Publications by authors named "Chinedum Peace Babalola"

Garlic () has been traditionally valued for its medicinal properties attributed to the presence of organosulfur compounds. Despite its benefits, concerns about herbal extract toxicity have arisen, necessitating safety assessment This study was designed to evaluate the chemical analysis and safety profile of Alliin-Rich Garlic Extract (ARGE) using as a model organism. The ARGE was extracted from garlic cloves ( Linn: UIH-23262) using a microwave-assisted method and characterized using UPLC-ESI-MS, H NMR, HPLC and IR.

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Purpose: This study investigated the status of training and preparedness for oncology practice and research and degree of interprofessional collaboration among health care professionals in the six geopolitical regions of Nigeria.

Methods: A convergent parallel mixed methods design was used. Three hundred seventeen respondents completed a three-part, online questionnaire.

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Article Synopsis
  • Black women in the African diaspora face more aggressive breast cancer and higher death rates compared to white women, highlighting a significant health disparity.* -
  • Research of 97 breast cancers from Nigerian women reveals more genomic instability and unique mutations, including early GATA3 mutations, leading to an earlier diagnosis by about 10.5 years.* -
  • The study emphasizes the importance of including diverse populations in medical research and shows that identifying homologous recombination deficiency in tumors can help tailor effective treatments.*
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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is caused by an infectious novel strain of coronavirus known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) which was earlier referred to as 2019-nCoV. The respiratory disease is the most consequential global public health crisis of the 21st century whose level of negative impact increasingly experienced globally has not been recorded since World War II. Up till now, there has been no specific globally authorized antiviral drug, vaccines, supplement or herbal remedy available for the treatment of this lethal disease except preventive measures, supportive care and non-specific treatment options adopted in different countries via divergent approaches to halt the pandemic.

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Objective: To explore repurposing known natural products for managing patients with mild to moderate symptoms of COVID-19.

Case Presentation: We present a case report of a middle aged woman, who was positive to COVID 19, with mild to moderate symptoms; who self -managed at home using well formulated herbal supplement (Combi-5) taken along with vitamin C and Zinc supplements. She recovered within a short time.

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Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic is a biosecurity threat, and many resource-rich countries are stockpiling and/or making plans to secure supplies of vaccine, therapeutics, and diagnostics for their citizens. We review the products that are being investigated for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19; discuss the challenges that countries in sub-Saharan Africa may face with access to COVID-19 vaccine, therapeutics, and diagnostics due to the limited capacity to manufacture them in Africa; and make recommendations on actions to mitigate these challenges and ensure health security in sub-Saharan Africa during this unprecedented pandemic and future public-health crises.

Main Body: Sub-Saharan Africa will not be self-reliant for COVID-19 vaccines when they are developed.

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The aim of this study is to determine how stakeholder engagement can be adapted for the conduct of COVID-19-related clinical trials in sub-Saharan Africa. Nine essential stakeholder engagement practices were reviewed: formative research; stakeholder engagement plan; communications and issues management plan; protocol development; informed consent process; standard of prevention for vaccine research and standard of care for treatment research; policies on trial-related physical, psychological, financial, and/or social harms; trial accrual, follow-up, exit trial closure and results dissemination; and post-trial access to trial products or procedures. The norms, values, and practices of collectivist societies in Sub-Saharan Africa and the low research literacy pose challenges to the conduct of clinical trials.

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Background: There is both higher mortality and morbidity from cancer in low and medium income countries (LMICs) compared with high income countries (HICs). Clinical trial activities and development of more effective and less toxic therapies have led to significant improvements in morbidity and mortality from cancer in HICs. Unfortunately, clinical trials remain low in LMICs due to poor infrastructure and paucity of experienced personnel to execute clinical trials.

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Objective: The aim of the descriptive, cross sectional, questionnaire-based study reported here was to explore the causes of low productivity in non-communicable diseases research among postgraduate scholars and early career researchers in Nigeria and identify measures that could facilitate increased research output.

Results: The 89 respondents were masters-level, doctoral scholars and resident doctors who attended a workshop. Majorities of the respondents (over 70%) either agreed or strongly agreed that factors contributing to poor non-communicable diseases research productivity include a dearth of in-country researchers with specialized skills, inability of Nigerian researchers to work in multidisciplinary teams, poor funding for health research, sub-optimal infrastructural facilities, and limited use of research findings by policy makers.

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Neurological complications associated with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are a matter of great concern. While antiretroviral (ARV) drugs are the cornerstone of HIV treatment and typically produce neurological benefit, some ARV drugs have limited CNS penetration while others have been associated with neurotoxicity. CNS penetration is a function of several factors including sieving role of blood-brain and blood-CSF barriers and activity of innate drug transporters.

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