Davao City, a major urban center in the Philippines with its various landforms and population distribution has been affected by COVID-19. This study aimed to identify and locate areas with COVID-19 cases in Davao City, create a location map of… More

Davao City, a major urban center in the Philippines with its various landforms and population distribution has been affected by COVID-19. This study aimed to identify and locate areas with COVID-19 cases in Davao City, create a location map of COVID-19 cases in Davao City and determine association between number of COVID-19 cases and population density. Data were obtained from the Philippines Statistics Authority, Davao City LGU and, the Department of Health Davao Region. QGIS application was used to generate location maps of COVID-19 cases and Pearson r correlation was the statistical method used. Most of the COVID-19 occurrence are in Poblacion, Talomo, Agdao and Buhangin. areas with high population densities record the high occurrence of COVID-19 cases There is a high correlation between number of COVID-19 infection and population densities for this study. This indicates that dense population may have contributed to the spread of the COVID-19 infection in the city. The occurrence of population densities in Davao City should be addressed to prevent public health threats brought about by infectious diseases such as COVID-19. Less

Pongamia pinnata or “bani” in the Philippines is a non-food crop that can grow on marginal land where food crops do not grow. Its seeds are used for biofuel production such as biodiesel and aviation fuel. It is resilient against… More

Pongamia pinnata or “bani” in the Philippines is a non-food crop that can grow on marginal land where food crops do not grow. Its seeds are used for biofuel production such as biodiesel and aviation fuel. It is resilient against abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity and acidity. It can also grow in nitrogen-limited soils. It is capable of nitrogenfixation activity through its root nodules developed by symbiosis with rhizobia. Rhizobium mesoamericanum (Lopez- Lopez et al., 2012) promotes the nodulation of Pongamia as confirmed by strain symbiotic effectiveness testing where shoot length, number of nodes, number of leaflet ts, nodule number, and plant dry weights were analysed. Variability test was carried out to determine any variability of nodulation in the seeds coming from one mother tree. A time course of nodulation revealed that there was an increasing pattern of nodule number, leghemoglobin concentration, area of zone of infection and dry weights. Nodulation increased when nitrate concentration was increased from 2 to 5 mM, but was inhibited in 10 mM nitrate. Nodulation decreased as salinity increased from 1% to 3%. R. mesomaericanum improved the growth and nodulation in Pongamia, whether as a group or as individual inoculants, provided that a sufficient concentration of the inoculant was achieved. Less

With growing reports of multidrug-resistant pathogens causing untreatable human infections, the need for new antimicrobial therapies is becoming increasingly important. This study was conducted to investigate the antimicrobial properties of the leaf extracts of Premna odorata Blanco, Petersianthus quadrialatus Merr.,… More

With growing reports of multidrug-resistant pathogens causing untreatable human infections, the need for new antimicrobial therapies is becoming increasingly important. This study was conducted to investigate the antimicrobial properties of the leaf extracts of Premna odorata Blanco, Petersianthus quadrialatus Merr., Shorea astylosa Foxw., and Tridax procumbens Linn. The medicinal importance of these plants remains understudied despite their abundant distribution and endemism in the Philippines. A disk diffusion assay was utilized to test the antimicrobial properties of T. procumbens leaf extract against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. On the one hand, the fungal colony and spore germination assay was used to test P. odorata, P. quadrialatus, and S. astylosa leaf extracts against Aspergillus niger. Different concentrations of leaf extracts were prepared and compared with positive and negative controls. T. procumbens minimally inhibits the growth of P. aeruginosa (10 mm) and S. aureus (10 mm), while S. astylosa leaf extracts revealed the most significant inhibition on colony growth (5.38 mm) and spore germination (15). P. odorata and P. quadrialatus showed the least (28.35 mm; 82.17) and moderate (10.97 mm; 49.5) inhibitory potentials, respectively. The discovery of new antimicrobial compounds from these plant extracts is seen as a potential resolve to the pressing problem of antimicrobial resistance. Less