PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

S K Lahiri

Publications and source records attributed to S K Lahiri.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

A population based survey of the prevalence and types of glaucoma in rural West Bengal: the West Bengal Glaucoma Study.

AIM: To determine (i) the prevalence of glaucoma in people aged > or =50 years, (ii) the proportions of different types of glaucoma, (iii) the distributions of intraocular pressure and vertical cup disc ratio. METHOD: Population based prevalence survey in rural West Bengal. People aged > or =50 years in randomly selected villages in 24 Parganas South district. The main outcome measures were diagnosis of glaucoma, based on criteria described by the International Society for Geographic and Epidemiological Ophthalmology. RESULTS: 1594 people aged > or =50 years were enumerated in nine villages; 1324 (83.1%) were surveyed and 1269 people adequately examined. 42 definite cases of glaucoma were identified, with prevalence increasing from 2.7% (95% CI 1.7 to 3.7) in people aged 50-59 years to 6.5% (95% CI 0.0 to 14.1) in those aged > or =80 years. The age standardised estimate for the prevalence of all glaucoma in people aged > or =50 years was 3.4%. Only three cases of primary angle closure glaucoma (PACG) were identified, giving a crude ratio of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) to PACG of more than 10:1. Three people with glaucoma were blind in one eye but none was blind in both eyes. CONCLUSION: Compared to other surveys of glaucoma in India, the age standardised prevalence observed was less than in Hyderabad, but similar to Tamil Nadu and Dhaka. The ratio of POAG to PACG was much higher than found previously, suggesting that PACG may be less prevalent in Bengalis than in Indian populations living in south India. The authors conclude that ophthalmic services in West Bengal should focus on detecting POAG. Since there is still no satisfactory method of screening for POAG, there is no alternative to case detection (opportunistic screening) in eye clinics.

Age Distribution↗

Reproductive health needs and care seeking behaviour of pavement dwellers of Calcutta.

An unabated growth of street dwellers in the city of Calcutta is reported to be due to twin reasons like, migration of rural poor people as well as uncontrolled fertility among these poor settlers of the city. A community-based study on reproductive health, fertility and related care seeking behaviour was studied among a sample of women of child bearing age living on streets of Calcutta. Besides, the quite common conditions like leucorrhoea (28.5%), menstrual irregularities (12.3%), infertility (2.5%) and STDs (1.3%) were also reported. But most of these illnesses (three-fourth) were uncared for, and the remaining one-fourth sought treatment from govemment institutions, private agencies or even from untrained practitioners (quacks). The reproductive behaviour of street dwelling women was characterised by early marriage, teenage pregnancies, and scarce use of contraceptives (32%) as well as frequent abortions (2.8%). Very few pregnant women received adequate antenatal care (3.8%). Coverage of tetanus toxoid immunisation (68.5%) and proper iron and folic acid supplementation (16.7%) were also poor. Whereas, antenatal care was received mostly from government health institutions (71%), home delivery (ie, on street) was a common practice and conducted mostly by untrained birth attendants (51.8%).

Adolescent↗

Preventing gastric regurgitation with a ballooned nasogastric tube.

Regurgitation and aspiration of gastric contents remain a major source of morbidity and mortality in the perioperative period. A modified nasogastric tube has been designed with an integral balloon which is inflated in the stomach and impacted, by gentle traction, at the gastro-oesophageal junction, to prevent gastro-oesophageal reflux. Preliminary studies demonstrate its effectiveness in improving the competence of the gastro-oesophageal sphincter.

Carmine↗

Relative number and proliferation kinetics of hemopoietic stem cells in the mouse.

A model calculation of the hemopoiesis of the mouse based on known hematologic data leads to the conclusion that approximately 3% of all nucleated bone marrow cells are stem cells (pluripotent plus committed stem cells). By a new 125IUdR labeling technique on radiation chimeras, a relative number of 2%-7% stem cells was determined. In previous studies with test systems for stem cells using colony formation in vivo or in vitro, a relative number of stem cells of at least one order of magnitude lower has been estimated. In this study the stem cells are found to have a turnover time of about 4.3 days in the donor mice. This turnover time remained unchanged even after transfusion of marrow cells into lethally irradiated recipient mice. Radiosensitivity determinations yielded a D0 of 80 rad for stem cells in S-phase and D0 of 185 rad for stem cells distributed throughout the entire cell cycle. The respective extrapolation numbers were 1.23 and 1.14. Experiments using an 3H-TdR suicide technique revealed different cell cycle parameters for bone marrow stem cells seeding to the spleens and to the femurs of lethally irradiated recipients, primarily a shortening of S-phase in cells seeding to femurs. The method described here provides a new approach to hematologic stem cell research.

Animals↗

Nitrous oxide and the middle ear.

A case of hearing deficit following nitrous oxide anaesthesia is reported. The mechanism and time course of nitrous oxide-induced intratympanic pressure changes are described and contrasted with the effects of non-nitrous oxide anaesthesia. The rate of increase is about 10 mm H20/min. The possibility that nitrous oxide may cause displacement of tympanic membrane grafts both outwards and inwards, or disrupt the reconstructed middle ear conducting mechanism, is raised again.

Adult↗

Kinetics of haemopoietic recovery in endotoxin-treated mice.

Kinetics of mouse spleen colony forming units were studied after intra-peritoneal injection of 1 mug/blody weight bacterial endotoxin S. typhosa. When these mice were used as unirradiated and sublethally irradiated donors, it was possible to study the effect of the endotoxin injection upon the cells. Use of the treated mice as irradiated recipients of normal cells gave information about the host effect. In treated unirradiated mice, the total nucleated cell and the CFU counts were disturbed, and 2 days later a large fraction of the CFU were found in the DNA synthesis (S) phase. This meant that injection of endotoxin generated factors affecting the kinetics of the CFU and triggering the resting CFU into the proliferative cycle. If then the mice were given supralethal irradiation and used as recipients of normal bone marrow cells, more CFU seeded to the spleen as compared to normal recipients; but the dip and the growth rate of the CFU were not changed. Hence the endotoxin-generated factors had been eliminated in 2 days. A total body sublethal irradiation by 400 rad X-ray 2 days after endotoxin injection reduced the post-irradiation dip in the recovery curve of the CFU, indicating that though the factors affecting the cell kinetics had been eliminated, the cycling CFU behaved like a growing population. During the first week, the growth rate of the CFU remained the same as in control irradiated mice. The growth rate of the spleen CFU of the endotoxin-treated mice slowed down during the second week, and their self-replicating ability was low. Fluctuations in the DNA synthesizing fraction of the spleen CFU suggested a variability in the ratio of the length of the S phase and the cell generation time.

Animals↗

Paraplegia following coeliac plexus block with phenol. Case report.

Paraplegia complicating a block of the coeliac plexus with 6% aqueous phenol for carcinoma of the pancreas is described. The patient had no previous neurological abnormality and it is postulated that vascular ischaemia of the spinal cord was responsible for the sequence of neurological events.

Aged↗