Tijjani Rabiu Giaze

Background: Marantodes pumilum var. alata (MPva) has been reported to promote fracture repair. This study investigates the role of MPva leaf extract on biochemical markers and bone-repair genes in a postmenopausal rat model to understand its fracture-healing properties. Methods: Thirty female Sprague Dawley rats were grouped into sham-operated (Sham), ovariectomized control (OVXC), estrogen treatment (ERT), and plant treatment (MPv20 and MPv100) groups. After ovariectomy, the right tibiae of rats were fractured. The ERT group was treated with 64.5 μg/kg/day of estrogen, while the MPv20 and MPv100 groups received 20 and 100 mg/kg/day doses of MPva leaf extract, respectively, for 8 weeks. Sham and OVXC acted as untreated controls. Blood samples collected before and after treatment were assayed for pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 and TNF-α), while bone samples were assayed for bone-turnover markers: osteocalcin and pyridinoline, oxidative-status markers (GPx, SOD, and MDA), and bone-repair genes (Bglap, Spp1, Dkk1, Igf1, Tnfsf11, and Fgf23). Results: IL-6, GPx, and SOD levels were significantly increased in both MPv groups (p < 0.05). IGF1 was significantly upregulated in both MPv groups, while Tnfsf11 was downregulated in the MPv20 group (p < 0.05). Conclusions: MPva leaf extract may promote bone repair by stimulating pro-inflammatory and antioxidant responses, which are associated with its regulation of Igf1 and Tnfsf11 genes.

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is widely practised around the world. Approximately 80% of developing countries like Nigeria rely on CAM. The potential challenges faced by CAM, though not backed by credible scientific evidence, have caused differences in perception and attitude towards CAM Despite these challenges; studies have not sufficiently reported the attitude/behavior of medical, pharmacy and nursing students towards CAM. This study aimed to investigate knowledge, perception, attitude and ‘willingness to use’ towards CAM amongst UDUS medical, pharmacy, and nursing students. After obtaining consent of participants, structured questionnaire adopted from previous studies was administered to 300 participants to fill at their convenience. Information was extracted from filled questionnaires and scored using Microsoft Excel software. Data of socio-demographic characteristic, knowledge, attitude and willingness of study respondents obtained were analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS), version 20. Pearson’s correlation was employed to explore the relationship between consumer knowledge, perception, attitude and ‘willingness to use’ towards CAM. Results obtained show that the participants had good knowledge of CAM as 83% have heard about it and use it and positive perception and attitude towards it. The result further revealed, across groups, a significant correlation between the participants knowledge and their perception, attitude, and ‘willingness to use’ towards CAM. However, willingness to recommend or use CAM was low (< 50%) amongst medical students as compared to pharmacy and nursing students.

Patients with advanced prostate cancer often develop bone metastases, leading to bone pain, skeletal fracture, and increased mortality. Bone provides a hospitable microenvironment to tumor cells. The disease manifestation is driven by the interaction between invading tumor cells, bone-forming osteoblasts, and bone-resorbing osteoclasts. The increased level of osteoclast-activating factor (parathyroid hormone-related peptide, PTHrP) is believed to induce bone resorption by upregulating receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappa B ligand (RANKL) and the release of various growth factors into the bone microenvironment to enhance cancer cell growth. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. This review outlines the possible molecular mechanisms involved in governing bone metastases driven by prostate cancer, which further provide the basis in searching for new molecular targets for the development of potential therapy.

Objective: Drugs prescribed in pregnancy may diffuse across the placenta to the fetus thereby posing a great risk of teratogenicity. In this study, drug utilization pattern in pregnancy amongst inpatient and outpatient groups was studied retrospectively in a specialist hospital in the North Western region of Nigerian.Methods: Drug prescription information was collected from case notes of 2634 patients that attended the antenatal clinic on an outpatient basis and those that were admitted due to complication(s) for a period of six months. Data collected were analyzed using Microsoft excel software and compared with FDA pregnancy categorization of drugs.Results: In the outpatient group, 215 patients had complaints that warranted the use of prescription drugs while in the inpatient group, 69 patients had complications that necessitated hospitalisation. In the outpatient group, prescribed drugs for the treatment of malaria (34%) and urinary tract infection (25%) were predominantly from FDA category B. In the inpatient group, drugs for malaria (18%), anemia (11.6%) and pre-eclampsia (11.6%) were the most prescribed. In the management of anemia, drugs prescribed were purely from FDA category A, while, in the case of pre-eclampsia, a significant amount of prescribed drugs were from FDA categories C and N.Conclusion: In both patient groups, no drug from FDA category X was prescribed. Therefore, it can be concluded that drugs prescribed in pregnancy in specialist hospital, Sokoto-Nigeria, were within a reasonable limit of safety. However, the use of drugs such as diazepam whose risks are yet to be classified should be avoided.