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Background: Medical use of ionizing radiation can result to deleterious effects such as undesirable somatic and genetic modifications, although less radiation dose is involved in diagnostic radiology. This necessitates the need for radiation safety practices, to bring to the barest minimum possibility of these risks. This study was aimed at assessing the knowledge and radiation safety practices amongst radiation workers in Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) Zaria, Nigeria. Method: The study was conducted amongst radiologist, radiology resident doctors, radiographers, nurses, and technicians, with the use of questionnaire for assessment of knowledge, attitude and covert monitoring of personnel for assessment of implementation. Data was analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows® version 20. Results: Assessment of knowledge was quite impressive with average score 91% and 78% for the radiologists/residents and the radiographers respectively, while the group of “Others” (i.e. nurses and technician) was abysmal with a score 42%. Radiation protection gadgets were either lacking or obsolete. Application of shielding devices such as gonad shield for protection and thermoluminescent devices (TLDs) were neglected by about 56% of the personnel. The x-ray imaging machines were quite old with no quality assurance tests performed for quite some time. Conclusion: Excellent knowledge of radiation protection was exhibited by the majority of radiation workers in ABUTH, though from self-efforts. However, compliance with the standard radiation protection guidelines is appalling. The need for improved and sustained efforts by both the management and the personnel in radiation protection can never be over emphasized in order to avoid deleterious effects of radiation on both the personnel and patients.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence, disclosure and adverse effects of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use in hospitalised patients, and to explore the associations between patients’ perceived side-effects and relevant factors. Methods: Patients who were admitted to a district general hospital and met the eligibility criteria were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Their medications and pertinent details were verified from the medical notes. All quantitative and qualitative data were collated and analysed. A chi-squared test was performed to test the associations of the perceived CAM side-effects with the significance level determined at α=0.05. Results: A total of 240 in-patients completed the study. They were mostly white British (98.8%). The prevalence of CAM use within two years was 74.6% and one month 37.9%. Only 19 of 91 patients (20.9%) using CAM within one month disclosed their current CAM applications. Nearly half of patients (45.8%) who used CAM within two years experienced various CAM side-effects that tended to resolve after discontinuation. Slightly more than half (57.6%) perceived CAM side-effects and their perceptions were significantly associated with gender (P=0.048) and consideration for future CAM use (P=0.033). Potential interactions between herbal remedies/dietary supplements and prescribed drugs, such as garlic with lisinopril or aspirin, were assessed in 82 patients (45.8%). Conclusion: Most in-patients used CAM and experienced some adverse effects. The disclosure of CAM use and its adverse outcomes should be encouraged by healthcare professionals.

Herbal preparations, usually containing highly concentrated crude drugs of plants materials have been used traditionally to treat various disorders in developing countries including Nigeria. In this work, herbal preparation in form of hydrogels containing Moringa oleifera leaf extract were formulated and evaluated for phytochemicals, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities using standard procedures. The result obtained shows the total phenolic and flavonoid contents of the M. oleifera leaf extract to be 288.59±34.18 mg GAE/g and 242.19±32.40 mg GAE/g respectively. The result of the antioxidant activities revealed that HG2 (10%) hydrogel possesses higher scavenging activities compared to HG1 (5%) hydrogel at different concentrations. The antimicrobial activity of the hydrogels was found to be higher for GH1 (5%) in most bacteria across various concentrations while Candida albican showed higher sensitivity to HG2 (10%). Hydrogels are excellent drug carriers that ensure controlled release of active ingredients. An uncontrolled release of active component of herbal preparations and lack of proper dosage may contribute to adverse side effects recorded for traditional herbal preparations. Development of carrier systems that control the release of active ingredients of herbal drugs is strongly recommended in order to minimize the negative side effect of these preparations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal nanoparticles as a category of nanomaterial are receiving interest due to their wide range of applications including in biomedical fields. Among these nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles are the most extensively studied for medical applications because they have been proven to exhibit excellent activity against a wide range of medically significant pathogenic microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and yeasts. In this work, silver nanoparticles were biogenically synthesized using the stem bark extract of Stereospermum kunthianum Cham as capping agent. Physicochemical properties, antioxidant activity, antimicrobial properties and in vitro cytotoxicity of the synthesized AgNPs were studied following standard procedures. UV-Vis studies show broad absorbance peak of the nanoparticles between 430 and 450 nm, SEM image shows that some of the synthesized nanoparticles are near spherical shape with many of the particles appear to have irregular shapes while the material average crystalline size from the XRD analysis was 27.878 mm. The synthesized AgNPs exhibits moderate antioxidant activity with IC50 value of 124.84 µg/mL. Among the microorganism tested, the AgNPs shows more activity against Staphylococcus aureus than Salmonella typhi and Candida albicans. Brine shrimp lethality test of the synthesized AgNPs indicates some level of cytotoxicity with LC50 of 461.850 µg/mL. using biological materials as reducing agents remains best green approach for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated the in vitro and in vivo free radical scavenging potentials of methanol extract of Ficus thonningii leaf and its liquid chromatography-mass spectrometer (LCMS) profiling. The qualitative phytochemical screening was carried out and the results show the presence of tannins, flavonoids, saponins glycoside and triterpenes. Antioxidant activities were carried out in vitro and in vivo and the reducing power shows a value of 0.53 ± 0.007 with a significant (p < 0.05) difference compared to the control and Diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) value of 59.0 ± 0.007 with a significantly different (p < 0.05) compared to the control. However, the two assays are concentration-dependent. The in vivo analysis shows that lipid peroxidation, superoxide dismutase and catalase activities have values of 24.03± 8.04, 1.60± 0.03 and 0.003± 0.001 respectively. All the values are significantly different when compared to the control and are concentration-dependent. The LCMS results revealed the presence of some important metabolites; phenolic glycosides and quassin, which are potential molecules against free radicals. Therefore, Ficus thonningii leaf contains vital antioxidants and could be used in health management to boost the immune system or in drug development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abattoirs are needed to centralize slaughter processes and ensure surveillance of animal diseases at slaughter in order to avoid zoonotic transmission to humans through meat consumption. Inadequate facilities and hygiene at abattoirs can result in the contamination of meat and cause occupational hazards to workers. The objectives of this study were to assess the conditions of the facilities and the daily slaughter figures of livestock species at Oko-oba abattoir, Ifako-ijaye, Agege Lagos State. The study was conducted for three seasons from August 2020 to April 2021. A structured questionnaire was used to collect information on the study area, while daily visits, physical observation and interviews were used to collect data. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequencies and percentages. Cattle was the most commonly slaughtered species (92.34 %), followed by goat (6.34 %), sheep (1.15 %) and camel (0.18 %) in the late wet season (August - September). Cattle, goat, sheep and camel were slain in decreasing order during the early dry season (October - December) (90.17 %, 8.38 %, 1.40 % and 0.04 % respectively). In the late dry season (January - April), the cattle were recorded to have 88.00 %, goat 10.92 %, sheep 1.07 % and camel 0.01 %. It was determined that the season had no impact on the types of livestock slaughtered. Cattle were the most butchered species regardless of the seasons studied, followed by goats, sheep and camels. The abattoir also lacks several fundamental amenities that are expected of a standard abattoir, and those that are present are either non-functional or inadequate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]