Study on inheritance pattern of earlobe attachment in populations is scanty and reported to be unclear in populations where attempts have been made. In this study however, the inheritance pattern of earlobe attachment in a Nigerian population was investigated using 760 Nigerians from 200 families with 400 parents and 360 offspring within the ages of 5months-60years. Photographs of earlobe attachment of the subjects were taken and observed according to respective families. The result was analysed using Chi-test to test the pattern of inheritance based on Mendellian fashion at 0.05 significant. The inheritance pattern of earlobe attachment amongst Nigerian was found to follow a simple dominantrecessive pattern with the detached dominant over the attached earlobe and do not differ among the tribes with no significant difference in gender distribution of the trait in the population. The Results obtained suggest that observation of pattern of earlobe attachment trait might be suitable for genetic analysis and can help in settling paternal dispute.

Background: Anatomical variations have been genetically linked and the difference in the length of the big toe relative to the second toe (Morton's toe) is not an exception; however, its prevalence and inheritance pattern has been a scientific debate. Therefore, this study investigated the prevalence and inheritance pattern of Morton's toe among Nigerians in Rivers State. Materials and Methods: A total of 101 families comprising of 101 parents (fathers and mothers) and 135 offspring were conveniently sampled for this study. The observed big toe pattern was described as “L BT ” and “S BT ” representing big toe longer than the second toe and big toe shorter or equal to the second toe, respectively. The offspring trait was tabulated alongside the parental combination patterns (i.e., when both parents had L BT , both parents S BT and a combination of L BT and S BT ). XLSTAT 2012 (version 4.2.2) Chi-square analysis tested the association between sex and Morton's toe. Mendelian Chi-square gene distribution model evaluated the conformance to simple dominance-recessive pattern, while the Hardy–Weinberg (H-W) equation for allele frequency compared the parental allele frequency to that of the offspring. Results: L BT (218; 64.7%) was more in the studied population than S BT (119; 35.3%); with males (63; 18.7%) having slightly higher proportion of SBT (Morton's toe) than females (56; 16.6%), which was without sexual preference (χ 2 = 0.141, P > 0.932). The test of offspring gene distribution in conformance to Mendelian simple dominant-recessive monohybrid cross had rather weak result. The H-W equation showed a deviation of offspring allele distribution (1:3:2.5 [2:6:5]) from the parents (1:3:2). Conclusion: Morton's toe could be said to be genetically linked, however, its inheritance pattern does not conform to the simple dominant-recessive model, but a more complex pattern. It should be noted that the large frequency of a trait in a population does not make it dominant.

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Objective: Xylopia aethiopica is a common plant in West Africa, with wide applications in trado-medical management of several diseases. Thus, our study aimed to analyze the histology and hormonal effects of ethanol extracts of Xylopia aethiopica seeds on cadmium chloride-induced reproductive dysfunction in female Wistar rats. Methods: We used twenty-five rats weighing 120-150g for this study. The rats were divided into five groups (n=5). Group 1: received only distilled water orally; Group 2: received 2 mg/kg cadmium chloride orally; Group 3: received 2 mg/kg cadmium chloride plus 50 mg/kg Xylopia aethiopica seeds orally; Group 4: received 2 mg/kg cadmium chloride plus 100 mg/kg Xylopia aethiopica seeds orally, and Group 5: received 100 mg/kg Xylopia aethiopica seeds only, orally. We administered the extracts for 14 days, after which we slaughtered the animals following chloroform anesthesia. We took the blood samples by cardiac puncture for hormonal assay. The ovaries and uterus were harvested for histology. We analyzed the data using ANOVA, and the differences in mean values were considered significant at p <0.05. Results: The body weight of the rats showed a dose-dependent reduction ( p <0.05), compared with the controls. Xylopia aethiopica seeds significantly ( p <0.05) reversed the detrimental effects of Cadmium on LH and FSH. The histological analysis of the ovary showed significant improvement upon treatment with Xylopia aethiopica extract in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusions: The ameliorative effects of Xylopia aethiopica against cadmium chloride-induced reproductive toxicity in female Wistar rats may be attributed to its antioxidant properties.