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Biomedical subjects

A Manoharan

Publications and source records attributed to A Manoharan.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

Bancroftian filariasis in Pondicherry, south India--epidemiological impact of recovery of the vector population.

An Integrated Vector Management (IVM) strategy was implemented from 1981 to 1985 in one part of Pondicherry, South India, for the control of the bancroftian filariasis vector Culex quinquefasciatus (the IVM area). The rest of the town (the comparison area) received the conventional larvicidal input. After 1985 both the areas were managed conventionally. The switch to conventional strategy resulted in an increase of vector density in both areas. The microfilaraemia prevalence in humans showed a general decline (P less than 0.05) from 1986 to 1989 only in the IVM area whereas its intensity did not change significantly in either area. While the age-specific rate of gain of infection was generally unchanged in the IVM area, an increase in all age classes was observed after 1985 in the comparison area, where the Annual Transmission Index was high during the previous years. In both areas the rate of loss of infection increased during 1986-9 compared to 1981-6. The results suggest that 3 years is too short a period to relate the changes in entomological parameters to those in the microfilaraemia status of the population.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Haematological manifestations of primary Sjögren's syndrome: a clinicopathological study.

Clinically significant cytopenias are thought to be uncommon in primary Sjögren's syndrome: only a few cases have been reported in the literature. Over a 3-year period we identified haematological abnormalities in 11 of 27 patients with Sjögren's syndrome. Six patients had a positive direct antiglobulin test, including one patient with all the features of autoimmune haemolytic anaemia and two others with some features of this condition. Four patients had immune thrombocytopenia and two patients had myelodysplastic syndrome. Neutropenia was noted in two patients, one patient had aplastic anaemia and one had pure red cell aplasia. Haematological disorders were found to be common in patients with Sjögren's syndrome (40 per cent). Accordingly, we suggest that patients with immune cytopenia(s) should be screened for Sjögren's syndrome using sensitive assays for anti-SS.A and anti-SS.B antibodies, and that patients with Sjögren's syndrome should be periodically monitored, with a full blood count to rule out any haematological abnormality.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Targeted-immunosuppression with vincristine infusion in the treatment of immune thrombocytopenia.

Twenty-four patients with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) were treated with vincristine (VCR) 1.0-2.0mg given as 4-hr I.V. infusions at weekly intervals for four-six weeks; four patients received further infusions, as maintenance therapy, at increasing intervals for up to 12 months. Eight of ten patients with recent-onset (less than 6 months) ITP showed an excellent and sustained response, 7/8 without maintenance therapy. Among the 14 patients with ITP of greater than or equal to 6 months' duration, seven showed a good or excellent but only transient response; sustained responses (two good, one partial) were seen only in the three patients who received maintenance therapy. The collective global experience with this novel therapeutic approach of targeted-immunosuppression for ITP is still small, but results to date suggest a promising role for this approach, especially in patients with recent-onset ITP.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Primary cardiac lymphoma.

An elderly man presented with pericardial tamponade: a diagnosis of primary cardiac lymphoma was made by a cytological examination of pericardial fluid. An excellent response to therapy has been observed.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

Microlevel epidemiological variations in malaria & its implications on control strategy.

Microlevel epidemiological variations in designing malaria control strategies were studied. Quantitative and qualitative variations were observed between two physiographic zones and between four different ecotypes within the zones of the Koraput district. While the peak transmission occurred in rainy season in the 600 m plateau (Jeypore zone), the same was observed in cold season in 150 m plateau (Malkangiri zone). The age specific parasite prevalence indicated a high degree of transmission and high level of acquired immunity in top- and foot-hill villages of both zones as compared to plain and riverine villages. Transmission was perennial in top-hill and foot-hill villages while it was of short period (indicated by infant parasite rate) in others. Since the period and intensity of transmission vary, an uniform residual insecticidal spray schedule as followed at present is not necessary. Majority of fever patients in top-hill villages were positive for Plasmodium falciparum and therefore may be treated for malaria without slide collection and examination. Evaluations may be done by sample surveys. These steps can optimize the malaria control operation in the district.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Living conditions and occurrence of malaria in a rural community.

Results of a prospective study of the association between environmental factors and malaria occurrence among 1461 individuals in an Indian rural community are reported. A multiplicative model was fitted by relating malaria positivity with different environmental risk factors as categorical variables. The risk of acquiring malaria infections varied significantly within a village stratified by proximity of breeding sources to human dwellings (chi 2 = 19.87, df = 5, p = 0.0000) and different types of houses (chi 2 = 11.32, df = 2, p = 0.0035). People residing in thatched houses with [Relative Risk (RR) = 6.72] and without false ceiling (RR = 11.27) are exposed to greater risk of contracting malaria infections when compared to tiled houses (RR = 1.00). However, malaria infection was not significantly associated with proximity of cattlesheds to human dwellings (chi 2 = 1.54, df = 2, p = 0.46). A significantly high risk was observed in zones where the cattle to man ratio was very low and vice versa (chi 2 = 15.32, df = 6, p = 0.018). These data suggest and corroborate with earlier studies that transmission is a local problem and it varies within a village according to the microepidemiological factors.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Symptomatic diagnosis of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in field conditions.

This paper examines the relationship between clinical manifestations and parasitaemia in relation to malaria endemicity. Discriminant analysis, showed that fever alone can detect 74.4% of the parasite positive cases and the inclusion of other symptoms like headache, vomiting, nausea, bodyache and diarrhoea marginally increases the efficiency of discrimination (i.e., from 74.4% to 74.7%). It was observed that the association of symptoms with parasitaemia varies with the degree of malaria endemicity. The percentage of correct classification of parasite carriers varied from 45.7% in the immune population to 80.6% in the non-immune population. A significant difference was observed in the density grades between symptom positive and symptom negative cases. Slide examination in hyperendemic area does not give any advantage over the clinical examination and the data obtained from the slides collected during fever surveys tend to overestimate the malaria incidence in hyperendemic area.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Altered condylar morphology associated with disc displacement in TMJ dysfunction: observations by MRI.

Magnetic resonance images of 276 TM joints in 138 symptomatic patients were analyzed in a retrospective study to determine the condylar shape and size and to correlate it with internal derangement. Internal derangement by MRI was noted in 66% of the TM joints. Our study demonstrates that the regressive condylar changes in TM joints with internal derangement were more common (61%) than proliferative bony changes (39%). On the converse, none of the TM joints with regressive condyles revealed normal disc. The altered bony morphology also correlated with the severity of internal derangement, i.e. bony changes in TM joints with anterior closed lock were noted in 64% compared to 45% with reducible disc. The cause and effect relationship of the regressive condylar remodeling and disc abnormality is not clear and needs further study.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Frequency distribution of Wuchereria bancrofti microfilariae in human populations and its relationships with age and sex.

This paper examines the effects of host age and sex on the frequency distribution of Wuchereria bancrofti infections in the human host. Microfilarial counts from a large data base on the epidemiology of bancroftian filariasis in Pondicherry, South India are analysed. Frequency distributions of microfilarial counts divided by age are successfully described by zero-truncated negative binomial distributions, fitted by maximum likelihood. Parameter estimates from the fits indicate a significant trend of decreasing overdispersion with age in the distributions above age 10; this pattern provides indirect evidence for the operation of density-dependent constraints on microfilarial intensity. The analysis also provides estimates of the proportion of mf-positive individuals who are identified as negative due to sampling errors (around 5% of the total negatives). This allows the construction of corrected mf age-prevalence curves, which indicate that the observed prevalence may underestimate the true figures by between 25% and 100%. The age distribution of mf-negative individuals in the population is discussed in terms of current hypotheses about the interaction between disease and infection.

Adolescent↗