ABSTRACT Brief background Worldwide, the population of the elderly has tripled in the last century. Projections indicate that the global population of persons aged 60 years and over, which was 11% in 2000 will reach 22% by 2050. Ageing is a gradual process with various determinants many of which are modifiable. Functional systemic changes, together with the effect of the environment, nutrition, lifestyle and genome of a person may insidiously lead to the development of chronic age-associate...
Abstract Diabetes mellitus is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and mortality. Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) exerts it deleterious effects through the blood vessel which may lead to hypoperfusion and end organ damage. The ability to characterize the arterial system and derive related biomarkers that can predict the occurrence of CVDs and discriminate high risk subject for management would be of immense importance. Assessment of arterial stiffness and central hemodynami...
STRUCTURED ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Although spinal Anaesthesia remains the anaesthetic technique of choice for many surgeries below the umbilicus, it may be associated with increased risk of cardiopulmonary complications such as hypotension, bradycardia and intraoperative cardiopulmonary arrest. Spinal Anaesthesia blocks autonomic, motor and sensory nerves which may affect pulmonary function. In the general population, reduction in the forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) is a robust pr...
ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Spastic Cerebral palsy accounts for 70-80% of all types of Cerebral palsy. Spasticity as a major feature limits and restricts patients’ ability to walk, stand, sit, or roll effectively due to excessive muscle contraction interfering with lengthening of the affected muscles. It poses a challenge even though there are well known interventions. Rehabilitation which includes physiotherapy is one of the widely accepted interventions. Physiotherapists in other countries and in...
ABSTRACT Background: Natural cocoa powder (NCP) has been recognized to possess significant amounts of procyanidin flavonoids, methylxanthines, catechin and epicatechin with healthful effects. Stimulus for this work was to validate claims that NCP was a healthful product best for the aged with cardiovascular health problems and also for daily consumption for all age groups as a preventive measure. Literature review does not show any work done in healthy adult Ghanaians involving the long term...
ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Spastic Cerebral palsy accounts for 70-80% of all types of Cerebral palsy. Spasticity as a major feature limits and restricts patients’ ability to walk, stand, sit, or roll effectively due to excessive muscle contraction interfering with lengthening of the affected muscles. It poses a challenge even though there are well known interventions. Rehabilitation which includes physiotherapy is one of the widely accepted interventions. Physiotherapists in other countries and in...
ABSTRACT Background Nitric oxide (NO) is a potent vasodilator synthesized by endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) enzyme of the vascular endothelial cells and plays a significant role in the regulation of vascular homeostasis by attenuating leukocyte adhesion to the endothelium. Nitric oxide levels are found to be low in Sickle cell disease (SCD) patients. The eNOS gene polymorphism has been implicated. Moreover, very scanty data with conflicting findings exist in theliterature on the ass...
ABSTRACT Background Many adults with sickle cell disease (SCD) complain of significant exercise intolerance despite the health benefits in exercise. Most children with SCD also miss out on the important benefits of exercise because of unsubstantiated fears that it might be harmful in their condition. Several factors could contribute to exercise limitation in these patients. The six-minute walk test (6MWT) is a standardized test use to measure a person’s exercise tolerance. It is being incr...
ABSTRACT Background: Ramadan is the ninth month of the lunar calendar during which fasting is prescribed for every healthy adult Muslim. Intermittent fasting and caloric restriction, or alternate-day feeding, had been shown to have effect on some physiological and biochemical parameters in the body. Ramadan fasting is considered a unique model of intermittent fasting as food and fluid intake becomes exclusively nocturnal without restriction on the type or amount of food intake. During this fa...
ABSTRACT The Muni-Pomadze wetland in the Central Region of Ghana is one of five internationally-recognised coastal wetlands (Ramsar sites) in Ghana under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. The wetland is known for its rich variety of biodiversity and unpolluted ecosystem and is fed by a main river called Pratu along with its tributaries (Ntakofa and Muni Rivers) that flows into the Muni lagoon. However, the need to produce enough food to feed the ever increasing populatio...
ABSTRACT Background: Metabolic syndrome is the clustering of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) such as obesity, insulin resistance, hyperglycemia, hypertension and dyslipidemia in an individual. The relationship between metabolic syndrome and arterial stiffness is unclear and the mechanism linking metabolic syndrome to CVDs is largely uncertain even though adipokines such as leptin and adiponectin have been hypothesized to be implicated. This study assessed the levels of leptin ...
Abstract The cement industry processes and uses raw materials with varying concentrations of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORMs), some being of more radiological significance than others. Additionally, these raw materials may contain hazardous trace elements from which the workers and the public might be exposed to as a result of the various processes involved in the manufacture of cement. Therefore, it is important to establish the levels of the radionuclides in cement types fo...
ABSTRACT In the tropics, prevailing weather conditions exert a tremendous influence on fluid and electrolyte homeostasis of residents. For the tropical resident, who may have evolved an adaptive strategy to conserve sodium and water by renal and hormonal mechanisms, increases in sodium intake may cause changes that would, in the long term, lead to an increase in the arterial blood pressure. In this study, three serial protocols were followed to elucidate the significant role of sodium balance...
iv ABSTRACT Background: Vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC), the hallmark of sickle cell disease (SCD) is responsible for the high rate of morbidity and mortality in SCD patients with sickling of the sickle haemoglobin (HbS) being the main cause. Reduction of the cellular concentration of HbS through prevention of erythrocyte dehydration has been proposed as a possible therapeutic strategy for VOC management with the K-Cl co-transporter being a major pathway for sickle cell dehydration and subsequent...
ABSTRACT This study was carried out to determine the effect of cement dust administration on blood glucose and cholesterol level in fasted male Wistar rats. Twenty four male Wistar rats weighing between 158-204g were used for this study. The animals were randomly divided into four groups comprising six rats each. Group 1 was the control group with no cement dust administered at all while Group2, 3 and 4 are the low dose (25g), medium dose (50g)and high dose (100g) cement dust administra...