PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

A B Karat

Publications and source records attributed to A B Karat.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1978

Complications of leprosy.

Leprosy is essentially a systemic disease and is a great "mimicker" of many other diseases. It affects apart from skin and peripheral nerves, haemopoietic, reticulo-endothelial and endocrine systems as well as eyes, bones and muscles.

Anemia↗
PubMed1978

Haematological profile in leprosy. Part II--Relationship to severity of disease and treament status.

321 adult male lepromatous leprosy patients were studied for relationship between haematological findings, severity of disease and duration of treatment. Significant changes were noticed in relation in haemoglobin concentration, serum vitamin B12 and serum folate levels, serum albumin and globulin. No significant changes were observed in serum iron levels in relation to disease and treatment status. With rising bacterial load, there was a trend towards lower haemoglobin concentration, higher vitamin B12 level and lowered serum folate levels. Serum albumin showed a significant decline, while serum globulin showed a significant rise. The findings are discussed in relation to replacement of bone marrow by lepromatous tissue as well as possible interference in the metabolism of haematinics by M. leprae. The exact mechanism of neurlogical deficit in leprosy in relation to deficiency of vitamin B12 and folic acid need to be further elucidated.

Folic Acid↗
PubMed1977

Haematological profile in leprosy. Part I--general findings.

Haematological studies in 904 adult leprosy patients with different types of leprosy, in various stages of the disease and treatment are described. Haemoglobin, packed cell volume, serum albumin and serum iron are significantly lower among lepromatous leprosy patients as compared with non-lepromatous patients. The serum B12 levels were significantly higher among the lepromatous group. Acid fast bacilli have been demonstrated in skin smear negative leprosy patients with indeterminate and tuberculoid leprosy, suggesting occurrence of bacillaemia in these groups of patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Polymorphic acetylation of the antibacterials, sulfamethazine and dapsone, in South Indian subjects.

A group of South Indian subjects was studied for their capacities to acetylate sulfamethazine (SMZ) and dapsone (DDS) and to clear DDS from the circulation. An apparent trimodal distribution of acetylator phenotypes was found in 49 subjects (51% slow, 12% intermediate, and 37% rapid acetylators) from measurements of the percentage acetylation of SMZ in 6-hour plasma samples after administration of 10 mg SMZ/kg. The intermediate phenotype was not discernible from either the percentage acetylation of SMZ in urine (collected concurrently with the plasma after SMZ) or that of DDS in plasma after the ingestion of 50 mg DDS by the same subjects. The latter two measurements yielded a bimodal distribution of 59% slow and 41% rapid acetylators, nearly identical to earlier reported distributions of isoniazid inactivator phenotypes in larger numbers of South Indian tuberculosis patients. In the current group, acetylation of DDS and SMZ was positively correlated. The half-time of disappearance (T 1/2) of DDS, an expression of the rate of clearance from the plasma, ranged from 13 to 40 hours. No correlation was found between the subject's capacity to acetylate DDS and the T 1/2 value for DDS. These results were generally consistent with earlier observations made during similar studies of American and Filipino subjects.

Acetylation↗
PubMed1971

Controlled clinical trial of clofazimine in untreated lepromatous leprosy.

A comparison of clofazimine and dapsone in the management of untreated lepromatous leprosy showed no significant differences between the two drugs in terms of morphological and bacterial indices. The incidence of erythema nodosum leprosum was similar in the two groups. Since dapsone is cheaper than clofazimine it remains the drug of choice for the routine management of untreated lepromatous leprosy.

Adult↗
PubMed1971

Liver in leprosy: histological and biochemical findings.

The histological findings and their correlation with biochemical functions of the liver in 240 leprosy patients are presented. In 21% with tuberculoid leprosy and in 62% with lepromatous leprosy leprous granulomata were found in the liver. A significant prevalence of granulomatous lesions in the liver among patients with tuberculoid and borderline-tuberculoid leprosy of less than one year's duration suggests that bacillaemia occurs early in all forms of leprosy.There was a direct correlation between bacterial index and the presence of acid-fast bacilli in the liver. Of 50 patients with negative skin smears seven had acid-fast bacilli at liver biopsy. From none of these liver homogenates were acid-fast bacilli grown on culture in Löwenstein-Jensen medium.The alterations in liver functions were more consistently seen when acid-fast bacilli were associated with the presence of leprous granulomatous lesions. The acid-fast bacilli were found to persist even after one to five years of specific antileprosy therapy and after the bacilli in the skin had cleared up. This may explain the relatively frequent recrudescence or relapse of the bacillated types of leprosy when specific antileprosy therapy is stopped soon after bacterial negativity is attained on skin smears.

Biopsy↗
PubMed1970

Double-blind controlled clinical trial of clofazimine in reactive phases of lepromatous leprosy.

A double-blind controlled trial in 24 lepromatous leprosy patients in reaction showed that clofazimine (Lamprene) controlled symptoms of erythema nodosum leprosum reaction in lepromatous leprosy better than prednisolone. Clofazimine also appeared to be significantly superior in preventing recurrence once the reaction had been controlled. There was a statistically significant rise in serum albumin among inpatients on clofazimine as compared with patients on prednisolone, but no difference in terms of neurological status, bacterial index, morphological index, and renal functions. Red/black hyperpigmentation was seen among practically all patients on clofazimine. No other side-effects or deleterious systemic effects were observed.

Anti-Inflammatory Agents↗