UNIQUE JOURNAL OF MEDICAL & HEALTH SCIENCES (UJMHS)
UNIVERSITY OF PORT HARCOURT

ISSN PRINT: 2992-5312 (PRINT)
E-ISSN:

Telephone: +234-9094503574, +234-8033103959, +234-8033301011.

Copyright: 2023@UJMHS

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or be transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electrical, photocopying, recording or any other means or device without the prior written consent of the Editor-in-chief.

THE EDITORIAL BOARD

• Editor-in-Chief - Prof. H. D. Kagbo

Associate Editor

• Prof. K. Okonta
• Prof. S. Ukwueze
• Prof. F. Diorgu
• Prof. D. Ogaji
• Dr. C. Nwankwo
• Dr. A. Abah

Editorial Board Member

• Prof. V. Adams – Dept. of Community Medicine, University of Benin, Edo State
• Prof A. Etokidem – Dept. of Community Medicine, University of Calabar
• Prof. O.J. Afone – Dept. of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Nnamdi Azikiwe University
• Prof. C.F. Poh – Dept. of Pharmacology, Niger Delta University, Amasoma
• Prof. O. Obu – Dept. of Applied Microbiology, Ebonyi State University, Abakiliki
• Prof. O.U. Akpan – Dept. of Human Physiology, University of Uyo
• Prof. O. Ewononu – Dept. of Anatomy, Ebonyi State University
• Prof. I. Ije – Dept. of Biochemistry, Michael Okpara University, (Nutrition/ Toxicology) Umudike
• Prof. L. Ezeanya – Dept. of Biochemistry University of Nigeria, Nsuka (Enzymology/ Medical Biochemistry)
• Prof. S. Udedi – Dept. of Biochemistry, Nnamdi Azikiwe University (Pharmacology)
• Prof. E.O. Farombi– Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Toxicology, University of Ibadan
• Prof. C. Offor – Dept. of Biochemistry, Ebonyi State University (Pharmacology)

Aims of the journal

Unique Journal of Medical & Health Sciences (UJMHS), a publication of the School of Graduate Studies of the University of Port Harcourt is an open peer-reviewed and open-access international journal that aims to publish original research articles, reviews and short communications, opinions and editorials in the areas of medical, pharmaceutical and allied health sciences. It accepts for review and the publication of traditional full research reports such as short communications, protocols, pilot studies and pre-protocols, etc. so far, they are novel, technically correct, and scientifically motivated. The submission of useful reports of negative research findings are acceptable for review.

Scope of the journal

Subject matters considered in this journal include studies in clinical areas like immunology, anaesthesia, cardiovascular medicine, complementary medicine, dentistry and oral medicine, pathology, toxicology, pharmacology and therapeutics, dermatology, respiratory medicine, rheumatology, drugs and medicines, ear, nose and throat/otolaryngology, emergency medicine, infectious diseases, neurology, nutrition and metabolism, obstetrics and gynaecology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, genetics, geriatric medicine, haematology, oncology, ophthalmology, paediatrics, psychiatry, radiology, renal medicine, pharmacognosy (phytochemistry), pharmaceutical microbiology and biotechnology, pharmaceutics/pharmaceutical technology and industrial pharmacy, clinical pharmacy and management, sexual health, urology, epidemiology, ethnic studies, health policy, occupational health, medical education, legal and forensic medicine, environmental medicine and public health, medicine development and safety testing, drug legislation and safety.

Indexing

A dedicated journal indexing team is working to include all of our journals in reputed indexing services, journal evaluation services catalogue and reference citations. The Journal will be abstracted in the following services: Index Copernicus, Publons, Chemical Abstracts Service, Google Scholar, Citefactor, WorldCAT , ResearchGate, Academia, HINARI, Analytical sciences digital library

Publication Fee

Nigeria: Authors are required to pay a non-refundable Article Processing Charge (APC) of N10,000. As soon as the manuscript is accepted for publication, authors are thereafter expected to pay a publication fee of N20,000.

Foreign: Authors are required to pay a non-refundable Article Processing Charge (APC) of N10,000. As soon as the manuscript is accepted for publication, authors are thereafter expected to pay a publication fee of N20,000.

Account Name: Anti-Plagiarism
Account Number: 1100236423
Bank: U & C Micro-Finance

Manuscript Structure

The manuscript should be written in English with a simple layout. The text should be prepared in a single column format. Bold face, italics, subscripts, superscripts etc. can be used.
The text, excluding the abstract, if required, can be divided into numbered sections with brief headings. Starting from introduction with section 1. subsections should be numbered (for example 2.1 ,then 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.2, etc.), up to three levels.

Note:

1. Case Reports should follow the structure of Abstract, Introduction, Presentation of Case, Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgements, Competing Interests, Authors’ Contributions, Consent (where applicable), Ethical approval (where applicable), and References plus figures and/or tables. Abstract (not more than 250 words) of the Case reports should have the following sections: Aims, Presentation of Case, Discussion and Conclusion. Only Case Reports have word limits: Papers should not exceed 2000 words, 20 references or 5 figures. Other Type of papers have no word limits.
2. Review papers may have different headings of the sections and are exempted from following these suggestions.
3. Research Papers and Short Notes should follow the structure of Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgements, Competing Interests, Authors’ Contributions, Consent (where applicable), Ethical approval (where applicable), and References plus figures and/or tables.

BRIEF GUIDELINES

Title Page

The title page should contain a brief title, the name(s) of the author(s) and their affiliations. The title should be without any abbreviations, and it should enlighten the contents of the paper. All affiliations should be provided with a lower-case superscript letter just after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address.
The name of the corresponding author should be indicated along with telephone and fax numbers (with country and area code) along with the full postal address and e-mail address.

Abstract

The abstract should be concise and informative. It should not exceed 300 words in length. It should briefly describe the purpose of the work, techniques and methods used, major findings with important data and conclusions. Different sub-sections, as given below, should be used. No references should be cited in this part. Generally, non-standard abbreviations should not be used, if necessary, they should be clearly defined in the abstract, at first use.

Keywords

Immediately after the abstract, about 4-8 keywords should be given. Use of abbreviations should be avoided, only standard abbreviations, well known in the established area may be used, if appropriate. These keywords will be used for indexing.

Abbreviations

Non-standard abbreviations should be listed, and the full form of each abbreviation should be given in parentheses at first use in the text.

Introduction

The author(s) are required to provide factual background, a clearly defined problem, a proposed solution, a brief literature survey, the scope and justification of the work done.

Materials and methods

The author(s) should give adequate information to allow the experiment to be reproduced. Already published methods should be mentioned with references. Significant modifications of published methods and new methods should be described in detail. This section will include sub-sections. Tables & figures should be placed in the text. Tables and figures should be presented as per their appearance in the text. It is suggested that the discussion about the tables and figures should appear in the text before the appearance of the respective tables and figures. No tables or figures should be given without discussion or reference in the text.

Tables should be explanatory enough to be understandable without any text reference. Double spacing should be maintained throughout the table, including table headings and footnotes. Table headings should be placed above the table. Footnotes should be placed below the table with superscript lowercase letters.

Each figure should have a caption. The caption should be concise and typed separately, not on the figure area. Figures should be self-explanatory. Information presented in the figure should not be repeated in the table. All symbols and abbreviations used in the illustrations should be defined clearly. Figure legends should be given below the figures.

Some guidelines for medical papers:

Randomized controlled trials should follow the CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) guidelines (http://www.consort-statement.org).
Case reports, case series, cross-sectional and other observational studies should follow the STROBE (Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology) guidelines (http://www.strobe-statement.org). If the detailed methods are explicitly stated in the manuscript for single case studies, STROBE may be avoided.
Authors producing systematic reviews and meta-analyses should follow the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines (http://www.prisma-statement.org).

Results & Discussion

Results should be clearly described in a concise manner. Results for different parameters should be described under subheadings or in a separate paragraph. Table or figure numbers should be mentioned in parentheses for better understanding.

The discussion should not repeat the results but provide a detailed interpretation of the data. This should interpret the significance of the findings of the work. Citations should be given in support of the findings. The results and discussion part can also be described as separate, if appropriate.

Tables & Figures

Tables & figures should be placed inside the text. Tables and figures should be presented as per their appearance in the text. It is suggested that the discussion about the tables and figures should appear in the text before the appearance of the respective tables and figures. No tables or figures should be given without discussion or reference inside the text.

Tables should be explanatory enough to be understandable without any text reference. Double spacing should be maintained throughout the table, including table headings and footnotes. Table headings should be placed above the table. Footnotes should be placed below the table with superscript lowercase letters.

Each figure should have a caption. The caption should be concise and typed separately, not on the figure area. Figures should be self-explanatory. Information presented in the figure should not be repeated in the table. All symbols and abbreviations used in the illustrations should be defined clearly. Figure legends should be given below the figures

Guideline for Reporting P values:

P is always italicized and capitalized.

1. Correct expression: (P = .05). Wrong Expression: (P < .05) unless P < .001.
2. The P value should be expressed to 2 digits whether or not it is significant. If P < .01, it should be expressed to 3 digits.
3. When rounding, 3 digits is acceptable if rounding would change the significance of a value (eg, P = .049 rounded to .05).
4. Expressing P to more than 3 significant digits does not add useful information since precise P values with extreme results are sensitive to biases or departures from the statistical model.
5. Reporting actual P values avoids this problem of interpretation. P values should not be listed as not significant (NS) since, for meta-analysis, the actual values are important and not providing exact P values is a form of incomplete reporting.
6. Do not use 0 before the decimal point for statistical values P, alpha, and beta because they cannot equal 1.

Conclusions

This should briefly state the major findings of the study.

Acknowledgements

A brief acknowledgement section may be given after the conclusion section just before the references. The acknowledgements of people who aided in manuscript preparation, funding for research, etc. should be listed in this section. All sources of funding should be declared as an acknowledgement. Authors should declare the role of the funding agency, if any, in the study design, collection, analysis and interpretation of data, in the writing of the manuscript. If the study sponsors had no such involvement, the authors should so state.

Competing Interests

Declaration of competing interests is compulsory. All authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include employment, consultancies, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. If no such declaration has been made by the authors, reserve to assume and write this sentence: “Authors have declared that no competing interests exist.”.

AUTHORS’ CONTRIBUTIONS

Authors may use the following wording for this section: “Author A’ designed the study, performed the statistical analysis, wrote the protocol, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. ‘Author B’ and ‘Author C’ managed the analyses of the study. ‘Author C’ managed the literature searches…… All authors read and approved the final manuscript.”

CONSENT (WHEREVER APPLICABLE)

No manuscripts will be peer-reviewed if a statement of patient consent is not presented during submission (wherever applicable).

This section is compulsory for medical journals. Other journals may require this section if found suitable. It should provide a statement to confirm that the patient has given their informed consent for the case report to be published. The Journal Editorial office may ask the copies of the consent documentation at any time.

Authors may use a form from their own institution. It is preferable that authors should send this form along with the submission. But if already not sent during submission, we may request to see a copy at any stages of pre and post publication.

If the person described in the case report has died, then consent for publication must be collected from their next of kin. If the individual described in the case report is a minor, or unable to provide consent, then consent must be sought from their parents or legal guardians.

Authors may use the following wording for this section: "All authors declare that ‘written informed consent was obtained from the patient (or other approved parties) for publication of this case report and accompanying images. A copy of the written consent is available for review by the Editorial office/Chief Editor/Editorial Board members of this journal."

ETHICAL APPROVAL (WHEREVER APPLICABLE)

This section is compulsory for medical journals. Other journals may require this section if found suitable. If human subjects are involved, informed consent, protection of privacy, and other human rights are further criteria against which the manuscript will be judged.

It should provide a statement to confirm that the authors have obtained all necessary ethical approval from suitable Institutional or State or National or International Committees. This confirms either that this study is not against the public interest, or that the release of information is allowed by legislation.

All manuscripts which deal with animal subjects must be approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB), Ethical Committee, or Animal Utilization Study Committee., and this statement, and approval number, must accompany the submission. If required, the author should be ready to submit a scanned copy of the IRB or Ethical Committee Approval at any stage of publication (Pre or post publication stage). The manuscript should contain information about any post-operative care and pain management for the animals.

For manuscripts involving animal experiments, Authors may use the following wording for this section “All authors hereby declare that "Principles of laboratory animal care" (NIH publication No. 85-23, revised 1985) were followed, as well as specific national laws where applicable. All experiments have been examined and approved by the appropriate ethics committee”.

All manuscripts which deal with the study of human subjects must be accompanied by Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Ethical Committee Approval, or the national or regional equivalent. The name of the Board or Committee giving approval and the study number assigned must accompany the submission. If required, the author should be ready to submit a scanned copy of the IRB or Ethical Committee Approval at any stage of publication (Pre or post publication stage).

For manuscripts involving human experiments, Authors may use the following wording for this section: “All authors hereby declare that all experiments have been examined and approved by the appropriate ethics committee and have therefore been performed in accordance with the ethical

Reference style

in the text. Every reference referred to in the text must also be present in the reference list and vice versa. In the text, citations should be indicated by the reference number in brackets [3]. Only published or accepted manuscripts should be included in the reference list. Articles submitted for publication, unpublished findings and personal communications should not be included in the reference list but may be mentioned in the text (e.g., T Nelson, Purdue University, USA, Unpublished results, or personal communication). Avoid citing a “personal communication” unless it provides essential information not available from a public source, in which case the name of the person and date of communication should be cited in parentheses in the text. For scientific articles, obtain written permission and confirmation of accuracy from the source of personal communication. An unpublished result which has been accepted for publication in any journal should be cited as "in press". Journal name abbreviations should be those found in the NCBI databases (Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals).

All references should follow the following style:

Reference to a journal:

For Published paper:

1. Hilly M, Adams ML, Nelson SC. A study of digit fusion in the mouse embryo. Clin Exp Allergy. 2002;32(4):489-98.
   
   Note: List the first six authors followed by et al.
   Note: Use of DOI number for the full-text article is encouraged. (if available).
   Note: Authors are also encouraged to add other databases's unique identifiers like PUBMED ID.

For Accepted, unpublished papers.

1. Saha M, Adams ML, Nelson SC. Review of digit fusion in the mouse embryo. J Embryol Exp Morphol. 2009;49(3): (In press)..
   
   Note: List the first six authors followed by et al.
   Note: Use of DOI number is encouraged (if available)..
   Note: Authors are also encouraged to add other database's unique identifiers (like PUBMED ID).

For Accepted, unpublished papers.

Forneau E, Bovet D. Recherches sur l'action sympathicolytique d'un nouveau dérivé du dioxane. Arch Int Pharmacodyn. 1933; 46:178-91. French.

Reference to a book:

Personal author(s)

Rang HP, Dale MM, Ritter JM, Moore PK. Pharmacology. 5th ed. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone; 2003.

Editor(s) or compiler(s) as authors

Beers MH, Porter RS, Jones TV, Kaplan JL, Berkwits M, editors. The Merck manual of diagnosis and therapy. 18th ed. Whitehouse Station (NJ): Merck Research Laboratories; 2006.

Authored chapter in edited publication

Glennon RA, Dukat M. Serotonin receptors and drugs affecting serotonergic neurotransmission. In: Williams DA, Lemke TL, editors. Foye's principles of medicinal chemistry. 5th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2002.

Reference to Web-resource or electronic articles.

Hugo JT, Mondal SC. Parallels between tissue repair and embryo morphogenesis: a conceptual framework. Global Health. 2006; 16:4. Accessed 29 March 2012. Available: http://www.globalizationandhealth.com/content/1/1/14.

Anonymous. Parallels between tissue repair and embryo morphogenesis: a conceptual framework. Global Health. 2006; 16:4. Accessed 29 March 2012. Available: http://www.globalizationandhealth.com/content/1/1/14.