Although the previous intervention may have contributed to the good knowledge about TB and care-seeking attitudes displayed by respondents in the communities, sustaining active case finding through public-private partnership can go a long way to reduce TB burden, especially in rural communities where healthcare systems are generally weak or inadequate. Adequate funding of TB control activities is critical in eliminating TB as a public health problem, and the private sector participation such as this is a welcome development.

Background: This study investigated long-term effect of the Obudu honey on selected biomarkers of energy storage regulation, compared to table sugar.Methods: Fifty Wistar rats assigned to 5 groups of 10 rats each, were fed rat chow only (NC), 8% table sugar (S8%), 16% table sugar (S16%), 10% honey (H10%) and 20% honey (H20%) diets respectively, for 29 weeks. On dry weight basis, the percentages of table sugar and honey for each level of incorporation were equivalent. Diet intake, body weights and fasting blood glucose (FBG) were measured fortnightly. At the end of the study, serum glucose, insulin, leptin and tissue necrosis factor -α (TNF-α), wet weight of white adipose tissues (WAT) were measured. Results: After an initial adjustment to the diets, there was no significant difference in diet consumed by female and male subgroups, except the female group fed H20% which was consistently lower than the NC and the corresponding S16% fed group (P < 0.05). Both honey and sugar incorporated diets caused significant body weight gain in the female animals compared to NC; an effect which was higher with the honey than sugar, and depended on the level of each sweetener used as well as feeding duration (P < 0.05). Furthermore, S8% and S16% diets increased leptin concentration in the female rats, by 35.8 and 45.3% respectively compared with NC and by 63.8 and 40.5% compared to H10% and H20% respectively (P < 0.05). Also, the S8% and S16% diets significantly increased serum insulin in the female subgroups compared to the corresponding honey-sweetened diets; and in both male and female rats when compared to NC (P < 0.05). Lastly, the S8% and S16% diets also caused a dosedependent increase of TNF-α in both female and male rats compared to the H10% and H20% diets and the control (P < 0.05).Conclusion: Data obtained from the study associated table sugar with obesigenic and inflammatory mechanisms more than the Obudu honey, particularly in the females. However, the data did not exempt the honey from obesigenic effect. The effects were subtle and may require a longer time to precipitate obesity.

As a result of the poor sensitivity and speci city of the standard parasitological diagnostic methods currently being used, this study was conducted to compare the standard parasitological diagnostic methods and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) in determining the prevalence of urinary schistosomiasis in Cross River State (CRS). The study was conducted between April 2015 and March 2016. Seven hundred and seventy seven (777) urine samples were randomly collected from selected school-age children. The urine samples were subjected to standard parasitological and molecular examinations. Chisquare test was used to test the differences between the data on subgroups and the results from specimen examinations. An overall prevalence of 1.7% was recorded using microscopy and 34.7% recorded using PCR. The highest prevalence of infection by microscopy occurred in the Southern Senatorial District (2.3%), while the Northern Senatorial District recorded the highest prevalence of infection by PCR (53.2%) (p < 0.05). Males were more infected (2.4%) than females (0.6%) using microscopy. With PCR, males were also more infected (35.7%) compared to females (33.3%) (p < 0.05). The highest prevalence of infection using microscopy and PCR both occurred in school-age children aged 5-8 years (3.6% and 47.8% respectively), while the lowest prevalence for both methods occurred in participants aged 17-20 years (0% for both methods) (p < 0.05). This study has shown PCR to be effective in detecting schistosomiasis infection and also re-a rms the endemicity of urinary schistosomiasis in the three Senatorial Districts of CRS.

Background: Efforts to combat tuberculosis in Nigeria focus on evaluation of strategies for treatment and prevention, with little attention paid to the impact of the burden of illness and its therapy on the HRQoL of TB patients. This study evaluated the quality of life (QoL) of TB patients in relation to their financial, psychological and social well-being. Method: In 2011, following an active case finding for TB in Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria, a structured questionnaire for evaluating HRQoL was distributed to TB patients who had been on treatment in four DOTs centres of the state for at least three months. The questions were to elicit responses that conveyed the respondents' perspective of the disease. One hundred and eight TB patients (54 males and 54 females) aged 15-80 years were studied. Results: Negative emotions including fear, frustration and worry characterized the reactions of all subjects following news of their diagnosis with TB. However, following treatment, 62% of subjects expressed high expectation of being cured. Inability to continue functioning in their roles at home or as heads of households was recorded in 48.1% (52/108) and 59% (23/39) of respondents respectively and contributed to the negative emotions expressed above. Lack of basic supplies such as food and finances to meet personal and family needs constituted the most important socioeconomic challenges. Socioeconomic status of respondents revealed that 61% had no regular means of income with at least 94% earning less than $50 (8000 naira) a month. Subsistent farmers and petty traders constituted more than 66% of the respondents: 98% ob-* Corresponding author. A. E. Asuquo et al. 200 tained less than or equivalent of high school education. Socially, all health workers and 87% of family members were sympathetic and supportive compared to friends, with 42% exhibiting stigmatization. The most frequent forms of support from family members were financial (25%) and provision of food (37%). Up to 28% were regularly prompted by family to take their medication. Conclusion: In the midst of obvious socioeconomic challenges confronting TB patients in this study, the initial negative emotions declined following the supportive roles of mainly health care workers and family members. Patients were optimistic of achieving cure at the end of the treatment.

Background Hypoestes rosea (family: Acanthacea ), has been harnessed and utilized for treatment of several ailments. However, there is the paucity of available data on nephrotoxicity associated with this herb. Here, we investigated the phytochemical profile and toxicological effect of H. rosea on Wistar Rats. Methods Twenty rats (weight range: 75–100 g) were assigned into five study groups, viz; (a) control (without treatment) (b) treatment group 1, orally administered with 50 mg/kg (c) treatment group 2, orally administered with 100 mg/kg (d) treatment group 3, orally administered with 250 mg/kg, and (e) treatment group 4, orally administered with 300 mg/kg of H. rosea, respectively for 28 days of four rats per group. The rats were made unconscious by using oral administration of chloroform. Cardiac punctures were made, and blood samples collected into 10 ml labeled plain container, allowed to clot and spun to harvest serum for determination of sodium, potassium, chloride, bicarbonate, urea and creatinine using colorimetric, back-titrimetric, Urease-Berthelot and Jaffe’s reaction methods respectively. Kidneys of rats were harvested, weighed and immediately fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin for histological analysis. Result Mean serum sodium (p = 0.049), potassium (p = 0.007), and urea (p < 0.001) levels were significantly higher among the treatment groups compared to controls. Histopathological findings of kidney sections revealed mild glomerular infiltration in treatment groups 2–4. Additionally, sclerosis was observed in groups 3–4. Phytochemical analysis of H. rosea revealed presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, terpenoids, steroids and reducing sugars. Conclusion From the findings in this study, H. rosea leaf extract causes significant damage to the kidneys of Wistar rats at higher doses. Of which, the damages were dose-dependent in direct proportionality manner. To better determine the safe dosage and ideal duration of consumption, there is the need for further studies on H. rosea.