Incidence and Evaluation of Risk Factors of Microalbuminuria among Diabetics and Non-Diabetics in Lagos; Nigeria

Contrary to African diabetic situation; clinical studies in developed countries have recognized microalbuminuria as a risk factor of renal dysfunction and pathogenic agent for deterioration of diabetes mellitus in diabetic and non-diabetic populations. This clinical understanding has enabled optimization of clinical practices that improve prognosis of diabetic management and reduce susceptibility to renal disease. This present study has investigated the incidence and risks of microalbuminuria in 115 diabetic patients aged 5 - 65 years with illness duration of 1 yr; 1 - 5 yr and 5 yr and 50 age and sex-matched non-diabetic subjects attending General Hospitals; Lagos; Nigeria. Blood pressures (SBP et DBP) and plasma levels of total cholesterol (TC); triglycerides (TAG); low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL-C) as well as body mass index (BMI) were determined to establish associations with microalbuminuria. The incidence of microalbuminuria was found to be 22.2; 31.6 and 59.1 (P 0.05) among the diabetic groups; suggesting a linear relationship with the duration of diabetes in these patients. 26 of non-diabetics had microalbuminuria of no significant disparity (P 0.05) when compared to diabetics of 1 yr-old duration. Multiple regression analyses indicate significant association (P 0.05) between SBP; DBP; TC; LDL-C and microalbuminuria in diabetic 5 yr. While all the atherogenic parameters except LDL-C associate strongly (P 0.05) with microalbuminuria in diabetics of 1 - 5 yr. The lipid atherogenic components minus TAG were found to relate strongly with microalbuminuria in diabetics of 1yr duration. Elevated BMI strongly predicts the risk of microalbuminuria in the non-diabetics examined

Application of polymerase chain reaction to the prenatal diagnosis of sickle cell anaemia in Nigeria.

Although sickle-cell disease is very common in Nigeria, control by prenatal testing is lacking. The polymerase chain reaction-based technology combined with chorionic villi sampling has enabled us to offer prenatal diagnosis of sickle cell disease to 50 pregnant women who were at risk of bearing children with sickle cell anaemia. DNA was extracted from the villus and subjected to either PCR and restriction enzyme (Dde I) analysis (36 samples) or to PCR-ARMS procedure (12 samples) or to both procedures when the results by the first procedure were equivocal (2 samples). The genotypic distribution was 13AA, 25AS and 11SS. In one case, it was not possible to determine the genotype of the villi by both methods. A post delivery genotype analysis confirms the correctness of prenatal diagnosis in all the 42 subjects that has so far reported. The results clearly demonstrate the usefulness of the PCR method in the prenatal diagnosis of sickle-cell anaemia in this environment.