Prevalence of Prehypertension, Hypertension, and its Determinants Among Young Adults in Enugu State, Nigeria.

Background: Emerging epidemiological data suggest that Hypertension (HTN) has become a significant public health challenge in sub-Saharan Africa. HTN in young adults is a problem lacking relevant attention because it is still erroneously considered a disease of the old. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of hypertension and its associated risk factors in undergraduate medical students at the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, Enugu State, Nigeria.

Renal echotextural changes in Nigerian workers chronically exposed to petroleum-based liquid fuels.

Exposure to hydrocarbon is associated with an increased risk of development of chronic kidney disease. Ultrasound, which is a non-invasive imaging modality, provides very important information about kidney morphology. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of chronic exposure to some petroleum products on the kidney of exposed workers using sonography.

Echocardiographic assessment of left ventricular function in thyrotoxicosis and implications for the therapeutics of thyrotoxic cardiac disease.

Introduction: Thyrotoxicosis is an endocrine disorder with prominent cardiovascular manifestations. Thyroid hormone acts through genomic and non-genomic mechanisms to regulate cardiac function. Echocardiography is a useful, non-invasive, easily accessible, and affordable tool for studying the structural and physiological function of the heart.

Antiphospholipid syndrome in a young Nigerian girl presenting with gangrenous toes.

We report on a 21-year-old Nigerian girl with toe gangrene, which is one of the most unlikely forms of presentation of antiphospholipid syndrome among Africans. The essence of this case report is to raise awareness that, although antiphospholipid syndrome typically presents in Africans in association with a pregnancy-related event or a neuropathology, it should be considered as a differential diagnosis in all African patients with unexplained vasculitis. A high index of suspicion and early treatment will prevent toe amputations and reduce mortality rates.

A rare case of cor pulmonale secondary to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in Nigeria.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a rarely reported disease in Nigeria. Cor pulmonale, one of the complications of this type of diffuse parenchymal lung disease is even rarer. The authors present a Nigerian patient with IPF with a classical high-resolution CT features, managed in our centre together with associated problems.