Isolation and purification of heparin from bovine pancreas by different methods

Background: Different methods of heparin extraction are being used

Objective: To compare heparin extraction from bovine pancreas by using three different methods including method of Charles and Scott, Max and Volpi

Methodology: Design: Comparative Study. Setting: The University of Lahore with three month's duration starting from 1[st] July 2013. Fresh twenty samples of bovine pancreas samples were collected from the slaughterhouse of Lahore Pakistan and immediately placed in the ice buckets. The isolated heparin samples were separated into two species, slow moving and fast moving heparin by agarose gel electrophoresis. The anticoagulant activity of heparin samples was determined by using assay of Mitali et al [1982]

Results: The percentage yield of heparin extracted by Volpi method was significantly higher [P<0.001] i.e. 0.446% with the anticoagulant activity of 19 IU/ mg for bovine pancreas

Conclusion: Heparins are important in the field of medicine and pharmaceuticals. The results of our study showed that heparin isolated by the method of Volpi was significantly higher for bovine pancreas

Association between cigaratte smoking and periodontitis in Pakistani population

The study was done to identify the association between cigarette smoking and periodontitis in patients reporting to tertiary care dental centre. It is a comparative cross sectional study which was conducted in the Department of Operative Dentistry at Armed Forces Institute of Dentistry, Rawalpindi. The study was completed in 6 months from Mar 2007 to Sep 2007. 200 patients including 100 smokers and 100 non smokers were selected. Patients were clinically evaluated by measuring the probing depth, clinical attachment level [CAL], tooth mobility and furcation involvement between the two groups. There was a significant association between cigarette smoking and periodontitis. Mean probing depth in smokers was 3.56 and 3.09 in non smokers, mean CAL in smokers was 2.53 and 1.96 in non smokers, mean furcation involvement in smokers was 0.36 and 0.14 in non smokers and mean tooth mobility in smokers was 0.32 and 0.17 in non smokers. There was a marked association between cigarette smoking and periodontitis. The results of this study suggest that cigarette smoking significantly worsen periodontal health and greater probing depth, clinical attachment level, tooth mobility and furcation defects have been found in smokers than in non smokers

Risk indicators for tooth loss due to periodontal disease in Pakistani adults

The objective of this study was to identify risk indicators for periodontitis using cross sectional data from a group of Pakistani adults. The study group consisted of 426 individuals, aged between 18-75 years old. All extractions were performed in two dental hospitals over a 30 day period. Documented information included patient age and gender, medical history findings, dental care visit history, tooth brushing frequency, types and number of extracted teeth, history of menopause and the reasons for the extraction. Reasons were divided into periodontal disease versus other reasons in multiple logistic regression analysis. A total of 426 patients had 486 teeth extracted. More teeth per patient were lost due to periodontal disease than for other reasons [1.32 +/- 0.6 versus 1.05 +/- 0.2, P <0.001]. Factors significantly associated with tooth loss due to periodontal reasons in logistic regression analysis were age >35 years [OR 6.36; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.63-1.72], smokers [OR 1.09; 95% CI 1. 78 to 1.85], anterior tooth type [OR 3.71; 95% CI 1.82 to 1.89], and the presence of either of the following medical conditions: diabetes mellitus [OR 2.65; 95% C11.85 to 1.91], hypertension [OR 10.32; 95% CI 1.88 to 1.93], cardiovascular disease[OR 14.7 ;95%1.94 tol.98] or rheumatoid arthritis [OR 10.22; 95% CI 1.96 to 1.99] and Menopause [OR 5.2 P <0.001]. Our data suggests that tooth loss due to periodontal disease is associated with the risk indicators of age, smoking, dental care visits, frequency of tooth brushing, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, menopause and anterior tooth type, in this study group