Daniel Gyamfi

Hepatic mitochondrial dysfunction induced by fatty acids and ethanol.

Understanding the key aspects of the pathogenesis of alcoholic fatty liver disease particularly alterations to mitochondrial function remains to be resolved. The role of fatty acids in this regard requires further investigation due to their involvement in fatty liver disease and obesity. This study aimed to characterize the early effects of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids alone on liver mitochondrial function and during concomitant ethanol exposure using isolated liver mitochondria and VA-13 cells (Hep G2 cells that efficiently express alcohol dehydrogenase). Liver mitochondria or VA-13 cells were treated with increasing concentrations of palmitic or arachidonic acid (1 to 160 μM) for 24 h with or without 100 mM ethanol. The results showed that in isolated liver mitochondria both palmitic and arachidonic acids significantly reduced state 3 respiration in a concentration-dependent manner (P<0.001), implicating their ionophoric activities. Increased ROS production occurred in a dose-dependent manner especially in the presence of rotenone (complex I inhibitor), which was significantly more prominent in arachidonic acid at 80 μM (+970%, P<0.001) than palmitic acid (+40%, P<0.01). In VA-13 cells, ethanol alone and both fatty acids (40 μM) were able to decrease the mitochondrial membrane potential and cellular ATP levels and increase lipid formation. ROS production was significantly increased with arachidonic acid (+110%, P<0.001) exhibiting a greater effect than palmitic acid (+39%, P<0.05). While in the presence of ethanol, the drop in the mitochondrial membrane potential, cellular ATP levels, and increased lipid formation were further enhanced by both fatty acids, but with greater effect in the case of arachidonic acid, which also correlated with significant cytotoxicity (P<0.001). This study confirms the ability of fatty acids to promote mitochondrial injury in the development of alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Black Tea: The Plants, Processing/Manufacturing and Production

An overview is given of plant varieties, and the processing and production of black tea. The importance of raw material, including the handling of the leaf in the field and during transportation, withering, rolling, fermentation, drying and sorting on tea quality are discussed. Factors influencing withering, rolling, fermentation and drying are also covered. Manufacturing differences between crush, tear and curl (CTC) and orthodox types of black tea processing and their importance are also discussed in detail. The percentage distribution of black tea chemical constituents, how these change during processing and their contribution to tea quality are explained. Finally, international and domestic tea production is elucidated, with pertinent data.

Mucin expression patterns in histological grades of colonic cancers in Ghanaian population

Introduction Myriad roles of mucins in normal tissues have been well documented, including lubrication of the epithelial surfaces; protection from physical damage; facilitation in cell-cell signaling and suppression of inflammatory activity. Pathological expression of mucins has been noted in cancer development and progression. This study sought to identify and quantify the types of mucins produced during various histological grades of colon cancer and to assess the diagnostic significance. Methods Formalin fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue blocks, comprising three (3) normal colon and twenty-two (22) colon cancer tissues, were retrieved from the archives of the histopathology department of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. They were stained with Haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) for diagnosis and grading of tumours. Tissues were pre-digested with diastase and stained with Alcian blue (pH 2.5)/Periodic Acid Schiff to characterize the mucin variants present. Results Our findings indicated that normal colonic tissues expressed exceptionally high amount of acid mucin and low amount of neutral mucin. However, there was a general decrease in mucin expression in colon cancers compared to normal colon tissues. Additional findings suggested that as cancer progresses from low grade to high grade of adenocarcinoma of the colon, there was generally a considerable decrease in the acid mucin production and an increase in the neutral mucin expression. In contrast, a sizeable subpopulation of high-grade adenocarcinomas of colon showed a rather opposite mucin expression pattern- increase in acid mucin and a decrease in neutral mucin. Conclusion As colonic cancer progresses, there are corresponding changes in the mucin types and content such that there are decrease in acid mucin and increase in neutral mucin expressions.

Reactive Oxygen and Nitrogen Species and Liver Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury: Role of Lipoic Acid

Abstract Lipoic acid (LA) constitutes a promising antioxidant that reduces the pathological consequences of liver ischemia/reperfusion (I/R). LA is an endogenous nonenzymatic radical scavenger that concomitantly increases antioxidant reserves by antioxidant recycling. In addition to ameliorating hepatic injury and oxidative stress in both in vivo and clinical hepatic I/R studies, LA has favorable pharmacokinetics and is not associated with notable adverse effects. Despite yielding encouraging (pre)clinical results in terms of pharmacological intervention for hepatic I/R, more in vivo evidence of LA’s efficacy is warranted before more widespread clinical implementation can take place.

Reactive Oxygen and Nitrogen Species and Liver Ischemia- Reperfusion Injury: Role of Glutamine

Abstract Interventions to reduce ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury are focused mainly on decreasing or preventing the manifestation of factors that lead to postischemic damage, including oxidative/nitrosative stress, microcirculatory defects, and sterile inflammation. Pharmacological interventions, such as the use of antioxidants, are among the various interventions proposed to reduce the hepatopathological effects of I/R. However, no standard pharmacological interventions are currently employed in the clinical setting, despite the identification of many effective experimental interventions in animal models of liver I/R. As an endogenous nonenzymatic antioxidant, glutamine has shown favorable effects in in vivo studies across different study protocols, and its pharmacological profile indicates the possibility of using this amino acid as a therapeutic agent. However, currently one cannot sufficiently rule out possible detrimental immune system activation by glutamine in hepatic I/R injury. To ensure glutamine safety in I/R injury-modulating interventions, it would be useful to carry out more focused in vivo studies that are ensued by clinical translation.

Reactive Oxygen and Nitrogen Species and Liver Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury: An Overview

Abstract Clinically controlled hepatic ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is either a frequently employed strategy or an unavoidable necessity in liver surgery, which involves temporary cessation of oxygen supply to the liver due to contrived vascular inflow occlusion and acute reoxygenation following restoration of blood flow. Hepatic I/R leads to parenchymal liver damage, which clinically manifests itself through elevation of circulating liver enzymes, liver failure, or early graft failure. The main cause of this hepatic injury is oxidative/nitrosative stress (ONS), which results from the excess production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) in hypoxia-exposed cells upon reoxygenation, exceeding the antioxidative capacity. This subsequently leads to the interaction of these reactive transients with macromolecules, such as lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids, which become dysfunctional. Oxidative stress occurs not only in hepatocytes, but also in endothelial cells and Kupffer cells lining the vascular wall. In the hyperacute phase of hepatic reperfusion, ROS/RNS are produced by hepatocytes, endothelial cells, and Kupffer cells (KCs). In the acute and chronic phase, KCs and neutrophils are mainly responsible for the ROS/RNS production, respectively.

Nuclear Localisation of Autophagic p62 and Associated Cytoplasmic Beclin-1 and Bcl-2 Expressions in Adenomas and Adenocarcinomas of the Colorectal Regions

Background: Autophagy is an important biological process that is involved in cellular homeostasis and survival. Derailment of some cellular autophagic processes affects normal cellular function, resulting in cancers and other disorders. Autophagy related proteins are Beclin-1, a human tumour suppressor, Bcl-2 and p62 have been characterised in most cancers. Particularly, a number of studies have reported a loss of Beclin-1 and up regulation of Bcl-2 and p62 in breast cancers. However, studies regarding the expression of these proteins in colorectal adenomaadenocarcinoma transformation sequence are yet to be described. In this study, we examined the expression patterns of Beclin-1, Bcl-2 and p62 in both colorectal adenomas and adenocarcinomas. Methods: Immunohistochemistry was performed on formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissue sections from 14 patients with colorectal tumours and the expression patterns were semi-quantitatively evaluated based on the intensity of staining and the percentage of tumour cells stained. Results: Cytoplasmic Beclin-1 and p62 expression patterns ranged from moderate to high in both tubular adenomas and adenocarcinomas as compared to normal colonic mucosa. Cytoplasmic Bcl-2 expression was moderately expressed in tubular adenomas but negative to low expression was observed in the adenocarcinomas. This study also provided, for the first time, nuclear localization of p62 in only the colorectal adenocarcinomas. Conclusion: Beclin-1, Bcl-2 and p62 may be up regulated in the transition of colorectal adenomas to adenocarcinomas.

Predictors of Noncompliance to Antihypertensive Therapy among Hypertensive Patients Ghana: Application of Health Belief Model

This study determined noncompliance to antihypertensive therapy (AHT) and its associated factors in a Ghanaian population by using the health belief model (HBM). This descriptive cross-sectional study conducted at Kintampo Municipality in Ghana recruited a total of 678 hypertensive patients. The questionnaire constituted information regarding sociodemographics, a five-Likert type HBM questionnaire, and lifestyle-related factors. The rate of noncompliance to AHT in this study was 58.6%. The mean age (SD) of the participants was 43.5 (±5.2) years and median duration of hypertension was 2 years. Overall, the five HBM constructs explained 31.7% of the variance in noncompliance to AHT with a prediction accuracy of 77.5%, after adjusting for age, gender, and duration of condition. Higher levels of perceived benefits of using medicine [aOR=0.55(0.36-0.82),p=0.0001] and cue to actions [aOR=0.59(0.38-0.90),p=0.0008] were significantly associated with reduced noncompliance while perceived susceptibility [aOR=3.05(2.20-6.25), p<0.0001], perceived barrier [aOR=2.14(1.56-2.92), p<0.0001], and perceived severity [aOR=4.20(2.93-6.00),p<0.0001] were significantly associated with increased noncompliance to AHT. Participant who had completed tertiary education [aOR=0.27(0.17-0.43), p<0.0001] and had regular source of income [aOR=0.52(0.38-0.71), p<0.0001] were less likely to be noncompliant. However, being a government employee [aOR=4.16(1.93-8.96), p=0.0002)] was significantly associated increased noncompliance to AHT. Noncompliance to AHT was considerably high and HBM is generally reliable in assessing treatment noncompliance in the Ghanaian hypertensive patients. The significant predictors of noncompliance to AHT were higher level of perceived barriers, susceptibility, and severity. Intervention programmes could be guided by the association of risk factors, HBM constructs with noncompliance to AHT in clinical practice.

Prevalence of pre-hypertension and hypertension and its related risk factors among undergraduate students in a Tertiary institution, Ghana

Abstract Objectives This study sought to provide information about pre-hypertension and hypertension status among undergraduate students at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted among a total of 540 students. Participants were interviewed using questionnaires and their blood pressures (BP), height, weight were measured and Body Mass Index ‘BMI’ and Waist-to-Height Ratio (WHtR) were calculated. Repeated measurements were obtained on two successive times in students with persistently elevated BP. Data obtained was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 23. Final prevalence was adjusted for loss-to- follow up on participants with first elevated BP from the reading and logistic regression used to evaluate risk factors. P-value less than .05 was considered statistically significant. Results Twelve (2.2%) of the students were hypertensive, whilst pre-hypertension was prevalent in 26.1% of the student. Family history of hypertension [OR = 1.68(0.73–1.68)], kidney failure [OR = 1.38(0.34–5.60)], stroke [OR = 1.10(0.64–1.91)] and heart failure [OR = 1.03(0.27–3.94)] were associated with increased risk of developing pre-hypertension; however no significant association was observed (p > .05). WHtR and BMI were independent positively correlated with blood pressure status after controlling for gender and age (p < .05). Further analysis revealed that, obesity detected by WHtR [OR = 3.67(1.13–11.94), p = .031] and BMI [OR = 6.89(0.71–66.48), p = .0005] were significant predictors of hypertension using logistic regression analysis. Conclusion The study revealed considerable prevalence rates of pre-hypertension and hypertension among undergraduate students, with significant risk factors such as obesity detected by BMI and WHtR. Gender as male was also significant for pre-hypertension and hypertension. Sound prevention and control programmes of hypertension should be devised among students, to improve their knowledge and lifestyle practices early in life.

Sports anaemia and anthropometric evaluation of footballers at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

Introduction Sports anaemia is a physiological activity that occurs amongst footballers and may be due to poor diet, over-training, as well as an increase in plasma volume in endurance training activities. High plasma volume leads to changes in haematological parameters that may impact on endurance of footballers. The objective of the study was to determine the correlation between haematological and an-thropometric indices and their role in sports anaemia in a tropical setting. Methods Venous blood was taken into EDTA for 12 soccer players of KNUST soccer team before training and after training for the first (W1) and fifth (W5) weeks of training sessions. Complete blood count analysis was done for each blood sample and anthropometric parameters such as height, weight, body mass index, body fat percent and lean body mass were also measured. Cross-tabulations with mean and standard deviation or median and range were computed. Paired t-test & and Mann-Whitney test for parametric and non-parametric data computations were carried out and a p-value ≤ 0.05 was taken to rep-resent significant difference between data groups. Results There was significant reduction in haemoglobin (p = 0.003), haematocrit (p = 0.002), mean cell volume (MCV) (p = 0.034) and red blood cell (RBC) count (p = 0.011) as a result of a significant expansion of plasma volume (p= 0.006). Neutrophil, lymphocyte and eosinophil counts were reduced significantly (p= 0.043, 0.001 and 0.007, respectively) after the training at W5. Lean body mass (LBM) inversely correlated with haemoglobin (r = -0.787, p = 0.002) and haematocrit (r = -0.588, p = 0.044). Body fat percentage (BFP) also negatively correlated with lymphocyte count (r = -0.700, p = 0.011). Furthermore, there was a positive correlation between body mass index (BMI) and plasma volume change after the training programme (r = 0.689, p = 0.013). Conclusion The results suggest that sports anaemia was induced by an increase in plasma volume that resulted in changes in haematological parameters.