ORTHODONTIC NEEDS OF PATIENTS WITH CLEFT LIP AND PALATE IN ENUGU, FIVE YEARS POST REPAIR.

BACKGROUND: Orthodontists play an integral role in the management of cleft lip and palate anomaly. This study looks at the frequency of anomalies amenable to orthodontics in patients who have had surgery and the effect of early or late surgical intervention. METHODOLOGY: Patients aged 0-5 years with cleft of the lip and/or palate who were operated on by the plastic surgeon at the Good Shepherd Specialist Hospital, Enugu between 1st July 2011 and 30th June 2014, were recalled after a minimum of five years post-surgery and examined to determine the absence or presence of dental anomalies, amenable to orthodontic treatment, which have arisen since surgical repair. Descriptive statistics and t-test were used for data analysis and significance was at 0.05. RESULTS: Thirty-one children were operated upon in the period under review. Seventeen had timely (three months or less) lip repair. Seven had timely palate repair (18 months or less). Thirteen patients were successfully recalled, 12 had cleft lip repair while one had cleft palate repair. Repair was timely in 10 (83.3%) of the 12 that had lip repair with a mean frequency of four dental anomalies, while the two (16.7%) that had late repair had a mean frequency of five dental anomalies and this was not statistically significant (P value=0.711). The only isolated cleft palate patient successfully recalled had a late repair. All 13 patients had at least four dental anomalies amenable to orthodontics. Hypoplastic maxilla were the most commonly occurring (eight patients, 61.54%) dental anomaly amenable to orthodontic treatment. None of the patients had a clinically visible supernumerary tooth. Out of 13 patients reviewed, sis were males with a mean frequency of four dental anomalies while seven were females, also with a mean frequency of four dental anomalies. This was not significant (P-value=0.553). CONCLUSION: There is need for the long term Orthodontic follow up of cleft lip and palate patients. The orthodontic management of dental anomaly should, therefore, be central in the planning and treatment of patients with cleft lip and palate.

Low Levels of some Nutritional Parameters of Pregnant Women in a Rural Community of South East Nigeria: Implications for the Attainment of the Millennium Developmental Goal

In developing countries; under nutrition is common; and this plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of malaria and anemia. Indeed it has been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. Unfortunately; published evidence concerning the situation is lacking. Objectives: To evaluate some nutritional function indices of pregnant women in a rural Nigerian community. Subjects and Methods: This is a cross sectional study involving of 171 pregnant women from a rural area in South-eastern Nigeria. They included 72 and 99 women in their second and third trimesters respectively. The control group was of 60 women; matched in age; parity and socioeconomic conditions; non-pregnant; non-menstruating and non lactating apparently healthy women. The parameters measured by standard methods included serum iron; total proteins; albumin; globulin; packed cell volume and hemoglobin. Results: The results obtained from control group; second and third trimesters; recorded as Mean (SEM) were 134.60(3.12) ?g/L; 101.20(4.48) ?g/L and 91.87(3.42) ?g/L respectively for iron; 69.12(0.80) g/L; 63.60(0.71) g/L and 57.74(0.75) g/L for total proteins; 42.95(0.92) g/L; 35.74(1.00) g/L and 35.26(0.64) g/L for albumin; 26.77(1.00) g/L; 27.78(1.07) g/L and 22.93(0.88) g/L for globulin; 32.80(0.36); 27.92(0.37) and 27.73(0.34) for packed cell volume; and 11.25(0.11) g/L; 9.59(0.13) g/L and 9.57(0.14) g/L for hemoglobin respectively. These results showed that all the parameters decreased significantly in pregnancy (P0.001) except globulin that did not show immediate; significant decrease. Conclusion: There is a general decrease in the nutrition parameters studied among the pregnant women from our study area; indicating under-nutrition. Urgent measures should be taken to improve the nutritional status of rural dwellers especially the antioxidant micronutrients

Distribution of ABO and RH genes in Nigeria.

Phenotype and gene frequencies of ABO and RH (D) systems were studied in 37,846 random blood donors in five zone of Nigeria (South West) (Yoruba)--Zone A, North West (Hausa-Fulani)--Zone B, Plateau (Birom)--Zone C, South East (Igbo)--Zone D and North East (Kanuri)--Zone E). We assessed the micro differences of genetic markers of ABO and RH blood groups between the ethnic groups in the ABO and RH blood group systems. Gene frequencies were ABO *O = 0.7068, ABO *A = 0.1490, ABO *B = 0.1443, RH *D = 0.8150 and results are similar to those earlier reported. Phenotype frequencies of the blood groups were in agreement with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium expectations, except in two zones B and C where deviation was thought to be due to a high frequency of blood group AB.