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Introduction: The endothelium is a special tissue that releasesnumerous substance that moderates tone of the vascular bed,growth of cells, platelet and WBC interactions. Significantly,the evolution of atherosclerosis occurs much early in life, andendothelial dysfunction accelerates atherosclerosis and occursmuch before the development of morphological changes inthe vascular bed. Hence; the present study was undertakenfor assessing the usefulness of flow mediated vasodilatationof brachial artery in assessing the severity of coronary arterydisease and its correlation with coronary angiogram.Material and methods: A total of 75 subjects were enrolled.Group A included 18 subjects with non-critical CAD, Group Bincluded 33 subjects with SVD, Group C included 8 subjectswith DVD and Group D included 16 subjects with TVD.Complete demographic and clinical details were obtained.All patients who have been diagnosed having coronary arterydisease which includes chronic stable angina, ST elevation MI,non ST elevation MI, unstable angina within the last 1monthand have undergone CAG. Patients were subjected to symptomanalysis, clinical examination, laboratory investigations andflow mediated vasodilation studies of brachial artery. All theresults were analysed by SPSS software.Results: By conventional criteria the association between thestudy groups and smoking is considered to be not statisticallysignificant since p > 0.05. There was meaningfully realincrease in severity of CAD as duration of smoking increasesin our study subjects. By conventional criteria the associationbetween the study groups and alcoholism is considered tobe not statistically significant since p > 0.05. The diabeticstatus in non-critical CAD group is meaningfully less thanDVD group by 1.15 times with a mean difference of 8percentage points. By conventional criteria the associationbetween the study groups and brachial artery resting diameterstatus is considered to be not statistically significant sincep > 0.05. There was meaningfully real increase in severityof CAD as Increase in FMD % decreases in our studysubjects.Conclusion: Apart from assessing the traditionalcardiovascular risk factors, it is also important to assessthe endothelial function of the patient by methods likeFMD.
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Background: Upper respiratory tract infections are one of the leading causes of hospital visits worldwide. Judicious use of antibiotics is challenging for upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) in developing countries like India. This leads to inappropriate use of antibiotics causing many dreaded conditions like antibacterial resistance among other things. Hence rational use of drugs, mainly antibacterial, is a priority to reduce the burden of treatment failure. The objective of this study is to study the prescribing patterns and rationality of drugs prescribed in the management of URTIs.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Data was collected from records of 300 outpatients clinically diagnosed as URTIs from SSIMS and RC Hospital, Davangere between January 2015 and June 2016. The prescribing patterns, approval status and listing of drugs in World Health Organization (WHO) essential medicines list/ National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) were analysed. The data was presented as percentages, mean and standard deviations.Results: A total of 300 cases were studied. Among these, acute pharyngitis (29%) and acute sinusitis (26%) are the most common infections. Of the 300 cases studied, 283 (94.3%) were prescribed antimicrobials. Of the total 740 medications prescribed, 393 (53.1%) were fixed-dose combinations (FDCs). A total of 724 medications (97.8%) were approved by Drugs Controller General of India and 248 (33.5%) by Food and Drug Administration. Only 5.8% of the prescribed drugs have been listed in WHO’s and NLEM. The most common class of antibacterials prescribed was Beta-lactams.Conclusions: Oral formulations were preferred over parenteral formulations and FDCs were preferred over single drug formulations. Beta-lactams comprised the major class of antibacterial prescribed.
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Background: Chromium, an essential trace mineral plays an important role in the metabolism of carbohydrate, fat and proteins. Chromium picolinate (Cr.Pic) is used in alternative medicine to treat chromium deficiency. Though Cr.Pic is increasingly used to treat diabetes and obesity, studies on its safety profile is limited.Methods: Acute toxicity study was conducted by oral administration of Cr.Pic (2000 mg/kg body weight). The animals were maintained another 14 days with once a day observation. For sub-chronic studies, test groups were treated with Cr.Pic 10 mg/kg/day for 90 days. Tests for hepatic and renal function were conducted. Effect of Cr.Pic on behavioural changes and motor co-ordination was done on every week. Histopathological studies were conducted on day 90 at the end of the experiment.Results: Acute toxicity study of Cr.Pic showed no signs of toxicity and mortality. Absence of any behavioural alteration or mortality during the period of 14 days indicates that Cr.Pic has no latent effect. Similar results were obtained with sub-chronic studies suggesting safety of Cr.Pic. Cr.Pic treated groups showed no changes in learning and motor co-ordination compared to the untreated group. No gross histopathological changes were seen in any group indicating safety of Cr.Pic.Conclusions: The present study conferred safety profile of Cr.Pic from normal results obtained in hepatic function, renal function, behavioural and histopathological studies, suggesting its safety.
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Envelope gene is of great evolutionary significance and had been targeted as the vaccine candidate for dengue virus. We analyzed partial sequences of this gene to understand its genetic variability among viral isolates from Kerala state, India, if any. The current study focused on the evolutionary trends of this phylogenetically important gene among DENV-3 isolates through 2008 to 2010 outbreaks. The results gave an insight into the microevolutionary trends of the dengue viral genome. A unique mutation was recorded in the Domain II of the Envelope gene (EDII) of the viral genome at the amino acid position 219 (A219T). The evolutionary implication of this non-synonymous mutation near the EDI/EDII hinge remains to be explored. The study also provided knowledge on the genetic ancestral history of the viral isolates. Two variants of different phylogenetic origin were recorded in Kerala State. The findings in the study have significant implications on the development of dengue vaccines based on the Envelope gene of the virus.
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Dengue Virus/classification , Dengue Virus/genetics , Evolution, Molecular , Genes, Viral , India , Phylogeny , Viral Envelope Proteins/geneticsABSTRACT
The 3-hydroxykynurenine transaminase (3-HKT) gene plays a vital role in the development of malaria parasites by participating in the synthesis of xanthurenic acid, which is involved in the exflagellation of microgametocytes in the midgut of malaria vector species. The 3-HKT enzyme is involved in the tryptophan metabolism of Anophelines. The gene had been studied in the important global malaria vector, Anopheles gambiae. In this report, we have conducted a preliminary investigation to characterize this gene in the two important vector species of malaria in India, Anopheles culicifacies and Anopheles stephensi. The analysis of the genetic structure of this gene in these species revealed high homology with the An. gambiae gene. However, four non-synonymous mutations in An. stephensi and seven in An. culicifacies sequences were noted in the exons 1 and 2 of the gene; the implication of these mutations on enzyme structure remains to be explored.