Bulk chemotherapy and drug release strategies for cancer treatment have been associated with lack of specificity and high drug concentrations that often result in toxic side effects. This work presents the results of an experimental study of cancer drugs (prodigiosin or paclitaxel) conjugated to Luteinizing Hormone-Releasing Hormone (LHRH) for the specific targeting and treatment of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). Injections of LHRH-conjugated drugs (LHRH-prodigiosin or LHRH-paclitaxel) into groups of 4-week-old athymic female nude mice (induced with subcutaneous triple negative xenograft breast tumors) were found to specifically target, eliminate or shrink tumors at early, mid and late stages without any apparent cytotoxicity, as revealed by in vivo toxicity and ex vivo histopathological tests. Our results show that overexpressed LHRH receptors serve as binding sites on the breast cancer cells/ tumor and the LHRH-conjugated drugs inhibited the growth of breast cells/tumor in in vitro and in vivo experiments. The inhibitions are attributed to the respective adhesive interactions between LHRH molecular recognition units on the prodigiosin (PGS) and paclitaxel (PTX) drugs and overexpressed LHRH receptors on the breast cancer cells and tumors. The implications of the results are discussed for the development of ligand-conjugated drugs for the specific targeting and treatment of TNBC. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second most frequent cause of death in women 1. In general, breast tumors are intrinsically heterogeneous in nature, making them difficult to detect and treat 2. Approximately, 75-80% of breast cancers are hormone receptor-positive 2,3. Also, these overexpressed receptors are usually estrogen and/or progesterone receptors 2,3. However, Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) (which represents approximately 10-17% of all breast cancers) does not express estrogen receptors (ER), or progesterone receptors (PR), or the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 gene (HER2) 4-8. In addition, TNBCs also exhibit distinctive clinical features 7,8 and are more common in younger patients 6 and African American/African women 9. TNBC is an aggressive and immunopathology subtype of breast cancer that usually does not respond to drugs that target ER, PR and HER2 6. Furthermore, since the most common and conventional breast cancer diagnosis and treatment techniques tend to focus and target ER, PR and HER2, it is often difficult to detect 10 and treat 11 TNBCs with conventional targeted hormonal therapy and chemotherapy. The challenges associated with TNBCs

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The objective of this study was to review the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of uropathogenic microorganisms associated with VVF patients in Abakaliki, South eastern Nigeria. Out of the 117 bacterial isolates obtained from 108 mid-stream urine samples of VVF patients, 72 isolates [15 (20.8%) Staphylococcus aureus, 8 (11.1%) Enterococcus faecalis, 12 (16.7%) Klebsiella pneumoniae, 11 (15.3%) Proteus mirabilis, and 26 (36.1%) Escherichia coli] were obtained from pre-surgery VVF patients, while 45 isolates [7 (15.6%) Staphylococcus aureus, 3 (6.7%) Enterococcus faecalis, 4 (8.9%) Klebsiella pneumoniae, 15 (33.3%) Proteus mirabilis, and 16 (35.6%) Escherichia coli] were obtained from postsurgery VVF patients. The bacterial isolates exhibited resistance (57.1 to 75%) to co-trimoxazole, tetracycline, amoxicillin, ceftazidime, and nitrofurantoin. Antibiogram also revealed that imipenem was the most active antibiotic against the bacterial isolates as 80 to 100% of the bacterial isolates were susceptible to this antibiotic. Our findings affirmed that VVF patients are prone to microbial colonization and these microbes showed varying degrees of susceptibility to different classes of antibiotics. Therefore, there is urgent need for constant monitoring and evaluation of antibiotics used in the treatment of uropathogenic infections in VVF patients to avoid full-blown antibiotic resistance menace which might eventually result in serious public health problem.

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Aqueous and ethanol leaf-extracts of Justicia secunda, were investigated for possible application as poultry growth promoters. Vitamins, minerals and phytochemical compositions of the leaves were investigated using standard methods. Seventy-two broilers were grouped into nine with eight birds per treatment through random selection and bred for period of eight weeks. Growth and meat quality evaluations, biochemical and hematological assessment of the blood were done using standard methods. Results revealed that the plant contained water-soluble vitamins, fat-soluble vitamins, macro-elements, trace-elements, alkaloids and polyphenols necessary for improving poultry performances. It was observed that the extracts improved meat quality of the broilers more than control groups, as the drip and cooking losses of the broilers were lower. Also, there were improved blood proteins (total protein, albumin, globulin) and hematological indices of the broilers. Consequently, leaf-extracts of J. secunda could serve as replacements for chemical growth promoters with aqueous extracts as the better choice having produced better effects than ethanol extracts.