Urinary System anomalies at birth.

Background: Congenital anomalies of urinary system are common and are found in 3-4% of population, and lethal urinary anomalies account for 10% of termination of pregnancy. Methods: A study was done to know the incidence of congenital anomalies at birth for the period of 4 months from May 99 - Sept 99 at Cheluvamba hospital attached to Mysore medical college. Congenital anomalies in the still births, live births and aborted fetuses >20 weeks were studied along with the case history and ultrasound reports. Aborted fetuses and still born babies were collected for autopsy after the consent of parents. These babies were fixed in 10% formalin and autopsy was done after fixing, and anomalies were noted. Results: Total births during study period were 3000. There were 61 babies with congenital anomalies and 6 babies had anomalies of urinary system. Among the urinary system anomalies 1 baby had bilateral renal agenesis, 1 baby had unilateral renal agenesis with anophthalmia (Fraser syndrome), 2 babies had Multicystic dysplastic kidney disease (MCDK) and 1 live baby had hydronephrosis due to obstruction at pelvi ureteric junction, and 1 live female baby had polycystic kidneys. Conclusion: Incidence of urinary system anomalies in the present study was 2 per 1000 births. U/S detection of urinary anomalies varies with period of gestation, amniotic fluid volume and visualisation of urinary bladder. Autopsy helps to detect renal agenesis.

Intraventricular hydatid cyst in a child.

Hydatid disease is caused by the infestation of the larvae of tapeworms of the genus Echinococcus. The definitive hosts of Echinococcus are various carnivores, the common being the dog. All mammals (more often sheep and cattle) are intermediate hosts. Humans get infected through the feco-oral route by ingestion of food or milk contaminated by dog feces containing ova of the parasite or by direct contact with dogs. The most common sites of infestation are the liver (75%) and lungs (15%). Various authors state a frequency of hydatidosis of the brain ranging between only 0.2-4% of cases. [1],[2],[3] The prognosis following surgical intervention is good, especially in pediatric age. [2],[3] Hence early diagnosis of this condition is crucial. We report a rare case of a child with a large intraventricular hydatid cyst that had an excellent recovery following surgery.

Liver histology in patients on hemodialysis with chronic hepatitis C viral infection.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of chronic liver disease in patients on hemodialysis. As no useful noninvasive predictors of disease activity and fibrosis have been found, liver biopsy is essential in these patients to accurately assess the severity of disease and thus the prognosis and plan management. The present study was undertaken to assess the degree of severity of necroinflammatory changes and fibrosis in liver biopsies of patients on hemodialysis with chronic HCV infection. Liver biopsies obtained from 45 patients on hemodialysis with serological evidence of chronic hepatitis C were studied. The grading of necroinflammatory activity and staging of fibrosis were histologically assessed. The majority of patients (30, i.e. 66.7%) had mild disease with mild inflammatory activity and stage 0, 1 or 2 fibrosis. There was no significant correlation between the degree of fibrosis and the age of the patients (rs = 0.015), the duration of hemodialysis (rs = 0.047) or the presence of steatosis (rs = 0.064). There was a positive correlation between the presence of bile ductular proliferation and the severity of fibrosis (rs = 0.612). It was concluded that chronic HCV infection in hemodialysis patients is relatively mild early in its course. However, serial follow-up liver biopsies are mandatory to plan appropriate intervention strategies.

Effect of orally administered betel leaf (Piper betle Linn.) on digestive enzymes of pancreas and intestinal mucosa and on bile production in rats.

The influence of two varieties of betel leaf (Piper betle Linn.) namely, the pungent Mysore and non-pungent Ambadi, was examined on digestive enzymes of pancreas and intestinal mucosa and on bile secretion in experimental rats. The betel leaves were administered orally at two doses which were either comparable to human consumption level or 5 times this. The results indicated that while these betel leaves do not influence bile secretion and composition, they have a significant stimulatory influence on pancreatic lipase activity. Besides, the Ambadi variety of betel leaf has a positive stimulatory influence on intestinal digestive enzymes, especially lipase, amylase and disaccharidases. A slight lowering in the activity of these intestinal enzymes was seen when Mysore variety of betel leaf was administered, and this variety also had a negative effect on pancreatic amylase. Further, both the betel leaf varieties have shown decreasing influence on pancreatic trypsin and chymotrypsin activities.

Auramine staining in histopathology sections.

Auramine staining was done on 65 histopathological sections from different types of treated leprosy cases which were negative by Fite-Farraco stain. All the sections except one showed auramine positive organisms. The organisms were mostly coccoid except in BL/LL cases where beaded bacilli could be seen.