ObjectiveTo investigate the prevalence, profile and predictors of severe malnutrition in children with congenital heart defects (CHDs).DesignCase–control, observational study.SettingTertiary teaching hospital in Lagos, Nigeria (March 2006 to March 2008).ParticipantsChildren aged 3–192 months with uncorrected symptomatic CHD and healthy controls, frequency matched for age and sex.Main outcome measuresPrevalence of malnutrition based on WHO/National Center for Health Statistics/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention z score ≤−2; weight for age, weight for height/length and height for age; proportions of underweight, wasting and stunting in cases and controls, and in acyanotic and cyanotic CHD; and predictors of malnutrition using multivariate logistic analysis.Results90.4% of cases and 21.1% of controls had malnutrition (p=0.0001), and 61.2% and 2.6%, respectively, had severe malnutrition (p=0.0001). Wasting, stunting and underweight were identified in 41.1%, 28.8% and 20.5%, and 2.6%, 3.9% and 14.5% of cases and controls, respectively. Wasting was significantly higher (58.3%) in acyanotic CHD (p=0.0001), and stunting (68.0%) in cyanotic CHD (p=0.0001). Age at weaning was significantly lower in cases than controls (3.24±0.88 and 7.04±3.04 months, respectively; p=0.0001) and in acyanotic than cyanotic CHD (2.14±0.33 and 5.33±1.22 months, respectively; p=0.004). Predictors of malnutrition in CHD were anaemia, moderate to severe congestive heart failure (CHF), poor dietary intake of fat and prolonged unoperated disease.ConclusionSevere malnutrition in association with anaemia and moderate to severe CHF is highly prevalent in CHD preoperatively in these children. Early weaning may be a marker of feeding difficulties in heart failure.

Plants and plant products are continuously being explored in medicine against the increasing number of antibiotic resistant organisms. The antimicrobial activity of essential oil of some plants has been demonstrated against a range of organism. This study aimed to determine the chemical constituents and the antimicrobial effects of the oil of grape peels on some clinical isolates. The oil was obtained from the peels by hydrodistillation procedure and analyzed using Gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometer. The in-vitro antimicrobial property of the methanolic, ethanolic and tween 80 mixture of extract was determined by agar well diffusion method against selected clinical bacterial isolates (Bacillus cereus, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, E. coli ATCC 25292, Klebsellia pneumonia, Pseudococcus sp., Salmonella typhmurium, Shigella flexneri, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococus aureus ATCC 29213) and fungal isolates (Aspergillus niger, Candida albican, and Penicillium chrysogenum). The GC-MS analyses of the oil indicated the amount of the essential oil components was highest with D-Limonene (75.05%), followed by β-myrene (7.25%), α-pinene (2.11%), caryophyllene (1.88%), octanal (1.68) and β-phellandrene (1.18%). Some of the minor components included δ-cadinene (0.89%), copaene (0.82%), methyl phthalate (0.54%), linalool (0.48%) and 3-carene (0.21%). The oil extracts exerted different degrees of inhibitory activity against the organisms. The inhibition of the test isolates was dependent on the dissolution solvent used. Methanolic oil mixture inhibited all bacteria and fungi. Ethanol oil mixture inhibited the test bacteria and C. albicans while, the oil extract dissolved in Tween 80 solution showed no inhibitory activity on the test fungi. This study has shown that grape peels from Nigeria contain some antibiotic principles which may be explored for use in the treatment of certain diseases.

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HIV/AIDS related mortality has been dramatically reduced by the advent of antiretroviral therapy (ART). However, ART presents with associated adverse effects. One of such adverse effects is hepatotoxicity observed with nevirapine (NVP) containing ART. Since previous studies showed that NVP hepatotoxicity may be due to oxidative stress via generation of oxidative radicals, this study sought to evaluate the protective effects of antioxidants in alleviating NVP induced hepatotoxicity. Rats were divided into 6 groups with 8 animals per group and received doses of the antioxidants jobelyn (10.7 mg/kg/day), vitamin C (8 mg/kg/day), vitamin E (5 mg/kg/day) and/or NVP (6 mg/kg/day) for 60 days. The animals were sacrificed on day 61 by cervical dislocation, blood samples were collected for biochemical and hematological examination. The liver of the sacrificed animals was weighed and subjected to histopathological examination. There was a statistically significant (p<0.05) elevation in MDA level observed in the NVP group as compared with control. The results further showed non-significant decreases in the levels of MDA in the NVP plus antioxidant groups, except vitamin C, when compared with the NVP alone group. Vitamin E and Vitamin E plus C treated groups showed significantly (p<0.05) higher levels of SOD, CAT and GSH. The results also showed statistically significantly (p<0.05) lower levels of ALT and AST in the antioxidant treated groups There was an observed significantly (p<0.05) higher level of TP and urea in the antioxidant treated rats. A significantly (p<0.05) higher white blood cell count was observed in the antioxidant groups. Histopathological assessment of the liver extracted from the rats showed no visible pathology across the groups. Observations from this study suggest a potentially positive modulatory effect of antioxidants and may be indicative for the inclusion of antioxidants in nevirapine containing ART.

In a study to isolate fungal pathogens with potential for the biocontrol of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), some lakes in the Lagos State and its environs, Nigeria, were surveyed for diseased water hyacinth (E. crassipes). The fungi present in the diseased tissue were isolated and identified as: Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Penicillium sp., Curvularia pallescens, Fusarium solani and Myrothecium roridum. The pathogenicity of isolates of these fungi on fresh, non-diseased water hyacinth plants was investigated. Myrothecium was the only species capable of inducing disease symptoms. Necrosis was observed on water hyacinth leaves three days post inoculation (DPI) with M. roridum (1 × 10 6 spores/ml). The leaves and the petioles were withered at the end of day 24, and the disease incidence and disease severity were 100% and 8.67%, respectively. Molecular analysis of the internal transcribed spacer rDNA of the M. roridum isolate from water hyacinth showed >98% homology to authenticated sequences of M. roridum. The isolate, deposited at the International Mycological Institute, UK, as M. roridum Tode: Fries (IMI 394934), possesses the level of virulence needed in a potential mycoherbicide for use in the management of water hyacinth.

The discovery of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and CRISPR‐associated protein 9 (CRISPR‐Cas9) technology has brought advances in the genetic manipulation of eukaryotic cells, which has revolutionised cancer research and treatment options. It is increasingly being used in cancer immunotherapy, including adoptive T and natural killer (NK) cell transfer, secretion of antibodies, cytokine stimulation and overcoming immune checkpoints. CRISPR‐Cas9 technology is used in autologous T cells and NK cells to express various innovative antigen designs and combinations of chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) targeted at specific antigens for haematological and solid tumors. Additionally, advanced engineering in immune cells to enhance their sensing circuits with sophisticated functionality is now possible. Intensive research on the CRISPR‐Cas9 system has provided scientists with the ability to overcome the hostile tumor microenvironment and generate more products for future clinical use, especially off‐the‐shelf, universal cellular products, bringing exciting milestones for immunotherapy. This review discussed the application and challenges of CRISPR technology in cancer research and immunotherapy, its advances and prospects for promoting new cell‐based therapeutic beyond immune oncology.

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