Study on the Prevalence of Osteoporosis and the Association between the Serum Calcium Levels and the Bone Mineral Density Levels in Postmenopausal Women

Introduction: The prevalence of postmenopausal osteoporosisis increasing day by day in post-menopausal women dueto hormonal imbalance, deficiency or malabsorption ofcalcium which reduces bone mineral density. The presentstudy was aimed to find out the prevalence of osteoporosisin postmenopausal women and the association between theserum calcium levels and the bone mineral density levels.Material and methods: It was a cross sectional studycomprising of 60 post-menopausal women in a range of45 to 58 years. The serum calcium levels were measuredusing COBAS INTEGRA automatic analyzer and the bonemineral density was measured by using Dual energy x – rayabsorptiometry (DEXA). The WHO criteria for osteoporosisusing T score were considered to classify the post-menopausalwomen.Results: The incidence of the bone mineral density changesin post-menopausal women was reported as 1.6% was normal,21.6% were in the stage of osteopenia and 76.66% were inthe stage of osteoporosis. The mean bone mineral density wasobserved as -2.75 ± 1.09. The mean serum calcium levels inpostmenopausal women were reported as 8.47 ± 1.13mg/dl.Weak positive correlation was observed with R value as 0.042,but statistically not significant association was observed.Conclusion: The prevalence of osteoporosis is very high inthe post-menopausal women. The correlation between theserum calcium and the bone mineral density was observed tobe positive but not statistically significant.

Assessment of Cardiovascular Autonomic Function in Asymptomatic Obese Young Adults – Prevention is Better than Cure.

Back ground: Obesity is emerging global epidemic in young adults who form the productive group of the society. This has been called as new world syndrome and is a massive reflection of social, economic and cultural problems currently faced by the developing and developed countries. As cardiac autonomic dysfunction often coexists with obesity, early detection of autonomic impairment by simple investigations of autonomic function, can be potentially important to prevent future complications. Objective: To identify cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction in asymptomatic obese young adults. Study design: This study was conducted in the department of Physiology at Kakatiya Medical College, Warangal, A.P, 30 apparently healthy obese subjects of both sex with BMI > 25 kg/sqm were taken as study group. Age and sex matched 30 normal weight subjects (BMI 18.5-22.9 kg/ sqm) taken as control group. Methods: Ewing’s battery of 5 noninvasive cardiovascular reflex tests were done for assessing autonomic function. These autonomic function parameters were correlated with BMI, Unpaired Student‘t’ test and Pearson correlation coefficient test were used for statistical analysis. Results: Mean values of all cardiovascular reflex tests were significantly lower in the study group. Conclusion: The results indicate that cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction is present in otherwise healthy obese young adults.

Association of apolipoprotein E (RFLP) polymorphism with myopia.

BACKGROUND: Myopia or nearsightedness is a spherical error of refraction, whereby the images are focused in front of retina. Eye, being an organ rich in activated oxygen species, requires a high level of antioxidants to protect the unsaturated fatty acids. Apolipoprotein E (APOE) is one of the proteins that is produced by Muller cells within the retina and is also endowed with antioxidant properties. Genetic polymorphism of APO E is controlled by three common alleles e3, e2 and e4 and rare e1, e4v at the APOE structural gene locus. Different isoforms of APO E differ in their antioxidant properties, and the e4 allele has lesser ability to combat oxidative stress. AIMS: Myopia being a disease influenced by oxidative stress, the present study was undertaken to find association of myopia with APO E polymorphism. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 187 myopic cases and 192 controls were genotyped for apolipoprotein E polymorphism. RESULTS: In both controls and myopic cases, E3/3 genotype was found to be the most frequent one. There was an increase in E3/4 genotype frequency among male probands, high myopia cases and probands with early age at onset, suggesting that the E3/4 genotype might confer risk for myopia development. CONCLUSION: This association with E3/4 genotype might predispose susceptible individuals to develop high myopia and early onset myopia.

Association of erythrocyte acid phosphatase phenotypes with myopia.

Acid phosphatase is a polymorphic nonspecific orthophosphate monoesterase which catalyses the cleaving of phosphoric acid and subsequent breakdown of several monophosphoric esters under acidic pH conditions. Acid phosphatase has a physiologic function as a flavin mononucleotide phosphatase (FMN) and regulates the intracellular concentrations of flavin coenzymes that are electron carriers in the oxidative phosphorylation pathway. Myopia or nearsightedness is caused by both environmental and genetic factors. Myopic eyes when subjected to excessive oxidative stress results in retinal detachments .In the present study there is a significant elevation of AA phenotype in myopes when compared to controls. The AA phenotype is more susceptible to oxidative stress and its lower enzyme activity is known to be associated with increased intrauterine growth that further results in increased axial length in progressive myopia. The AA phenotype also confers risk for myopia development in males, early age group and cases with parental consanguinity.

Effect of Chemotherapy on Malondialdehyde levels in Leukaemias.

Leukemia are the family of hematological malignancies of bone marrow resulting in uncontrolled proliferation of white blood cells. We have analyzed the MDA levels in 108 leukaemic patients. In the present study, the mean of the plasma MDA levels in leukaemic patients were found to be significantly elevated (572.41+11.79) as compared to that of the normal controls (375.84+5.48) indicating the possible role of invivo peroxidation of membrane lipids in the etiology of leukaemias. Sexwise comparision of the MDA levels in the leukaemic groups showed an elevated levels of lipid peroxidatrion byproducts among the affected males (588.23+14.49) as compared to that of the femeles (541.61+ 19.57). With respect to the age, the MDA levels were seen to be progressively increasing with advancing age. The highest levels of MDA were found in the age group of 30-40 years in an the types of leukaemia. In general the treated group showed comparatively low levels of MDA (543.13+13.46) to that of the untreated group (631.21+20.05) indicating the effect of chemotherapy on MDA levels. With respect to stage, the M5 stage among the AML type (619.67+28.22), L3 among the ALL type (769.00) and blast crisis among the CML group (619.67+112.89) were exhibiting elevated levels of MDA.