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Biomedical subjects

S Sehgal

Publications and source records attributed to S Sehgal.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

Importance of bone marrow culture for diagnosis of Kala azar.

Kala azar was diagnosed in 45 clinically suspected cases following bone marrow smear examination and in vitro culture of the aspirate. Bone marrow aspiration smear examination revealed amastigotes in 27 cases (60%). In vitro culture of the aspirate demonstrated leishmania parasites in 44 cases (97.8%). A total of 18 cases (40%) were negative for amastigotes in smear examinations but parasites could be demonstrated by culturing the same aspirates. The in vitro culture of bone marrow is necessary to diagnose Kala azar and is strongly recommended to be performed along with the bone marrow smear examination.

Adolescent↗

HIV screening & risk behaviour in psychoactive substance users.

Patients admitted to the Drug De-addiction and Treatment Centre, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, were screened for HIV antibodies. Out of 116 patients, 45 (39%) were injecting drug users (IDUs), 29 (25%) were other drug users and 42 (36%) were primary users of alcohol. One IDU was HIV seropositive (2.2% of the IDUs). Analysis of HIV-related risk behaviour showed that the IDUs were at high risk, because of needle sharing as also because of having multiple sex partners. The potential for HIV infection in these persons practising high-risk behaviour calls for timely preventive measures.

Adolescent↗

Immunoglobulin deficiency.

Twenty three patients with primary immunoglobulin(Ig) deficiency were seen during the last ten years. Nine had hypogamma globulinemia (hypo-Ig) and the rest, selective Ig deficiency. Most were in pediatric age group. There was preponderance of males with only one female. Clinical symptoms pertaining to gastrointestinal and sinupulmonary infections were most common. Complete absence of B cells was not observed in any patient with hypogammaglobulinemia. They could be typed as physiological in one patient, X-linked immunodeficiency in 2 patients and common variable immunodeficiency in the remaining six. Three patients with selective IgA deficiency were above 20 years of age. Two had only secretory IgA deficiency, confirmed by jejunal fluid examination and the rest had both secretory and serum IgA deficiency. Low IgM was seen in one patient. We see a spectrum of immunoglobulin deficiencies varying from subtle defects like absence of secretory IgA only, to severe depletion of all immunoglobulins. Therapy is still not ideal due to economic reasons.

Adolescent↗

Morbidity of low-birthweight infants with intrauterine cocaine exposure.

The effects of intrauterine cocaine exposure on 158 low-birthweight infants (500 g to 2500 g) were compared with 536 low-birthweight infants not known to be exposed to cocaine who were admitted to our neonatal intensive care unit. Univariate analyses indicated that drug-exposed infants had lower birthweights when compared with control infants. Frequency of necrotizing enterocolitis differed between the drug-exposed infants and controls (11% versus 6%). Frequency of severe respiratory distress syndrome, severe intraventricular hemorrhage, and bronchopulmonary dysplasia did not differ between groups of similar birthweight. We conclude that the most evident risks of prenatal cocaine exposure are low birthweight and increased incidence of necrotizing enterocolitis.

Cocaine↗

Class specific antinuclear antibodies in systemic lupus erythematosus.

The incidence and significance of class specific antinuclear antibodies (ANA), specially with relevance to clinical manifestations of arthritis, renal disease and serositis was studied in 40 patients of systemic lupus erythematosus by the indirect immunofluorescent method. Clinical activity was scored by Morimoto's scoring system. A significant correlation was obtained between IgD ANA and clinical activity of the disease and IgG ANA exhibiting lupus pattern of immunofluorescence and serositis.

Antibodies, Antinuclear↗

Effect of combined deficiency of fat and vitamin A on N-nitrosodiethylamine-induced lung carcinogenesis in mice.

The present investigation shows the effect of combined dietary deprivation of fat and vitamin A on N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA) induced lung carcinogenesis in male Swiss NMRI mice. Lung tumors were induced by three intragastric administrations of NDEA (80, 80, 40, mg/kg body wt.) in normal saline with a gap of 4 weeks between each administration. The tumor incidence and tumor burden in control animals were found to be 39.1 and 3.9%, respectively. Fat deficiency decreased the tumor incidence to 30.4% and tumor burden to 3.7%. On the other hand, vitamin A deficiency increased them to 95.6 and 6.8%, respectively. Fat deprivation in the diet of animals fed with vitamin A deficient diet decreased the tumor burden and tumor incidence to 59.0 and 4.0%, respectively which were still more than in the control animals. This study suggests a protective role for low intake of fat in vitamin A deficiency.

Animals↗

Protein quality of developed home made weaning foods.

Home made weaning foods developed from locally available foods like bajra, barley, green gram (Vigna radiata L.), amaranth grain (Amaranthus sp.) and jaggery using household technologies like roasting and malting had a PER ranging from 2.04 to 2.13, BV 79.56 to 80.68, NPU 66.75 to 67.86, NPR 2.13 to 2.76 and PRE 34.18 to 44.18. The values were comparable to that of cerelac--a commercial weaning food.

Amaranthus↗

Effect of domestic processing, cooking and germination on the trypsin inhibitor activity and tannin content of faba bean (Vicia faba).

The effects of domestic processing methods like soaking for 12 h, dehulling, ordinary cooking of whole as well as dehulled seeds at 15 lbs/inch2 pressure for 15 and 25 min, and germination for 24, 36 and 48 h were observed on trypsin inhibitor (TIA) and tannin content of two varieties of faba bean viz. VH-131 and WF. A non-significant reduction in TIA was observed on soaking and dehulling, while tannins showed a reduction of 42 and 51% on soaking in VH 131 and WF, respectively. Dehulled seeds showed a decline in tannin content by 70 to 73% in two varieties. There was a significant reduction in TIA (75-76 per cent) and tannin (76-81%) on cooking, while autoclaving for 25 min almost completely eliminated both of these stress factors. Germination of seeds for 48 h led to a reduction of 64-65% in TIA and 90-91% in tannins, which was more than germination for 24 and 36 h. Soaked seeds gave positive results of both these antinutrients.

Fabaceae↗

Responses to hypoxia and hypercapnia in infants of substance-abusing mothers.

Because infants of substance-abusing mothers (ISAM) have an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome and have abnormal sleeping ventilatory patterns, we studied the effects of mild hypoxia during quiet sleep on ventilatory pattern, heart rate, and arousal in 23 healthy ISAM (mean +/- SEM: 9.0 +/- 0.49 weeks of age) and 15 healthy, similarly aged, control infants. Hypercapnic challenges were performed in six ISAM and eight control subjects. Hypoxic arousal responses were elicited by rapidly decreasing inspired oxygen tension to 80 mm Hg for 3 minutes or until arousal occurred. Failure to arouse to hypoxia occurred in the majority of infants in both groups. All infants had a fall in end-tidal carbon dioxide tension during hypoxia, suggesting that each had a hypoxic ventilatory response. However, the fall in end-tidal carbon dioxide tension was significantly less in the ISAM (mean +/- SEM: -4.0 +/- 0.3 vs -8.0 +/- 1.0 mm Hg), suggesting blunted ventilatory responses to hypoxia. Periodic breathing occurred during 9.5% of hypoxic challenges in control infants compared with 37% in ISAM (p = 0.056). Heart rates were significantly higher in the ISAM before, during, and after hypoxic challenges. Hypercapnic challenges (inspired carbon dioxide tension of 60 mm Hg for a maximum of 3 minutes) resulted in arousal in all infants; however, ISAM required a significantly longer exposure to hypercapnia before arousal (mean +/- SEM; 116 +/- 7.8 vs 79 +/- 13.9 seconds; p < 0.02). We conclude that ISAM have an impaired repertoire of protective responses to hypoxia and hypercapnia during sleep, and that this may play a role in their increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome.

Arousal↗

Humoral antibody response in Leishmania tropica infection.

A small epidemic of Leishmania tropica infection was detected in Rajasthan, India. Most cases were in the 21-25 years age group and were possibly related to outdoor activity. Nearly one third of the patients had more than five lesions, the maximum number of lesions being confined to the face, neck and extremities. As determined by ELISA, 90% cases had leishmania antibodies with an OD range of 0.8-1.1. The serum of 60% of patients was positive by CIEP against L. tropica promastigote soluble antigen. By immunofluorescence, 96% persons were positive when L. tropica promastigotes were used as the substrate. The prevalence of infection with L. tropica appears to be much higher than that reported earlier.

Adolescent↗

Detection of leishmania antigen in kala azar patients using monoclonal antibodies.

Twenty-one monoclonal antibodies were produced against promastigote antigens of Leishmania donovani. Five monoclonal antibodies (Hyb.17, 6, 5, 4 and 2) identifying molecules associated with various L. donovani antigenic determinants ranging from 42-116 kDa were selected as 'capture antibodies' and compared with specific anti-leishmania antisera for detection of circulating leishmania antigens in kala azar patients' sera in a competitive-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay system (ELISA). The anti-leishmania antisera could detect circulating antigen in 30% of kala azar cases while out of the five monoclonals, Hyb.17 could effectively detect circulating leishmania antigen in 85.4%. The efficacy of Hyb.6 was however low (31.7%). The antigens recognized by these monoclonal antibodies in the western blot assay could possibly represent the ones circulating in sera of patients suffering from kala azar. A cocktail of these monoclonal antibodies may be more useful than the conventional polyclonal antisera in detection of circulating antigen for clinical diagnosis of kala azar.

Animals↗

Human sperm surface mapping with lectins.

Ten fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-linked lectins [Bauhimia purpurea, Concanavalin A, Dolichos biflorus (DBA), Griffonia simplicifolia I, Griffonia simplicifolia II, Maclura pomifera, Arachis hypogea (PNA), Glycine max, Ulex europaeus (UEA) and Triticum vulgaris agglutinin] have been used to study their binding features on the human ejaculate spermatozoa. Qualitative changes in the labeling pattern have been observed in unfixed and acetone-treated spermatozoa. Furthermore, ultrastructural localization of some of the colloidal gold-linked lectins, namely PNA, UEA and DBA, has been attempted to delineate the binding domains of the specific sugars on the sperm surface. It needs to be emphasized that flow-cytometric methods employed in our study, which provide quantitative slant to qualitative data, should be utilized to evaluate the functional status of the spermatozoa.

Cell Membrane↗

Comparative evaluation of HIV infected foreign students and Indian with AIDS in Chandigarh, India.

Out of a total of 1,600 foreign students who came to India between June 1989 and October 1990, 22 were seropositive for HIV-1. Ten showed antibodies to all the gene products. Antibodies to gp160 and p24 were present in all the seropositives while antibodies to p53, p15/17 were significantly higher in healthy seropositives than in patients with full blown AIDS. Absence of antibodies to p15/17 and p53 thus appeared to be a more sensitive criterion of end stage disease than absence of anti- p24 antibodies. When seropositive samples from African students were checked for HIV-2 antibodies by ELISA, 13/22 were found to be positive. Further, 2/10 Indians with full blown AIDS were also strongly positive for HIV-2. These data could be of relevance for formulating future strategies for population-based screening for HIV-2.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗