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Biomedical subjects

S Jana

Publications and source records attributed to S Jana.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2000

Distribution of HIV-1 subtypes in female sex workers of Calcutta, India.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Different routes for the transmission of HIV-1 in India have been reported and the majority of infections occurred through heterosexual route of transmission. In order to understand the dynamics of HIV-1 transmission, a systematic study was undertaken to determine the viral subtypes circulating among the female sex workers in Calcutta, India. METHODS: Peptide enzyme immunoassay (PEIA), heteroduplex mobility assay (HMA) and DNA sequence analysis were used to ascertain the HIV-1 subtypes. RESULTS: V3 serotyping of 52 HIV-1 seropositive samples identified 33 (60%) to be subtype C. A DNA fragment within C2-V3/C2-V5 regions of HIV-1 gp120 was amplified directly from the lymphocyte DNA to avoid any bias in selecting viral variants and used in HMA. Of the 40 samples analyzed, 38 (95%) belonged to subtype C and 2 were found to be non-typable. Further analysis of these 38 samples revealed that 26 (68%) had maximum homology to the C3-Indian reference strain (IND868), 11 (29%) were most homologous to C2-Zambian strain (ZM18) and 1 (3%) showed close resemblance to C1-Malawi strain (MA959). Nucleotide sequence of 11 subsamples encompassing about 325 base pairs was aligned for the Indian and other geographically distinct isolates. On distance and parsimony trees, most of the samples (8/11) clustered together as subtype C. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSIONS: Subtype C was the major circulating HIV-1 strain in this geographical region, although variation within this subtype was also noticed. DNA sequence analysis was found to be the best method in determining the nature of the HIV-1 subtype followed by HMA and peptide enzyme immunoassay. These findings may have important implications for the design of effective vaccines in India and emphasizes the need for constant monitoring of the HIV-1 subtypes in different parts of India.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1999

Protection by protein A of apoptotic cell death caused by anti-AIDS drug zidovudine.

Zidovudine, the anti-AIDS drug, caused inhibition of mitogen-induced proliferation and perturbation of cell-cycle progression of cultured bone marrow cells of mice. There was significant hypoploidy observed in flow cytometric analysis of AZT-treated bone marrow cells. In apo-direct analysis, cells showed apoptosis in G0/G1 phase. In DNA gel analysis, characteristic laddering of apoptosis was observed in AZT-treated bone marrow cells. We demonstrated that, when the animals were pretreated with protein A (PA) of Staphylococcus aureus, the apoptotic changes could be prevented in bone marrow cells of AZT-treated animals. There is a significant (p < 0.05) increase in proliferation of bone marrow cells subjected to mitogen treatment in PA+AZT-treated animals, compared to only AZT-treated animals. However, cell-cycle phase distribution was not hampered and no laddering in DNA gel analysis was also observed in this group. In apo-direct analysis, PA treatment showed significant (p < 0.001) inhibition of AZT-induced apoptosis. These observations indicate that by using a suitable agent such as protein A the toxic side effects of AZT could be minimized.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

The prevalence of HIV in female sex workers in Manipur, India.

Data on STDs and sexual practices in commercial sex workers (CSWs) is in general limited in India. Manipur in north-east Indian has a high prevalence of HIV in injecting drug users but the rate in CSWs is not known. The site selected for the study was Moreh, on the Myanmar border of Manipur. One hundred blood samples were collected, 7 from migrants from Myanmar, the remainder from Manipuri women. The HIV seropositivity rate was 12% (95% CI = 5.6-18.4). The age of the women ranged from 15 to 42 (mean = 24.5 years, median 23.7 years). The proportion of HIV positives increased significantly with number of customers per day and number of years in the profession. The HIV prevalence among Injecting drug using CSWs was 9.4 times higher that among non-IDU CSWs. Vaginal discharge was strongly associated with HIV positivity. Effective intervention programmes among CSWs in Manipur to prevent further spread of HIV are strongly indicated by the results of this study.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Low HIV and high STD among commercial sex workers in a brothel in Bangladesh: scope for prevention of larger epidemic.

The present study documents the first systematic assessment of a brothel in Bangladesh in terms of sexually transmitted disease (STD) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). A cross sectional study was undertaken on brothel-based commercial sex workers (CSWs) selected systematic random sampling to assess the prevalence of STDs and HIV among CSWs in a brothel setting. Two hundred and ninety-six CSWs were selected from a brothel with a population of 593 women. Following informed consent, endocervical and blood samples were obtained for the diagnosis of genital chlamydia, gonorrhoea, HIV and syphilis respectively. In addition, another 170 consecutive blood samples were collected from the total CSW population for HIV tests. All blood samples for HIV testing were made anonymous by removing patient identifiers before testing. Endocervical specimens were tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the diagnosis of genital chlamydia and gonorrhoea. Syphilis and HIV infections were diagnosed by serology. One hundred and sixty-nine (57.1%) of the women were Treponema pallidum haemagglutination (TPHA)-positive, 20 (6.8%) of the women were Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL)-positive at a greater than 1:8 dilution. Eighty-two (28%) of the women were found to be infected either by gonorrhoea or chlamydia. No HIV antibody was found in any of the 466 blood samples. A high prevalence of STDs and low prevalence of HIV in the CSWs in Bangladesh suggest potential for the rapid spread of HIV once it is introduced in this high-risk population. The opportunity to control STD and HIV infection in this population should not be missed, in order to prevent a large epidemic in the future.

Bangladesh↗
PubMed1996

Prospective randomized clinical trial to evaluate the optimal dose of 131 I for remnant ablation in patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Radioiodine has been used for more than a half-century to ablate thyroid remnants following thyroid surgery, but a single optimal dose has not been established. We designed a prospective randomized trial to determine the optimal dose of 131 I for remnant ablation. METHODS: Using a simple randomization technique, 149 patients with remnant thyroid were incorporated into 4 treatment groups. Twenty-seven of these patients were administered 25 to 34 millicurie (mCi) of 131 I (30 +/- 1.5), 54 received 35 to 64 mCi (50.6 +/- 5.4), 38 received 65 to 119 mCi (88.6 +/- 14) and 30 patients received 120 to 200 mCi (155 +/- 28.7). Six months to 1 year after treatment, all subjects were reassessed after withdrawing L-thyroxine for 4 to 6 weeks. A successful ablation was defined as the absence of thyroid bed activity in 5 mCi 131 I neck scan at 48 hours along with 2 adjunctive criteria which were the neck uptake of <0.2% of the administered activity and the thyroglobulin (Tg) value of <10 ng/mL. RESULTS: Applying the above criteria, we observed complete ablation of 17 of 27 thyroid gland remnants (63%) in the 30 mCi group, 42 of 54 (77.8%) in the 50 mCi group, 28 of 38 (73.7%) in the 90 mCi group and 23 of 30 (76.7%) in the 155 mCi group. When the radiation-absorbed dose was calculated, a 30 mCi dose delivered approximately 20,000 centigray (cGy), a 50 mCi dose about 30,000 cGy, a 90 mCi dose about 50,000 cGy, and a 155 mCi dose about 130,000 cGy. CONCLUSIONS: Increasing the empirical 131 I initial dose to more than 50 mCi results in plateauing of the dose-response curve and thus, conventional high dose remnant ablation needs critical evaluation. Based on dosimetry results, one should aim to deliver about 30,000 cGy to the thyroid remnant, as higher doses do not appear to yield a higher ablation rate.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Community based survey of STD/HIV infection among commercial sex-workers in Calcutta (India). Part-III: Clinical findings of sexually transmitted diseases (STD).

On physical examination of 418 sex workers, 202 (48.32 per cent) were found to have vaginal discharge, which was found to be most common among younger age class. Endocervical pus, genital ulcer, and swelling of inguinal lymph glands were observed in 13.16, 6.22 and 1.91 per cent of the sex workers respectively. Clinically 16.51, 15.31, 11.96 and 4.78 per cent were found to suffer from candidiasis, trichomoniasis, cervicitis and syphilis respectively.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Community based survey of STD/HIV infection among commercial sex workers in Calcutta (India). Part-IV: Sexually transmitted diseases and related risk factors.

Community based survey on a sample of commercial sex workers in one red light area of Calcutta, was carried out to determine prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) including HIV infection and related risk factors. An alarmingly high prevalence of STDs (80.56 per cent) but low HIV-seropositivity (1.13 per cent) was observed. Candida albicans, Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Trichomonas vaginalis were detected in 23.24, 13.24 and 11.11 per cent of genital specimens respectively. BY TPHA test 62.97 per cent of the sera were reactive for Treponema pallidum. Duration in the profession of sex workers was found to have an association with seropositivity for syphilis. Prevalence of HIV infection might be low at present, but conditions were highly favourable for rapid spread of infection.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Community based survey of STD/HIV infection among commercial sexworkers in Calcutta (India). Part I. Some social features of commercial sexworkers.

A community based sample survey of sexually transmitted diseases and Human Immuno deficiency Virus infection was carried out among commercial sex workers of a red-light area in Calcutta. In this paper socio-demographic aspects of sex workers are discussed. For the survey, 450 sex workers were selected by random sampling method. Among the sex workers surveyed, 84.89 per cent were in the age group 15-29 years. Lowest age was 13 years and mean age was 23.12 years. Large number of sex workers were from Nepal (15.11 per cent) and Bangladesh (11.78 per cent). About 38 per cent were from three districts of West Bengal bordering Bangladesh. About 84.44 per cent of the sex workers were illiterate. Extreme poverty forced 49.10 per cent to choose this profession and family disturbances led 21.56 per cent to this profession. Almost all sex workers (448) had addiction, alcohol being taken regularly by 81.11 per cent. Number of clients of sex workers varied from 2 to 10, average being 3. About 67.33 per cent gave history of pregnancy, 46 per cent had abortion and 41.11 per cent had living children. About 27.11 per cent took precaution against pregnancy regularly. Use of oral pills was found to be the most common practice against pregnancy (13.65 per cent), followed by ligation (11.56 per cent). Only 1.11 per cent reported that their clients used condom regularly.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Community based survey of STD/HIV infection among commercial sex-workers in Calcutta (India). Part II. Sexual behaviour, knowledge and attitude towards STD.

A community based sample survey of STD/HIV infections was carried out among 450 commercial sex workers, (CSW) of one red light area in Calcutta. In this paper, sexual practices of sex workers, their knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and practice of preventive and curative measures against STDs, is described. Vaginal intercourse was the usual sexual practice. But as many as 74.44 per cent also practised oral sex. About 82.67 per cent had the practice of washing external genitalia with antiseptic solution after sexual intercourse. About 69.11 per cent of sex workers were aware of sexually transmitted diseases and 30.67 per cent had knowledge about AIDS. About 70.22 per cent had symptoms related to genital tract during one year preceding the survey and 34 per cent of sex workers took medical treatment during last one month.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Effects of copper, cadmium and chromium cations on the freshwater fish Clarias batrachus L.

The data on the effects of cations such as Cu2+, Cd2+ and Cr6+ on the changes in the biochemical parameters in a freshwater fish, Clarias batrachus L., showed an increase of the protein content in the liver, kidney, stomach, intestine, testis and ovary, and a decrease in the muscle after Cu2+ and Cd2+ treatment as compared with control data; but the Cr6+ did not cause any changes of protein concentration in the kidney and testis. The administration of Cu2+ and Cd2+ increased the concentration of free amino acids in all the fish organs, whereas the Cr6+ did not changes this concentration in the muscle. A decrease in dry weight, and an increase in tissue permeability after these treatments were recorded in all the organs studied. In general, the above biochemical parameters of the organs were affected by treatments of the above cations in the following order: Cd greater than Cu greater than Cr over control values of C. batrachus, and their effects were markedly pronounced in the liver and kidney, followed by the intestine, stomach, muscle, testis and ovary in this species.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

HG (II)-induced changes in some biochemical parameters in the freshwater fish Clarias batrachus.

The data on the effect of Hg(II) on changes of biochemical parameters in the freshwater fish, Clarias batrachus L. showed an increased protein content in the liver, kidney, stomach, intestine, testis and ovary, and a decreased content of it in the muscle over control data. A decrease in DNA, RNA and dry weight and an increase in free amino acids, tissue permeability and the activities of protease and RNase were recorded in all the organs by the treatment with Hg(II). In general, the effect of Hg(II) was maximum in the liver and kidney, followed by the intestine, stomach, muscle, testis and ovary of this species.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1986

Heavy metal pollutant induced changes in some biochemical parameters in the freshwater fish Clarias batrachus L.

The data on the effects of Hg(II), As(V) and Pb(II) on the biochemical parameters of the freshwater fish. Clarias batrachus L., showed an increased protein content in the liver, kidney, stomach, intestine, testis and ovary, and a decreased content of it in the muscle as compared to control values. A decrease in dry weight and an increase in free amino acid and tissue permeability were recorded in all the organs after treatment with Hg(II), As(V) and Pb(II). In general, the organs were affected by the treatments in the order: Pb(II) greater than As(V) greater than Hg(II) and their effects were pronounced in the liver and kidney, followed by intestine, stomach, muscle, testis and ovary of the species.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1982

Changes in the Activities of Ribulose 1,5-Bisphosphate and Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxylases in Submersed Aquatic Angiosperms during Aging.

Changes in the activities of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (RuBPcase) and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPcase) during aging and senescence of leaves of submersed aquatic angiosperms, Potamogeton pectinatus L., Vallisneria spiralis L., and Hydrilla verticillata (L.f.) Royle were studied. The activity of RuBPcase decreased with both aging and senescence in three species. PEPcase activity increased from young to mature leaves in all three plants and also in old leaves of Hydrilla. The ratio of RuBPcase to PEPcase activity was lowest in mature and highest in old leaves, and increased with aging of isolated mature leaves in Potamogeton and Vallisneria, but decreased markedly in Hydrilla with aging and senescence. Kinetin treatment (0.23 mm) increased RuBPcase activity in three species and PEPcase activity in Potamogeton and Vallisneria, but decreased PEPcase activity in Hydrilla. Treatments with 2-chloroethylphosphonic acid (Ethrel, 0.69 mm) and abscisic acid (ABA, 0.075 mm) showed almost an opposite trend.

Journal Article↗