Resum
This issue of the journal contains fifteen manuscripts produced from original research and a case report. The researched areas include ethnopharmacy, women’s health, dental surgery, general surgery, public health and other selected topics in medicine. The article by Owoeye and others highlighted the protective potential of Carica papaya, a very common fruit in the environment when combined with vitamin E in reducing ischemic changes in the rat brain while the paper by Usman and colleagues reported possible use of the ethanol extract of the Blighia sapida (Sapindaecea) stem bark in managing psychosis. Using the mice model with paradigms for stereotypy and hyperactivity, the authors demonstrated the ameliorating effects of the extract. These two publications have great potential for translation if the findings are replicated by other researchers. Another manuscript on research in experimental animals reported on the adverse effect of tramadol on sperm motility sperm count and testosterone levels. These effects were reversed by Vitamin E. Tramadol is a medication that is currently a source of concern because of abuse and various unwanted effects. Finding an antioxidant like Vitamin E to reverse its adverse effects is a welcome development.
Five articles focus on women’s health. Olukoya and Adebiyi proffered that major reasons for disparity in malaria treatment of pregnant women which were: level of education, wealth index, ethnicity, place of residence and parity of the respondents. Poor pregnancy outcome in women who have systemic lupus erythematosus presenting either as recurrent spontaneous abortions or unexplained deterioration in renal functions calls for supervised care for such patients as reported by Olatunde and colleagues. Obasola and Obajimi reported that about two-thirds of pregnant women consulted the internet to seek information on how to improve pregnancy outcomes. Staffing of private hospitals/clinics by more auxiliary nurses than qualified and registered nurses should be a cause for concern as well as the lack of facilities for optimal obstetric care. An interesting case report of transverse vaginal septum as a cause of primary infertility completed the gynaecology/obstetric collection in this issue.
Olatunji and colleagues have produced a manuscript on the importance of obtaining validated ratios for inter-premolar and inter-molar arch widths in dental surgery. They showed that using ratios
derived from Caucasian population is fraught with errors. This should be a new standard and should be encouraged. Resin-bonded bridges are in vogue for tooth replacement but less than 10% of the Dentists surveyed in the study by Abiodun-Solanke et al have started using this. The place of continuing education in dental practice was appropriately emphasized.
The remaining articles will also interest readers because of the interesting findings on i) the use of immunohistochemistry combined with haematoxylin and eosin stains in the differential diagnosis of nasopharyngeal tumors; ii) lumbosacral spondylosis as the most common cause of low back pain particularly in female individuals; iii) high compliance with the use of the WHO surgical safety checklist to improve outcome and safety of procedures; iv) the reassurance that the installation of radiotherapy facility did not pose danger to the public; v) the application of molecular biology techniques for improved diagnosis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae virulent gene from sputum samples and vi) the need to train community health workers on preventive strategies against cholera.
The collection of articles in this issue of the journal cover a wide range of subjects and the implementation of the findings will go a long way in efforts to ensure improved health for the teeming
populace. It is obvious that we need training of staff at various levels, provide more facilities at our various health facilities, foster more collaboration between basic and clinical researchers and perform better in the application of knowledge to improve health standards. Research is always the art of findingsolution to perceived challenges.
A. Ogunniyi
Editor-in-Chief