Seroprevalence of Transfusion Transmissible Infections among Blood Donors in Nizamabad District of Telangana State – A six years study

Background: Blood transfusion is a life-saving therapeutic intervention and millions of lives are saved each year globally through this procedure. However, blood transfusions are associated with certain risks which can lead to adverse consequences. It may cause acute or delayed complications and carries the risk of the transmission of blood borne infectious agents. Materials and methods: This study was done in Government general hospital blood bank, Nizamabad district, Telangana state, India. Study duration was six years, from June 2010 to May 2016. Blood was collected from apparently healthy donors after following the questionnaire put forth by National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) through blood camps organized by voluntary organizations, voluntary and replacement donors in the government blood bank and motivated student bodies. Results: In our study, total screening positives were 532 out of the total 55291 units accounting to 0.96%. Among the positives, most of the positives belonged to Hepatitis B virus, HBsAg positives were 384 cases (0.69%), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) were 117 cases (0.20%), Venereal Ather Fatima, Farida Begum, Kandukuri Mahesh Kumar. Seroprevalence of Transfusion Transmissible Infections among Blood Donors in Nizamabad District of Telangana State - A six years study. IAIM, 2016; 3(8): 73-78. Page 74 Disease Research Laboratory test (VDRL) positives were 22 cases (0.03%) and minimal positives were noted in Hepatitis C virus (HCV) those were 09 cases (0.01%). Conclusion: Transfusion of blood and blood products is an established mode of treatment in many conditions. However unnecessary transfusions and unsafe transfusion practices expose patients to the risk of serious adverse transfusion reactions and transfusion-transmitted infections. This risk can be minimized by encouraging voluntary non-remunerative donation and screening of blood for TTI before transfusion with better screening methods like Enzyme Linked Immuno-sorbent Assay (ELISA), Nucleic Acid Amplification technique (NAT).

Study of plasma transforming growth factor-beta 1 level as a useful tumor marker in various cancers

BACKGROUND: Many investigators have found transforming growth factor-1 (TGF-1) to be elevated in tumors. Changes in responsiveness to TGF-1 have been linked to malignant transformation, tumor progression and tumor regression. Many malignant cell lines of epithelial or hematopoietic origin are refractory to the antiproliferative effects of TGF-1. However, a little is known about the association of TGF-1 with progression of malignant tumor. METHODS: In this study, we measured the plasma level of TGF-1 in various cancer patients and evaluated the utility of plasma TGF-1 as a possible tumor marker. Plasma TGF-1 levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in cancer patients and normal controls. Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) as tumor marker were compared with TGF-1 in the aspects of sensitivity and specificity. RESULTS: The mean of plasma TGF-1 levels was 1.2 19 +/-0.834 ng/ml in normal controls, 5.491 +/-3.598 ng/ml in breast cancer, 12.670 +/-10.386 ng/ml in lung cancer, 5.747 +/-3.228 ng/ml in hepatocellular carcinoma and 10.854 +/-7.996 ng/ml in cervical cancer. In comparison with CEA and AFP, TGF-1 is more sensitive. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the high levels of TGF-1 are common in the plasma of cancer patients. These result s suggest that the plasma TGF-1 level can be a potent tumor marker in various cancer patients.

Neurocysticercosis-Surgical and Medical Management with Praziquantel

The eight patients of neurocysticercosis have been diagnosed from 1985 to 1987 in the department of neurosurgery at The Baptist Hospital. Six patients had parenchymal cysts, one had a racemose cyst and the other one had a mixed cyst. The blood serum and CSF ELISA on six patients had a positive reaction for cysticercosis but the follow-up ELISA titers were variable three months later on these four. The racemose and mixed cysts were removed surgically due to mass effect and followed by praziquantel therapy. The parenchymal cysts were treated with praziquantel only. Praziquantel was given daily at 50mg/kg of body weight for two weeks or 30mg/kg of body weight for three weeks. The common side effects of praziquantel were headache, dizziness, nausea, seizure and focal neurological deficits. These side effects could be prevented or minimized by corticosteroid. The result of praziquantel therapy was excellent in all the patients except the mixed cyst.

Neurocysticercosis-Surgical and Medical Management with Praziquantel

The eight patients of neurocysticercosis have been diagnosed from 1985 to 1987 in the department of neurosurgery at The Baptist Hospital. Six patients had parenchymal cysts, one had a racemose cyst and the other one had a mixed cyst. The blood serum and CSF ELISA on six patients had a positive reaction for cysticercosis but the follow-up ELISA titers were variable three months later on these four. The racemose and mixed cysts were removed surgically due to mass effect and followed by praziquantel therapy. The parenchymal cysts were treated with praziquantel only. Praziquantel was given daily at 50mg/kg of body weight for two weeks or 30mg/kg of body weight for three weeks. The common side effects of praziquantel were headache, dizziness, nausea, seizure and focal neurological deficits. These side effects could be prevented or minimized by corticosteroid. The result of praziquantel therapy was excellent in all the patients except the mixed cyst.

The Clinical Significance of Anti-LSP Antibodies in the Sera of Patients with Viral Hepatitis: An Evaluation with SPA-RIA & ELISA / 第三军医大学学报

Antibodies against LSP in the sera of 168 patients with various types of viral hepatitis were determined with SPA-RIA. The sera of another group of 178 patients (109 of them were from the first group) with viral hepatitis were studied with ELISA for the same antibodies, which were further divided into three categories, that is, IgG, IgM and IgA classes. The results of 109 patients examined with both of the two methods, indicated that anti-LSP antibodies measured by SPA-RIA might mainly represent anti-LSP IgG class. It was found that circu-lating anti-LSP antibodies could easily be detected in most patients with either acute or chronic hepatitis. After analyzing the-results, the authors suggest that the humoral immune response against LSP might not be the sole initiating factor in the pathogenesis of viral hepatitis, they are more likely the result of the antigen variation of the injured liver cells.