Acute myocardial infarction; a cross sectional study to find out the predictive value of creatine kinase-MB [CK-MB], cardiac troponin T [CTnT] and cardiac troponin I [CTnI] as preferred serum marker

A delay in confirming a diagnosis of AMI may increase the risk of complication and a delay in ruling out the diagnosis contributes to overcrowding in the emergency department. A crucial step in confirming or ruling out the diagnosis of AMI is the measurement of myocardial enzymes in the serum. Early administration of thrombolytic therapy results in improved survival after AMI. So this study was planned to find out the serum marker with a better predictive value for the identification of acute myocardial infarction at the time of admission. Cross-sectional study. Emergency department of Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore. 15th May, 2008 to 15th July, 2008. The study population consisted of 70 patients. Patients from both sexes, with clinical history of typical chest pain for more than 30 minutes in duration with evidence of acute changes of myocardial infarction on ECG were included in the study. This study was conducted to compare the positive predictive value and negative predictive value of creatine kinase- MB [CK-MB], cardiac troponin T [CTnT] and cardiac troponin I [CTnI] for detection of AMI. Data analysis was performed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences 11.5 [SPSS 11.5]. 88.6% cases had CTnI concentration more than the limit value while 11.4% cases had CTnI less than the limit value. The concentration of CTnT was more than the limit value in 70% cases and below the limit value in 30% cases. The concentration of CK-MB was more than the limit value in 35.7% cases and 64.3% cases had CK-MB value less than the limit value. The positive predictive value [PPV] of CtnI is 100% and negative predictive value [NPV] of CTnT is 100% in this study. It is concluded that CTnl is the better marker for the identification of acute myocardial infarction and CTnT is the better marker to exclude AMI as compared to CK-MB

Small babies; relationship of maternal serum zinc levels to the birth weight of the infants

Zinc is an essential trace mineral. It is considered a growth factor as it is the metallic component of enzymes DNA polymerase, DNA dependent RNA polymerase and thymidine kinase. To find out the relationship of maternal serum zinc levels with birth weight of the babies. January 1989 to May, 1991. Lady Wellingdon Hospital Lahore, King Edward College, Lahore and Metallurgy Department PCSIR Laboratories, Lahore. Prospective study. Among the 216 registered pregnant women 46 subjects had no feto-maternal complications during pregnancy and they delivered babies having birth weight adequate for Gestational Age [AGA]. Thirteen women gave birth to babies Small for Gestational Age [SGA]. Blood samples were taken at the end of each trimester and serum zinc was measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Serum zinc levels were significantly low [P<0.001] throughout pregnancy in women giving birth to SGA babies. Serum zinc levels throughout the course of pregnancy are associated with intrauterine growth of the babies