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Introduction: The plant is used in ethno-medicine as a fish poison and belongs to family known to contain saponins which are toxic to cold-blooded animals including snails acting as vectors of organisms responsible for many human diseases including schistosomiasis. Methods: The mollusccidal activities of 50% ethanolic extracts of the seeds, fruit pericarp, leaves and stem bark as well as the fractions of the fruit pericarp of B unijugata Baker were evaluated on Biomphalaria glabrata.snails Results: The crude extract of fruit pericarp was the most active among the morphological parts tested with LC 50 of 15 μg/ml while Ethyl-Acetate fractions showed the highest activity of the 3 fractions with a LC 50 of 7.6 μg/ml and satisfied the condition set by World Health Organization for a potential plant molluscicides either as a crude extract or as a fractions Conclusions: the results confirmed the ethno-medicinal uses of the plant and can be so regarded as a potential molluscicides in the snail vector of schistsomiasis

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This study evaluated maternal serum levels of dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS) in spontaneous labour and its association with successful labour at term. A cross-sectional observational study was carried out on 140 parturients. Their blood samples were collected in active labour; allowed to clot, centrifuged, separated and stored at -20 °C before analysis for DHEAS was done using the ELISA method. Labour was termed successful when vaginal delivery was achieved. Serum DHEAS levels were higher among parturients with successful labour compared to women with unsuccessful outcome (p = 0.001). DHEAS level was also higher among parturients who did not require oxytocin augmentation compared with those who required it (p = .001). The odds ratio and incidence of successful labour increased significantly as DHEAS level increased above a critical value of 1.5 μg/ml (p = .001). The association between serum DHEAS level and successful labour remained significant after adjusting for other variables (p = .002).

Background Spontaneous miscarriages are common pregnancy complications which result in psychological and emotional burden in the affected women. It is therefore necessary to identify biomarkers that can predict pregnancy outcome in women with threatened miscarriages so as to assist in their counselling and management. Methods The study compared levels of maternal serum CA125 in 65 pregnancies with threatened miscarriages (study group) with 65 normal intrauterine pregnancies (control group) between 6 weeks and 19 weeks + 6 days gestation using an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. Results The mean age of the study and control groups were 29.5 ± 0.14 years and 30.1 ± 0.14 years, respectively. The mean serum CA125 in the study group was 30.1 ± 1.1 IU/mL while that of the control group was 22.9 ± 1.2 IU/mL and this was statistically significant (P = 0.0001). The mean serum CA125 level in the women whose pregnancies were aborted (aborters) was 34.8 ± 1.4 IU/mL while the mean value among those whose pregnancies continued till term (non-aborters) was 27.3 ± 1.2 IU/mL. This was statistically significant (P = 0.001). Further analysis using CA125 ≥36.2 IU/mL (mean value of serum CA125 among aborters + 1 standard deviation) as a threshold for intrauterine pregnancies that eventually got aborted showed a sensitivity of 66.7%, specificity of 83.3%, positive predictive value of 55.6%, negative predictive value of 88.9% and the diagnostic effectiveness (accuracy) was 79.4%. Conclusion The measurement of serum CA125 is a useful predictor of pregnancy outcome in threatened miscarriages.

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Background: The prevalence of diabetes mellitus has risen exponentially in the last decade and an increasing number of people are using herbal supplements. Objective: We aimed to assess the relative efficacy of three promising herbs as potentially emerging alternative/adjunct treatment for diabetes. Materials and Methods: One hundred and ninety-two male Sprague-Dawley rats were used. A third of the animals were randomly rendered diabetic with alloxan (150 mg/kg), another third injected 50% dextrose (5 g/kg); and the last third constituted the controls. The rats were variously administered aqueous leaf extract of Momordica foetida (500 mg/kg), Vernonia amygdalina (500 mg/kg) and Tapinanthus butungii (500 mg/kg), glibenclamide (5 mg/kg) chlorpropamide (250 mg/kg), and human insulin lente (0.1 I.U./kg). Results: Extract of Momordica foetida caused maximal anti-diabetic effect in six hours, Vernonia amygdalina ten hours, while Tapinanthus butungii continued to cause reduction after ten hours. The three extracts caused greater blood glucose reductions than glibenclamide in the diabetic rats, while exhibiting comparable effects with chlorpropamide and insulin. Conclusions: Tapinanthus butungii is more effective in lowering blood glucose than Momordica foetida and Vernonia amygdalina in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Leaf extract of Momordica foetida should be useful in rapidly lowering blood glucose, while that of Tapinanthus butungii in situations that require more subtle reductions and in conditions in which prolonged hypoglycaemic actions are desirable.