Assessment of sub-clinical zinc-deficiency for carcinogenetic and other long-term studies in rats.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to A Mathur.
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A house to house survey was done from October 1972 to March 1974, covering 528952 individuals of urban population at Lucknow and 50,156 individuals of rural population of Unnao district, to find out the incidence of polio-like paralysis in our population. Among 12874 urban children up to 8 years old 8.2/1000 had polio-like paralysis while 4.6/1000 children of the rural population of 13554 children were affected. The incidence was significantly higher in the urban population. In the preschool age group almost 1 out of every 100 children was affected. A higher number of children were affected during 1968-9 and 1971-2, though it did not reach epidemic proportion. The findings show that paralytic polio is a serious problem in our country where poliomyelitis is endemic: this is contrary to the views generally held so far.
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The lymphoid cells responsible for protective immunity to histoplasmosis were characterized. Adoptive transfer of spleen and peritoneal cells treated with antiserum to theta-antigen from mice immunized with ribosomes or live yeast cells of Histoplasma capsulatum abrogated the ability of these cells to protect the syngeneic recipients, whereas treatment of lymphoid cells with antiserum to IgG did not affect the immunity. Prior removal of glass-adhering cells from spleen and peritoneal cell suspensions did not alter their protective activity. Treatment with mitomycin C, an antimitotic agent, ablated the capacity of immune lymphocytes to protect the syngeneic recipients. These results indicate that the immune spleen and peritoneal cells that confer immunity to histoplasmosis are thymus-dependent (T) lymphocytes and that their active proliferation in the recipients is necessary for expression of the protective immunity. Furthermore, the immunity elicited by immunization with histoplasma ribosomes and live yeast cells is mediated by a similar mechanism.
Serum obtained from mice 3 to 5 weeks after the third i.p. dose of dengue type 2 virus (DV) protected recipient mice against intracerebral challenge with DV, whereas the serum obtained after 1 and 2 weeks provided minimum protection. Adoptive intravenous transfer of immune spleen cells obtained from mice 1 to 5 weeks after immunization did not protect recipient mice against even a small dose (10 LD50) of DV. Depletion of T-cells by treatment of mice with anti-thymocyte serum did not potentiate DV infection. Development of a cell-mediated immune response (CMI) against DV was noted only at two periods by the leucocyte migration inhibition test (LMI), with borderline values of 20 and 21%. Dengue virus did not cause illness or death in mice when given by i.p. or i.v. routes and this was not affected by pre-treatment of mice with silica to damage local macrophages. It is concluded that humoral antibody plays a critical role in recovery from primary dengue virus infection of mice whereas CMI and macrophages appear to have no protective role.
ALA-D activity measured in the red blood cells of different species show considerable variations. Among the adult animals, rabbits have the highest activity and dogs, the lowest. It is a zinc-dependent enzyme and its activity is related to the age of the animals as well as the availability of zinc in the diet during the early growth period. Rats at partus have the highest ALA-D activity ever registered in any animal species and it decreases drastically during the early growth period. The red blood cells of newborn human babies have 50% higher ALA-D activity than that of adult man. When rats during their early growth period are fed on a diet containing 0.08 mmol zinc, there was a reduction in the enzyme activity whereas adult rats fed on diets containing higher and lower amounts of zinc did not show any change.
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An epidemic of acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis (AHC) recurred at Lucknow during July to September 1975, after a gap of 4 years. Out of the 35 cases investigated thoroughly, 20 Entero-70-like cytopathogenic agents were isolated from the conjunctiva which were neutralized by antisera against AHC virus J670/71 of Japan. Seroconversion was seen in 7 out of 11 paired sera from patients. Serological study was also done on 100 sera collected before the AHC epidemic of 1971, 100 sera after 1971 and 100 sera after 1975 epidemic. There were no neutralizing antibodies in the pre-epidemic period, while 18% of sera after the first epidemic and 32% after the second epidemic showed antibodies. The incidence of antibodies was highest (43%) in children aged below 10 years. Of the children born after the first epidemic, 44% had antibodies. Thus our findings show that the AHC virus appeared for the firt time at Lucknow in 1971 and the almost complete absence of disease in children, and its mildness during second epidemic, may be due to immunity.
Mean survival time following intracerebral inoculation of dengue virus was reduced and the titre of the virus in the brain of immunosuppressed mice was markedly increased. A single dose of cyclophosphamide given 24 h after dengue virus i.c. or i.p. substantially reduced the number of antibody forming cells in the spleen. Three doses of dengue virus, each followed by cyclophosphamide 24 h later, produced specific hyporesponsiveness to the dengue virus but not to a heterologous virus (Coxsackie B4), with a reduction in antibody forming cells in the spleen of such animals against dengue virus but not against Coxsackie B4 virus. Adoptive immunity by antiserum was abolished along with increased titres of the virus in the brain of immunosuppressed mice but the protection could be restored by a second dose of antiserum. Pre-treatment of mice with immune or normal spleen cells i.v. or reconstitution of immunosuppressed mice by such cells had no effect. Thus, humoral antibodies play a crucially important role in host defence mechanism in recovery of mice from primary dengue virus infection.
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Measurements were made of zinc levels in saliva, whole blood and plasma as well as copper levels in plasma by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The mean zinc concentration (in ppm) was 0.478 (n = 136) in resting mixed saliva, 0.046 (n = 36) in parotid saliva, 6.41 (n = 145) in whole blood and 0.87 (n = 145) in plasma. The whole blood zinc levels were significantly lower in females than in males (P less than 0.001). Females and blood donors (males) had a significantly (P less than 0.001) higher Cu:Zn ratio than males (non-donors). It would thus appear, first, that the local effect of salivary zinc cannot be assessed simply from the concentration of zinc in stimulated parotid saliva since about nine-tenths of the zinc in resting mixed saliva is derived from other sources and, second, that the Cu:Zn in plasma is the most eligible variable for detecting sub-clinical Zn deficiency.
In the present study rubella HI antibodies were determined in cases of congenital malformation and bad obstetric history to determine the role of rubella in such cases in India, as it has been reported to be rare in Japan in contrast to Western countries. The incidence of antibodies was statistically significant in cases of congenital eye, C.N.S., visceral and miscellaneous malformations and cases of spontaneous abortion and still-birth compared with controls of matching age groups. This is further supported by the demonstration of IgM antibodies in seven cases of congenital malformations and ten cases of spontaneous abortion. Our findings show that congenital rubella is not rare in India.
Innervation of the heart has been observed in the progressive developmental stages of Anas poecilorhyncha ranging from 8 h to 14 days stages using silver impregnation technique of Ungewitter (1951). Vagal cardiac fibres reach the atrial wall on the fourth day. Migration of nerve cells and ganglia has been observed from the more anterior regions to the heart along the precaval veins. The adult pattern of the heart is first established at the 8 days stage while the traces of the endocardial cushions are still present. The atrioventricular valves show rich innervation. The subepicardial ganglia and simple myocardial plexuses appear in the 8 days stage and become well differentiated on the 10th day. The subendocardial plexuses are reported to be sensory for the testing of the properties of the blood while the myocardial plexuses seem to have motor control over the working muscles of the heart specially those of the atria where rich innervation is observed. Local reflex areas have been described.