HEARING LOSS AMONG ADOLESCENTS ON ANTIRETROVIRAL THERAPY: A NEED FOR PERIODIC HEARING ASSESSMENT.

AIM: Background: Human immunodeficiency virus-infected adolescents have insufficient CD4 T cell count, and despite attaining viral suppression with HAART regimen, some experience significant hearing loss. OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between the hearing thresholds in HIV-positive adolescent on highly active antiretroviral therapy and CD4 T cell count. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 63 adolescents receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy had pure tone audiometry and hearing thresholds determined using standard method. Additional data collected using proforma include biodata type of HAART regimens, treatment duration, the nadir and current CD4-cell count (cells/ml) and viral load (copies/ml) levels. These clinical parameters were correlated with hearing thresholds. Statistical analysis done included univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression using Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS version 20) and level of statistical significance was determined at P < 0.05. RESULTS: There were 63 participants comprising of 26 (41.3%) males and 37 (58.7%) females, age ranged from 13 - 17 years (mean age 14.7years ± 1.65). Hearing loss was found in 20.6% adolescents and was predominantly sensorineural hearing loss. There was asoociation between hearing threshold, nadir CD4 count and viral load, but not with gender, current CD4 count and viral load, HAART regimen, and treatment duration. CONCLUSION: The high prevalence of adolescents with hearing impairment showed that there might be an association with the disease and/its treatment hence the need for inclusion of periodic hearing evaluation in the routine clincal care of HIV-infected adolescent on HAART.

Huge Primary Parasitic Leiomyoma in a Postmenopausal Lady: A Rare Presentation.

Although uterine myomas are the most common benign tumours of the female pelvis in the reproductive age group, they rarely grow in menopausal women. Parasitic fibroids without prior history of laparoscopic myomectomy are even a rarer presentation particularly in menopausal women. The case presented is a 58-year-old grand-multiparous, menopausal lady with progressive abdominal swelling of three-year duration. She had excision of a huge parasitic fibroid attached to omentum. She had partial omentectomy, total abdominal hysterectomy, and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. The parasitic fibroid mass weighed 5.2kg and histopathology confirmed leiomyoma uteri with cystic degeneration and lymph nodes with reactive lymphoid hyperplasia. She had uneventful postoperative recovery and follow-up has so far been uneventful.

Evaluating the health risk of metals (Zn, Cr, Cd, Ni, Pb) in staple foods from Lagos and Ogun States, Southwestern Nigeria.

The study evaluated the health risk of metals in commonly consumed staple foods from Lagos and Ogun states, southwestern Nigeria. One hundred and thirty-three food samples were collected and analyzed for Zn, Cr, Cd, Ni, and Pb using atomic absorption spectrophotometric method. Data collected were analyzed for simple descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS for Windows. The health risk of metals in staple foods was assessed for average daily dose (ADD), hazard quotient (HQ), hazard index (HI), and cancer risk (CR). Results showed the highest concentrations of Zn (18.99 ± 13.62 mg kg-1) and Ni (0.21 ± 0.10 mg kg-1) in beans, while the highest amount of Cr (2.04 ± 1.44 mg kg-1) was obtained in rice. Cd concentrations in staple foodstuffs ranged from < 0.01 to 0.30 mg kg-1, while Pb was below the detection limit. The average levels of Zn in beans and maize were higher than the recommended dietary allowance (9.5 mg kg-1) of the Institute of Medicine. The mean concentrations of Cr and Cd (except for rice) in staple food samples were also higher than the permissible standards. The health risk data revealed HQ value greater than 1.0 for Cr in the food samples, indicating non-carcinogenic adverse health effects. The HI value greater than 1.0 in staple foods established cumulative adverse effects of metals. The carcinogenic evaluation of Cr (in all the food samples) and Ni (in beans) showed CR values greater than the acceptable limit of 1.0 × 10-4, thereby demonstrating possible development of cancer through consumption of the staple foodstuffs.

Knowledge about Tuberculosis: A Precursor to Effective TB Control-Findings from a Follow-Up National KAP Study on Tuberculosis among Nigerians.

Tuberculosis (TB) constitutes a significant and major public health emergency globally. Nigeria is one of the 22 high burden Tuberculosis countries. A high level of community awareness and positive perception towards TB and its management is crucial for the success of any control strategy. A national baseline survey was conducted in 2008 and a follow-up study in 2012 to measure knowledge of TB among the general population. This study therefore evaluated the knowledge of the target population about Tuberculosis in the follow-up study. A cross-sectional study design was employed with a total of 3,021 respondents interviewed from six states selected randomly from each of the six geopolitical zones in the country. Quantitative and qualitative research methodologies were adopted. From the findings, about 60% of the respondents were aged between 21 and 40 years and more than half had secondary school education. Over 80% had ever heard about TB. Although there has been a significant improvement in correct knowledge of the cause of TB from baseline (19%) in 2008 to 26.5% in 2012 (p < 0.001), findings showed that prioritized interventions are needed to improve communication and information dissemination on Tuberculosis to the general public, to aid TB control and all prevention efforts.

H3Africa AWI-Gen Collaborative Centre: a resource to study the interplay between genomic and environmental risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases in four sub-Saharan African countries.

Africa is experiencing a rapid increase in adult obesity and associated cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs). The H3Africa AWI-Gen Collaborative Centre was established to examine genomic and environmental factors that influence body composition, body fat distribution and CMD risk, with the aim to provide insights towards effective treatment and intervention strategies. It provides a research platform of over 10 500 participants, 40-60 years old, from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa. Following a process that involved community engagement, training of project staff and participant informed consent, participants were administered detailed questionnaires, anthropometric measurements were taken and biospecimens collected. This generated a wealth of demographic, health history, environmental, behavioural and biomarker data. The H3Africa SNP array will be used for genome-wide association studies. AWI-Gen is building capacity to perform large epidemiological, genomic and epigenomic studies across several African counties and strives to become a valuable resource for research collaborations in Africa.

Evaluation of the antibacterial and antidiarrhoeal activities of heeria insignis o. Ktze.

Heeria insignis O. Ktze (Anacardiaceae) is an indigenous African shrub used in treatment of diarrhea, venereal diseases, tapeworm, hookworm, schistosomiasis, kidney trouble and for increasing lactation in women after childbirth. The methanol and dichloromethane extracts of the leaves were evaluated for antibacterial activity (using agar-diffusion method) and antidairrheal activity (using isolated rabbit jejunum and castor-oil induced diarrhea in mice). The methanol extract gave higher antibacterial activity than dichloromethane. The order of susceptibility of test microorganisms to methanol extract were Salmonella typhi>Pseudomous aeruginosa> Staphylococcus aureus>Bacillus subtilis>Escherichia coli which were comparable to standard. The minimum inhibitory concentration of the methanol extract for these microorganisms was also determined. The minimum inhibitory concentration (mg/ml) of methanol extract against microorganisms is; B. subtilis (3.9), S. aureus (1.95), E. coli (62.5), Ps. aeruginosa (3.9) and S. typhi (1.95). On the isolated rabbit jejunum evaluation, both extracts produced concentration-dependent relation of isolated rabbit jejunum that was not blocked by phentolamine, suggesting that extracts act via mechanisms other than alpha-adrenergic receptor. In the castor oil-induced diarrheoeal test, each extract gave 80% protection at 200 mg/kg, which is comparable to loperamide 2 mg/kg with 80% protection. This finding may explain the use of the plant in diarrhea and bacterial diseases.

Adult onset otitis media with effusion in Lagos.

BACKGROUND/AIM: The documented reports on adult onset OME is scanty world wide, this study was prompted by the increasing trend of OME in our adult patients with the aim of determining the prevalence, predisposing factors and treatment outcome of the disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A prospective study was carried out over a two year period at the Otolaryngology Clinic of Lagos University Teaching Hospital Lagos Nigeria, on 195 patients referred to the clinic with provisional diagnosis of OME. The patients had clinical evaluation, pure tone audiometry, tympanometry while a few had fibre optic nasopharyngoscopy and biopsy done. RESULTS: A hospital based prevalence of 2.6% was recorded in the Otolaryngology clinic during the study period, with infective and allergic sinusitis as the major predisposing factors to OME in adult patients. Majority 58 (92.06%) patients were treated conservatively and recurrence was seen in 8 (12.7%) of the patients without any untoward effects. OME, though recognised as a childhood disease may be as prevalent in adult as in childhood but with less complication. CONCLUSION: OME as a single clinical feature or in association with allergy or sinusitis is most unlikely to habour NPC therefore nasopharyngoscopy and biopsy are likely to give a low yield of positive biopsy in isolated OME in adult and the cost implication of this must be borne in mind.

Effects of gonadotropins on puberty and sperm production in the rat.

The effects of hCG with or without FSH on the development of puberty and sperm production potential in the rat were studied. Rats treated daily once or thrice with a combination of hCG and FSH were younger at puberty and weighed less than those in the hCG-treated and control groups. Absolute and relative paired testes weights were higher in the control rats than in those that received one dose of the combined gonadotropins, which were also inferior in their sperm producing potential when compared to the other groups except for the rats treated with hCG. Although the kinetics of spermatogenesis appeared stable regardless of treatment, slight shifts were observed which suggest that the hCG treatment may delay and enhance spermiation and spermatid elongation, respectively. With the addition of FSH, however, spermiation and the final stages of the maturation division were delayed while the division of B spermatogonia, spermatid elongation and the onset of both the maturation division and spermiation became enhanced.

Oestrogen induced hypertriglyceridaemia: role of the adrenal cortex.

The role of the adrenal cortex in the pathogenesis of hypertriglyceridaemia associated with the intake of oral contraceptive agents containing oestrogen has been investigated in rats. Bilateral adrenalectomy reduced the activity of hepatic enzymes regulating lipogenesis (acetyl CoA carboxylase, fatty acid synthetase) and decreased plasma triglyceride concentrations. On the other hand, the administration of high dosage corticosterone induced the activity of hepatic enzymes with consequent elevation in serum triglyceride levels. In animals with intact adrenals the administration of oestradiol: (a) raised plasma triglyceride levels, (b) enhanced the activity of hepatic enzymes, and (c) increased the adrenal cortex:body weight ratio. The effects (a) and (b) were not observed when both adrenals were removed prior to oestrogen therapy. High dosage corticosterone replacement was found to be essential for the oestradiol to produce its effects on hepatic enzymes and plasma triglyceride levels. The results suggest a regulatory role for the adrenal cortex in the homeostasis of plasma triglyceride concentration and that the hypertriglyceridaemia induced by the oestrogen containing preparations might be secondary to alterations in adrenocortical function.