African health sciences
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African health sciences · Jun 2018
Estimation of salivary cortisol level in post-menopausal women with psychosomatic disorders.
Stress is an undesirable or health threatening response of the body, which is brought on by deleterious external influences (stressors). Objective measurement of psychosocial stress helps in assessment of pivotal role of stress in precipitation of multitude of health problems and a solution to the same. Salivary biomarkers are suggested to provide a reliable and non-invasive method for the estimation of these general health problems. Salivary cortisol is such biomarker used as tool in the examination of human physiological stress response. Post-menopausal women show an increase in stress levels and hence suffer with multiple health related problems. Hence the present study aimed to estimate salivary cortisol levels in post-menopausal women with clinically diagnosed psychosomatic disorder/disorders of the head and neck region, so as to establish salivary cortisol as a biochemical indicator of stress. ⋯ The geriatric patients feel that they have very little skills or resources to deal with the high levels of stress that they are experiencing and hence suffer from lack of self-worth. The results of this study recommend that stress evaluation should be done on a regular basis for all post- menopausal women. For individuals who do not reveal their psychological distress, salivary analysis of cortisol may be used as an aid to diagnose their situation in conjunction with clinical diagnosis.
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African health sciences · Jun 2018
An eight cytokine signature identified from peripheral blood serves as a fingerprint for hepatocellular cancer diagnosis.
Hepatocellular carcinoma is an aggressive disease in Asia and Africa with poor prognosis partially due to lack of disease-specific biomarkers. ⋯ We identified a unique eight-peripheral blood cytokines signature for hepatocellular carcinoma detection. This work will serve as the basis for further studies about the clinical value of peripheral blood cytokines in forecasting prognosis.
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African health sciences · Jun 2018
Histo-pathological pattern of intracranial tumours in the National Hospital, Abuja.
Intracranial tumours demonstrate characteristic diagnostic histopathological features. Our aims were to look at the histo-pathological pattern of intracranial tumours in our environment including their age and sex distribution. ⋯ The histo-pathological pattern of intracranial tumours in our environment showed that meningioma is the most common intracranial tumour in adults, while glioma and embryonal tumours are the most common intracranial tumours in children.
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African health sciences · Jun 2018
MicroRNA expression profiling in human acute organophosphorus poisoning and functional analysis of dysregulated miRNAs.
Acute organophosphorus(OP) pesticide poisoning is associated with dysfunctions in multiple organs, especially skeletal muscles, the nervous system and the heart. However, little is known about the specific microRNA (miRNA) changes that control the pathophysiological processes of acute OP poisoning damage. We aimed to explore miRNA expression profiles and gain insight into molecular mechanisms of OP toxic effects. ⋯ This study mapped changes in the serum miRNA expression profiles of poisoning patients and predicted functional links between miRNAs and their target genes in the regulation of acute OP poisoning. Our findings are an important resource for further understanding the role of these miRNAs in the regulation of OP-induced injury.
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African health sciences · Jun 2018
Compliance with epidemic-prone diseases surveillance and response guidelines among health officers at surveillance units in South-West Nigeria.
Although compliance with surveillance guidelines is crucial to epidemic diseases control, determinants of use of these guidelines in Nigeria are poorly documented. We assess health workers compliance and factors associated with the surveillance and response guidelines for epidemic-prone diseases in South-West Nigeria. ⋯ In addition to provision of adequate financial and laboratory resources, surveillance activities would benefit from continuous training on surveillance data flow.