ABSTRACT
Background: Organophosphate (OP) is a chemical component, extensively used as a pest control. It is known to block the action of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), causing accumulation of acetylcholine, resulting in symptoms which tantamount to poisoning. Many reports are published on OP poisoning, however; there is a paucity of literature on poisoning due to OP in Saudi Arabia. Hence, the purpose of our study was to look for OP poisoning, in patients admitted to King Abdul-Aziz Medical City (KAMC) over a period of 12 years ranging from January 2002 to June 2014. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study of patients admitted to KAMC with history of acute toxicity. Results: The study constituted a total of 82 patients. Eighty five percent of admissions were Saudis. The age range was between 6 months and 91 years. Gender ratio was 1.05:1 female to male. Accidental exposure was 62.2%, followed by 30% suicidal attempts. About 55.41% of the patients ingested the poison orally, 31.08% and 13.51% of the incidents were through skin and respiration respectively. Most of the patients (59.8%) arrived to the hospital within 4 hours of exposure. Majority of the patients (79.27%) arrived by private car. Muscarinic effects had been dominant in these patients. Nausea and vomiting were present in 62% of the cases, followed by pupil dilation (54%) and hyper-salivation (35%). Out of 82 patients, 26.83% showed shortness of breath. During the treatment, 24 patients developed both acute and chronic complications. The rate of mortality was 2.4%. Conclusion: Poisoning is found common as a suicidal attempt among adult females and those who had a history of psychiatric illness, while children below 6 years are at high risk of accidental poisoning.
ABSTRACT
The current study was carried out to investigate the effects of the excessive use of large doses of the most widely used antioxidants, d-alpha-tocopherol [vitamin E], retinol acetate [vitamin A], and I-ascorbic acid [vitamin C], on the blood hemostasis. 160 albino rats were divided into 4 experimental groups of 40 animals each as follows: Group I: A control group [negative and positive]; Group II: Each animal of this group received a daily oral dose of 24 mg of d-alpha-tocopherol; Group III: Each animal of this group received a daily oral dose of 1 mg of Trans-retinal acetate, and; Group IV: Each animal of this group received a daily oral dose of 20 mg of l-ascorbic acid. The results of the current study have revealed that both d-alpha-tocopherol and retinol acetate produced a significant prolongation of prothrombin time [PT] and activated partial thromboplastine time [PTT] with a significant reduction of factor X activity. On the contrary, I-ascorbic acid produced no significant effect on these parameters. Histopathological examination of liver, kidney, and brain specimens of the different treated animal groups revealed the presence of significant hemorrhages in most samples of both d-alpha-tocopherol- and retinal acetate-treated animals, while the specimens of I-ascorbic acid-treated animals showed no hemorrhage in nearly all samples. These histopathological changes were confirmatory to the biochemical ones. It could be concluded that the excessive use of large doses both d-alpha-tocopherol and retinal acetate alters the blood hemostasis with increased bleeding tendencies, while I-ascorbic acid doesn't. In fact, I-ascorbic acid could be considered a safe drug even in excessive doses for long periods