A Study to Determine the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Diagnostic Accuracy for Localizing Testis in Cryptorchidism Cases

Objective: The aim of our study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of MRI in order to find undescended testis in clinically diagnosed cases of cryptorchidism by taking surgical findings as the gold standard. Study design: A crosssectional survey. Place and duration: In the Radiology Department of Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar for the one-year duration from March 2018 to March 2019. Methods: By non-probability purposive sampling technique 170 patients were enrolled. The patients were diagnosed clinically and ultrasonically (AU5 Harmonic EZAOTI and 7.5 MHZ surface linear transducer) at the Diagnostic Radiology Department. On clinical examination; the children having ambiguous genitalia and who were not appropriate for surgery or anesthesia were not included in the study. With a 1.5 Tesla MRI system, all patients MRIs were done. Results: 0 to 16 years was the patient’s age range. The patients mean age was 5.1 ± 2.3 years. According to the affected side, there were 49 (28.8%) on the right side, 93 (54.7%) on the left side, and bilateral in 28 (16.5%). Comparison of MRI results with surgical findings revealed 127 true positive cases, 3 false-positive cases, 27 false-negative cases and 13 true negative cases. In the statistical analysis of the study, the sensitivity of MRI was 82.4%, specificity was 81.2%, diagnostic accuracy was 82.3%, negative predictive value was 32.5% and the positive predictive value was 97.6% confining undescended testis in clinically detected cryptorchidism cases taking surgical findings as the gold standard. Conclusion: It has been concluded that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers a promising new imaging method for the location of the undescended testis because it has better resolution, multi-channel capacity, different arrays, and is also not dangerous and safe.

Metabolic dysregulation in early onset psychiatric disorder before and after exposure to antipsychotic drugs

Antipsychotic Drugs (APDs) are being widely prescribed to treat various disorders, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder; however, abnormal glucose metabolism and weight gain have been reported with Atypical Anti-Psychotic drugs (AAPDs) that can lead to insulin-resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The study was designed to assess various biochemical parameters including insulin and blood sugar before and after exposure to APDs in order to exclude the involvement of psychiatric disorders and certain other factors in metabolic dysregulations. Fifty seven APDs-naïve patients with first episode psychosis were divided into six groups who received olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone, aripiprazole, haloperidol or combination of olanzapine with escitalopram and haloperidol. The serum samples were taken before the intake of the first dose and then on follow-up. Decrease in the level of elevated insulin and glucose was observed post-treatment in some patients, while others were observed whose insulin and glucose levels increased post-treatment, yet some patients did not show any disturbance in the insulin and glucose levels. It is concluded that psychiatric disorders by itself, narcotics, cigarette smoking and use of oral snuff may be also be implicated in metabolic dysregulations. The effects of APDs on insulin and glucose in healthy volunteers might be different than in patients with psychiatric disorders.

Comparative evaluation of pancreatic histopathology of rats treated with olanzapine, risperidone and streptozocin

Olanzapine and risperidone are widely prescribed atypical antipsychotics used in the treatment of schizophrenia and various other psychiatric disorders. Both of these drugs have been extensively reported to cause Type 2 diabetes mellitus and pancreatitis, however, the mechanism of olanzapine and risperidone-induced toxicity has not been so far unveiled. We, therefore, compared the streptozocin-induced pancreatic damage with that of pancreas isolated from olanzapine and risperidone treated rats. It was noticed that fibrotic growth, necrosis and derangement of the pancreatic islet cells caused by streptozocin were more pronounced than olanzapine and risperidone.

Synthesis of silver and gold nanoparticles from leaf of Litchi chinensis and its biological activities

Objective:To synthesize and isolate silver and gold nanoparticles from Litchi chinensis leaf methanolic extract,and to evaluate its comparative biological activities including muscles relaxant,analgesic,anti-inflammatory and antidiarrheal.Methods:The gold and silver nanoparticles were synthesized by dissolving methanolic extract in gold chloride and silver nitrate solution separately which were confirmed by colour change and UV-Vis spectroscopy,and pellets were collected through centrifugation.Biological activities of the extract were conducted on BALB/c mice through various standard methods and the data were subjected to One-way ANOVA.Results:The colorless gold chloride solution changed to purple soon after the addition of plant extract,demonstrating that the reaction took place and gold ions were reduced to gold nanoparticles,while colorless silver nitrate solution changed to light and dark brown that was indicative of silver nanoparticles.The muscles relaxant activity showed that silver nanoparticles were more effective than gold nanoparticles and methanolic extract in traction test.The analgesic activity showed that silver and gold nanoparticles showed highest percentage decrease in acetic acid induced writhing at the doses of 50,100 and 150 mg/kg b.w.The highest anti-inflammatory activity was produced by gold nanoparticles followed by silver nanoparticles,while low activity was observed in methanolic leaf extract.Only the crude methanolic extract showed significant antidiarrheal activity as compared to the standard drug atropine sulphate,while antidiarrheal activities of gold and silver nanoparticles were non-significant.Contusions:The present work concludes that isolated silver and gold nanoparticles from leaf methanolic extract shows strong muscles relaxant,analgesic and antiinflammatory activities while crude methanolic extract possesses good antidiarrheal activity.