Study of zinc phosphide intoxicated cases admitted to poison control centre - Ain shams university hospitals - Egypt [A retrospective study]

Acute poisoning with pesticides is a global public health problem and accounts for as many as 300.000 deaths worldwide yearly. Zinc phosphide has been widely used as a rodenticide since 1942-43 and its easy availability pushed up the incidence of self poisoning. This retrospective study was designed to highlight and evaluate the problem of zinc phosphide intoxicated cases presented and admitted to poison control centre [PCCA] during the year 2007, and was compared with its incidence during the previous 5 years, 2002-2006. The comparative study of the previous five years included the number of all cases of intoxication presented to the PCCA from 2002-2006, the number of zinc phosphide intoxication cases during the same period and their classification according to hospital admission: Intensive care unit [ICU], inpatient and emergency room [ER]. Regarding the retrospective study of zinc phosphide cases during the year 2007, it was carried out on the medical records of all patients admitted to PCCA during the year 2007, with a discharge disgnosis of zinc phosphide. The following parameters were reviewed and analyzed: Sociodemographic data [age, sex, residence and social class], intoxication data [delay time, mode and route of intoxication], presenting symptoms, vital signs, laboratory investigations and ECG monitoring. Different treatment modalities were analyzed and the outcome was recorded. The percentage of zinc phosphide poisoning during the period 2002-2006 in relation to the total number of poisoning cases admitted to PCCA ranged from 2.09%-5.38% and during 2007 it was 3.03%. The inpatient group showed the highest number of cases followed by the ER and then the ICU group. Death rate ranged from 0.3%-0.7% during the years 2002-2006, while during 2007, it was only 0.15%. The total number of cases during the year 2007 were 650 cases. The inpatient group comprised most of the cases followed by ER and ICU groups. The majority of patients were in the age group of 10-

Immunological dynamics with oral contraceptives

Serum immunoglobulins [IgG and IgM] levels, T4 and T8 lymphocytes count were studied in 63 women to elucidate the effect of ethinyl estradiol "in oral contraceptives" on the immune functions. The women were divided into three groups; the "never users group" of 15 who never used oral contraceptive pills, "the current users group" of 25 who were using pills for 1-3 years and "the past users group" of 23 who stopped pills for 6 - 12 months. The current users group shoewed significant increased levels of both IgG and IgM, while the past users showed no significant difference when compared with the never users. T-cell count, in current users, showed a remarkable decrease in T4 and increase in TB but both were statistically insignificant when compared with the never users while the past users showed nearly similar figuresas never users. This study may prove the safety of the oral contraceptives on immune functions but it suggests that the potental estrogen immunosuppression may depend either on the dose and/or the period of use

Metabolic response in severely traumatized patients

Acute severe trauma induces alterations in glucose, protein and fat metabolism through neurohormonal mechanisms. This study investigated the temporal relationship between serum cortisol, insulin levels and metabolic changes in glucose, protein and fat following acute severe trauma. Thirty adult patients admitted with polytrauma were investigated after two to three days of admission compared with 30 normal adults. There were highly significant increases in fasting blood glucose, ketones, triglycerides, cortisol and insulin, and highly significant decreases in total proteins and albumin. The study speculate that post traumatic hyperglycemia, decreased total proteins and albumin are major metabolic changes following severe trauma. These changes were mediated through neurohormonal mechanism included mainly the increased blood cortisol level

Decalin nephrotoxicity in albino rats electron microscopic and biochemical study

Decalin was daily administered to adult albino rats of both sexes in 2 dose levels [0.5 g and 1 g/kg b. wt.] by oral gavage. Dosing was continued for 1, 2 and 3 weeks. Placebo groups received oral corn oil which was used as a vehicle for decalin. All the rats were sacrificed 24 hours after the last dose except in the 3-week groups where half the rats were killed 1 week after the last dose. Serum was tested for BUN and creatinine levels and the kidneys were weighed and then subjected to light and electron microscopic examination. Both biochemical and pathological results showed that decalin induced nephrotoxicity after 1 week exposure. Further administration revealed decline of these changes in both low and high dose groups. In the 3-week high dose group, exacerbation of nephrotoxicity occurred as shown by the highly significant increase of serum BUN and exaggeration of the pathological changes. The most prominent feature of decalin nephrotoxicity was the presence of hyaline droplets in the PCT cells being dose and time related. Other changes in PCT cells and glomeruli were also detected. Stopping administration of decalin showed definite decline of both biochemical and pathological changes

Some cardiovascular and haematologic effects of a single sauna bathing in women

Twenty healthy females were exposed to a single sauna sitting at 100C for 30 minutes. Three blood samples were drawn from each woman one before, one immediately after and the last four days after sauna bathing. Similarly, three measurements of body weight, temperature, pulse and mean arterial blood pressure were recorded. The results of this study showed that immediately after sauna, body temperature and pulse rate were highly significantly elevated, while mean arterial blood pressure was highly significantly lowered and body weight did not show any significant change. There were high significant elevation of total leukocytic count and neutrophils, significant elevation of monocytes, significant decrease of eosinophils and basophils, and nonsignificant decrease of lymphocytes. Serum sodium and chloride showed highly significant elevations, while serum potassium was highly significantly lowered. Total serum proteins tended to increase due to increased globulins. Four days later, erythrocytic count, hemoglobin level and hematocrit value, which were not significantly changed immediately after sauna, showed significant elevations. The other parameters almost returned to the pre-sauna levels except for neutrophils and monocytes as regards platelets, they showed no significant difference between pre-sauna and post-sauna measurements. On conclusion, sauna proved to be beneficial for healthy persons and it may be a safe line of treatment of refractory anemia as it stimulates erythropoiesis. On the other hand, it should be avoided in patients with critical cardiovascular diseases. It is also concluded, that sauna is not an effective mean for weight reduction