Comparative Study Of Lipid Profile Between Chronic Smokeless Tobacco Consumers/ Tobacco Chewers Vis-A-Vis Non-Consumers In Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital Of Western India

Background:Ischemic heart diseases are the leading cause of death due to non-communicable diseases in India. Tobacco consumption is well proven risk factor for ischemic heart disease. Tobacco chewing is a very common practice done in Gujarat as well as other regions of India. Nicotine is the active ingredient in tobacco which causes alteration in lipid profile over long term consumption. According to “global adult tobacco survey (2016-2017)” over 21.4% of Indian adults consume smokeless/chewable tobacco. Present study was conducted to compare the lipid profile of non-tobacco consumers vs. chronic smokeless/chewable tobacco consumers.Material And Methods:The study was conducted after taking approval of Institutional Ethics Committee. A total of 100 selected study participants (non-obese male without any history of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes and not on any lipid altering medications) were divided in to case and control arm based on the history of consumption of CSLT(chronic smokeless tobacco)for 8 years or not. After overnight fasting,blood samples of both group individuals were taken for estimation of lipid profile. Details of lipid profile along with other demographic data were recorded in predesigned case record form. Result:A significant increase in lipid profile parameters such as TC, LDL, and TG were seen in chronic tobacco chewers compared to control group. Mean total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein(LDL)and serum triglycerides levels in CSLT consumers were 222 mg/dl, 148 mg/dl and 171 mg/dl respectively. These parameters were higher in CSLT consumers as compared to control group by 68mg/dl (TC), 53 mg/dl (LDL) and 66 mg/dl (TG).Conclusion:Chr onic tobacco chewing was found to be associated with alteration in all the lipid profile parameters. Altered lipid profile is the proven risk for cardiovascular ailments. Hence ahypothesis can be generated from the study that CSLT consumption is the responsible factor for cardiovascular diseases. This can be tested further on large scale studies along with differences in the type of CSLT consumption and development of cardiovascular diseases can be evaluated.

Typing of Plasmodium falciparum DNA from 2 years old Giemsa‑stained dried blood spots using nested polymerase chain reaction assay.

A panel of 129 Giemsa‑stained thick blood spots (TBS) confirmed for Plasmodium falciparum infection having different levels of parasite density were collected from a malaria endemic area. DNA was extracted and nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was performed to amplify P. falciparum DNA. Nested PCR assay successfully amplified P. falciparum DNA at a very low parasitaemia of ~10 parasites/μl of blood. Current PCR assay is very simple and can be used retrospectively to monitor the invasion and prevalence of different Plasmodium species in endemic areas.

An epidemiological study on risk factors of diabetes mellitus among patients attending a medical college hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal.

Two hundred and thirty cases of diabetes mellitus were selected in a case-control fashion by applying systemic random sampling technique taking 20% of the patients attending the diabetic clinic of Calcutta National Medical College during the period from January to June, 2003 to find out association and risks of some socio-economic and demographic factors with the occurrence of diabetes mellitus. Controls were selected from the patients admitted in the department of surgery in the same period. Factors like physical activity, socio-economic status, residential status, family history and obesity have shown statistically significant association with diabetes. For physical activity the estimated relative risk is maximum in case of sedentary worker where the odd's ratio was 9.4. So far other factors are concerned the estimated relative risk of diabetes was 5.1 in case of urban population, 6.2 in case of positive family history, 2.5 in case of upper and upper middle classes, and 2.4 in case of obesity in comparison to their respective reference category.

Syndromic approach for determination of reproductive tract infections among adolescent girls.

The present study shows overall prevalence (64%) of reproductive tract infection among adolescent girls, based on self-perceived symptoms. Mean age of respondents were found to be 17.8 +/- 0.82 years and mean age at marriage and mean age at first pregnancy were 17.2 years and 17.5 years respectively; 35.35% of girls in the present study were married. In addition, no significant difference was observed between unmarried (60.10%) and married (71.17%) reproductive tract infection groups. Moreover, no significant association was present in prevalence of reproductive tract infection between the Muslim (67%) and the Hindu (60%). Highest prevalence (84.06%) of reproductive tract infection was observed among illiterate girls and with improvement of educational status there was decrease in the prevalence and the association was found highly significant. Significantly, higher prevalence (72%) was observed among members of family size 7 and above.

Quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) studies of some substituted benzenesulphonyl glutamines as tumour suppressors.

As a part of a composite programme of rational drug design (RDD), we had synthesized some substituted benzenesulphonyl glutamines and evaluated their inhibitory activities against Ehrlich Ascites Carcinoma (EAC) cell line in Swiss albino mice. Quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) studies of these inhibitory activities using Fujita-Ban model as well as Modified Hansch-Fujita model gave excellent correlations (correlation coefficient r = 0.89 and 0.82 respectively). These results could be useful in designing 'lead' compound with potent inhibitory activity on DNA and RNA synthesis and tumour development.