Incidence of contrast induced nephropathy among patients undergoing coronary interventions

Background: Contrast media (CM) used during diagnostic and therapeutic percutaneous procedures is eliminated by the kidneys. A study has been planned to find the adverse effects of contrast agents on renal system. Methods: This was a hospital based cross sectional study, conducted in the department of general medicine, GSL Medical College. Individuals >25 age, both gender with heamoglobin concentration of > 10mg/dl were included. Exclusion criteria was also followed. Iodixanol or iohexol was used, administered at the rate of 80 – 100 ml per participants. Blood samples were collected standard techniques before the procedure and 48 hours after the procedure for serum creatinine levels. Renal function was assessed by estimating creatinine clearance using the Cockcroft-gault formulae. As per national kidney foundation participants were divided in to 4 categories normal, mildly impaired, moderately impaired and severely impaired renal function; p<0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: Out of 80 study subjects, CIN was increased with age, identified in 37.9% diabetics, 48.3% smokers, 41.4% alcoholics; statistically there was no significant difference. In the normal category 34.5%, 41.4% in mild category, 24.1% in moderate renal dysfunction category developed CIN, association was statistically significant. Conclusions: With these findings we conclude that overall increase in the incidence of CIN with age and no influence of gender as well as conditions like diabetes and hypertension.

Sting_RDB: a relational database of structural parameters for protein analysis with support for data warehousing and data mining

An effective strategy for managing protein databases is to provide mechanisms to transform raw data into consistent, accurate and reliable information. Such mechanisms will greatly reduce operational inefficiencies and improve one’s ability to better handle scientific objectives and interpret the research results. To achieve this challenging goal for the STING project, we introduce Sting_RDB, a relational database of structural parameters for protein analysis with support for data warehousing and data mining. In this article, we highlight the main features of Sting_RDB and show how a user can explore it for efficient and biologically relevant queries. Considering its importance for molecular biologists, effort has been made to advance Sting_RDB toward data quality assessment. To the best of our knowledge, Sting_RDB is one of the most comprehensive data repositories for protein analysis, now also capable of providing its users with a data quality indicator. This paper differs from our previous study in many aspects. First, we introduce Sting_RDB, a relational database with mechanisms for efficient and relevant queries using SQL. Sting_rdb evolved from the earlier, text (flat file)-based database, in which data consistency and integrity was not guaranteed. Second, we provide support for data warehousing and mining. Third, the data quality indicator was introduced. Finally and probably most importantly, complex queries that could not be posed on a text-based database, are now easily implemented. Further details are accessible at the Sting_RDB demo web page: http://www.cbi.cnptia.embrapa.br/StingRDB.

Avaliação propriocepção do joelho em individuos portadores de disfunção femoropatelar / Evaluation of proprioception on the knee among individuals with patellofemoral dysfunctuion

Avaliar a propriocepcao do joelho de individuos portadores de disfuncao femoropatelar (DFP) e de individuos-controle em dinamometro isocinetico. Metodo: forma selecionados 20 sujeitos do sexo feminino, sendo 10 (22,5 +- 2,3 anos) portadores de DFP unilateral sem sintomatologia dolorosa (grupo DFP) e 10 (21,3 +- 1,7 anos) clinicamente normais (grupo N). As voluntarias, sentadas na cadeira do dinamometro isocinetico e com os olhos vendados, realizaram tres reposicionamentos ativos para tres diferentes angulos-alvo (30, 45 e 60 graus) de flexao do joelho. As variaveis estudads foram o angulo de reposicionamento ativo do joelho e os erros absoluto e relativo em relacao a cada angulo-alvo avaliado. Resultados: o teste t evidenciou que nao houve diferenca significativa na media dos reposicionamentos ativos (P30º=0,33l; P45º=0,39; e P60º=0,96) entre os grupos DFP e controle. Alem disso, a analise de variancia (ANOVA) nao mostrou diferenca significativa, tanto na media do erro absoluto (p=0,66) quanto na media do erro relativo (p=0,81) entre os diferentes angulos-alvo de flexao do joelho. Conclusao: nas condicoes experimentais utilizadas, os dados do presente estudo nao evidenciam deficit proprioceptivo em realacao ao senso de posicao articular entre os grupos DFP e controle