BioMed, Volume 5, Issue 3 (September 2025) – 3 articles

Diverticulosis is characterized by sac-like bulges of the mucosa through weakened portions of the intestinal wall, and is a common pathology observed in adult patient populations. The majority of diverticular disease and associated complications, such as inflammation of diverticula, form within the colon, with less frequent cases of diverticular disease observed in the small bowel. We present the case of a 48-year-old female who presented to the emergency department with a two-day history of abdominal pain, fever, and nausea. Upon admission, vital signs indicated fever and laboratory analysis demonstrated elevated white blood cell count. The patient’s workup included a computed tomography (CT) scan of the abdomen which revealed diffuse small bowel diverticulitis with surrounding inflammation, lymph node enlargement, and bowel wall thickening. CT scan of the abdomen with evidence of diverticula in the bowel wall is diagnostic of diverticulosis. Treatment could include bowel rest, clear liquid diet, broad-spectrum antibiotics, or surgical intervention. This case emphasizes the importance of CT imaging and consideration of broad differential diagnosis in patients presenting with abdominal pain due to the rare presentation of small bowel diverticulitis and aims to contribute to the current understanding and treatment of clinically significant diverticular pathologies. Full article

Objective: The primary objective was to identify whether there were differences in performance for the individual subcomponents of the instrumented timed “Up and Go” (iTUG) between adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and healthy controls. Methods: Fifteen adults with moderate-to-severe TBI and fifteen age- and sex-matched controls completed two separate trials of the iTUG. Paired t-tests or Wilcoxon signed rank tests were used to determine the differences between groups. Results: Adults with moderate-to-severe TBI took more time to complete the iTUG (14.50 ± 2.36 s vs. 9.85 ± 1.71 s; p-value = 0.0002), had slower chest flexion angular velocities (63.52 ± 23.25 s vs. 88.19 ± 29.20 s; p-value = 0.0486) and vertical acceleration (2.22 [1.23–2.74] s vs. 3.89 [3.36–5.02] s; p-value = 0.0005) during the sit-to-stand movements, and had slower angular velocities during the turns (p-value < 0.05 for both mean and peak turn angular velocities) compared with the controls. Conclusions: Adults with moderate-to-severe TBI completed the iTUG more slowly than healthy controls. Significant differences were noted in the sit-to-stand and turn subcomponents for adults with moderate-to-severe TBI compared with healthy controls, which would not be apparent from evaluating the total time taken alone. Full article

Background/Objectives: Cardiovascular diseases are a global health issue with an increasing burden and are exacerbated by hypertension. High blood pressure is partly attributed to genetic variants that are generally not well understood or extensively studied in sub-Saharan African populations. Variants linked to blood pressure have been found through genome-wide association studies (GWASs), which were mostly conducted among European ancestry populations; however, limited research has been undertaken in Africa. The current study evaluated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of PCSK9, ABCA1, LPL, and PON1 in relation to blood pressure measurements of 1839 Ghanaian adults. Methods: Genotypes were extracted from data generated by the H3Africa SNP array. After adjusting for sex, age, smoking, and body mass index (BMI), inferential statistics were used to investigate the relationships between SNPs and blood pressure (BP) indices. Additionally, Bonferroni correction was used to adjust for multiple testing. Results: Diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and the minor allele T of the PCSK9 variant (rs17111557) were positively associated at p = 0.006 after covariate adjustments. Although this novel DBP-associated variant is located in the 3′ untranslated region (3′ UTR) of the PCSK9 gene, in silico functional prediction suggests it is an expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) that may change the binding site of transcription factors, potentially altering the rate of transcription and impacting DBP in this Ghanaian population. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the role of genetics in hypertension risk and the potential of discovering new therapies targeting isolated diastolic blood pressure in this rural African population. Full article