Protective effect of Tribulus terrestris linn on liver and kidney in cadmium intoxicated rats.

Administration of cadmium (Cd) significantly increased the peroxidation markers such as malondialdehyde and protein carbonyls along with significant decrease in antioxidant markers such as super oxide dismutase and reduced glutathione in liver and kidney tissues. Cadmium also caused a significant alteration in hepatic and renal functional markers in serum viz. total protein, albumin, alanine transaminase, blood urea nitrogen and creatinine. Prominent pathological changes observed in liver were severe vascular and sinusoidal congestion with diffuse degenerative changes and mononuclear infiltration into peripheral areas, while the kidney showed vascular and glomerular congestion, cloudy swelling of tubular epithelium. Co-administration of ethonolic extract of T. terrestris or vitamin E along with Cd significantly reversed the Cd induced changes along with significant reduction in Cd load.

Assessment of local anesthetic activity of lignocaine by simultaneous administration of potassium channel agonists nicorandil in albino rats.

There are reports about a possible weak local anaesthetic activity of nicorandil, a potassium channel agonist (PCA). In addition, modification of local anesthetic activity of lignocaine by PCA is not clearly defined. The objective of the present study is to evaluate local anesthetic activity of nicorandil and to evaluate the influence of nicorandil on the efficacy and duration of local anesthesia by lignocaine. A total number of 84 albino rats of either sex were divided into 14 groups of 6 animals each. Two methods, sciatic nerve blockade and tail clip method were applied for the study. Control group received 0.2ml normal saline, whereas the study group received 0.2ml of 1% drug solution (lignocaine or nicorandil) combined with 0.9% sodium chloride. The results showed weak local anaesthetic activity with the higher dosages of nicorandil (10 mg/kg, 100mg/kg). Combination of nicorandil (1mg/kg, 10mg/kg and 100mg/kg) and lignocaine (5mg/kg) yielded synergistic results like decreased onset latency and prolonged reaction time. To conclude unquestionably there are multiple mechanisms involved for causation of local anesthetic effect by drugs like lignocaine. PCAs like nicorandil will influence the activity of these drugs as observed in the present study. Mechanism of this may be complex. Nicorandil may increase the plasma membrane permeability to potassium causing hyper polarization and moves the membrane potential away from the threshold required to generate an action potential.

Protective effect of α-tocopheral on biochemical and histological alterations induced by cadmium in rat testes.

Cadmium (Cd) is a potential environmental pollutant and causes severe damage to reproductive organs in adults including ovary and testes. Of all antioxidants α-tocopheral is considered to be most potent chain breaking antioxidant. Our aim was to study the effect of α-tocopheral on biochemical and histological alterations induced by Cd in testes of rats. Group 1 served as control, while groups 2 and 3 received subcutaneous injections of CdCl2 (3 mg/kg b.wt) once a week for four weeks. Group 3 in addition received α-tocopheral (75 mg/kg b.wt.) orally, daily for six weeks. Cadmium caused testicular tissue biochemical alterations such as significant increase in MDA, a peroxidation marker, decrease in antioxidant markers viz SOD, CAT and GSH and functional markers viz ALP and LDH. Histological alteration induced by Cd consisted of desquamation of basal lamina, shrunken tubules, generalized germ cell depletion with multinucleated gaint cells, degenerating Leydig cells, vascular congestion, interstitial edema and significant reduction in spermatodynamic count. α- tocopheral significantly reversed all the Cd induced alterations. These results indicate that α-tocopheral has a protective effect against Cd indced biochemical and histological alterations in rat testes.

Significance of the k-ras gene codon 12 point mutation in stomach cancer in southern India.

The frequency and clinicopathologic significance of the K-ras gene point mutation in stomach cancer remain to be defined. We investigated the frequency of K-ras codon 12 point mutations in stomach cancer using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based method in 94 samples and 100 age and sex matched controls. The overall frequency of K-ras codon 12 point mutations in stomach cancer was 3.19% (3/94). DNA sequencing of three cases with K-ras codon 12 point mutations identified a single-base substitution of GGT to GTT (glycine to valine) .Two of them were in heterozygous condition and one was in homozygous condition. Conclusions: K-ras codon 12 point mutations are uncommon in stomach cancer (3.19%) in Southern India.

Bacterial meningitis: rapid diagnosis and microbial profile: a multicentered study.

Meningitis continues to be a formidable illness with high morbidity and mortality among children in India. The present study was undertaken to prospectively look for the prevalence of pyogenic meningitis at Gulbarga and to find out the utility of gram stain, Latex Agglutination Test and (LTA) and C-reactive protein in the rapid diagnosis of pyogenic meningitis from children. Over a 48-months period, 535 children with a presumptive clinical diagnosis of acute bacterial meningitis were investigated by direct microscopy, CRP, bacterial culture, latex agglutination test (L TA), cell count and cell type and biochemical tests. Latex Agglutination Test (LA T) was done for detection of the antigens of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Group B Streptococci, E. coli, Neisseria meningitidis and Haemophilus influenzae type b. Among 535 suspected meningitis cases, 291 cases were diagnosed as pyogenic meningitis cases based on biochemical tests, cell count and cell type. Out of 291 cases, 55 cases have already received antibiotic treatment. Among 236 cases of untreated pyogenic meningitis cases, 199 CSF samples were culture positive. Streptococcus pneumoniae (44.7%) was the predominant organism identified, followed by H influenzae (25.6%) and Gp. B. Streptococci (9.5%). 208 of 236 cases were gram-stain positive, 129 cases had elevated CSF-CRP and 214 cases were diagnosed as pyogenic meningitis by the detection of bacterial antigens by latex agglutination test. Among 55 pretreated cases, only 05 (9.1%) CSF samples were culture positive, bacteria was observed in 36 gram stain smear, CRP was elevated in 16 CSF samples and 52 pretreated cases of suspected meningitis were diagnosed as pyogenic meningitis by latex agglutination test for detection of bacterial antigens. Many of the bacterial isolates were sensitive to gentamicin, cefotaxime and ceftriaxone and least sensitive to tetracycline and gentamicin. 13.1% of gram-negative bacilli were ESBL producers. To conclude, inclusion of latex agglutination test for detection of bacterial antigen in the routine diagnosis adds a valuable adjunct in the rapid and accurate diagnosis of pyogenic meningitis.

Trial of low molecular weight heparin in the treatment of viper bites.

AIM OF THE STUDY: To study the efficacy of low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) in the treatment of viper envenomation to combat the haematotoxicity and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). METHODOLOGY: Eighty patients with viper bite and incoagulable blood were randomized into two groups of 40 each. One group (Test group) received LMWH, in addition to the antisnake venom (ASV) and other routine measures received by the other group (Control group). Efficacy was assessed by monitoring the bleeding time (BT), whole blood clotting time (CT), prothrombin time (PT), platelet count, fibrinogen, blood urea (BU), serum creatinine, development of complications and overall outcome. RESULTS: LMWH group showed favourable outcome in all the parameters except in the incidence of renal failure which was reversible in the majority of the cases. However the differences between the two groups were statistically not significant. CONCLUSION: LMW heparin seems to have a beneficial role in the treatment of viper bites, but this needs to be confirmed by a larger trial using a higher dose of heparin.

Incidence and antifungal susceptibility of Candida species in neonatal septicemia.

Septicemia is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in neonates. In this study, 828 consecutive neonates suspected of having septicemia from various neonatal intensive care unit hospitals in Gulbarga, Karnataka were investigated for isolation of microorganisms. Two samples of blood were collected aseptically for isolating the etiology. The cultures were positive in 346 (41.9%) cases for aerobic bacteria and 68 (8.3%) for Candida species. Among Candida species, C. tropicalis--27(39.7%) was the predominant organism followed by C. albicans 16(23.5%) and C. guillermondi 13(19.1%). The standard macrobroth dilution method was carried out to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC); C. krusei ATCC 6258 standard strain was included for quality control purpose. 4(25.0%) stains of C. albicans were resistant to amphotericin-beta and 2(12.5%) to fluconazole. High-level resistance to fluconazole was observed in C. krusei 4(40.0%).

Genetic marker profile of primitive Kutia Kondh tribal population of Phulbani district (Orissa).

Blood samples from 330 Kutia Kondhs (a primitive tribal population of Orissa) were subjected to a battery of tests for genetic markers to find out the incidence of various blood group polymorphisms (ABO, MN, Duffy, JKa), serum proteins, sickling and G-6-PD deficiency. Predominance of O (39.09%) blood group for ABO, N blood group (53.44) for MN and Fya+b+ (55.72) for Duffy blood group, were observed. High incidence of Hp2-1 (39.33), SS (70.43) and CC (96.65) for haptoglobulin, C3 and transferrin respectively were seen. The overall frequency of sickling was observed to be 16.36 per cent. The sex-wise distribution of G-6-PD was 13.71 per cent for males and 1.84 for females.