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BACKGROUND: Recent advances in radiation technology has allowed to significantly reduce toxicity and improve the efficacy of radical radiotherapy in head and neck and oral squamous cell cancers. Insights into molecular biology of carcinogenesis has opened a window for identifying aggressive clinical situations that may benefit with larger clinical target volume (CTV ) margin, broader levels of nodal coverage, or alternative radiation sensitizers. AIM: To evaluate the potential role of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (elF4E) and p53 as predictive biomarkers in resected margins of head and neck and oral cancers. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Forty patients with oral cancers and 26 patients with head and neck cancers were evaluated for p53 and eIF4E in their negative surgical margins, for pattern of distribution and outcome. RESULTS: In oral cancers, 27 patients (67.5%) were positive for p53 and 10 (25%) for eIF4E in surgically negative margins. For head and neck cancer, the values were 13 (50%) for p53 and 9 (34.6%) for eIF4E. Twelve patients with oral cancers and 8 patients with head and neck cancers had local failure or death. The association with these biomarkers did not achieve statistical significance. However, adjuvant radiotherapy had a significant protective value. It improved median survival from 15 to 21 months in patients positive for p53 (P = 0.018) and from 12 to 20 months (P = 0.03) in those with eIF4E. There was no predictive association of subsite, tumor size, or nodal status. CONCLUSION: The overexpression of p53 and eIF4E in pathologically negative margins may represent a subset of patients who would benefit from early initiation of adjuvant radiation and tailored intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT).
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Background: The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of fenofibrate on acute and subacute models of inflammation in adult male Wistar rats.Methods: After obtaining clearance from Institutional Animal Ethics Committee, six adult male Wistar rats were allocated to each of the three groups i.e. control, aspirin and fenofibrate. Acute inflammation was studied using carrageenan induced rat paw oedema and the volume displacement due to paw oedema was measured using the plethysmograph. Subacute inflammation was studied using foreign body insertion (cotton pellet and grass pith) models. Dry granuloma weight and histopathological examination of the granuloma were the outcome measures for measuring subacute inflammation. The percentage inhibition of inflammation with aspirin and fenofibrate was calculated in both acute and subacute models. The experiments were conducted according to the guidelines of the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision on Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA). The mean volume displacement obtained with a plethysmograph, the mean dry weight of granuloma and the percentage inhibition with aspirin and fenofibrate were analyzed by one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) using Graph pad prism software.Results: Aspirin and fenofibrate significantly reduced both acute and subacute inflammation (p<0.001). Dunnet’s test showed a significant difference in the study groups when compared to the control. The reduction of inflammation with fenofibrate was comparable to aspirin.Conclusions: Oral fenofibrate showed significant anti-inflammatory activity, which was comparable to aspirin, in both acute as well as sub-acute models of inflammation. This anti-inflammatory effect may benefit atherosclerosis in patients receiving fenofibrate for hyperlipidemia.
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Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is emerging as a major public health problem in India. The links between CKD and Tuberculosis have long been established but the exact nature of interaction is poorly understood. Bulk of the association was studied on subjects undergoing dialysis or renal transplantation, with limited studies on CKD subjects without dialysis. The amount of data is further scarce on Indian population. Hence the present study was conducted to assess the prevalence and profile of pulmonary tuberculosis in CKD patients presenting to a tertiary care teaching hospital in south India Materials and methods: The present study was a prospective study of all the CKD patients presenting to a tertiary care teaching hospital in south India diagnosed with chronic renal failure, as per the hospital protocol. The data was collected from the prospective case records of all the CKD patients diagnosed between April 2015 to 2017. Results: There were a total of 2927 patients with CKD, who satisfied the inclusion criteria and were included in the study. The average prevalence of tuberculosis among the study population was 1.16%. The age distribution of the tuberculosis cases have shown that highest proportion of subjects (47.05%) was aged above 60 years. There was a high male preponderance in study population, as 88.23% affected by tuberculosis were males and 11.77% were females. The most common x-ray finding was infiltration seen in 12 (35.29%) of the patients with TB. Cavities were present in 14 (41.17%) subjects- fibrosis was seen in 4 (11.76%) subjects. There was no statistically significant difference in blood urea nitrogen (BUN) or serum creatinine values between the two groups (P value > 0.05) G. Elango, C. Ramesh, D.D. Venkataraman. Association between chronic kidney disease and tuberculosis - A prospective study form a tertiary care teaching hospital. IAIM, 2017; 4(9): 164-170. Page 165 Conclusion: Chronic Kidney disease patients are at high risk of tuberculosis, as the prevalence in CKD patients is higher than that of general population. Considering the alterations in the immune system, the immunological response of the host to tuberculosis infection is altered in CKD patientsthis makes routine investigations like sputum examination and manteaux test less reliable in CKD patients. Chest-X-ray may be more useful in these patients
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Removal of toxic Cr(VI) in aqueous medium was investigated using activated carbon adsorbents prepared from Simarouba glauca seed shells. The pH effect, Cr(VI) concentration, adsorbent dosage and contact time period were studied in batch experiment. The removal of Cr(VI) was in general most effective at pH range 2.0-4.0 and high Cr(VI) concentrations. Activated carbons are prepared at 80050 degrees C temperature. One is non-impregnated and the remaining three are impregnated with zinc chloride in 1:1,1:2,1:3 ratio. Important characteristics of activated carbons are also investigated. The data for all the adsorbents fit well to the Freundlich adsorption isotherm. The removal of Cr(VI) is around 97% was observed with 1:2 impregnated activated carbon at pH 3.0 where as other adsorbents showed much lower activities.