Background: Breast cancer, the deadliest cancer in women worldwide, is often diagnosed at late stage in Cameroon, with high mortality and dire socioeconomic consequences. We investigated the reasons for breast cancer late diagnosis in Cameroon. Methods: Women (412) were randomly recruited in various locations in the city of Bafoussam, West Region, Cameroon. They self-administered a questionnaire assessing breast cancer awareness. Then, they underwent breast palpation, followed by fine needle aspiration (FNA) when a nodule was found. Results: 65% of the study participants were above 30 years; 80.9% had at least a secondary education; 94.4% had heard about breast cancer and the main source of information was the media (57.3%). Most participants were either uninformed or ill-informed (up to 72%) about breast cancer risk factors, signs, and screening methods, in particular breast self-examination (BSE). Of the 17 women with nodules and other suspect signs, only 6 accepted fine needle aspiration (FNA). Three of the 6 had malignant nodules indicative of Invasive ductal carcinoma low grade (one case) and high grade (2 cases).Conclusions: Women living in Bafoussam are poorly aware of breast cancer screening methods, in particular BSE, and of the importance of early detection. BSE followed by FNA in women with nodules is a simple, yet good screening method to improve early detection and reduce the burden of breast cancer.

Sickle cell anaemia (SCA) is a genetic disorder characterised by the presence of haemoglobin S in red blood cells. Current antioxidant treatments are expensive and long-term toxic effects can follow. The present study aimed at evaluating the antisicking and antioxidant properties of Theobroma cacao beans extracts in order to contribute to the management of SCA patients through new therapies based on natural substances. Cocoa bean extracts (from Santchou and Obala) were macerated in a mixture of water/ethanol (pH=3). The anti-sickling activities of both extracts followed by their effects on osmotic fragility of erythrocytes were assessed. Their antioxidant and scavenging activities on free radicals such as 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, 2,2'-azino-bis-[3-ethylbenz-thiazolone-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) were also investigated as well as their phenolic contents. The cocoa extracts from Obala presented the best antisickling activity with 64.34% sickle cell reduction after 24 h. The extracts from Santchou did not present any sickling reduction after the above-mentioned time. A decrease in the haemolytic percentage was observed while the concentration of saline and extracts were increasing. Cocoa beans extracts revealed a high content in polyphenols, flavonols as well as a high antioxidant potential and scavenged free radicals depending on the test sample concentration, with IC50 ranging between 1.93 and 2.34 μg/mL; 3.85 and 4.46 μg/mL and 3.53 and 4.61 μg/mL, on the free radicals DPPH, ABTS and NO, respectively. Theobroma cacao from Obala exhibited the best in vitro activity and constitute a preliminary step to the development of a future treatment against SCA.

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ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate an independent correlation between high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) on one side and between hs-CRP and arterial pressure in well glucose controlled type 2 diabetics on the other side.ResultsThe mean of HbA1c was 6.37% in this study and 70.10% of participants had an HbA1c less than 7%. A positive correlation between hs-CRP and HbA1c was found in the current study (r = 0.232; P = 0.043) and we observed a decrease of 0.79% of HbA1c of the participants when their hs-CRP was less than 1 mg/l compared to that of the participants who had hs-CRP more than 1 mg/l (5.75 ± 1.25% VS 6.54 ± 1.42% P value = 0.04 Student). No correlation was found between hs-CRP and arterial pressure in this study. These results could justify the perspective use of anti-inflammatory drugs in the management of T2D. However the presence of participants with HbA1c levels greater than 7% makes plausible the influence of confounding factors on the observed correlations.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13104-017-2785-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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