Electrocardiographic recordings of psychiatric patients attending Dawanau Psychiatric hospital, Kano-Nigera

Psychiatric patients are often associated with electrocardiographic (ECG) abnormalities which may in some cases be life threatening due to the effect of anti psychotic drugs they are placed on. This study aims to establish the ECG recordings of these patients and find out if there exist abnormalities in the ECG tracings as documented in the literature. Anthropometric and clinical data were obtained from 323 patients attending Dawanau Psychiatric Hospital between April to May 2017. Result showed there were 12 (3.7%) cases of short PR interval and 15 (5%) of prolonged PR interval. Fifteen (5%) of the subjects have prolonged QTc, 16 (5%) have ST segment elevation while 8 (2.5%) have ST segment depression and 24 (7.4%) have flat T wave. The PR and QT intervals were significantly (p<0.05) lower in females compared to the males, while the corrected QT was significantly (p<0.05) lower in the males than the females. It can be concluded that mild ECG changes exist in these psychiatric patients on antipsychotic drugs, but there was no late ventricular potentials or features of Torsade de pointes.Keywords: ECG, Antipsychotic drugs, Dawanau, Kano, Nigeria, Psychiatric Patients

Undergraduate students' understanding of physiology subject, opinions and perception: the case of Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria

Summary: Human Physiology courses are compulsory in medical education but many students encounter challenges in studying them. This study investigates understandings, opinions and perceptions of students about physiology subject and the challenges they encounter in their study. Two hundred and eighty (280) students were interviewed using structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS statistics 22. The mean age of the students was 22.8 ± 4.1 years. Males constituted 174(62.1%), while females were 106 (37.9%). Majority of the respondents were in 300 level of study in the university 178(63.6%) as of the time of conducting this research. Most of the participants 257(91.8%) claimed to have good to excellent understanding of the physiology subjects. One hundred and nine (39.1%) alleged that academic staff had unfriendly attitude like rushing lectures, commencing lectures late and fixing tests and other continuous assessment close to examinations, and that lecturers have poor communication/ teaching skills. Less than one-third (28.7%) believed that the subjects have bulky course contents, and 56(20.1%) were of the opinion that the students' lack of seriousness or interest is among the reasons for failing physiology courses. On binary logistic regression, being of female sex, and in 300 level of study emerged as the independent predictors of the students' perception of physiology. Improving the pedagogy 102(36.4%), good attitude of staff towards students and teaching 73(26.1%), improving infrastructure and equipment 35(12.5%); and instituting guidance and counseling unit for both staff and student 31(11.1%) were the ways suggested by the students for improving performance in physiology subject. Most of the students had poor and negative perception about physiology subjects (83.2%). Guidance and counseling for students, through the level coordinators and the mentor-mentee program should be strengthened in all departments. Basic infrastructure and equipment, and teaching techniques should also be upgraded.Keywords: Undergraduate students, Understanding of Physiology Subject, Opinions, Perceptions, Kano-Nigeri

The effect of rutin on lipid profile and liver function enzymes on alloxan induced hyperglycaemic wistar rats

The aim of this research was to investigate the effects of rutin on lipid profile and liver function enzymes on alloxan induced hyperglycaemia in Wistar rats. Hyperglycaemic was induced by intraperitoneal injection of 150 mg/kg alloxan monohydrate. The rats were grouped into five groups of five rats each. Group 1 served as the diabetic negative control, Group 2 served as positive control and was treated with 2 mg/kg glibenclamide, while Groups 3, 4 and 5 were treated with 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight of rutin respectively. Rutin was administered to the animals orally for a period of four weeks. At the end of the experimental period, the rats from each experimental group were sacrificed using light chloroform and sera were collected for the determination of lipid profile and liver function enzymes. There was a significant (p<0.05) decreased in the total cholesterol, triglyceride and low density lipoprotein as compared to control. However, there was a significant (p<0.05) increased in the level of high density lipoprotein when compared to diabetic control. Furthermore, there was a significant (p<0.05) decreased in the serum liver enzymes; Aspartate transaminase (AST) Alanine transaminase (ALT) and Alkaline phosphates (ALP) as compared to control. As regards to the reference drug 2mg/kg glibenclamide there was a significant (p<0.05) increased in the liver enzymes function as compared to control. Conclusion, rutin has hypolipidemic effect and also decreased liver function enzymes activity on alloxan induced hyperglycaemic rats.Keywords: Rutin, Hyperglycaemia, Alloxan, Lipid profile, Liver enzyme

Effect of cimetidine on some hematological indices of Wistar rats: modulatory role of vitamin c

Introduction: Cimetidine is a drug used in the treatment of dyspepsia, a clinical condition with widespread distribution. Many studies have reported cimetidine to cause many unwanted effects. However, in most of those studies cimetidine was administered at higher than therapeutic doses. Aim: The aim of this study was, therefore, to evaluate the effect of chronic cimetidine treatment at therapeutic dose on some hematological indices and the possible modulatory role of vitamin C on any such effect. Experimental design and Animal grouping: Forty adult male Wistar rats were divided into four groups (n = 10) and treated orally for 60 days with distilled water (control); cimetidine (30 mg kg-1); cimetidine (30 mg kg-1) + vitamin C (25 mg kg-1) and cimetidine (30 mg kg-1) + vitamin C (50 mg kg-1). At the end of the study blood was collected for analysis. Results: Total white blood cell (WBC) count (5.99 ± 0.20 x 103/mm3) of the cimetidine only-treated group was significantly lower than that of the control (7.95 ± 0.29 x 103/mm3).However, the valuesof red blood cell (RBC) count, packed cell volume (PCV), hemoglobin (Hb) concentration, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin(MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), and color index of the experimental groups were not significantly different from that of the control. Treatment with vitamin C modulated the cimetidine-induced decrease in total WBC count. Conclusion: It was concluded that chronic cimetidine administration at therapeutic dose caused a significant decrease in WBC count and this was modulated by vitamin C. Key words: Cimetidine; WBC count; RBC count; hemoglobin and vitamin C

Anti-diabetic effect of ethanol leaf extract of Combretum micranthum blood glucose and oxidative stress biomarkers on alloxan induced diabetic in wistar rats

This research was aimed to investigate the anti-diabetic effects of ethanol leaf extract of Combretum micranthum on blood glucose levels and oxidative stress biomarkers such as malondaldehyde, superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase on alloxan induced Diab tes in Wistar rats. Diabetes was induced using alloxan (150 mg/kg i.p). The rats were grouped into five groups of five rats each. Group 1 served as the diabetic control, Group 2 received 2 mg/kg glibenclamide, while Groups 3, 4 and 5 were orally administered 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight of ethanol leaf extract of Combretum micranthum for a period of 4 weeks, respectively. Blood were collected from the tail artery and the serum was used to determine the oxidative stress biomarkers (malondaldehyde, superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase).There was a significant (p<0.05) decrease in the blood glucose when compared with the diabetic control. Also there was a significant (p<0.05) decrease in the oxidative stress biomarkers when compared with the diabetic control. The preliminary phytochemical screening of the of the extracts revealed the presence of tannins flavonoids, cardiac glycosides, alkaloids ,terpenoids and resins. The LD50 was greater than 5000 mg/kg orally. In conclusion Combretum micranthum reduce blood glucose levels, reactive oxygen free radicals and improved the activities of the antioxidant enzymes.Keywords: Diabetic, Combretum micranthum, Blood glucose, Oxidative stress, Phytochemical

The ASOS Surgical Risk Calculator: development and validation of a tool for identifying African surgical patients at risk of severe postoperative complications

Background: The African Surgical Outcomes Study (ASOS) showed that surgical patients in Africa have a mortality twice the global average. Existing risk assessment tools are not valid for use in this population because the pattern of risk for poor outcomes differs from high-income countries. The objective of this study was to derive and validate a simple, preoperative risk stratification tool to identify African surgical patients at risk for in-hospital postoperative mortality and severe complications. Methods: ASOS was a 7-day prospective cohort study of adult patients undergoing surgery in Africa. The ASOS Surgical Risk Calculator was constructed with a multivariable logistic regression model for the outcome of in-hospital mortality and severe postoperative complications. The following preoperative risk factors were entered into the model; age, sex, smoking status, ASA physical status, preoperative chronic comorbid conditions, indication for surgery, urgency, severity, and type of surgery. Results: The model was derived from 8799 patients from 168 African hospitals. The composite outcome of severe postoperative complications and death occurred in 423/8799 (4.8%) patients. The ASOS Surgical Risk Calculator includes the following risk factors: age, ASA physical status, indication for surgery, urgency, severity, and type of surgery. The model showed good discrimination with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.805 and good calibration with c-statistic corrected for optimism of 0.784. Conclusions: This simple preoperative risk calculator could be used to identify high-risk surgical patients in African hospitals and facilitate increased postoperative surveillance. © 2018 British Journal of Anaesthesia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Medical Research Council of South Africa gran