RESUMO
Background: Nowadays, myocardial infarction has been regarded as one of the chronic diseases with increasing mortality rate worldwide. The use of medicinal plants in the treatment of this chronic disease is gaining wide acceptance globally. Materials and Methods: This study was carried out to evaluate the cardio-protective effect of the leaf extract of A. paniculata in isoproterenol-induced myocardial infarction. Fresh green leaves of A paniculata were collected from the Faculty of Agriculture farmland, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. The plant was identified and authenticated at the Department of Botany, Nnamdi Azikiwe University and a voucher specimen was deposited at the herbarium accordingly. The shredded, air-dried sample was then pulverized and weighed. Solvent-solvent (ethanol and water) (7:3) was used for extraction via maceration for 72 hr. The filtrate was evaporated to dryness to obtain the ethanol extract which was used for further bioassay study. The bioactive constituents of the plant extract were quantitatively analyzed by Gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The animals were administered with the extract of A. paniculata orally for seven days at a divided dose of 100 mg/kg, 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg body weights. On the eight day, myocardial infarction was induced through subcutaneous administration of isoproterenol at a dose of 150 mg/kg/day diluted in 2 ml of saline on two consecutive days. Subsequently, the blood pressures were monitored and blood collected for bioassay studies. Results: The results of the study showed that the leaf extract of A. paniculata was rich in 2,5-Octadecadiynoic acid, methyl ester (28.21%); 1,2,3,5-Cyclohexanetetrol,(1à,2á,3à,5á)- (15.10 %) and 10-12-Pentacosadiynoic acid (13.05%). The findings also showed a significant decrease (p>0.05) in the Mean arterial blood pressure, heart rate, aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase, creatinine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase activities of the treatment group compared with the untreated control group while the antioxidant (superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione) activities were significantly increased in the treatment group, compared with the untreated control group. Conclusion: The findings of this work have shown that leaf of A. paniculata was rich in bioactive compounds which could be synthesized to produce plant based products to combat cardiovascular diseases especially myocardial infarction.
RESUMO
Background: Sickle cell disease (SCD) patients have mechanisms that are thought to protect them more than apparently normal individuals from iron deficiency. However, evidence exists that in SCD, hypoferritinaemia may be more prevalent than hyperferitinaemia, especially in developing countries. Methods: Serum ferritin (SF) levels were measured - using an ELISA based kit (Biocheck, USA), and disease severity calculated in fifty- two asymptomatic steady state (ASS) SCD patients; who were iron chelation naive and both parameters correlated. Erythrocyte morphology and malaria parasitaemia were assessed, patients with parasitaemia were excluded. 64 apparently normal individuals in the same environment and socioeconomic group were also assessed as above and served as controls. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 20. Results were expressed as means and standard error of mean. Level of significance was set at p= 0.05. Results: 30.7% and 7.6% of the test subjects had hypoferritinaemia and hyperferritinaemia respectively compared to controls, where 56% had hypoferritinaemia and none had hyperferritinaemia. Erythrocyte morphology showed hypochromia and microcytosis to different degrees in all test subjects assessed: 1+ (10.5%), 2+ (63.2%) and 3+ (26.3%), while only 5% of controls had hypochromia and microcytosis. Blood transfusion and age did not seem to significantly affect SF levels (p= 0.65 and 0.93) respectively. SF levels increased progressively with disease severity but didn’t reach statistical significance (p=0.29). Conclusion: The results suggest that hypoferritinaemia is more prevalent than hyperferitinaemia, and that SF levels may be a useful index for computing an objective severity score in SCD management. Anaemia of chronic inflammation may cause a significant part of the anaemia in SCD.
RESUMO
Background: The prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is increasing globally. Studies on this subject; especially in the older age groups are difficult to come by in developing countries like Nigeria. Aim: The aim of this study; therefore; is to estimate the prevalence of CKD in retired and elderly Nigerian subjects. Subjects and Methods: A total of 170 retired subjects were recruited for the study. Anthropometric measurements were carried out and blood samples taken for serum urea and creatinine estimation. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was determined using software by Kidney Health Australia. The figures obtained thereafter were multiplied by 1.21 to accommodate for the black race. Differences between subjects were tested; using Chi-squared test for categorical data; while two tailed unpaired t-test was used for comparison of means. A significant difference was defined as (P 0.05) Results: A total of 170 subjects with age ranged between 50 and 86 years; with a mean age of 68.1 (7.7) years (95 confidence interval [CI