Background: Pharmacists play prominent roles in the health care system and enjoy a wide variety of inter-related careers, placing them among the high-ranking health professionals. Aim: To assess the awareness of pharmacy as a career among secondary school students in the Zaria and Giwa educational zones of Kaduna State, Nigeria. Method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in secondary schools located in the Zaria and Giwa educational zones in Kaduna state, Nigeria; a sample of 278 students completed a 26-item questionnaire. Results: The respondents displayed a fair knowledge of pharmacy (mean score of 9.8 out of 20), with significant differences in awareness observed between males and females (p=0.026), students from private and public schools (p<0.001), and those from schools located in urban and rural areas (p<0.001). Conclusion: The students had a fair knowledge of pharmacy careers and pharmacists' roles and characteristics.

Background Lead (Pb) is toxic and cause many adverse clinical outcomes in children and adult, however, polydatin (PD) is a natural product from plants with reported antioxidative, neuroprotective and inflammatory properties. This study investigated the role of polydatin on lead-induced behavioural deficits, oxidative stress and inflammatory damages in D. melanogaster. D. melanogaster (Harwich strain, 1 to 3 days old) were orally administered lead acetate (PbAc) (0, 50, 100, 250 and 500 µM/5g diet) and PD (0, 5, 10, 20 and 40 µM/5g diet) for 14-days survival assays respectively. Thereafter, three concentrations of PD (10, 20 and 40 µM/5g diet) and one concentration of PbAc (250 µM/5g diet) were selected to evaluate the ameliorative potential of polydatin on PbAc-induced toxicity in D. melanogaster after 5-days oral co-treatment. Results Markers of behavioural (acetylcholinesterase, locomotor performance, fecundity and eclosure of the flies (emergence)), oxidative stress-antioxidant status (hydrogen peroxide, total thiol, catalase and glutathione-S-transferase, cell viability), inflammation (nitric oxide) were evaluated. Polydatin elevate the lifespan of D. melanogaster in a dose-dependent manner up to 40 µM/kg diet. Furthermore, polydatin alleviate PbAc-induced inhibition of catalase, glutathione-S-transferase and acetylcholinesterase activities in D. melanogaster. Moreover, polydatin significantly (p < 0.05) alleviate PbAc-induced cell death, behavioural deficits, accumulation of nitric oxide, hydrogen peroxide, total thiol levels and histopathological lesions in flies. Conclusion The lifespan prolonging effects of polydatin and its ameliorative role on PbAc-mediated toxicity in the flies may be due to its improvement in the behavioural deficits, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.