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Biomedical subjects

A Kumar

Publications and source records attributed to A Kumar.

At least 487 records · Page 27Linked to original sources
PubMed2000

Long-term followup of elderly donors in a live related renal transplant program.

PURPOSE: It is a concern that elderly donors may have increased risks in the perioperative period due to age related changes in various organ systems. Nephrosclerosis, atherosclerosis and low glomerular filtration rate may portend a poor graft outcome. We performed a study to determine function and outcome of kidneys from elderly donors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of our live related transplant program from November 1989 to December 1998 revealed that 112 donors were older than 55 years (range 55 to 81). Of the recipients of these kidneys from elderly donors 98 had a followup of more than 2 years (group 1), and they were compared to a cohort of 87 patients whose kidney donors were younger than 45 years (group 2). Allograft function was evaluated by serum creatinine and differential glomerular filtration rate was determined by (99m)technetium diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid renal scan. All donors were followed regularly. RESULTS: Mean donor age plus or minus standard deviation was 57.4 +/- 4.3 and 31.4 +/- 7.6 years in groups 1 and 2, respectively. Mean followup plus or minus standard deviation was 42.44 +/- 20.46 months in group 1 and 40.04 +/- 27.28 months in group 2. The 1-year graft survival rate was 91.84% and 88. 51%, and the 5-year graft survival rate was 72.72% and 75.13% in groups 1 and 2, respectively. Serum creatinine was 1.5 +/- 0.65 and 1.7 +/- 1.52 mg./dl. in group 1 and 1.4 +/- 0.55 and 1.5 +/- 1.41 mg. /dl. in group 2 at 1 year and last followup, respectively. Glomerular filtration rate was 37.2 +/- 11.2 and 37.3 +/- 10.7 ml. per minute in group 1 and it was 45.3 +/- 8.6 and 47.7 +/- 11.3 ml. per minute in group 2 at 1 year and last followup, respectively. Acute rejection rate was significantly higher in group 1 (42%) compared to group 2 (19%). Both groups were comparable in terms of infectious episodes, antihypertensive requirement and incidence of acute tubular necrosis. There was no added morbidity for elderly compared to younger donors. CONCLUSIONS: In view of acute donor shortage and if properly screened, elderly kidneys can be used without increasing the risk to donor or compromising graft outcome.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Heat exposure study in the workplace in a glass manufacturing unit in India.

The heat exposure for working conditions in coastal areas of tropical and subtropical countries like India is a crucial factor in improved qualitative and quantitative production. The hot climate augments the heat exposure close to sources like furnaces. In the present work heat exposure to workers in glass manufacturing units in a coastal area of India has been assessed. The Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), the Corrected Effective Temperature (CET) and Mean Radiant Temperature (MRT) were measured. The WBGT values much exceeded ACGIH TLVs. A revision of these standards to suit tropical and subtropical conditions is required. The recommended durations of work and rest have been estimated.

Environmental Monitoring↗
PubMed2000

Pulmonary infections in the adolescent with immunodeficiency.

Pulmonary infections in the immunocompromised adolescent are important causes of significant morbidity and mortality. Advances in the fields of chemotherapy, organ transplantation, and use of corticosteroid and immunosuppressive therapies have led to significant improvement in the outcome of patients with malignancy and a variety of other disorders. HIV infection has become a major additional cause of immune suppression. In turn, physicians are encountering growing numbers of patients with an impaired immune system presenting with respiratory and other infections. This article presents a brief review of defense mechanisms in the respiratory tract, selected conditions leading to impaired immune responses in the adolescent, specific pulmonary pathogens and their evaluation in the immunocompromised adolescent, and general considerations of the management of pulmonary infections in the immunocompromised adolescent. Infections of the upper respiratory tract and pulmonary infections seen in adolescents with cystic fibrosis are not discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Immobilization of hormones for drug targeting.

Biological active compounds such as insulin, heparin, progesterone and labeled-LH were entrapped in glutaraldehyde cross-linked bovine serum albumin (BSA) and human serum albumin (HAS) microspheres. Studies were carried out for their binding capacity and biodegradability using new proteolytic enzymes. Effects of proteolytic enzymes such as trypsin, chymotrypsin, papain and pronase-E on microspheres were studied in order to understand the biodegradability of the cross-linked proteins. It has been observed that labeled-LG was entrapped 60% in BSA and HAS microspheres. Labelled-LH-BSA, Labelled-LH-HAS and insulin microspheres were injected into mice and rabbits. It was observed that these cross-linked microspheres were biodegradable and the process appeared to be slow one, useful for sustained release of hormones. It was also observed that these albumin microspheres exhibit fluorescence at 495 nm.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Graphically-enabled integration of bioinformatics tools allowing parallel execution.

Rapid analysis of large amounts of genomic data is of great biological as well as medical interest. This type of analysis will greatly benefit from the ability to rapidly assemble a set of related analysis programs and to exploit the power of parallel computing. TurboGenomics, which is a software package currently in its alpha-testing phase, allows integration of heterogeneous software components to be done graphically. In addition, the tool is capable of making the integrated components run in parallel. To demonstrate these abilities, we use the tool to develop a Web-based application that allows integrated access to a set of large-scale sequence data analysis programs used by a transposon-insertion based yeast genome project. We also contrast the differences in building such an application with and without using the TurboGenomics software.

Computational Biology↗
PubMed2000

cAMP increases the expression of human angiotensinogen gene through a combination of cyclic AMP responsive element binding protein and a liver specific transcription factor.

Angiotensinogen is the glycoprotein precursor of one of the most potent vasoactive hormones angiotensin-II which plays an important role in the regulation of blood pressure. We show here that the promoter activity of reporter constructs containing human angiotensinogen promoter is increased by cAMP treatment on transient transfection in HepG2 cells. We have identified a composite cAMP responsive element, located around 840 bases upstream from the transcriptional initiation site, in the promoter of human angiotensinogen gene. This element is recognized by members of CREB/ATF as well as C/EBP family of transcription factors. Another C/EBP binding site that is not recognized by CREB is located 10 bases upstream from this site. We show that co-transfection of CREB increases the promoter activity of reporter constructs containing human angiotensinogen gene promoter attached to the CAT gene. We also show that co-transfection of DBP (which is a member of C/EBP family of transcription factors) increases promoter activity of these reporter constructs.

Activating Transcription Factor 1↗
PubMed2000

Molecular signaling in pathogenicity and host recognition in smut fungi taking Karnal bunt as a model system.

Karnal bunt of wheat, incited by a phytopathogen Tilletia indica (Syn. Neovossia indica) is a floret infecting disease. In the floral tissues fungus proliferates and produces massive amount of black spores. In smut fungi, belonging to order Ustilaginales, communication between cells is necessary to regulate growth, differentiation and monokaryotic to dikaryotic transition during pathogenic and sexual development. Neighbouring cells are able to communicate with each other by direct cell to cell contact through plasma membrane bound signaling molecules or through formation of gap junctions and alternatively through secretion of chemical signals if cells are some distance away. Current research efforts toward understanding of pathogenic and sexual development in phytopathogenic fungi, offer a number of opportunities. These include the analysis of molecular signal(s) for direct contribution of sexual interactions to ability of smut and bunt pathogens to cause disease. These efforts will provide not only to explore the mechanisms of pathogenesis, but also to enhance knowledge of basic cellular biology of an economically important group of fungi.

Cell Communication↗
PubMed2000

Pre- and extra-marital heterosexual behaviour of an urban community in Rajasthan, India.

A study conducted among the teachers of senior secondary schools of a city in Rajasthan state to know the magnitude of pre- and extra-marital heterosexual practices and some related characteristics revealed that one third of unmarried and one fifth of married males had experienced pre-marital sex. The same for unmarried and married females was 11.8 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively. The prevalence of extra-marital heterosexual act among married males was 15.5 per cent. One out of ten married males reported to have had both pre- and extra-marital sex. A male having pre-marital sex was 15 times more likely to have extra-marital sex. Friends, acquaintances and relatives were the important sexual partners while role of commercial sex workers was negligible. The study reports that heterosexual act with person other than the legal spouse is very much prevalent among this group of middle class professionals. This situation is conducive for the spread of HIV infection among general population and may adversely influence the sexual attitudes of students. The study, therefore, suggests that, besides intensifying the health education on HIV/AIDS, serious considerations about the sexual behaviours of school teachers are needed.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Metallothionein induced by cadmium or zinc inhibits lipid peroxidation in rats exposed to dimethylnitrosamine.

Dimethylnitrosamine (N-nitrosodimethyamine) is a potent inducer of microsomal lipid peroxidation in the liver and kidneys. The results of this study show that prior exposure of adult rats to cadmium or zinc antagonises the effect of dimethylnitrosamine on lipid peroxidation by inducing increased metallothionein synthesis. Increased concentration of reduced glutathione (GSH) in the liver and kidney of rats pre-treated with cadmium or zinc and exposed to dimethylnitrosamine suggests that metallothionein inhibits oxidative stress. The presented results have been corroborated by findings that exposure of adult rats to cadmium or zinc may activate genes for metallothionein and glutathione-S-transferase, the protective proteins against oxidative stress.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Enhancement of seed oil content by expression of glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase genes.

Arabidopsis thaliana was transformed with a plastidial safflower glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (GPAT) and an Escherichia coli GPAT. The genes were used directly and in modified forms with, as applicable, the plastidial targeting sequence removed, and with an endoplasmic reticulum targeting sequence added. Seeds of plants transformed using only the vector were indistinguishable in oil content from wild-type control plants. All other gene constructs increased seed oil content. The unmodified safflower gene (spgpat) produced oil increases ranging from 10 to 21%. On average, the greatest increase (+22%) was observed in seeds of transformants carrying the spgpat with the targeting peptide removed. The E. coli plsB gene increased seed oil content by an average of 15%.

Arabidopsis↗
PubMed2000

The therapeutic potential of interleukin 10 in infection and inflammation.

Interleukin 10 (IL-10), a cytokine with inhibitory activity on inflammation and cell-mediated immune responses, holds enormous potential for the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune disorders. In addition, IL-10 has also been implicated in the immunopathogenesis of a number of infectious diseases through the use of IL-10 knock-out or IL-10 transgenic mouse models. In this review, we delineate infectious and inflammatory conditions in which IL-10 has shown potential for therapeutic manipulation. Specifically, we review the role of IL-10 in human endotoxemia/sepsis and in HIV infection, conditions for which preliminary phase I trials have recently been undertaken. It is suggested that the therapeutic potential of IL-10 to selectively ameliorate human infectious and inflammatory processes can be realized through a careful selection of the clinical conditions in which patients are undergoing concomitant treatment with anti-microbial regimens.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Patient-reported complications after cryoablation therapy for prostate cancer.

To define the patient-reported complications after cryoablation therapy for prostate cancer and to compare these results to previously published patient-reported complications for radical prostatectomy and external beam irradiation. A questionnaire similar to previously published patient-reported complication studies was sent to the first 290 patients treated by cryoablation therapy at our Institution. The questionnaire was returned by 267 patients. Forty-four patients were excluded from analysis because of prior irradiation, transurethral prostatectomy, or cryoablation, resulting in a study group of 223 patients. Of the 208 patients with good urinary control preoperatively, 9 (4.3%) patients used incontinence pads after cryoablation. Seven of the 8 patients who used one pad daily reported leakage of only a few drops. Impotency, defined as an inability to obtain erections adequate for vaginal penetration, occurred in 85% of men who were potent preoperatively. Urethrorectal fistula occurred in 1 patient (0.4%). Bladder outlet obstruction caused by stricture of sloughed necrotic prostatic tissue required dilation or transurethral resection in 10% of patients. Scrotal swelling, penile tingling, and pelvic pain occurred in 18, 15, and 12% of patients, respectively; typically, these resolved spontaneously within 3 months. Patient-reported complications for cryoblation compared favorably to those reported for radical prostatectomy and external beam irradiation. Patient satisfaction was high; 96% of patients reported that they would choose cryosurgery as a treatment option again.

Aged↗
PubMed2000

Analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of phosphodiesterase inhibitors.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of phosphodiesterase (PDE) enzyme inhibitors namely rolipram and theophylline in pain and inflammation in experimental animals. Rolipram, a selective PDE IV inhibitor and theophylline a nonspecific PDE inhibitor exerted dose dependent analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect against acetic acid-induced writhing in mice and carrageenan-induced paw edema in rats, respectively. Nimesulide (1, 2 mg/kg) produced significant anti-inflammatory effect. Further, nimesulide (0.5 mg/kg) potentiated analgesic effect of rolipram but it failed to modulate the anti-inflammatory effect of PDE inhibitors. Present study suggests that PDE enzymes might be playing a role in nociceptive and inflammatory responses in animals.

Abdominal Pain↗
PubMed2000

Modulation of antigenicity of mycelial antigens during developmental cycle of Karnal bunt (Tilletia indica) of wheat.

Indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) were developed using polyclonal antibodies against soluble cytoplasmic (SCA) and insoluble cell wall antigens (ICWA) for monitoring modulation of mycelial antigens during growth cycle of T. indica. With SCA, continuous decrease in ELISA reactivity was observed in maturing fungus cultures, suggesting that SCA were expressed predominantly during early vegetative phase and their decreasing role was apparent as the fungus matures possibly towards sporogenous mycelium. In case of ICWA, the reaction profile showed an increase up to exponential phase of growth probably due to increase in the cell division and branching of mycelium. But later, ICWA antibody reactivity was decreased which may be due to conversion of mycelial phase to sporogenous phase, a quiescent stage of growth. Characterization of changes in antigenic configuration during developmental cycle of Tilletia indica by these antibodies could prove to be useful in identification of developmentally related and virulence marker(s).

Antigens, Fungal↗