Isoniazid induced neuropathy in slow versus rapid acetylators: an electrophysiological study.

Clinical, biochemical and nerve conduction studies were performed in 100 cases of tuberculosis taking isonicotinic acid hydrozide (isoniazid) for more than 12 weeks. Electro-physiological studies were carried out in a similar number of normal age and sex matched controls. In 16 percent of cases an abnormality was documented in the motor nerve conduction velocity, amplitude and terminal latency of the common peroneal, ulnar and median nerves; of these, only two patients had objective evidence of neuritis. The occurrence of isoniazid neuropathy was found to be more in the fourth decade of life (10 of 16), in those who had taken the drug for over six months (13 of 16), and in 'slow' inactivators (10 of 16).

Smoking habits of the medical students.

Smoking habits of the medical students, both undergraduates and postgraduates, were evaluated by self-administering a predesigned proforma. 854 (66.05%) of the 1293 students responded, of whom, 30.7% of them were smokers. The number of smokers and the intensity of smoking increased with the advancement of their career at college. There were more smokers amongst the married and those with a history of smoking in their family. There was no systematic correlation between the socio-economic or rural/urban background and the smoking habit.

Histo-functional status of kidney in leprosy.

A study of 64 cases of leprosy (44 lepromatous and 20 nonlepromatous) revealed that the duration of the disease has a significant relationship with renal involvement (chi 2 = 16.9, P less than 0.001). Proteineuria, microscopic haematuria, granular and hyaline casts are mainly seen in lepromatous cases and specially with lepra reaction (100%) while few of the non-lepromatous (2%) cases may show these abnormalities. Impaired renal functions are mostly observed in lepromatous leprosy (62.9%) specially those with lepra reaction (100%) while 2% nonlepromatous cases have these impaired renal functions. Histo-pathological studies revealed non-specific changes in 44.4% of cases and those of chronic pyelonephritis in 15.5% of the cases. Renal amyloidosis is less common occurrence (4.4%). The specific lesion, that is 'leproma kidney', is rare and seen in one patient only. Acid fast bacilli could not be seen in any of the kidney tissue. It is therefore, concluded that the renal involvement in the form of inflammatory lesions and non-specific changes in the glomeruli and tubules are very common in lepromatous leprosy specially during the reactive phase.