Vertical profiles of black carbon aerosols over the urban locations in South India.

Vertical profiles of black carbon (BC) aerosol were determined from aircraft measurements under the Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement Experiment (CAIPEEX) program conducted by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, India during 2009 over Bangalore and Hyderabad in south India. BC mass loadings decreased approximately monotonically from 10(3) to 10(4) ng/m(3) at the surface to ~10(2) ng/m(3) at an altitude of about 7 km; although layers at intermediate levels containing anomalously high BC loadings were frequently encountered that were attributed mainly to the convective transport from surface sources accompanied by changes in the local boundary layer and atmospheric stability. In addition, as evidenced from air mass back trajectories; long range transport from distant sources contributed to some anomalous spikes in BC concentration. The presence of BC in cloud forming regions of the free troposphere could have important implications for cloud microphysics and subsequent rainfall mechanism over this region. Apart from this, the effects on human health are equally important.

Evaluation of routine surveillance urine cultures in rehabilitation ward admissions: a prospective study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the value of routine surveillance urine cultures and the prevalence of bacteriuria in the younger disabled patient subgroup admitted to the younger disabled unit (YDU). Most of these patients do require some form of assisted urinary drainage. DESIGN: A prospective study of 50 consecutive patients admitted to the YDU for short-term rehabilitation were screened by obtaining relevant clinical details and urine specimens at weekly intervals. INTERVENTIONS: Relevant clinical details were retrieved from case notes and minimum of two urine specimens were collected for culture from each patient. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Presence of positive urine culture, sensitivity and clinical symptoms were recorded. RESULTS: Out of 50 patients studied, 27 were on some form of urinary drainage. Urine culture and sensitivity results were positive in 35 patients. Cultures were predominantly mixed growth or coliform organisms. CONCLUSIONS: Majority of patients were admitted with asymptomatic bacteriuria. There was no evidence to suggest that these short-term rehabilitation patients acquired nosocomial uropathogens and routine surveillance urine cultures were not particularly useful in this setting.

A battery-powered constant current stimulator for motor end-point detection.

The device described was developed as an external electrical stimulator to assist in the accurate location of motor end-points prior to the injection of nerve blocking agents in the treatment of spasticity. Monophasic pulses are produced with a duration of 10-100 microseconds and a current from 0 to 10 mA. The current is maintained over a wide range of electrode impedance and is independent of battery voltage.

Driving appliances for upper limb amputees.

The advice given to upper limb amputees in the United Kingdom with regard to the use of driving appliances has often been somewhat variable. At best a full rehabilitation package has been provided, including the fitting of the appliances to the person's vehicle and contact with the driver's instructor, to the other extreme of issuing driving appliances to patients with no instruction at all. Though upper limb amputations are not a relevant or prospective disability, all drivers with a "limb disability" are legally required, in the UK, to declare changes in their physical state to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. This study examines the current usage of driving appliances. It was found that the level of upper limb loss has little effect on where the driving appliance is placed or on any other aspect of driving method used.

Prophylactic low dose heparin anticoagulant therapy in patients with spinal cord injuries: a retrospective study.

A retrospective study was performed of 100 consecutive acute traumatic spinal injury patients with neurological deficit admitted to the Yorkshire regional spinal injuries centre prior to May 1990. Ninety-seven of these patients received prophylactic low dose subcutaneous heparin and 3 patients were excluded because of noted complications. Twenty-six patients developed thromboembolic complications. Apart from the fact that acute spinal cord injury patients are considered to be in an hypercoaguable state, the occurrence of deep vein thrombosis/pulmonary embolism (DVT/PE) in our study, even though these patients were on prophylactic low dose subcutaneous heparin, was related to delay in transfers, operative intervention, level of spinal cord injury and was possibly due to loss of some amount of heparin solution from the prefilled syringe during removal of air bubbles prior to the subcutaneous heparin injection.

Species difference in intestinal drug metabolising enzymes in mouse, rat and hamster and their inducibility by masheri, a pyrolysed tobacco product.

Activities of several drug metabolising enzymes in the small intestine were investigated in Swiss mice, Sprague Dawley rats and Syrian Golden Hamsters fed 10% masheri, a pyrolysed tobacco product, in diet, for 20 months. The basal levels of enzymes in proximal (PI), medium (MI) and distal (DI) parts of the intestine in the three species were similar. However, the levels of cytochrome P-450, benzo(a) pyrene hydroxylase (B(a)OH) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) were highest in hamsters followed by rat and mice. Upon treatment with masheri, significant induction of cytochrome P-450 and B(a)PH was observed in PI and DI of all the three species. However, GSH and GST was depleted upon masheri treatment in all the three species again only in proximal and distal parts of the intestine. Thus increase in activating enzymes together with depletion in GSH-GST system upon exposure could be an important factor in the susceptibility of the small intestine to hazardous xenobiotic exposure.

Short-term and long-term effects of brown and black masheri (pyrolysed tobacco product) on vitamin A and vitamin C levels in mice and hamsters.

The short-term and long-term effects of two most commonly used brown and black masheri were studied in Swiss mice and Syrian golden hamsters. In short-term studies, both the types of masheri extracts (ME) at 3/4 LD50 dose given ip did not have any effect on either liver or plasma vitamin C levels (both species). However, a decrease in liver vitamin A was observed only in hamsters injected with black ME. Similar effect was not observed in mice injected with both the types of masheri extracts. In long-term studies, when both the types of masheri were fed through diet at 10% level for 20 months, no effect was observed on hepatic or plasma vitamin C levels in mice (both sexes), while an increase in vitamin C levels was observed in black masheri diet fed hamsters. A depletion in liver vitamin A was observed in hamsters fed both the types of masheri. Such an effect was observed only in black masheri diet fed Swiss mice (both sexes) and brown masheri diet fed Swiss females.

Carcinogenicity studies of masheri, a pyrolysed product of tobacco.

The carcinogenicity of two commonly used brown and black varieties of masheri, a pyrolysed tobacco product, was studied by feeding the masheri through the diet at a 10% level to three different animal species of both sexes. In Sprague-Dawley rats, only brown masheri was used, while in Swiss mice and Syrian golden hamsters both varieties were used. In all the three species, forestomach papillomas were induced as a result of masheri treatment. In rats, 37% of animals showed forestomach papillomas while in mice and hamsters the incidence was 42-47% and 25-43%, respectively. No malignant changes were observed in any of the groups except 2/23 male hamsters showed forestomach carcinoma in the black masheri diet group.

Mutagenicity of extracts of brown and black masheri, pyrolysed products of tobacco using short-term tests.

Black and brown varieties of masheri, which are pyrolysed tobacco products were analysed for their mutagenic potentials using a battery of test systems. Both materials were found to be mutagenic in Salmonella typhimurium strain TA98 with metabolic activation and also in V79 Chinese Hamster cells producing 8-azaguanine resistant mutations. Both varieties were found to induce statistically significant increases in micronuclei formation as compared to those produced in the solvent controls. Both varieties induced structural chromosomal aberrations in bone marrow cells of mice. Our data suggest that masheri is a potent mutagen in a variety of test systems and is likely to have a mutagenic potential vis à vis humans.