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Sanjeev Gupta

Publications and source records attributed to Sanjeev Gupta.

60 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed2002

Cyclophosphamide disrupts hepatic sinusoidal endothelium and improves transplanted cell engraftment in rat liver.

To determine whether disruption of the hepatic sinusoidal endothelium will facilitate engraftment of transplanted cells, we treated Fischer 344 (F344) rats lacking dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPPIV) activity with cyclophosphamide (CP). Electron microscopy showed endothelial injury within 6 hours following CP, and, after 24 and 48 hours, the endothelium was disrupted in most hepatic sinusoids. CP did not affect Kupffer cell function. Similarly, CP had no obvious effects on hepatocytes. Intrasplenic transplantation of F344 rat hepatocytes followed by their localization with DPPIV histochemistry showed 3- to 5-fold increases in the number of transplanted cells in CP-treated animals. Transplanted cells integrated in the liver parenchyma more rapidly in CP-treated animals, and hybrid bile canaliculi developed even 1 day after cell transplantation, which was not observed in control animals. To demonstrate whether improved cell engraftment translated into superior liver repopulation, recipient animals were conditioned with retrorsine and two-thirds partial hepatectomy (PH), which induces transplanted cell proliferation. CP treatment of these animals before cell transplantation significantly increased the number and size of transplanted cell foci. In conclusion, disruption of the hepatic sinusoidal endothelium was associated with accelerated entry and integration of transplanted cells in the liver parenchyma. These results provide insights into hepatocyte engraftment in the liver and will help in optimizing liver-directed cell therapy.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Patch testing in discoid eczema.

Fifty patients of both sexes with clinically suspected discoid eczema were patch tested with the Indian Standard Patch Test Battery approved by the Contact and Occupational Dermatosis Forum of India (CODFI). Most of these patients were young adults between 20 and 39 years old, with a mean age of 36 years. The mean duration of symptoms was 21/2 years. The occupational profiles of the patients included farmers (24%), housewives (18%), students (14%), housewives engaged in farming (12%), shopkeepers (10%), and laborers (8%). The miscellaneous group, including technicians, drivers, cable operators, office workers, and computer operators, accounted for the remaining 14%. The common clinical patterns of presentation of discoid eczema included hands and feet (44%), hands and forearms' (30%), legs and feet (12%) and trunk and limbs (12%). Patch test analysis of these patients revealed that, out of the 50 subjects tested, 28 (56%) reacted to one or more allergens. Potassium dichromate was the most common allergen (20%), followed by nickel (16%), cobalt chloride, and fragrance (12% each) in decreasing order of frequency. Hence, it may be concluded that patch testing should be considered for all patients with severe or persistent discoid eczema because allergic contact dermatitis may be relatively common in such patients and the avoidance of offending allergens may be of substantial benefit to the patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

99mTc-mebrofenin scintigraphy for evaluating liver disease in a rat model of Wilson's disease.

UNLABELLED: The purpose of this study was to establish whether (99m)Tc-mebrofenin could noninvasively assess liver function in Wilson's disease. METHODS: Long-Evans Cinnamon (LEC) rats, which reproduce Wilson's disease with copper toxicosis, and their normal counterparts, Long-Evans Agouti (LEA) rats, were studied. Scintigraphic findings were correlated with biliary mebrofenin excretion and residual organ counts and with hepatic copper content, histology, copper excretion capacity, and liver test results. RESULTS: Serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels were elevated in some LEC rats, whereas serum bilirubin levels were normal. Liver histology was normal in LEA rats, whereas LEC rats showed multiple abnormalities. Mebrofenin was incorporated rapidly in LEA rats, with a mean time to peak liver activity of 80 +/- 30 s, followed by prompt biliary excretion of the tracer. In LEC rats, the mean time to peak activity, 283 +/- 190 s, was significantly longer (P = 0.001). The time to half of peak activity, indicating tracer clearance, was significantly greater in LEC rats than in LEA rats (1,825 +/- 1,642 s vs. 524 +/- 82 s, P = 0.002). Hepatic mebrofenin handling correlated with hepatic copper content, histologic grade, copper excretion capacity, and serum ALT. CONCLUSION: Correlation of (99m)Tc-mebrofenin handling with liver morphology, function, and copper accumulation in LEC rats suggests that mebrofenin scintigraphy can be useful for noninvasively monitoring disease progression and therapeutic response in Wilson's disease. Although the data were obtained in an animal model of Wilson' disease, these biochemical parameters likely reflect liver damage in general, suggesting that there may be a role for mebrofenin scintigraphy in other chronic liver diseases as well.

Alanine Transaminase↗
PubMed2002

Debt relief and public health spending in heavily indebted poor countries.

The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, which was launched in 1996, is the first comprehensive effort by the international community to reduce the external debt of the world's poorest countries. The Initiative will generate substantial savings relative to current and past public spending on health and education in these countries. Although there is ample scope for raising public health spending in heavily indebted poor countries, it may not be advisable to spend all the savings resulting from HIPC resources for this purpose. Any comprehensive strategy for tackling poverty should also focus on improving the efficiency of public health outlays and on reallocating funds to programmes that are most beneficial to the poor. In order to ensure that debt relief increases poverty-reducing spending and benefits the poor, all such spending, not just that financed by HIPC resources, should be tracked. This requires that countries improve all aspects of their public expenditure management. In the short run, heavily indebted poor countries can take some pragmatic tracking measures based on existing public expenditure management systems, but in the longer run they should adopt a more comprehensive approach so as to strengthen their budget formulation, execution, and reporting systems.

Capital Financing↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Circulating D-dimers as a marker of disease activity in pulmonary sarcoidosis.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The search is on to find an easily measurable marker of disease activity in sarcoidosis. The present study was carried out to evaluate the utility of plasma D-dimer as a marker of disease activity in sarcoidosis. METHODS: Thirty newly diagnosed cases of sarcoidosis with clinical indications for treatment and an equal number of matched healthy controls were studied for the presence of D-dimers (DD) in the plasma before starting treatment with oral prednisolone and after clinical remission. Semi-quantitative estimations of DD were done using the latex agglutination slide test method (Commercial Kit - Diagnostica Stago, France) as per the manufacturer's recommendations. RESULTS: The mean age of cases and controls were 45.43 +/- 8.5 (range 34-60) and 46.16 +/- 8.07 (range 32-61) years, respectively. Of the 30 patients, nine (30%) were DD positive at baseline. The DD positive patients presented more often with dyspnoea, had radiological stage III (7 out of 9) disease and abnormal spirometry compared to patients with no detectable DD in their plasma. Of the 16 patients re-evaluated after clinical remission, eight (50%) were D-dimer positive. Two of the five patients initially DD positive had become negative and five additional patients who were negative at baseline had become positive. CONCLUSIONS: Plasma D-dimers, which were positive in 30% of untreated patients of sarcoidosis, indicate patients with significant pulmonary parenchymal involvement; but have no correlation with clinical disease remission.

Adult↗