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Background: This study was conducted among Secondary School Students in Federal Capital Territory (FCT),Abuja Nigeria, between May and June 2010 to determine the knowledge and attitudes of the students towards Sickle Cell Disease (SCD)., Methods: The study was a cross-sectional study carried out on 600 students from 8 secondary schools located within (FCT). A multistage sampling method was used for selection of the study population. Data was collected with the aid of a pretested self-administered questionnaire and analyzed with EPI-INFO 2008., Results: The age of respondents ranged from 9 to 26 years with the mean age of 15.16 (SD = 2.13). The modal age of the respondents was 10-19 years (97.8%). The male: female ratio was 1.01:1. A large number of respondents' fathers (80.7%) and mothers (70.2%) respectively, had at least secondary school education. Majority (81.8%) of the respondents claimed to have heard about sickle cell disease (SCD) but only 38.0% of them knew the cause of SCD. Slightly less than half, 292 (48.7%) of the respondents knew their genotype. Of the 292 respondents that knew their genotype, 206 (70.5%) were AA, 50 (17.1%) were AS,14 (4.8%), SS, 11 (3.8%)AC, 5 (1.7%) SC, 4 (1.4%) CC, 2 (0.7%) other types of genotype. Only 46.2% and 36.8% of them respectively, correctly identified that pre-marital genotype testing and avoidance of marriage between two persons with haemoglobin S genotype as means of preventing further spread of SCD. Factors found to be significantly associated with the knowledge of respondents' genotype were; age = 15 years, respondents' mothers' educational status, being taught about SCD in school, ever seeing somebody suffering from SCD complication, losing a relative to SCD, being in senior secondary school class and knowing the cause of SCD., Conclusion: This study shows that majority of the respondents did not know their genotype ,and their knowledge about the cause and prevention of SCD was poor.

Background: Substantial resources and patient commitment are required to successfully scale-up antiretroviral therapy (ART) and provide appropriate HIV management in resource-limited settings. We used pharmacy refill records to evaluate risk factors for loss to follow-up (LTFU) and non-adherence to ART in a large treatment cohort in Nigeria., Methods and Findings: We reviewed clinic records of adult patients initiating ART between March 2005 and July 2006 at five health facilities. Patients were classified as LTFU if they did not return >60 days from their expected visit. Pharmacy refill rates were calculated and used to assess non-adherence. We identified risk factors associated with LTFU and non-adherence using Cox and Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) regressions, respectively. Of 5,760 patients initiating ART, 26% were LTFU. Female gender (p < 0.001), post-secondary education (p = 0.03), and initiating treatment with zidovudine-containing (p = 0.004) or tenofovir-containing (p = 0.05) regimens were associated with decreased risk of LTFU, while patients with only primary education (p = 0.02) and those with baseline CD4 counts (cell/ml(3)) >350 and <100 were at a higher risk of LTFU compared to patients with baseline CD4 counts of 100-200. The adjusted GEE analysis showed that patients aged <35 years (p = 0.005), who traveled for >2 hours to the clinic (p = 0.03), had total ART duration of >6 months (p<0.001), and CD4 counts >200 at ART initiation were at a higher risk of non-adherence. Patients who disclosed their HIV status to spouse/family (p = 0.01) and were treated with tenofovir-containing regimens (p < or = 0.001) were more likely to be adherent., Conclusions: These findings formed the basis for implementing multiple pre-treatment visit preparation that promote disclosure and active community outreaching to support retention and adherence. Expansion of treatment access points of care to communities to diminish travel time may have a positive impact on adherence.

The present study was designed to investigate the effect of a proteinaceous dietary supplement, fishmeal, on gossypol-induced spermatotoxicity. Twenty-five adult male Wistar rats, averaging 205 g b.w., were randomly sorted into four experimental groups (I-IV) of 5 animals each, and a control group. Crude cottonseed oil was administered orally to each animal in groups I-IV at a rate that provided 14 mg/kg/d free gossypol; in addition, 3 g/d, 7 g/d, and 10 g/d of fishmeal was provided as meal supplement to each animal in groups I, II and III respectively. The control group received rat pellets and water freely. At the end of the 53-day treatment period, all animals were placed under chloroform anaesthesia; the caudal epididymides were removed, minced and placed in Ham's F10 solution for the evaluation of sperm count and motility. The testes were also processed for histological studies using the eosin and haematoxylin (H & E) method. Our findings revealed a dose-dependent inhibition of gossypol-induced spermatotoxicity by the supplemented fishmeal; this suggests that proteinaceous diets are protective against gossypol-induced male infertility.

Background: Small, uncontrolled studies of dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients have demonstrated abnormalities of cardiovascular autonomic control and vascular compliance, which may contribute to adverse cardiovascular morbidity in this population. However, there is little information utilizing newer, noninvasive techniques in predialysis patients with increasing degrees of uremia., Methods: One hundred and five nondialysis CKD patients with a median GFR of 23 mL/min/1.73 m(2) (range: 6 to 102) at baseline were studied. Cardiac baroreceptor sensitivity (BRS) was recorded by time- and frequency-domain techniques, and its relationship with increasing degrees of uremia studied. During a mean follow-up period of 42 months (range: 3 to 70), primary (death, dialysis, transplantation) and secondary (fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular events) outcome measures were recorded. The importance of cardiac BRS in comparison to other important renal and cardiovascular prognostic variables in predicting outcome was assessed., Results: Median cardiac BRS by time domain analysis at baseline was 8.85 msec/mm Hg (interquartile range: 6.85), and impaired cardiac BRS was related to reduced GFR, increasing age, and hypertension on quantile regression analysis. 'Impaired' cardiac BRS was associated with a trend toward increased likelihood of both primary and secondary outcomes, and may act as a surrogate measure of other cardiovascular risk factors, including age, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, previous cardiovascular disease, and doubling of creatinine., Conclusion: Nondialysis-dependent CKD patients have impaired cardiac BRS, and this was related to decreasing GFR. There was a trend toward poorer prognosis in patients with impaired cardiac BRS that requires further study. Cardiac BRS may provide a simple, bedside, noninvasive assessment of overall cardiovascular risk in this population.