Assessment of Serum Uric Acid, Urea, and Glucose Levels and Associated Factors among Breast Cancer Patients Attending A Tertiary Hospital in Bahirdar, Ethiopia: A Comparative CrossSectional Study

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is currently become a major public health problem in both developed and developing regions, it is one of the most common surgical problems in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study assessed serum uric acid, urea, and glucose levels and associated factors among benign, malignant breast cancer patients and apparently healthy women attending at Felege-Hiwot comprehensive Specialized Hospital. METHODS: Hospital based comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among benign, malignant breast cancer patients and apparently healthy women attending at Felege-Hiwot Comprehensive Specialized Hospital. Out of 178 study participants 66 benign and 23 malignant fine needle aspirate cytology confirmed breast cancer patients and 89 apparently healthy women, included. Multivariable logistic regression models used to measure the strength of associations. A P value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Majority of the study participants, 81(91%) controls, 55(83.3%) benign, and 17(73.9%) malignant cases were premenopausal. Serum glucos144.47±74.35 and uric acid 6.84±2.54 levels were significantly elevated in malignant cases than control (p-value< 0.05). Patients with malignant status were 4.38 times more likely to have hyperglycemia (AOR=4.38, 95%CI: 1.98-19.97) and 5.53 times more likely have hyperuricemia (AOR=20.43-95% CI: 6.80- 61.23), 4 times more likely to have uremia (AOR=4.09, 95% CI: 1.06-15.91) compared to apparently healthy women. CONCLUSION: Serum glucose, and uric acid levels were significantly higher in malignant and benign cases compared with apparently healthy women. Family history of breast cancer, body mass index, systolic hypertension, comorbidity, residence and menopausal status were significantly associated with hyperglycemia, uremia and hyperuricemia.

Turnaround time for electrolytes, urea, and creatinine in a clinical laboratory

Background: Timeliness is expressed as the turnaround time and is often used by the clinician as a benchmark for laboratory performance.Clinicians depend on fast turnaround time to achieve early diagnosis and treatment of their patients and early patient discharge from departments or hospital in-patient services. Determination of the turnaround time would enable a critical self- appraisal of our laboratory services and improve our turnaround time. Objective: This study assessed the turnaround time for electrolytes, urea and creatinine tests from the emergency departments of the hospital. Materials and Methods: An observational study was conducted between September and October 2016 amongst patients from the Intensive Care Unit, Accident and Emergency Department and Children Emergency Room, whose blood specimens were received at the Chemical Pathology Department foremergencyelectrolytes, urea and creatinine tests. A total of 122 specimens were randomly selected and the average time taken to complete each phase was measuredand the overall turnaround time calculated. Data was analysed using statistics software SPSS (version 13.5). Results: Audited cases consisted of 20 (16.4%) specimens from the Intensive Care Unit, 40 (32.8%) from the Children Emergency Room and 62 (50.8%) from the Accident and Emergency Department. The average turnaround time for the Accident and Emergency Department, Intensive Care Unit, and Children Emergency room were 6.5hours, 4.2hours and 5.2hours respectively. Conclusion: This study revealed that the turnaround time for electrolytes, urea and creatinine for patients in the emergency units is quite long and requires some improvement which could be done with the use of Laboratory Information System to track specimens from the various emergency units of the hospital

Characterization of Ureolytic Bacteria from Nitrogenous Waste Dumps in Port Harcourt Nigeria

Three nitrogenous dump-sites viz. urinary spots; poultry dung compost and nitrogenous fertilizer storage site; and a non-nitrogenous site (as control) in Port Harcourt Metropolis; Rivers State of Nigeria; were characterised for their aerobic ureolytic bacteria isolates. The nitrogenous waste sites compared with the non-nitrogenous site clearly indicated that the TCFU of bacteria was significantly lowered as a result of dumping of all forms of nitrogenous wastes (ANOVA P = 0.019). Tentatively and cumulatively identified 10 randomly isolated aerobic bacterial species from the sites included Staphylococcus 5(12.5)*; Streptococcus 2(5.0); Proteus 8(20.0); Serratia 2(5.0); Flavobacterium /Xanthomonas 3(7.5); Escherichia coli 4(10.0); Klebsiella /Enterobacter 2(5.0) and Pseudomonas 4(10.0); Bacillus and other Gram-positive rods 10(25.0) were frequently isolated in all the samples. From these isolates; urease activity was more elaborated in the nitrogenous fertilizer dump-site in which three isolates of Proteus sp and three of Pseudomonas sp elaborated urease activity. While urease activity was also elaborated by Proteus (2 isolates) and the Klebsiella /Enterobacter (one isolate) in the urinary spot only (2 isolates) of Proteus elaborated urease activity in the poultry-dung site. It was not clear if there were physiological factors arising from human urine and poultry dung that might have limited the activity Pseudomonas sp to the nitrogenous fertilizer only. The probable source of variability in the type of urea degrading bacterial isolated from the sites and the effect of compromising microbiological environmental cleansing capability were discussed

Urea and Creatinine Clearances in the Three Trimesters of Pregnancy

The aim of this study was to determine the creatinine and urea clearances; as indices of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) during the three trimesters of pregnancy. A total of 108 healthy subjects between the ages of 18 and 37years were divided into non-pregnant women (28+5years; n=30); 1st trimester of pregnancy (28+5years; n=18); 2nd trimester of pregnancy (28+4years; n=30). Serum and urine samples were collected at mid-trimester period. Creatinine and urea concentrations in serum and urine were determined using Jaffe's method for creatinine and the urease (Ccr) and urea clearance (Uurea) in the three trimesters when compared with the non-pregnancy value. The increase in creatinine clearance peaked in the second trimester (64.76+1.37 (non-pregnancy vs. 2nd trimester); while the increases of 34.50+3.68ml/min (non-pregnancy vs. 1st trimester); and 38.63+1.56 (nonpregnancy vs. 3rd trimester) were similar. These increases in Ccr were associated with a significant fall (p0.01) in all trimesters of pregnancy. Il is conclued that GFR increases in pregnancy until term; with a peak at the seond trimester

Dose-dependent amelioration of gentamicin-Induced nephrotoxicity in adult swiss albino rats by vitamin B-complex - A preliminary study

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of vitamin B-complex on the nephrotoxicity of gentamicin in an established rat model. Methods: Adult Swiss albino rats weighing 170±20g were divided into 4 groups of 4 rats each. Each group was given one of the following: placebo injection (Control), 80mg/kg of gentamicin sulphate alone or with 1.5ml/kg/3ml/kg body weight of vitamin B-complex (intramuscular) containing 10mg thiamine, 1.5mg riboflavin and 1.0mg pyridoxal-6-phosphate per ml. Results: In the Swiss albino rats, daily intramuscular 80mg/kg gentamicin sulphate significantly (p<0.05) and consistently produced biochemical signs of nephrotoxicity after 5 days. Also, 1.5 ml/kg of B-complex significantly (p<0.05) ameliorated the rate and extent of increase in serum urea and creatine while 3ml/kg of the same drug completely prevented the increase in serum urea and creatine in this model. Conclusion: Vitamin B-complex dose-dependently ameliorated gentamicin-induced nephrotoxicity in adult Swiss albino rats when given intramuscularly. This finding may have important clinical utility