RESUMO
Background: Alcohol is one of the most abused substances in the world. Alcohol has been known to produce toxic effects in almost every organ system in the body, many of these medical conditions can be attributed to the direct toxic effect of alcohol and its metabolites, whereas others are indirect sequelae that may result from nutritional deficiency particularly thiamine. A neurological complication of alcohol dependence is extremely common and affects every level of neuroaxis including the Brain-Peripheral nervous system-Muscle. Aim & Objective: To quantify the number of different neurological disorders in alcohol-dependent patients and to the established relationship between the frequency of these disorders with type, duration, amount, and frequency of alcohol intake. Method & Material: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 100 alcoholics who came to tertiary care centers of central India in the 1-year duration. Demographic data, questions related to their alcohol consumption, and Neurological examination of all patients were done as pre-decided protocol. Informed consent was obtained from all patients. Data was entered and analyzed using appropriate software. Result: Study participants were mostly (70%) in the age group of 21 to 40 years, 87% resided in the urban area, 81% were Hindu. 78% were educated up to class 8th and 76% were employed with any kind of jobs. There were 64% of cases that had any kind of neurological manifestation, 20% had peripheral neuropathy and less than 10% has severe manifestation Korsakoff’s psychosis, and cerebellar degeneration. Conclusion: Neurological manifestations were common among alcohol dependents, but it variably depends on the amount, pattern, chronicity, and type of alcohol consumption. There is a need for further studies that specifically point out alcohol-related nervous manifestations.
RESUMO
The efficacy of targeted radiotherapy can be enhanced by selective delivery of radionuclide to the tumors and/or by differentially enhancing the manifestation of radiation damage in tumors. Our earlier studies have shown that the 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG), an inhibitor of glucose transport and glycolytic ATP production, selectively enhances the cytotoxicity of external beam radiation in tumor cells. Therefore, it is suggested that 2-DG may also enhance the cytotoxic effects of radionuclides selectively in tumor cells, thereby improving the efficacy of radionuclide therapy. In vitro studies on breast carcinoma (MDA-MB-468) and glioma (U-87) cell lines, has been carried out to verify this proposition. Clonogenicity (macrocolony assay), cell proliferation, cytogenetic damage (micronuclei formation) and apoptosis were investigated as parameters of radiation response. Mean inactivation dose D (dose required to reduce the survival from 1 to 0.37), was 48 MBq/ml and 96 MBq/ml for 99 mTc, treated MDA-MB-468 and U-87, respectively. The dose response of growth inhibition, induction of micronuclei formation and apoptosis observed under these conditions, were correlated well with the changes in cell survival. Presence of 2-DG (5 mM) during radionuclide exposure (24 hrs), reduced the survival by nearly 2 folds in MDA-MB-468 (from 48.5 MBq to 18.5 MBq) and by 1.6 folds in U-87 cells (from 96 MBq to 66 Mbq). These results clearly show that the presence of 2-DG during radionuclide exposure, significantly enhances the cytotoxicity, by increasing mitotic as well as interphase death. Further studies to understand the mechanisms of radio-sensitization by 2-DG and preclinical studies using tumor-bearing animals, are required for optimizing the treatment schedule.