Background: Bigi soft drinks are carbonated drinks produced by Rite Foods Limited. The company is an indigenous company in Nigeria. Before 2016, Coca-cola bottling company and 7up bottling company products were the dominant soft drinks in Nigeria. Rite Foods Limited introduced carbonated soft drinks into the Nigerian market in 2016 and have favourably competed with the existing products. As at today, Bigi soft drinks are the dominant soft drinks in Nigeria because of their palatable taste, large volume and low price.
Aim: This study sought to investigate the effect of Bigi soft drinks on fasting blood glucose and lipid profile of Wistar rats.
Methods: Thirty-five adult Wistar rats were used for this study. They were randomly divided into seven groups of five rats each after seven days acclimatization. They were treated accordingly: animals in group 1 were administered distilled water, those in group 2 were administered Bigi Cola, those in group 3 were administered Bigi Apple, those in group 4 were administered Bigi Tropical, those in group 5 were administered Bigi Orange, those in group 6 were administered Bigi Lemon and Lime, while those in group 7 were administered Bigi Chapman. The administration was done orally at a dose of 3 mL per 100 g body weight 12 hourly for fourteen days. At the end of the administration period, the animals were fasted overnight and anaesthetized using diethyl ether. Blood samples were collected by cardiac puncture. Fasting blood glucose and lipid profile were determined using standard methods.
Results: All the soft drinks used in this study (except Bigi Lemon and Lime) significantly increased the fasting blood glucose of animals. All the Bigi soft drinks (except Bigi Cola) significantly increased triglyceride, total cholesterol and VLDL of animals when compared with control at p<0.05 respectively. The soft drinks also perturbed the HDL and LDL of animals used in this study.
Conclusion: The result of this study implies that Bigi soft drinks might be deleterious to health as far as hyperglycemia and hyperlipidaemia is concern. This does not automatically translate to such effect on humans. However, individuals with a diabetic family history should minimize their consumption of these drinks.
Aim: Umbilical cord blood (UCB) contains sufficient number of haematopoietic stem cell and progenitor cells that can be used for autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplantation in children and adolescents. Our study assessed the CD34+ cells and total nucleated cells in umbilical cord blood stem cells in a tertiary institution in Nigeria.
Study Design: This is a cross-sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted in University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin City. Informed consent for UCB collection was obtained from healthy mothers with uncomplicated pregnancies, receiving care at the Department of Obstetrics between July and September, 2016.
Methodology: A total of forty umbilical cord bloods samples were collected from the placenta umbilical cord after delivery. CD34+ cells were enumerated using flow cytometer while haematology analyzer was used to assess total nucleated cell (TNC) count. Data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.
Results: CD 34+ cells count ranged between 2.0 - 6.99 x 104cells/ml with a mean value of 3.89 ± 1.48 x 104cells/ml (Recommended minimum value 2x105/kg). Mean value of TNC was 11.14 ± 4.47 x 106 cells/ml with a range of 4.80-21.10 x106 cells/ml (Recommended minimum value 2x 107 /kg). We observed a positive correlation between CD34+ cells and TNC count (r = 0.760, p=0.000). In addition, maternal parity showed a significant inverse relationship with TNC and CD34+ cells.
Conclusion: CD34+cells and TNC count of UCB obtained from placentae of babies delivered at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital are within the acceptable values for haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. This is in keeping with recommendations by the World Marrow Donor Association, which stated that a minimum of 2 x107 TNC/kg or 2 x105 CD34+ cells/kg of body weight of recipient.
The hematological and urinary parameters can serve as indicators of susceptibilities of pregnant women to infectious diseases. Early detection of such fatal infections like Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) can go a long way in mitigating perinatal mortality. This study evaluates the frequency of occurrence of HIV in pregnant women with a set of hematological and urinary parameters. Four hundred (400) pregnant women in Ikere-Ekiti in Ekiti-state, stratified in age groups were recruited in the study. Blood and urine samples were examined for blood group, packed cell volume (PCV), HIV status and some urine parameters. In the results, the age range (25-29) had the highest number (144) among the pregnant women while age range ≥35 had the least. Women in blood group O had the highest number (54%), this is followed by group B (21.5%) and group A while group AB (4.5%) had the least. The prevalence of HIV among the different blood groups (A, B, AB and O) was respectively 0.5%, 1.5%, 2.0% and 0.3%, the overall prevalence of HIV was 17(4.3%) and the highest occurred in the age group ≥35. Women of rhesus positive had the highest prevalence of HIV (4.0%). The 3.0% of 49% who were anemic had HIV infection. The incidence of positivity to some urine parameters among the pregnant women who were positive to HIV were glucose (0.3%), protein (0.5%), ketone and nitrite 0%. From these results, there might be a relationship between some hematological and urinary parameters with HIV status among the pregnant women, further studies will involve carrying out metabolomics study to ascertain the real relationship.
This study aims at determining the prevalence of HBV, as well as its effect on immunological and haemtotological profile of HIV infected patients attending government owned health facilities in Osun state, Nigeria. Venous blood was collected from a total of 121 HIV HAART naïve patients and 200 HIV negative subjects as controls. Blood samples were analyzed for antibodies to HIV and HBV using immunochromatographic methods. CD4+ count was done using flow cytometry, Haemoglobin and platelet count of all hiv infected patients were also determined using Sysmex auto-analyzer. A questionnaire was used to obtain demographic data from all consenting patients. HIV status was identified as a risk factor for acquisition of HBV infection in this study (HIV positive vs. HIV negative: 16.5% v 3.5%; OR=5.460, 95% CI=2.233, 13.348, P=0.00). Age and gender of patients did not significantly affect the prevalence of HBV infection among HIV infected patients (P>0.05). The mean haemoglobin concentration, CD4 count and platelet count among HIV/HBV co-infected patients did not differ significantly from values obtained in HIV mono - infected group of patients (P>0.05). Among the HIV/HBV co-infected patients, the mean CD4 count was significantly higher in females than males (male v female 327.6 ± 8 .33 vs. 408.4 ± 331.28, P = 0.008). The mean hemoglobin concentration and platelet count among HIV\HBV co-infected patients did not define significantly with respect with gender (hemoglobin: male v female: 12.58 + 2.75 vs 9.81 + 2.12, P = 0.226). In the HIV/HBV co-infected cohort, age was observed to significantly affect the mean platelet count (P = 0.044) but not mean CD4 count (P = 0.426) and mean haemoglobin concentration (p = 0.122). The prevalence of HBV among HIV infected patients was high. HIV was identified as a risk factor for acquisition of HBV infection. The mean haemoglobin concentration, CD4 and platelet count of HIV/HBV co-infected patients did not differ significantly from values obtained in HIV mono-infected group of patients. Among HIV/HBV co-infected group of patients, gender and age were observed to significantly affect mean CD4 and platelet counts respectively. Routine screening of HBV among HIV infected patients is advocated.
Purpose: This study assessed the psychometric properties of SF-36 and its factor structure in patients with sickle cell disease who are attending outpatient clinics in Nigeria.
Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, this study used a convenience sampling method to collect data from patients who visited the outpatient sickle cell clinics of two major hospitals in Ibadan, south west Nigeria. Reliability and validity were examined and factor analysis was carried out to determine the structure of the instrument in the population.
Results: Reliability of each of the dimensions was above 0.70. Item internal consistency ranged from 0.42 to 0.91 and scaling success ranged between 0.98 - 100%.
Conclusion: The instrument demonstrated acceptable reliability and validity and is suitable for assessing health-related quality of life in the sickle cell disease population.
