Quantitative Assessment of Hand Dysfunction in Patients with Early Parkinson's Disease and Focal Hand Dystonia

OBJECTIVE: Motor impairments related to hand function are common symptoms in patients with movement disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease (PD) and focal hand dystonia (FHD). However, hand dysfunction has not been quantitatively assessed as a clinical tool for screening patient groups from healthy controls (HCs). The aim of our study was 1) to quantitatively assess hand dysfunction in patients with PD and FHD and its usefulness as a screening tool 2) to grade disease severity in PD and FHD based on hand dysfunction. METHODS: The current case-control study included HCs (n = 50) and patients with known history of PD (n = 25) or FHD (n = 16). Hand function was assessed by a precision grip task while participants lifted objects of 1.3 N and 1.7 N under dry skin conditions, followed by very wet skin conditions (VWSCs). Receiver operating characteristic and summative scoring analyses were performed. RESULTS: In PD, the combination of loading phase duration and lifting phase duration at quantitative cutoffs of 0.36 and 0.74 seconds identified 21/25 patients as diseased and 49/50 subjects as HCs with 1.7 N under VWSCs. In PD, 5/21 was graded as “mild” and 16/21 as “moderate cases.” In FHD, slip force at a cutoff of 1.2 N identified 13/16 patients as diseased and 41/50 subjects as HC with 1.7 N under VWSCs, but disease severity could not be graded. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate the use of precision grip task as an important clinical tool in assessment of hand dysfunction in movement disorder patients. Use of quantitative cutoffs may improve diagnostic accuracy and serve as a valuable adjunct to existing clinical assessment methods.

Kinetics of fungal extracellular a-amylase from Fusarium solani immobilized in calcium alginate beads.

Extracellular a-amylase mass produced by Fusarium solani using mango kernel as substrate was immobilized in calcium alginate beads through entrapment technique. Maximum enzyme immobilization efficiency was achieved in 2 mm size beads formed by 6.5 % (w/v) of sodium alginate in 2% (w/v) calcium chloride. The catalytic properties of the immobilized a-amylase were compared with that of free enzyme (soluble). The activity yield of the immobilized enzyme was 81% of the free enzyme. The immobilized enzyme showed optimum activity at pH 4.5-6.0 and temperature 40 ºC, in contrast to the free enzyme at 5.5 and 30ºC, respectively. Thermal stability of the immobilized enzyme was found to be more than the free enzyme over a longer time interval. The immobilized enzyme retained activity upto 20% of optimum even after 180 min. While the free enzyme lost its 80% activity after 60 min and lost total activity down to zero by 120 min. The kinetic constants, viz., KM (Michaelis constant), Vmax and activation energy were affected by immobilization. However, the immobilized a-amylase in calcium alginate beads supports its long term storage which has immense industrial applications.

Comparison of PCR based marker systems for genetic analysis in different cultivars of mango.

Native diversity is well represented in northern and eastern parts of India for mango. We evaluated three important polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based marker techniques viz., random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) and directed amplified mini satellite DNA (DAMD) and examined their suitability for depicting genetic relationships and discrimination among closely related group of 46 mango varieties grown in the different agro-ecological zones in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. Nine RAPD, eleven ISSR and four DAMD primers generated 110, 160 and 43 discrete fragments, respectively, accounting for polymorphism of 87.3, 79.83 and 83.72%, respectively. Cumulative analysis of these markers resulted in comprehensive UPGMA based dendrogram where in native mangoes representing important breeding lines and varieties from Uttar Pradesh fall more or less in separate cluster, while Bihar and West Bengal cultivars represent genetically different lineage forming distinct separate cluster. The prime focus on the study was towards identification of genetic variability that warrants establishing origin and molecular evolution of mango cultivars of eastern and northern India because they are the rich gene pool for conservation. Highest diversity index (DI) and polymorphic information content (PIC) values were found in DAMD indicating it to be more informative than others. Similarly, high effective multiplex ratio (EMR) and marker index (MI) were recorded by ISSR reflecting ability to simultaneously detect a large number of bands. The study accomplished establishing genetic relationship and also DNA fingerprint development. The data is also useful for mapping studies for gene identification.

Production and characterization of carboxymethyl cellulase from Paenibacillus polymyxa using mango peel as substrate.

Mango peel, a solid mango processing waste, comprises 15-20% of total fruit weight. This, being a rich source of lignocelluloses, was used as substrate for carboxymethyl cellulase (CMCase) production using Paenibacillus polymyxa. Maximum CMCase production (7.814 U mg-1) was observed in a medium containing 7% mango peel (w/v) with 1.5% ammonium sulphate (w/v) at 37oC and pH 5.5. Purification to an extent of 28.24 fold was achieved by affinity column chromatography. Bands corresponding to 26.5 and 34.0 kDa molecular sizes were observed on 12% denaturing Sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) while of 72 kDa on 10% non- denaturing Native-PAGE, proving its heteromeric multienzyme nature. The enzyme was stable over a range of 20-60oC and pH of 4.0-7.5. Michaelis-Menten equation constant (Km and Vmax) values of purified CMCase were 8.73 mg ml-1 and 17.805 mM ml-1 min-1, respectively.

Leprosy situation in endemic states of India and prospects of elimination of the disease.

In India there is a dramatic fall in the prevalence rate (PR) of leprosy, but the new case-detection rate (NCDR) has not been reduced concomitantly. It is the operational efficiency of the National Leprosy Eradication Programme (NLEP) that has led to a significant reduction in the NCDR in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The ratio of PR to NCDR has been declining in these two states and it reveals that elimination could be reached even with the high NCDR level of 3 to 4 per 10000 population, particularly if single skin lesion (SSL) cases are discharged through single dose treatment of rifampicin, ofloxacin and minocycline (ROM). On the other hand, the significant number of cases detected in Bihar and Orissa during modified leprosy elimination campaigns (MLECs) reveals that there are lacunae in operational activities in new case-detection resulting in a large number of undetected cases in the community. Only one-third of the cases are reporting voluntarily. Awareness of leprosy is not adequate to motivate the patients to report voluntarily and complete their treatment, thus underscoring the need for relying on active case-detection so that transmission can be broken and elimination of leprosy achieved. In addition, the influence of socio-economic factors on continued occurrence of leprosy cannot be ruled out. The establishment of a sentinel surveillance system along with a computerized simplified information system to gain in-depth knowledge on the functioning of the NLEP will ensure operational efficiency. In view of this situation, the NLEP should adopt a more realistic approach towards reaching the elimination goal.