Fetal Kidney Length: A Useful Parameter For Ultrasonographic Gestational Age Calculation.

Background & Objective: As the technology used in sonography has become more advanced accurate estimation of gestational age (GA) has become more demanding to plan treatments in pregnancy. Fetal kidney length (FKL) alone or its combination with other biometric parameters can be used in GA calculation more precisely in IInd&IIIrd trimester. Methodology: Two hundred three healthy pregnant females of IInd&IIIrd trimester were analyzed for GA calculation via FKL, Bi parietal diameter (BPD) and femur length (FL) using various lenear regression models. Results: Fetal kidney could be seen easily sonographically at 16thwk of gestation. FL was the most accurate single parameter (SE + 7.95 days) followed by FKL + 9.56days; BPD was the least accurate + 9.86 days. GA can be calculated most accurately by combining FKL with FL and BPD with SE + 7.12 days. Conclusion: FKL is easy to measure in IInd and IIIrd trimester and more accurate than BPD for GA estimation. So FKL could be used alone or easily incorporated into the model for dating pregnancies after 16th wk of gestation, in particular when measurements of BPD and FL are difficult.

Application of genetics and molecular biology in forensic odontology.

Various methods of Forensic Science have been applied to solve many mysteries of world including criminal investigation. Forensic odontology researches are usually associated to the dentist‘s field of action by using bite marks, dental records and radiographs plays an important role in solving many crimes. These methods help in age determination and sex identification of the people who have lost their identity after death. Nevertheless, since the development of genetics and molecular biology there were an increase in number and quality of solved cases. The present article emphasizes the importance to associate certain forensic biology areas to traditional investigation methods in human identification, especially with forensic odontology. It also shows that in some situations, teeth are an important source to genetic analysis and molecular studies. Finally it was concluded that knowledge of forensic genetics applied to traditional forensic investigations would produce an increase of information to Justice.

A profile of abortion cases in a Tertiary Care Hospital.

The present study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in collaboration with Department of Forensic Medicine at Rohilkhand Medical College and Hospital, Bareilly, U.P. between October 2009 and September 2010. A total of 150 married women presented for termination of pregnancy were being studied. 38% of women were in the age group of 26-30 years followed by 34.7% in 18-25 years. Majority (78%) were Hindus; major chunk (74%) belonged to lower class, 57.3% were illiterates, and 74% were from rural background. 84.7% of the patients presented between 5-12 weeks of gestation for termination. Majority (63.3%) were having 1-3 deliveries. 67.3% patients had no history of prior abortion. 54.7% unsuccessfully attempted to terminate the present pregnancy by using various methods. In 30.7% of patient’s unplanned pregnancy was main reason for terminating pregnancy, followed by contraceptive failure (29.3%) and inadequate income (26.7%).

Risk factors for low birth weight (LBW) babies and its medico-legal significance.

Birth weight is the most important factor that affects infant and child mortality. This one year study was conducted in a cohort of pregnant women to study the proportion of low birth weight babies and to find out the socio-economic and maternal risk factors affecting the birth weight of newborns and its medico-legal significance. Information regarding socio-economic status, obstetric history and present pregnancy was collected. These women were followed up till their delivery and birth weight was recorded with 24 hours of delivery. Birth weight was available for 256 births. The overall prevalence of low birth weight was 34.37%. Overall mean birth weight was found to be 2.64±0.444 with 95% confidence interval of 2.59-2.69. Primigravida mothers showed the highest prevalence of low birth weight (30.86%, p< 0.001). The main factors which were significantly associated with LBW were maternal education, stature, age at delivery; short inter pregnancy interval, inadequate antenatal care, and per capita income of family.

Correlation of odontometric measures in sex determination.

Mandibular canines exhibit the greatest sexual dimorphism amongst all teeth. The present study was performed on 400 healthy volunteers (200 males, 200 females) of 17 - 21 years with the aim to investigate whether any correlation existed between odontometric measures including mandibular canine index, and sex determination. Mean value of intercanine distance was higher in males than females and the difference was statistically highly significant (p value<0.01). Comparison of mean values of left and right mandibular canine widths exhibited lesser values in females. The variation in right and left mandibular canine width between males and females was highly significant (p value<0.01). The right and left mandibular canine index (MCI) among genders showed no significant difference. A mesio-distal canine width greater than 7.3 mm was suggestive of male sex. Our study conclusively establishes the existence of a definite statistically significant sexual dimorphism in mandibular canines and that MCI is of limited value.

Buildup of heavy metals in soil-water-plant continuum as influenced by irrigation with contaminated effluent.

Accumulation of heavy metals in soil-water-plant continuum as a result of irrigation with metals contaminated effluent has been studied. Effluents being used for irrigating agricultural fields had normal pH 7.3-7.5, high Cr and Cl content as per the prescribed standards for irrigation. Among the heavy metals, buildup of total Iron was highest (9 times) and that of cadmium (1.3 times) was lowest in effluent irrigated soil as compared to tubewell irrigated soils. In most of the hand pump water samples, Pb, Cd and Cr were above the permissible limits for drinking. Bioaccumulation of Pb and Cr in vegetables was found to be above the critical concentrations for plant growth while Pb and Cd were above the prescribed limit in the diet of animals. Most of the heavy metals were above the maximum allowable limit in soil.