The trend of hepatitis B surface antigenimia among teaching hospital patients in Kano

No Abstract. African Journal of Clinical and Experimental Microbiology Vol. 7(3) 2006: 143-14

The influence of season of birth on the pattern of lip prints in Nigeria

Dermatoglyphs and their components can both environmentally and genetically be determined, even though the arrangement of ridges remains constant throughout life. The aim of this study was to determine the predominant lip print types in different seasons and the influences of the season of birth on the pattern of lip print among Nigerians. Five hundred and six students (256 males and 250 females) were recruited. The lip print was collected using glass slide and developed with carbon black powder. Each print was divided into ten compartments for final analyses of lip prints. Chi-square test was used to test for association between the season of birth and lip prints. Statistical significance was considered at p<0.05. The result shows the percentage distribution oflip print in upper lip in wet season with type III (31.02%) as predominant and type I’ (0.29%) the least, and for dry season the same trend was observed. In lower lip in wet season type V (29.50%) was predominant and type I’ (0.68%) the least, and the same trend was observed for dry season. In both lower and upper lips the season of birth shows no  statistically significant association (P > 0.05) with lip prints in all  compartments. In conclusion, the environmental factor considered in thisstudy (season of birth) has no influence in the determination of the lip prints patterns. Hence, recommending the use of lip print as a forensic tool.Key words; Nigeria, powder, lip prints, season of birt

Smad phosphoisoform signals in acute and chronic liver injury: similarities and differences between epithelial and mesenchymal cells

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) usually arises from hepatic fibrosis caused by chronic inflammation. In chronic liver damage, hepatic stellate cells undergo progressive activation to myofibroblasts (MFB), which are important extracellular-matrix-producing mesenchymal cells. Concomitantly, perturbation of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β signaling by pro-inflammatory cytokines in the epithelial cells of the liver (hepatocytes) promotes both fibrogenesis and carcinogenesis (fibro-carcinogenesis). Insights into fibro-carcinogenic effects on chronically damaged hepatocytes have come from recent detailed analyses of the TGF-β signaling process. Smad proteins, which convey signals from TGF-β receptors to the nucleus, have intermediate linker regions between conserved Mad homology (MH) 1 and MH2 domains. TGF-β type I receptor and pro-inflammatory cytokine-activated kinases differentially phosphorylate Smad2 and Smad3 to create phosphoisoforms phosphorylated at the COOH-terminal, linker, or both (L/C) regions. After acute liver injury, TGF-β-mediated pSmad3C signaling terminates hepatocytic proliferation induced by the pro-inflammatory cytokine-mediated mitogenic pSmad3L pathway; TGF-β and pro-inflammatory cytokines synergistically enhance collagen synthesis by activated hepatic stellate cells via pSmad2L/C and pSmad3L/C pathways. During chronic liver disease progression, pre-neoplastic hepatocytes persistently affected by TGF-β together with pro-inflammatory cytokines come to exhibit the same carcinogenic (mitogenic) pSmad3L and fibrogenic pSmad2L/C signaling as do MFB, thereby accelerating liver fibrosis while increasing risk of HCC. This review of Smad phosphoisoform-mediated signals examines similarities and differences between epithelial and mesenchymal cells in acute and chronic liver injuries and considers Smad linker phosphorylation as a potential target for the chemoprevention of fibro-carcinogenesis

Complex formation and stability of westiellamide derivatives with copper(II)

The Cu coordination chemistry of three synthetic analogues of westiellamide (HL) with an [18]azacrown-6 macrocyclic structure and imidazole (HL), oxazole (H L), or thiazole (HL) heterocyclic donors in addition to the peptide groups, is reported. The N -N-N binding sites are highly preorganized for the coordination to Cu ions. The stability constants of mono- and dinuclear Cu complexes of H L, HL, and HL , obtained by isothermal titration microcalorimetry, are reported. EPR and NMR spectroscopy as well as electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) were used to characterize the complexes formed in solution. The stabilities of the mononuclear and dinuclear Cu complexes of the three ligands are in the range of 10 M, but there are subtle differences; specifically the oxazole-derived ligand has, in contrast to the other two macrocycles, a negative formation entropy for coordination to the first Cu ion and a higher stability for complexation to a second Cu center in comparison with the first Cu center (cooperativity). Differences between the three ligands are also apparent in terms of the formation mechanism. With the oxazole-based ligand H L, NMR spectroscopy, EPR spectroscopy, and ESI-MS indicate the formation of a ligand-Cu 2:1 intermediate, and this may explain the differences in the formation entropy as well as the cooperativity