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Biomedical subjects

M A Rahman

Publications and source records attributed to M A Rahman.

161 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed1970

Effect of massive doses of bacteriophage on excretion of vibrios, duration of diarrhoea and output of stools in acute cases of cholera.

Each member of a group of 8 patients with acute cholera was treated with a mixture of four cholera bacteriophage preparations containing over 2 x 10(12) phage particles/ml. These massive doses were intended to kill immediately all vibrios in the intestine by "lysis from without". The numbers of Vibrio cholerae were drastically reduced rapidly. In 4 patients, V. cholerae was completely eliminated from the stools early in the treatment; the total stool volume and after-treatment of diarrhoea were reduced in comparison with a control group but were higher than in a group of patients treated with tetracycline. In the other 4 patients treated with phage, vibrios disappeard more slowly from the stools and there was no apparent clinical effect of the phage. In all the patients treated with phage, the duration of diarrhoea was longer than in patients in a control group who excreted vibrios for a similar length of time although the stool output was similar. This was interpreted as being due to the persistence of vibrios in foci of infection in the upper intestine.It is concluded that treatment of cholera with massive doses of bacteriophage is not as effective as treatment with tetracycline. However, phage can selectively eliminate the majority of vibrios without affecting the other intestinal flora and without any apparent toxic effect on the patient. Phage might therefore be useful as a research tool.

Acute Disease↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The demand for child curative care in two rural thanas of Bangladesh: effect of income and women's employment.

This paper seeks to investigate the determinants of child health care seeking behaviours in rural Bangladesh. In particular, the effects of income, women's access to income, and the prices of obtaining child health care are examined. Data on the use of child curative care were collected in two rural areas of Bangladesh--Abhoynagar Thana of Jessore District and Mirsarai Thana of Chittagong District--in March 1997. In estimating the use of child curative care, the nested multinomial logit specification was used. The results of the analysis indicate that a woman's involvement in a credit union or income generation affected the likelihood that curative child care was used. Household wealth decreased the likelihood that the child had an illness episode and affected the likelihood that curative child care was sought. Among facility characteristics, travel time was statistically significant and was negatively associated with the use of a provider.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effect of iron deficiency anemia on the development of atherosclerosis in chicks.

The effect of iron deficiency anemia on the development of atherosclerosis was investigated in chicks. The control group of birds were fed a basal diet, the atherosclerosis group received 1% cholesterol. The lipid content of the aortas of the chicks in atherosclerosis and atherosclerosis-anemia group also developed anemia of appreciable severity in 12 weeks. Hemoglobin and PCV were taken as the index of anemia, while the lipid constituents were determined in plasma and aortic tissue for atherosclerosis. Hypercholesterolemia of almost equal severity occurred in both atherosclerosis and atherosclerosis-anemia groups. The abnormal rise of cholesterol and other lipid material in the aortas of the atherosclerosis and atherosclerosis-anemia groups of birds indicates that iron deficiency anemia did not markedly affect the development of atheroslcerosis; it did not offer any protection in chickens and, in fact, a slight potentiating effect was observed.

Anemia, Hypochromic↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Studies on synergism between glucose and amino acids with respect to insulin release in vitro.

The mutual enhancement of the effect of insulin release by glucose and amino acids is not clearly understood. Present in vitro studies with isolated rat islets were undertaken to elaborate the role of amino acids on insulin release, particularly their interaction with glucose as well as among each other, which has been reported to lead to synergism in the human subjects. In the presence of 8.3 mM glucose, both arginine, as well as, leucine potentiated the effect of glucose which increased progressively with the increasing concentrations of the amino acid. This effect of arginine was not synergistic in nature because arginine did not stimulate insulin release in the absence of glucose. The effect of glucose and leucine was found to be additive and not synergistic. No synergism was exhibited by any of the amino acid pairs tested in the present study. Thus both phenylalanine and lysine did not potentiate the effect of either arginine or leucine. Arginine showed a mild, but significant potentiating effect on leucine-stimulated insulin release. It is suggested that synergism between glucose and amino acids and between certain amino acid pairs reported in man may not be due to the direct effects of these stimuli on the beta cells, but some other factors in vivo may be involved.

Amino Acids↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Studies on malabsorption in malnourished Pakistani children.

Malnutrition is a common finding in Pakistan especially in children of low socio-economic class. Impairment of digestion and absorption makes the diet inefficient at fulfilling the requirements of the child and leads to malnutrition. Earlier work from this laboratory has shown that feeding a high-protein diet to children suffering from protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) did not improve their condition. In the present study forty-two malnourished children and seventeen control subjects were investigated. They were divided into five groups, i.e. fibrocystic disease of the pancreas (n = 9), coeliac disease (n = 17), lactose intolerance (n = 5), PEM (n = 5) and nonspecific diarrhoea (n = 6) on the basis of history, clinical impression and biochemical findings. They were from 6 months to 12 years of age. The majority of them were suffering from diarrhoea, distension of the abdomen and retardation of growth. All children were physically examined and anthropometric measurements were recorded. Changes in hair in the form of sparseness, dyspigmentation and easy pluckability were observed in all groups. In PEM, 80% of the cases had enlarged livers. All children had reduced weight and height as compared with the control group. Haemoglobin, total protein and serum albumin showed a decrease and the fall was greatest in PEM cases as compared with the control group. The excretion of alpha-amino nitrogen increased in PEM children while hydroxyproline and creatinine levels showed a decrease as compared with the control group. The hydroxyproline index, which signifies the growth rate, was also significantly lower in all groups. Xylose and lactose tolerance tests were performed after an oral dose of xylose or lactose respectively. The xylose concentration after the test dose was reduced with the lowest values in the coeliac disease group as compared with the control group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Blood Proteins↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Carbohydrate tolerance status in patients with myocardial infarction.

Hyperglycemia is an important independent risk factor in the development of coronary artery disease. Sixty one patients suffering from chronic and acute myocardial infarction out of which 12 patients were diabetic and 10 normal control subjects were investigated. The patients without diabetes and control subjects were subjected to oral and intravenous glucose tolerance tests. It was observed that the post load glucose level of most of the patients and fasting insulin level of patients without diabetes were higher as compared with control subjects. From the intravenous glucose tolerance test, half life of glucose and glucose assimilation coefficient were determined. Half life of glucose was increased significantly and glucose assimilation coefficient was decreased in the patients with myocardial infarction as compared with those of control subjects. The observations confirm that carbohydrate intolerance in myocardial infarction is not due to suppression of insulin secretion but due to peripheral utilization.

Blood Glucose↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Risk factors of persistent diarrhea in children below five years of age.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Persistent diarrhea is a known cause of childhood mortality, morbidity and malnutrition in developing countries. This study was conducted to find out the host and environmental risk factors associated with persistent diarrhea in Bangladeshi children below 5 years of age. DESIGN: Prospective analytic case-control study. SETTING: Tertiary hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh. METHODS: Fifty children with persistent diarrhea and 50 controls with acute diarrhea (matched for age and sex) comprised the study subjects. RESULTS: Most of the children (82%) were aged below 2 years. Among the risk factors, Grade III malnutrition (p<0.008), irrational antibiotic use during acute diarrheal episode (p<0.0000005), use of unsafe drinking water (p<0.004) and lack of exclusive breast-feeding up to the first four months of life (p<0.004) were significantly associated with persistent diarrhea. Logistic analysis showed irrational antibiotic use (p<0.0001) during an episode of acute diarrhea and lack of exclusive breast-feeding (p<0.05) during the first four months of life as independent risk factors associated with persistent diarrhea. CONCLUSION: Improvement of nutritional status, encouraging exclusive breast-feeding during the first four months of life, discouraging the irrational use of antibiotic for the treatment of acute diarrhea, and provision of safe drinking water may be important for the prevention of persistent diarrhea as these have been identified as risk factors in Bangladeshi children below five years of age.

Bangladesh↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Influence of prior exercise on stroke volume to pulse pressure ratio in young subjects with hypertension or dilated cardiomyopathy.

The objectives of this study were, first, to compare stroke volume to brachial artery pulse pressure ratios (SV/PP) as noninvasive, indirect estimates of total arterial compliance, in young subjects with primary hypertension or dilated cardiomyopathy and age-matched normal subjects and, second, to determine the influence of prior submaximal exercise on this ratio, and on calf and total peripheral vascular conductance in these subjects. We studied young patients (< 40 years old) with primary hypertension (n = 12) or dilated cardiomyopathy (n = 12) and healthy normotensive subjects (n = 12) matched for age and body size. Doppler estimated stroke volume, brachial artery pulse pressure, and calf blood flow were determined during supine rest before and 60 min after exercise. Normotensive and hypertensive subjects returned 1 month later to determine the reproducibility of the SV/PP value. At rest, the SV/PP value was inversely related to left ventricular mass index (r = -0.55, p < 0.001) and was similar in normotensive and hypertensive subjects, but was significantly lower (p < 0.05) in cardiomyopathy. The SV/PP value was reduced 60 min after exercise in both normotensive (p < 0.05) and hypertensive (p < 0.05) subjects, but not in cardiomyopathy patients. In contrast, total and calf vascular conductance increased after exercise in all three groups. These aftereffects indicate that these estimates of compliance and conductance are dynamic, and can be modulated acutely and independently by exercise.

Adult↗