Neonatal Blood Pressure and Anthropometric Indices in Newborns of Pre-Eclamptic and Normal Mothers in Jos, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Preeclampsia is a significant public health problem associated with increased risk of hypertension for offsprings. We compared the blood pressure and presence of hypertension between neonates born to women with preeclampsia and those with normal pregnancy as well as its relationship to anthropometric indices. METHODS: This is a comparative cross-sectional study of 40 neonates born to women with preeclampsia and those born following normal pregnancy in four tertiary health facilities located in Jos, Nigeria. Anthropometric and blood pressure values were measured within 6-12 hours of delivery using standard protocols. SPSS version 25 was used in all analyses. Statistical significance was taken at p <0.05. RESULTS: The mean birth weight for neonates of preeclamptic women was 2,476.1±810.8 grams, compared with 2,994.2±529.6 grams in babies of normal pregnancy (p=0.002). The mean birth length for neonates of preeclamptic women was 45.4±6.2 cm compared with 49.8±3.1 cm in babies of normal pregnancy (p<0.001). The mean ponderal index (PI) in neonates of preeclamptic women was 2.6±0.6 g/cm3 compared with 2.4±0.4 g/cm3 in babies of normal pregnancy (p=0.17). The mean systolic blood pressure in neonates of women with preeclampsia was 74.53±16.99 mmHg compared with 75.26±15.20 mmHg in neonates following normal pregnancy (p=0.85). The mean diastolic blood pressure in neonates born following preeclampsia was 47.52±15.76 mmHg compared with 45.12±16.9 mmHg in those following normal pregnancy (p=0.46). Six (16%) of the neonates born to women with preeclampsia had systolic hypertension compared with 3(8%) of neonates of women with normal pregnancy. Similarly, 5(14%) of neonates born to women with preeclampsia had diastolic hypertension compared with 2(5%) of neonates of women with normal pregnancy. No significant association between neonatal hypertension and anthropometric indices. CONCLUSION: Newborns of women with preeclampsia have associated higher odds of elevated blood pressure. Elevated blood pressure has no significant relationship to birthweight, length or ponderal index. Early infant blood pressure surveillance is advocated in order to monitor and hence prevent complications ensuing in later life.

Knowledge of adverse events following immunization, its prevalence and actions of mothers of children aged 0-23 months in a tertiary health institution in Jos, North Central Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Adverse Event Following Immunization (AEFI) is any unfavorable event occurring following vaccination related to the vaccine administration and or its handling. AEFI can lead to death or a life-threatening condition requiring hospitalization with or without permanent sequel. Hence, this study was conducted to determine the knowledge of AEFI among mothers of children aged 0-23 months, its prevalence and actions of mothers of following AEFIs. METHODOLOGY: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 400 mothers of children aged 0-23 months between November 2017 and April 2018 using quantitative method of data collection. IBM SPSS version 20 was used for data analysis where chi square was used as a test of association a P-value of ≤ 0.05 considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The mean age of the respondents in the study was 29.0 ±5.3 years with 222 (55.5%) demonstrating good knowledge of AEFI. The prevalence of AEFI was found to be 46.5% with fever as the most experienced AEFI accounting for 90.3% of all cases experienced followed by pain and swelling mentioned by 141 (75.8%) and 26 (14.0%) respectively. Only 26 (14.5) of the mothers were adjudged to have taken appropriate action following the experience of AEFI in their children. Appropriateness of actions taken by the mothers following the occurrence of AEFI was influenced by the mother's employment status (COR= 3.84; 95% CI=1.366-10.575; P=0.007). CONCLUSION: This study has demonstrated a sub-optimal level of knowledge of AEFI among the mothers of children aged 0-23 months with a relatively high self-reported prevalence and poor level of appropriateness of actions taken following AEFI.

Role of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) as a Diagnostic Tool in Paediatric Head and Neck Lymphodenopathy.

A neck mass that is present for longer than a week might be pathological requiring rapid and thorough evaluation. This study aims to evaluate the positive role Fine needle aspiration cytology plays in the diagnosis of pediatric patients with lymphadenopathy in the head and neck region. Fine needle aspiration of lymph nodes was carried out, fixed and stained by cytopathologists for 56 patients at the Jos University Teaching Hospital, 43 (76.8%) were inflammatory and 13 (23.2%) malignant. Reactive hyperplasia (72.1%), acute suppurative (18.6%) and tuberculosis (9.3%) constituted the inflammatory lesions. Non Hodgkins lymphoma was the commonest malignant lesion (76.9%) followed by Hodgkins lymphoma (15.4%), the least being Rhabdomyosarcoma (7.7%). Age range 10-14 years had the highest number of cases (46.4%). Males were 36 (64.3%) while females were 20 (35.7%). All malignant cases diagnosed by FNAC had to undergo confirmation/characterization by histology and had 100% concordance. Thus there were no false positives and specificity was 100%, sensitivity 100%. Of the 43 diagnosed as inflammatory by FNAC, 12 cases which did not resolve after treatment or where patients condition worsened had to undergo surgical biopsy. Out of these only 1 (8.3%) case of fungal infection was misdiagnosed by FNAC. The lymph nodes were generalized 4 (7.1%) and localized in 52 (92.9%). Maximum number of cases 53 (94.6%) had Cervical Lymphadenopathy followed by axillary 2 (3.6%) and inguinal 1 (1.8%). Out of the cervical group of nodes, the upper anterior and upper posterior deep cervical nodes were involved in majority of cases (95%).

Hypolipidemic and antioxidant effects of ethanolic extract from dried calyx of Hibiscus sabdariffa in alloxan-induced diabetic rats.

The present study investigated the hypolipidemic and antioxidant effects of ethanolic extract of Hibiscus sabdariffa L (HSE) in rats treated with alloxan. The results were compared with the standard hypolipidemic drug lovastatin. HSE at doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg elicited dose-dependent effects on the biomarkers evaluated. In alloxan-treated rats, HSE at the dose of 200 mg/kg significantly attenuated the elevated blood glucose concentration by 57%. Lovastatin (10 mg/kg) similarly reduced the glucose level in alloxan-treated rats by 48%. HSE reduced the alloxan-induced increases in cholesterol, very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and atherogenic index by 29%, 36%, 40%, and 32%, respectively while lovastatin decreased the alloxan-induced increases in the parameters by 25%, 23%, 28%, and 31%, respectively. HSE (200 mg/kg) and lovastatin (P < 0.01) decreased the alloxan-induced increases in the lipid profiles both in the liver and the kidneys. HSE at 200 mg/kg attenuated the alloxan-induced decrease in the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and the level of glutathione (GSH) by 36%, 44%, and 64% in the liver and by 20%, 43%, and 85% in the kidney of rats. Lovastatin similarly increased SOD, CAT and GSH by 32%, 29%, and 64% in the liver and by 17%, 26%, and 73% in the kidney of alloxan-treated rats. HSE (200 mg/kg) significantly decreased the alloxan-mediated increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) and protein carbonyl (PC) levels in the liver by 44% and 43% and in the kidneys by 45% and 38%, respectively, while lovastatin decreased the alloxan-induced elevation in MDA and PC in the liver by 42% and 41% and in the kidney by 45% and 33%, respectively. While HSE at a dose of 200 mg/kg and lovastatin normalized the activity of phosphatidate phosphohydrolase in the liver, the extract and lovastatin did not elicit significant changes in the kidney enzyme activity in rats treated with alloxan. Overall, our data demonstrate that HSE possesses strong hypolipidemic as well as antioxidant properties in alloxan-induced diabetic rats and as such Hibiscus sabdariffa could be useful in preventing the development of atherosclerosis and possible related cardiovascular pathologies associated with diabetes.