Abdulwaris Abdulrasheed, Human Anatomy - Bayero University, Kano, 2025
Lead (Pb) is a pervasive environmental pollutant known to induce nephrotoxicity through oxidative stress and inflammation. This study investigated the protective effects of Terminalia catappa bark extract on lead-induced kidney damage in Wistar rats. Twelve rats were divided into four groups: control (distilled water), lead-exposed (90 mg/kg lead acetate), lead + T. catappa (500 mg/kg extract), and T. catappa only. After 21 days, kidney tissues were analyzed histologically. The lead-exposed group exhibited severe tubular necrosis, glomerular atrophy, and interstitial inflammation, while the T. catappa-treated group showed significant preservation of renal architecture, with reduced necrosis and inflammation. These findings suggest that T. catappa bark extract mitigates lead-induced nephrotoxicity, likely due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. This study supports the potential of T. catappa as a natural therapeutic agent against heavy metal-induced kidney damage, warranting further mechanistic and clinical research.
Read more...Maryam Daud, Human Anatomy - Bayero University, Kano, 2025
This study investigates the relationship between occipito frontal circumference (OFC) and ponderal index (PI) with maternal age and parity among neonates. The study was conducted in three hospitals in Kano which are; murtala Muhammad specialist hospital, Muhammad Abdullah Wase teaching hospital and hasiya bayero pediatrics. The aim was to determine how maternal factors such as age and number of children (i.e parity) influence neonatal Anthropometric indices in particular OFC and PI. A total of 150 neonates and their mothers were used in this cross sectional study. Descriptive statistics was used to determine the mean values of OFC and PI which were found to be 32.690cm and 2.643g/cm³ respectively. Pearson's coefficient of correlation was used to determine the relationship between maternal age, OFC and PI. The r-value between maternal age and OFC was found to be 0.399 with p<0.01 which shows a moderate positive correlation which is statistically significant while the r-value between maternal age and PI was found to be 0.273 with p<0.05 which shows a weak yet positive correlation which is statistically significant. Furthermore, student t-test was used to determine the relationship between OFC and PI across different parity groups. It was observed that neonates born to mothers with higher parity had a significantly larger mean OFC (33.58cm) compared to those with low parity(32.18cm) with p<0.05 while the mean PI did not differ significantly between the two groups (p> 0.05).
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