Prevalence of oral submucous fibrosis in school going children who chew betel nut versus those who do not: a cross sectional study

Objective: The aim of this cross-sectional study in Central District of Karachi [CDK] was to assess the prevalence of oral soft tissue lesions and to investigate associations which may exist between oral conditions and Betel nut [BN] chewing among the young school goingchildren

Study Design: Cross-Sectional Study

Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at Dental Department, Baqai University, Karachi, from April 2011 to July 2011

Materials and Methods: Questionnaire based research was conducted. Three hundred and sixty students from 17 different schools participated in the study. The mean age was 13.86 +/- 1.2 years with the age range of 12 to 16 years. Out of these 360 students, 175 were females and 185 were males

Results: The results showed a high prevalence of the pre-cancerous lesion, oral submucous fibrosis among BN chewers [BNC] compared to non-chewers [NBNC][19% and 3% respectively]. The high prevalence of BN chewing [59% of the low socio-economic young population studied] should be addressed at local and government level through support for effective preventive programs and health promotion campaigns

Conclusion: Promotion of oral health and eradication of BN chewing are important goals for the prevention of oral cancer among this population

Purification and characterization of immunoglobulin G from Kala-Azar patients

The immunoglobulin G [lgG] of kala-azar patients was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation and ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE-cellulose column. The purified IgG was found to be homogeneous as judge by polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis on 7.5% gel and SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The molecular weight of IgG was estimated to be 158,489. The precipitation reaction was observed when the purified IgG was mixed with the serum of kala-azar patient [i.e., antigen]. Maximum precipitation was observed when IgG-antigen reaction at pH 7.0 and at 37°C. The specificity of the purified IgG was also confirmed from other serological tests such as haemagglutination and double diffusion tests

Accumulation of pentavalent antimony in patients of visceral leishmaniasis

Fourteen Bangladeshi patients with parasitologically proven visceral leishmaniasis were randomly divided into two groups: one group [eight patients] received pentavalent antimony [sodium stibogluconate], 20mg per Kg body weight per day intravenously by single injection for 20 days; second group [six patients] the same amount of drug per day in two divided doses for 20 days. Urine samples of each patient were collected throughout the treatment and the total amount of pentavalent antimony was calculated. Almost the whole amount of injected antimony was excreted in the urine in single dose regimen. On the other hand, about 20% of the injected drug was accumulated within the body in two divided dose regimen. Next we studied which tissues were involved in the accumulation of antimony. Using guinea pig, it was found that antimony was accumulated mainly in the spleen and liver. The antimony accumulated in the spleen or liver were only in the pentavalent form. There were no conversion of pentavalent antimony into trivalent one in those tissues. It is concluded that divided dose administration of pentavalent antimony, compared to single dose administration, is unsafe, due to the risk of toxic effects through accumulation