BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B virus infection is a global public health problem. The virus has infected more than one-third of the global population. It has been estimated that 360 million chronic carriers are living around the world with a high risk for developing cirrhosis, hepatic carcinoma and hepatic failure. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of some hepatitis B markers among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in Sokoto Specialist Hospital, Nigeria. METHODS: The hepatitis testing was carried out using the Skytec-Rapid Diagnostic HBV-5 rapid kit (Skytec-Rapid Diagnostic, USA). The kit is based on lateral flow chromatographic immunoassay for the qualitative detection of HBsAg, HBsAb, HBeAg, HBeAb, and HBcAb in human serum or plasma. Panel format can conveniently test for five targets at once and utilizes all markers to help distinguish between acute and chronic infections. RESULTS: Out of 117 pregnant women tested, 15 were positive for HBsAg (12.8%), 6 positive for HBsAb (5.1%), 1 for HBeAg (0.9%), 14 tested positive for HBeAb (12.0%), and 14 tested for HBcAb (12.0%). The prevalence of HBsAg, HBsAb, HBeAg, HBcAb and HBcAb was compared based on ethnicity. HBsAb was significantly higher among the Hausa ethnic group (p= 0.001). The prevalence of HBsAb, HBeAg, HBcAb and HBcAb was not affected by ethnicity (p> 0.05). The prevalence of HBsAg, HBsAb, HBeAg, HBcAb and HBcAb was compared based on age. Infection by the hepatitis B virus markers was higher among young adult and middle age groups. The difference was however not statistically significant (p> 0.05). The prevalence of HBsAg, HBsAb, HBeAg, HBcAb and HBcAb was compared based on the educational status, previous history of blood transfusion, jaundice, employment status and previous history of still births among the pregnant subjects. There were no statistically significant differences in the prevalence of Hepatitis B virus markers (p> 0.05). CONCLUSION: The study observed a high prevalence of various hepatitis B viral markers among pregnant women attending antenatal care in Specialist Hospital Sokoto. There is need for routine screening of all pregnant women and infants born to hepatitis B positive mothers. Government and non-governmental organizations should intensify efforts to enlighten the general population on the public health importance of the disease and the importance of hepatitis screening. There is also need for the development of a treatment protocol for the management of pregnant women positive for hepatitis B to prevent mother to child transmission. There is an urgent need for the implementation of evidenced-based best practice of providing universal vaccination against hepatitis B for all hepatitis B negative women of child bearing age in particular and all Nigerians in general.

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Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is widely used to treat hematological malignancies and nonmalignant hematological disorders. Many advances have been made in improving the success of bone marrow transplantation. However, lack of available matched related or matched sibling donors has posed a significant challenges to the availability and proper utilization of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in patients with hematological malignancies. The rising availability of alternative donors, particularly haploidentical donors (HIDs), has propelled the rapid rise of allo-HSCT. The aim of this review is to highlight and evaluate the recent advances in the development of HSCT, focusing mainly on the selection of suitable hematopoietic stem cell donors, HID-HSCT and some current advances in the use of umbilical cord blood cells as an alternative graft source. Haplo-HSCT has shown a promising result and better outcomes due to the number of advantages, including a wide range of stem cell sources, increased GVL effects, improved immunologic reconstitution, and positive clinical outcomes. In the near future, haplo-HSCT is likely to be considered as a better option for patient donor selection particularly in AML patients while HLA matching is unlikely to be the most important factor in AML patient donor selection. In addition, the use of umbilical cord blood cells has shown a promising role as an alternative source of HSCT even with other available sources such as bone marrow and peripheral blood. Other transplantation procedures, such as T-cell depletion allografts, Post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCY), G-CSF-mobilized allografts, and antithymocyte globulin, have contributed to significant improvements in haplo-HSCT outcomes in recent decades.

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This study used survey research to examine the relationship in performances of pupils with nursery education in cognitive competence across the first three years of primary school in Sokoto State. The aim was to find out if the academic gains of nursery education are sustained or diminished through the first three years in primary school. The stratified random sample was used to choose 300 boys and 300 girls. A self-designed, validated and reliable instrument on cognitive competence was used. One null hypothesis was generated and tested using regression statistics. The hypothesis was rejected because the study found significant coherence in the cognitive competence of pupils across the first three years in primary school. The study recommends stakeholders to provide complementary quality education and linkage between nursery and primary education and to ensure that psycho-social and character assessments are conducted and included in result reports and certificates as evidence of learning outcomes attained by learners.