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Biomedical subjects

D Das

Publications and source records attributed to D Das.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Environmental pollution and chronic arsenicosis in south Calcutta.

Careless handling of industrial wastes often creates problems for human health and the environment. Chronic arsenic toxicity, resulting from household use of arsenic-contaminated water occurred in 53 out of 79 members (67%) of 17 families residing in South Calcutta close to a factory that manufactured Paris-green (copper acetoarsenite). Clinical investigation of 20 of these affected persons showed typical skin pigmentation as well as palmar and plantar keratosis in all of them, while gastrointestinal symptoms, anaemia and signs of liver disease and peripheral neuropathy were seen in many. The water used by the affected families for drinking and cooking had been taken from shallow tubewells and had arsenic levels from 5.0 to 58 mg/l (WHO permissible limit, 0.05 mg/l). Other residents in the same area whose drinking-water came from deep tubewells or from tap water supplied by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (arsenic levels, less than 0.05 mg/l) were not affected. The study confirms that arsenic in the shallow tubewells was due to the waste discharged by the factory producing Paris-green.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Characterization and histopathological correlation of cytosol proteins of benign and malignant breast tumors.

Significant differences in cytosol protein level exist between normal/benign and cancerous breast tissues. There is a positive correlation between the cytosol protein level and histological grade of carcinoma. Well-differentiated carcinoma have a lower value of cytosol protein than poorly differentiated carcinoma. In slab gel electrophoregrams, the total numbers of bands are almost identical in normal, benign, and malignant conditions. In addition, 37 Kd protein band is consistently present in malignant cases and always absent in normal or benign cases. More extensive biophysical examination of this band may provide further insight into the protein alterations in cancer cells at the molecular level.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Renal papillary necrosis in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

Six hundred and one intravenous Urograms (IVU) done at the General Hospital, Kuala Trengganu from 1981 to 1985 were reviewed retrospectively for Renal Papillary Necrosis (RPN). It was found that 1.3% of IVUs had RPN. There was a higher incidence of RPN amongst males as compared to females. RPN occurred more commonly in the younger age groups.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Rectal palpation and transrectal fine needle aspiration of the prostate in the monitoring of prostate cancer: a study of 59 patients during treatment with estramustine phosphate or estrogens.

Fifty-nine hormonally treated prostatic carcinoma patients were prospectively followed by rectal palpation and fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) at 6 month intervals for periods ranging from 6 to 120 months (median follow-up, 48 months). The cytologic impressions and palpatory findings were divided into four categories, respectively, ranging from benign to clearly malignant. Cytologic material and palpatory descriptions suitable for evaluation were available for 306 follow-up examinations, with a mean number of follow-up examinations per patient of five (range, 1-13). Tumor relapse was noted in 26 patients and was diagnosed at the same time by FNAC and palpation in six patients. In 16 of the patients tumor progression was first noted by cytology, and in four patients relapse was first detected by rectal palpation. Different patterns of cytologic and palpatory findings during the development of remission and progression of the tumors and drawbacks of the methods are discussed.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

Soft neurological signs and EEG pattern in rural malnourished children.

The present study was carried out in 208, 8-10 yr old male, rural, primary school children of Kashi Vidyapith Block, Varanasi. These children were examined for anthropometry, soft neurological signs and electroencephalographic pattern. It was found that the presence of soft neurological signs was related to the severity of malnutrition. The relationship between nutritional status and motor tasks showed that the performance in successive finger tapping, toe tapping, heel toe tapping, hand patting and alternating hand pronation supination in both hands while finger tapping with the right, was significantly affected. The EEG pattern in 16 children with soft neurological signs showed abnormalities in the form of slow and sharp waves, particularly in the frontal lobe, but also in the parietal and temporal lobes. The motor deficits were more marked on the contralateral side of the EEG abnormality.

Child↗
PubMed1986

Contribution of reduced mitral regurgitant volume to vasodilator effect in severe left ventricular failure secondary to coronary artery disease or idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Although vasodilators improve cardiac output in severe left ventricular (LV) failure, the degree to which reduction in mitral regurgitation (MR) contributes to this response is unknown. In the present study, nitroprusside-induced changes in forward cardiac output were compared with simultaneous radionuclide LV output in 14 patients with severe LV systolic dysfunction in the absence of known primary valvular disease. Regurgitant output was estimated as LV output minus forward output and regurgitant fraction was calculated as regurgitant output/LV output. At rest, LV ejection fraction averaged 0.16 +/- 0.04 (mean +/- standard deviation). Patients were classified into 2 groups based on regurgitant fraction at rest. Group I (n = 5) had little or no detectable valvular regurgitation, with regurgitant fraction less than 0.10; group II (n = 9) had evidence of MR with regurgitant fraction greater than 0.30. Nitroprusside increased forward cardiac output in all patients in both groups, but this effect was significantly greater in group II (64 +/- 34%) than in group I (31 +/- 17%) (p less than 0.01). Nitroprusside decreased regurgitant fraction in all group II patients, with mean regurgitant fraction decreasing from 0.44 +/- 0.12 to 0.26 +/- 0.15 (p less than 0.005). Thus, a large percentage of patients with severe LV systolic dysfunction have clinically relevant MR, defined as a regurgitant fraction greater than 0.30. Nitroprusside has a greater effect on forward cardiac output in patients with LV failure and MR than in patients with comparable ventricular dysfunction in the absence of detectable MR.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Relative contribution of inotropic and vasodilator effects to amrinone-induced hemodynamic improvement in congestive heart failure.

The relative contribution of inotropic and vasodilator effect to amrinone-induced hemodynamic improvement in congestive heart failure (CHF) is unknown. In 9 patients with CHF, the effects of amrinone and nitroprusside on hemodynamic and radionuclide measurements were compared to determine whether reduced afterload accounts for the amrinone-induced decrease in left ventricular end-systolic volume. In each patient, the end-systolic pressure-volume relation was derived using nitroprusside. After terminating nitroprusside treatment, intravenous amrinone (3 mg/kg) caused end-systolic volume to decrease from 148 +/- 32 ml/m2 (mean +/- standard deviation) to 133 +/- 32 ml/m2 (p less than 0.05), causing an increase in cardiac index from 1.9 +/- 0.8 to 2.7 +/- 0.8 liters/min/m2 (p less than 0.001). Arterial end-systolic pressure decreased in all patients during amrinone administration, from 96 +/- 22 to 84 +/- 19 mm Hg (p less than 0.005), as did systemic vascular resistance. Nitroprusside doses needed to match the decrease in LV end-systolic volume induced by amrinone caused significantly greater decreases in arterial end-systolic pressure than did amrinone (p less than 0.01). The amrinone-induced decrease in end-systolic volume exceeded that predicted for a pure vasodilator based on arterial end-systolic pressure and the nitroprusside-derived pressure-volume relation in 6 patients. In 3 patients, the decrease in end-systolic volume did not exceed that expected for a pure vasodilator. In conclusion, after amrinone treatment, afterload reduction occurs in all patients with severe CHF and is the sole effect in some.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Effect of amrinone on right ventricular function: predominance of afterload reduction.

Although the bipyridine agent amrinone is reported to have a positive inotropic effect on the left ventricle, the effect of this drug on right ventricular contractility in the clinical setting is unknown. We studied the effect of short-term intravenous administration of amrinone on right ventricular systolic function in nine patients with severe congestive heart failure and, using radionuclide ventriculography, examined the right ventricular end-systolic pressure-volume relationship to determine whether reduced right ventricular afterload or increased contractility predominantly accounted for the observed improvement in right ventricular systolic function. In each patient the right ventricular end-systolic pressure-volume relationship was derived with use of varying doses of nitroprusside. After nitroprusside was stopped, intravenous amrinone (3 mg/kg) caused decreases from baseline in pulmonary arterial end-systolic pressure in eight of nine patients (23 +/- 11% [overall mean +/- SE], p less than .05), and in pulmonary vascular resistance in all patients (38 +/- 6%, p less than .001). Right ventricular end-systolic volume decreased (23 +/- 8%, p less than .01) and right ventricular ejection fraction increased (31 +/- 10%, p = .01). The amrinone-induced decrease in right ventricular end-systolic volume was compared with that predicted for right ventricular afterload reduction alone based on the effect of amrinone on pulmonary arterial end-systolic pressure and the pressure-volume relationship observed during infusion of nitroprusside.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Comparison of left and right ventricular end-systolic pressure-volume relations in congestive heart failure.

A hemodynamic-radionuclide study was performed to compare the relations between end-systolic pressure and volume in the left and right ventricles in 10 patients with biventricular failure, and to correlate the end-systolic pressure-volume slope with baseline variables of systolic function. During nitroprusside or nitroglycerin infusion, or a combination of both, linear relations were found between end-systolic pressure and volume for both ventricles. In 9 of 10 patients, the end-systolic pressure-volume slope was greater for the left ventricle (mean +/- SD 1.12 +/- 0.36 mm Hg X m2/ml) than for the right ventricle (0.46 +/- 0.27 mm Hg X m2/ml) (p less than 0.001). In all 10 patients, the volume-axis intercept of the pressure-volume relation was greater for the left ventricle (82 +/- 66 ml/m2) than for the right ventricle (2 +/- 30 ml/m2) (p less than 0.005). Right ventricular pressure-volume slope correlated weakly with baseline right ventricular ejection fraction (r = 0.69, p less than 0.05), strongly with the baseline right ventricular end-systolic pressure-volume ratio (r = 0.89) and inversely with baseline right ventricular end-systolic volume (r = -0.86). In conclusion, 1) in patients with severe biventricular failure, changes in systolic pressure influence end-systolic volume more strongly in the right than in the left ventricle. 2) For the right ventricle, the slope of the end-systolic pressure-volume relation is directly related to rest indexes of systolic function. 3) The greater the end-systolic volume at rest, the greater the predicted improvement in right ventricular emptying for any vasodilator-induced reduction in pulmonary artery end-systolic pressure.

Adult↗