Several heavy metals are found naturally in the earth crust and are exploited for various industrial and economic purposes. Among these heavy metals, a few have direct or indirect impact on the human body. Some of these heavy metals such as copper, cobalt, iron, nickel, magnesium, molybdenum, chromium, selenium, manganese and zinc have functional roles which are essential for various diverse physiological and biochemical activities in the body. However, some of these heavy metals in high doses can be harmful to the body while others such as cadmium, mercury, lead, chromium, silver, and arsenic in minute quantities have delirious effects in the body causing acute and chronic toxicities in humans. The focus of this chapter is to describe the various mechanism of intoxication of some selected heavy metals in humans along with their health effects. Therefore it aims to highlight on biochemical mechanisms of heavy metal intoxication which involves binding to proteins and enzymes, altering their activity and causing damage. More so, the mechanism by which heavy metals cause neurotoxicity, generate free radical which promotes oxidative stress damaging lipids, proteins and DNA molecules and how these free radicals propagate carcinogenesis are discussed. Alongside these mechanisms, the noxious health effects of these heavy metals are discussed.

Antimicrobial resistance refers to the ability of microorganisms to grow in the presence of an antimicrobial agent at a concentration that will normally kill or inhibit their growth. Antimicrobial resistance has become a major global threat making treatment of infections tougher especially with high cost of treatment in humans and animals. This study was done to determine the Multiple Antibiotic Resistant Index (MARI) of Gram-negative bacteria from bird droppings in two commercial poultries in Enugu. Forty (40) samples were collected from each of the poultries. Isolates were identified by standard microbiological methods. The isolates identified were Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Citrobacter spp, Proteus spp. and, Enterobacter spp. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was carried out using disc diffusion technique. The organisms were tested against pefloxacin, augmentin (amoxicillin and clavulanic acid), ceftazidime, streptomycin, ciprofloxacin, gentamycin, cephalothin, neomycin and ofloxacin. The result of the susceptibility test showed that Proteus spp had the highest resistance and MARI value of 0.5 and 1.0 respectively. The other MARI values were Escherichia coli (0.9), Klebsiella pneumonia (0.9), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (0.8), Citrobacter spp (0.8) and Enterobacter spp (0.7). These results suggest that bacterial organisms from poultry source can contribute significantly to the spread of multi-antibiotic resistant organisms. This could arise from the indiscriminate use of antibiotics in bird feeds in poultries.

ObjectivesThough iron deficiency is known to be a major risk factor of anaemia, the association of G6PD deficiency and malaria with anaemia still remains unclear. Hence, a cross-sectional study involving 95 pregnant women visiting Prime Care Hospital in Trans-Ekulu region of Enugu Nigeria was conducted to determine possible predictors of anaemia in pregnancy.ResultsThe prevalence of anaemia, malaria and G6PD deficiency were 53.7, 12.6 and 60% respectively. Low serum ferritin (OR 5.500, CI 2.25–13.42, p < 0.05) and G6PD deficiency (OR 0.087, CI 0.03–0.23, p < 0.05) were associated with anaemia in pregnancy. On the other hand, malaria did not significantly associate (OR 1.184, CI 0.35–3.97, p = 0.964) with anaemia in pregnant women. These findings showed high prevalence of anaemia among pregnant women with low serum ferritin level and G6PD deficiency as high risk factors of anaemia.

The association between the Pro12Ala polymorphism of the PPARγ2 gene, type 2 diabetes (T2D), and obesity in certain ethnic populations has been reported. However, this relationship has not yet been described among diabetes patients in Nigeria. This study investigated the relationship between the Pro12Ala polymorphism in the PPARγ2 gene, obesity, and lipid abnormalities characterizing T2D among patients in Nigeria. This case-control study recruited 73 T2D and 75 non-diabetic (ND) patients. Demographic and clinical data were collected and blood glucose levels together with serum lipid profile for patients were measured. Pro12Ala polymorphism in the PPARγ2 gene was genotyped by restriction fragment length-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RFLP-PCR). The PPAR-γ2 gene (amplicon size = 270 base pair) was successfully amplified for all samples. Following restriction enzyme digestion and analysis by agarose gel electrophoresis, amplicons from samples showed a band of size 270 bp and were of the wild homozygous Pro/Pro genotype. Ala12 variant was totally absent from the study population. Obesity, estimated using Body Mass Index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC), was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in T2D patients compared to the non-diabetic patients. More so, the prevalence of lipid abnormalities; hypercholesterolaemia (TC > 200 mg/dL), hypertriglyceridaemia (TG > 150 mg/dL), high HDL (>100 mg/dL), and low HDL (<50 mg/dL) was significantly greater (p < 0.001) in T2D patients compared to non-diabetic patients. Results obtained further indicated lack of significant association between PPAR-γ2 gene polymorphism, T2D, and obesity. However, obesity and dyslipidaemia were strongly associated in T2D patients.

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