Pattern of haematologic abnormalities in incident dialysis patients and the effect of using locally derived haematologic reference ranges

Background: The aim of the study was to compare the prevalence of haematologic abnormalities seen in incident haemodialysis patients using standard laboratory reference ranges with reference ranges derived locally.Study Design and Method: This was a retrospective study of 97 patients with renal failure who received haemodialysis at a single dialysis unit in Lagos, Nigeria. All patients were 18 years of age or older, had renal failure requiring dialysis, and had not previously dialyzed. Patients with a history of haemoglobinoapthy or other red cell disorders, recent history of overt blood loss or blood transfusion and pregnancy were excluded.Results: Fifty six (57.7%) of the patients were males; and 55 (56.7%) had chronic kidney disease. There were no significant differences in baseline characteristics between males and females, however, patients with CKD had significantly higher mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures, mean serum creatinines and lower mean haemoglobin concentrations.Overall, anaemia was the most common haematologic abnormality (97.9%), followed by leukocytosis (34.0%). Leukopenia, thrombocytosis and thrombocytopenia were less common (3.1%, 7.2% and 10.3% respectively). The use of locally derived reference ranges was associated with significantly higher frequencies of occurrence of majority of the haematologic abnormalities studied.Conclusion: Haematological abnormalities occurred frequently in the study population. Use locally derived haematologic reference ranges was associated with significant differences in the frequency and pattern of some of the haematologic abnormalities. Further studies are needed to determine the clinical implications of these findings.Keywords: Haematologic abnormalities; chronic kidney disease; acute kidney injury; dialysi

Prevalence of HBsAg, knowledge, and vaccination practice against viral hepatitis B infection among doctors and nurses in a secondary health care facility in Lagos state, South-western Nigeria

Introduction: Hepatitis B Virus, a highly infectious blood-borne virus poses a major threat to public health globally due to its high prevalence rate and grave consequence in causing liver cirrhosis and hepatocelullar carcinoma, the third cause of cancer death worldwide. The aim is determine the prevalence of HBsAg, knowledge, and vaccination practices against viral hepatitis B infection among doctors and nurses in a health care facility. Methods: Study design was a descriptive cross-sectional study among all the doctors and nurses in the health care facility. Data was collected using pre-tested, structured, self-administered questionnaire and blood samples were taken from respondents and tested using commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELIZA) test kit to determine prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen after informed consent. Ethical approval was obtained from Health Research and Ethics Committee of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. Responses of the respondents to the knowledge and vaccination practices against viral hepatitis B infection were scored and graded as poor (<50%), fair (50-74%) and good (≥75%). The study was carried out in January, 2014. Results: A total of 134 out of the 143 recruited respondents participated in the study. Prevalence of HBsAg was 1.5%. Among the respondents, 56.7% had good knowledge and 94.8% reported poor practice of vaccination against viral hepatitis B infection. Mean knowledge and vaccination practices scores (%) were 72.54+7.60 and 29.44+14.37 respectively. Only 29% of the respondents did post vaccination testing for anti HBsAg. Conclusion: Prevalence of HBsAg was low. Knowledge of viral hepatitis B was fair, and practice of post hepatitis B vaccination testing was poor. It is therefore recommended that the state ministry of health should organise further health education programme, institute compulsory occupational hepatitis B vaccination programme and post vaccination anti-HBS testing to ensure adequate antibody level in this adult population.Pan African Medical Journal 2016; 2

Genetic variation of the Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix Japonica) based on biochemical polymorphism

The study aimed at characterizing the Japanese quail using biochemical markers. Blood protein polymorphism of one hundred and sixty-six (166) Japanese quails of both sexes comprising of 83 each of mottled brown and white quails were analysed using cellulose acetate paper electrophoresis. Six loci which includes hemoglobin (Hb), transferrin (Tf), albumin (Alb), carbonic anhydrase (CA), alkaline phosphatase (Alp) and esterase-1 (Es-1) were tested. All the loci tested were polymorphic with each locus having two co-dominant alleles controlling three genotypes. Allele B was predominant at Hb, Tf and Es-1 locus with frequencies 0.90, 0.55, and 0.77, respectively while Allele A was predominant at Alb and Alp locus with frequencies 0.83 and 0.58 respectively. The Allele A had generally lower frequencies than B at the CA loci having values of 0.43 - Brown, 0.38 - White and 0.40 - overall. The mean observed heterozygosity (Hₒ) was 0.48 with brown and white quails having Ho values of 0.47 and 0.49 respectively, and the expected heterozygosity was observed to be higher in white quails (0.39) than in the mottled brown (0.31). The genetic distance (0.0534) between white and brown quails in this study showed little genetic differentiation between the brown and the white quails. Dendogram generated from the genetic distance values indicated that the two strains had common origin

Physicochemical and Functional Properties of Yellow Yam (Dioscorea Cayenensis) Starches and Sensory Quality of Its Custard

Background: Corn has been the major source of starch used in the production of custard. Therefore there is need to harness other sources of starch for the production of custard.Objective: This study evaluated some physicochemical and functional properties of starches extracted from two varieties (TDC2790 and TDC2812) of yellow yam (Dioscorea cayenensis) and cornstarch and the sensory attributes of the custard made from the starches.Methods: Weights of the yam were measured and starch extraction was carried using standard laboratory procedures. Starch yield was calculated, proximate composition, amylose and amylopectin contents, carotenoid, colour and functional properties were determined.Results: Percentage starch yield from TDC2790 and TDC2812 were 18.97% and 12.50% respectively. Amylose and amylopectin content ranged from 16.10-31.46% and 68.54-83.90%, respectively in the starches, the general low content of amylose in the starches. Carotenoid content ranged from 3.15-6.93μg/g, large variation in total carotenoid content observed among the starches was a reflection of the wide spectrum of the colour of flesh of the yellow yam tubers.Conclusion: Carotenoid content, functional properties of the starches and sensory attributes of the custard differ significantly (p<0.05). The values for turbidity of starch paste increased progressively during storage and this can be attributed to the interaction between leached amylose and amylopectin chains that led to development of function zones, which reflect or scatter a significant amount of light

Fidelity of human ovarian cancer patient-derived xenografts in a partially humanized mouse model for preclinical testing of immunotherapies

Background Immune checkpoint blockers (ICBs) have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to be used alone in front-line therapies or in combination with other regimens for certain advanced cancers. Since ICB only works in a subset of patients and has limited efficacy in treating ovarian cancer (OVC), developing preclinical models that help to understand which patients may derive benefit from ICB would be of tremendous benefit in OVC.Methods Here, we generated preclinical human OVC models from freshly resected tumors, which include six patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) from six different patient tumors, three transplantable OVC PD spheroid lines (PD-sphs), and 3 cell lines (PD-CLs). We tested the therapeutic combination of anti-PD1/CTLA4 antibodies with (1) autologous tumor-associated leukocytes (TALs) on the growth of PD-sphs in a coculture system in vitro, (2) with adoptively transferred autologous peripheral blood mononuclear cells or TALs in patient-derived OVC models using partially humanized mice, NSG-HHDxSGM3 (N-HSGM3).Results We show that PD-1 and CTLA-4 dual blockade when combined with autologous TALs effectively reduced PD-sph number in a co-culture system and led to regression of established PD-CLs and PDXs in the N-HSGM3 mice. Combinatorial PD-1 and CTLA-4 blockade increased the frequency and function of tumor-specific CD8 T cells. These CD8 T cells persisted in the tumor microenvironment, exhibited memory phenotype and protected animals from tumor growth on tumor rechallenge. Gene expression analysis of tumors resistant to dual PD1/CTLA4 blockade treatment identified upregulation of antigen processing and presentation pathways and downregulation of extracellular matrix organization genes.Conclusions These findings describe a novel platform for developing patient-derived preclinical tumor models suitable for rationally testing combinatorial ICB in the context of autologous tumor-reactive T cells. This platform can be further developed for testing additional targeted therapies relevant to OVC