GSTP1 gene Ile105Val polymorphism causes an elevated risk for bladder carcinogenesis in smokers.

BACKGROUND: The glutathione S transferase (GST) family of enzymes plays a vital role in the phase II biotransformation of environmental carcinogens, pollutants, drugs and other xenobiotics. GSTs are polymorphic and polymorphisms in GST genes have been associated with cancer susceptibility and prognosis. GSTP1 is associated with risk of various cancers including bladder cancer. A case control study was conducted to determine the genotype distribution of GSTP1 A>G SNP, to elucidate the possible role of this SNP as a risk factor in urinary bladder cancer (UBC) development and to examine its correlation with clinico-pathologic variables inUBC cases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR- RFLP) approach, we tested the genotype distribution of 180 bladder cancer patients in comparison with 210 cancer-free controls from the same geographical region with matched frequency in age and gender. RESULTS: We did not observe significant genotype differences between the control and bladder cancer patients overall with an odds ratio (OR)=1.23 (p>0.05). The rare allele (AG+GG) was found to be present more in cases (28.3%) than in controls (24%), though the association was not significant (p<0.05). However, a significant risk of more than 2-fold was found for the variant allele (AG+GG) with smokers in cases as compared to controls (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Thus, it is evident from our study that GSTP1 SNP is not implicated overall in bladder cancer, but that the rare, valine-related allele is connected with higher susceptibility to bladder cancer in smokers and also males.

Evaluation of Assam Bora rice starch as plasma volume expander by polymer analysis.

Water soluble polysaccharides are currently finding increasing use as a basis material for plasma volume expander. In clinical setting it is desirable to have a precise knowledge of steric and chemical structure, since these affect the pharmacokinetics and pharmacology of plasma volume expander. Branch component of starch amylopectin is very similar in structure to glycogen, the reserve polysaccharide of animal and therefore is liable to be compatible with body tissue. The knowledge of weight average molecular mass, degree of branching, osmotic pressure and coil dimension are essential, since low molecular mass do not have desirable effect and large molar mass have undesirable effect. Assam Bora rice starch was characterized by polymer analysis for use as plasma volume expander. Characterization involves the determination of FTIR spectra, degree of branching by H1 NMR, osmotic pressure by internal measurement technique, establishment of Mark-Houwink relationship and determination of Molecular weight - viscosity relationship.

Sensitive spectrofluorimetric method of analysis for venlafaxine in spiked rat plasma and formulations.

A simple, sensitive, accurate and affordable spectrofluorimetric method was developed and validated for the determination of venlafaxine, both in marketed preparations as well as in spiked rat plasma. Venlafaxine depicted strong native fluorescence property in freshly prepared 0.05 M sulphuric acid. The excitation and emission wavelengths were found to be 237.0 nm and 301.0 respectively. Effect of variations in pH, temperature, concentration, change in molarities of different solvents, and effect of excipients were studied. The calibration graph in case of dosage forms and in spiked plasma was found to be rectilinear in the concentrations of 15-600 ng/ml and 20-650 ng/ml respectively. The intra- day and inter-day accuracy measurements of VEN in formulations ranged from 0.29 to 0.44% and 0.27 to 0.49%, respectively. The intra-day and inter-day accuracy in measurement of VEN in plasma ranged from 0.062 to 2.26% and 0.52 to 2.32%, respectively. The limit of detection (LOD) was found to be 6.0 ng/mL and 4.0 ng/mL in plasma and formulations respectively. The mean recovery of VEN from plasma was 97.46.