The High Dependency Unit in the Management of Critically Ill Obstetric Patients in Low Resource Countries

The care of the obstetric population requiring critical care at the intensive care unit is associated with challenges that have made the establishment of obstetric high dependency units (HDU) a priority in the developed, unlike low resource countries.The objective was to evaluate the need to establish obstetric HDUs in low-resource countries.The study was a retrospective descriptive study of obstetric patients admitted in the intensive care unit of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital from 1st January 2010 to30th June 2013. Those that were suitable for management at HDUs were compared with those who needed ICU care. The statistical analysis was with SPSS version 20 with p-values, x2, and odds ratio; p-value <0.05 was considered significant.All the 52 patients were postpartum; 16(30.8%) were suitable for HDU care. Of the HDU eligible patients, 11(68.8%) were of low social class, 12(75%) were booked, 11(68.8%) had no further complication at ICU and mortality was 1(6.25%). Compared to those who needed ICU care, there were no statistical significance in maternal age, parity, duration of ICU admission and total cost of ICU care. There were more cases with statistical significance of organ involvement (p<0.001), severity of Glasgow coma score at admission (p<0.001), further complications at ICU (p<0.001) and maternal mortality (p<0.001) among those needing ICU care compared tothose needing HDU care.In conclusion, the establishment of the HDU will reduce cost and the burden on the few ICUs in low-resource countries without increasing maternal mortality

IN-VITRO ANTIBACTERIAL, PHYTOCHEMICAL, ANTIMYCOBACTERIAL ACTIVITIES AND GC-MS ANALYSES OF Bidens pilosa LEAF EXTRACT.

The phytochemical constituents, antimicrobial activity, anti-mycobacterial activity and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) analysis of the West African ecotype of Bidens pilosa was investigated for possible medicinal properties. The antimicrobial activity of the hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate and methanol extracts from the leaf of Bidens pilosa was evaluated using agar dilution method. The qualitative and quantitative phytochemical screening was carried out according to standard procedures. Partitioned fractions of the methanolic extract was subjected to anti-mycobacterial bioassay. Different fractions of the leaf were subjected to GCMS to ascertain the compounds present. The antimicrobial analysis revealed the methanolic fraction as having the highest number of activity against test organisms such as: Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans and Rhizopus sp. between 10 - 40 mm. The minimum inhibitory concentration showed the methanolic fraction to be active against Candida albicans and Rhizopus sp. at the concentration of 6.25 g/ml and 3.25 g/ml respectively. The phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, cardiac glycosides and terpenoids in all the solvents. Tannin was present in all the solvent fractions except hexane fraction. Saponin was not found in any of the solvents. The hexane-methanol interface of the partitioned solvents was sensitive to the anti-mycobacterial activity while other solvents showed resistance. The GC-MS and the chromatogram gave insight into the volatile components of the leaf extract. The findings reveals Bidens pilosa as a medicinal plant with potentials for the treatment of tuberculosis. • Copyright of Journal of Microbiology, Biotechnology & Food Sciences is the property of Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Faculty of Biotechnology & Food Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract

Modeling and Synthesis of Ag and Ag/Ni Allied Bimetallic Nanoparticles by Green Method: Optical and Biological Properties

In the quest for environmental remediation which involves eco-friendly synthetic routes, we herein report synthesis and modeling of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) and silver/nickel allied bimetallic nanoparticles (Ag/Ni NPs) using plant-extract reductionmethod. Secondary metabolites in the leaf extract of Canna indica acted as reducing agent. Electronic transitions resulted in emergence of surface plasmon resonance in the regions of 416 nm (Ag NPs) and 421nm (Ag/Ni NPs) during optical measurements. Further characterizations were done using TEM and EDX. Antimicrobial activity of the nanoparticles against clinical isolates was highly significant a

COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT OF DIFFERENT DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES IN THE IDENTIFICATION OF MYCOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS IN SUSPECTED CASES OF TUBERCULOSIS

Statement of the Problem: Tuberculosis remains a serious public-health threat in developing countries though it has been eradicated in some advanced countries. This disease constitutes a significant threat to global health, being the second highest cause of morbidity and mortality resulting from infectious agents. Prompt diagnosis of active TB facilitates timely therapeutic intervention and minimizes community transmission. Aim: This study aimed at determining a ‘Point of Care’ diagnostic tool for pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) by comparing the efficiency of four different PTB diagnostic tools for different age groups. Methodology: Zeihl Nelson (ZN) staining, culture, Gene xpert (GX) and Lipoarabinomanan (LAM) assay were employed in this study The culture method was used for confirmation. Sputum and urine samples were collected from each of 100 patients symptomatically diagnosed of PTB. Findings: Fifty-seven percent of the population was male while 43% were female. Mycobacterium tuberculosis was isolated from 9 (9%) of 100 patients. Similarly, GX detected Mycobacterium tuberculosis in 9 (9%) of the patients while the rate of detection using LAM was 10% and with ZN it was 7%. Gene xpert produced no true or false positive and negative result, LAM had one false positive result and ZN had two false negative results. The maximum time frame to generate result was 25 minutes for LAM, two hours for Gene xpert, eight weeks for culture and two days for ZN. Two positive isolates were observed at the same frequency for age group 21-30 and 31- 40 while age groups 1-10, 10-20, 41-50, 50-60 and above has 1 positive result each. Gene xpert had 98.11% sensitivity while LAM had 96.23% and ZN had 86.79%. The choice of ‘Point of Care’ diagnostic tool is of great concern to clinicians and the general public. Conclusion & Significance: This study identified LAM assay as suitable ‘Point of Care’ diagnostic and an add-on tool for PTB diagnosis because of its relatively high sensitivity and short maximum time frame to generate result compare to other three diagnostic techniques.     &nbsp

Phytochemical Screening and Antimicrobial Studies of Stem and Root Extracts of Crateva adansonii

Aim: This study was designed to explore the phytochemical and antimicrobial screening of the stem and root extracts of Crateva adansonii. Place and Duration of Study: Sample: Iyesi village, Ota, Ogun State, and analysis carried out at Department of Chemistry and Department of Biological Sciences, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State and for duration of three months (November 2016 to February 2017). Methodology: Standard universal procedures were employed for both phytochemical and antimicrobial analysis. Results: The result obtained from the stem and root extracts of Crateva adansonii indicated the presence of flavonoids, terpenoids, alkaloids, and cardiac glycosides. Root extract was found to be richer in source of phytochemicals when compared to the stem extract. However, the highest antibacterial activity was observed against selected bacteria by both stem and root extracts. The potency of the root extract was observed to be higher than the stem extract against Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Aspergillus niger and Serratia spp. Conclusion: The preliminary studies on the stem and the root of Crateva adansonii extracts revealed their antimicrobial potential which could be further investigated for global utilization in pharmaceutical treatment, natural therapies, food preservation and cosmetic applications

EFFECT OF FEED TYPE ON GROWTH, SPERMATOZOA PRODUCTION AND GONADO-SOMATIC INDEX IN GIANT AFRICAN LAND SNAIL (Archachatina marginata)

A study was conducted on the effect of feed type on growth, spermatozoa production and gonado-somatic index in giant African land snail (Archachatina marginata). Thirty snails (30) of weight range of 150 - 180g were used for this study. Ten snails (10) were assigned to each of the three feed types which included: Poultry layers mash (PLM), dried Pawpaw leaves (PL) and mixture of both Pawpaw leaves and Poultry layers mash (PLM+PL). Weight gain was monitored weekly. At the end of seven weeks, snails were dissected; visceral weight and ovo-testis were measured. Five (5) snails each per treatment were used for both histology and spermatozoa concentration estimation. Ovo-testis was processed for histology while little hermaphrodite duct was used for spermatozoa concentration. Results showed that feed type had significant (P<0.001) effect on sperm concentration. Snails fed on PL had higher sperm concentration, followed by those fed on PL+PLM while the least was found in PLM group. For live weight gain, those fed with PLM had the highest weight followed by those fed with PL+PLM while PL had least weight gain.  Results for gonado-somatic index showed that PL had the highest means while those fed on PLM and PL+PLM were not significantly different from each other. It was also found that snails fed with PL had high spermatogenic activity in the acini of snail ovo-testis while those fed with PLM+PL had medium activity and those fed with PLM had the least activity. The findings from this study suggest that pawpaw leaves have agents which promote spermatogenesis and can therefore be used as diet for breeding snails to enhance spermatogenesis.Â

Antimicrobial activity and time kill kinetics of Nigerian Honeys on multi-resistant Enteric Bacilli

Antimicrobial activities of some Nigeria honeys were tested on multi-antibiotic resistant enteric bacilli strains (MAREBS) that are becoming dreadful among the populace. Enteric bacilli isolated from fecal samples randomly collected from community populace were biotyped and profiled for antibiotic susceptibility by micro-broth dilution assay. Honey physico-chemical and phyto-chemical metabolites were analysed and tested for antimicrobial susceptibility to MAREBS while its time kill kinetics was evaluated. Significant rate of 31.3% Escherichia coli, Klebsiella oxytoca, (19.5%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (15.3%) were found with only 62.6% showed significant resistance to cefotaxime (30μg) and 61.6% to ampicillin (10μg). more than 40% showed significant resistance to Cotrimoxazole, ciprofloxacin and tetracycline with MIC >16 μg/ml (p<0.05). Physico-chemical parameters vary significantly with high phenol and alkaloids contents. Few honey samples showed antimicrobial activity of more than 37% inhibition rate while 8.1% MAREBS were further inhibited at lower MIC 31.25mg/mL, 10.8% at MIC 125mg/mL and 8.1% MIC 250mg/mL, while cidal rate of 8.1% was recorded. Significant reduction in average count of different MAREBS was recorded at honey dilutions of 1:2 and 1:4 to less than 2.10Log10CFU/mL. Amidst global burden of enteric infection with persistence antibiotic resistance, Nigerian honeys showed a reliable bacteriostatic and cidal activity as prospective novel alternative therapy for MAREBS infections

A Comparative Study of Microbial and Proximate Composition of Hand Shelled and Machine Shelled Melon Seeds (Colocynthis citrullus L.) as Sold in an Abeokuta Market

Melon (Colocynthis citrullus L.) is a widely cultivated and consumed oil-seed in West Africa. Its seeds deteriorate quickly in storage due to microbial attack introduced during the shelling stage of processing. Aim: This study investigated and compared the microbial and proximate composition of Hand shelled and machined melon seed as sold in the market in Abeokuta, Nigeria. Study Design: The total bacterial, total fungal, Staphylococcal and coliform counts of the machine shelled and hand shelled melon seeds samples were determined.&nbsp; Methodology: The mould count was estimated as SFU/g and isolates (Aspergillus) were identified through spore formation, production of fruiting bodies, morphological and molecular characteristics.&nbsp; The proximate and chemical compositions-Free Fatty Acid (FFA) and Peroxide Value (PV)-were determined by standard analytical methods. Data were analysed using analysis of variance. Results: There is no significant (p&lt;0.05) difference in the proximate composition of both the hand shelled and machine shelled melon seed save the pH. The proximate compositions of hand shelled and machine shelled melon samples were within the recommended limits for Curcubitaceae, both FFA (1.88±0.02%, 1.88±0.01%) and PV(2.64±0.01 meq/kg, 2.65±0.02 meq/kg) values respectively were within the Codex Alimentarius range for oily seeds. The pH value of Hand shelled (5.57±0.09) is significantly higher than Machine shelled (6.10±0.06). The fungal count of machine shelled (92.33x108 SFU/g) was significantly higher than hand shelled (38.00x108 SFU/g). Staphylococcal count of hand shelled (59.00x108 CFU/g) was significantly higher than machine shelled (42.00x108 CFU/g). However, there is no significant difference in total bacterial and coliform counts of both melon samples. The fungal species found in hand shelled and machine shelled melon samples were mainly genus Aspergillus with&nbsp; A. niger with&nbsp; percentage of occurrence (30%, 22%) and A. flavus (8%, 11%) respectively. Bacillus subtilis (14%, 40%) and Staphylococcus aureus (43%, 20%) were also found in hand shelled and machine shelled melon. These organisms are of spoilage and food poisoning importance. Conclusion: The study concluded machine shelled melon harbours more spoilage microorganisms and may spoil faster than hand shelled melon seed