Aim/Objectives: There are claims that Carissa edulis has positive effects on hematological parameters. The present study was conducted to evaluate the safety and claimed hematological effect of Carissa edulis on rats intoxicated with carbon tetrachloride.Method: Thirty six male albino rats were randomly allotted to six groups of six rats per group. The animals were treated with (250, 500 and 1000mg/kg of the stem bark extract of Carissa edulis. The extract was administered daily by gavage to the animals for 28 consecutive days. The 50%v/v Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) and olive oil was gavaged twice a week. The animals of the normal control group were given 5ml/kg of distilled water while those of the CCl4 group were administered CCl4 only twice a week.Result: Results of the study showed that the CCl4 group caused a significant decrease in most of the hematological parameters while the extract treated groups showed a significant increase in these parameters.Discussion / Conclusion: This suggests that the ethanolic stem bark extract has erythropoietic, thrombopoietic and positive effect on the immune system.

Background:The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control recently approved the use of Antigen based rapid diagnostic test kits for the diagnosis of COVID-19 in Nigeria, with the goal to scale up COVID-19 testing. Community Pharmacists can be mobilized to be part of meeting this goal, since they are the closest and most accessible healthcare practitioners in the communities. This study aimed at assessing the community pharmacist's knowledge, preparedness, and willingness to get involved in COVID-19 testing. Methods: A cross-sectional self-administered structured questionnaire based survey of 449 consenting community pharmacists across Nigeria between April and May 2020 was used for this study. Descriptive and inferential statistics were done with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences, with the level of significance set at <0.05. Results: Average knowledge of COVID-19 and its testing was displayed by 53.2% of the respondents, 336 (74.8%) stated that their pharmacies did not have a properly ventilated isolation room, and 401 (89.3%), were willing to be trained on how to use the test kits for COVID-19 testing. Community pharmacies that offered comprehensive laboratory services were better prepared for 2 COVID-19 testing (χ = 12.294, p = 0.000), and demographics of the respondents did not affect their 2 knowledge of COVID-19 and its testing (χ = 10.469, p = 0.106). Conclusion: Majority (53.2%) of the community pharmacists had average knowledge. Although, majority of the community pharmacies were not adequately prepared for COVID-19 testing, most of them were willing to be trained on how to use the test kits. The Government can explore this willingness by providing adequate training and equipment necessary for COVID-19 testing.

Background: Carissa edulis is generally used for the treatment of diverse ailments, but little or no interest has been shown on its hepatoprotective properties. This research work was aimed at evaluating the safety and claimed hepatoprotective activity of Carissa edulis.Method: For the intent of data collection, the method of Li et al., 2011 was used. In this method animals were treated with (250,500 and 1000mg/kg) of stem bark extract. The extract was given daily by gavage to the animals for 28 consecutive days. The 50% v/vCCl4 and olive oil was gavaged through gastric tube twice a week. The tests conducted were liver function test, liver antioxidant enzymes test, lipid profile test as well as Histopathological assessment of the liver sections.Results: Results of the study revealed that the markers in the animal treated with CCl4 were significantly higher than the normal control at (P<0.05). While blood samples from animals treated with the stem bark extracts were significantly lower than the CCl4 group at (P<0.05).Conclusion: These results imply that the ethanolic stem bark extract of Carissa edulis have a protective effect against CCl4 induced hepato - cellular injury.