Risk of prostate cancer and its correlation with different biochemical parameters in non diabetic men.

Background: It has been hypothesized that men with long term diabetes have a lower risk of prostate cancer then non-diabetic men. Whether diabetes influences level of biomarkers such as prostate specific antigen (PSA), which is involved in the detection of prostate cancer is, unknown. In view of the aforementioned controversial literature, it was decided to evaluate this relation-ship in non-diabetic men. We evaluated the correlation between fasting glucose, prostate specific antigen and different biochemical lipid profile parameters with serum uric acid and serum creatinine in non-diabetic male between age group 40-61 years. Methods: Association between fasting serum glucose , different lipid parameters, serum uric acid, serum creatinine and prostate specific antigen in 83 non-diabetic males aged 40 to 61years were studied retrospectively. Glucose and lipid parameters and serum creatinine, serum uric acid were measured on fully automated analyser using standard reagent kits. Serum prostate specific antigen was measured by TOSOH-AIA-360, immunoassay method. Results: Correlations between different biochemical parameters were determined. Prostate specific antigen were negatively correlated with HDL (r= -0.22, p= 0.03) in age group 40-61 years. At the same fasting blood sugar were correlated positively(r= 0.34, p= 0.02 ) with prostate specific antigen in age group 51-60 years , but not in age group 40-50 years. Conclusion: We concluded that serum HDL (high density lipoprotein) was negatively associated and FBS (fasting blood sugar) was positively associated with risk of prostate cancer. We also suggest that in men of this age group a low HDL level should not be ignored while assessing prostate cancer risk especially if accompanied with an elevated FBS level even in the upper normal range.

Unique pattern of mutations in β-thalassemia patients in Western Uttar Pradesh.

CONTEXT: β-thalassemia is one of the most common heterogeneous inherited single gene disorders. The disease results from one or more of 380 different mutations in the β-globin gene. Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) is the most populous state of India, comprising various ethnic groups and Bareilly is one of the largest cities situated in Western U.P. AIMS: To examine the prevalence of five common β-thalassemian mutations: Intervening Sequence IVS 1-5 (c. 92 + 5 G > C), codon 8/9 (c. 27_28insG), codon 41/42 (c. 124_127delTTCT), IVS 1-1 (c. 92 + 1 G > T) and codon 26 G-A (c. 79G > A) in Western U.P. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Patients attending camps organized by the Thalassemia Society, Bareilly were selected for the study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 48 blood samples were collected from the patients of transfusion dependent β-thalassemia from July 2011 to May 2012. All the samples were analyzed for five common mutations by using the Amplification Refractory Mutation System (ARMS)-hot start-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. RESULTS: Among the five common mutations prevalent in India, we were able to detect all except codon 26 G-A (c. 79G > A), which is prevalent in northeast India. These four mutations accounted for 58% of the total number of our patients. The IVS 1-5 (G-C) was found to be the most common mutation with a frequency of 46% and the 2 ndmost common mutation was Fr8/9 (+G) with a frequency of 21%. The frequency of other mutations was IVS1-1 (12%) and Cd 41/42 (4%). CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence that the pattern of mutations in Western U.P. is different from the rest of India and even from the neighboring states (Delhi and Punjab). To the best of our knowledge, mutation Fr8/9, the 2ndmost common mutation in our study has never been reported to be so common from anywhere in India. Some mutations, which are prevalent in other regions are absent in our region (mutation for ε-globin). Hence, these findings can be called unique to Western U.P.

Effects of ethidium bromide and berenil on protein synthesis

The effects of ethidium bromide, an intercalating dye and berenil, a nonintercalating dye on the biological activities of Escherichia coli ribosomes have been studied. Ethidium bromide treatment drastically reduced both enzymatic and nonenzymatic initiation complex formation, enzymatic as well as nonenzymatic binding of phenylalanyl tRNA, peptidyl transferase, GTPase as well as the overall protein synthesising activity as measured by the poly U-dependent polymerization of phenylalanine. On berenil treatment, however, only enzymatic formation of the initiation complex is marginally reduced. Other reactions are not markedly affected except the enzymatic phenylalanyl tRNA binding which is slightly decreased only at high Mg2+ concentration; the treated ribosome has lowered polymerizing activity at sub-optimal Mg2+ concentration (10 mM). Although it has already been shown in this laboratory that treatment with either dye leads to the unfolding of the structure of the ribosome, the present studies indicate that berenil treatment does not alter the structure of the ribosome drastically in contrast to ethidium bromide treatment.