An Updated Catalogue and Review of Afrotherian (Afroplacentalia) Mammals in the Amathole Museum Collection, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
- Authors: Mahala, Buyiswa
- Date: 2021-03
- Subjects: Mammals
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/20741 , vital:46513
- Description: The Mammalogy Collection of the Amathole Museum is one of the most comprehensive mammal collections in Africa, with a specialisation in southern African fauna. It was accumulated over almost 100 years, in some instances from areas that no longer support sustainable populations of wildlife. The collection, therefore, is irreplaceable. A museum collection is only as good as its accessibility to students and researchers for it to perform its functions as a biodiversity archive. Accessibility, in turn, depends on up-to-date taxonomy and classification; good curation practices; public awareness of the collection; and electronic access to the details of the collection’s composition. The higher-level taxonomy of the Class Mammalia has undergone extensive changes since the adoption of molecular systematic techniques. Phylogenetic reconstructions based on large DNA sequence databases consistently group placental mammals into four superorders: Laurasiatheria (carnivores, bats, ungulates, whales); Euarchontoglires, a super-clade that includes primates (apes, monkeys and allies), rodents (mouse, rat and guinea pig), lagomorphs, (rabbit and hares), dermopterans (flying lemurs or colugos) and scandentians (tree shrew); Xenarthra (armadillos, anteaters, sloths), and Afrotheria (elephants, sea cows, tenrecs, aardvarks, sengis, golden moles, hyraxes). New relationships have been recognised that have required the erection of new taxonomic groups. Most of the Amathole Museum mammal collection was assembled and accessioned long before this new system was devised, and I undertook this project to begin the re-organisation of the collection according to the new information. I conducted and audit and inventory of all specimens of Afrotheria, or the mammals of African origin, housed in the Amathole Museum collection. I photographed the specimens and corrected and updated their taxonomic details. As we now live in an age of digital information, natural history collections need to be available online to extend public access. Specimen details were entered into Excel files, and their localities were mapped. This kind of information has the possibility of transforming biological curricula to include more authentic and inquiry-driven educational experiences. My future goals are to acquire Malagasy tenrecs for the Amathole Afrotheria collection, and to investigate the taxonomic validity of the Amathole hyrax collection, as many specimens were found with confusing and out-of-date classifications. , Thesis (MSc) (Zoology) -- University of Fort Hare, 2021
- Full Text:
- Authors: Mahala, Buyiswa
- Date: 2021-03
- Subjects: Mammals
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/20741 , vital:46513
- Description: The Mammalogy Collection of the Amathole Museum is one of the most comprehensive mammal collections in Africa, with a specialisation in southern African fauna. It was accumulated over almost 100 years, in some instances from areas that no longer support sustainable populations of wildlife. The collection, therefore, is irreplaceable. A museum collection is only as good as its accessibility to students and researchers for it to perform its functions as a biodiversity archive. Accessibility, in turn, depends on up-to-date taxonomy and classification; good curation practices; public awareness of the collection; and electronic access to the details of the collection’s composition. The higher-level taxonomy of the Class Mammalia has undergone extensive changes since the adoption of molecular systematic techniques. Phylogenetic reconstructions based on large DNA sequence databases consistently group placental mammals into four superorders: Laurasiatheria (carnivores, bats, ungulates, whales); Euarchontoglires, a super-clade that includes primates (apes, monkeys and allies), rodents (mouse, rat and guinea pig), lagomorphs, (rabbit and hares), dermopterans (flying lemurs or colugos) and scandentians (tree shrew); Xenarthra (armadillos, anteaters, sloths), and Afrotheria (elephants, sea cows, tenrecs, aardvarks, sengis, golden moles, hyraxes). New relationships have been recognised that have required the erection of new taxonomic groups. Most of the Amathole Museum mammal collection was assembled and accessioned long before this new system was devised, and I undertook this project to begin the re-organisation of the collection according to the new information. I conducted and audit and inventory of all specimens of Afrotheria, or the mammals of African origin, housed in the Amathole Museum collection. I photographed the specimens and corrected and updated their taxonomic details. As we now live in an age of digital information, natural history collections need to be available online to extend public access. Specimen details were entered into Excel files, and their localities were mapped. This kind of information has the possibility of transforming biological curricula to include more authentic and inquiry-driven educational experiences. My future goals are to acquire Malagasy tenrecs for the Amathole Afrotheria collection, and to investigate the taxonomic validity of the Amathole hyrax collection, as many specimens were found with confusing and out-of-date classifications. , Thesis (MSc) (Zoology) -- University of Fort Hare, 2021
- Full Text:
Synthesis, characterization and in vitro biological studies of cholesterol-based carriers as potential therapeutic agents
- Authors: Ruwizhi, Ngonidzashe
- Date: 2021-03
- Subjects: Drug delivery systems , Cholesterol
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/20708 , vital:46443
- Description: Malaria, cancer and bacterial infections are numbered among the highest causes of fatalities. Most of the drugs used to combat these diseases suffer from resistance, poor absorption and bioavailability and high toxicity. Therefore, delivering a drug requires an excellent drug delivery system that must provide the medication at the site of action in the minimum time possible. Cholesterol is a sterol that is abundantly found in the human body and forms a part in the structure and organization of cell membranes. Many researchers have used cholesterol, especially in organic synthesis, because of its ready availability, low cost and functional groups that can be readily derivatized. In this research, different therapeutic agents (anticancer, antimalarial and antibacterial) were conjugated to cholesterol, and the synthesized compounds were characterized using FTIR, 1H and 13C NMR, Mass Spectroscopy, 2D 1H-13C, HSQC NMR and tested for in vitro biological activity. Thirteen compounds were successfully synthesized. CHS-Cur was the most effective against all Gram-positive bacterial strains, while CHS-Cur, CHS-ZD and C-CAC-ZD were effective against all the bacterial strains. C-CAC-Pyr showed good antiplasmodial activity with 97.75 and 97.83% inhibition at 20 and 10 μg/ml concentrations, respectively. The biological activity of some of the compounds was increased by the conjugation of cholesterol, while others displayed reduced biological activity. In vitro cytotoxicity of the synthesized compounds on HeLa (cervical cancer) cells showed that compounds 2 (7.559 μg/mL), 3 (5.840 μg/mL), 5 (1.44 mg/mL), 7 (4.308 μg/mL) and 11 (3.295 μg/mL) exhibited some good anticancer activity with IC50 values of less than 10 μg/mL. Treating T3T fibroblast cells with compounds 2, 4, 5, 6, and 10 did not reveal a cytotoxic effect on the normal cells when compared to the control, cisplatin. , Thesis (MSc) (Chemistry) -- University of Fort Hare, 2021
- Full Text:
- Authors: Ruwizhi, Ngonidzashe
- Date: 2021-03
- Subjects: Drug delivery systems , Cholesterol
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/20708 , vital:46443
- Description: Malaria, cancer and bacterial infections are numbered among the highest causes of fatalities. Most of the drugs used to combat these diseases suffer from resistance, poor absorption and bioavailability and high toxicity. Therefore, delivering a drug requires an excellent drug delivery system that must provide the medication at the site of action in the minimum time possible. Cholesterol is a sterol that is abundantly found in the human body and forms a part in the structure and organization of cell membranes. Many researchers have used cholesterol, especially in organic synthesis, because of its ready availability, low cost and functional groups that can be readily derivatized. In this research, different therapeutic agents (anticancer, antimalarial and antibacterial) were conjugated to cholesterol, and the synthesized compounds were characterized using FTIR, 1H and 13C NMR, Mass Spectroscopy, 2D 1H-13C, HSQC NMR and tested for in vitro biological activity. Thirteen compounds were successfully synthesized. CHS-Cur was the most effective against all Gram-positive bacterial strains, while CHS-Cur, CHS-ZD and C-CAC-ZD were effective against all the bacterial strains. C-CAC-Pyr showed good antiplasmodial activity with 97.75 and 97.83% inhibition at 20 and 10 μg/ml concentrations, respectively. The biological activity of some of the compounds was increased by the conjugation of cholesterol, while others displayed reduced biological activity. In vitro cytotoxicity of the synthesized compounds on HeLa (cervical cancer) cells showed that compounds 2 (7.559 μg/mL), 3 (5.840 μg/mL), 5 (1.44 mg/mL), 7 (4.308 μg/mL) and 11 (3.295 μg/mL) exhibited some good anticancer activity with IC50 values of less than 10 μg/mL. Treating T3T fibroblast cells with compounds 2, 4, 5, 6, and 10 did not reveal a cytotoxic effect on the normal cells when compared to the control, cisplatin. , Thesis (MSc) (Chemistry) -- University of Fort Hare, 2021
- Full Text:
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