Effect of artemether on hematological parameters of healthy and uninfected adult Wistar rats.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of short term artemether administration on some blood parameters in adult male Wistar rats. METHODS: Sixty five albino rats with body weight of 190-220 g were used for the four-phased study. The animals were randomly divided into five groups. The first-four groups of 15 rats were further divided into 3 subgroups of 5 rats. The drug was administered orally at sub-optimal, therapeutic, and high doses of 25, 50 and 75 mg/kg bw, respectively to the rats for 1 day, 2 days and 3 days. Blood samples were collected by cardio-puncture from the rats for hematology at the end of each phase. The last group served as control, and they were given water ad libitum. RESULTS: Artemether caused significant reduction (P<0.05) of the hematological profile of the animals in a dose dependent manner. Discontinuation of the drug use however showed gradual recovery of the depressed indices of the blood parameters. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that artemether can induce reversible changes in hematological profiles of rats by extension man. This can probably aggravate anemia when artemether is administered to malaria patients. Hence, the study supports the use of the drug with caution especially in patients prone to anemic tendencies.

Resolution pattern of jaundice among children presenting with severe malaria in rural South-West Nigeria.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the pattern of jaundice resolution among children with severe malaria treated with quinine and artemether. METHODS: Thirty two children who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were recruited for the study from two hospitals with intensive care facilities. They were divided into two groups; 'Q' and 'A', receiving quinine and artemether, respectively. Jaundice was assessed by clinical examination. RESULTS: Sixteen out of 32 children recruited (representing 50%) presented with jaundice on the day of recruitment. The mean age was (7.00°C2.56) years. On day 3, four patients in 'A' and six patients in 'Q' had jaundice. By day 7, no child had jaundice. CONCLUSION: The study has shown that both drugs resolve jaundice although artemether relatively resolves it faster by the third day.

Brand variations in the physicochemical properties of metronidazole tablets.

This study investigated possible variations in the physiochemical properties of seven brands of metronidazole tablets obtained from different retail pharmacy outlets in Nigeria. The different brands were subjected to various tests such as uniformity of weight, crushing strength, friability, disintegration and dissolution. Chemical assays were also carried out on the tablets. Five of the seven brands of metronidazole tablets passed all British Pharmacopoeia tests; while brand G failed the chemical assay test and brand A failed both the chemical assay and test for friability. Brand A also had the lowest crushing strength which was below the recommended minimum. There was a significant difference (p < 0.001) in the values obtained for the crushing strength of the various brands while no significant difference (p > 0.05) in the friability values. The results show that five of the seven brands are physically and chemically equivalent and could be interchanged irrespective of the brands, while two cannot. The study reinforces the need for constant monitoring of different brands of the same product to ensure quality and consequent efficacy.

The influence of a vegetarian diet on haemostatic risk factors for cardiovascular disease in Africans.

Dietary habits have been implicated in the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases. Elevated plasma fibrinogen levels and decreased fibrinolytic activity have been identified as major independent cardiovascular risk factors. In this study, we compared the blood pressure, plasma fibrinogen concentration, and fibrinolytic activity of 40 nonvegetarians (NON-VEGs) with 36 vegetarians (8 VEGs and 28 SEMI-VEGs). The latter group consisted of students and lecturers of the Adventist Seminary Institute of West Africa, Ilishan Remo. All subjects had blood pressures below 140/90 mmHg, no underlying haemostatic disorders and were not on any medical treatment. The NON-VEGs had significantly decreased fibrinolytic activity (p<0.001) and increased plasma fibrinogen levels (p<0.001) compared with the SEMI-VEGs and VEGs. There were no significant differences between the blood pressure levels of the three groups, although the NON-VEGs had lower diastolic blood pressures. It is concluded that black African Seventh-Day Adventists who follow a vegetarian diet may be protected against premature cardiovascular disease because of beneficial dietary effects on plasma fibrinogen levels and fibrinolytic activity.

Blood pressure and blood lipid levels among vegetarian, semi-vegetarian, and non-vegetarian native Africans.

BACKGROUND: Several epidemiological studies have implicated hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridaemia as a dietary risk factor in the etiology of vascular disease. To date, there are virtually no blood lipid data available for Negroid Black African Seventh-Day Adventist vegetarians. This study was undertaken to gain a preliminary and better understanding of the relationships between BP, blood lipids, and diets in adults at the Seventh-Day Adventist Seminary of West Africa, Ilisan-Remo, Nigeria. METHODS: Three randomly selected groups of the Nigerian populace with different dietary habits were investigated. The Seventh-Day Adventist Seminary of West Africa was the study area. Anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, serum cholesterol, triglycerides, and serum glucose were estimated using standard methods. FINDINGS: The vegetarians (VEGs) had significantly lower body weight 75.0 +/- 1.9 kg than the semi-vegetarians (SEMI-VEGs) 77.3 +/- 1.8 kg (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference between the blood pressure (BP) of the three groups studied, although the VEGs exhibited lower systolic BP. The VEGs had significantly lower serum total cholesterol and triglycerides (p < 0.05), than non-vegetarians (NON-VEGs). The SEMI-VEGs had blood triglycerides values in between NON-VEGs and VEGs levels but these were not significant. There were no differences in blood glucose in the three groups. CONCLUSIONS: The vegetarian diet as well as the African natural diet are associated with lower levels of important cardiovascular disease risk factors. The significantly lower cardiovascular disease risk factors in vegetarian African Adventists could be a protective measure against the development of premature IHD and CVD incidence.