Dysarthric Bengali speech: a neurolinguistic study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Dysarthria affects linguistic domains such as respiration, phonation, articulation, resonance and prosody due to upper motor neuron, lower motor neuron, cerebellar or extrapyramidal tract lesions. Although Bengali is one of the major languages globally, dysarthric Bengali speech has not been subjected to neurolinguistic analysis. We attempted such an analysis with the goal of identifying the speech defects in native Bengali speakers in various types of dysarthria encountered in neurological disorders. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted with 66 dysarthric subjects, predominantly middle-aged males, attending the Neuromedicine OPD of a tertiary care teaching hospital in Kolkata. MATERIALS AND METHODS: After neurological examination, an instrument comprising commonly used Bengali words and a text block covering all Bengali vowels and consonants were used to carry out perceptual analysis of dysarthric speech. From recorded speech, 24 parameters pertaining to five linguistic domains were assessed. The Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance, Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test were used for analysis. RESULTS: The dysarthria types were spastic (15 subjects), flaccid (10), mixed (12), hypokinetic (12), hyperkinetic (9) and ataxic (8). Of the 24 parameters assessed, 15 were found to occur in one or more types with a prevalence of at least 25%. Imprecise consonant was the most frequently occurring defect in most dysarthrias. The spectrum of defects in each type was identified. Some parameters were capable of distinguishing between types. CONCLUSIONS: This perceptual analysis has defined linguistic defects likely to be encountered in dysarthric Bengali speech in neurological disorders. The speech distortion can be described and distinguished by a limited number of parameters. This may be of importance to the speech therapist and neurologist in planning rehabilitation and further management.

An epidemiological study on risk factors of diabetes mellitus among patients attending a medical college hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal.

Two hundred and thirty cases of diabetes mellitus were selected in a case-control fashion by applying systemic random sampling technique taking 20% of the patients attending the diabetic clinic of Calcutta National Medical College during the period from January to June, 2003 to find out association and risks of some socio-economic and demographic factors with the occurrence of diabetes mellitus. Controls were selected from the patients admitted in the department of surgery in the same period. Factors like physical activity, socio-economic status, residential status, family history and obesity have shown statistically significant association with diabetes. For physical activity the estimated relative risk is maximum in case of sedentary worker where the odd's ratio was 9.4. So far other factors are concerned the estimated relative risk of diabetes was 5.1 in case of urban population, 6.2 in case of positive family history, 2.5 in case of upper and upper middle classes, and 2.4 in case of obesity in comparison to their respective reference category.

Parasitosis: a study among Nepali children in the district of Darjeeling.

A cross-sectional study carried out among 370 school-going children of the Nepali community, aged 5-10 years, in the Siliguri subdivision of Darjeeling district revealed the prevalence of parasitic infestation to be 51.4 per cent of which 28.2% and 23.2% had single and multiple parasitism respectively. In the group of single parasitism, A. lumbricoides was the commonest infestation (31.73%) and in multiple parasitisms, A. lumbricoides and T. Trichiura combination was found to be the most prevalent (36.05%). A significant statistical association was observed in the decrease of worm infestation rate among children with the increasing educational status of their mothers. The study also revealed that 19.73% and 18.91% of the mothers had no knowledge about mode of transmission and prevention of worm infestation respectively.

Gangrenous Richter's hernia with intrasac abscess.

A 43 year old female was admitted with features of intestinal obstruction. On laparotomy, a strangulated Richter's hernia with an abscess within an incisional hernial sac through a previous lower segment caesarean section scar was diagnosed. Resection and anastomosis was performed. Strangulated Richter's hernia is a rare entity making up 8.3% of all strangulated hernias. There have been reports of Richter's hernia with strangulation in inguinal hernia, femoral hernia and port hernia after laparoscopic surgery but none so far in an incisional hernia.

Prominence of symptoms and level of stigma among depressed patients in Calcutta.

A pilot study of 29 patients for research on clinical depression employed the framework of cultural epidemiology to examine illness-related experience, meaning, behaviour with a Bengali version of the explanatory Model Interview Catalogue (EMIC). This report examined patterns of distress and stigma with reference to the most troubling patient-specified symptom. All subjects were psychiatric outpatients in the Institute of Psychiatry, Calcutta, and met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM)-IV criteria for a major depressive episode. Only 5 patients (17.2%) identified sadness as the most troubling problem, and 48.3% specified pains and other somatic symptoms instead. An internally consistent stigma scale with Cronbach's alpha of .67, comprised 13 items, was used to assess stigma. In addition to the scale score for each subject, the contribution of each item was reported and compared. A suggestive, though not significantly lower value of the stigma score for patients reporting somatic symptoms as most troubling, compared with sadness, was consistent with findings from prior studies showing a positive relationship between the magnitude of depression and stigma. These findings are discussed with reference to their impact on recognition and help seeking among patients, and recognition and management of depression by general practitioner. Culturally distinctive presentations and social contexts of depression and other mental illnesses should be addressed in professional training and public health communications.

Bronchogenic carcinoma in young adults.

Clinicopathological features of 26 cases of bronchogenic carcinoma in patients below the age of 40 years have been studied and compared with 271 cases of bronchogenic carcinoma occurring in elderly patients. There was female preponderance (19.23%) in the younger study group compared to the elderly group (6.6%) and increased incidence of smokers in the younger group (57.6% versus 79.3%) and had achieved statistical significance (p < 0.001). Majority (20 out of 26) had a rural background. All the patients were symptomatic at the time of diagnosis and all the 26 cases except one belonged to advanced stage. The incidence of squamous cell carcinoma was almost same for both the age groups. Eighteen of the 26 cases had received antituberculosis chemotherapy by general practitioners before referral to the specialists. Twenty patients were treated initially by palliative radiotherapy and then by chemotherapy.

A study of aggregation of 9-(dicyano-vinyl)julolidine.

Di(cyano vinyl)julolidine (DCVJ) is a fluorescent probe which has been used to monitor the local mobility of its binding sites on proteins. It shows a concentration dependence of its emission spectrum in water. At higher DCVJ concentrations, a longer wavelength band appears. The latter increases relative to the shorter wavelength band as a function of increased DCVJ concentration. Absorption and excitation spectra indicate that the concentration dependent emission in the longer wavelength is a consequence of association in the ground state and subsequent excimer formation. DCVJ forms two types of complexes with gamma-cyclodextrin, one of which shows the longer wavelength emission band. Analysis of stoichiometry of association also suggests that longer wavelength emission band may be a consequence of association of two molecules of DCVJ in the gamma-cyclodextrin cavity. Possible uses of such excimer formation in biological systems have also been discussed.

Difficulties in the management of superior vena caval obstruction in young adults.

Case records of 50 patients of superior vena caval obstruction in young adults treated and followed-up at Radiotherapy Department, Medical College Hospitals, Calcutta have been looked into. Twenty-eight out of these 50 patients had disease confined to mediastinum only during presentation. In consideration of the fact that the optimum management of superior vena caval obstruction depends upon a balance between just adequate pretreatment investigation and early institution of treatment, the various difficulties in the management discussed. With the existing infrastructural facilities, the institutional policy for the management of superior vena caval obstruction in young adults whose disease is confined to mediastinum only, during presentation, is described.

Lupus nephritis--light, electron and immunofluorescent microscopy (a clinicopathological study).

Kidney biopsy specimens from nine patients of systemic lupus erythematosus were studied for the purpose of correlating the findings of light and electron microscopy and immunofluorescent studies with the kidney functions and the presence of proteinuria. Morphologically, three were mesangiocapillary glomerulonephritis, three mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis and one membranous nephropathy. Subendothelial deposits were observed in eight cases, subepithelial deposits in seven cases and mesangial deposits in eight cases. Four cases with massive subendothelial deposits had massive proteinuria and decrease in renal functions. Most of the patients with mild subendothelial deposits were considered to be useful in assessing the prognosis and severity of lupus nephropathy, in addition to the morphologic types of lesions, as mesangial pattern had shown insignificant proteinuria. Study of semithin sections by light microscopy could demonstrate the deposits which were observed on electron microscopy and immuno-fluorescent microscopy.

Further simplification of the general analysis of the intercalative drug-DNA interaction.

The application of McGhee and von Hippel's general equation [J. Mol. Biol., 86 (1974), 469-489, Eq. (15)] to the analysis of the interaction of intercalative drugs with DNA has been further simplified. The value of n can now be determined mathematically, using a simple function, and without any approximation. It is also established that the summation of squared deviation of (( (nu/c), nu)) points would be minimum for and only for the true set of (K,n,omega) of the interaction system. The method incorporating the simplification has been applied to determine the binding parameters of adriamycin-DNA interaction according to the above general equation.