitute an inventory of on-farm plant species, including cultivated, semi-cultivated, and wild plants, integrated into a parkland agroforestry system in which useful trees and other plant species are sustained and managed under cultivation. Agricultural and on-farm plant biodiversity may be seen as a food security resource, and a nutritional buffer against increasing risks and stressors on low-input smallholder agriculture. Further studies should assess the intra-species biodiversity of these resources, with respect to farmer-valued traits and vernacular (folk) classification systems.

Real-world outcomes in patients with ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer treated with crizotinib

Background

Crizotinib has shown greater efficacy in clinical trials than chemotherapy in patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive (alk+) non-small cell lung cancer (nsclc), but little information is available on its use and outcomes in real-world settings. We therefore assessed treatment patterns and outcomes in alk+ nsclc patients treated with crizotinib in regular clinical practice.

Methods

A retrospective medical record review was conducted in North America for adults with alk+ nsclc treated with crizotinib as first- or later-line therapy for metastatic disease between 1 August 2011 and 31 March 2013 (for the United States) or 1 May 2012 and 31 March 2013 (for Canada). Crizotinib-related trial enrollees were excluded. Descriptive analyses were conducted to assess treatment patterns and objective response rate (orr). Progression-free survival (pfs) and overall survival (os) were descriptively analyzed using Kaplan-Meier methods.

Results

Data were extracted for 212 patients in the United States (n = 147) and Canada (n = 65). Mean (standard deviation [sd]) age was 58.9 (9.5) years, and 69% were male. Seventy-nine patients (37%) were deceased at record abstraction. Sixty-five percent (n = 137) initiated crizotinib as first-line therapy. Mean (sd) duration of crizotinib treatment was 8.7 (4.9) months. Objective response rate was 66% (69% for first-line recipients, 60% for second-/later-line). Median (95% ci) pfs and os from crizotinib initiation were 9.5 (8.7, 10.1) and 23.4 (19.5, -) months, respectively. One- and two-year survival probabilities were 82% and 49%, respectively.

Conclusions

Outcomes for crizotinib recipients in this study align with previous trials, with orr appearing more favourable in first-line recipients. Our findings indicate that crizotinib outcomes in clinical studies may translate to regular clinical practice.

Triterpene glycosides and other polar constituents of shea (Vitellaria paradoxa) kernels and their bioactivities

The MeOH extract of defatted shea (Vitellaria paradoxa; Sapotaceae) kernels was investigated for its constituents, and fifteen oleanane-type triterpene acids and glycosides, two steroid glucosides, two pentane-2,4-diol glucosides, seven phenolic compounds, and three sugars, were isolated. The structures of five triterpene glycosides were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic and chemical methods. Upon evaluation of the bioactivity of the isolated compounds, it was found that some or most of the compounds have potent or moderate inhibitory activities against the following: melanogenesis in B16 melanoma cells induced by α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH); generation of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals, against Epstein-Barr virus early antigen (EBV-EA) activation induced by 12-O-teradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA) in Raji cells; t TPA-induced inflammation in mice, and proliferation of one or more of HL-60, A549, AZ521, and SK-BR-3 human cancer cell lines, respectively. Western blot analysis established that paradoxoside E inhibits melanogenesis by regulation of expression of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF), tyrosinase, and tyrosinase-related protein-1 (TRP-1) and TRP-2. In addition, tieghemelin A was demonstrated to exhibit cytotoxic activity against A549 cells (IC50 13.5 μM) mainly due to induction of apoptosis by flow cytometry. The extract of defatted shea kernels and its constituents may be, therefore, valuable as potential antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, skin-whitening, chemopreventive, and anticancer agents.

Triacylglycerol and triterpene ester composition of shea nuts from seven African countries

The compositions of the triacylglycerol (TAG) and triterpene ester (TE) fractions of the kernel fats (n-hexane extracts; shea butter) of the shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa; Sapotaceae) were determined for 36 samples from seven sub-Saharan countries, i.e., Cote d' Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroun, Chad, Sudan, and Uganda. The principal TAGs are stearic-oleic-stearic (SOS; mean 31.2%), SOO (27.7%), and OOO (10.8%). The TE fractions contents are in the range of 0.5-6.5%, and contain α-amyrin cinnamate (1c; mean 29.3%) as the predominant TE followed by butyrospermol cinnamate (4c; 14.8%), α-amyrin acetate (1a; 14.1%), lupeol cinnamate (3c; 9.0%), β-amyrin cinnamate (2c; 7.6%), lupeol acetate (3a; 7.2%), butyrospermol acetate (4a; 5.8%), and β-amyrin acetate (2a; 4.9%). Shea kernel fats from West African provenances contained, in general, higher levels of high-melting TAGs such as SOS, and higher amount of TEs than those from East African provenances. No striking regional difference in the composition of the TE fractions was observed.

Triterpene alcohol and fatty acid composition of shea nuts from seven African countries

The content and composition of triterpene alcohol fractions of the non-saponifiable lipids (NSL) along with the fatty acid composition of the kernel fats (n-hexane extracts) of the shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa; Sapotaceae) were determined for 36 samples from seven sub-Saharan countries: Cote d' Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroun, Chad, Sudan, and Uganda. The fat content of the kernels, proportion of NSL in the fats, and triterpene alcohols in the NSL are in the range of 30-54, 2-12, and 22-72%, respectively. The triterpene alcohol fractions contained alpha-amyrin (1), beta-amyrin (2), lupeol (3), and butyrospermol (4) as the major constituents along with minor or trace amounts of psi-taraxasterol (5), taraxasterol (6), parkeol (7), 24-methylene-24-dihydroparkeol (8), 24-methylenecycloartanol (9), dammaradienol (10), and 24-methylenedammarenol (11). Fatty acid composition is dominated by stearic (28-56%) and oleic (34-61%) acids. Shea butters from West African provenances contained in general higher levels of triterpene alcohols and stearic acid than those from East African provenances. Both stearic acid and total triterpene alcohol contents were significantly correlated to the latitude and elevation of the source population, indicating that higher levels of these compounds are found at higher ambient temperatures.