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Biomedical subjects

G Mohan

Publications and source records attributed to G Mohan.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Dietary phytoestrogens enhance spatial memory and spine density in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex of ovariectomized rats.

Long-term maintenance of ovariectomized rats (9 weeks) on chow containing high phytoestrogen levels (Purina LabDiet 5001) as compared to chow with minimal phytoestrogens (Harlan 2016 Teklad) was associated with better performance of the spatial memory task, object placement, increased dendritic spine density in CA1 and prefrontal cortex pyramidal neurons, and higher uterine weights. Object recognition memory, anxiety on an elevated plus maze and body weight were unaffected by phytoestrogen levels in the diet.

Administration, Oral↗

Zinc and copper in Indian patients of tuberculosis: impact on antitubercular therapy.

The effectiveness and success of antitubercular therapy is mainly measured by identifying the organism in sputum. In certain patients, especially in geriatric patients, available tuberculosis tests are not satisfactory and do not provide enough information on the effectiveness of antitubercular therapy, as the symptoms might be confused with the existing symptoms of ongoing diseases. Therefore, 60 diagnosed and randomly selected patients with tuberculosis were included into this study. The patients with other associated diseases likely to influence serum copper and zinc were not included in the study. The estimations of serum copper and zinc were done in healthy volunteers and in tubercular patients before the start of treatment and after 4 wk of antitubercular treatment. The average plasma concentration of serum copper and zinc in healthy volunteers were 102 +/- 20 microg/dL and 96 +/- 18 microg/dL respectively. In tuberculosis patients, serum copper and zinc levels were 123.65 +/- 9.98 microg/dL and 64.14 +/- 3.97 microg/dL, respectively, before the start of treatment, which came down to 116.23 +/- 4.27 mug/dL and 74.31 +/- 3.60 microg/dL, respectively, after 4 wk of antitubercular treatment.

Adolescent↗

Estimation of serum zinc and copper in children with acute diarrhea.

Diarrhea is, in reality, as much a nutritional disease as one of fluid and electrolyte loss. Children who die from diarrhea, despite good management of dehydration, are usually malnourished and often severely so. In this study, we determined the serum levels of zinc and copper before and after standard oral rehydration solution (ORS) therapy in children with acute diarrhea and correlated it with diarrheal duration and severity. One hundred ten children suffering from acute diarrhea were included. Serum zinc and copper levels of these children were estimated at the time of enrollment and after treatment with standard ORS therapy. This study shows that children suffering from acute diarrhea show a statistically significant decrease of 13.1% and 12.8% in serum zinc and copper concentrations, respectively, compared to normal. These levels further decrease by 22.6% and 22.4%, respectively, after treatment with standard ORS therapy. Our study shows that children with the lower plasma zinc and copper levels suffered with more severe and longer duration of diarrhea. Zinc and copper supplementation could be added to standard ORS therapy for the reduction in morbidity and mortality associated with acute diarrhea in children.

Acute Disease↗

Measurement of 40k as an indicator of body potassium: implication for diabetes and other disease conditions.

Potassium (K) content in 408 male workers of a rare earths processing plant was estimated using a shadow shield whole body counter. The average K content in the non-vegetarian and vegetarian group was found to be 1.5 g kg(-1) and 2.1 g kg(-1) respectively. The absorbed dose due to 40K is determined as 0.18 +/- 0.02 mGy. While the K content was found to be proportional to body build index, it is inversely proportional to slenderness. Body K was maximum in the middle aged group (35-45 y) and a minimum in younger and older persons. The correlation of potassium content with some disease patterns was also studied. Diabetes mellitus patients were observed to have low K content of 0.9 +/- 0.2 g kg(-1) and those who suffer from cardiovascular disorders were found to have high K content 2.7 +/- 0.3 g kg(-1). The studies showed that the depletion of body K content takes place a few years prior to the clinical detection of diabetes and it builds up a few years before the clinical detection of cardiovascular disorders. It is stressed that the medical information is preliminary as the number of subjects studied was not very large. Wider and in depth study by various groups can hopefully strengthen the observation.

Adult↗

Chromaproline and Chromaperidine, nicotine agonists, and Donepezil, cholinesterase inhibitor, enhance performance of memory tasks in ovariectomized rats.

Chromaproline and Chromaperidine, two recently synthesized and pharmacologically characterized nicotinic agonists, and Donepezil (Aricept), an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor approved for the treatment of memory loss, were evaluated for effects on performance of a visual recognition memory task (object recognition) and a spatial memory task (object placement). Ovariectomized female rats received the drugs chronically via subcutaneous Alzet minipumps. None of the drugs altered activity in the open field or the time spent exploring objects in the field. One week following initiation of treatment, all three drugs enhanced performance of the visual recognition task, but only Donepezil enhanced performance of the spatial memory task. With a longer period of treatment (3 weeks), the nicotinic agonist Chromaproline also enhanced object placement performance. Current results show the memory-enhancing efficacy of Donepezil in two additional memory tasks in rats and suggest that the novel nicotinic agonists, Chromaproline and Chromaperidine, may also be useful new drugs for the treatment of memory impairments/loss.

Animals↗

Race and the decision to refer for coronary revascularization: the effect of physician awareness of patient ethnicity.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to assess whether there were differences, relative to racial ethnicity, in coronary revascularization recommendations made by a panel that had no knowledge of the patients' ethnicity. BACKGROUND: Coronary revascularization is employed less frequently in African American than in white patients. It is unclear whether this utilization pattern is driven by clinical differences between the two populations or by nonclinical factors. METHODS: Data were reviewed from 938 (26.5% African American, 73.5% white) consecutive cardiac catheterizations done between 1993 and 1995. Revascularization recommendations were made by cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons provided with the patients' clinical and angiographic data, but without knowledge of their ethnicity. Revascularization recommendations were compared between African American and white patients and correlated with clinical characteristics. RESULTS: No difference was noted in the percentage of African American and white patients recommended for revascularization, without reference to whether the recommendation was for percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) or for coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) 40 vs. 46%, p = NS). African Americans were recommended more frequently for PTCA (22 vs. 18%, p = NS), whereas CABG was recommended for more white patients (28 vs. 18%, p = 0.002). Significantly fewer African Americans had disease in the left main or left anterior descending coronary artery or in multiple arteries. After adjusting for age, co-morbidity, left ventricular dysfunction and the extent of coronary disease, African Americans were more likely to have a recommendation for PTCA (odds ratio [OR] 1.42, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.96 to 2.11, p = 0.08) and less likely to have a recommendation for CABG (OR 0.59, 95% CI 0.37 to 0.94, p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that when only clinical factors are considered, the rates of recommendations for revascularization will be similar for white and African American patients; but the type of revascularization procedure may differ by ethnicity and may depend, in part, on clinical factors.

Black or African American↗

Relative prevalence of hepatitis B viral markers and hepatitis C virus antibodies (anti HCV) in Madurai, south India.

(1) The positivity of HBsAg was 4% (75/1819) whereas anti HCV was present only in 0.75% (27/3574) of blood donors. (2) 5.3% (4/75) of hospital staff had HBsAg alone in their blood samples. One doctor, one Staff nurse, one Lascar and one Sanitary worker were positive for HBsAg. None of them were positive for anti HBcIgm and anti-HCV. (3) 29% (31/115) of suspected hepatitis cases were positive for any one of the viral markers or both. 21% (15/72) of males and 14% (6/43) of females were positive for HBsAg. Whereas only 4% (3/72) of males and 2% (1/43) of females were positive for anti HCW. Both HBsAg and anti HCV were found in 8% (6/72) of males only. The age group predominantly, i.e. in 29 out of 31 cases found positive for HBsAg and/or anti HCV, was above 15 years. Two remaining HBsAg positive cases belonged to the 5 to 14 years age group. 71% (84/115) of suspected hepatitis cases were negative for both HBsAg and anti HCV.

Biomarkers↗

A confidential enquiry into deaths caused by asthma in an English health region: implications for general practice.

AIM: To determine the factors contributing to death from asthma in patients aged under 65 years in East Anglia in the early 1990s. METHOD: We have performed on ongoing confidential enquiry since January 1992. For the first time a general practitioner was included in the enquiry team. RESULTS: A review of the clinical and pathological data of the 50 patients reported in the first 3 years suggested that 36 of these deaths were attributable to asthma. Thirty-one patients died out of hospital (3 en route to the hospital), 2 in the Accident and Emergency department, and only 3 in hospital. Adverse social factors were found in 25 out of 34 patients, and adverse psychological characteristics in 23 of the 31 patients where these could be assessed. Only 7 appeared to have no adverse psychological or social factors. Routine medical care was considered appropriate in 20 patients, and inappropriate in 14. Twenty-four had received appropriate advice and education. Nine of the 21 patients, where this could be assessed, and half the relatives, failed to respond appropriately to worsening asthma symptoms during the fatal attack. No potentially preventable factors were identified in two women who died of end stage asthma. CONCLUSION: This enquiry has demonstrated that inadequacies in the medical care of asthma continue to occur, although less frequently than in previous asthma-death studies. In addition, 79% of the patients had experienced psychosocial factors which appeared important in contributing to their deaths. Recommendations for identifying and managing such "at risk' patients have been circulated to all general practitioners and chest physicians in the region.

Anti-Asthmatic Agents↗

Serum magnesium: a prognostic tool of acute myocardial infarction.

In an attempt to find the prognostic value of serum magnesium in various complications, serum magnesium was estimated spectrophotometrically, in patients of acute myocardial infarction. There was a statistically insignificant difference in serum magnesium levels of complicated group of patients (1.627 +/- 0.192 mg/100 mL) and those who had uneventful recovery (1.412 +/- 0.132 mg/100 mL). However, this difference was highly significant when compared between control group (2.514 +/- 0.16 mg/100 mL) and complicated and uncomplicated cases separately. It was also observed that serum magnesium levels were lowest in patients who died due to major arrhythmias and cardiogenic shock followed by patients who had arrhythmias (especially ventricular tachycardia) and pump failure. The routine use of iv magnesium is recommended within first few hours of acute myocardial infarction to reduce mortality, arrhythmias and pump failure.

Arrhythmias, Cardiac↗

Effect of various cooling rates (from 30 degrees C to 5 degrees C) and thawing temperatures on the deep-freezing of Bos Taurus and Bos Bubalis semen.

A total of 36 semen ejaculates, six from each of three Holstein-Friesian bulls and three Murrah buffalo bulls, were frozen in tris citric acid-fructose-egg-yolk-glycerol diluent after 1 hour of equilibration to study the effect of various cooling rates (15, 30, 60 and 120 minutes from 10 degrees to 5 degrees C vs a control sample cooled for 120 minutes from 28 degrees to 5 degrees C) and thawing temperatures (40 degrees C 60 seconds , 60 degrees C 15 seconds and 80 degrees C 5 seconds ) on prefreeze and post-thaw sperm motility. Sperm motility differed significantly (P < 0.01) between various cooling rates in both the Holstein-Friesian bull semen and the Murrah buffalo semen at prefreezing, immediately post-thawing, and after 1 hour of post-thaw incubation at 38 degrees C. Post-thaw sperm motility and survival at 38 degrees C were significantly (P<0.01) higher in Holstein-Friesian bulls at 60 degrees C and 80 degrees C than at 40 degrees C (39.79+/-2.46% and 38.15+/-2.18% Vs 35.16+/-2.19%, and 20.22+/-2.14% and 19.05+/-2.05% vs 14.83+/-1.64%, respectively). In Murrah buffalo bulls the recovery percentage and survival rate increased significantly (P<0.01) with the increase in temperature from 40 degrees C to 80 degrees C (41.72+/-2.45%, 47.45+/-2.09% and 51.61+/-2.06%; and 9.22+/-1.47%, 11.79+/-1.63% and 12.27+/-1.53%, respectively). Prefreeze motility did not differ between cattle and buffalo bulls (64.97+/-1.08% Vs 67.11+/-0.89%, respectively) but post-thaw motility was significantly (P<0.01) higher in the buffalo (46.93+/- 1.39% Vs 37.70+/-1.32%). While incubation survival was higher in the cattle (18.04+/-1.16% Vs 10.96+/-0.89%). A fast cooling rate was found to be detrimental for cattle spermatozoa, whereas the post-thaw buffalo sperm motility deteriorated very quickly at 38 degrees C. The influence of species-by-cooling rate interaction was significant (P<0.01) for post-thaw motility and survival rate, but the species-by-thawing or cooling-by-thawing interactions were not significant. These results suggest that a cooling rate of 2 hour either at 10 degrees C or 28 degrees C is essential for cattle semen. However, buffalo semen can be frozen successfully after 30 minutes of cooling at 10 degrees C. A thawing temperature of 60 degrees C yielded a higher sperm motility rate than 40 degrees C. Thus, our findings can be applied under tropical conditions for the successful freezing-thawing of bovine semen provided conception rates are not affected adversely.

Journal Article↗

Effects of cold shock treatment on angiotensin-converting enzyme activity and on semen characteristics in roosters and bulls.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) activity has been determined in the semen of certain avian and mammalian species as well as its release during cold shock. The maximum and minimum levels of this enzyme were found in mammalian spermatozoa and in seminal plasma, respectively. It was found that ACE activity in mammalian spermatozoa was more pronounced than in the seminal plasma, whereas in the avian species a revers pattern was observed. However, there were no significant differences in ACE activity in spermatozoa and seminal plasma between layer and broiler strains of avian species. By contrast, ACE activity in the spermatozoa and seminal plasma of buffalo bulls was significantly higher (P/ 0.01) than in cattle bulls. Cold shock did not significantly alter semen characteristics in avian species, while a significant (P/ 0.01) decrease in sperm live counts and motility as well as a corresponding increase in morphological abnormalities were observed in the spermatozoa of cattle and buffalo bulls due to cold shock.

Journal Article↗

MHA-Tp testing on HIV positive and negative women in vigilance home at Madurai.

In the study group of 94 cases of female prostitutes and their children 55 cases showed positive for HIV infection by ELISA and Western Blot tests. They showed positive also for syphilis in 37 cases by VDRL and in 43 cases by MHA-Tp tests among HIV positive and negative women. The association of HIV infection and syphilis was observed in this study due to sexual transmission of these infections. But congenital spread from infected mother to their children was not observed in this study since both mothers and their children were negative for these infections. MHA-Tp testing confirmed VDRL test results in 27 cases and also increased specificity of MHA-Tp test result over VDRL result in 16 cases and exclusion of biological false positive by VDRL in 10 cases were noticed in this study.

Adult↗

Serum zinc and copper in myocardial infarction with particular reference to prognosis.

Serum copper and zinc estimations in humans were made to find their diagnostic and prognostic value in cases of myocardial infarction. Following infarction, there was an increase in serum copper levels from the first 24 h up to the 7th day, with gradual decline that did not reach the normal value up to the 14th day. The serum zinc levels declined in the first 24 h until the 4th day and increased to the normal value on the 14th day. It is concluded that, for diagnosis of myocardial infarction, serum zinc levels are more useful during the first week and copper levels in the second week after the onset of infarction.

Adult↗

Synthetic and pharmacological studies on some transition metal chelates involving N-pyrimidino benzamide-2-carboxylic acid as ligand.

N-pyrimidino benzamide-2-carboxylic acid (NPBCA) and its Cu(II), Ni(II), Co(II), Zn(II), and Mn(II) chelates have been synthesized and characterized by using elemental analyses, molar conductance, molecular weight determination, magnetic moment, infrared, and electronic spectra. Antifungal activity of the synthesized compounds has been screened on common fungi, viz., Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus nidulense, and Candida albicans at 28 degrees C and antibacterial activity has been observed on gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria at 37 degrees C. Anti-inflammatory and ulcerogenic potential of the synthesized compounds have been discussed.

Animals↗

Budesonide once-daily in seasonal allergic rhinitis.

A randomized, parallel group, double-blind multi-centre study was carried out in 342 patients with symptomatic seasonal allergic rhinitis to assess the efficacy and tolerability of intranasal budesonide administered either as a single morning dose of 400 micrograms or as a 200 micrograms twice-daily dose, morning and evening, for 4 weeks. Both treatments improved the symptoms of seasonal allergic rhinitis; specific nasal symptom scores recorded daily by the patient being reduced. The proportions of patients symptom free after 4-weeks' treatment were 46% in the 400 micrograms once-daily group and 54% in the 200 micrograms twice-daily group, with total daily symptom scores recorded by diary cards reduced by 79% and 80%, respectively. The differences between the groups were not statistically significant. Sub-group analysis of patients allergic to grass pollen (n = 166) showed similar total symptom scores at each level of grass pollen exposure (no significant difference between treatment groups). Patients assessed both treatments to be effective (no significant difference between groups), with 65% of patients questioned stating a preference for a once-daily treatment given equal symptom control. Both treatments were equally well tolerated and few side-effects were reported.

Administration, Intranasal↗

Cryogenic changes in seminal protein of cattle and buffalo.

The effect of subzero temperatures on the electrophoretic pattern of seminal plasma protein of cattle and buffalo was studied. The profiles of the seminal proteins of these two closely related species differed considerably. Cattle had 11 proteins in the anodic system (pH 8.6) and none in the cathodic system (pH 4.3), while buffalo have 19 in the anodic system (pH 8.6) and 2 proteins in the cathodic system (pH 4.3). Freezing of semen at -5 degrees C for 24 h caused aggregation of seminal proteins in both species. A higher aggregation and loss of proteins were observed when freezing was done in liquid nitrogen at -196 degrees C. The effect was more pronounced in buffalo than in cattle. Loss of more seminal plasma proteins due to cryoinjury in buffalo semen may account for its poorer freezability than that of cattle semen.

Journal Article↗