Indian J Med Res
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Inhalants are substances whose chemical vapors are inhaled to produce euphoric, disinhibiting, and exciting effects. Data on inhalant abuse in India are relatively scarce. We report the demographic and clinical profile of inhalant users among the treatment seekers at a Drug De-addiction and Treatment Centre in north India. ⋯ Over the study period of 10 years, the number of cases with inhalant abuse per year rose steadily to peak at 20 cases (4.08% of new cases) in 2006 and then stabilized at 1-3 per cent of new cases annually. Of the 87 cases studied, all were males with a mean age of 18.9±4.12 yr, mean education of 9.8±3.42 yr and mean family income of Rs. 7676±7343.15 (median: Rs. 5000). Majority of subjects were unmarried (89.7%), urban resident (79.3%), and from a nuclear family (78.2%). About half of the subjects were students (50.6%). The most common inhalant used was typewriter correction fluid (73.6%) followed by typewriter diluent fluid (19.5%) and glue (6.9%). The most common reason for initiation was curiosity. The mean age of onset of inhalant use was 16.3±4.22 yr. Most subjects fulfilled the criteria for inhalant dependence (85.1%). Psychiatric co-morbidity and the family history of substance dependence were present in 26.4 and 32.9 per cent subjects, respectively. Majority of the subjects reported drug related problems, occupation and finance being the worst affected. Interpretations & conclusions: Our results showed that the inhalant users were mostly urban youth belonging to middle socio-economic class families. The principal sources of inhalant abuse were the commonly available substances like typewriter correction fluids and majority of the subjects initiated it out of curiosity. Nearly three-fourth of the subjects used some other substance of abuse in addition, tobacco being the most common. In view of associated drug related problems, there is a need for strategies to prevent this emerging health care problem.
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Infection with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (hereafter S. Typhi) is an important public health problem in India. There has been an increase in the number of reported clinical failures to ciprofloxacin treatment but the data on possible mechanism of failure are limited. One mechanism that has been widely reported and found associated with ciprofloxacin resistance, is the mutations in target genes in QRDR (quinolone resistance determining region). It is hypothesized that mutations in DNA gyrase or topoisomerase IV result in therapeutic failure under selective pressure of antibiotic while the patient is on treatment. We undertook in vitro sequential selection studies to expose the clinical isolates of S. Typhi to different concentration of ciprofloxacin to study the role of antibiotic selective pressure in the development of mutations in QRDR. ⋯ Upon exposure to the step-wise increased concentration of ciprofloxacin, isolates become more tolerant to the ciprofloxacin and showed 2-4 fold higher MICs without new mutation after 8 μg/ml. So the accumulation of mutations under continuous ciprofloxacin pressure and tolerance of the mutant isolates led to the clinical failure. These results also suggested that there could be another mechanism responsible for resistance.
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Recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) is a reproductive problem that occurs in women in reproductive age with a frequency of 1-3 per cent. Previous studies have reported high levels of serum androgens to be associated with RSAs. At the molecular level, the effect of androgens is mediated through the activation of the androgen receptor (AR). The CAG and GGN repeat polymorphisms of the AR gene are associated with the AR activity. We hypothesize that the AR CAG/GGN repeat polymorphism may be associated with levels of serum androgens. Thus, this study as undertaken to evaluate the relationship between CAG/GGN repeats in exon 1 of the AR gene in women with RSAs. ⋯ Our observation suggests that the CAG and GGN repeat length is shorter in women with RSAs as compared with controls and that shorter CAG and GGN repeats may be pathogenic for RSAs in Chinese women. Further studies need to be done in different ethnic populations.
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Staging of cervical carcinoma is done clinically using International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology (FIGO) guidelines. It is based on physical examination findings and also includes results of biopsy, endoscopy and conventional radiological tests like chest radiograph, intravenous urography and barium enema. These conventional radiological investigations have largely been replaced by computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at present. FIGO staging system does not consider CT and MRI mandatory; however, use of these modalities are encouraged. This prospective study was conducted to determine the role of CT in staging work up in women diagnosed with cervical carcinoma. ⋯ Our findings show that CT scan does not reliably correlate with clinical FIGO staging of cervical cancer. However, it can detect urinary obstruction as well as nodal or distant metastases and thus improves the clinical FIGO staging.
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Interleukin (IL)-10, an anti-inflammatory Th2 cytokine, is one of the key coordinators of the inflammatory responses involved. The present study was designed to evaluate the impact of IL-10 (-819/-592) genotypes, haplotypes, mRNA and the protein levels with risk for hepatitis B virus (HBV) related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development in India. ⋯ These preliminary results suggest a strong association of IL10 (-819/-592) with the HBV infection mediated disease progression, from inactive carrier state to malignancy, in Indian population.