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Biomedical subjects

U C Rai

Publications and source records attributed to U C Rai.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Effect of Sahaja yoga practice on seizure control & EEG changes in patients of epilepsy.

The effect of Sahaja yoga meditation on seizure control and electroencephalographic alterations was assessed in 32 patients of idiopathic epilepsy. The subjects were randomly divided into 3 groups. Group I (n = 10) practised Sahaja yoga for 6 months, Group II (n = 10) practised exercises mimicking Sahaja yoga for 6 months and Group III (n = 12) served as the epileptic control group. Group I subjects reported a 62 per cent decrease in seizure frequency at 3 months and a further decrease of 86 per cent at 6 months of intervention. Power spectral analysis of EEG showed a shift in frequency from 0-8 Hz towards 8-20 Hz. The ratios of EEG powers in delta (D), theta (T), alpha (A) and beta (B) bands i.e., A/D, A/D + T, A/T and A + B/D + T were increased. Per cent D power decreased and per cent A increased. No significant changes in any of the parameters were found in Groups II and III, indicating that Sahaja yoga practice brings about seizure reduction and EEG changes. Sahaja yoga could prove to be beneficial in the management of patients of epilepsy.

Adolescent↗

Effect of Sahaja yoga practice on stress management in patients of epilepsy.

An attempt was made to evaluate the effect of Sahaja yoga meditation in stress management in patients of epilepsy. The study was carried out on 32 patients of epilepsy who were rendomly divided into 3 groups: group I subjects practised Sahaja yoga meditation for 6 months, group II subjects practised postural exercises mimicking Sahaja yoga and group III served as the epileptic control group. Galvanic skin resistance (GSR), blood lactate and urinary vinyl mandelic acid (U-VMA) were recorded at 0, 3 and 6 months. There were significant changes at 3 & 6 months as compared to 0 month values in GSR, blood lactate and U-VMA levels in group I subjects, but not in group II and group III subjects. The results indicate that reduction in stress following Sahaja yoga practice may be responsible for clinical improvement which had been earlier reported in patients who practised Sahaja yoga.

Adolescent↗

Effect of antiandrogens and medroxyprogesterone acetate on testicular morphometry in mice.

Administration to albino mice of cyproterone (C), cyproterone acetate (CA) and medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) for one week produced a marked decrease in volume, surface area and length of the seminiferous tubules besides inhibiting spermatogenesis. This response was elicited by all the three treatments but was assessed as mild in "C", moderate in "MPA" and severe in "CA" groups. On the basis of present work it is concluded that inhibition of spermatogenesis occurred even with low dose schedule of the two antiandrogens and MPA. The possible mechanism of action has been discussed in the light of available literature.

Androgen Antagonists↗

Cardiac function during vagus escape.

It is generally believed that the stimulation of vagus nerve has no direct effect on ventricular myocardium. But recent work has demonstrated clear-cut negative inotropic effect of vagal stimulation on ventricles. In an attempt to study further the effect of vagal stimulation on heart, 15 dogs were studied hemodynamically under nembutal anaesthesia. Bilateral vagotomy caused 9% elevation of heart rate whereas arterial pressure and cardiac output increased by 5% and 3% respectively. Stroke volume output decreased by 8%. Stimulation of the cut peripheral end of vagus caused cardiac standstill followed by vagus escape. During the steady state of vagus escape there was marked reduction in arterial pressure, heart rate and cardiac output, but the stroke volume was significantly elevated above the mean control. These findings suggest that when heart rate decreases, the stroke volume increases in order to restore the decreased cardiac output and that this happens inspite of the negative inotropic effect of vagal stimulation. Thus the Frank-Starling mechanism has a very significant role in an intact organism with normal hemodynamics.

Animals↗

Histamine and mast cell study in the gastric tissue of south Indian patients suffering from duodenal ulcer with pyloric stenosis.

Patients undergoing surgery for pyloric stenosis secondary to duodenal ulcer were the subjects for the study. Two pieces of full thickness gastric wall (all coats) were obtained at laparotomy. The pieces were immediately split into two halves. One of these was used for histamine assay where as the other was used to study the mast cell population. Histamine content and mast cell population was found to be less in gastric mucosa of our patients as compared to values from normal human gastric mucosa. There was lack of correlation between mast cell population and histamine content which suggests that there could be some other storage sites for histamine.

Adult↗

A study of lung function abnormalities in workers of cotton spinning shops.

Lung function was studied by forced expiratory spirograms and measurement of peak expiratory flow in fourteen young male subjects of the age 20 to 30 years. Seven of the subjects were cotton spinners in small shops in Paharganj market with the duration of work from 1 to 3 years. The other seven subjects served as controls. All the subjects were of the same socio-economic status and were North Indians. Forced vital capacity; forced expiratory volume in 1 sec; forced expiratory volume in 1 sec expressed as a percentage of forced vital capacity; forced expiratory flow between 80 and 70 per cent, between 55 and 45 per cent, between 30 and 20 per cent and between 15 and 5 per cent of the forced vital capacity were determined from forced expiratory spirograms. Peak expiratory flow and FEB-80-70% were significantly lower in cotton spinners suggesting involvement of larger airways.

Adult↗

Effect of hippocampal lesion on acquisition of conditioned avoidance behaviour in albino rats.

Control, hippocampal and Sham control male albino rats weighing 150-200 gms were trained for acquisition of conditioned avoidance behavioural response using escape avoidance apparatus. Parameters like rate of performance, error scores, conditioned stimulus latency and unconditioned stimulus latency were studied. It was observed that there was a facilitation in the behavioural response with less error scores in hippocampal animals as compared to Sham control and control groups. Our observations are similar to those of Douglas and Pribram and Douglas and it is concluded that the hippocampus acts as a gate restricting the range of stimuli to which an intact animal attends.

Animals↗

Modulation of vagus escape phenomenon by afferent vagal stimulation.

The present study was conducted on healthy adult mongrel dogs under chloralose urethane anaesthesia. After bilateral midcervical vagotomy, peripheral end of either vagus was stimulated continuously. This stimulation produced cardiac asystole followed by escape beats. Initially, the heart rate and arterial pressure were low, but both increased progressively and reached a steady-state level in 1-3 min while stimulation of peripheral vagus continued. During this plateau of vagus escape, stimulation of the central end of either vagus produced elevation of arterial pressure and cardio-acceleration. This modulation of vagus escape phenomenon by afferent vagal stimulation was reproducible.

Animals↗

Effect of change in limb position on mean electrical axis and amplitudes of QRS complex of rat electrocardiogram.

The effect of altered fore limb alignment to trunk on mean electrical axis (MEA) and on amplitude of the QRS complex of frontal plane leads was studied in both prone and supine postures in 32 albino rats. It was found that in both postures bilateral extension of fore limbs caused a significant change in MEA to right. Unilateral change in the fore limb alignment caused a shift in MEA to right only in supine position, but was ineffective in prone position. The amplitudes of QRS complexes also changed with change in MEA. The changes in MEA with change in limb alignment and subsequent alteration in amplitude of QRS complexes can be attributed to the alteration in anatomical orientation of the heart in the chest cavity.

Animals↗