Blood donation practices, processing and utilisation of blood components in government tertiary hospitals in Nigeria: a multicentre cooperative study.

BACKGROUND: Timely access to safe blood and blood components is still a challenge in Nigeria. This study aimed to determine blood donation practices, processing and utilization of blood components across government tertiary hospitals (THs) in Nigeria. METHODS: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study done in Nigeria in June-July 2020. Data were analysed with SPSS version 21.0. RESULTS: Data were collected from 50 THs. The majority (68%) of the THs lack facilities for blood component preparation and only 18% and 32% provide cryoprecipitate and platelet concentrate, respectively. Whole blood was most commonly requested (57.04%). All facilities tested blood for HIV, HBV and HCV, but the majority (23 [46%]) employed rapid screening tests alone and nucleic acid testing was not available in any hospitals. The manual method was the most common method of compatibility testing in 90% (45/50) and none of the THs routinely perform extended red cell typing. The average time to process routine, emergency and uncross-matched requests were a mean of 109.58±79.76 min (range 45.00-360.00), 41.62±25.23 (10.00-240.00) and 11.09±4.92 (2.00-20.00), respectively. CONCLUSION: Facilities for blood component preparation were not widely available. Concerned government authorities should provide facilities for blood component preparation.

Identification of aspirin analogues that repress NF-κB signalling and demonstrate anti-proliferative activity towards colorectal cancer in vitro and in vivo.

Substantial evidence indicates that aspirin and related non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have potential as chemopreventative/therapeutic agents. However, these agents cannot be universally recommended for prevention purposes due to their potential side-effect profiles. Here, we compared the growth inhibitory and mechanistic activity of aspirin to two novel analogues, diaspirin (DiA) and fumaryl diaspirin (F-DiA). We found that the aspirin analogues inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis of colorectal cancer cells at significantly lower doses than aspirin. Similar to aspirin, we found that an early response to the analogues was a reduction in levels of cyclin D1 and stimulation of the NF-κB pathway. This stimulation was associated with a significant reduction in basal levels of NF-κB transcriptional activity, in keeping with previous data for aspirin. However, in contrast to aspirin, DiA and F-DiA activity was not associated with nucleolar accumulation of RelA. For all assays, F-DiA had a more rapid and significant effect than DiA, identifying this agent as particularly active against colorectal cancer. Using a syngeneic colorectal tumour model in mice, we found that, while both agents significantly inhibited tumour growth in vivo, this effect was particularly pronounced for F-DiA. These data identify two compounds that are active against colorectal cancer in vitro and in vivo. They also identify a potential mechanism of action of these agents and shed light on the chemical structures that may be important for the antitumour effects of aspirin.