The effect of potash on liver function of wistar rats

This study was aimed at investigating the effect of potash on liver function of wistar rats. Thirty two adult albino wistar rats divided into eight (8) groups were used for this study. Group A was the control, while B, C and D were test groups given 0.4g/ml, 0.6g/ml, and 0.8g/ml of potash respectively for 21 days. The weights of both the test animals and the control were monitored. The results on acute toxicity tests showed that LD50 was greater than 2.5g/kg body weight. The activities of GGT increased in group B (1.63 ± 0.54 U/L), C (3.20 ±0.92 U/L) and D (3.41 ±0.81 U/L) when compared with the control (1.00 ±0.36 U/L). The activities of AST increased in group B (0.83 ±0.09 U/L), C (0.90 ±0.05 U/L) and D (0.93 ±0.09 U/L) when compared with the control (0.76 ±0.13 U/L). ALT activities in group B (0.57 ±0.18 U/L), C (0.67 ±0.14 U/L) and D (0.87 ±0.07 U/L) increased in comparison with the control (0.55 ±0.17 U/L). ALP activities increased in group B (4.18 ±1.99 U/L), C (6.86 ±2.04 U/L) and D (6.00 ±1.34 U/L), in comparison with control (3.80 ±1.83 U/L). Our study revealed that Potash altered the functionality of the liver as well as the physical activity of the wistar rats and that the effect is dosage dependent.Keywords: Potash, Liver, Toxicity, Rats, Dos

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