Histopathological changes in the arrector pili muscle of normal appearing skin in leprosy patients

AbstractBackgroundLeprosy is a chronic inflammatory disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae, which affects not only the peripheral nerves and skin, but also various internal viscera through hematogenous spread, especially in lepromatous cases. Histology in its own way plays a vital role, not only in classifying the established lesion, but also in confirming the clinical diagnosis. During the latent period of subclinical involvement, the apparently normal looking skin might also be undergoing some pathological changes.MethodsWe investigated skin biopsy material taken from 60 patients with clinically diagnosed leprosy at Subharti Hospital, Subharti Medical College, Meerut, India. Hematoxylin and eosin staining and Harada's modified allochrome method for acid-fast bacilli were applied for histological investigations.ResultsThe pattern of leprosy among the patients was indeterminate in 25 cases (41.7%), tuberculoid in 14 (23.3%), borderline tuberculoid in six (10%), borderline leprosy in four (6.7%), borderline lepromatous in four (6.7%), and lepromatous leprosy in seven (11.7%). Changes were seen in the arrector pili muscle of normal appearing skin in all types of leprosy, but involvement was greater at the lepromatous end of the spectrum compared to the tuberculoid end.ConclusionsResults of this study revealed definitive histological changes in the arrector pili muscle in normal appearing skin. The presence of AFB is significant as far as dissemination and transmission of the disease is concerned

To analyse the semen for various parameters with special reference to lifestyle factors

Background: Male factor is responsible for infertility in 23% cases. Semen analysis is the cornerstone of infertility evaluation as it provides information on the functional status of seminiferous tubules, epididymis and accessory sex glands. Reports in recent years has shown that incidence of male infertility has increased as a result of various factors such as lifestyle, environmental pollution and stress.Methods: This prospective study was conducted on patients reporting for semen analysis in Department of Pathology, Subharti Medical College. The duration of the study was from October 2014 to September 2016 with a study sample of 196 cases. Semen analysis was done by manual method according to WHO 2010 criteria.Results: According to fertility scoring, out of 196 cases, 51 (26%) were infertile cases. With respect to infertile cases 82.4% were alcoholic, 80.4% tobacco smokers, 25.5% were tobacco chewers. These results were statistically significant. Out of 45 cases of oligozoospermia 37 (82.2%) were alcoholic, 36 (80%) were tobacco smoker and 10 (22.2%) were tobacco chewers. Out of 54 cases of asthenozoosperma 38 (70.4%) were alcoholic, 37 (68.5%) were tobacco smoker and 11 (20.4%) were tobacco chewers.Conclusions: Alcohol consumption, tobacco smoking and tobacco chewing have a significant negative effect on the process of spermatogenesis, ultimately affecting sperm concentration, viability and motility. Hence clinician and fertility counselors need to be more focused to control infertility by modifying the life style factors.

Evaluation of trans-cinnamaldehyde as an anti-hyperglycemic compound through inhibition of α- amylase

183-188The present study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) derive bioactive compound viz.trans-cinnamaldehyde, cinnamyl alcohol, and cinnamic acid on inhibition of Bacillus licheniformis α-amylase (BLA) and pancreatic porcine α-amylase (PPA) activity. The inhibition extent of each of the compounds was determined along with their inhibition kinetics and compared with standard inhibitor-acarbose (Synthetic anti-diabetic agent). The IC50 values for trans-cinnamaldehyde with respect to BLA and PPAwere observed to 5.38 μg mL−1 and 3.76 μg mL−1, respectively. The IC50value of acarbose was estimated to be 6.2 μg mL−1 for both the amylases. The maximum percent enzyme inhibition of 75.8 (at 10.75 μg mL−1) and 71.6 (5.38 μg mL−1) were observed in case of BLA and PPA, respectively, using trans-cinnamaldehyde. Cinnamyl alcohol and cinnamic acid on the other hand were observed to show no specific inhibitory effect on the both the α-amylases even at high concentrations. Catalytic efficiency (Vmax/Km) of both the amylases was observed to decrease significantly in presence of trans-cinnamaldehyde compared to acarbose. Overall, trans-cinnamaldehyde was observed as a better inhibitor of α-amylase compared to known synthetic inhibitor-acarbose. Thus, trans-cinnamaldehyde could effectively be used for controlling hyperglycemia and diabetes mellitus

Study of Liquid-Crystalline Behaviour of Aliphatic-Aromatic Polyamides Derived from Castor Oil Based Dimer Acid by DSC

ABSTRACT Aliphatic-aromatic polyamide of castor oil based dimer acid (DA) with pphenylenediamine (PPD) was characterized by differential scanning calorimetry. Thispolyamide exhibited interesting liquid-crystalline behavior which was quite unexpectedlooked at the structure of dimer acid moiety

Assessment of Plant Diversity in Nawab Wajid Ali Shah Zoological Garden, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

The present study entitled “Assessment of Plant Diversity in Nawab Wajid Ali Shah Zoological Garden, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh” was conducted in Nawab Wajid Ali Shah Zoological Garden, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh state in order to investigate the plant diversity of trees, shrubs and herbs present. A total 85 tree species belonging to 32 families, 23 shrub species belonging to 16 families and 15 grass and herb species 8 families were recorded. Fabaceae is the largest family in 20 species followed by Moraceae (11), Rutaceae, Meliaceae, Rubiaceae in tree species, Asparagaceae is the largest family in 6 species followed by Apocynaceae (5), Rubiaceae (3) in shrub species and Asteraceae is the largest family in 4 species followed by Poaceae (3), Amaranthaceous (3) in grass and herb species. Overall, Site-III (South-East) showed the highest IVI parameter of dominant tree species for Sarasa asoca (51.21), Site-IV (South-West) showed the highest IVI parameter of dominant shrub species for Murraya paniculata (164.42) and Site-II (North-East) showed the highest IVI parameter of dominant grass & herb species for Rivina humilis (62.13)

Evaluation of trans-cinnamaldehyde as an anti-hyperglycemic compound through inhibition of α- amylase

The present study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) derive bioactive compound viz.trans-cinnamaldehyde, cinnamyl alcohol, and cinnamic acid on inhibition of Bacillus licheniformis α-amylase (BLA) and pancreatic porcine α-amylase (PPA) activity. The inhibition extent of each of the compounds was determined along with their inhibition kinetics and compared with standard inhibitor-acarbose (Synthetic anti-diabetic agent). The IC50 values for trans-cinnamaldehyde with respect to BLA and PPAwere observed to 5.38 μg mL−1 and 3.76 μg mL−1, respectively. The IC50 value of acarbose was estimated to be 6.2 μg mL−1 for both the amylases. The maximum percent enzyme inhibition of 75.8 (at 10.75 µg mL−1) and 71.6 (5.38 µg mL−1) were observed in case of BLA and PPA, respectively, using trans-cinnamaldehyde. Cinnamyl alcohol and cinnamic acid on the other hand were observed to show no specific inhibitory effect on the both the α-amylases even at high concentrations. Catalytic efficiency (Vmax/Km) of both the amylases was observed to decrease significantly in presence of trans-cinnamaldehyde compared to acarbose. Overall, trans-cinnamaldehyde was observed as a better inhibitor of α-amylase compared to known synthetic inhibitor-acarbose. Thus, trans-cinnamaldehyde could effectively be used for controlling hyperglycemia and diabetes mellitus

Correlation of Neutrophil to Lymphocyte and Monocyte to Lymphocyte Ratio with Acute Phase Reactant in Septicemia: A Prospective Study. NLR and MLR as Alternative in Sepsis

Introduction: Acute phase reactants (Procalcitonin, C-Reactive Protein) are important parameters in diagnosing and prognosticating sepsis. Despite availability of these, all the laboratories and hospitals are not equipped with the high end diagnostic capabilities in developing nations. Using alternative available markers in such conditions is preferable. We correlated the ratios from complete blood count with parameters procalcitonin and CRP.Material and Methods: This was a prospective study conducted in tertiary care hospital. All the patients admitted with diagnosis of sepsis who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria were included in this study. Venous sample were collected from all the patients. Complete blood count, procalcitonin and C reactive protein was done. Ratio of neutrophil to lymphocyte and monocyte to lymphocyte was calculated and correlated.Results: A total of 102 patients were included in this study. 49 were males and 53 females with an average age of 48.72 ± 11.21. The mean NLR was 14.09 ± 3.31 while mean MLR was 0.71 ± 0.15. Average procalcitonin was 25.38 ± 9.34 and the mean CRP was 142.97 ± 32.20. the correlation was checked using pearson’s coefficient. There was a strong correlation between NLR with procalcitonin and CRP which was statistically significant (<0.001). MLR had a strong to moderate correlation with both the parameters and was statistically significant.Conclusion: Calculating the ratio of blood parameters from the complete blood count is the easy and cheap way to diagnose the sepsis in hospitals where high end clinical investigations are not available

Colored polydimethylsiloxane micropillar arrays for high throughput measurements of forces applied by genetic model organisms

Measuring forces applied by multi-cellular organisms is valuable in investigating biomechanics of their locomotion. Several technologies have been developed to measure such forces, for example, strain gauges, micro-machined sensors, and calibrated cantilevers. We introduce an innovative combination of techniques as a high throughput screening tool to assess forces applied by multiple genetic model organisms. First, we fabricated colored Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) micropillars where the color enhances contrast making it easier to detect and track pillar displacement driven by the organism. Second, we developed a semiautomated graphical user interface to analyze the images for pillar displacement, thus reducing the analysis time for each animal to minutes. The addition of color reduced the Young's modulus of PDMS. Therefore, the dye-PDMS composite was characterized using Yeoh's hyperelastic model and the pillars were calibrated using a silicon based force sensor. We used our device to measure forces exerted by wild type and mutant Caenorhabditis elegans moving on an agarose surface. Wild type C. elegans exert an average force of similar to 1 mu N on an individual pillar and a total average force of similar to 7.68 mu N. We show that the middle of C. elegans exerts more force than its extremities. We find that C. elegans mutants with defective body wall muscles apply significantly lower force on individual pillars, while mutants defective in sensing externally applied mechanical forces still apply the same average force per pillar compared to wild type animals. Average forces applied per pillar are independent of the length, diameter, or cuticle stiffness of the animal. We also used the device to measure, for the first time, forces applied by Drosophila melanogaster larvae. Peristaltic waves occurred at 0.4Hz applying an average force of similar to 1.58 mu N on a single pillar. Our colored microfluidic device along with its displacement tracking software allows us to measure forces applied by multiple model organisms that crawl or slither to travel through their environment. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC

Stress distribution among periodontally compromised abutments: A comparative study using three-dimensional finite element analysis

Aims: The aim of the study was to evaluate the stress distribution patterns in teeth and supporting structures of fixed prosthesis and design modifications in a fixed prosthesis with either normal or reduced bone support of an additional abutment. Study was also undertaken to disprove Ante′s law. Materials and Methods: Main models and variations of main models (modification 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) were subjected to 200 N at angulations of 90° and 15° on functional cusps. Results for each loading were obtained as stress distribution color images and numerical values were recorded. A three-dimensional finite element analysis study of variations of normal models was performed using two finite element softwares, namely PRO-Engineer wildfire version 1.0 manufacturer: Parametric technology corporation, Needham, MA 02494 U.S.A. Results: When periodontal compromised abutment teeth was splinted with an additional abutment an increase of stress was observed in periodontally compromised abutments so an additional abutment is not required. Eventhough the pericemental area of compromised abutments with an additional abutment (canine) was more than the combined pericemental area of pontics to be replaced, stress generated was more on abutments. This disproves Ante′s law. Hence, it may be a reference, but should not be the ultimate criterion in determining the number of multiple abutments. Conclusions: When periodontal compromised abutment teeth was splinted with an additional abutment an increase of stress was observed in periodontally compromised abutments so an additional abutment is not required. Even though the pericemental area of compromised abutments with an additional abutment (canine) was more than combined pericemental area of pontics to be replaced, stress generated was more on abutments. This disproves Ante′s law. Hence, it may be a reference, but should not be the ultimate criterion in determining the number of multiple abutments