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Probiotics: Therapeutic Potential For People With Spinal Cord Injury (Sci), Kingsley C. Anukam Nov 2006

Probiotics: Therapeutic Potential For People With Spinal Cord Injury (Sci), Kingsley C. Anukam

Kingsley C Anukam

The recent increased interest in probiotics “Live microorganism which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host”, has not yet translated into specific products for hospitalized or spinal cord injured (SCI) patients in Canada. Europeans have more access to clinically proven products, such as Proviva, a Lactobacillus plantarum 299V containing milk drink which when given with oat fibres, has been shown to reduce infections in seriously ill surgical patients. For applications to SCI patients, several options could either be tested now or applied in the future. There are good data on the anti-inflammatory effects of probiotic …


Knowledge Of Probiotics By Nigerian Clinicians, Kingsley C. Anukam Jan 2006

Knowledge Of Probiotics By Nigerian Clinicians, Kingsley C. Anukam

Kingsley C Anukam

A reasonable proportion of clinicians in the Northern hemisphere may be familiar with the use of probiotics and some have clearly been involved in probiotic research for some time. However, we hypothesized that medical practitioners in Nigeria are yet to grasp the concept of using probiotics either as health promoting foods or as biotherapeutic agents for the treatment of diarrhea or urogenital infections. In order to determine the extent of awareness on the use of probiotics among qualified medical practitioners in Benin City, Nigeria, a survey was carried out. The survey involved the use of close-ended and open-ended structured questionnaires …


Lactobacillus Vaginal Microbiota Of Women Attending A Reproductive Health Care Service In Benin City, Nigeria., Kingsley Anukam, Emmanuel Osazuwa, Ijeoma Ahonkhai, Gregor Reid Dec 2005

Lactobacillus Vaginal Microbiota Of Women Attending A Reproductive Health Care Service In Benin City, Nigeria., Kingsley Anukam, Emmanuel Osazuwa, Ijeoma Ahonkhai, Gregor Reid

Kingsley C Anukam

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine whether Lactobacillus species found in African women differ substantially to those of Caucasian decent, described in previous studies. The vaginal microbiota play an important role in female health, and when the naturally dominant lactobacilli are displaced resulting in bacterial vaginosis (BV), the host is more at risk of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. METHODS: Vaginal samples were collected from 241 healthy, pre-menopausal Nigerian women, which were then Gram stained for Nugent scoring. Microbial DNA was extracted, amplified using PCR and Lactobacillus primers, and processed by Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE). …