Background: Anemia is the main cause of morbidity and mortality among pregnant women in developing countries with maternal and fetal consequences, which leads to premature births, low birth weight, fetal cognitive impairment and death.
Objective: To determine predictors of anemia among pregnant women attending ANC at public hospitals of Sidama region, Ethiopia, 2021.
Methods and Materials: A facility based unmatched case-control study design will be conducted at public hospitals of Sidama region. A total of 6 Midwives, 6 laboratory technician and 6 supervisors will be involved in the data collection process. Cases will be recruited consecutively as they present to the hospitals and immediately four controls will be allocated for each case that came after selection of cases.
The data will be entered into Epidata software and exported to SPSS software for windows version 23 for analysis. Descriptive statistics will be computed and both bivariable and multivariable logistic regression will be employed to identify predictors of anemia among pregnant women. The output will be presented using adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with the respective 95% confidence interval (CI).
Budget and Work Plan: A total of 184,928 Ethiopian Birr will be required to carry out this study. The data collection will be conducted from June 25 to July 25, 2021.
Some political actors and activists have waged war against compulsory vaccination in Ghana by insinuating that such decision by government is an affront to the rights and freedoms of citizens as enshrined in the 1992 republican constitution. This paper scrutinizes this position and supports the fact that government did not err in its decision to impose compulsory vaccination on persons travelling into and out of Ghana. In doing this, relevant materials were reviewed. The World Health Organization at its thirteenth world health assembly on 25th April 1960 recommended compulsory vaccination. Chapter five (5), article twelve (12) section two (2) of the 1992 constitution makes it possible for citizens to enjoy their rights and freedoms but subject to respect for the rights and freedoms of others and for public interest”. The Public Health Act, 2012 (ACT 851), part II (Vaccination), Section 22, subsection (1), gives power to the Minister of Health, through a legislative instrument (LI) to order compulsory vaccination for public interest. The vaccination ACT 1919, CAP.76 in section 3, subsections (1) and (2) also give powers to minister of health to issue such directives. Again, articles 31 and 32 of the 1992 Republican constitution, give room for the declaration of state of emergencies making it possible for one to be “legally deprived” of the enjoyment of the fundamental human rights and freedoms enshrined in chapter five (5) of the 1992 constitution in times of natural disasters such as COVID-19.
Scope: The short-term effects of feeding high fat diet (HFD) to mice was investigated with focus on the effect on myelopoesis, circulating neutrophils and the induction of Granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF).
Methods: Male mice were fed HFD (45%) during a period of 5 weeks with samples taken after 3 days and 1, 3, 4 and 5 weeks. Blood was analyzed for neutrophils and monocytes, for G-CSF and granulocyte-macrophage (GM)-CSF, and for cytokine expression. Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) expression of various genes and production of G-GSF and GM-CSF in cultured VAT was determined.
Results: Three days after commencement of HFD, the number of circulatory neutrophils and monocytes increased but returned to baseline-level at day 8. This transient increase coincided with an increased blood concentration of G-CSF and a transient increase in bone marrow and spleen neutrophils. In supernatant from cultivated visceral adipose tissue isolated from HFD fed mice on day 3 and 8, G-CSF was increased. The expression of Toll-like receptor 4 in adipose tissue was down-regulated from week 4. In vitro, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was a poor stimulator of G-CSF, while G-CSF or LPS together with G-CSF or GM-CSF induced increased G-CSF production. G-CSF suppressed production of LPS-induced TNFa and increased IL-10 production in dendritic cells suggesting that G-CSF down-regulates LPS-induced inflammation.
Conclusion: HFD induces a transient increase in adipose tissue G-GSF and circulating myeloid cells in mice. We suggest G-CSF induces increased myelopoiesis and simultaneously down-regulates LPS-induced inflammation.
Aims: Plantago major is frequently used in traditional treatment for upper respiratory tract diseases such as pneumonia, cough, pharyngitis, and skin, eye, and urinary tract infections. This study aims to evaluate the antimicrobial activity and minimum effective dose of hexane, methanol, ethanol, and water extract of Plantago major leaves.
Study design:In vitro experimental study.
Methodology:P. major leaves was crushed into a fine powder and dissolved in different solvents (hexane, methanol, ethanol, or water) using a Soxhlet device, then the extracts were purified by evaporation of the solvent. All extracts were analyzed for antibacterial and antifungal properties using broth dilution method depending on MIC value determined according to the solvent-microorganism-time trio in DDM.
Results: The in vivo test showed that all methods to extract of Plantago major leaves have activity against all test microorganisms. Both hexane and water extract showed the same activity on Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, C. albicans and Candida tropicalis at 4 mg/ml. The lowest activity of Plantago major’s (PM's) hexane and water extract was on Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas vulgaris bacteria as 8 mg/ml. Methanol and ethanol extracts of PM showed higher activity than hexane and water extract. PM ethanol extract showed antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aerouginosa at 2ml/mL, and Bacillus subtilis Escherichia coli and Proteus vulgaris at 4 ml/mL.
Conclusion: The results nominate the Plantago major extract has potential antimicrobials and antifungals. However, the development of antimicrobial agents requires purifying the active bio components by high throughput techniques to achieve effective activity as positive controls.
Copper and zinc are essential elements that aid in various physiological and biochemical functions. Nevertheless, exposure to these heavy metals could also be detrimental to some vital organs such as the liver and kidney of the body. Increased usage of agrochemicals in crop production has the potential of increasing bioaccumulation of trace elements in both humans and animals as they feed on these plants. The present study, therefore, investigated the effects of copper and Zinc supplementation on haematological, renal, and liver functions in healthy wistar rats.
A total of twenty-five wistar rats of five weeks old (weighing 185g-250g) were recruited for the study. Animals were grouped into five namely Control, Zinc low, Zinc high, Copper low and Copper high as groups 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 respectively and administered feeds containing low and high doses of Copper and Zinc two weeks post-acclimatization. Laboratory investigations on haematological, renal, and liver markers were assessed after three weeks of feeding.
Both copper and Zinc doses significantly (P <0.05) elevated the counts for Red Blood Cell (RBC), Hemoglobin (Hb), Hematocrit (HCT), White Blood Cells (WBCs), and Platelets with no significant effect on their weight gain compared to the control group of rats. Zinc doses elevated the levels of Alanine transaminase (ALT), with a low dosage having a significant effect on AST and ALP. The effect of copper and Zinc doses significantly (P <0.05) reduced creatinine levels, with no significant effect on urea concentrations.
The elevation of ALT and Platelets as a result of Copper and Zinc exposure suggests their deteriorating effect on the liver and other organs of the body. Long-term exposure to these trace elements can lead to a lot of pathologies.
