CLINICO-ETIOLOGICAL PROFILE OF SEIZURES IN CHILDREN IN A TERTIARY CARE CENTRE IN SOUTH INDIA

Introduction: Seizure is the most common neurological illness in pediatric population, and its risk is highest in the first year of life. A comprehensive study regarding etiology, clinical profile is required, hence the current study was undertaken. The objective of this work was to study the etiology, clinical profile Objective: le of seizures in children aged less than 18 years. Materials and Methods: A descriptive study of children with seizure was conducted at Neurology outpatient department, and references from pediatrics department. All children with seizures were included. Biochemical and haematological investigations, imaging, and electroencephalogram were performed whenever necessary. Simple descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data in the form of frequencies with percentages as applicable. Out of 65 Pediatric patients who presente Results: d with seizures were Febrile seizure – Simple 4.6% (3) ,Atypical 29.2% (19),Fever precipitated seizure 32.3% (21), Seizure disorder with developmental delay 20% (13),Unprovoked 6.1% (4),others (5) Seizure was the commonest neurological condition of children presenting to neurology Conclusion: OPD and referred from pediatrics. Fever precipitated seizure being the commonest etiology. The prognosis and outcomes were good but there were prolonged days of hospitalization. Children with unprovoked seizures require brain-imaging studies for better understanding of seizure etiology

Portulaca oleracea L. extract ameliorates the cisplatin-induced toxicity in chick embryonic liver.

Cisplatin, a cytotoxic agent used in treating cancer, at high doses induces hepatotoxicity. In this study, we investigated the protective role of aqueous extract of aerial parts of Portulaca oleracea L. (Po) against cisplatin-induced hepatotoxicity in chick embryonic liver. A group of 12 day old chick embryos, acclimatized to laboratory conditions were treated with a single dose of cisplatin (100 µg), while another group received Po extract at different doses (1 and 3 mg) 6 h prior to cisplatin treatment. The biochemical parameters were estimated after 24 and 72 h of incubation. A dose-dependent increase in biochemical parameters, such as alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, lactate dehydrogenase, malondialdehyde levels and a decrease in antioxidant enzymes levels like superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, glutathione-s-transferase and reduced glutathione were observed in cisplatin-treated animals, indicating a definite damage to the liver tissue. Pre-treatment with Po extract was found to provide significant protection against cisplatin-induced hepatotoxicity, as evident by the recovered levels of the altered changes in the measured biochemical parameters.

Embryo protective effect of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) fruit extract in adriamycin-induced oxidative stress.

The possible protective role of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) fruit extract which has shown antioxidant capacity higher than that of red wine and green tea was evaluated against adriamycin-induced oxidative stress in chick embryos. Adriamycin (ADR), an anthracycline broad spectrum of chemotherapeutic drug is used for the treatment of variety of cancers; however, its prolonged use is limited by an irreversible, dose-dependant and progressive cardiomyopathy, hepatotoxicity and general toxicity to other organs in human beings, due to oxidative stress. The morphological changes (malformation of different organs), changes in body weight, volume of amniotic fluid (AF) and biochemical parameters of AF were studied after 24 and 48 h of incubation by comparing ADR alone and pomegranate fruit extract pretreated groups with their respective controls of 12 days old chick embryos. ADR alone at a dose of 70 microg/egg showed a significant dose versus time- dependent reduction in body weight, volume of AF. A dose-related increase in embryo gross morphological deformities and significant changes in the levels of biochemical parameters in AF were observed in ADR-treated group. These changes were significantly ameliorated to normal by pre-administration of pomegranate fruit extract at a dose of 200 microg/egg. Thus, the present study demonstrated the embryo protective nature of pomegranate fruit extract against ADR-induced oxidative stress.

Insulin sensitivity and cardiac autonomic function in young male practitioners of yoga.

BACKGROUND: While yoga is thought to reduce the risk of chronic non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, there are no studies on insulin sensitivity in long term practitioners of yoga. We assessed insulin sensitivity and cardiac autonomic function in long term practitioners of yoga. METHODS: Fifteen healthy, young, male practitioners of yoga were compared with 15 young, healthy males who did not practice yoga matched for body-mass index. Fasting insulin sensitivity was measured in the fasting state by the hyperinsulinaemic-euglycaemic clamp. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the groups in their anthropometry or body composition. However, the fasting plasma insulin was significantly lower in the yoga group. The yoga group was also more insulin sensitive (yoga 7.82 [2.29] v. control 4.86 [11.97] (mg/[kg.min])/(microU/ml), p < 0.001). While the body weight and waist circumference were negatively correlated with glucose disposal rate in the controls, there were no similar correlations in the yoga group. The yoga group had significantly higher low-frequency power and lower normalized high-frequency power. CONCLUSION: Long term yoga practice (for 1 year or more) is associated with increased insulin sensitivity and attenuates the negative relationship between body weight or waist circumference and insulin sensitivity.

Infective endocarditis as a cause of fever in hemodialysis patients.

Vascular access infections are common in maintenance hemodialysis patients especially with dual lumen cuffed catheter. Persistent infections may lead to valvular seeding and the development of infective endocarditis. Though antibiotic therapy may often suffice, many patients may require surgical correction which carries a high risk of mortality. However appropriate preoperative therapy may considerably reduce the risk of surgery in maintenance hemodialysis patients.

Theoretical study of conformational flexibility of tuftsin in vacuum and in aqueous environment.

Conformational flexibility of tuftsin molecule is studied using all-atom based atom-atom potential and systematic search, simulated annealing molecular dynamics (SAMD) and molecular dynamics (MD) techniques. Latter was carried out for 650 pico seconds (ps) using AMBER 4.0 with explicit water in TIP3P model. Number of inter-atomic distances and torsional angles were monitored during SAMD and MD simulation. We found that tuftsin molecule, irrespective of any starting conformation, assumes highly folded structure with strong electrostatic interaction between Lys-2 NH3 and Arg-4 carboxylic group and weak hydrogen bond between Lys-2 CO and Arg-4 NH atoms. It had distorted but stable conformation close to inverse gamma turn.

Paternal leucocyte immunotherapy for recurrent pregnancy loss.

The defective recognition of foetal alloantigens by the maternal immune system is associated with recurrent pregnancy failure and may be prevented by boosting the maternal immune response with paternal or third party leucocyte immunization. The mechanism by which this process achieves success is not known. Clinical trials on recurrent spontaneous abortion have shown an up to 70% successful pregnancy rate after immunotherapy but the importance of this is unclear because there have been success rates of between 29% and 76% even in the control population. These variations could be due to small sample sizes and heterogeneity in the populations studied as well as co-intervention by the placebo. This article reviews the state-of-the-art for immunotherapy and discusses its mechanism of action in the prevention of recurrent foetal loss.

Development of anti-idiotypic antibodies to HLA antigens during pregnancy.

Thirty one pregnant women whose sera were initially positive for anti HLA antibodies were retested for lymphocytotoxicity 7-9 months after delivery. In the second testing 10 women were found to have lost the cytotoxic antibodies. These sera were tested for presence of anti-idiotypic antibodies by complement dependent cytotoxicity (CDC). In all ten sera tested, CDC blocking antibody was detected by inhibition technique at different dilutions. These antibodies directed specifically against the HLA antigen of the spouse. This CDC blocking factor could be the anti-idiotypic antibody (Ab2) directed against the cytotoxic anti-HLA antibody (Ab1). In one woman who conceived a second time, repeat sample obtained at the 7th month of the second pregnancy showed reappearance of the specific anti-HLA antibody. This may suggest that the Ab1-Ab2 network is under dynamic regulation.