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Biomedical subjects

A Pal

Publications and source records attributed to A Pal.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Acute sporadic hepatitis in the Republic of Yemen.

The causes of acute icteric viral hepatitis were determined in 78 adult Yemeni patients. Acute hepatitis B (IgM anti-HBc positive) was the most common type (26.9%). Acute hepatitis E (IgM anti-HEV positive) occurred in 14% and was not associated with travel outside Yemen. Sixty percent of all 78 patients were positive for IgG anti-HEV as were 40% of a series of 48 healthy male blood donors and pregnant females, indicating that HEV is prevalent in Yemen. Acute hepatitis A (IgM anti-HAV positive) and hepatitis C and D were responsible for 5.1%, 6.4%, and 2.6% cases, respectively. This totals to 106%, as an infection with two viruses occurred in 6.4% cases. In 51.3% of all cases, no virological markers of acute hepatitis were detected, suggesting an as yet undiscovered agent.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Foreign body in the throat migrating through the common carotid artery.

We present a 55-year-old lady who swallowed a 3 cm pointed metal foreign body whilst eating a sardine salad. The foreign body migrated from the hypopharynx through the parapharyngeal space and traversed the common carotid artery over a period of 12 days. The foreign body was removed by exploration of the neck.

Carotid Artery, Common↗
PubMed1996

Perinatal outcome in pregnancy induced hypertension.

Perinatal outcome and the factors affecting it were studied in 140 pregnant women with hypertension. Perinatal mortality rate (PNM) was 140/1000 and the stillbirth rate was 8.7%. In severe hypertension PNM was 52.3% and all perinatal deaths were 8.7%, when the serum uric acid level were more than 4.5 mg%.

Birth Weight↗
PubMed1996

A study of ectopic pregnancy and high risk factors in Himachal Pradesh.

Although the total number of pregnancies have declined over the past decade, the rate of ectopic pregnancies has increased dramatically. Incidence was maximum in 26-30 years of age group (37.6%) and in para 2 (32.9%). Pain was the commonest symptom (91.7%) followed by bleeding per vaginum (71.7%) and amenorrhoea (41.4%). High risk factors were present in 67% of cases (57 out of 85 cases, 7 patients had 2 high risk factors).

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Bacterial colony counting using distance transform.

A distance-transform based technique is presented for the segmentation of monochrome images of colonies grown on membrane filters. This is used to count the number of Escherichia coli in a given water sample, which is used as a parameter for determining water quality. The result is compared with fuzzy c-means clustering approach.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1995

Kinetics and molecular characteristics of arginine transport by Leishmania donovani promastigotes.

Characteristics of transport of L-arginine were studied in Leishmania donovani promastigotes grown in vitro in a defined medium. The promastigotes exhibited a time-dependent, temperature-sensitive, pH-dependent and saturable uptake of arginine. Metabolic inhibitors caused 81-92% inhibition, indicating that arginine influx in promastigotes is an energy requiring process. The presence of Na+ ions was necessary for full activity. Considerable inhibition was also noticed with valinomycin, gramicidin and amiloride. The transporter seems to involve an -SH group at the active site. The most distinctive feature of the leishmanial transporter was that lysine and ornithine did not show significant competition with arginine transport. Other neutral and acidic amino acids, as well as polyamines were also ineffective. The arginine analogues, viz., nitro-L-arginine methyl ester, N-nitro-L-arginine, aminoguanidine, agmatine and D-arginine were not recognised by the transporter, while N-methyl-L-arginine acetate and phospho-L-arginine showed competition, indicating stereo-specificity of the transporter and recognition of both the guanidino group, as well as the arginine side chain by the transporter. No exchange of intracellular [14C]arginine taken up by the promastigotes was noticed during incubation with 2 or 5 mM arginine in the extracellular medium. Eighty percent of the arginine taken up remained in the trichloroacetic acid-soluble fraction. Pentamidine caused competitive inhibition of arginine transport, exhibiting an IC50 value of 40 microM. Results indicate the presence of a novel distinct arginine transporter in Leishmania promastigotes.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1995

Distribution of genes encoding cholera toxin, zonula occludens toxin, accessory cholera toxin, and El Tor hemolysin in Vibrio cholerae of diverse origins.

A large collection of 1154 strains of Vibrio cholerae of diverse origins including serogroups 01 and 0139 and those belonging to the non-01 and non-0139 (non-01:non-0139) serogroups were examined with a battery of DNA probes specific for cholera toxin (CT), zonula occludens toxin (ZOT), accessory cholera toxin (ACE) and El Tor hemolysin (HLY) to determine the distribution of genes among wild strains and to understand the importance of these factors in the pathogenesis of the disease cholera. Among the 01 clinical isolates, the majority of the strains had an intact core region (ctx, zot, ace) and also possessed the hlyA gene. Although rare, strains of 01 with natural deletions of the ctx, zot and/or ace genes were also detected. The absence of the virulence genes comprising the core region and the presence of the hlyA gene dominated the 01 environment, food isolates and the clinical and environmental non-01: non-0139 strains of V. cholerae. All the 0139 strains examined in this study possessed genes located in the core region and the hlyA gene. Among all the virulence-associated genes examined, the hlyA gene was the most conserved genetic element in V. cholerae independent of biotypes and serogroups.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMed1994

Characterization of phenotypic, serological, and toxigenic traits of Vibrio cholerae O139 bengal.

Biochemical and physiological traits of a collection of strains of Vibrio cholerae O139 Bengal isolated from India, Bangladesh, and Thailand showed that these strains formed a phenotypically homogeneous group with identical characteristics that were essentially similar to those of the O1 serogroup. Resistance to 150 micrograms of the vibriostatic agent O/129 (2,4-diamino-6,7-diisopropylpteridine) and Mukherjee's El Tor phage 5 and classical phage IV and the nonagglutinability of the strains with O1 antiserum were the only discernible differences between the O139 and O1 serogroups. Extensive serological characterization further revealed the O139 serogroup to be distinct from the existing 138 serogroups of V. cholerae. Antiserum raised against the O139 serogroup required absorption with the R reference strain CA385 and with the reference strain representing serogroup O22 to remove cross-reacting agglutinins. All of the 223 representative strains of V. cholerae O139 examined hybridized with DNA probes specific for the cholera toxin (CT) gene, zonula occludens toxin gene, and El Tor hemolysin gene but not with the probe specific for the heat-stable enterotoxin gene. The amount of CT present in stool samples of patients infected with the O139 serogroup was higher than that found in stools of patients infected with O1 El Tor, and this echoed findings that the amount of CT produced by O139 strains in vitro was higher than that produced by the O1 El Tor strains. The nucleotide sequences of the genes encoding the A and B subunits of CT of the O139 serogroup were identical to the sequences reported for the CT gene of O1 El Tor. The CT gene of O139 strains could be amplified by using primers developed for detection of the CT gene of the O1 serogroup by a PCR assay, which could also be used to detect the CT gene in stool samples of patients infected with strains of the O139 serogroup.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Gynaecological neoplasms in postmenopausal women of Himachal Pradesh.

A controlled prospective study was conducted on 300 postmenopausal women attending the Kamla Nehru Hospital from November, 1990 to August, 1992. The incidence of gynaecological neoplasms was 31.3% in both the study group (300 postmenopausal women) and the control group (300 premenopausal women). The incidence of malignant neoplasms was 24.6% in study group and 8.6% in control group. This difference was highly significant (p < 0.001). Carcinoma cervix (16%) was the commonest gynaecological malignancy followed by ovarian cancer (6%). The incidence of benign neoplasms was lower in the study group (6.6%) as compared to the control (22.6%).

Female↗
PubMed1993

Virulence patterns of Vibrio cholerae non-O1 strains isolated from hospitalised patients with acute diarrhoea in Calcutta, India.

A collection of 28 strains of Vibrio cholerae non-O1 isolated during a 3-year period (1989-1991) from hospitalised patients with acute diarrhoea in Calcutta, India, were examined with regard to virulence-associated factors. Of the 28 isolates (each representing a case), 18 were isolated as the sole infecting agent; the remaining 10 were recovered as co-cultures from cases infected with V. cholerae O1. Of the strains isolated in this study, 82% could be serotyped, with serovars O5 (32.1%), O11 and O34 (14.3% each) predominant. Serovars O7, O14, O34, O39 and O97 were associated exclusively with sole infections. Two strains of V. cholerae non-O1 produced anti-cholera toxin IgG-absorbable cholera toxin (CT). Both CT-producing V. cholerae non-O1 strains hybridised with the DNA probe specific for the zonula occludens toxin (ZOT) but none of the remaining 26 strains hybridised with the ZOT probe. The majority of the strains were cytotoxic for CHO, HeLa and Vero cells, with end-point titres of 4-512. Fewer strains produced a cytotonic effect, with end-point titres of 2-16. Of the 28 strains of V. cholerae non-O1 examined, 75%, 75%, 25% and 14.3% produced haemolysin that was active against erythrocytes of rabbit, sheep (Eltor haemolysin), chicken and man, respectively. Strains that produced a haemolysin active against both rabbit and sheep erythrocytes were dominant (35.7%). Ten (35.7%) of the 28 strains examined showed cell-associated haemagglutinating activity on human blood. Of the 10 strains, nine were isolated as sole pathogen and only one strain was associated with mixed infection.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Detection of cholera toxin gene in stool specimens by polymerase chain reaction: comparison with bead enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and culture method for laboratory diagnosis of cholera.

Stool specimens obtained from 123 hospitalized patients with acute secretory diarrhea admitted to the Infectious Diseases Hospital, Calcutta, India, were examined for isolation of Vibrio cholerae O1 by direct or enrichment plating on selective media for cholera toxin (CT) by bead enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (bead-ELISA) and for the CT gene by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). V. cholerae O1 was isolated either by direct culture or by enrichment culture from 70 stool specimens, all of which gave positive results by PCR. Eleven specimens which were culture negative and bead-ELISA positive also gave positive results by PCR. In addition, 13 more specimens which were negative by both the culture method and bead-ELISA, were positive by PCR. With the combined results of both the culture method and the CT bead-ELISA, a confirmed laboratory diagnosis of cholera could be made from 81 stool specimens, while the combined results of the three methods, including PCR, yielded a positive result for 94 specimens examined. From these data, we conclude that PCR provides a more sensitive and specific assay for rapid diagnosis of cholera than currently available methods.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Virulence traits of Aeromonas strains in relation to species and source of isolation.

The virulence traits of 39 well-defined clinical (29 strains) and environmental (10 strains) isolates of Aeromonas (16 A. hydrophila, 12 A. sobria and 11 A. caviae) were examined by a variety of assays to delineate differences, if any, in the enteropathogenic potential in relation to species and the source of isolation. The distribution of enterotoxin (ent), cytotoxin (cyt) and haemolysin (hae) producing strains of Aeromonas did not correlate to species and source of isolation. The extracellular virulence phenotype Ent+ Cyt+ Hae+ was the most common one among all the three species although unique phenotypes associated prominently with either A. hydrophila or A. sobria were also discernible. None of the cytotoxin or haemolysin producing strains hybridized with the vt1/vt2 or the tdh/trh gene probes, respectively, indicating that these two factors of Aeromonas were distinct. Haemagglutination of human O group erythrocytes was not related to the source of isolation or production of enterotoxin, cytotoxin or haemolysin but appeared to be related to species. The strains which did not exhibit cell-associated haemagglutination belonged to either A. hydrophila or A. caviae. Haemagglutination unaffected by fucose, mannose and galactose was the dominant inhibition pattern exhibited mainly by the clinical haemagglutinating strains of the three species. Only one clinical strain of A. caviae showed a diffuse pattern of adherence to HeLa cells. Expression of the 5 bacterial enzymes by strains of Aeromonas did not fall into a readily discernible pattern in relation to species or source of isolation. From this study, it is clear that the mechanism of the pathogenesis of Aeromonas is a multifactorial one.

Aeromonas↗