Diclofenac predisposes benign prostate hyperplasia in fat feed albino rats

Background: An attempt to establish the possible cause(s) of benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) in fat feed albino rats treated with diclofenac (DCF)-potassium (K) was performed to ascertain its likely translational relationship in humans.Methods: Thirty-five male wistar albino rats of 24 weeks old were divided into five groups of 7 animals each were used. Group 1; the normal control (NC) was injected subcutaneously with the vehicle (olive oil) only and served normal diet. Group 2; standard group treated with testosterone propionate in olive oil (3 mg/kg b. wt.). Groups 3, 4, and 5 were fed with the standard feed mixed with animal fat (sourced from roasted meat/condiments in aluminium foils) in 20, 40 and 80% portions, then treated with DCF-K in solution as low (2 mg/kg b. wt.), mid (4 mg/kg b. wt.), and high (6 mg/kg b. wt.) doses, respectively. The blood samples collected were analysed for prostate specific antigen (PSA), hematological parameters, kidney and liver function.Results: Group 3 showed the highest PSA elevation (p<0.05) when compared to the control and the untreated group. There was a significant elevation (p<0.05) in WBC levels compared to all other groups. PCV, MCV, NEUT, MONO and EOSIN levels increased significantly (p<0.05) across all groups. Significant (p<0.05) increase was observed in liver and kidney parameters compared to the untreated groups. Significant (p<0.05) elevation in total cholesterol and LDL-C levels across the groups was observed. The DCF-K treated groups showed increase in several parameters compared to the untreated groups.Conclusions: It was obvious that fatty diet and use of DCF-K contributed to the observed hepatotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, hence predisposed tissue damage and inflammation which conjunctly elevated PSA

Physicochemical parameters of the Lekki Lagoon in relation to abundance of Wenyonia sp Woodland, 1923 (Cestoda: Caryophyllidae) in Synodontis clarias (Linnaeus, 1758)

Parasitic infection of fish is seen worldwide, and they are of particular interest in the tropics. Reports indicate that parasite infections in fishes lead to a disruption in aquaculture production. This study was undertaken to determine the association between physicochemical parameters and the abundance of Wenyonia sp Woodland, 1923 in Synodontis clarias collected from Lekki Lagoon, Lagos, Nigeria. A total of 180 Synodontis clarias were investigated between April 2019 and March 2020. The physicochemical parameters such as temperature, pH, turbidity, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, and total dissolved solids of the surface water at the Lekki Lagoon were assessed in situ using the Horiba U50 multi-water sampler at three (3) Points, 500 metres apart. There was a positive correlation between parasite abundance and all the physicochemical parameters investigated. Water temperature showed a positive correlation with pH and turbidity and a negative correlation with electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, and total dissolved solids. The results showed that the statistical T-value (-2.72) of the parasite abundance between the male and the female fish was lower than the critical T-value (1.98), indicating no significant difference in the levels of infections between the male and female fish samples. In conjunction with future data, the data produced in this study can be used in monitoring the aquatic habitat for informed remediation of the lagoon to aid the preservation of the ecological services rendered by the aquatic ecosystem

Posttraumatic stress disorder among internally displaced victims of Boko Haram terrorism in north-eastern Nigeria

Background: A large number of youth are often directly involved in armed-conflict, and therefore are at greater risk of developing a wide range of mental disorders including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However little is known about the prevalence of PTSD among youth who constitute a large work force.Objective: This study was carried out to assess the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder among Internally Displaced youth exposed to Boko Haram terrorism in North-Eastern Nigeria. It also assessed the socio-demographic factors associated with PTSD in this population.Method: A cross-sectional study that employed a consecutive sampling technique to select eligible subjects undergoing a Citizenship and leadership training at Citizenship and Leadership training institute Jos, Plateau State. The posttraumatic stress disorder module of Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview was used to assess for current symptoms of PTSD.Results: The results show that more than two-third of the respondents were unemployed youth with secondary level of education and had low or no stable income. More than 63% of the respondents were diagnosed with PTSD. Educational status (p=0.002), marital status (p=0.001) and income before displacement (p=0.010) were the significant factors associated with PTSD.Conclusions: The results point to the importance of screening and treatment for traumatic armed conflict victims, with particular attention to youth who had low education and low income levels as well as being never married or widowed.Keywords: PTSD, sociodemographic factors, Bokoharam terrorism, North Eastern Nigeri

Effect of Processing on Nutritional Composition of African Locust Bean (Parkia biglobosa) and Mesquite Bean (Prosopis africana) Seeds

The African locust bean (Parkia biglobosa) and mesquite bean (Prosopis africana) are both perennial tree legumes which belong to the family Leguminoseae. A comparative study was conducted on them to determine the effect of fermenting on the nutritional composition of their seeds. For this purpose, proximate, mineral and amino acid compositions were determined using standard analytical techniques. The result showed that fermented sample of Parkia biglobosa seeds had the highest content of crude protein (25.16%) and crude fat (12.27%) while the raw sample of Prosopis africana had the highest values of crude fibre (11.35%). Potassium was the most abundant mineral in all the samples with fermented P. biglobosa recording the highest value of 51.00 mg/100g. Generally, raw and fermented samples of P. biglobosa and P. africana seed flours were found to be a good source of essential minerals, and harmful heavy metals such as lead and cadmium were below the detection limit of atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The amino acid profile revealed that fermenting enhanced total amino acid (TAA), total essential amino acid (TEAA), essential alphatic amino acid (EAAA), essential aromatic amino acid (EArAA) and total sulphur amino acids (TSAA). The limiting amino acids (LAA) for raw and fermented samples of P. biglobosa were Met + Cys (TSAA) and Thr, respectively while that of P. africana was TSAA for the raw and fermented samples. Sufficient proportions of the essential amino acids were retained after fermenting of Parkia biglobosa and Prosopis africana seeds to meet FAO dietary requirement

HIV Patients’ Satisfaction with Services Provided at Tertiary Health Institutions in Ogun East Senatorial District, Ogun State, Nigeria: Public-private Comparison

Background: Patient satisfaction is defined as the extent to which patients feel that their needs and expectations are being met by the services provided. A good number of HIV patients often drop out of treatment programs because they are not satisfied with some aspects of the services provided. This study assessed and compared HIV patients’ satisfaction with health services provided at public and privately owned tertiary health institutions in Ogun State, Nigeria.Methods: This is a facility-based 2-center (a government-funded and a privately funded), cross-sectional comparative study carried out among HIV-positive patients who received care at these two tertiary hospitals. HIV patients’ satisfaction was assessed using PSQ III. Two hundred patients were recruited from each institution. A comparison of mean satisfaction scores was done using the student’s t-test. Logistic regression analysis was used to predict the factors associated with patients’ satisfaction.Results: The mean ages of study participants were 42.25±10.81 and 44.04±9.97 for public and private health facilities, respectively (t=-1.717 P=0.087). The mean satisfaction scores of the private health facility (3.48+0.42) were higher compared to those of the public health facility (3.29±0.54) (t=-3.912, P=0.000). Also, more patients in the private health facility were satisfied with the care received compared to the public health facility in six domains out of the seven domains studied.Conclusion: Patients’ satisfaction evaluation should be done periodically in health facilities to continually identify the gaps in service delivery and monitor progress towards the ending of HIV/ AIDS epidemics which is one of the targets of the sustainable development goals

Discovery and Fine-Mapping of Adiposity Loci Using High Density Imputation of Genome-Wide Association Studies in Individuals of African Ancestry: African Ancestry Anthropometry Genetics Consortium

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified \u3e 300 loci associated with measures of adiposity including body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (adjusted for BMI, WHRadjBMI), but few have been identified through screening of the African ancestry genomes. We performed large scale meta-analyses and replications in up to 52,895 individuals for BMI and up to 23,095 individuals for WHRadjBMI from the African Ancestry Anthropometry Genetics Consortium (AAAGC) using 1000 Genomes phase 1 imputed GWAS to improve coverage of both common and low frequency variants in the low linkage disequilibrium African ancestry genomes. In the sex-combined analyses, we identified one novel locus (TCF7L2/HABP2) for WHRadjBMI and eight previously established loci at P \u3c 5×10−8: seven for BMI, and one for WHRadjBMI in African ancestry individuals. An additional novel locus (SPRYD7/DLEU2) was identified for WHRadjBMI when combined with European GWAS. In the sex-stratified analyses, we identified three novel loci for BMI (INTS10/LPL and MLC1 in men, IRX4/IRX2 in women) and four for WHRadjBMI (SSX2IP, CASC8, PDE3B and ZDHHC1/HSD11B2 in women) in individuals of African ancestry or both African and European ancestry. For four of the novel variants, the minor allele frequency was low (\u3c5%). In the trans-ethnic fine mapping of 47 BMI loci and 27 WHRadjBMI loci that were locus-wide significant (P \u3c 0.05 adjusted for effective number of variants per locus) from the African ancestry sex-combined and sex-stratified analyses, 26 BMI loci and 17 WHRadjBMI loci contained ≤ 20 variants in the credible sets that jointly account for 99% posterior probability of driving the associations. The lead variants in 13 of these loci had a high probability of being causal. As compared to our previous HapMap imputed GWAS for BMI and WHRadjBMI including up to 71,412 and 27,350 African ancestry individuals, respectively, our results suggest that 1000 Genomes imputation showed modest improvement in identifying GWAS loci including low frequency variants. Trans-ethnic meta-analyses further improved fine mapping of putative causal variants in loci shared between the African and European ancestry populations

Association between erythrocyte Na+K+-ATPase activity and some blood lipids in type 1 diabetic patients from Lagos, Nigeria

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Altered levels of erythrocyte Na⁺K⁺-ATPase, atherogenic and anti-atherogenic lipid metabolites have been implicated in diabetic complications but their pattern of interactions remains poorly understood.</p> <p>This study evaluated this relationship in Nigerian patients with Type 1 diabetes mellitus.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 34 consented Type 1 diabetic patients and age -matched 27 non-diabetic controls were enrolled. Fasting plasma levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL-cholesterol were determined spectrophotometrically and LDL-cholesterol estimated using Friedewald formula. Total protein content and Na+K+-ATPase activity were also determined spectrophotometrically from ghost erythrocyte membrane prepared by osmotic lysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Results indicate significant (P < 0.05) reduction in Na⁺K⁺-ATPase activity in the Type 1 diabetic patients (0.38 ± 0.08 vs. 0.59 ± 0.07 uM Pi/mgprotein/h) compared to the control but with greater reduction in the diabetic subgroup with poor glycemic control (n = 20) and in whom cases of hypercholesterolemia (8.8%), hypertriglyceridemia (2.9%) and elevated LDL-cholesterol (5.9% each) were found. Correlation analyses further revealed significant (P < 0.05) inverse correlations [r = -(0.708-0.797] between all the atherogenic lipid metabolites measured and Na⁺K⁺-ATPase in this subgroup contrary to group with good glycemic control or non-diabetic subjects in which significant (P < 0.05) Na⁺K⁺-ATPase and HDL-C association were found (r = 0.427 - 0.489). The Na⁺K⁺-ATPase from the diabetic patients also exhibited increased sensitivity to digoxin and alterations in kinetic constants Vmax and Km determined by glycemic status of the patients.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>It can be concluded that poor glycemic control evokes greater reduction in erythrocyte Na⁺K⁺-ATPase activity and promote enzyme-blood atherogenic lipid relationships in Type 1 diabetic Nigerian patients.</p