Preeclampsia (PE) is one of the most common causes of maternal mortality and morbidity. It complicates 5% - 6% of all pregnancies globally and up to 15% of pregnancies in Sub-Saharan Africa. The present study was designed to determine the values of platelet indices in preeclamptic patients compared to non-preeclamptic controls. A total of 70 patients comprising 35 preeclamptic cases and 35 non-preeclamptic controls aged 18-40 years were recruited for the study. Blood samples (3mls) were collected from patients for the estimation of platelet indices using the Mindray 530 BC automated hematology analyzer, Mindray, Japan. The data were analyzed by SPSS version 22 using T - test and Pearson correlation. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05 and the result was presented as mean + SD. The result revealed a significant increase in the MPV (13.5 + 0.18 vs. 09.4 + 0.20), PDW (16.2 + 0.037 vs. 06.0 + 0.19) and PLCR (38.0 + 1.19 vs. 26.2 + 1.19) between the preeclamptic patients and non-preeclamptic controls. There was a significant decrease in the PLT (174.1 + 15.5 vs. 231.1 + 15.05), PCT (1.9 + 0.14 vs. 3.3 + 0.75), and PLCC (60.7 + 3.24 vs. 69.4 + 3.17) for the preeclamptic cases compared to non-preeclamptic control. These findings may be useful in the management of the adverse outcomes of preeclampsia for the Enugu population.

Heavy metal contamination of food is a global public health problem especially in developing countries. The WHO 2015 report on global burden of food contamination stated that an estimated 600 million people are affected resulting in 420,000 deaths annually with children under 5 years of age constituting 40% of burden and 125,000 deaths annually. The present study was aimed at determining the concentrations of Nickel (Ni), Cadmium (Cd), Lead (Pb) and Chromium (Cr) in some samples of wild type pleurotus tuberregium sclerotia consumed in Enugu, Southeast Nigeria. Heavy metal concentrations were determined using Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS 240FS) Varian, Varian Inc, Japan. The range for concentration of Nickel was (3.29+0.63-3.67+0.00), Cd (0.002+0.01-0.005+0.0), Pb(0.04+0.03)-0.07+0.02) and Cr(0.46+0.26-1.0+0.62),ppm respectively. These are within the WHO tolerable concentrations of Ni, Cd, Pb and Cr in food. These findings shows that pleurotus tuberregium sclerotia consumed in Enugu has lower concentrations of heavy metals compared to the WHO recommended values.

an increased clonal proliferation of one or more myeloid lineages [1,2]. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the classical myeloproliferative neoplasm can be divided into two major groups namely the Philadelphia chromosome positive group which includes chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and the Philadelphia chromosome negative groups which includes Essential Thrombocythemia (ET), Polycythemia Vera (PV) and Primary Myelofibrosis (PMF) [3]. Due to an underlying clonal proliferation, patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms suffer complications including thrombosis and haemorrhage. Over time, patients develop progressive bone marrow failure and may also transform to acute myeloid leukemia. Studies identified three main mechanisms of pathophysiology which include (i) Somatic driver mutations that stimulate activation of various tyrosine kinase pathways, (ii) Cooperating driver mutations in myeloid genes and, (iii) Uncommon genetic factors that initiate different clinical neoplastic phenotypes [4]. Oncogenes in Myeloproliferative Neoplasms Underlying myeloproliferative neoplasms are abnormalities in various genes involved the tyrosine kinase signaling pathways [5]. These may include: