Nail changes in alopecia areata: incidence and pattern.

One hundred consecutive patients with alopecia areata were examined for presence of nail abnormalities. Nail changes were seen in 44/100 (44%) of patients with most frequent occurrence in multifocal variety (30/44=68%). The commonest abnormality observed was superficial pits seen in 28 (64%) patients. Presence and severity of nail changes may indicate a more severe and recalcitrant disease.

Treatment of Schamberg's disease with pentoxifylline--therapeutic trial.

Twenty patients with Schamberg's disease were started on pentoxifylline (400 mg once daily) for a period of 8 weeks. Improvement was assessed at 2 weekly intervals by two observers independently and graded as mild (< 25%, moderate (25-50%) and marked (>50%). Marked improvement was observed in 10/20(50%) patients. We conclude that pentoxifylline should be considered as first line therapy in all patients with Schamberg's disease.

Toxicological evaluation of mowrah (Madhuca latifolia Macbride) seed meal.

Mowrah (M. latifolia) seeds yield 40-50% edible fat and the meal contains saponins besides protein and high level of carbohydrates. The toxicity of the meal was evaluated as it has a potential for use in animal feedstuffs. The meal was fed to young and adult rats at levels of 10 to 40% in diet. The animals showed marked inhibition of feed intake and loss of body weight resulting in mortalities. Histopathological examination revealed a gradation of damage from slight erosion of the tip of villi of intestinal mucous membrane to complete necrosis and destruction of it, with increasing amounts of mowrah seed meal in diets. The other significant change was a severe vacuolar degeneration of kidney tubular cells. Detoxification or complete removal of the toxins is necessary for utilization of the meal as animal feedingstuff.

Hypolipidemic action of taurine in rats.

The effect of taurine on the serum and liver cholesterol and triglyceride levels was studied in rats fed cholesterol plus cholic acid. Four groups of 4 weeks old rats were fed control diet, hypercholesterolemic diet (HCD), HCD + 1% taurine or HCD + 2% taurine for 8 weeks. Addition of taurine in HCD diet showed a significant reduction not only in serum total cholesterol and triglyceride levels but also in liver total cholesterol, lipid and triglyceride contents compared to the animals fed HCD alone. Histological examination of organs of these animals showed severe fatty vacuolation in livers and signet ring type vacuolation in kidneys of rats fed HCD. Taurine showed ameliorating effect on these abnormalities. The animals fed taurine in HCD also showed increased bile and sterol excretion in faeces compared to rats fed HCD alone. Taurine showed significant hypocholesterolemia in rats probably by enhancing the catabolism of cholesterol and reducing the absorption of dietary cholesterol.

Cardiomyopathy in children in Ahmedabad.

A clinical study and follow up of 20 children with cardiomyopathies upto age of 16 years are presented. The DCM was most common variety followed by RCM and HCM in pediatric age group. SHMD presenting with cardiomyopathy were common in infancy and early childhood. Cardiomyopathies presented most frequently between 2-5 years and 10-16 years age group with DCM having almost equal distribution. Clinical presentation of various types is described, despite of vigorous decongestive and vasodilator treatment in advanced cases, course was rapidly downhill and prognosis is poor in general.

Traumatic ischaemic optic neuropathy (a case report).

A 22-year-old patient presented with a clinical picture of unilateral optic neuropathy following blunt trauma to the orbit. Clinical findings, fundus fluorescein angiography and neurophysiological studies were suggestive of an ischaemia, a rare etiology.

Management of a case of lagophthalmos by Gillies' method (a case report).

A case of facial palsy with lagophthalmos with exposure keratitis was corrected surgically by a method of temporalis transfer. When the slings were tightened leaving 1 cm gap in the palpebral aperture, lagophthalmos persisted. A secondary tightening procedure causing overlap of the upper lid over the lower yielded good results.

Pediatric ocular trauma--a clinical presentation.

A year long study of ocular injuries in children below the age of 15 years was conducted in the Ophthalmology Department of a general hospital. Fortyfour cases were studied. Of these 45.45% were in the age group of 6-10 years. The male to female ratio was 5.28 : 1. Pointed objects viz. sticks, wires etc. were found to be the common causative agents; the recent trend being of bow and arrow injuries. Ocular perforation was observed in 28 cases. On follow up of all the cases with ocular trauma, only 12 patients were found to have a visual acuity better than 6/18; perception of light was absent in 7 patients. A need for increased parental awareness and supervision of children is stressed upon.

Ultrastructural changes in parietal cells in iron deficiency anemia.

Eighteen patients with iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and 14 age and sex matched control subjects were studied with regard to ultrastructural changes in parietal cells. The control subjects had normal hemoglobin and serum iron levels and endoscopic examination of the upper gastrointestinal tract. Thirteen cases of iron deficiency anemia had chronic superficial gastritis on light microscopy. Ultrastructural abnormalities in the parietal cells, such as indented or pyknotic nucleus with irregular outline, grossly distorted canalicular system, abnormal large empty spaces in the cytoplasm and paucity of mitochondria, were demonstrated in all IDA patients but not in controls. The presence of superficial gastritis and ultrastructural changes were not related either to hemoglobin or serum iron levels in the IDA group.

Lipoic acid and diabetes—Part III: Metabolic role of acetyl dihydrolipoic acid.

Rat liver lipoyl transacetylase catalyzes the formation of acetyl dihydrolipoic acid from acetyl coenzyme A and dihydrolipoic acid. In an earlier paper the formation of acetyl dihydrolipoic from pyruvate and dihydrolipoic acid catalyzed by pyruvate dehydrogenase has been reported. Acetyl dihydrolipoic acid is a substrate for citrate synthase, acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase and fatty acid synthetase. The Vmax. for citrate synthase with acetyl dihydrolipoic acid was identical to acetyl coenzyme A (approximately 1 μmol citrate formed/min/mg protein) while the apparent Km was approximately 4 times higher with acetyl dihydrolipoic acid as the substrate. This may be due to the fact that synthetic acetyl dihydrolipoic acid is a mixture of 4 possible isomers and only one of them may be the substrate for the enzymatic reaction. While dihydrolipoic acid can replace coenzyme A in the activation of succinate catalyzed by succinyl coenzyme A synthetase, the transfer of coenzyme A between succinate and acetoacetyl dihydrolipoic acid catalyzed by succinyl coenzyme A: 3 oxo-acid coenzyme A transferase does not occur.

Lipoic acid and diabetes II: Mode of action of lipoic acid.

Intraperitoneal administration of lipoic acid (10 mg/100 g) does not effect changes in serum insulin levels in normal and alloxan diabetic rats, while normalising increased serum pyruvate, and impaired liver pyruvic dehydrogenase characteristic of the diabetic state. Dihydrolipoic acid has been shown to participate in activation of fatty acids with equal facility as coenzyme A. Fatty acyl dihydrolipoic acid however is sparsely thiolyzed to yield acetyl dihydrolipoic acid. Also acetyl dihydrolipoic acid does not activate pyruvate carboxylase unlike acetyl coenzyme A. The reduced thiolysis of ß-keto fatty acyl dihydrolipoic acid esters and the lack of activation of pyruvic carboxylase by acetyl dihydrolipoic acid could account for the antiketotic and antigluconeogenic effects of lipoic acid.

Lipoic acid and diabetes: Effect of dihydrolipoic acid administration in diabetic rats and rabbits.

Relative α-lipoic acid content of diabetic livers was considerably less than that of normal livers as determined by gas chromatography. It was not possible to detect any dihydrolipoic acid in the livers. Biochemical abnormalities such as hyperglycaemia, ketonemia, reduction in liver glycogen and impaired incorporation of [2-14C] -acetate into fatty acids in alloxan diabetic rats were brought to near normal levels by the oral or intraperitoneal administration of dihydrolipoic acid. The effect of α-lipoic acid was comparable to that of dihydrolipoic acid in reducing the blood sugar levels of diabetic rabbits during a glucose tolerance test. The results suggest that the mode of action of lipoic acid was through stimulation of pyruvate dehydrogenase.