Behavioural and neurochemical evaluation of Perment® an herbal formulation in chronic unpredictable mild stress induced depressive model.

Perment®, a polyherbal Ayurvedic formulation that contains equal parts of Clitoria ternatea Linn., Withania somnifera Dun., Asparagus racemosus Linn., Bacopa monniera Linn., is used clinically as mood elevators. The aim of the present study was to explore the behavioural effects and to understand possible mode of action of Perment® in stress induced depressive model. Chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) was used to induce depression in rats. Open field exploratory behaviour, elevated plus maze, social interaction and behavioural despair tests were used to assess behaviour. Using standard protocols plasma noradrenaline, serotonin, corticosterone and brain/adrenal corticosterone levels were measured to support the behavioural effects of Perment®. Exposure to CUMS for 21 days caused anxiety and depression in rats, as indicated by significant decrease in locomotor activity in the open field exploratory behaviour test and increased immobility period in the behavioural despair test. Perment® predominantly exhibited antidepressant action than anxiolytic activity. Further Perment® increased the plasma noradrenaline and serotonin levels in stressed rats. No significant alteration in the brain corticosterone level in stressed rats was observed with Perment® treatment. However the adrenal corticosterone level is decreased with Perment®. It can be concluded that the Perment® formulation exhibited synergistic activity, has a significant antidepressant and anxiolytic activity, which may be mediated through adrenergic and serotonergic system activation. Currently the formulation is clinically used as anxiolytic but the present results suggest that the formulation can also be indicated in patients affected with depression.

Use of rice bran oil in patients with hyperlipidaemia.

BACKGROUND: The quantity and type of dietary fat is known to affect plasma lipid concentration and hence the choice of cooking oil is important to lower the risk of coronary heart disease. Rice bran oil, which was not popular worldwide, is slowly being recognized as a 'healthy' oil in India. We assessed if rice bran oil had hypolipidaemic effects in subjects with elevated lipid levels. METHODS: The study had a cross-over design with subjects (n = 14) randomly assigned to consume either rice bran oil or refined sunflower oil in their homes, for a period of 3 months (period 1). After a washout period of 3 weeks, they were crossed over to the other oil (period 2). The serum lipid values were estimated at the beginning, on day 45 and day 90 of each phase. Additional parameters assessed included anthropometry, dietary and physical activity patterns. RESULTS: The use of rice bran oil significantly reduced plasma total cholesterol and triglyceride levels compared with sunflower oil. The reduction in plasma LDL-cholesterol with rice bran oil was just short of statistical significance (p = 0.06). HDL-cholesterol levels were unchanged. CONCLUSION: The use of rice bran oil as the main cooking oil significantly reduced serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels. The use of rice bran oil together with dietary and lifestyle modifications may have implications for reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Age- and height-specific reference limits of blood pressure of Indian children.

BACKGROUND: Blood pressure in childhood is the most powerful predictor of hypertension in adults. Norms for blood pressure in children are based on the age- and height-specific distribution of blood pressure in a reference sample of healthy children. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional survey of school-children in the age group 5 to 14 years in south Delhi and studied the distribution of systolic and diastolic blood pressure in 8293 children (4623 boys and 3670 girls). Blood pressure was measured in all children with a mercury column sphygmomanometer using a standardized technique. The first and the fourth Korotkoff sounds were taken as indicative of the systolic and the diastolic blood pressure, respectively. Height percentiles were computed for the study sample for every one-year sex-pooled group. Multiple linear regression was then performed for every one-year group in order to estimate the 90th and 95th percentiles of systolic and diastolic blood pressure according to percentiles of height. RESULTS: Age and height, but not gender, emerged as the principal determinants of systolic and diastolic blood pressure in multivariable linear regression analyses. Age- and height-specific 90th and 95th percentile values of systolic and diastolic blood pressure were estimated, which enabled us to categorize children into 'normal', 'high normal' and 'high' blood pressure groups. CONCLUSIONS: We present age- and height-specific reference values for blood pressure of Indian children based on a large study sample. The use of these standards should aid the identification of children with high blood pressure.

An epidemiological study of blood pressure in school children (5-14 years) in Delhi.

Distribution patterns of blood pressure were studied in a randomised sample of 10,215 school children (5,709 boys 4,506 girls) in the age group 5-14 years in Delhi. The mean values of systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) increased with age in both sexes. The cut-off points for high blood pressure were based on average SBP and/or DBP values of 95th percentile or greater for each age. The values for SBP ranged from 70 mm Hg to 140 mm Hg and for DBP from 36 mm Hg to 100 mm Hg for the age group 5-9 years. In the age group 10-14 years, the values for SBP and DBP ranged from 72 mm Hg to 160 mm Hg and from 46 mm Hg to 120 mm Hg, respectively. The prevalence of hypertension (systolic, diastolic or both) was 11.9 percent in boys and 11.4 percent in girls, an insignificant difference. Anthropometric variables like height, weight and body mass index showed positive correlation with systolic as well as diastolic blood pressure but the waist-hip ratio showed negative correlation coefficient with blood pressure. Family history of hypertension in one or both the parents was present in 20.4 percent children with high blood pressure compared to 6.8 percent in normotensives. Family history or diabetes was also significantly higher in hypertensive children (5.4%) than in normotensives (3.1%).

Nutrition and chronic diseases--Indian experience.

Socio-economic changes are taking place all over the world, especially in developing countries, and these influence all aspects of life an all age periods. Resultant disparities have brought about alarming and increasing manifestations of malnutrition and non-communicable disease. Illiteracy, poor health facilities have damaging effects on children. Raising the literacy of girls and adolescents will reduce the leading cause of malnutrition in children, since these future, better educated mothers will be responsible for the children's welfare: child care status with mother care. Protein calorie sufficiency is only present in approximately 60% of the rural population of India: the remainder has differing degrees of malnutrition. When they move into better socio-economic status people are at increased risk from coronary heart disease and diabetes mellitus, for which several theoretical explanations have been proposed. There is a difference in the patterns of these diseases in urban and rural populations, the exact basis for which is not yet clear. For example, in the 25-64 years age group, coronary heart disease prevalence in Delhi is 97/1,000 while in a rural area it is 27/1,000, while the respective figures for hypertension are 127/1,000 and 29/1,000. The patterns in both groups have changed within 3-5 years. The geriatric age group has its own, changing features, due to increasing longevity of life, and to break up of social customs and family structure.

Dietary profile of adults in an urban & a rural community.

A community based dietary survey was carried out in 906 adults (25-64 yr) from 489 families in Delhi urban population and 275 adults from 196 families in rural population of Gurgaon district (Haryana state). A combination of 24 h recall and weightment method was used to assess the individual dietary intake. Daily average intake of various nutrients was calculated. A higher intake of cereals, milk and milk products and sugar and jaggery and a lower intake of pulses, vegetables, fruits, flesh foods and oils and fats were observed in the rural population. The average total calorie intake was 1,749 kcal in the urban and 1,910 in the rural population. The average intake of carbohydrates and proteins was 257.3 g (59.0 en %) and 54.7 g (12.5 en %) in the urban population compared to 295.6 g (61.9 en %) and 63.0 g (13.2 en %) respectively in the rural group. The fat intake was the lowest in the urban low socio-economic group (45.5 g). The contribution of total fat to energy intake ranged from 24.6 en to 31.2 en per cent in different population groups. The rural group showed higher intake of calcium and iron than the urban population. Intake of retinol was higher in the high socio-economic group (urban) than other population groups. Urban/rural differences were observed in intake of retinol, thiamine, niacin, vitamin C and vitamin E. Daily dietary cholesterol intake was the highest in the urban high socio-economic group (119 mg). The fibre intake was higher in the urban than the rural population (8.0 g vs 7.4 g).

A 5-year follow-up study of hypertension in a rural community.

A follow-up study of hypertension was carried out among adults, in the age group between 25 to 64 years, in a rural population of Gurgaon district, Haryana, five years after an initial community based epidemiological survey of the same population. The progress of 77 out of 98 hypertensives detected at the initial survey could be reassessed. The treatment and severity of hypertension found at the initial survey has been compared with that observed on follow-up. The percentage of cases with blood pressure (BP) controlled on treatment increased from 2.6 percent to 45.4 percent on follow-up. An electrocardiogram could be obtained in 66 out of 77 subjects reexamined and was abnormal in 21 cases (31.8%). The electrocardiographic abnormalities found were: myocardial infarction in one, left ventricular hypertrophy in 5, left ventricular hypertrophy with ischaemic ST-T changes in 6, isolated ST-T abnormalities in 5 and conduction defects or arrhythmias in 4 cases. In a cohort of 1,334 subjects who were normotensive at the initial survey, 19 new cases were detected to have hypertension. The overall annual incidence of hypertension was 2.8/1000 (male: 3.8/1000 and female: 2.4/1000). In these hypertensives, a family history of hypertension was present in 10.5 percent and obesity in 42.1 percent.

An epidemiological study of coronary heart disease in different ethnic groups in Delhi urban population.

A community based epidemiologival survey of coronary heart disease (CHD) was carried out on a random urban sample of 13,560 adults of different ethnic groups in Delhi. CHD was diagnosed either on the basis of clinical history, supported by documentary evidence of treatment in hospital/home or on the ECG evidence in accordance with Minnesota Code. The prevalence rate of CHD on clinical basis per 1000 adults was the highest in Sikhs (47.3), lowest in Muslims (22.8) and identical in Hindus (31.8) and Christians (31.2). The prevalence rate/1000 of silent CHD on the basis of ECG was high in Muslims (89.5) and Sikhs (87.3), low in Christians (25.0) and intermediate in Hindus (60.0). The Sikhs showed the highest prevalence rate of myocardial infarct (MI) (15.5) and angina (AP) (31.8) compared to other communities. The prevalence rate of CHD on clinical basis was higher in males than females in all communities. The prevalence of silent CHD was higher in females in Hindus and Sikhs but in Muslims it was higher in men (94.8) than in women (85.2). The wide variations in prevalence rates of CHD in different ethnic groups cannot be explained satisfactorily on the basis of conventional risk factors and support the multifactorial etiological character of CHD.

What is 'desirable' lipid profile.

The lipid profile of subjects with and without coronary heart disease (CHD) was studied in two epidemiological studies conducted in an urban and rural population. The prevalence of CHD was 96.7/1000 in the urban area and 27.1/1000 in the rural area. The lipid levels of the rural population, with an entirely different life style, was significantly lower compared to the urban normal population. The data suggest that if the prevalence of CHD is to be reduced in the urban population, the desirable levels of lipids should be those obtained in the rural normal population rather than the urban, CHD free, population.

An epidemiological study of obesity in adults in the urban population of Delhi.

The prevalence of obesity and its associations were assessed during a community based epidemiological survey of coronary heart disease on a randomised sample of 13,414 adults in the age group 25-64 years living in urban Delhi. Body Mass Index (BMI) > 25 was considered to be the cut off point for defining obesity. By this criterion, the overall prevalence rate of obesity was 27.8%. Obesity was found to be more common in female subjects (Male--21.3%, Female--33.4%, p < 0.001). Obesity was more frequent in male subjects with lower physical activity compared to those doing heavier physical activity (29.3 vs 17.5%, p < 0.001). Physical activity did not influence the prevalence of obesity in females. Hypertension (24.8 vs 8.2%, p < 0.001) coronary heart disease (5.3 vs 2.4%, p < 0.001) and diabetes mellitus (3.2 vs 1.6%, p < 0.001) were more common in the obese than in the non-obese subjects. Hypercholesterolaemia (65.5 vs 53%, p < 0.001) and hypertriglyceridaemia (73.3 vs 61.1%, p < 0.001) were found to be associated with obesity.

Epidemiological study of hypertension in young (15-24 yr) Delhi urban population.

A community based epidemiological study of hypertension was carried out on a random urban sample of young persons (15-24 yr) of Delhi. Hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure greater than 140 mmHg and/or a diastolic blood pressure greater than 85 mm Hg or a history of current antihypertensive therapy. Of the 6543 subjects examined, 202 were found to be hypertensive. The overall prevalence rate was 30.9/1000 (male 41.2/1000, female 21.7/1000). Secondary hypertension was present in 4 of the 202 patients. Only 16 patients were aware of the presence of hypertension; of these 6 were on medication. Family history of hypertension was present in 87 subjects (43.1%). Of the 202 hypertensives, 67 were obese and 16 were smokers. The degree of physical activity was identical in the hypertensive and non-hypertensive subjects. Blood samples of 129 of the 202 patients were analysed for lipid levels. High values of total cholesterol were observed in nine.

Epidemiological study of coronary heart disease in Gujaratis in Delhi (India).

A community based survey of coronary heart disease (CHD) was carried out in Gujarati families settled in Delhi. The number of adults surveyed in the age group 25-64 yr was 1317. CHD was diagnosed either on the basis of clinical history supported by documentary evidence of treatment in the hospital or at home or on ECG evidence in accordance with the Minnesota Code. The prevalence rate of CHD on clinical history was 25.1 (28.2 in males and 22.4 in females) per 1000 adults (25-64 yr). The prevalence rates were slightly lower in Gujaratis than the general Delhi urban population. The prevalence rate based on both clinical history and ECG criteria was estimated at 66.8 as compared to 96.8/1000 in general urban Delhi population. The risk factors for CHD such as socio-economic status, family history, obesity, smoking, physical activity and hypertension were studied. The mean and 5th, 50th and 95th percentile values of blood lipids were also estimated in CHD patients and compared with the control group. Hypertension ranked the leading risk factor. Prevalence rate of CHD was higher in the upper socioeconomic group. The positive correlation of higher levels of serum lipids e.g., total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglyceride with CHD was confirmed.

Asymptomatic coronary heart disease detected on epidemiological survey of urban population of Delhi.

A community based epidemiological study of coronary heart disease (CHD) was carried out in a random sample of 13723 adults in the age group of 25-64 years in the urban population of Delhi. The electrocardiogram (ECG) of all clinically detected CHD cases and of a sample of 5621 persons (selected on the basis of alternate household screened) without clinical manifestations of CHD, was obtained. Out of 5621 persons labelled as asymptomatic, CHD evidence of Q wave myocardial infarction (MI) was present in 80 ECGs (1.4%). Another 296 ECGs had ST & T changes vide Minnesota Code 4-1-1, 4-1-2, 5-1 and 5-2 acceptable as evidence of probable CHD. The overall prevalence rate of asymptomatic CHD was 6.7% (male 5.6%, female 7.6%). Silent MI was more common in the male patients (1.7% vs 1.1%, p < 0.001). However, ST-T changes were more common in female patients (6.5% vs 3.9%, p < 0.001). The ST-T changes showed a steady factor in asymptomatic CHD cases was hypertension in both sexes (male-45.2%, female-43.5%) p = NS. Obesity was present in 24% of male & 46.1% of female patients (p < 0.001). Family history was found in 20% cases of both sexes. Smoking was recorded in 34.9% male and 10.9% female patients with asymptomatic CHD (p < 0.001).

Epidemiological study of coronary heart disease in urban population of Delhi.

A community based survey of coronary heart disease (CHD) was carried out on a random urban sample of 13,723 adults in the age group 25-64 yr in Delhi, India. CHD was diagnosed either on the basis of clinical history supported by documentary evidence of treatment in a hospital or at home; or on ECG evidence in accordance with the Minnesota Code. The overall prevalence of CHD based on clinical history, was 31.9 (39.5 in males and 25.3 in females) per 1000 adults in this age group. The number of patients with CHD increased with advancing age in both sexes. The total prevalence rate based on both clinical history and ECG criteria (asymptomatic patients with ECG changes of definite myocardial infarction and ST-T changes suggestive of CHD) was estimated as 96.7/1000 adults in this age group. Analysis of information on socio-economic status, family history of CHD, obesity, hypertension and smoking obtained from this sample of 13,723 adults suggested that hypertension had the strongest association with CHD. Obesity, diabetes and family history were also found to be associated with CHD. It should, however, be noted that risk factor assessments in CHD can be done satisfactorily only through incidence studies.

Prevalence, awareness & treatment status of hypertension in urban population of Delhi.

A community based survey for the prevalence of hypertension was carried out on a random urban sample of 13,723 adults in the age group 25-64 yr from the Union Territory of Delhi (India). Hypertension was defined as systolic pressure greater than 160 mm Hg and/or a diastolic pressure greater than 90 mm Hg or a history of current antihypertensive medication. The overall prevalence rate/1000 adults was 127.5 (116.6 in males and 136.8 in females). Mild hypertension (diastolic pressure between 91-104 mm Hg) predominated in the whole group, the proportion decreasing with increasing age in both sexes. Fifty per cent of the hypertensives were aware of their problem, the awareness being slightly higher in females (51.8% versus 46.5%). Approximately 30 per cent of the hypertensives were on medication for high blood pressure. The status control of blood pressure was low in the population, being only 9 per cent, with little difference between the two sexes. The study emphasises the enormity of the problem of hypertension in an urban population in India and poor control of blood pressure achieved in the community.