Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy And Its Metabolic Determinants In A North Indian Population.

Background: The estimates of Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy prevalence vary widely from 9.6 to 78% in different populations. this study was undertaken to study the prevalence of peripheral neuropathy in diabetes mellitus type-2 pateints and to find the association between biochemical parameters like blood sugar (Fasting, PP), HbA1c, lipid profile, 24-hours urinary albumen excretion with diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Methodology: This observational study was conducted among randomly selected outdoor and indoor Diabetes Mellitus type-2 patients of GSVM Medical College Kanpur. Diagnosis of diabetes peripheral neuropathy was made on the basis of history, clinical examination and vibration perception. Multivariate regression analysis was used to find the predictors of Diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Results: Majority of patients were aged 60 years and above (57.84%). Prevalence of diabetic neuropathy was 60.7%. Significant association between high blood sugar and peripheral neuropathy was found (<0.05). Conclusion: Screening of Diabetes mellitus and Diabetic peripheral neuropathy can be useful in its early detection and prompt treatment.

Brachytherapy of intra ocular tumors using ‘BARC I-125 Ocu-Prosta seeds’: An Indian experience.

Aim: To report our experience of brachytherapy using ‘BARC I‑125 Ocu‑Prosta seeds’ for the management of intraocular tumors with regard to tumor control, globe preservation visual outcome, and patient survival at Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, India between September 2003 and May 2011. Materials and Methods: We reviewed records of 35 eyes of 35 patients who underwent ophthalmic brachytherapy between September 2003 and May 2011. Twenty‑one cases had choroidal melanoma, nine had childhood retinoblastoma, two had adult‑onset retinoblastoma, and there were one case each of vasoproliferative tumor, retinal angioma, and ciliary body melanoma. Brachytherapy was administered using a 15‑ or 20‑mm gold plaque with or without a notch. Brachytherapy was the primary treatment modality in all tumors other than retinoblastoma, wherein brachytherapy was done post chemoreduction for residual tumor. Results: For choroidal melanomas, the mean radiation dose was 68.69 ± 15.07 (range, 47.72-94.2) Gy. The eye salvage rate was 13/20 (65%) and tumor control rate was 16/20 (80%) at an average follow‑up of 24.43 ± 24.75 (range, 1.5-87.98) months. For retinoblastoma, the mean dose was 45.85 ± 3.90 (range, 39.51-50.92) Gy. The eye salvage rate and tumor control rate was 5/6 (83.3%) at an average follow‑up of 38.36 ± 31.33 (range, 4.14-97.78) months. All eyes with retinoblastoma needed additional focal therapy for tumor control and eye salvage. Conclusion: The results of this retrospective study confirms that the use of ‘BARC I‑125 Ocu‑Prosta seeds’ in episcleral plaques to treat intraocular tumors offers a viable option for the management of intraocular cancers.

Analytical study of water safety parameters in ground water samples of Uttarakhand in India.

The main problem of the locality is the drinking water. Certain health problems are associated with people living in hills that are because of the presence of excess of heavy metals and other impurities. The present study was conducted to analyze the various parameters of ground water in uttarakhand, India and to check its fitness for drinking. It will also clarify the health hazards imposed on the population of this state. The present study was conducted in five regions of Uttarakhand, India (Haridwar, Vikasnagar, Mussoorie, Dehradun & Dakpathar). Ten samples of ground water were collected from each of the five regions during the pre-mansoon (Jan-Feb ) and post-mansoon (Sept-Oct )seasons.The pH was estimated by pH meter, acidity,alkalinity, sulphates,chorides,Total hardness(Ca & Mg) were determined by titration methods. The total suspended solid was calculated by the formula. The heavy metals like Mn, Al, Ba, Cd, Cr, Co, Cu, Fe and Pb were determined in the ground water samples by ICP mass spectroscopy. The concentrations of heavy metals, pH, alkalinity, sulphate, chloride, TDS & Total Hardness (TH) were compared with the standards by BIS for Drinking water (IS 10500:1991). The results shows that water pH of all the five regions showed no remarkable variation from the BIS recommended value of pH (6.5-8.5). The alkalinity was above the BIS desirable level of 200mg/l in all the samples, but was less than the maximum permissible limit. The Drinking water of all the regions contains higher amounts of TDS than the desirable limits. maximum TDS was detected in Haridwar & dehradun state. The ground water of mussoorie region shows total hardness to be above the BIS desirable level of 300mg/l. The chloride content was above the BIS desirable level of 250mg/l in dehradun only. The sulphate content was highest in haridwar (197.5mg/l) and dehradun (170mg/l) but it was below the desirable limit of 200mg/l. The Cd,Cr,&Pb content of all the five regions of Uttarakhand showed higher the BIS permissible limits of 0.01, 0.05 and 0.05 mg/l respectively. The content of Mn,Ba,Cu, Co&Fe are within the permissible limit of BIS standards for drinking water.

Myiasis in different types of carcinoma cases in southern India.

Myiasis maggots were isolated from the cancerous wounds, when the patients reported to the Department of ENT-OPD, JIPMER, Pondicherry. Maggots were identified to Chrysomyia bezziana based on characteristic patterns of posterior and anterior spiracles. Although the categories of cancer wounds were different, invasions were due to C. bezziana, which is very common in suburban areas of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry in southern parts of India. This observation showed the importance of hygiene and sanitation in tropical countries with high fly population and emphasised the need for correct diagnosis of this obligatory myiasis, which was destructive. Through proper health care, further destabilization due to myiasis was avoided.

Free glutamic acid content of milk in Indian mothers.

Free amino acids levels in the milk of 11 healthy Indian mothers were determined using automatic precolumn derivatization procedure. The aim of the study was to find out the relative concentration of glutamic acid and glutamine in the milk. Glutamic acid is the dominant free amino acid found in the milk of Indian mothers. Glutamic acid and glutamine together formed the major nonessential amino acids present in the human milk. Although glutamic acid has been shown to be the major amino acid in human milk in many studies, to the best our knowledge, this is the first report to confirm that glutamic acid is the most abundant amino acid in milk in Indian mothers.

Effect of trypanosomes infection on blood ascorbic acid and serum aldolase levels on the fresh water fishes, Clarias batrachus and Heteropneustus fossilis.

The trypanosomes presence has been found to decrease blood ascorbic acid levels in fishes, Clarias batrachus and Heteropneustus fossilis by 55.7% and 54.70% respectively. The infection also showed significant increase in serum aldolase level of three fishes by 50.19% and 48.06% respectively.

Development of a computer software for analysis of SDS-PAGE protein fingerprints of bacterial isolates.

Protein fingerprinting is a widely used technique in epidemiological studies for typing bacterial strains. This study reports the development of a computer based gel analysis system. The system has the capability to analyse SDS-PAGE whole-cell protein profiles using digital image processing techniques. The software incorporates spatial and frequency domain operators for image enhancement, support for geometric correction of images and new algorithms for identification of strain tracks and protein bands. The system also provides facilities for correcting imaging defects for inter-gel comparison, similarity analysis, clustering and pictorial representation of results as a dendrogram. The software is highly interactive, user-friendly and can produce accurate results for differentiation of bacterial strains with minimal overhead of time.

Histopathological changes following anterior chemotherapy in advanced breast cancer.

Twenty five patients of advanced breast cancer (Stage IIIb and IV) were studied and the histological changes following chemotherapy were looked. All the tumours showed varying degree of histological changes. Twenty eight percent tumours showed Grade I changes, 28 percent had Grade II changes and 28 percent had Grade III changes. Residual tumour was present in all the cases. The tumour showing higher grade of cancer cell degeneration following chemotherapy had better response. Seven tumours showing Grade III changes had 85.7 percent partial response. No complete response was achieved.

Some observations on pulmonary function tests in rice mill workers.

A study was carried out to determine the effects of rice husk dust on pulmonary functions in Rice mill workers. The study population consisted of 150 male Rice mill workers from 6 Rice mills with 50 controls of similar age, sex, ethnic group and agricultural work background. Twenty eight Rice mill workers showed obstructive, whereas eight workers showed restrictive type of pulmonary impairment. The results show that the duration of exposure of Rice husk dust is the workers is related to the degree of decline in FVC, FEV1, FEV3, PEFR and MVV. This could be attributed to allergic inflammatory reactions of pulmonary tissue due to Rice husk dust.