Comparative Analysis of Left Ventricular Geometry in Adult Nigerians with and without Chronic Kidney Disease: Results from Ibadan CRECKID STUDY.

BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is considered the strongest independent predictor of cardiovascular disease and events among CKD patients. We reported the echocardiographic left ventricular geometry in CKD patients compared to non-CKD hypertensive and apparently healthy controls in Ibadan. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 683 participants in the CRECKID STUDY comprising 220(32.2%) CKD patients, 281(41.1%) non-CKD hypertensive patients and 182(26.6%) healthy controls were included in this analysis. Basic demographic and clinical information with echocardiographic parameters were obtained. RESULTS: Study participants in the non-CKD hypertensive group were on average older than the CKD and the healthy controls (56.2±13.1 vs 47.2±14.6, and 46.8±13.3 years, respectively; p<0.01). Compared with other groups, greater proportions of participants with CKD were men (40.5% vs.38.1% and 21.3%; p<0.0001). The left atrial and left ventricular dimensions were significantly higher in CKD compared with others. LVH was significantly more prevalent among CKD patients (68.2%) compared to hypertensive (43.9%) and normotensive (19.5%) group (p<0.01). The participants with CKD had a greater proportion of abnormal LV geometry with concentric LVH predominating (p<0.0001). Having LVH was associated with lower mean estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (40.6±37.71 vs 67±37.38, p<0.0001). CONCLUSION: In our study, patients with CKD had the highest prevalence of abnormal LV geometry and functions. A unit decrease in eGFR was associated with increased left ventricular mass. Early detection and prompt management of abnormal LV geometry may help in reducing adverse cardiovascular outcome in patients with CKD.

CONTEXTE: L'insuffisance rénale chronique (MRC) est associée àrisque accru de morbidité et de mortalité cardiovasculaires. Gauche l'hypertrophie ventriculaire (LVH) est considérée comme la plus forte prédicteur indépendant des maladies cardiovasculaires et des événements chez Patients atteints d'IRC. Nous avons rapporté l'échocardiographie ventriculaire gauche géométrie chez les patients atteints d'IRC par rapport aux patients hypertendus non atteints d'IRC etcontrôles apparemment sains à Ibadan. MATÉRIAUX ET MÉTHODES: Un total de 683 participants à la ÉTUDE CRECKID portant sur 220 (32.2%) patients atteints d'IRC,281 (41.1 %) patients hypertendus non atteints d'IRC et 182 (26.6 %) en bonne santé ont été inclus dans cette analyse. Démographie et clinique de base des informations avec des paramètres échocardiographiques ont été obtenues. RÉSULTATS: Participants à l'étude dans le groupe hypertendu non atteint d'IRC étaient en moyenne plus âgés que l'IRC et les témoins sains(56.2±13.1 vs 47.2±14.6 et 46.8±13.3 ans, respectivement; p<0.01). Par rapport à d'autres groupes, plus grande proportion de participants avec l'IRC étaient des hommes (40.5 % contre 38.1 % et 21.3 %; p<0.0001). Les dimensions auriculaire gauche et ventriculaire gauche étaient significativement plus élevées chez CKD par rapport à d'autres. La LVH était significativement plus répanduechez les patients atteints d'IRC (68.2 %) par rapport aux patients hypertendus (43.9 %) et le groupe normotensif (19.5 %) (p<0.01). Les participants avec CKD avait une plus grande proportion de géométrie LV anormale avec LVH concentrique prédominante (p<0.0001). Avoir LVH était associé à un débit de filtration glomérulaire estimé moyen plus faible (DFGe)(40.6±37.71 contre 67±37.38, p<0,0001). CONCLUSION: Dans notre étude, les patients atteints d'IRC avaient le plus haut prévalence d'une géométrie et de fonctions LV anormales. Une diminution unitaire de Le DFG était associé à une augmentation de la masse ventriculaire gauche. Tôt la détection et la gestion rapide de la géométrie LV anormale peuvent aider à réduire les résultats cardiovasculaires indésirables chez les patients atteints de CKD. Mots-clés: Maladie rénale chronique, Hypertensives, ventriculaire gauche géométrie.

TRICHOMONAS VAGINALIS INFECTION AMONG ASYMPTOMATIC UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN A PRIVATE UNIVERSITY IN OGUN STATE, NIGERIA.

Background: Trichomonas vaginalis is one of the common non- viral sexually transmitted infections that infect both men and women worldwide. It is largely asymptomatic and its association with the risk of HIV transmission has made it a compelling public health concern. Therefore, this study aims to determine the prevalence and the risk factors associated with T. vaginalis among asymptomatic undergraduate students at Babcock University, Ilisan-Remo, Ogun state, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study involving 246 asymptomatic students of Babcock University between February 2019 to April 2020. Information on socio-demographic and associated risk factors was obtained by structured-questionnaire in an interview-based manner. First-void urine was collected from each participant for the detection of T. vaginalis using the traditional wet prep method and TV in-pouch. The data were analyzed by SPSS Version 23. Results: The overall prevalence of T. vaginalis among the participants was 12.2% (30/246). The use of wet-preparation showed 8.5% (21/246) while the use of TV inpouch yielded 12. 2% (30/246) prevalence of positive results. The results of the wet prep in comparison to the in-pouch technique was statistically significant among the study population. (P < 0.001). Sexual intercourse, use of hormonal contraceptives and practice of internet-based sex seeking behaviour were factors that had increase likelihood of T. vaginalis infection on multivariate analysis. Conclusion: The occurrence of T. vaginalis and, its associated risk factors among the asymptomatic population in this study is very high. We advocate for the screening of young people.

EVALUATION OF PHENOTYPIC AND MOLECULAR TECHNIQUE IN THE DETECTION OF EXTENDED SPECTRUM BETA-LACTAMASE (ESBL)-PRODUCING GRAM NEGATIVE BACILLI IN OGUN STATE, NIGERIA.

Background: Molecular diagnosis though faster and more sensitive than phenotypic techniques, is more expensive. Resource limited settings are thus limited to using more of phenotypic rather than molecular methods in the routine detection of Extended Spectrum beta lactamases (ESBL). Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the performance of double disc synergy test (DSST) and Epsilometer (E) test with Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and to detect the risk factors associated with ESBL producing organisms among in-patients at Babcock University Teaching Hospital, Ilishan-Remo, Nigeria. Methodology: Hospital-based cross-sectional study in which bacterial isolates of 165 in-patients were collected fromMarch 2018 to September 2019. The isolates were evaluated for ESBL production by the use of DDST, Etest and PCR. The performance evaluation was done. Questionnaire was used to assess the risk factors associated with ESBL, IBM SPSS Version 23 was used to analyze the data. Results: The participants' isolates yielded 50/165 (30.3%) that were ESBL positive by DDST, 47/165 (28.9%) by E-test and 48/165(29.1%) by PCR. Sensitivity and specificity of DSST was 100% and 98.3% while that of E-test was 98% and 100% respectively. Age, antibiotics intake without prescription, being on ventilator, urethral catheterization and nasogastric tubes were all significantly associated with presence of ESBL (p value <0.05). Conclusion: Phenotypic tests remain reliable for the routine detection of ESBL in the absence of molecular methods. Rational use of instrumentation and antibiotics is advocated based on the risk factors detected from this study.

Self-reported Sleep Disorder and Ambulatory Blood Pressure Phenotypes in Patients with or without Chronic Kidney Disease: Findings from Ibadan CRECKID Study.

BACKGROUND: Sleep disordered breathing has been closely linked to pathogenesis, poor control of hypertension, and progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Though hypertension and CKD are highly prevalent in Nigeria, the effects of sleep disorders on CKD and hypertension phenotypes have not been widely studied. This study investigated the relationship between self-reported sleep disorders, and ambulatory blood pressure phenotypes in patients with hypertension and those with or without CKD. METHODS: Participants aged 18 years and above who consented were recruited into the study. Anthropometric measurements including height, weight, and waist and hip circumferences were obtained, Office/clinic hypertension was defined as SBP =140mmHg and/or DBP =90mmHg or being on pharmacological treatment for hypertension. 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring were done. Obstructive sleep apnea was assessed using Stop Bang questionnaire. Estimated GFR was calculated using CKD-EPI Creatinine 2Equation and CKD was defined as eGFR<60ml/min/1.73m . RESULTS: A total of three hundred and forty-nine (349) patients were enrolled for the study: 175 males and 174 females. Moderate to severe risk for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) was observed in 51.4% of patients with CKD, 58.5% of hypertensive and 17.3% of apparently healthy participants. Male participants were more likely than female patients to have moderate and high OSA risk (41.7% vs 32.8%) and (10.3% vs 4.6%) respectively. Compared with other groups, CKD patients had the highest office and ambulatory blood pressure parameters; p<0.0001. CONCLUSION: This study has demonstrated that obstructive sleep apnoea is prevalent among patients with chronic kidney disease and hypertension. Furthermore, the phenotypes of hypertension are accentuated in CKD and therefore, OSA may well be an important risk factor for CKD.

ASSESSMENT OF MEASURES OF ADIPOSITY THAT CORRELATE WITH BLOOD PRESSURE AMONG HYPERTENSIVE AFRICANS.

BACKGROUND: Studies differ on which anthropometric measure of adiposity shows good correlation with cardiovascular diseases. In this study, we evaluated the effects of common epidemiological measures of adiposity as a correlate of elevated blood pressure in an African population. METHODOLOGY: The study was carried out between June 2009 and December 2011 at the medical out-patient department of a tertiary healthcare center in Nigeria. Correlation analysis was used to assess the relationship between blood pressure and body mass index (BMI), waist to height ratio (WHtR), and waist circumference (WC). RESULTS: A total of 1,416 Hypertensives comprising 1090 (77%) adult females recruited over two and half years. Women were significantly older (49.2±8.1 vs. 48.0±10.0 years, p=0.039) and shorter (1.6±6.3 vs 1.7±6.8 meters, p<0.0001) when compared with men. Blood pressure parameters were comparable between women and men. Approximately 1 out of 5 participants had good blood pressure control with no gender difference. Anthropometric measurements showed that 446(32%) were overweight, 404(29%) obese and 40(3%) were morbidly obese. Compared with their male counterparts, females were significantly more likely to be obese (P<0.0001). Similarly, 51.6% of the subjects had abdominal obesity, with female preponderance (P<0.0001). Likewise, a greater proportion of women had substantially higher measured waist circumference risk. Compared with other measures of adiposity, body mass index correlated best with diastolic blood pressure in both gender (P< 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study adds to the evidence that obesity is a major cardiovascular risk factor. BMI, as a measure of adiposity, was found to correlate best with blood pressure. These findings support other observations in other populations that BMI rather than waist to height ratio (WHtR), and waist circumference (WC) is a better correlate of hypertension.

The inheritance of juvenile onset primary open angle glaucoma.

Juvenile onset open angle glaucoma (JOAG) affects patients before 40 years of age, who present with high intraocular pressure and deep steep cupping of the optic nerve head. While it was considered to be inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion, recent studies have shown an autosomal recessive pattern as well as sporadic occurrence of the disease in several families. In this review, we analyze the genetic basis of the disease along with common mutations and their association with JOAG. We also analyzed the inheritance patterns in a large group of unrelated JOAG patients (n = 336) from Northern India wherein the prevalence of familial occurrence was assessed and segregation analysis performed, to determine the mode of inheritance.

Heritability, genetic correlation and linkage to the 9p21.3 region of mixed platelet-leukocyte conjugates in families with and without early myocardial infarction.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Variations in mixed platelet-leukocyte conjugate formation in human whole blood could be genetically determined. We quantified platelet and leukocyte activation and interaction in families with or without early myocardial infarction and evaluated their heritability, genetic correlation and linkage to the 9p21.3 region. METHODS AND RESULTS: The study population included 739 subjects (≥ 15 years old) from 54 large pedigrees, 23 with and 31 without familial myocardial infarction. Mixed platelet-leukocyte conjugates and markers of platelet or leukocyte activation (P-selectin, CD11b and L-selectin surface expression) were measured both before and after in vitro blood stimulation with collagen-ADP. All traits had significant genetic components (17.5-65.3% of the phenotypic variability), while shared household effects (0-39.6%) and environmental covariates (0-10.2%) tended to be smaller. Stimulated platelet-polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) and platelet-monocyte conjugates showed the highest linkage to the 9p21.3 region (LOD = 0.94 and 1.33, respectively; empirical p value = 0.017 and 0.009). PMN markers resulted strongly genetically correlated between them in bivariate analysis among pairs of quantitative traits. CONCLUSION: This study supports a genetic regulation of human mixed platelet-leukocyte conjugates.

Patterns of sodium and potassium excretion and blood pressure in the African Diaspora.

Habitual levels of dietary sodium and potassium are correlated with age-related increases in blood pressure (BP) and likely have a role in this phenomenon. Although extensive published evidence exists from randomized trials, relatively few large-scale community surveys with multiple 24-h urine collections have been reported. We obtained three 24-h samples from 2704 individuals from Nigeria, Jamaica and the United States to evaluate patterns of intake and within-person relationships with BP. The average (±s.d.) age and weight of the participants across all the three sites were 39.9±8.6 years and 76.1±21.2 kg, respectively, and 55% of the total participants were females. Sodium excretion increased across the East-West gradient (for example, 123.9±54.6, 134.1±48.8, 176.6±71.0 (±s.d.) mmol, Nigeria, Jamaica and US, respectively), whereas potassium was essentially unchanged (for example, 46.3±22.9, 40.7±16.1, 44.7±16.4 (±s.d.) mmol, respectively). In multivariate analyses both sodium (positively) and potassium (negatively) were strongly correlated with BP (P<0.001); quantitatively the association was stronger, and more consistent in each site individually, for potassium. The within-population day-to-day variation was also greater for sodium than for potassium. Among each population group, a significant correlation was observed between sodium and urine volume, supporting the prior finding of sodium as a determinant of fluid intake in free-living individuals. These data confirm the consistency with the possible role of dietary electrolytes as hypertension risk factors, reinforcing the relevance of potassium in these populations.

Association of common DNA sequence variants at 33 genetic loci with blood lipids in individuals of African ancestry from Jamaica.

The relevance of loci associated with blood lipids recently identified in European populations in individuals of African ancestry is unknown. We tested association between lipid traits and 36 previously described single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 1,466 individuals of African ancestry from Spanish Town, Jamaica. For the same allele and effect direction as observed in individuals of European ancestry, SNPs at three loci (1p13, 2p21, and 19p13) showed statistically significant association (p < 0.05) with LDL, two loci (11q12 and 20q13) showed association with HDL cholesterol, and two loci (11q12 and 2p24) showed association with triglycerides. The most significant association was between a SNP at 1p13 and LDL cholesterol (p = 4.6 × 10(-8)). This SNP is in a linkage disequilibrium region containing four genes (CELSR2, PSRC1, MYBPHL, and SORT1) and was recently shown to relate to risk for myocardial infarction. Overall, the results of this study suggest that much of the genetic variation which influences blood lipids is shared across ethnic groups.

Latent common genetic components of obesity traits.

BACKGROUND: Obesity is rapidly becoming a global epidemic. Unlike many complex human diseases, obesity is defined not just by a single trait or phenotype, but jointly by measures of anthropometry and metabolic status. METHODS: We applied maximum likelihood factor analysis to identify common latent factors underlying observed covariance in multiple obesity-related measures. Both the genetic components and the mode of inheritance of the common factors were evaluated. A total of 1775 participants from 590 families for whom measures on obesity-related traits were available were included in this study. RESULTS: The average age of participants was 37 years, 39% of the participants were obese (body mass index >or= 30.0 kg/m(2)) and 26% were overweight (body mass index 25.0-29.9 kg/m(2)). Two latent common factors jointly accounting for over 99% of the correlations among obesity-related traits were identified. Complex segregation analysis of the age- and sex-adjusted latent factors provide evidence for a Mendelian mode of inheritance of major genetic effect with heritability estimates of 40.4 and 47.5% for the first and second factors, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide a support for multivariate-based approach for investigating pleiotropic effects on obesity-related traits, which can be applied in both genetic linkage and association mapping.