Effect of Sahaja yoga practice on seizure control & EEG changes in patients of epilepsy.

The effect of Sahaja yoga meditation on seizure control and electroencephalographic alterations was assessed in 32 patients of idiopathic epilepsy. The subjects were randomly divided into 3 groups. Group I (n = 10) practised Sahaja yoga for 6 months, Group II (n = 10) practised exercises mimicking Sahaja yoga for 6 months and Group III (n = 12) served as the epileptic control group. Group I subjects reported a 62 per cent decrease in seizure frequency at 3 months and a further decrease of 86 per cent at 6 months of intervention. Power spectral analysis of EEG showed a shift in frequency from 0-8 Hz towards 8-20 Hz. The ratios of EEG powers in delta (D), theta (T), alpha (A) and beta (B) bands i.e., A/D, A/D + T, A/T and A + B/D + T were increased. Per cent D power decreased and per cent A increased. No significant changes in any of the parameters were found in Groups II and III, indicating that Sahaja yoga practice brings about seizure reduction and EEG changes. Sahaja yoga could prove to be beneficial in the management of patients of epilepsy.

Effect of Sahaja yoga practice on stress management in patients of epilepsy.

An attempt was made to evaluate the effect of Sahaja yoga meditation in stress management in patients of epilepsy. The study was carried out on 32 patients of epilepsy who were rendomly divided into 3 groups: group I subjects practised Sahaja yoga meditation for 6 months, group II subjects practised postural exercises mimicking Sahaja yoga and group III served as the epileptic control group. Galvanic skin resistance (GSR), blood lactate and urinary vinyl mandelic acid (U-VMA) were recorded at 0, 3 and 6 months. There were significant changes at 3 & 6 months as compared to 0 month values in GSR, blood lactate and U-VMA levels in group I subjects, but not in group II and group III subjects. The results indicate that reduction in stress following Sahaja yoga practice may be responsible for clinical improvement which had been earlier reported in patients who practised Sahaja yoga.

Histamine and mast cell study in the gastric tissue of south Indian patients suffering from duodenal ulcer with pyloric stenosis.

Patients undergoing surgery for pyloric stenosis secondary to duodenal ulcer were the subjects for the study. Two pieces of full thickness gastric wall (all coats) were obtained at laparotomy. The pieces were immediately split into two halves. One of these was used for histamine assay where as the other was used to study the mast cell population. Histamine content and mast cell population was found to be less in gastric mucosa of our patients as compared to values from normal human gastric mucosa. There was lack of correlation between mast cell population and histamine content which suggests that there could be some other storage sites for histamine.

A study of lung function abnormalities in workers of cotton spinning shops.

Lung function was studied by forced expiratory spirograms and measurement of peak expiratory flow in fourteen young male subjects of the age 20 to 30 years. Seven of the subjects were cotton spinners in small shops in Paharganj market with the duration of work from 1 to 3 years. The other seven subjects served as controls. All the subjects were of the same socio-economic status and were North Indians. Forced vital capacity; forced expiratory volume in 1 sec; forced expiratory volume in 1 sec expressed as a percentage of forced vital capacity; forced expiratory flow between 80 and 70 per cent, between 55 and 45 per cent, between 30 and 20 per cent and between 15 and 5 per cent of the forced vital capacity were determined from forced expiratory spirograms. Peak expiratory flow and FEB-80-70% were significantly lower in cotton spinners suggesting involvement of larger airways.

Effect of hippocampal lesion on acquisition of conditioned avoidance behaviour in albino rats.

Control, hippocampal and Sham control male albino rats weighing 150-200 gms were trained for acquisition of conditioned avoidance behavioural response using escape avoidance apparatus. Parameters like rate of performance, error scores, conditioned stimulus latency and unconditioned stimulus latency were studied. It was observed that there was a facilitation in the behavioural response with less error scores in hippocampal animals as compared to Sham control and control groups. Our observations are similar to those of Douglas and Pribram and Douglas and it is concluded that the hippocampus acts as a gate restricting the range of stimuli to which an intact animal attends.

Effect of change in limb position on mean electrical axis and amplitudes of QRS complex of rat electrocardiogram.

The effect of altered fore limb alignment to trunk on mean electrical axis (MEA) and on amplitude of the QRS complex of frontal plane leads was studied in both prone and supine postures in 32 albino rats. It was found that in both postures bilateral extension of fore limbs caused a significant change in MEA to right. Unilateral change in the fore limb alignment caused a shift in MEA to right only in supine position, but was ineffective in prone position. The amplitudes of QRS complexes also changed with change in MEA. The changes in MEA with change in limb alignment and subsequent alteration in amplitude of QRS complexes can be attributed to the alteration in anatomical orientation of the heart in the chest cavity.

Effect of cowdung smoke inhalation on E.C.G. of rats.

The present study was conducted on 20 adult albino rats divided into group I (n = 10) and group II (n = 10). Group I animals were exposed to cowdung smoke for 60 min twice a day for a period of 75 days whereas group II served as control. ECG of control rats was essentially similar to that of man. ST segment was absent, Q wave absent or rudimentary and the mean QRS axis + 45 degrees. Rats exposed to cowdung smoke revealed a significant increase in PR interval and a mean QRS of + 117.5 degrees. Our results indicate that inhalation of cowdung smoke leads to conduction defects and right axis deviation.

Production of myocardial lesions in a graded fashion by noninvasive technique in albino rats.

Systematic study of producing graded lesions of myocardium with the use of Isoproterenol (IPT) reveals that mild to severe degree of infarction can be induced by administering the compound for one to four consecutive days in the dose of 85 mg/kg body weight in rats. These findings differ slightly from those of Rona et al. where they have not attempted to produce the lesions in a graded fashion. The experimental period can be reduced to two days by using high dose (170 mg/kg), but such procedure increases significantly the mortality in these animals and lesions are not produced in graded fashion.

Effect of cigarette smoking on leucocytes in South Indians.

A study was done on 200 male hospital employees of similar socio-economic status in the age group of 25-45 years. The smokers had a significantly higher total leucocyte count and there was a significant positive correlation (r = 0.388) between the quantity of cigarettes smoked and leucocyte count. Besides this a significant lymphocytosis and neutropenia was also observed. It is suggested that total leucocyte count may be taken as an index for the degree of smoking.

Effect of cyproheptadine on bar-pressing for food reward in rats.

Lever pressing rate under a continuous reinforcement schedule for food reward in rats was reduced significantly by cyproheptadine in the dose of 5 and 10 mg/kg body weight. Under fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement, the responding was also suppressed significantly by 5 and 10 mg/kg body weight doses of cyproheptadine. However, high dose (20 mg/kg) of cyproheptadine administered subsequent to the low doses, failed to inhibit the bar pressing rate under either continuous or fixed ratio schedules.

Electrocardiographic changes in experimental drowning.

Healthy mongrel dogs were subjected to aspiration of 20 ml/kg of fresh water (group I) or sea water (group II). Fresh water as well as sea water aspiration produced an immediate and significant bradycardia and the heart rate remained appreciably low throughout the forty minute study period. Appearance of tall T waves was the chief electro-cardiographic abnormality seen in both the groups. Out of seven dogs subjected to fresh water aspiration, two died of ventricular fibrillation and the other five survived. On the other hand, out of seven dogs subjected to sea water aspiration, five died of ventricular asystole within 10 min. This shows that equivalent volume of sea water is more lethal than fresh water. Further it is concluded that ventricular fibrillation is common after fresh water aspiration whereas sea water aspiration commonly leads to ventricular asystole.

Cardiovascular effects of acetaldehyde in guinea pigs.

The hemodynamic effects of intravenous administration of acetaldehyde were determined in anesthetized control (group I), propranolol pretreated (group II) and phentolamine pretreated (group III) guinea pigs. Acetaldehyde produced an immediate and significant increase in mean arterial pressure followed by its progressive decrease resulting in hypotension. Heart rate increased significantly. In propranolol treated animals, acetaldehyde-induced tachycardia was not produced whereas in phentolamine treated animals, the initial pressor response was converted into a depressor one. Hence the increase in mean arterial pressure and heart rate produced by acetaldehyde are likely to be due to catecholamine release from adrenergic nerve endings.