Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

A Ali

Publications and source records attributed to A Ali.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed2003

Ovarian follicular dynamics in buffalo cows (Bubalus bubalis).

Follicular growth in Egyptian buffalo cows was monitored using genital tracts from 200 buffalo cows collected immediately after slaughter. According to the morphological appearance of the corpus luteum (CL), the corresponding oestrous cycle was divided into four stages: A (days 1-4), B (days 5-10), C (days 11-17) and D (days 18-21). Within these stages the follicular population on the ovaries was evaluated and the dominant follicle (DF) determined in all recovered ovaries. The functional status of the DF and the largest sub-dominant follicles was examined by histological examination in 31 cases, and Radio Immunoassay (RIA) analyses for estradiol-17beta (E2) and progesterone (P4) was performed in the follicular fluid in 23 of the DF. The results showed that DFs changed their endocrine character within the stages of the oestrous cycle. The DFs between days 5 and 10 were functionally active (E2-dominant; non-atretic) in most of the cases. Between days 11 and day 17 half of the DFs became functionally inactive (P4-dominant; atretic). At days 18-21 all of the DF became functionally active and non-atretic. In the specimens that carried two large follicles one of them was regularly atretic and P4-dominant whereas the other was non-atretic and E2-dominant. Between days 18 and 21 all ovaries examined showed at least one large follicle. These findings suggest that in most of the cases follicular dynamics occurs in two wave-like patterns in the Egyptian buffalo cows.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

The vibrio pathogenicity island of epidemic Vibrio cholerae forms precise extrachromosomal circular excision products.

The Vibrio pathogenicity island (VPI) in epidemic Vibrio cholerae is an essential virulence gene cluster. Like many pathogenicity islands, the VPI has at its termini a phage-like integrase gene (int), a transposase-like gene (vpiT), and phage-like attachment (att) sites, and is inserted at a tRNA-like locus (ssrA). We report that the VPI precisely excises from the chromosome and that its left and right ends join to form an extrachromosomal circular excision product (pVPI). Two-stage nested PCR analysis and DNA sequencing confirmed the int-att-vpiT junction and that the core attP of pVPI is identical to the chromosomal VPI attR site. Excision was independent of toxR and toxT. Excision was independent of recA, suggesting that it is mediated by site-specific recombination. Interestingly, while excision was detected in int and vpiT mutants, excision was abolished in a double (int vpiT) mutant and was restored by plasmids containing genes for either recombinase. Excision results in deletion of A361 in the ssrA locus, which flanks the right junction of the VPI. Since A361 encodes U70 in the critical G. U base pair in the acceptor stem of the ssrA RNA that is the determinant for aminoacylation with alanine, this deletion might have deleterious effects on ssrA function. Also, vpiT may have undergone interchromosomal translocation or may represent an independent integration event, as it was found downstream of hutA in some isolates. Our results provide new insight into the molecular biology of the VPI, and we propose that the process of excision and circularization is important in the emergence, pathogenesis, and persistence of epidemic V. cholerae.

Chromosomes, Bacterial↗
PubMed2003

Treatment of primary degenerative arthritis of the elbow by ulnohumeral arthroplasty. A long-term follow-up.

Between 1990 and 1996 we performed 20 consecutive ulnohumeral arthroplasties for primary osteoarthritis of the elbow. The outcome was assessed using the Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder and Hand Score (DASH) and the Mayo Elbow Performance Score (MEPS) at a mean follow-up of 75 months (58 to 132). There were excellent or good results in 17 elbows (85%) using the DASH score and in 13 (65%) with the MEPS (correlation coefficient 0.79). The mean fixed flexion deformity had improved by 10 degrees and the range of flexion by a mean of 20 degrees. In 16 elbows (80%) the benefits of surgery had been maintained, and of 16 patients working at the time of operation, 12 (75%) had returned to the same job. There was no correlation between radiological recurrence of degenerative changes and the amount of fixed flexion deformity, the flexion arc, or the elbow scores.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Two new anthraquinones from the roots of Rubia cordifolia Linn.

Two new anthraquinones, named cordifoliol and cordifodiol, have been isolated from the roots of Rubia cordifolia. Their structures have been established as 1-hydroxy-3-ethyl-9,10-anthraquinone (1) and 1,8-dihydroxy-11, 20 (15-pentyl-naphthaquinonyl) phenanthrene (2) on the basis of spectral data analyses and chemical reactions.

Anthraquinones↗
PubMed2003

An evaluation of topical and local anesthesia in phacoemulsification.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the comparative efficacy of topical and local anesthesia in phacoemulsification. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The medical records of 186 men and women between the ages of 45-85 years, who underwent elective cataract surgery by phacoemulsification technique, under the care of one surgeon, over a period of one year, from March 1999-March 2000 were reviewed. RESULTS: Of 186 patients who underwent small incision, self-healing phacoemulsification cataract surgery, 124 received topical and 62 local anesthesia. The most common cataract types were nuclear sclerosis. The duration of surgery with topical anesthesia was shorter. Sutures and eye padding were more frequently applied for procedures done under local anesthesia. Uncorrected visual acuity in the first post-op week was between 20/20-20/50 for 53.6% of the cases done under topical compared to 30.9% in local anesthesia. A similar trend was noted in the visual acuity one month post operatively. CONCLUSION: The uncorrected visual acuity improves faster and the duration of surgery is shorter when topical anesthesia is used.

Administration, Topical↗
PubMed2003

Use of electrical vestibular stimulation to alter genioglossal muscle activity in awake cats.

Prior work has shown that the vestibular system contributes to regulating activity of upper airway muscles including the tongue protruder muscle genioglossus. The goal of the present experiments was to determine whether electrical vestibular stimulation could potentially be used to alter genioglossal activity in awake animals. Six adult cats were instrumented for recording of EMG activity from genioglossus, abdominal musculature, and triceps. In addition, a silver ball electrode was implanted on the round window for stimulation of vestibular afferents. Subsequently, stimulation and recordings were conducted while animals were awake. In all cases, stimulation using single shocks or trains of pulses > 100 microA in intensity produced responses in all muscles, including genioglossus. The latency of the genioglossal response was approximately 12 msec, and delivering continuous current trains to the labyrinth chronically elevated the muscle's activity. Although a number of muscles were affected by the stimulus, animals experienced no obvious distress or balance disturbances. Vestibular stimulation remained effective in producing genioglossal responses until experiments were discontinued 1-2 months following onset. These data suggest that electrical vestibular stimulation could potentially be used therapeutically to alter upper airway muscle activity.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

A novel naphthanol glycoside from Terminalia arjuna with antioxidant and nitric oxide inhibitory activities.

A novel naphthanol glycoside, arjunaphthanoloside (1), was isolated from the stem bark of Terminalia arjuna and its structure was established as 2,3,6,7,8,9-hexahydroxynaphthalene-2-O-alpha-L(-)-rhamnoside by means of spectroscopic and chemical methods. Compound 1 showed potent antioxidant activity and inhibited nitric oxide (NO) production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated rat peritoneal macrophages.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Totally laparoscopic feeding jejunostomy.

BACKGROUND: A feeding jejunostomy should be used for nutritional support in a small subset of patients. Minimal-access approaches for the placement of jejunal tubes have been described, but they often require special equipment not common to all operating theaters. We describe a technique of totally laparoscopic jejunostomy tube (LJT) placement using equipment found in most operating theaters. METHODS: Thirty-five patients underwent LJT over a 12-month period. Indications included gastroparesis, anorexia nervosa, oral cancer, cerebral palsy, and Huntington's chorea. The technique involved three incisions for trocars (one for a 10-mm camera and two for 5-mm working ports) and one small incision for the tube. A 16-Fr T-tube was passed transabdominally under direct vision, and a jejunotomy was made approximately 20 cm distal to the ligament of Trietz. Each limb of the T-tube was passed into the lumen of the bowel, and a purse-string suture was placed around the enterotomy and tied intracorporeally. After insertion, the serosa surrounding the insertion site is tacked to the anterior abdominal wall in four places with a reusable stainless steel suture passer. To test whether the tube was watertight, we injected methylene blue solution into the tube. RESULTS: All of the patients tolerated the procedure well. There were no operative deaths. Five LJTs were electively removed in the office. One patient was reoperated on 10 days postoperatively because of intractable pain, but the source of pain was not found and the LJT was intact. CONCLUSIONS: LJT may be placed safely using the described technique. No significant morbidity or mortality occurred in our series. The results of this study have prompted us to consider LJT for any patient requiring access to the jejunum for feeding.

Anorexia Nervosa↗
PubMed2002

Effects of pneumoperitoneum on hemodynamic and systemic immunologic responses to peritonitis in pigs.

BACKGROUND: Experimental evidence supporting the safety of laparoscopic intervention during sepsis is limited. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of pneumoperitoneum on immunologic and hemodynamic responses to peritoneal sepsis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A porcine model of peritonitis was created using an intraperitoneal autologous fecal inoculum. Pigs were then subjected to one of four procedures 24 h postinoculation (n = 6 per group): laparotomy, CO(2) laparoscopy, helium laparoscopy, and anesthesia only (1.5% isoflurane in 100% O(2), mechanical ventilation). Venous blood samples were obtained prior to inoculation, and at 24 (prior to procedure), 30, 48, 72, and 96 h postinoculation to determine white blood count (WBC) with differential, C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor, and bacteremia. Heart rate, end-tidal CO(2) (ETCO(2)), mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), and arterial blood gas variables were also measured at baseline and every 30 min throughout the procedure. RESULTS: Postoperative blood cultures confirmed systemic bacteremia in all groups at all time periods postinoculation. Following inoculation, WBC, band cell count, and CRP remained elevated above baseline in all groups throughout the study (P < 0.01). However, no significant differences in these parameters were observed among groups. In the CO(2) laparoscopy group, MAP, ETCO(2), and arterial pCO(2) were increased above baseline, while pH was decreased throughout the procedure (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: In this animal model of peritonitis, CO(2) pneumoperitoneum induced hypercapnia, acidemia, and systemic hypertension intraoperatively, without a discernable effect on systemic immune function.

Acidosis↗
PubMed2002

A prospective study on clinical outcome following pleurotomy during cardiac surgery.

BACKGROUND: Due to conflicting reports on pleurotomy-associated morbidity following internal mammary artery (IMA) harvesting, we conducted a prospective study to assess the clinical significance and outcome of pleurotomy during cardiac surgery. METHODS: We included patients undergoing cardiac surgery from November 2000 until January 2001. Participants were divided into two groups: one with routine or incidental left pleurotomy and the other with intact left pleurae. RESULTS: Of the 218 patients registered for this study, 12 were excluded (7 deaths occurred, 5 patients were transferred prior to study completion). Of the 206 remaining, 138 had isolated CABG, 39 had valve surgery and 29 had a combined procedure. Although patients with a left pleurotomy (n= 164) had a higher incidence of left lung atelectasis (67.7% vs. 45.2%; p = 0.007), neither radiographic consolidation (7.5% vs. 7.3%; p = 0.96), effusion (42.5%vs. 46.3%; p - 0.66), nor hospital stay (9 days in both groups; p - 0.83) increased. CONCLUSIONS: Left pleurotomy was found to increase the rate of atelectasis. However, this was not associated with an adverse clinical outcome. Pleurotomy during IMA harvesting can be performed according to operator preference.

Aged↗
PubMed2002

Registry based trauma outcome: perspective of a developing country.

OBJECTIVE: To report trauma outcome from a developing country based on the Trauma and Injury Severity Scoring (TRISS) method and compare the outcome with the registry data from Major Trauma Outcome Study (MTOS). DESIGN: Registry based audit of all trauma patients over two years. SETTING: Emergency room of a teaching university hospital. SUBJECTS: 279 injured patients meeting trauma team activation criteria including all deaths in the emergency room. OUTCOME MEASURES: TRISS methodology to compare expected and observed outcome. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: W, M, and Z statistics and comparison with MTOS data. RESULTS: 279 patients meeting the trauma triage criteria presented to the emergency room, 235 (84.2%) were men and 44 (15.8%) women. Blunt injury accounted for 204 (73.1%) and penetrating for 75 (26.9%) patients. Seventy two patients had injury severity score of more than 15. Only 18 (6.4%) patients were transported in an ambulance. A total of 142 (50.9%) patients were transferred from other hospitals with a mean prehospital delay of 7.1 hours. M statistic of our study subset was 0.97, indicating a good match between our patients and MTOS cohort. There were 18 deaths with only one unexpected survivor. The expected number of deaths based on MTOS dataset should have been 12. CONCLUSIONS: Present injury severity instruments using MTOS coefficients do not accurately correlate with observed survival rates in a developing country.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Impact of cattle keeping on human biting rate of anopheline mosquitoes and malaria transmission around Ziway, Ethiopia.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of livestock keeping on the human biting rate (HBR) of anopheline mosquitoes and malaria transmission around Ziway in the middle course of the Ethiopian Rift Valley. DESIGN: As a passive experiment, man landing captures were done in homesteads with mixed dwelling, separate cattle shed and without livestock; and as an active experiment, captures were in experimental tukuls (huts) of cattle, goats, and without livestock. Parasite and spleen rates of children were compared among those residents under variable living conditions mentioned for passive experiment. SUBJECTS: For entomological study, human-baits were used for man-landing captures of mosquitoes. Study subjects for parasitological and clinical studies were children below 10 years old. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Human-biting rate (HBR) of anopheline mosquitoes; and the parasite and spleen rates of the study subjects in different living conditions. RESULTS: In the passive experiment, the mean HBR of Anopheles arabiensis in mixed dwelling, separate cattle shed and without livestock was 8.45, 4.64 and 5.97, respectively. Similarly, the HBR of An. pharoensis was 2.88, 1.79 and 1.61, respectively. In the active experiment, the mean HBR of An. arabiensis in tukuls with cattle, goats, and without livestock was 3.50, 3.38 and 1.43 respectively; while that of An. pharoensis was 0.37, 0.70 and 0.55 respectively. Parasitologically, mean parasite rates of 26.67%, 15.05% and 23.85% were, respectively, recorded from children living under the above conditions stated for passive experiment. Similarly, the mean spleen rates of 50.0%, 26.9%, and 47.37% were recorded, respectively. CONCLUSION: These observations in the present study indicate that the presence of cattle in homesteads tends to increase the man biting rate of An. arabiensis, although differences in the mean HBR of vector mosquitoes were not statistically significant for all groups. In contrast, cattle keeping in separate cattle sheds outside of the human dwellings tends to reduce the man biting rate of An. arabiensis and malaria transmission in the study area.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Comparison of two bioassay techniques for assessing the acute toxicity of pesticides to chironomid larvae (Diptera: Chironomidae).

Two container and substrate combinations were compared to determine which provided optimal survival of larvae of Chironomus tepperi and Glyptotendipes paripes in the absence of toxicants. Unfed final-stage larvae of G. paripes survived significantly (P < 0.05) better in waxed paper cups with sand substrate (92.8% after 3 days) than in glass tubes with a shredded paper substrate (85.3%). Survival of larvae of C. tepperi over the same period did not differ significantly in the 2 systems. Larvae of C. tepperi were bioassayed against 3 insecticides (technical and formulated imidacloprid, chlorpyrifos, and betacypermethrin) with both container and substrate combinations. Median lethal concentration values (24 h) obtained with waxed cups with sand were 1.8 times higher on average than those obtained with glass tubes with shredded paper (range 1.13-2.65 times). To determine the cause of this variability, solid-phase microextraction was used to measure changes in chlorpyrifos availability over time in the 2 bioassay systems. Chlorpyrifos concentrations in the waxed cups and sand system fell from 7.50 to 3.36 microg/liter over 24 h, probably as a consequence of chemical adsorption to the waxed surfaces. Chlorpyrifos concentrations in the glass tubes and paper system remained unchanged over this period. Excluding substrates from the containers had only a minor effect on chlorpyrifos availability. These results demonstrate that the behaviors of both test organisms and toxicants within bioassay systems need to be understood if the data generated with different systems are to be compared. Understanding how toxicant availability is affected by different container and substrate types is particularly important where bioassays are conducted with nominal concentration values rather than analytically determined exposure concentrations.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Defaulting from DOTS and its determinants in three districts of Arsi Zone in Ethiopia.

SETTING: Three districts of Oromia Region in Arzi Zone, Ethiopia. OBJECTIVES: To determine the rate of defaulting from directly observed treatment, short course (DOTS) for tuberculosis and identify associated factors. DESIGN: A case control study. Records of 1367 new tuberculosis patients put on DOTS during a period of 30 months (1 July 1997-31 December 1999) were reviewed to determine the defaulting rate. Cases were defaulters and controls were selected by paired matching of sex and age using the lottery method. All study subjects were actively traced and interviewed by trained interviewers using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. RESULTS: The overall rate of defaulting from DOTS was calculated to be 11.3%, while the rate in sputum smear-positive cases was 11.6%. Defaulting was highest (81%) during the continuation phase of treatment. Medication side effects were significantly associated with defaulting (OR = 4.20, 95% CI 1.51-11.66), while adequate knowledge and family support were found to be possible protective factors (OR = 0.04, 95% CI 0.02-0.1 and OR = 0.19, 95% CI 0.08-0.46, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Major factors contributing to high rates of defaulting were found to be lack of family support, inadequate knowledge about treatment duration and medication side effects. Control programmes that take these factors into consideration should be successful in reducing defaulting.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Recognition of DNA-arginine photoadduct by anti-DNA autoantibodies in systemic lupus erythematosus.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Studies have been carried out to synthesize and characterize the photoconjugate between positively charged amino acid, arginine and DNA fragments and their role in the induction of anti-DNA antibodies. METHODS: Calf thymus DNA fragments of about 200 base pairs (bp) were covalently crosslinked with arginine under UV light. The amino acid was found to be covalently photoconjugated to DNA and resulted in the formation of a crosslink. The photoadduct was characterized by various physicochemical methods. RESULTS: Photoaddition of arginine to 200 bp DNA rendered the nucleic acid conformer thermodynamically more stable than the native form. After systematic characterization of the photoadduct, it was used as an antigen for the generation of antibodies in experimental animals. The photoadducts were found to be immunogenic in rabbits, inducing high titre antibodies. The DNA-arginine photoadduct showed higher binding with SLE sera known to have high level of anti-DNA antibodies. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: Naturally occurring anti-DNA autoantibodies were found to recognize DNA-arginine photoadduct. The recognition of DNA-arginine photoadduct by anti-DNA autoantibodies points to the role of modified DNA in the induction of anti-DNA antibodies in autoimmune disorders.

Animals↗