INTRODUCTION: Cryptorchidism or undescended testes is one of the most frequent developmental abnormalities in males and may be a prominent cause of infertility in men. It is a condition in which one or both testes are not fully descended to the scrotum. OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of cryptorchidism in male infants of Imo State Nigeria. METHOD: This study took place in the three geographical zones of Imo state between July 2010 and June 2013. Three thousand five hundred and thirty three (3533) male infants were randomly selected for this study. Consent and ethical clearance was obtained. The subjects were carefully examined clinically for this anomaly. The birth weight, gestational age, history of pregnancy, parental education and occupation was considered. The data was analyzed using the SPSS version 20.0 software. RESULTS: The prevalence of cryptorchidism in this study was 1.53%. 16.68% of cases were bilateral while 38.88% and 44.44% occurred on the right and left sides respectively. 68% of cases were not palpable, 14% were palpated around the inguinal region while 22% were found on the suprascrotal area. There is no significant difference between one geographical zone and another (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of cryptorchidism in this study is 1.53%. Birth weight and maternal health were contributory but the maternal education and occupation as well as geographical distribution was not implicated.

Recently, there has been a notably increased use of microwave energy for heating and processing foods particularly in catering services and in our homes owing to its speed, convenience and efficiency compared to the traditional heating method. Due to the availability and affordability of plastic containers, they are mostly used to contain foods for preheating in a microwave. However, these plastics pose great risk on humans’ health if they get scratched or heated, and leach out chemicals into the contained foods. Also, the microwave energy has been speculated to have posed risks to the health of humans considering the electromagnetic radiations it emits. This study was aimed at evaluating the effect of ingested foods preheated (with microwave) in plastic containers on the reproductive profile of male albino rats. A total of twenty-four (24) male albino rats weighing between 120 to 200 g were used for this study. The rats were divided into three (3) groups (group I, II and III) of eight (8) rats per group. The rats were fed ad libitum with porridge beans and jellof rice with meat and fish daily for 40 days. The foods ingested by group I rats were not preheated in a microwave; the foods ingested by group II rats were put in ceramics and preheated in a microwave for 2 minutes daily; while the foods ingested by group III rats were put in plastic containers (not labeled as ‘‘microwave safe’’) and preheated in a microwave daily for 2 minutes. After an overnight fast, the rats were anaesthetized using chloroform, and blood samples obtained (via cardiac puncture) were used to analyze serum luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and testosterone using the ELISA method. The epididymis was also excised and immediately macerated to obtain semen, which was used for semen analysis. The results obtained showed a significantly decreased (p<0.05) mean LH, FSH, testosterone and sperm count in group III (plastic-microwaved) compared to group I and II. Also noted, was a significantly decreased (p<0.05) sperm count in group II compared to group I. However, there was no significant difference in LH, FSH and testosterone between groups I and II. Conclusively, it was evident from this study that, ingestion of foods preheated (with microwave) in plastic containers overtime, may predispose male rats and thus male individuals to dysfunction in their reproductive system which may eventually lead to male infertility. It is therefore, highly recommended that preheating of foods (with microwave) in plastic containers should be highly prohibited, but should rather be done using ceramics.

INTRODUCTION: The medical anatomy course has become a complex and complicated educational experience, in which dissection of the human body instructs not only in structure and function, but also in psychosocial areas critical to the development of the whole physician. Dissection is being sidelined in medical education. Computers and other alternative teaching tools are replacing cadavers in the modern anatomy curriculum.AIMS AND OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and compare the role of cadaveric dissection with other teaching tools in anatomic education.METHOD: This study took place at the college of medicine, Imo state university Nigeria. Two hundred and sixty eight (268) preclinical medical students participated in this study. A matrix‐grid questionnaire was used and participants were asked to score five methods of anatomy teaching used in the college (lectures, dissection, prosection, models and PC software/TV packages) using a 5‐point Likert type scale on the ability to achieve learning objectives. The data was analysed using the Krusekal‐Wallis and Mann‐Whitney methods to evaluate differences in scores between teaching methods.RESULTS: Results showed that the most suitable tool for learning anatomy is cadaveric dissection having scored highest in cumulative objectives while PC software/TV package was the least method. Prosection, lectures and models appear in between.CONCLUSIONTraditional cadaveric dissection remains the best method of teaching anatomy. The other methods of learning play complementary roles. Efforts should be made to device means of regular supply of cadavers to medical institutions rather than withdrawing cadaveric dissection from medical curriculum.

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The kidneys process the blood supplied to it via filtration, reabsorption, secretion and excretion leading to the formation of urine. It is constantly exposed to different drugs and products of metabolism which could be toxic and destructive to renal structures. This study investigated the protective effective of camel milk on carbon tetrachloride induced renotoxicity in wistar rat.Twenty adult wistar rats weighing between 150g and 200g were used in the study to determine the protective effective of camel milk on carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) induced renotoxicity in rats. The rats were divided into 5 groups (A, B, C, D and E) of 4 animals each and were fed with rat feed and water for 30days. Control groups (A and B) were injected intraperitoneally (i/p) with 1ml/kgbw of paraffin oil on the 1st and 2nd days, and in addition group B was fed with camel milk for the remaining days. Groups C and D were injected i/p with CCl4 (1ml/kgbw) for 2 consecutive days and group D fed with camel milk for the remaining period. Group E were fed with camel milk and were injected i/p with CCl4 on the last two daysResults showed a 5.76% decrease in mean body weight of group C significant at p<0.05% while A and B; D and E showed increase in mean body weight of 7.69%, 12.60%, 4.40% and 9.21% respectively. The weight and relative weight of kidneys of Group C was significantly higher (p<0.05) compared with group A and other groups. The sera levels of creatine and urea were significantly raised (p< 0.05) in group C while control and other experimental groups were within normal range. Histologically, there were moderate inflammation, congestion of the glomerulus and tubular necrosis in group C. The renal structures of control, groups B and E appear normal while group D show minimal inflammation.This shows that camel milk protects and ameliorates renal architecture and could serve as a nutritional supplement in renal diseases.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.