Prevalence and gene frequencies of phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) taste sensitivity, ABO and Rhesus factor (Rh) blood groups, and haemoglobin variants among a Nigerian population

Background: Blood groups and phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) are the most studied genetic traits among human populations around the world. In most of these studies, PTC taste sensitivity was described as a bimodal autosomal trait inherited in a simple Mendelian recessive pattern.ABO blood group is the most studied blood groups followed by Rhesus factors (Rh) and haemoglobin variants. Information from the study of these traits is useful to biologists, geneticists, anthropologists and clinicians. No information on the prevalence and gene frequencies of thesetraits among a population from Nigeria. Aim: This study presents information on the prevalence and gene frequencies of PTC taste sensitivity, ABO blood group and Rhesus factor, and Haemoglobin variants from male and female Nigeriansexamined.Subjects and methods: A total of 232 (51.33%) male and 220 (48.67%) female Nigerians participated in this study. Filter paper impregnated with 81.25 mg/L of saturated solution of PTC wasused to determine PTC tasters, while blood group phenotypes, Rhesus factor and haemoglobintypes were determined by classical method. Hardy–Weinberg method was used to determine allelic frequencies and graphpad 5 computer software was used for the data processing.Results: The percentage frequency for non tasters of PTC was 29.42% with allele frequency t= 0.5424. There were more male (33.62%) non tasters than female (25.0%), but more female (75.0%) tasters than male (66.38%). This observation was statistically significant (p= 0.0444).Our findings support the bimodal inheritance of PTC taste sensitivity among Nigerians. Overall trend of ABO blood group was O > B >A > AB. This same trend was observed for females but differed for males (O> B = A> AB). O blood group was the highest while AB group was the least among studied Nigerians in both genders. The distribution pattern did not differ significantly (p= 0.1406) from those expected under Hardy–Weinberg Law. 93.14% of the studied population was Rh+ (DD and Dd) and there were more Rh+ males than females but more Rh females than males. The proportions and distributions of Rh factor amongstudied population did not show statistical significance (X2= 0.6047, df = 1, P = 0.4624). The overall allele frequency of the blood group as computed according to Hardy–Weinberg Law is r = 0.8201, q= 0.0977 and p= 0.0822. Similar trend in allele frequency was observed for both genders. The allele frequency for Rh+ (D) is 0.7381 and Rh (d)= 0.2619. This trend is also similar in both sexes. Among the six haemoglobin variants common to Nigerians CC was not detected in our study. The other five were observed in the order AA (76.55%)> AS (20.35%)> AC (1.99%) > SS (0.66%) >SC (0.44%). The overall allele frequency was A =0.8772, S =0.1106, C = 0.0122.Conclusion: The findings from this study provide information on the studied traits. It will provide background information for further studies and will be useful to clinicians, geneticists and anthropologists with respect to blood transfusion, marriage counseling and population studies

Pooled analysis of WHO Surgical Safety Checklist use and mortality after emergency laparotomy

Background The World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist has fostered safe practice for 10 years, yet its place in emergency surgery has not been assessed on a global scale. The aim of this study was to evaluate reported checklist use in emergency settings and examine the relationship with perioperative mortality in patients who had emergency laparotomy. Methods In two multinational cohort studies, adults undergoing emergency laparotomy were compared with those having elective gastrointestinal surgery. Relationships between reported checklist use and mortality were determined using multivariable logistic regression and bootstrapped simulation. Results Of 12 296 patients included from 76 countries, 4843 underwent emergency laparotomy. After adjusting for patient and disease factors, checklist use before emergency laparotomy was more common in countries with a high Human Development Index (HDI) (2455 of 2741, 89.6 per cent) compared with that in countries with a middle (753 of 1242, 60.6 per cent; odds ratio (OR) 0.17, 95 per cent c.i. 0.14 to 0.21, P <0001) or low (363 of 860, 422 per cent; OR 008, 007 to 010, P <0.001) HDI. Checklist use was less common in elective surgery than for emergency laparotomy in high-HDI countries (risk difference -94 (95 per cent c.i. -11.9 to -6.9) per cent; P <0001), but the relationship was reversed in low-HDI countries (+121 (+7.0 to +173) per cent; P <0001). In multivariable models, checklist use was associated with a lower 30-day perioperative mortality (OR 0.60, 0.50 to 073; P <0.001). The greatest absolute benefit was seen for emergency surgery in low- and middle-HDI countries. Conclusion Checklist use in emergency laparotomy was associated with a significantly lower perioperative mortality rate. Checklist use in low-HDI countries was half that in high-HDI countries.Peer reviewe

Genetic diversity in Nigerian brinjal eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) as revealed by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers

The taxonomy of Solanum melongena L., also known as brinjal eggplant, has remained difficult because previous studies to establish genetic relationships among taxa are mainly based on morphological features, which are insufficient to establish genetic affinities. In the present investigation, five highly polymorphic random amplified polymorphic DNA primers were used to describe the genetic similarity and diversity among its accessions in Nigeria. The results show a high level of polymorphism based on the banding patterns among the samples. This indicated a wide and diverse genetic base. Four distinct clusters were equally noticeable at a coefficient of 0.80 from the dendrogram generated. Generally, the grouping pattern clearly indicates that irrespective of variations in fruit traits among samples, they were still grouped together in different clusters with a high similarity coefficient value. This probably showed some genetic relatedness/closeness among the samples concerned. The study also revealed that there is no association between RAPD pattern and the geographic origin of accessions. These agreed with previously published data on the characterization of eggplant. The study disclosed that molecular methods coupled with morphological analyses could make proper classification of S. melongena and other Solanum species in Nigeria possible to achieve.Keywords: Eggplant, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), Data, polymorphism, taxonomyAfrican Journal of Biotechnology, Vol 13(21) 2119-212

SYNTHESIS, ANTIBACTERIAL AND TOXICOLOGY STUDY OF MN(II), CO(II) AND NI(II) METAL COMPLEXES OF SULFADOXINE MIXED WITH PYRIMETHAMINE

ABSTRACT Three mixed ligand metal complexes of Sulphadoxine and Pyrimethamine were prepared by using Mn(II), Ni(II) and Co(II) metal chloride hexahydrate and characterized by elemental analysis, molar conductivity, magnetic susceptibility measurement, AAS, IR and UV-Vis. spectroscopy. Some physical parameters were obtained using molar conductance measurement and melting point determination. Based on the analytical and spectroscopic data, the complexes were proposed to have the formulae: [ML 1 L 2 ](Cl) 2 (where M = Mn(II), Ni(II) and Co(II); L 1 = sulphadoxine, L 2 = pyrimethamine). The spectroscopic data proposed that L 1 and L 2 coordinated through N of NH 2 groups in L 1 and through N atom of NH group in L 2 . Thus, pyramethamine was proposed to be a tridentate ligand, while sulphadoxine was proposed to be a monodentate ligand. Micro-analysis further supported the proposed structure for the complexes. The antibacterial activity of the metal complexes were compared with their ligands by screening them against isolates of some strains of g(-) Escherichia coli, g(+) Proteus sp., g(+) Pseudomonas aureginosa and Salmonella typhi by using diffusion method. The results obtained showed the metal complexes to be more potent antibacterial than the parent drugs against the four species used. Toxicology tests against some tissues of albino rat (Rattus novergicuss) revealed toxicity of the complexes in the kidney as compared to the parent drugs. However, ALP values for metal complexes were found to be non-significantly different from the ALP values obtained for livers and the sera. This indicates that the metal complexes are not excessively toxic

Preliminary evaluation of some aspects of the ecology (growth pattern, condition factor and reproductive biology) of African pike, Hepsetus odoe (Bloch 1794), in Lake Eleiyele, Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract A preliminary investigation of length-weight relationship, condition factor and reproductive ecology of African pike fish, Hepsetus odoe, was conducted between June to August 2010 in Lake Eleiyele. A total of 90 samples of the fish species were caught by fishermen using gill nets. The results obtained showed that fish species had isometric growth pattern (contrary to negative allometry expected) with the growth exponent, b value of 2.64, that is not statistically different from 3 and with high statistical power of 0.866 when tested. The mean condition factor, K, was found to be 2.6, indicating that the fish species were in good condition in the study area. For reproductive biology, mean fecundity and gonadosomatic index were found to be 1349 eggs and 3.53% respectively. This study was necessary to fill the knowledge gap and provide information for management and conservation of the investigated species in the lake system. This study recommended that further research needs to be conducted because the sampling was carried out in the rainy season period and within a quarter of a year