Urban slum housing quality, and its public health implications in Nigeria: a case of urban slum residents in Enugu metropolis, South East, Nigeria.

Introduction: Housing remains a strategic social determinant of health. In Sub-Saharan Africa, most urban dwellers live in slums with attendant health implications. This study assessed the housing conditions of the slums of Enugu metropolis and the public health implications.

Updates in pharmacotherapy of obesity.

Obesity is now recognized as a chronic, progressive condition requiring early intervention and long-term management to achieve health benefits and improve metabolic risk factors. The main objective of obesity pharmacotherapy is weight loss and weight loss maintenance. There is increasing acceptance of anti-obesity medications as an adjunct to lifestyle modifications and/or surgery.

Mitigating Cardiotoxicity Associated with Anticancer Drugs: An Updated Systematic Review.

Introduction: This systematic review investigated strategies to mitigate cardiotoxicity induced by anticancer medications, emphasizing exercise and pharmacological interventions.

Methods: We systematically reviewed three randomized controlled trials, one ATOPE trial, and one retrospective cohort study.

Results: Among 448 patients, exercise interventions, particularly in breast cancer patients, demonstrated significant improvements in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and cardiotoxicity prevention.

Age Group Differences in the Awareness of Lifestyle Factors Impacting Cardiovascular Risk: A Population-Level Study.

Objective: This study evaluated the age-group differences in the levels of awareness of cardiovascular lifestyle risk factors.

Methods: Data from 5,219 individuals were analyzed. Age was classified as young, middle-aged, and older adults.

Clinical Summary and Reasoning Format: A Tool for Clinical Practice and Medical Training.

Patients' records are often bulky and unwieldy, necessitating the creation of summaries. A structured summary format adds the advantage of improved organization and easier retrieval of information. However, typical clinical summary formats do not document intermediate deductions linking symptomatology to diagnosis and to that extent fall short of tracking the cognition process of the clinician.

The Need for Adult Pneumococcal Vaccination in Nigeria.

Despite universal immunization coverage on a global scale among children, the vast majority of immunocompromised adults, and particularly the elderly, remain unvaccinated. Considering that a significant proportion of mortality from pneumococcal disease occurs among the elderly, preventive measures through pneumococcal vaccination in adults, especially the elderly with co-morbidities, needs to be urgently explored and implemented in Africa, and particularly in Nigeria, to stem the tide of deaths resulting from pneumococcal disease among this population. This article looks at the pneumococcal epidemiology and burden of disease in Nigeria, as well as the vaccines available and the rationale for adult pneumococcal vaccination.

Plasma Concentration of 12-Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic Acid, Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms of 12-Lipooxygenase Gene and Vaso-Occlusion in Sickle Cell Disease.

In the light of previous findings that inflammation predisposes to intercellular adhesion and microvascular occlusion in sickle cell disease (SCD), this study investigated the relationship between the number of vaso-occlusive events in SCD, plasma levels of the pro-inflammatory molecules 12-Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (12-HETE) TNF-α and IL-1β; and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the gene 12-Lipooxygenase (ALOX-12), which encodes the enzyme 12-Lipoxygenase that catalyzes the biosynthesis of 12-HETE. To evaluate the relationship between vaso-occlusion in SCD and plasma concentrations of 12-HETE, TNF-α, and IL-1β; and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ALOX-12 gene. In 50 HbSS patients, the numbers of vaso-occlusive crisis requiring hospital treatment in the previous 1 year and the vaso-occlusive complications of SCD developed to date (e.

Clinical Summary and Reasoning Format: A Tool for Clinical Practice and Medical Training.

Patients' records are often bulky and unwieldy, necessitating the creation of summaries. A structured summary format adds the advantage of improved organization and easier retrieval of information. However, typical clinical summary formats do not document intermediate deductions linking symptomatology to diagnosis and to that extent fall short of tracking the cognition process of the clinician.

Pilot assessment of omega-3 fatty acids and potassium thiocyanate in sickle cell anemia patients with conditional peak systolic cerebral artery blood velocity.

Objective: The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the effect of omega-3 fatty acids and potassium thiocyanate on conditional peak systolic cerebral artery blood velocity in children with sickle cell anemia (SCA).

Methods: Transcranial doppler ultrasonography (TCD) was done on 232 SCA children, and 21 found with conditional peak systolic blood velocity (PSV) of 200-249 cm/s in internal carotid, middle or anterior cerebral arteries. These were randomized to receive omega-3 fatty acids and potassium thiocyanate with standard treatment of SCA (test group, N = 14), or standard treatment only (control group, N = 7).

Effectiveness of a Comprehensive 4-Week Course in HIV Medicine for Postgraduate Doctors at University of Nigeria: A Preservice Education Initiative.

There is a critical shortage of trained human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) providers in resource-limited settings. To strengthen preservice HIV training for postgraduate health care providers, University of Maryland's Institute of Human Virology and Center for Clinical Care and Research Nigeria collaborated with University of Nigeria to plan and implement a comprehensive 4-week course in HIV medicine. The first course was piloted with 30 postgraduate doctors.

"They do not see us as one of them": a qualitative exploration of mentor mothers' working relationships with healthcare workers in rural North-Central Nigeria.

Background: In HIV programs, mentor mothers (MMs) are women living with HIV who provide peer support for other women to navigate HIV care, especially in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT). Nigeria has significant PMTCT program gaps, and in this resource-constrained setting, lay health workers such as MMs serve as task shifting resources for formal healthcare workers and facility-community liaisons for their clients. However, challenging work conditions including tenuous working relationships with healthcare workers can reduce MMs' impact on PMTCT outcomes.

Classical Kaposi's Sarcoma in a Nigerian Farmer: A Case Report.

Classical Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) typically affects elderly men of Mediterranean and Jewish origin. We present an unusual case of classical KS in a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) negative elderly farmer from rural Nigeria. He had multiple brownish nodules and plaques on both lower extremities associated with lymphoedema.

Piperazine protects the rat heart against sudden cardiac death from barium chloride-induced ventricular fibrillation.

Fifteen of 20 Wistar albino rats were treated with various doses of the anthelmintic agent piperazine citrate (15, 30, and 60 mg/kg body weight). All 20 rats were subsequently given barium chloride, 20 mg/kg. The 5 rats (25%) that did not receive piperazine citrate developed ventricular fibrillations after barium chloride was administered to them, via one of the external jugular veins, and died shortly thereafter.

Protein binding and ivermectin estimations in patients with onchocerciasis.

We measured ivermectin in plasma, urine, and saliva of nine patients with onchocerciasis. The aim was to establish pharmacokinetic parameters and to assess the most facile medium for use in monitoring compliance. Binding of ivermectin to plasma proteins in vitro was also investigated.