Malignant diseases in Jos

Background: Cancer non-communicable disease was believed to be rare in the tropics. With gradual adoption of western life style, malignant tumours have continued to be a significant cause of morbidity in our enviroment. The past decade has witnessed increased rate of cancers in various centers in Nigeria. This is as a result of campaign mounted by Nigeria cancer society and more health centers have established oncology units there by facilitating better management for these patients. Methods: Records of all cancers in the department of Pathology were retrospectively examined over a period of 15 years. The information was broken into two 1985-1994 and 1995-2002.This period correspond with the time which cancer society and the Teaching Hospital started free cancer screening programmes. Results: There was over 53% increase in the proportion of cancers between 1995-2002. The commonest cancers were that of cervix, Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and breast in that order, between 1985-1994. In 1995-2002 the commonest cancers were breast, cervix, prostate, and Non- Hodgkin's lymphoma in that order. Conclusion: There will be relative increase of cancer in our environment as communicable diseases are gradually being treated and eradicated. Establishment of more oncology units in our tertiary health centers will certainly prolong the life of the patients and improve their quality of life. Keywords: Cancer, epidemiological, follow up, oncology centre Annals of African Medicine Vol.2(2) 2003: 49-5

The effect of reuse of unhairing-liming residual floats through regeneration on the microorganism number

Even though microorganism load was mostly ignored in the unhairing-liming process due to extremely high pH values, it is a question to answer when unhairing-liming residual floats are reused throughregeneration. The objective of this paper was to determine the number of total aerobic mesophilic bacteria and of proteolytic, lypolytic, aerobic spore-forming bacteria, and of total aerobic fungi (mouldand yeast), proteolytic and lypolytic fungi in each unhairing-liming residual float reused ten times through regeneration. Enumeration of bacteria and fungi was done in three different concentrations ofNaCl [0, 5, and 10% (w/v)]. The experiments were carried out with and without antimicrobial agents (experimental and control). In this study, generally, the values obtained from experimental sampleswere detected to be lower than control samples. For experimental samples, when all the NaCl concentrations were taken into account, the minimum and maximum numbers of total aerobic mesophilic bacteria and of proteolytic, lypolytic, aerobic spore-forming bacteria were found as follows: 2.0x101 – 3.9x102 cfu.mL-1, 1.0x101 – 4.1x102 cfu.mL-1, 2.0x101 – 5.4x102 cfu.mL-1 and 1.0x101 – 2.0x102cfu.mL-1, respectively. In these samples, it was found out that the minimum and maximum numbers of total aerobic fungi and of proteolytic and lypolytic fungi were 3.0x101 – 2.8x103 cfu.mL-1, 1.0x101 –1.2x103 cfu.mL-1, and 5.0x101 – 3.5x103 cfu.mL-1, respectively. In the study, there is a significant finding that the numbers of fungi were higher than those of bacteria. In addition, when bactericide andfungicide were added into the soaking processes and when unhairing-liming residual floats were reused ten times via regeneration, it was revealed that the numbers of bacteria and fungi can be controlled

Asymmetric impact of Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation on El Nino and La Nina characteristics

The long-lasting cold surface conditions of North Atlantic, i.e., the negative phase of Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), can intensify the El Nino-Southern Oscillation through the enhanced air-sea coupling under the increased central-to-eastern tropical Pacific mean sea surface temperature. However, the impact of warmer mean sea surface temperature (SST) is more efficient in the intensifying El Nino than La Nina, because of the nature of the exponential growth of atmospheric convection to SST change. Moreover, the farther eastward shift of the atmospheric convection during the negative AMO leads to the stronger El Nino due to the longer delayed negative feedback by oceanic waves. Therefore, the AMO mainly influences the El Nino intensity rather than La Nina intensity.△1122Ysciescopu

Levels of Major and Minor Elements in Some Commercial Fruit Juices Available in Serbia

Purpose: To evaluate the macro- and micro-nutrient elements of some commercially available fruit juices in Serbia.Methods: Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) technique was employed for determination of the major and minor elements in samples of two different types of fruit juices - clear and cloudy.Results: Among macro-nutrient elements, potassium (K) had the highest content of 230.17 μg/g in samples of multivitamine cloudy juice. The content of K was higher in cloudy fruit juices than in clear fruit juices. The content of iron, which is among the group of trace elements, ranged from 2.237 to 5.911 μg/g in clear juices and 3.55 to 10.05 μg/g in cloudy fruit juices. Other trace elements followed the descending order copper > zinc > nickel in terms of their content. The presence of aluminum and cadmium in the tested samples of fruit juices can be toxic since they have no nutritional value, and hence may be treated as potential contaminants in these beverages.Conclusion: All the tested juices had some nutritional value for human health and the juices could be use as an additional source of these elements. The content of aluminium and cadmium are below levels permitted by national regulations.Keywords: Elements, Fruit juice, Inductively-coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry

Does prophylactic sotalol and magnesium decrease the incidence of atrial fibrillation following coronary artery bypass surgery: a propensity-matched analysis

BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation can occur in up to 40% of patients undergoing coronary surgery. METHODS: We retrospectively analysed 103 consecutive coronary surgery patients under the care of one surgeon between April 2003 and September 2003. These patients received 40 mg of sotalol orally twice daily from the first post-operative day for 6 weeks and 2 g of magnesium intravenously immediately post surgery and on the first post-operative day. We developed a propensity score for the probability of receiving sotalol and magnesium after coronary surgery. 89 patients from the sotalol and magnesium group were successfully matched with 89 unique coronary surgery patients who did not receive either sotalol or magnesium with an identical propensity score. RESULTS: Preoperative characteristics were well matched between groups. There was no significant difference with respect to in-hospital mortality between groups (sotalol and magnesium 1.1% versus control 4.5%; p = 0.17). The incidence of atrial fibrillation in the sotalol and magnesium group was 13.5% compared to 27.0% in the controls (p = 0.025). CONCLUSION: The combination of sotalol and magnesium can significantly reduce the incidence of post-operative atrial fibrillation following coronary surgery

Relation Between Helicobacter Pylori, Inflammatory (neutrophil) Activity, Chronic Gastritis, Gastric Atrophy And Intestinal Metaplasia

Background: To determine the relation of Helicobacter pylori infection with chronic inflammation, atrophy, activity level and intestinal metaplasia. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional study of 100 consecutive patients with dyspepsia. These patients were fasted for 12 hours and gastroscopic biopsy specimens were obtained from their gastric mucosae. The specimens were histologically evaluated for H. pylori, inflammatory activity, chronic inflammation, gastric atrophy and intestinal metaplasia. Results: There were 50(50%) females and 50(50%) males. The average ages of women and men were 36.3±11.5 and 42.9±12.8 respectively. Helicobacter pylori was found in 79%. Neutrophil activity was observed in 83%. Inflammation was found in 95%, glandular atrophy in 38%, intestinal metaplasia in 28% of the cases. Incidental (early gastric) cancer was found in 3%, dysplasia in 2% and reactive gastropathy in 7% of the cases. A statistically significant relationship was found between Helicobacter pylori colonization intensity and the degrees of neutrophil activity, chronic inflammation and intestinal metaplasia. Conclusion: We concluded that Helicobacter pylori infection results in neutrophil activation and chronic gastritis, and that it has a role in the development of intestinal metaplasia. The greater the intensity of Helicobacter pylori infection, the greater the degrees of neutrophil activation, chronic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia. Keywords: Helicobacter pylori, Gastritis, atrophy, Intestinal metaplasia, Gastric cancer, Jos Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice Vol. 11 (3) 2008: pp. 270-27

A long noncoding RNA influences the choice of the X chromosome to be inactivated

X chromosome inactivation (XCI) is the process of silencing one of the X chromosomes in cells of the female mammal which ensures dosage compensation between the sexes. Although theoretically random in somatic tissues, the choice of which X chromosome is chosen to be inactivated can be biased in mice by genetic element(s) associated with the so-called X-controlling element (Xce). Although the Xce was first described and genetically localized nearly 40 y ago, its mode of action remains elusive. In the approach presented here, we identify a single long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) within the Xce locus, Lppnx, which may be the driving factor in the choice of which X chromosome will be inactivated in the developing female mouse embryo. Comparing weak and strong Xce alleles we show that Lppnx modulates the expression of Xist lncRNA, one of the key factors in XCI, by controlling the occupancy of pluripotency factors at Intron1 of Xist. This effect is counteracted by enhanced binding of Rex1 in DxPas34, another key element in XCI regulating the activity of Tsix lncRNA, the main antagonist of Xist, in the strong but not in the weak Xce allele. These results suggest that the different susceptibility for XCI observed in weak and strong Xce alleles results from differential transcription factor binding of Xist Intron 1 and DxPas34, and that Lppnx represents a decisive factor in explaining the action of the Xce

Primed Infusion with Delayed Equilibrium of Gd.DTPA for Enhanced Imaging of Small Pulmonary Metastases.

To use primed infusions of the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent Gd.DTPA (Magnevist), to achieve an equilibrium between blood and tissue (eqMRI). This may increase tumor Gd concentrations as a novel cancer imaging methodology for the enhancement of small tumor nodules within the low signal-to-noise background of the lung

Quantitative Coding and Complexity Theory of Compact Metric Spaces

Specifying a computational problem requires fixing encodings for input and output: encoding graphs as adjacency matrices, characters as integers, integers as bit strings, and vice versa. For such discrete data, the actual encoding is usually straightforward and/or complexity-theoretically inessential (up to polynomial time, say); but concerning continuous data, already real numbers naturally suggest various encodings with very different computational properties. With respect to qualitative computability, Kreitz and Weihrauch (1985) had identified ADMISSIBILITY as crucial property for 'reasonable' encodings over the Cantor space of infinite binary sequences, so-called representations [doi:10.1007/11780342_48]: For (precisely) these does the sometimes so-called MAIN THEOREM apply, characterizing continuity of functions in terms of continuous realizers. We rephrase qualitative admissibility as continuity of both the representation and its multivalued inverse, adopting from [doi:10.4115/jla.2013.5.7] a notion of sequential continuity for multifunctions. This suggests its quantitative refinement as criterion for representations suitable for complexity investigations. Higher-type complexity is captured by replacing Cantor's as ground space with Baire or any other (compact) ULTRAmetric space: a quantitative counterpart to equilogical spaces in computability [doi:10.1016/j.tcs.2003.11.012]

Tie-2 regulates the stemness and metastatic properties of prostate cancer cells.

Ample evidence supports that prostate tumor metastasis originates from a rare population of cancer cells, known as cancer stem cells (CSCs). Unfortunately, little is known about the identity of these cells, making it difficult to target the metastatic prostate tumor. Here, for the first time, we report the identification of a rare population of prostate cancer cells that express the Tie-2 protein. We found that this Tie-2High population exists mainly in prostate cancer cell lines that are capable of metastasizing to the bone. These cells not only express a higher level of CSC markers but also demonstrate enhanced resistance to the chemotherapeutic drug Cabazitaxel. In addition, knockdown of the expression of the Tie-2 ligand angiopoietin (Ang-1) led to suppression of CSC markers, suggesting that the Ang-1/Tie-2 signaling pathway functions as an autocrine loop for the maintenance of prostate CSCs. More importantly, we found that Tie-2High prostate cancer cells are more adhesive than the Tie-2Low population to both osteoblasts and endothelial cells. Moreover, only the Tie-2High, but not the Tie-2Low cells developed tumor metastasis in vivo when injected at a low number. Taken together, our data suggest that Tie-2 may play an important role during the development of prostate tumor metastasis.published_or_final_versio