Heavy Metals Contamination in Roadside Dust along Major Traffic Roads in Jos Metropolitan Area, Nigeria

Heavy metal concentration in roadside dusts are increasingly becoming of health concern.  Five major traffic roadside dust were determined for Cu, Pb, Ni, Zn, Fe, Cd, Mn and Cr contamination. Metal concentration in the dusts indicated Cu concentration ranged from    24.5 – 67.0 mg/kg, Pb 25.0 – 66 mg/kg, Ni 1.23 – 3.88 mg/kg, Zn 35.0 – 123 mg/kg, Fe 48.5 – 125 mg/kg, Cd 1.54 – 2.58 mg/kg, Mn 1.15 – 2.58 mg/kg and Cr 1.13 – 2.79 mg/kg. The accumulation of the heavy metals in the soil dust is greatly influenced by traffic volume and the metals exhibited a significant reduction in roadside dust with increasing distance from the road. Four methods of assessing pollution were used to assess the extent of pollution. All the four methods revealed that site ABW, YGW and GJR are pollution impacted as compared MMW and BRR sites. The result suggest mixed origin of pollution sources including human activities, vehicular emissions and lithogenic occurrences of the metals from road construction currently in some of the sites studied. The findings herein will serve to create awareness of vehicular heavy metal pollution  and therefore suggest a regular monitoring to ensure suitable management of the urban environment and reduction of traffic related contamination of soil, plants and water in Jos Nigeria. Keywords: Roadside Soil Dust; Heavy Metals Contamination; Enrichment Factor;    contamination Factor; Pollution Load Index; Geoaccumulation Index; Statistical Analysis

Uptake of Antenatal Care Among Pregnant Women in Plateau State Nigeria

Background-Antenatal care offers pregnant women promotive, preventive and curative services. Despite this, some pregnant women still donrsquot access ANC at all while others donrsquot have access to ANC by skilled health care professionals. This increases the risk of maternal morbidity and mortality. This study therefore aims to determine the predictors of ANC attendance among in Plateau State. Methodology-A community based cross sectional study,400 study participants across six communities in the three senatorial zones in Plateau State were selected. Focused Group Discussion was conducted among study participants. Data was analysed using SPSS version 23. Results- 90.8% of respondents booked their last pregnancy out of which 55.8% had more than four ANC visits. Only 52.9% of the women had ANC by skilled health care providers. 69.7% of women who did not book their pregnancy delivered at home. Educational status, marital status and marital setting were predictors of ANC attendance among the study population. Women who had formal education were 1.7 times more likely to attend ANC compared to those with non-formal or no education at all. (P-value lt0.001 CI 1.267-2.321). Also, women in monogamous settings were more likely to attend ANC compared to those in polygamous setting (P-value 0.015 CI 0.162-0.822). Conclusion-Many of the respondents did not have the required number of ANC visits.nbsp More targeted interventions should be implemented in order to ensure that women have access to skilled care during pregnancy as this will reduce the risk of complications in pregnancy and delivery

Two hundred and forty six tumours and tumour-like conditions of the jaw seen in Zaria, Nigeria

Background: Tumours of the jaw may arise from the odontogenic tissues or from the non-odontogenic tissues. Many of the odontogenic tumours are considered as developmental rather than neoplastic. Method: The present study is a retrospective analysis of 246 tumours of the jaw seen in the Pathology Department of the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Zaria from 1987 - 1996. The tumours were classified according to World Health Organization international histological classification for odontogenic tumours. The cases were analyzed according to histological type, age and sex. Result: sarcoma peaked in the fourth decade while the only case of malignant ameloblastoma was in the fifth decade. Eighty one percent of the jaw lymphomas were of Burkitt's type, 53.1% of which were within the age group 5 - 9 years. The other non-Burkitt's lymphomas were distributed between 5 to 60 years. Conclusions: Ameloblastoma is the commonest benign tumour of the jaw in Zaria, while Burkitt's lymphoma is the commonest malignant jaw tumour. The later occurs mainly in the first decade of life