Plasma Malondialdehyde (MDA): an indication of liver damage in women with pre-eclamsia

Background: One of the features associated with pre-eclampsia is elevated liver transaminases. The reason this happens has not been fully described. However, the hepatocytes are not known to be spared by free radical injury. This study was conducted to examine the relationship between product of free radical injury (malondialdehyde) and transaminases in pre-eclamptic women.Patients and methods: A total of 98 and 115 pre-eclamptic and apparently normal pregnant women were selected from the booking clinic of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital, Osogbo. Non-pregnant women were selected from volunteered members of staff. Malondialdehyde (MDA), aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) analyses were determined on collected venous blood sample. Statistical analyses of variables were done using SPSS 17 taking level of significance to be p<0.05.Results: Subjects with plasma AST between 10 and 20U/L had mean plasma MDA of 0.92μmol/l whereas those with plasma levels greater than 41U/L had mean plasma MDA of 4.72μmol/l. Similarly, Subjects with plasma ALT between 10 and 20U/L had mean plasma MDA of 0.86μmol/l, and subjects with plasma ALT greater than 51 U/L had mean plasma MDA of 4.71μmol/l. Positive correlation was observed between AST and ALT(r=0.79;p=0.047), between AST and MDA(r=0.690; p=0.061) as well as between ALT and MDA(r=0.571;p=0.049).Conclusion: The elevated liver enzymes seen in women with pre-eclampsia may be due to free radical injury to the liver. Pre-eclamptic women without free radical injury did not have elevated transaminasesKeywords: Pre-eclempsia, free radical, malondialdehyde, alanine and aspartate aminotransaminase

Indices of Kidney Damage and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in a Semiurban Community of Iloye, South-West Nigeria

Health screening exercises are important, as they enable early detection of diseases in individual subjects and also enable data collection, useful in estimating disease burden in the community. This paper describes the findings of a health screening exercise conducted in a semiurban population of Iloye, by the Rotary Club of Ota, Ogun State, Western Nigeria, as a part of its community-oriented services and projects. Three hundred and twenty six community members were screened during the exercise. There were 189 (57.97%) females and 137 (42.03%) males, with a mean age of 43.5 ± 14.88 yrs. Urinary abnormality and/or creatinine clearance less than 90 mls/min was detected in 147 (45.09%) participants. 99 (30.37%) participants had proteinuria, 16 (4.91%) had haematuria, and 5 (1.53%) participants had both haematuria and proteinuria. Eight (2.45%) participants had GFR less than 60 mls/min. Elevated blood pressure was found in 152 (46.63%), while 3 (0.9%) participants had diabetes, 71 (21.8%) were obese, 16 (4.9%) had hypercholesterolaemia, and 3 (0.9%) had hypertriglyceridaemia. Prevalence of both smoking and alcohol consumption was 6 (1.84%). It was concluded that the prevalence of indices of kidney damage and cardiovascular risk factors is high in Iloye community

Racial disparities in use of force at traffic stops

This brief summarizes findings from original analyses conducted by the Center for Policing Equity (CPE) on police use of force following traffic stops. Drawing on findings from CPE's analyses of 24 local law enforcement agencies nationwide and a novel analysis of eight large agencies in California, this brief updates and extends findings on racial disparities in traffic stops and police use of force. We confirm prior findings that Black drivers are subjected to higher rates of nonsafety stops and discretionary searches than are White drivers. We further find that non-safety stops are more likely to involve use of force than are stops focused on dangerous driving. Taken together, these results suggest that officers' decisions to stop Black drivers for non-safety reasons–and to conduct discretionary searches during those stops–combine to exacerbate Black drivers' exposure to police use of force.Â

Noxious effect of Moringa oleifera leave extract on the developing brain, morphology and behaviour of Wistar rat

The effects of Moringa oleifera leave extracts on the morphology and behaviour of the postnatal developing rat brain was studied. Twenty pregnant rats of Wistar strain weighing between 160 g and 180 g were used in the study. The pregnant rats were divided into two groups of ten animals per group. Group I animals received distilled water and served as control animals, while group II animals received 200 mg/kg body weight of Moringa oleifera leave extract orally. All the animals were provided with rat cubes and water ad libitum during pregnancy and lactation. After birth, five pups of day 21 were weighed and subjected to behavioural study. Animals of days 1, 7, 14, 21 and 28 of age were sacrificed by cervical dislocation, the brain dissected out, weighed and fixed in 10% formol-saline for microscopic studies. Some congenital malformations such as meromelia, phocomelia and amelia were observed in the Moringa oleifera group only. There was a significant increase in body weight of the Moringa oleifera animals on days 7, 14 and 21, in brain weight on days 1 and 7, and in cerebral weight on days 1, 7 and 21 (p<0.05). The behaviour of the rats was significantly worse in the Moringa oleifera group, especially in the area of motor function. Microscopically, there was significant reduction in the cerebral cortical thickness of Moringa oleifera group on days 21 and 28. Immunohistochemical studies revealed poor myelination in the Moringa oleifera group. The results indicate that maternal consumption of Moringa oleifera significantly affected the general morphology as well as behaviour of their pups, therefore it should be consumed with caution in pregnancy until better knowledge on humans is available

Partial Thickness Rotator Cuff Tears: Current Concepts

Partial thickness rotator cuff tears are a common cause of pain in the adult shoulder. Despite their high prevalence, the diagnosis and treatment of partial thickness rotator cuff tears remains controversial. While recent studies have helped to elucidate the anatomy and natural history of disease progression, the optimal treatment, both nonoperative and operative, is unclear. Although the advent of arthroscopy has improved the accuracy of the diagnosis of partial thickness rotator cuff tears, the number of surgical techniques used to repair these tears has also increased. While multiple repair techniques have been described, there is currently no significant clinical evidence supporting more complex surgical techniques over standard rotator cuff repair. Further research is required to determine the clinical indications for surgical and nonsurgical management, when formal rotator cuff repair is specifically indicated and when biologic adjunctive therapy may be utilized

Experimental Performance of a Domestic Refrigerator with TiO2-Nanoparticles Operating Within Selected Ambient Temperature

This study presents a 40g R600a charge enhanced with various TiO2 nano-lubricant concentrations (0 g/L and 0.2 g/L nano-lubricants) infused into an R12 domestic refrigerator tested within selected ambient temperature conditions (19, 22 and 25 ºC). The performance test parameters including: energy consumption, discharge pressure, power per tonne of refrigeration (PPTR) and coefficient of performance (COP) were evaluated for the system. The results showed that infusing the nanolubricant into the system improved the energetic performance of the system. Overall, the use of 40g at 25ºC gave the best performance within the system. In conclusion, application of nanoparticles in refrigeration systems was found to improve the performances of the system even with the effect of ambient temperature. R600a-TiO2 nano-lubricant mixture works safely and efficiently in the domestic refrigerators but requires adequate optimization

Experimental Performance of the Energetic Characteristics of a Domestic Refrigerator with Al2O3 Nanolubricant and LPG Refrigerant

This paper studies the experimental performance of the energetic characteristics of a slightly modified domestic refrigerator infused with nano-lubricant containing different concentrations of Al2O3 (at 0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 g/L) with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) charge of 40g. Parameters investigated were power consumption, cooling capacity, coefficient of performance (COP), discharge temperature, volumetric refrigerating capacity (VRC) and pressure\ud ratio. The findings showed that when the nano-based lubricants were compared with pure oil, the power at 0.6g/L concentration, gave the best performance of 67.01W, at different time over 180 minutes’ periods. The discharge pressure of the system when compared to pure-oil at 0.6g/L concentrations exhibited acceptable value of 616. 33kPa. For the cabinet temperature, it was seen that the 0.6g/L had the lowest recorded temperature of -8.7ºC after 180 minutes. With the coefficient of performance, the 0.2g/L concentration had the highest average performance of 2.239 at 180 minutes. The highest average performance of 174.225 kW over 180 minutes was found as the refrigerating capacity at 02.g/L concentration. The nano-lubricant can be concluded to work safely in the refrigerator but better optimization in nano-application will still be needed for better results

Performance Evaluation of Hydrocarbon based Nanorefrigerants Subjected to Periodic Door Openings

Domestic refrigerators are required to be energy efficient and environmentally safe. In this work, a slightly modified domestic refrigeration system was infused with various concentrations (0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 g/L) of TiO2 nanolubricants and R600a refrigerant with a mass charge of 40g. The average energetic characteristics of the test rig at different door openings intervals (0.5, 1, 2, 3 and 5 minutes) were evaluated. The energetic characteristics studied were coefficient of performance (COP), refrigeration capacity, power consumption and cabinet temperature recovery time. The results obtained showed that the use of nanolubricants significantly affect the energetic performance characteristics of the system. Overall, the utilization of 0.6g/L concentration of TiO2 nanolubricant gave the best performance. The COP of the system improved by 22.39 %, while the power consumption decreased by 23.5 % when compared with pure R600a refrigerant