Prospective study of histopathological patterns of ovarian tumours in a tertiary care centre

Background:Ovarian tumours account for 3% of all cancers amongst women, being the second most common cancer of the female genital tract. The ovarian tumours are highly heterogenous with a wide range of histological patterns. Aim of current study was to study the histological patterns and the age incidence of the ovarian tumours in our institute.Methods:The present study is a prospective study conducted in the department of pathology, Andhra Medical College, from August 2011 to July 2013.Results:We received a total of 267 specimens of ovarian tumours during this period, out of which, 263 were primary and 4 were secondary tumours. Benign tumours were 209 (78.3%), borderline were 10 (3.7%) and malignant were 48 (18%) in numbers. Overall surface epithelial tumours constituted the majority of tumours accounting for 214 (80.2%) cases, followed by germ cell tumours 38 (14.2%) and sexcord stromal tumours 11 (4.1%). The single most common tumour diagnosed was serous cystadenoma. The most common malignant tumour was serous cystadenocarcinoma. The age groups affected ranged from 11-70 years. The peak age incidences for different histological types were as follows: surface epithelial tumours: 21-50 years, germ cell tumours: 21-30 years, sexcord stromal tumours: 51-60years. Benign tumours were more common in 21-40 years of age, borderline in 31-50 years and malignant tumours in 41-50 years age group.Conclusion:The results from our study were comparable with those reported in literature; however malignant serous and mucinous tumours showed a lower peak age incidence in our study. Krukenberg tumours also occurred in younger age group in our study.

Acaricidal Activity of Petroleum Ether Extract of Leaves of Tetrastigma leucostaphylum

The acaricidal activity of the petroleum ether extract of leaves of Tetrastigma leucostaphylum (Dennst.) Alston (family: Vitaceae) against Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus was assessed using adult immersion test (AIT). The per cent of adult mortality, inhibition of fecundity, and blocking of hatching of eggs were studied at different concentrations. The extract at 10% concentration showed 88.96% inhibition of fecundity, 58.32% of adult tick mortality, and 50% inhibition of hatching. Peak mortality rate was observed after day 5 of treatment. Mortality of engorged female ticks, inhibition of fecundity, and hatching of eggs were concentration dependent. The LC50 value of the extract against R. (B.) annulatus was 10.46%. The HPTLC profiling of the petroleum ether extract revealed the presence of at least seven polyvalent components. In the petroleum ether extract, nicotine was identified as one of the components up to a concentration of 5.4%. However, nicotine did not reveal any acaricidal activity up to 20000 ppm (2%). Coconut oil, used as diluent for dissolving the extract, did not reveal any acaricidal effects. The results are indicative of the involvement of synergistic or additive action of the bioactive components in the tick mortality and inhibition of the oviposition

Examination of polymorphic glutathione S-transferase (GST) genes, tobacco smoking and prostate cancer risk among Men of African Descent: A case-control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Polymorphisms in <it>glutathione S-transferase </it>(GST) genes may influence response to oxidative stress and modify prostate cancer (PCA) susceptibility. These enzymes generally detoxify endogenous and exogenous agents, but also participate in the activation and inactivation of oxidative metabolites that may contribute to PCA development. Genetic variations within selected <it>GST </it>genes may influence PCA risk following exposure to carcinogen compounds found in cigarette smoke and decreased the ability to detoxify them. Thus, we evaluated the effects of polymorphic <it>GSTs </it>(<it>M1</it>, <it>T1</it>, and <it>P1</it>) alone and combined with cigarette smoking on PCA susceptibility.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In order to evaluate the effects of <it>GST </it>polymorphisms in relation to PCA risk, we used TaqMan allelic discrimination assays along with a multi-faceted statistical strategy involving conventional and advanced statistical methodologies (e.g., Multifactor Dimensionality Reduction and Interaction Graphs). Genetic profiles collected from 873 men of African-descent (208 cases and 665 controls) were utilized to systematically evaluate the single and joint modifying effects of <it>GSTM1 </it>and <it>GSTT1 </it>gene deletions, <it>GSTP1 </it>105 Val and cigarette smoking on PCA risk.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We observed a moderately significant association between risk among men possessing at least one variant <it>GSTP1 </it>105 Val allele (OR = 1.56; 95%CI = 0.95-2.58; p = 0.049), which was confirmed by MDR permutation testing (p = 0.001). We did not observe any significant single gene effects among <it>GSTM1 </it>(OR = 1.08; 95%CI = 0.65-1.82; p = 0.718) and <it>GSTT1 </it>(OR = 1.15; 95%CI = 0.66-2.02; p = 0.622) on PCA risk among all subjects. Although the <it>GSTM1</it>-<it>GSTP1 </it>pairwise combination was selected as the best two factor LR and MDR models (p = 0.01), assessment of the hierarchical entropy graph suggested that the observed synergistic effect was primarily driven by the <it>GSTP1 </it>Val marker. Notably, the <it>GSTM1</it>-<it>GSTP1 </it>axis did not provide additional information gain when compared to either loci alone based on a hierarchical entropy algorithm and graph. Smoking status did not significantly modify the relationship between the <it>GST </it>SNPs and PCA.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A moderately significant association was observed between PCA risk and men possessing at least one variant <it>GSTP1 </it>105 Val allele (p = 0.049) among men of African descent. We also observed a 2.1-fold increase in PCA risk associated with men possessing the <it>GSTP1 </it>(Val/Val) and <it>GSTM1 </it>(*1/*1 + *1/*0) alleles. MDR analysis validated these findings; detecting <it>GSTP1 </it>105 Val (p = 0.001) as the best single factor for predicting PCA risk. Our findings emphasize the importance of utilizing a combination of traditional and advanced statistical tools to identify and validate single gene and multi-locus interactions in relation to cancer susceptibility.</p

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Not AvailableWhite yam (Dioscorea rotundata Poir.) is an important tropical tuber crop which contributes to food and nutritional security for millions of people in many countries in Africa, South America and Asia. There exists large variability in the yield of white yam and one of the ways to bridge the gap is by managing the spatial and temporal variability in soil characteristics. The site specific nutrient management (SSNM) using QUEFTS model is very successful in increasing the yield, income and nutrient use efficiency. On station experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of 8-year-old continuous SSNM on soil quality. Normalised SQI showed significant difference among the treatments which was significantly higher in SSNM treatment compared to present recommendation. The percentage of contribution of indicators to soil quality score showed that available iron is the major contributor followed by phosphatase activity and available phosphorus. The final normalized PCA based soil quality equation is Normalized SQI = 0.636 (Spnitrophenol/3) + 0.192 (SFe/2) + 0.173 (SP /1). KeywordsNot Availabl

Oral Sucrose Solution as A Pre-immunization Analgesic: A Randomized Controlled Study

Introduction: Painful procedures without adequate analgesia cause pain and suffering. The administration of oral sucrose is the most frequently studied behavioural and environmental intervention for the relief of procedural pain in newborn. Breast feeding is also an intervention studied frequently. Material and methods: The present study was a randomized controlled study conducted to assess and compare the analgesic effect of orally administered sucrose with that of breast feeding and controls during immunization in healthy infants using a validated behavioural acute pain rating scale. Approval was taken from institutional ethics committee prior to commencement of the study. 100 infants who met the inclusion criteria were included as study participants. They were randomly allocated into three groups, A (sucrose) and B (breast feeding) and C (control) [no intervention] of 33 to 34 infants each. Infants in group A (sucrose) receiving Inj Pentavac were given 2.0 ml of &nbsp;24% oral sucrose 2 mins prior to vaccination and the infants behavior before and after the injection was observed and scored on FLACC Pain rating scale. Infants in group B (breast feeding) were breast fed 10 minutes prior to receiving vaccination and were also observed and scored on FLACC Pain rating scale

Reported hypoglycemia in Type 2 diabetes mellitus patients: Prevalence and practices-a hospital-based study

Introduction: Hypoglycemia tops the list of hurdles in preventing tight glycemic control in diabetic patients. It is even considered as a cardiovascular risk factor. However, it continues to be a neglected complication with very limited epidemiological data in our country. Aim: To study the self-reported prevalence of hypoglycemia among type 2 diabetic patients and the practices adopted by them during and after the episodes to manage and avert future occurrences. Materials and Methods: It is a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study done using systematic random sampling selecting every 5th patient attending the diabetic Out-Patient (OP) in a tertiary medical college hospital. Results: There were 366 participants with median age of 60 years. Around 96% reported any one symptom of hypoglycemia, but 78% had eaten following the episode and got relieved of the symptoms. Weakness (76.2%) and dizziness (74%) were the most common symptoms reported by the patients. A quarter of them reported having severe attacks requiring somebody's assistance. Most patients resorted to timely meals (85%) to avert future attacks. Patients who took insulin along with oral hypoglycemic agents (OHAs) were at a higher risk (OR = 2.3) for hypoglycemia compared to patients taking only OHAs (P < 0.01). Conclusion: The reported prevalence of hypoglycemia among type 2 diabetes patients is quite high. This finding reiterates the importance of enquiring and educating every diabetic patient about hypoglycemic episodes during every health visit

Argyrophilic nuclear organizer regions (AgNORs) in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Nuclear organizer regions (NORs) code for ribosomal RNA and are associated with non-histone nucleoproteins which can be identified by silver staining (AgNORs). AgNORs have been correlated to proliferative activity of tumors and hence may be prognosis-related. The present study evaluates the possible prognostic importance of the AgNORs in tumor cells of patients with pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). A significant increase in AgNOR counts was observed in ALL patients as compared to normal controls. Further, a significant positive correlation was observed between AgNOR counts and total WBC count at diagnosis. A negative correlation was also observed between AgNOR counts and age of the patients. Logistic regression analysis revealed further correlation between AgNOR counts and disease with an odds ratio of 1.29 (P=0.03) as compared to normal controls. These results therefore suggest that AgNOR counts may be significant in the evaluation of pediatric ALL