RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Hypertension is an important public health concern that is claiming millions of lives worldwide. In sub-Saharan African countries, where some of the highest prevalence rates are being recorded, sufficient attention has not been given to its control. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the association and predictive potential of different anthropometric and bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) measures for hypertension. METHODS: A total of 812 individuals (204 men and 608 women) were enrolled, and their blood pressure measurement was determined. Direct anthropometric measures (weight, height, waist circumference (WC), and hip circumference) and derived anthropometric measures (body mass index, conicity index, abdominal volume index (AVI), and body adiposity index) were determined. BIA indices investigated included visceral fat level (VF), percentage body fat (%BF), resting metabolic rate (RMR), and skeletal muscle mass. RESULTS: A prevalence of 31.28% was observed for hypertension in the total study population, with males having a slightly higher prevalence than females. Except for the skeletal muscle mass, all the other indices measured showed an increasing trend from normotension to prehypertension and hypertension. Age and visceral fat level showed the highest correlation with systolic blood pressure for both genders. Receiver operator characteristic analysis showed that age was the best predictor of hypertension in both genders, whereas, in predicting prehypertension, RMR was the best predictor in males, and WC was the best predictor in females. VF, WC, and AVI were other good predictors of hypertension in this study population. However, BMI and % BF had a low predictive value for hypertension. CONCLUSION: The result of this study shows that within this study population in addition to age, measures of central obesity rather than general obesity are the likely drivers of the hypertension epidemic; thus, measures aimed at controlling central obesity may offer some therapeutic and preventive advantage.
RESUMO
Microbial etiology of diarrhea is a significant cause of death, especially in children in developing countries. The presence of microbes that are resistant to current treatment options for diarrhea suggests the need to find newer antimicrobial agents for treatment. Therefore, this study focused on investigating the antimicrobial effect of some Ghanaian chewing sticks commonly used for oral hygiene, Azadirachta indica, Garcinia afzelii, and Garcinia kola, against selected diarrhea-causing organisms. From the stem and bark of each plant, 70% methanolic extract was experimented on Salmonella and Shigella species, namely, Shigella sonnei, Shigella flexeneri, Salmonella typhinirium enterica, Salmonella typhi attenuated, and Klebsiella oxytoca for microbial susceptibility using the agar well diffusion method. Additionally, the antioxidant profile of the methanolic extracts were investigated using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical, 2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic) acid (ABTS) scavenging activities, and ferric-reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) assays, while the total polyphenolic content was determined using the Folin-Ciocalteau reagent. G. afzelii and A. indica stem demonstrated the highest antimicrobial effect, inhibiting the growth of all test organisms. Additionally, the extracts demonstrated high antioxidant potential and were found to possess significant amounts of phenolic compounds. Therefore, methanolic extracts of G. afzelii and A. indica stem are promising candidates for the identification of safe novel compounds to mitigate diarrheal diseases.
