Perinatal outcome in relation to maternal glycemic control in gestational diabetes mellitus

This study was conducted a prospective study conducted in 150 gestational diabetes mothers. The study was conducted in the Institute of Social Obstetrics. Govt. Kasturba Gandhi Hospital from December 2012 to November 2013. AIM OF THE STUDY: 1. To determine the perinatal outcome in relation to maternal fasting and postprandial (2 hours) blood sugar control in gestational diabetes mellitus. 2. Perinatal outcomes included are macrosomia, Respiratory distress syndrome, hypoglycemia, seizures, hyperbilirubinemia, NICU admission, Anomaly, IUD, Stillbirth, perinatal injury, perinatal mortality. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The information pertaining to the study like age, gravid, parity, residence, previous history of GDM, family history of GDM, mode of delivery in previous pregnancy was obtained from the patients. All antenatal mothers attending the OPD are subjected to 75 gm of glucose challenge test in first, second and third trimester. If GCT is elevated above 140 mg/dl, these patients are advised meal plan for 2 weeks. Fasting and postprandial blood sugars (2hours) are done. If FBS and PPBS are normal, the patient is labeled as GDM on meal plan. If fasting > 96 mg/dl and 2-hr postprandial blood sugar > 121 mg/dl, insulin is started along with diet modification and patient is labeled as GDM on insulin. In patients with GDM on insulin FBS and PPBS are taken according to the blood sugar control and the dose of insulin is adjusted. In case of GDM on meal plan, FBS and PPBS are taken every 15 days. If the GCT is normal is 1st trimester, it is repeated again in 2nd trimester at 24 weeks and 3rd trimester in 32 weeks. If it is normal in 2nd trimester, it is again done in 3rd trimester. Follow up the patients were done antenatally with fasting and postprandial blood sugar values and the dose of insulin is adjusted according to the blood sugar values. The patient is then followed intrapartum. Fetal outcomes are evaluated. Neonatal outcomes included are macrosomia, hypoglycemia, respiratory distress syndrome, seizures, hyperbilirubinemia, anomaly, stillbirth, IUD, perinatal morbidity and mortality. RESULTS: Among 150 patients 63 patients were on meal plan, 79 patients were on insulin, 6 patients initially on meal plan were converted to insulin, 2 patients initially on insulin were converted to meal plan. Multiparous women constitute 65.3% and primi 34.7%.60% of the patients were in age group of 26 to 30 years.59.3% of patients were in BMI of range 25 to 30. Family history of diabetes was present in 24.7% of the patients. Previous history of GDM was present in 27.3% of cases.98% of GDM were detected in 2nd trimester. The risk factors included are 1) age > 25 years 2) BMI >30 3) family history of diabetes 4) previous GDM 5) gestational hypertension. At the time of diagnosis 60.7% of patients had FBS < 95 mg/dl and 46% of patients had PPBS < 120 mg/dl. In 2nd trimester, FBS < 95 mg/dl was seen in 85.3% and PPBS < 120 mg/dl was seen in 43.3% of cases. In 3rd trimester FBS < 95 mg/dl was seen in 99.3% and PPBS < 120 mg/dl was seen in 72.7% of cases by effective treatment. The percentage of patients who had caesarean section was 42% (Both LSCS and repeat LSCS), the most common indication being Previous LSCS and CPD. The percentage of cases presented with Macrosomia was 8.7%, RDS 3.3%, hypoglycemia 6%, hyperbilirubinemia 3.3%, IUD 0.7%, perinatal injury 1.3%, NICU admission requiring more than 3 days of admission was 12%. There were no cases of seizures (due to hypoglycemia or hypocalcemia), still birth, anomaly, perinatal mortality. CONCLUSION: There is relationship between fasting and postprandial blood sugar values and neonatal outcomes. Early diagnosis and treatment of gestational diabetes with adequate antenatal care are essential to reduce the adverse neonatal outcomes. So universal screening in early gestation is recommended. Early detection of GDM and adequate blood sugar control is done to reduce the adverse neonatal outcomes. There is no relationship between the number of risk of risk factors and adverse neonatal outcomes. But when the number of risk factors increases the risk for GDM is increased

Griffiths phase-like behaviour and spin-phonon coupling in double perovskite Tb2_{2}NiMnO6_{6}

The Griffiths phase-like features and the spin-phonon coupling effects observed in Tb$_2$NiMnO$_6$ are reported. The double perovskite compound crystallizes in monoclinic $P2_1/n$ space group and exhibits a magnetic phase transition at $T_c \sim$ 111 K as an abrupt change in magnetization. A negative deviation from ideal Curie-Weiss law exhibited by 1/$\chi(T)$ curves and less-than-unity susceptibility exponents from the power-law analysis of inverse susceptibility are reminiscent of Griffiths phase-like features. Arrott plots derived from magnetization isotherms support the inhomogeneous nature of magnetism in this material. The observed effects originate from antiferromagnetic interactions which arise from inherent disorder in the system. Raman scattering experiments display no magnetic-order-induced phonon renormalization below $T_c$ in Tb$_2$NiMnO$_6$ which is different from the results observed in other double perovskites and is correlated to the smaller size of the rare earth. The temperature evolution of full-width-at-half-maximum for the {\it stretching} mode at 645 cm$^{-1}$ presents an anomaly which coincides with the magnetic transition temperature and signals a close connection between magnetism and lattice in this material.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures; accepted in J. Appl. Phy

सीप गठन की प्रेरणा के लिए समुद्री द्विकपाटी मोलस्क के मैन्टिल ऊतक के पात्रेन संवर्धन का प्रयोग

In vivo culture of mantle tissue of bivalve molluscs for induced pearl productio

CHRONIC ORAL TOXICITY STUDIES OF CRUDE ETHANOLIC EXTRACT AND ETHANOLIC FRACTION OF PELLIONIA HEYNEANA WEDD. LEAF IN WISTAR RATS

Objective: Pellionia heyneana Wedd. leaf has been used by the Cholanaikan tribe as a traditional medicine to enhance immunity and also to treat various liver ailments. However, no scientific reports are available regarding its long term toxicity studies. The objective of the present study was to investigate the chronic oral toxicity study of P. heyneana leaf.Methods: In the present study, scientific evaluation of oral toxicity of P. heyneana crude ethanolic leaf extract (PHLE) and leaf ethanolic fraction (PHEF) were carried out in Wistar rats. Animals were fed with three varying concentrations (500 mg/kg, 1000 mg/kg and 1500 mg/kg) of PHLE and PHEF for 90 d. During the study period, all the animals were closely observed for any morbidity or mortality, food and water intake, body weight etc. The effect of PHLE and PHEF on animal behaviour, metabolism, liver function, kidney function, blood glucose level, in vivo antioxidant status, haematological parameters, histopathology of internal organs etc. were evaluated after 90 d chronic toxicity study.Results: All the animals administered with PHLE/PHEF up to 1500 mg/kg dose did not show any deleterious changes in normal metabolism, histopathology of internal organs, haematological and biochemical indices.Conclusion: All these results revealed that PHLE and PHEF of P. heyneana are non toxic in long term oral administration in Wistar rats.Â

Nematopsis sp. (Apicomplexa: Porosporidae) infection in Crassostrea madrasensis and its associated histopathology

The present study forms the first report of Nematopsis sp. infection in the edible oyster, Crassostrea madrasensis from India. The study was carried out as part of a detailed pathological investigation of C. madrasensis along the southwest coast of India. Sporozoites of Nematopsis sp. were found in samples collected from two locations. Light microscopic observation revealed ellipsoidal oocysts measuring 16.63±2.40 μm in length and 11.11± 2.49 μm in width (n=30) in the connective tissues of gills, mantle, visceral mass and gonads. Prevalence of infection ranged from 11 to 27%. Apparent pathological changes included compression of adjacent digestive diverticulae in visceral connective tissue infections and presence of phagocytosed oocysts in water channels in the case of gill infections. With relevance to the expanding culture of C. madrasensis, monitoring potential pathogens of this species in its natural habitat is important for developing suitable health management packages

Polaronic state and nanometer-scale phase separation in colossal magnetoresistive manganites

High resolution topographic images obtained by scanning tunneling microscope in the insulating state of Pr0.68Pb0.32MnO3 single crystals showed regular stripe-like or zigzag patterns on a width scale of 0.4 - 0.5 nm confirming a high temperature polaronic state. Spectroscopic studies revealed inhomogeneous maps of zero-bias conductance with small patches of metallic clusters on length scale of 2 - 3 nm only within a narrow temperature range close to the metal-insulator transition. The results give a direct observation of polarons in the insulating state, phase separation of nanometer-scale metallic clusters in the paramagnetic metallic state, and a homogeneous ferromagnetic state

Ameliorative effect of ethanolic extract of roots of Tetracera akara (Burm. f.) Merr. on D-galactosamine induced hepatotoxicity in Wistar rats by downregulation of inflammatory mediators like TNFα, COX-2 and iNOS

161-171Tetracera akara, a climbing shrub locally called Nennalvalli or Pattuvalli, is an ethnomedicinal plant used by Kani tribe of Kerala to treat chronic liver disorders and inflammatory conditions.  The present study was aimed to evaluate the hepatoprotective activity of ethanolic extract of roots of Tetracera akara root on D-Galactosamine induced hepatotoxicity in Wistar rats. Hepatotoxicity was induced in Wistar rats by intraperitoneal injection of D-GalN (400 mg/kg in saline) in Wistar rats. Ethanolic extract of T. akara root (TA ETH) was administered to the experimental rats in varying doses of (50, 150 and 300 mg/kg/day), p. o. for 7 days. The hepatoprotective effect was evaluated by the estimation of biochemical markers of hepatic injury, anti-oxidant status of the liver by estimating hepatic catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione and malondialdehyde, gene and protein expression level of inflammatory marker genes and histopathological evaluation of experimental animals. Administration of TA ETH (150 and 300 mg/kg) significantly (P ≤0.05) restored the levels of serum bilirubin, protein and other hepatic enzymes almost comparable to the standard drug Silymarin-treated groups. The levels of antioxidant enzymes like SOD and CAT were elevated and lipid peroxidation was inhibited as evident from the reduced levels of MDA. The gene expression studies by quantitative PCR method showed that TA ETH significantly (P ≤0.05) downregulated pro inflammatory cytokines, inflammatory COX-2 genes and upregulated IL 10 gene levels in D-GalN induced liver tissue, which was further confirmed in protein estimation by ELISA method. The histopathological observations were in correlation with the biochemical findings showing the presence of normal hepatic architecture, which further evidenced the hepatoprotective effect of TA ETH. Ethanolic extract of the root of T. akara possesses significant hepatoprotective activity mainly by scavenging reactive free radicals, boosting the endogenous antioxidant system in liver and inhibiting pro-inflammatory mediator like TNF α, COX-2, iNOS and promoting the anti-inflammatory IL 10, thus substantiating the tribal claim

Evaluation of different media for cell proliferation in mantle tissue culture of the green mussel, Perna viridis (Linnaeus, 1758)

The aim of the present study was to establish a suitable culture system for tissue explants from the mantle of the green mussel, Perna viridis. The experiments were conducted using healthy, live green mussels in the size range of 75 to 110 g collected from Pulicat Lake, Tamil Nadu. Three different culture media namely M199, Leibovitz L-15 and sterile seawater were used to assess the most suitable medium for growth, proliferation and viability of mantle epithelial cells. The effect of the addition of two supplements viz., 10% foetal calf serum (FCS) and 0.1% yeast extract to the culture media was also evaluated. After carefully isolating the pallial layer from the mantle tissue, 1-2 mm2 size explants were successfully cultured in 12-well plates at 25°C for up to 14 days. Cultures were monitored under light and phase contrast objectives in an inverted microscope. Cell counts were made and cell size was measured for each treatment. Cells were observed to migrate from the periphery of the explant within 24 h after initiation of cultures. The liberated cells were mostly round and were either granulocytes or hyalinocytes. Fibroblast-like cells were also observed. Our results showed that proliferation of epithelial cells from mantle tissue was maximum in seawater medium (7.4x104 cells ml-1), followed by L-15 medium (2.55x104 cells ml-1). Average cell size in seawater medium was 10.72 μm and that in L-15 and M199 media was 8.56 and 6.39 μm, respectively. Adherent cells were also more prominent and higher in number in seawater medium. Supplementation of culture media with 10% FCS and 0.1% yeast extract improved both cell proliferation and cell size in all the three culture media. Four concentrations of 0.1% yeast extract (@ 50 μl, 75 μl, 100 μl, 150 μl ml-1 medium) were tested in the present study and best results were obtained with 100 μl ml-1, with respect to both cell counts and size

Interfacial Stresses on Droplet Interface Bilayers Using Two Photon Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy

Response of lipid bilayers to external mechanical stimuli is an active area of research with implications for fundamental and synthetic cell biology. However, there is a lack of tools for systematically imposing mechanical strains and non-invasively mapping out interfacial (membrane) stress distributions on lipid bilayers. In this article, we report a miniature platform to manipulate model cell membranes in the form of droplet interface bilayers (DIBs), and non-invasively measure spatio-temporally resolved interfacial stresses using two photon fluorescence lifetime imaging of an interfacially active molecular flipper (Flipper-TR). We established the effectiveness of the developed framework by investigating interfacial stresses accompanying three key processes associated with DIBs: thin film drainage between lipid monolayer coated droplets, bilayer formation, and bilayer separation. Interestingly, the measurements also revealed fundamental aspects of DIBs including the existence of a radially decaying interfacial stress distribution post bilayer formation, and the simultaneous build up and decay of stress respectively at the bilayer corner and center during bilayer separation. Finally, utilizing interfacial rheology measurements and MD simulations, we also reveal that the tested molecular flipper is sensitive to membrane fluidity that changes with interfacial stress - expanding the scientific understanding of how molecular motors sense stress.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure