Although a rise in white blood cells (WBC) count in the late stage of pregnancy could be a reflection of stress, especially in the third trimester of pregnancy, due to the rapidly growing mass of the foetus and uterus on one hand, or it may be signifying the immunosuppressant factors postulated to be present in the serum of a pregnant woman on the other hand. Furthermore, the presence of infections may also be responsible for the rise. Stress, immunosuppressant factor or infection, all can contribute to an unfavourable outcome of pregnancy. However, the variations in the WBC among third trimester pregnant women in our setting are yet to be profiled. The present longitudinal cohort study considered 160 apparently healthy third trimester pregnant women and compared same with 47 non-pregnant controls (26.89 ± 5.8 vs 28.02 ± 6.8 years, p=0.265). Although total WBC (tWBC) significantly rises per visit among the pregnant group (8.13 ± 1.73 × 10 3 /µL to 8.78 ± 1.83 × 10 3 /µL, p= 0.0012) compared to the nonpregnant control group (7.39 ± 2.94 × 10 3 /µL to 6.51 ± 1.95 × 10 3 /µL, p= 0.09), lymphocytes and monocytes counts were lower in the pregnant group compared to the non-pregnant controls (lymphocytes 0.89 ± 0.42 × 10 3 /µL vs 1.51 ± 1.21, p<0.05; monocytes 0.31 ± 0.10 × 10 3 /µL vs 0.43 ± 0.29 × 10 3 /µL, p<0.05). In conclusion, the coexistence of high tWBC but low lymphocytes and monocytes counts in the pregnant group may be a reason infection in pregnancy is a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality in Sokoto state and it may offer a useful target for reducing maternal illnesses. Further studies to identify additional stressors (aside from the pregnancy itself) during pregnancy is needed in Sokoto with a view to reducing such stressors so that the immunity of pregnant mothers may be boosted and hence maternal morbidity and mortality can be reduced.

Anthropometric measurements have important applications in every aspect and stage of the human life. It may be used to tell-tale the health or otherwise during pregnancy of the mother and the unborn baby. During childhood, it can be used to measure growth, health and nutritional status. In adult life, they may depict level of nourishment and may connote some disease states. The records are required in drugs prescription and in designing and choosing the right hospital equipment to use for a patient. Anthropometric measurements are also required in the design of houses, human wears and most industrial designs of products for human uses are based on average anthropometric records of the particular society for which they are meant. A particular anthropometric index however, may vary widely between apparently normal individuals of the same sex, age and race when varying from one societal setting to the other and sometimes within same society based on some factors. These differences often make it difficult to interpret anthropometric measurements as normal or abnormal. What are the determinants of these differences? How should these variations be managed by health workers and other users? The present review intends to present some of these differences in various human categories and suggest in a compact, yet comprehensive form, how to deal with these differences in order to optimize the use of the records.

Background: Emergency Contraception (EC) will help forestall unintended pregnancies, following an unprotected sexual intercourse or failure of regular family planning methods. EC knowledge is essential for every woman in the reproductive age group, especially single women who are unable to abstain from unprotected sex. Nevertheless, this knowledge and the utilization of this essential reproductive health product is poor among women across the globe. The female NYSC member of Nigeria stand a greater risk of unintended pregnancies, but little or no attention has been paid to this. Objectives:The present study is informed by the necessity to asses among female NYSC members' knowledge and utilization of EC and come out with information that may help the public and policy makers in fighting unintended pregnancies and its consequences in Nigeria.Methods: 181 self-structured, validated questionnaires were distributed among consenting female NYSC members systematically drawn from the 23 Local Government Areas of Sokoto State. SPSS version 20.0 statistical package was used to manage the database.Results: 22.8% of the respondents were found to have good knowledge of EC. Only 44.4% of this group believed it is morally alright to use EC. 39.5% of the respondents that confirmed being involved in an act that required EC ever used it. We also found that tribe/ ethnicity and geopolitical zones of respondents influenced their EC knowledge (χ 2 =8.505, p=0.037 and χ 2 =17.839, p=0.003, respectively). Conclusion:To address unintended pregnancies and the consequences among our young female graduates who stand a huge risk in this respect, formal sex education, advance provision of EC services and handy information strategies such as handbills on EC need be encouraged.