Effect of enzyme pretreatment on dehulling, cooking time and protein content of pigeon pea (variety BDN2).

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of enzymatic pretreatment at different enzyme concentration, incubation time, incubation temperature and tempering water pH on the hulling efficiency, cooking quality and protein content of pigeon pea (variety BDN2). Response surface methodology based on a four-factor, five-level, central composite design was employed to study the effect of the independent variables and optimize processing conditions. A quadratic model satisfactorily described the hulling efficiency, cooking time and protein content with high value for the coefficient of determination R2 (0.95, 0.92 and 0.97 respectively). It predicted a maximum hulling efficiency of 84.35%, minimum cooking time 13.06 min and maximum protein content 22.60% at enzyme concentration, and 31.34 mg/100 g dry matter, incubation time, 8.72 h, incubation temperature, 43.47 °C and tempering water, pH 5.99. Results were also compared with hulling efficiency, cooking time and protein content obtained with traditional oil pretreated method 78.30%, 14.30 min and 18.53% respectively. It revealed that hulling efficiency and protein content of enzyme pretreated pigeon pea could be increased 2.44% and 6.77% respectively, whereas cooking time could be reduced 1.50 min compared to the oil pretreated method.

Burden of disease - prevalence and incidence of renal disease in India.

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) burden is increasing worldwide. In developing countries like India, limited financial resources and lack of infrastructure put a severe strain on existing health policies in the light of the increasing burden of CKD. The exact prevalence of CKD in India is not known due to lack of adequate data recording systems both in the Government and insurance sectors. Recently with the support of the Indian society of Nephrology, a CKD registry has been formed with the hope of generating adequate information about CKD patients in India. Here we have reviewed various published studies on the magnitude of CKD in India. Three studies which have been carried out in different parts of India have been reviewed to examine the prevalence of CKD, which ranges from 0.79% to 1.4%. The incidence of End Stage Renal Disease was estimated to be 181 per million population in 2005 in central India. Many more such efforts are needed across our country in order to determine the exact burden of CKD.

Preparation and evaluation of soft gellan gum gel containing paracetamol.

The objective of this study was to develop soft paracetamol gel using gellan gum as a gelling agent and sodium citrate as a source of cation. Different batches were prepared using three different concentrations of gellan gum (0.1, 0.3, and 0.5%), each with two different sodium citrate concentrations (0.3 and 0.5%). The consistency of the paracetamol gel was dependent on the concentration of gellan gum, sodium citrate and co-solute. The results of dissolution study of soft gel containing 0.3% gellan gum and 0.3% sodium citrate revealed that paracetamol was completely released in 30 min. Polyethylene glycol 400 worked as a solubilizer for paracetamol. All the gels possessed acceptable sensory characteristics when evaluated by human volunteers. Short term stability study carried out for four weeks at different temperatures revealed no considerable changes in performance characteristics of developed optimized formulation.

Pregnancy-related acute renal failure: A single-center experience.

Pregnancy-related acute renal failure (ARF) is a common occurrence and is associated with substantial maternal and fetal mortality. It also bears a high risk of bilateral renal cortical necrosis. We conducted this study to evaluate the contributing factors and to assess the frequency of cortical necrosis. In this prospective study, of the 772 patients with ARF admitted at our institute between January 2004 and May 2006, 70 had ARF associated with pregnancy complications. ARF was diagnosed by documenting oliguria (urine output <400 ml/d) or mounting azotemia in the presence of normal urine output. (serum creatinine >2 mg%). Renal biopsy was performed if a patient was found to be oliguric or required dialysis support at the end of three weeks. The incidence of pregnancy-related ARF was 9.06%. Approximately 20% cases occurred due to postabortal complications in early pregnancy and 80% following complications in late pregnancy. Puerperal sepsis was the most common etiological factor in 61.42% of the patients. Preeclampsia accounted for 28.57% of ARF. Two-thirds of patients recovered with dialysis and supportive care. The incidence of biopsy proven renal cortical necrosis was 14.8% (10 of the 70 patients). The incidence of renal cortical necrosis was 28.57% in the early pregnancy group and 10.71% in the late pregnancy group. Postabortal sepsis was the most common precipitating event for renal cortical necrosis. Maternal mortality was 18.57%. Sepsis accounted for a majority of deaths (61.53%). Pregnancy-related ARF is common in western India. Puerperal sepsis is the most frequent etiological factor. Renal cortical necrosis is common and postabortal sepsis was the most common precipitating event. Sepsis accounted for a majority of maternal mortality.

Cadaveric renal transplantation: our experience at the Institute of Kidney Diseases & Research Centre, Institute of Transplantation Sciences, Ahmedabad.

In a developing country such as India, cadaveric renal transplantation accounts for only less than 1% of total renal transplantations. The reasons for such a low rate of cadaveric transplantation are many, ranging from lack of awareness to socioeconomic reasons. Our institute conducted a statewide public awareness program and initiated an intercity organ harvesting program. This doubled the cadaveric renal transplantations in the last 2 years. We performed 38 cadaveric transplantations among 190 renal transplantations in the last year (August 2005 to July 2006). We retrieved kidneys from 21 donors, of whom 9 were outside our city. From 21 donors we transplanted 38 recipients; out of whom 3 received dual kidneys and one kidney was discarded. The Mean age of the donors was 41.4 +/- 18.2 years with a mean cold ischemia time of 6.9 +/- 3.8 hours. Sixty-eight percent had delayed graft function. At the last follow-up, which was 190 +/- 98 days, patient survival rate was 90%: 4 patients died, including 2 due to bacterial sepsis and 2 due to cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease. The Graft survival rate was 85%, and the death-censored graft survival rate was 90%. Mean serum creatinine value at the last follow-up was 1.2 +/- 0.3 mg%. There were 5 episodes of acute rejection in 31 patients during first 3 months (16% acute rejection rate). The increase in cadaveric transplantations was associated with satisfactory patient and graft survival despite the high incidence of delayed graft function.