The major health problems affecting pregnant women in sub-Saharan African are anaemia, malaria and HIV. A case-control study aimed at determining the prevalence of malaria, anaemia and HIV status among women of reproductive age between 20-49 years attending General Hospital, Onitsha was conducted. Blood samples of three hundred and sixty-two apparently healthy gravid women attending antenatal and 181 non-gravid apparently healthy women in Onitsha were recruited using random sampling method. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Haemoglobin was estimated using automated method, Malaria, diagnosed microscopically using gold standard staining method and HIV screened using qualitative immunochromatographic method, confirmed molecularly. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 21. Results revealed that out of the 362 pregnant test groups,125 (34.5%) had malaria parasite (mp) in their blood and were anaemic 53(37.6%)  though fewer in control groups ;23,14 (12.7%; 16.1%)  (p = 0.195; p =0.055). Out of 347 HIV sero-negative pregnant women, 110 (31.7%) tested HIV positive when confirmed by PCR molecular method while only 1(0.6%) sero-negative controls were confirmed positive with molecular method with statistical significance observed in the test and control groups (p = 0.000; p = 0.000). However, as pregnancy affects HIV serology testing, it is necessary to use molecular method to increase its sensitivity and more enlightment  programmes on the importance of balanced diet, compliance to Malaria control and routine gynecological drugs intake in pregnant women.

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To determine the levels of interleukin 6 (IL-6) and iron status of football players in Madonna University, Elele, Rivers State, Nigeria. A total number of 100  subjects were recruited for the study, comprising of 50 of football players before playing football (25 males and 25 females) and 50 of football players after playing football (25 males, 25 females) from Madonna University Nigeria, Elele Campus, Rivers State, Nigeria. The data obtained from the study were presented as Mean  SD in tables and analysed using student t-test for parametric data using SPSS version 20. The level of significance was set at p<0.05. The results showed significant increase (p=0.004) in interleukin 6 (IL-6) of football players after playing compared to it before playing and no significant change (p=0.505) in the iron level of football players after playing compared to before playing respectively. The results also showed no significant change in interleukin 6 compared among football players based on gender and age groups and no significant change in the iron level of all the subjects. The study showed increase an in interleukin 6 (IL-6) of the football players after playing compared to the level before playing which shows that the physical activity increases the level of interleukin 6 and but has no effect on the iron level after football game.

The study was done to determine the levels of interferon-gamma, interleukin 6, interleukin 10, iron status, hepcidin and haematological parameters of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis co-infected with human immunodeficiency virus in Southeast, Nigeria. This study was carried out at the directly observed treatment-short course Tuberculosis (TB DOTS) centre of Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia, located in South-Eastern Nigeria. Therefore, sample size of 240 was used to give room for attrition. A total of two hundred and forty (240) subjects aged 18-60 years were enlisted for this study. Seven milliliters (7ml) of venous blood was collected from each subject and 2.5 ml was dispensed into bottles containing di-potassium salt of ethylenediamine tetra-acetic acid (K2-EDTA) and was used for full blood count, CD4 count and HIV screening. Also, 4.5ml was dispensed into plain tubes. Serum was obtained after clotting by spinning at 3000 RPM for 10 minutes and was used for interferon gamma, interleukin-6, and interleukin-10, iron and hepcidin determination. Data was analysed using statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 20. Student t-test, ANOVA (Analysis of Variance), Pearson Product Moment and Chi-Square were the tools employed. Results were expressed as mean ± standard deviation and are presented in table and significance level was set at P<0.05.The results showed difference that was statistically significant (P<0.05) in IFN-γ (P=0.000), IL-6 (P=0.000) IL-10 (P=0.000), CD4 (P=0.000), hepcidin (P=0.000), Iron (P=0.000), TIBC (P=0.000), %TSA  (P=0.001) ,WBC (P=0.000), Neutrophils (P=0.000), Lymphocyes (P=0.000), Monocytes (P=0.000), Eosinophils (P=0.000), Basophils (P=0.018), RBC (P=0.000), haemoglobin (P=0.000), PCV (P=0.000), MCV (P=0.000), MCH (P=0.000), MCHC (P=0.000), Platelets (P=0.000), ESR (P=0.000) when compared among  control, TB, HIV and TB-HIV subjects respectively. The co infection of HIV on pulmonary TB patients increases the levels of the cytokines. The cytokines and hepcidin can be used as adjunct to prognostic and diagnostic markers as their levels decreased with increased duration of treatment of the patients. The study has shown wide variations in the haemtological indices studied.

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