Indian Journal of Medical Sciences : 2010 - 64(1)

Dental fluorosis and its association with the use of fluoridated toothpaste among middle school students of Delhi

Poornima Tiwari — Tue,31 Jan 2012

Poornima Tiwari, Suminder Kaur, Alka Sodhi

Indian Journal of Medical Sciences 2010 64(1):1-6

Introduction: Fluorosis can manifest as dental fluorosis (seen mostly in secondary dentition), skeletal fluorosis, and systemic fluorosis. Groundwater with high fluoride concentrations, diet rich in fish and tea, indoor air-pollution, and use of fluoride toothpastes may contribute considerably to total exposure. Objective: To assess the prevalence of dental fluorosis and associated factors particularly fluoridated toothpastes, among middle school children of a resettlement colony in Delhi. Materials and Methods: This survey was conducted among the middle school students (VI th -VIII th ) studying in three government schools of Sangam Vihar, South Delhi. Students were examined for dental fluorosis by experts. A pre-structured questionnaire was used to obtain data regarding age, source of drinking water, toothpaste used, etc. Height, weight, and hemoglobin were recorded. Two repeat visits were made. Out of 432 students enrolled in these schools, 413 students were examined. Statistics: Descriptive and chi-square statistics were used. Results: Dental fluorosis was prevalent in 121 (29.3%) study subjects. It was significantly more in children of age 13 years or above, in those who used fluoridated toothpaste for dental cleaning (P=0.033) and in anemic children (P<0.001). However, there was no significant association of disease with gender (P=0.02), source of drinking water (P=0.417), and with BMI (P=0.826). Conclusion: As dental fluorosis is very common (in about one-fourth) among the middle school children, in this resettlement colony of Delhi, various control measures e.g. discouraging the fluoridated toothpastes, educating parents about fluorosis, de-fluoridation of water in the high risk areas, etc may help to tackle this situation.

Childhood morbidity, household practices and health care seeking for sick children in a tribal district of Maharashtra, India

AR Dongre — Tue,31 Jan 2012

AR Dongre, PR Deshmukh, BS Garg

Indian Journal of Medical Sciences 2010 64(1):7-16

Objectives: To find out the magnitude of childhood morbidities, health care seeking behavior and explore the status of 'some desired practices' at household level during episodes of illness in two tribal blocks of Chandrapur district. Materials and Methods: The present explanatory mixed-method design of quantitative (survey) and qualitative (focus group discussions, FGDs )methods was undertaken in nine Primary health centers of Warora and Bhadrawati blocks in Chandrapur district. The information of 2,700 under-five children on morbidity, health care seeking behavior and some desired practices at household level was collected by paying home visits and using pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire. The data was entered and analyzed by using SPSS 12.0.1 and C sample program of epi_info (version 6.04d) software package. The conventional content analysis of FGD data was undertaken. Results: The prevalence of morbidities was high among newborns and children. About 1,811 (67%) children had at least one of the morbidities. Private health care providers and village level faith healers were preferred for seeking treatment of newborn danger sings and childhood morbidities. The status of some desired household practices such as frequent feeding and giving extra fluid to drink during episodes of illness was poor. Conclusions: In conclusion, considering high prevalence of child morbidities and poor status of some desired household practices of caregivers at household level for sick children, household and community IMNCI strategy needs to be implemented to promote child health and nutrition. Apart from this, health care delivery at village level should be strengthened.

Assessment of DNA nucleo base oxidation and antioxidant defense in postmenopausal women under hormone replacement therapy

Tülay Akcay — Tue,31 Jan 2012

Tülay Akcay, Yildiz Dincer, E Ilker Saygili, Hakan Seyisoglu, Erdogan Ertungalp

Indian Journal of Medical Sciences 2010 64(1):17-25

Background and Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate oxidative stress byinvesting oxidatively damaged DNA AS Formamidopyrimidine DNA glycosylase (Fpg) -sensitive sites, glutathione peroxidase (GPx), superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities reduced glutathione (GSH) level and nitrite level as satble end product of in women receiving hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Materials and Methods: 127 healthy postmenopausal women receiving HRT and 25 healthy control postmenopausal women were included in this study. Women receiving HRT, comprised surgical menopausal women who underwent surgery for benign conditionsand received conjugated equine estrogen, 0.625 mg/day for 1year (group 1), 5 years (group 2) and more than 10 years (group 3), spontaneous postmenopausal women received conjugated equine estrogen, 0.625 (Premarin) mg/day and medroxyprogesterone acetate, 2.5 mg/day (Premelle) for 1 year (group 4), 5 years (group 5) and more than 5 years (group 6).We investigated in the present study the effects of HRT on nitrite level and GSH level, activities of SOD and GPx and oxidative damage to DNA by comet assays by measuring levels of Fpg-sensitive sites. Results: Although no significant differences were found in the SOD activities, in total group receiving HRT, increased DNA oxidation (P<0.001) together with an increased GPx activity (P<0.001) and nitrite level (P<0.001) as well as a decreased GSH level (P < 0.05) as compared with controls were observed. Conclusion: Estrogen alone or oestrogen in combination with progesterone and duration of use did not significantly alter the results. We evaluated that caused oxidative stress by investigating oxidative DNA damage as Fp-sensitive sites and GSH.NO levels in women receiving HRT.

Computed tomographic pulmonary angiography: Utility in acute pulmonary embolism in providing additional information and making alternative clinical diagnosis

Kushaljit Singh Sodhi — Tue,31 Jan 2012

Kushaljit Singh Sodhi, Madhu Gulati, Ritesh Aggarwal, Naveen Kalra, BR Mittal, SK Jindal, N Khandelwal

Indian Journal of Medical Sciences 2010 64(1):26-32

Objective: To evaluate the role of computed tomographic (CT) pulmonary angiography (CT-PA) in detecting additional information that may help in making an alternative clinical diagnosis in patients referred to CT for a suspected acute pulmonary embolism (PE). Materials and Methods: 50 patients (34 males, 16 females) in the age group of 18-72 years (mean 42.3 years), having high clinical suspicion of PE, underwent CTPA over a 2 year period. Chest x-ray, arterial blood gas (ABG) analysis, echocardiography were done in all patients. All patients underwent at least one other imaging examination besides CTPA: ventilation perfusion scan, Doppler ultrasound or compression ultrasound (for DVT). All patients were followed for 3 months after completion of the diagnostic work up at baseline. The final diagnosis was achieved by a combination of clinical, imaging, and laboratory analysis, after adequate imaging, laboratory tests, and follow up. Result: CTPA helped correctly identify 29 of 30 patients with PE. In the remaining 20 patients (with no evidence of PE), CT-PA provided additional information (that suggested or confirmed alternate clinical diagnosis) in 15 patients (75%): pleural effusion (n=8), mediastinal or hilar lymphadenopathy (6), pneumonia/airspace consolidation (5), atelectasis/collapse (2), aspergilloma (1), malignancy (1), and others (2). Conclusion: CT-PA is highly specific and sensitive for diagnosis of PE. In addition, in a majority of patients who do not have PE, it also provides important ancillary additional information and helps in making an alternative clinical diagnosis.

Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis following acute kidney injury and exposure to gadolinium

Archana Bhaskaran — Tue,31 Jan 2012

Archana Bhaskaran, Purna Kashyap, Brent Kelly, Princy Ghera

Indian Journal of Medical Sciences 2010 64(1):33-36

Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) is a scleroderma-like systemic fibrosing condition of unknown etiology described in patients with renal insufficiency. Gadolinium exposure has been strongly associated with the development of NSF though the mechanism of such injury is not known. There are only few reported cases of NSF in the setting of acute renal failure and fewer reported cases where skin lesions developed after kidney function had returned to normal. We report a case of NSF in a young Hispanic woman with lupus nephritis but normal creatinine, who received gadolinium during a brief episode of prerenal acute kidney injury not requiring dialysis, secondary to sepsis.

Adrenal sarcomatoid carcinoma: A rare case depicted on multi-detector row computed tomography

Yuan-Chun Feng — Tue,31 Jan 2012

Yuan-Chun Feng, Zhi-Gang Yang, Tian-Wu Chen, Xue-Ying Su, Wen Deng, Qi-Ling Wang

Indian Journal of Medical Sciences 2010 64(1):37-40

Primary adrenal sarcomatoid carcinoma is rare malignant tumor with the characteristics of carcinoma and sarcoma. To date, only one case of primary sarcomatoid carcinoma in the adrenal gland was reported. We present here computed tomography appearance and pathological features of the case with primary adrenal sarcomatoid carcinoma confirmed by pathology. In addition, a brief review of the relevant literature is presented.

Application of autologous bone marrow stem cells in giant axonal neuropathy

Alok Sharma — Tue,31 Jan 2012

Alok Sharma, Nandini Gokulchandran, Pooja Kulkarni, Guneet Chopra

Indian Journal of Medical Sciences 2010 64(1):41-44

Giant axonal neuropathy is a rare disorder of autosomal recessive inheritance, morphologically characterized by accumulation of neurofilaments in enlargements of preterminal regions of central and peripheral axons. We present a 7-year-old girl with thick and tightly curled lackluster hair suffering from giant axonal neuropathy. The diagnosis was confirmed on the brain MRI which showed white matter abnormalities in the anterior and posterior periventricular regions as well as the cerebellar white matter. In view of the same, the patient was given intrathecal autologous bone marrow-derived stem cell therapy as part of the neuroregenerative rehabilitation therapy protocol. The patient showed functional improvements in her disability after receiving the therapy. A detailed case report is presented here with.

Acute renal failure following electrocution

Hareesh S Gouda — Tue,31 Jan 2012

Hareesh S Gouda, Binaya Kumar Bastia

Indian Journal of Medical Sciences 2010 64(1):45-46

Intracystic papillary carcinoma in the male breast: A rare presentation

Pinki Pandey — Tue,31 Jan 2012

Pinki Pandey, Alok Dixit, Swarn Kaur

Indian Journal of Medical Sciences 2010 64(1):46-48

The TWEAK-FN14 axis: Opening new doors

Dilip Gude — Tue,31 Jan 2012

Dilip Gude

Indian Journal of Medical Sciences 2010 64(1):49-49