8 research outputs found
Chromosome aberrations in workers of beach sand mineral industries
Beach Sand Mining (BSM) is a profitable industry earning a sizable income for the country
by way of foreign exchange. The Indian coast is rich in rare earths such as ilmenite,
rutile, leucoxene, zircon, garnet and sillimanite, and is invariably associated with
radioactive monazite. Due to the nature of the separation processes involved and the
manual handling, workers in these factories are continuously being exposed to suspended
particles containing naturally occurring radioactive materials. An attempt was made to
estimate DNA damage using a chromosome aberration assay to monitor radiation effects in
workers of BSM industries in India. The study group comprised 27 BSM workers and 20
controls. Percentage yields of dicentrics, acentric fragments and chromatid breaks
observed in the control group were 0.058 ± 0.017, 0.073 ± 0.03 and 0.22 ± 0.112,
respectively. Percentage yields of dicentrics + centric rings, acentric fragments and
chromatid breaks observed in the BSM group were 0.029 ± 0.01 (P value 0.19), 0.24 ± 0.06
(P value 0.006) and 0.455 ± 0.06 (P value 0.0004), respectively. Elevated levels of
fragments and chromatid aberrations are suggestive of low-dose radiation effects and also
chemically-induced DNA damage
Original Communication - Detection of Helicobactor pylori by polymerase chain reaction: A comparison in sample preparation
Gastric biopsy samples obtained from 14 patients with upper abdominal
pain, clinically diagnosed as acid peptic disease, were analysed for
the presence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) by Polymerase Chain
Reaction (PCR) using partially (template A) and completely purified DNA
(template B). Antigen specific primer was used to analyse the sample by
PCR method. The presence of H. pylori in the samples was confirmed by
running a positive control. The presence of H. pylori was also
detected by urease method using standard protocol. Among the 14 samples
studied, 8 showed the presence of H. pylori with both templates A and
B. Among these 8 samples only 3 showed positive for the presence of H.
pylori with urease method. The present work discusses the results
obtained in the detection of H. pylori in template A and B by PCR
method