Endocrine abnormalities in dilated cardiomyopathy

Background: Progress has been made in the understanding of cellular and molecular mechanisms of hormone action and its effects on the cardiac tissue. There is evidence from observational studies that patients with postpartum cardiomyopathy improve after inhibition of release of prolactin from the pituitary by bromocriptine. This has renewed interest in the role of hormones in the pathogenesis of cardiomyopathy, especially in women. We intended to assess the hormonal changes in female patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Methods: Twenty female patients aged 20-40 years old (mean age 29 ΁ 5.6 years) with a diagnosis of idiopathic DCMP with left ventricular ejection fraction [EF] <35% and a stable clinical course in the last 3 months were included in the study. All the patients were in New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class II or III. All the patients underwent clinical evaluation followed by blood sampling for hormonal analysis. Blood was taken after overnight fasting and analyzed for thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), T3, T4, insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), prolactin, insulin, parathyroid hormone (PTH), and 25 (OH) Vitamin D. The results were compared with twenty age and sex matched controls. Results: The mean EF of the twenty patients was 24.4 ΁ 5.3% and duration of symptoms was 29.1 ΁ 24 months. Insulin growth factor 1 levels were significantly lower than normal. Fifty percent of the patients had levels lower than normal, but there was no correlation of IGF-I with NYHA class and EF. Testing of the thyroid hormones revealed that TSH levels were similar between patient and controls though 40% of the patients had elevated TSH levels. Of these patients, 5% (1) had hypothyroid. In addition to this, 10% (2) had isolated low T3, suggestive of the low T3 syndrome. None of the thyroid abnormalities showed a correlation with NYHA class or EF. All other hormone concentrations were comparable in both groups. Conclusion: In this cohort of female patients with DCM, circulating concentrations of IGF-I was significantly lower than in healthy controls, most likely as a result of chronic disease. Some patients had serum evidence of hypothyroidism and some with isolated low T3 levels. Other hormone levels were normal including blood glucose, insulin, and prolactin

<span style="font-size: 21.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A comparative study on the beneficial effects of garlic <i>(Allium sativum </i>Linn), amla <i>(Emblica Officinalis </i>Gaertn)and onion <i>(Allium cepa </i>Linn) on the <span style="font-size: 21.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">hyperlipidemia induced by butter fat and beef fat in rats </span></span>

760-766<span style="font-size: 15.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:8.0pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif""="">Three months feeding of butter fat (BUF) and beef (BF) separately as components of diet at a level of 21 <span style="font-size:15.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;font-family:" arial","sans-serif""="">% <span style="font-size:15.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:8.0pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif""="">by weight for albino rats, significantly raised their serum and tissue lipids, lipid peroxidation and activities of certain enzymes. BUF was found to be more atherogenic than BF. On incorporation of 5% garlic, amla or onion separately in the above diets, each of them ameliorated the deleterious effects of the animal fats. A higher hyperlipidemic effect of BUF a s compared to that of SF may be due to the fact that the ratio of unsaturated to saturated fats is lower for the former (0.56) than for the latter (0.75) and also that the former is richer in cholesterol content than the latter. The order of the curative effects of the vegetables are gariic>amla>onion. The better hypolipidemic effects and correction of elevated levels of certain enzymes shown by garlic and amia may be due to the facts that they contain comparatively better active principles than that found in onions. </span

HIV, sexually transmitted infections and sexual behaviour of male clients of female sex workers in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, India: results of a cross-sectional survey

Objective: To characterize and describe patterns of HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STI) and sexual behaviour of male clients of female sex workers (FSW). Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 4821 clients of FSW from 12 districts in three states in India: Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. A structured questionnaire was administered to elicit demographic characteristics and sexual behavioural patterns. Blood and urine samples were tested for HIV, syphilis and herpes simplex type 2 serology, gonococal and chlamydial infection. Results: The median age of clients surveyed was 30 years; 57% were married and 64% had a steady sexual partner; 61% had sex with more than one FSW and 39% had four or more sexual encounters in the past month. The prevalence of HIV ranged from 2.0% to 10.9%, syphilis ranged from 3.1% to 10.1%; gonorrhoea and chlamydia ranged between 0% and 4.5%. Clients older than 30 years [odds ratio (OR) 1.65; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.33–2.05] and having a different mix of commercial and non-commercial partners (OR 1.56; 95% CI 1.25–1.96) had a higher volume of sex acts with FSW. Inconsistent condom use with FSW was significantly associated with older clients (OR 4.2; 95% CI 3.33–5.29), illiteracy (OR 1.39; 95% CI 1.14–1.69), age <18 years at first paid sex (OR 1.83; 95% CI 1.24–2.70) and having different FSW partners in the past month (OR 1.64; 95% CI 1.23–2.18). Conclusion: Clients of FSW studied here constitute a significant bridge group for HIV and other STI, because of their high volume of different sexual partners and very low consistent condom use. HIV prevention programmes need to address male clients

Improving Query Evaluation with Approximate Functional Dependency Based Decompositions

We investigate how relational restructuring may be used to improve query performance