Abstract : Hypertension is the commonest cardiovascular disease. Microalbuminuria is an early marker of end organ damage and its presence also indicates adverse cardiovascular outcome. We aim to identify the prevalence of microalbuminuria in newly diagnosed hypertensive patients in Port Harcourt and correlate their urinary albumin excretion with echocardiographically derived left ventricular hypertrophy using the left ventricular mass index. A cross sectional hospital based study of newly diagnosed, treatment naïve hypertensive patients at the cardiac clinic of the University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH). Demographic data was obtained; blood pressure, body mass index, dipstick urinalysis, urinary micro albuminuria, renal function, serum lipids and trans-thoracic echocardiography were assessed all the patients. 125 patients, age range 18 to 70 years, mean age 47.1±9.94years were recruited. Mean body mass index [BMI] was 27.28±2.82Kgm-2, mean systolic blood pressure [SBP] was 164.53±18.53mmHg, mean diastolic blood pressure [DBP] was 104.30 ± 12.64 mmHg, mean total cholesterol [TCH] was 4.97±0.89mmol/L, mean LDL cholesterol was 3.22±0.95mmol/L, mean LVM was 231.29±77.45g and LVMI was 124.30±41.65 g/Kg/m2. Mean Urinary Albumin excretion was 19.22±33.22mg/L. Prevalence of microalbuminuria was 32% and urinary albumin excretion correlated positively with the left ventricular mass (LVM), left ventricular mass index (LVMI), and LDL cholesterol. 71.2% of the subjects had left ventricular hypertrophy and among those with LVH, 52.21% had concentric LVH, 22.4 27.78% had eccentric LVH, and 23 23.01% had concentric remodeling. Micro albuminuria is highly prevalent in newly diagnosed hypertensives in Port Harcourt and correlates positively with left ventricular mass and left ventricular mass index.

Keyword : Microalbuminuria, Left ventricular hypertrophy, left ventricular geometry, left ventricular mass

Abstract : A brain tumor is formed when abnormal cells get accumulated within the brain. These cells multiply in an uncontrolled manner and damage the brain tissues. Magnetic Resonance Image scans are commonly used to diagnose brain tumors. However, segmenting and detecting the brain tumor manually is a tedious task for the radiologists. Hence, there is a need for automatic systems which yield accurate results. A fully automatic method is introduced to detect brain tumors. It consists of five stages Image Acquisition, Preprocessing, Segmentation, using Fuzzy C-means technique; Harris Corner Detection based feature extraction and classification using K-NN. Performance metrics such as accuracy, precision, sensitivity and specificity are used to evaluate the performance.

Keyword : Brain Tumor, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Fuzzy C Means, Harris Corner Detector, K Nearest Neighbor.

Abstract : In the present study we focused on effect of ethyl acetate fraction purified from stylissa carteri a marine sponge collected from Andaman on human Blood PBMC and skin keratinocytes from psoriasis patients. The ethyl acetate fraction of stylissa carteri, a marine sponge collected from Andaman and nicobar islands, was found to exhibit decreased human skin keratinocyte count and human PBMC count in Blood. We also observed the elevation of keratinocyte count as well as PBMC count in various in vitro mitogens such as Con A, PHA, PMA induced cell proliferative responses of psoriatic humans. The ethyl acetate fraction of stylissa carteri, which then inhibits the immune mediated skin destruction, which occurs in the pathogenesis of psoriatic patients. However, the ethyl acetate fraction of stylissa carteri In vito treatment of psoriatic humans skin cells and PBMC reduced considerably the increase of cell proliferative response comparative to the normal levels. Human PBMC are proven to be valuable research programmed by the study of pathogenic mechanism of this diseases as well as for testing new therapies

Keyword : Keywords: Psoriasis, mitogen, keratinocytes, PBMC, Stylissa carteri, cellular proliferation

Abstract : Despite the relatively frequent co-morbidity of depression and epilepsy and its negative consequences on the child’ quality of life, they are under-diagnosed and often go untreated. To explore the prevalence of depression among epileptic adolescents aged between 12 and 18 years and its possible determinants among them. A cross sectional study was carried out among epileptic adolescents aged between 12 and 18 years, of both sexes attended the Neurology clinics at Alhada Military Hospital, Taif city, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia throughout 2016. Those with psychiatric history or on antidepressant medications were excluded from the study. The data were collected through an interview questionnaire including demographic characteristics of patients and epilepsy-related characteristics. Patients were identified by their medical record numbers. The patients` files were reviewed to complete their information required for the study through a checklist. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) was used for diagnosis of depression among the patients. The study included 84 patient with epilepsy. Their age ranged between 12 and 18 years with a mean of 15.5 years and SD of ±2.7 years. They were equally distributed regarding gender. Depression was reported among 89% of patients; it was mostly mild (43.9%) and moderate (30.5%). Moderately severe and severe forms were observed among 8.5% and 6.1% of patients, respectively. Most patients who had complications (80%) compared to 37.3% of those who hadn`t complications expressed moderate to severe depression, p=0.003. Also 73.3% of patients who didn`t show improvement with therapy compared to 37.7% of those showed improvement expressed moderate to severe depression, p=0.006. Other factors (demographic and epilepsy-related) were not significantly associated with depression and its severity among epileptic adolescents. Depression is a common psychological disorder among epileptic adolescents. It is more significantly reported among those with complications and not improved on medical therapy. Care should be paid to early diagnosis and proper management of depression among this population.

Keyword : Depression, Epilepsy, Adolescents, Prevalence

Abstract : The self-esteem and body image are closely connected with the adaptation and acceptance of individual in the society. That’s why the skin imperfections on the visible parts of the body have a significantly great impact on psycho-emotional status of such patients. The aim of this research was to study the psycho-emotional status of patients with rosacea. Material and Methods: The presented monocentric, prospective study includes 52 out-patients, with rosacea. The psycho-emotional status was determined by the 14item Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HAD-A and HAD-D). All results were statistically analyzed. Results: The HADS-A score was 8, 64 ± 3, 06 distributed as: in 25, 05% of patients the rate of anxiety was normal (0-7); 46, 15% had mild anxiety- (8-10) and 28, 8% had moderate anxiety (11-14). The HADS-D score was 6, 2 ± 2, 68 and show the following distribution: 38, 46% without signs of depression; 44, 23% with mild degree and 17, 31% with moderate degree of depression. There were no correlation between the severity of rosacea and the ratios of anxiety and depression. Conclusion: The self-esteem and body image have serious influence on patients’ psycho-emotional status.

Keyword : Psycho-emotional status, Anxiety, Depression, Rosacea.

Abstract : To compare intraocular pressure (IOP) measurements of Goldmann applanation tonometer and pneumotonometer with respect to central corneal thickness in eyes with normal intraocular pressure. Comparative study. IOP was measured with an pneumotonometer(NCT) and Goldmann applanation tonometer(GAT) in random order in 164 eyes(82 patients) with normal intraocular pressure. Central corneal thickness (CCT) was measured using an ultrasonic pachymeter after all IOP determinations had been made. Right and left eyes were analyzed separately for statistical purposes. In corneas with varying CCT, IOP measured with pneumotonometer showed higher values with thicker corneas and lower values with thinner corneas compared to Goldman applanation tonometer. IOP measured with pneumotonometer showed a significant variation with respect to central corneal thickness when compared to Goldman applanation tonometer which is a more reliable method of IOP measurement. Still pneumotonometer can be used for screening purposes for large crowds, since it is faster and easier to record IOP. In patients with suspicious disc changes, IOP measurements have to be reconfirmed with GAT so that diagnosis of glaucoma is not missed.

Keyword : Intraocular pressure (IOP), pneumotonometer(NCT), Goldman applanation tonometer(GAT), central corneal thickness(CCT).