Journal of Advances in Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Aim: To examine the pattern of antenatal care services (ANC) utilization in Baptist Medical Centre, Ogbomoso, a mission hospital with a focus on individual, family, religious and socio-economic factors affecting ANC utilisation.

Study Design: The study was a cross-sectional prospective study.

Place and duration of the study: The study was conducted among antenatal care seekers who attended antenatal care at the Baptist Medical Centre, Ogbomoso (now Bowen University Teaching Hospital) between August 1, 2002 and May 31, 2003.

Methodology: The pretested questionnaire was used to obtain the following information: sociodemographic characteristics, family type, parity and booking gestational age in weeks. Analysis was done using SPSS 16. Proportions were determined and statistics presented in tables. Chi-square test was done to determine the association between variables.

Results: A total of 442 pregnant women were recruited for the study. The age range of attendees was 13 – 48 years with a mean age of 29.2±5.3. Maternity service use was associated significantly with ANC attendance. Other factors associated with antenatal care attendance included: University educational status (p < .001), civil servant (p < .001) christianity (p = 0.006), residing in Ogbomoso (p < .001), class 1 social status (p < .001) and being told by doctor (p = 0.033).

Conclusion: The study unveiled educational status, occupation, social status, place of domicile, religion and need for maternity service use as factors positively associated with ANC utilization in the Baptist Medical Centre Ogbomoso.

Aim: Gross hematuria due to prostate cancer is an important clinical presentation and it is necessary to collect, analyze and determine certain criteria and data in the diagnosis and management of prostatic cancer. The aim of the present study is to find out the frequency of gross hematuria and to correlate it with gross hematuria and serum Prostatic Specific Antigen (PSA).in prostatic cancer patients.

Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was done in patients diagnosed with prostatic cancer in Hawari center for urology in Benghazi Libya from 2011 up to 2017.  60 cases were taken for the present study. The data such as age of the patient, first complaint such as gross hematuria, serum PSA  levels, histopathology result, the types of therapy received (medical or surgical) were analyzed from these Libyan patients.

Results: 25 percent cases in the present study had gross hematuria and there was positive correlation between gross hematuria, serum PSA levels and Gleason score.

Conclusion: The result of this study indicate that the presentation of hematuria is not uncommon in prostate cancer. Therefore, it may be necessary to estimate serum PSA levels and do digital rectal examination (DRE) for men aged between 50-70 years old for early diagnosis and management of prostate cancer.

The increased prevalence of diabetes, and the huge disease burden on patients has led to an increase in the use of complementary and alternative medicine in diabetes treatment and management.

Aim: This study evaluates the antidiabetic and antioxidant effects of the polyherbal capsule glucoblock and glibenclamide in type 2 diabetic rats.

Methodology: A total of 35 male Wistar albino rats weighing between 120-220 g were used for this study. The rats were placed on high fat diet, and diabetes induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of freshly prepared streptozotocin (STZ) (45 mg/kg body Wt). Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) was determined using the glucose oxidase method. Fasting plasma insulin (FPI), total oxidant status (TOS), total antioxidant status (TAS) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels were quantitatively determined by a rat-specific sandwich-enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Insulin resistance (IR) was determined using the homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) method. Oxidative stress index (OSI) was determined by the ratio of TOS to TAS. Phytochemical analysis was also done on the herbal capsule.

Results: Mean FPG levels were significantly lower (p˂0.05) in all groups, compared to the diabetic control. Mean FPG level was significantly higher (p˂0.05) in the combination group, but showed no significant difference (p>0.05) in the glibenclamide group, and glucoblock group, compared to the negative control. HOMA-IR was significantly higher (p<0.05) in the diabetic control compared to the negative control and treatment groups. The combination group had significantly higher (p˂0.05) HOMA-IR values, whereas the individual treatment groups showed no significant difference (p>0.05) when compared to the negative control. TOS was significantly higher (p<0.05) in the diabetic control compared to the negative control and treatment groups. The treatment groups showed no significant difference (p>0.05) in TOS, compared to the negative control. There was significantly lower (p˂0.05) TAS levels in the diabetic and treatment groups, compared to the negative control. OSI values were significantly lower (p˂0.05) in all groups when compared to the diabetic control. Also, OSI values were significantly higher (p˂0.05) in the treatment groups compared to the negative control. SOD was significantly lower (p<0.05) in the diabetic control compared to the negative control and treatment groups. The treatment groups showed no significant difference (p>0.05) in SOD levels, compared to the negative control.

Conclusion: Increase in total oxidant status and oxidative stress depleted antioxidant parameters. The polyherbal capsule glucoblock was effective when used alone and produced equipotent effect to the treatment with glibenclamide. However, the combination treatment did not fare better. Antioxidant therapy should be used together with antidiabetics in the management of diabetes, and care should be taken in the use herb-drug combinations.

Antimicrobial drug resistance has become prominent as a universal health threat. This has been studied not only in humans but food animals as well. Many genes located on the chromosomal DNA of bacteria have been linked with drug resistance. It is therefore crucial that its occurrence in abattoirs where these animals are slaughtered be studied. This study was thus aimed at identifying some resistance genes in microbes isolated from abattoir ecologies. One hundred and eighty (180) samples consisting of service water, waste blood, wastewater, soil and faecal matter collected from Iwofe, Rumuodumaya and Trans-Amadi abattoirs within a period of one year were used in this study. Processing of the samples was done using standard microbiological protocols and the antibiotics sensitivity profile of the isolated bacteria determined using popularly consumed antibiotics. The presence of Beta-lactamase genes was checked for in the multidrug resistant isolates after they had been identified using molecular biological technique. Two strains of Escherichia coli had the blaCTX-M gene, Pseudomonas sp. strain 6174 had the blaSHV and blaTEM genes, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens had the blaSHV gene, Bacillus flexus had the blaTEM genes, Staphylococcus aureus had blaSHV and blaTEM genes. blaSHV, blaCTX-M and blaTEM genes were found in most of the Gram negative bacteria as Klebsiella sp. strain EIKU11 showed prominence of all three β-lactamase genes. This brings to light that some microbes in abattoir environments possess the β-lactamase genes which enable these microorganisms exhibit multidrug resistance, thereby making treatment resulting from them difficult. Adequate sanitary measures should thus be carried out to reduce the spread of these organisms to humans.

Background: In resource-limited settings, breastfeeding is the healthiest source of nutrition for newborns. For economic/cultural reasons, breastfeeding is the preferred option for the majority of mothers, including HIV-positive mothers.

Objective: The objective of this review is to document parameters characterizing antiretroviral therapy (ARV) diffusion into breast milk associated with the estimated ARV amount ingested by breastfed infant and clinical/biological abnormalities.

Data Source and Eligibility Criteria: Twenty seven (27) published articles on the aspects of Pharmacokinetic parameters on ARV diffusion into breast milk have shown a large variability without clear interpretation on drugs diffusion. Using PubMed and Embase, we conducted a search to identify all published studies at 2015 that characterized antiretroviral drug diffusion from mother to infant via breast milk. We identified 27 published studies that characterized antiretroviral drug passage from mother to infant (drug concentrations in mother’s milk and breastfed plasma). Information was sufficiently complete for inclusion in the present analysis for only six antiretroviral drugs.

Results: Finally, only data for nevirapine and efavirenz were exploitable because some of the studies found null or non-detectable levels, which were not suitable for simulations. Median (IQR) nevirapine CL/F were 0.022 (0.013-0.038) for newborns, 0.121 (0.116-0.125) for children and 0.056 (0.045-0.070) for mothers, all in L/h/kg. Efavirenz CL/F were 0.025 (0.016-0.039) for newborns, 0.273 (0.261-0.285) for children and 0.160 (0.153-0.167) for mothers, also in L/h/kg.

Conclusion: Pharmacokinetics parameters of efavirenz and nevirapine are important to be determined in breastfed newborns.