66 unrelated patients from Southern India with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) were studied for intragenic deletion in 18 exons and Pm region of the DMD gene using multiplex PCR. Of these 41 (62.1%) showed intragenic deletions. 78% of the deletions were located at the distal hotspot region (44-55 exons) and 22% of the deletions were located at the proximal region (exon 2-19). Exon 50 is most frequently deleted. Deletions in isolated cases were significantly more compared to familial cases. The lower incidence reported from South India compared to North India, is suggestive of variations in the Southern and Northern population.

In burn trauma there is excessive activity of FR at the site of injury that result in oxidative stressful state. This is reflected as elevated blood levels of LPP, UA and CLP. The fall of AA in serum appears to counteract the oxidative stress. Increased eCAT activity occurs as a metabolic response to compensate the oxidative stress. These alterations in the biochemical parameters occur parallel to the degree of burn injury. It is suggested that therapeutic use of antioxidants may be beneficial in the clinical management of burn patients.

A study of 190 children of chronic cervical lymphadenitis showed tuberculous etiology on histopathological examination in 92 (48.4%) and bacteriological evidence of mycobacterial infection (smear and/or culture) in 42 (22.1%). Of these 42, twelve (28.6%) showed histopathological diagnosis of non-specific lymphadenitis. Positive culture for mycobacteria was obtained in 40, of which 30 (75%) were typical M. tuberculosis and 10 (25%) were atypical mycobacteria. The most predominant species of typical mycobacteria was M. scrofulaceum (60%) followed by M. avium intracellulare (40%). There was no remarkable difference in the histopathological pattern of those in which M. tuberculosis was grown and those in which bacterial growth was that of atypical mycobacteria. The diagnosis of chronic cervical lymphadenitis should therefore be taken a step beyond histopathology, up to complete bacteriological examination, especially to confirm the cases of mycobacterial lymphadenitis caused by atypical mycobacteria.

Human Immunodeficiency viruses are the initial causative agents in AIDS, but most of the morbidity and mortality in AIDS cases result from opportunistic infections, Identification of such pathogen is very important for clinicians and health planners to tackle the AIDS epidemic in more effective manner. The present study describes the clinical and laboratory profile of 100 AIDS causes who presented to a referral hospital. Oral candidiasis (59.00%) was found to be the most common opportunistic infection, followed by tuberculosis (56.00%), Cryptosporidium infection (47.00%) and Pneumocystis carinii (7.00%). Presence of oral candidiasis and weight loss is highly predictive of low DC4 count and can be considered as a marker of HIV disease progression. The patients coinfected with HIV and tuberculosis are also on rise. Recognition of dual infection and taking adequate steps to deal with this epidemic is needed. As Cryptosporidium infection was detected in large number, provision of safe drinking water and maintaining good hygiene is important for prevention. Early diagnosis of opportunistic infection and prompt treatment, delays the progression towards AIDS. 91.00% of patients were infected with HIV1 and 4.00% had HIV2 infection and 5.00% were dully infected. 87.00% of patients were males and 13.00% were belonging to 21-40 years of age. Majority of them were belonging to lower socioeconomic status and heterosexual route of transmission was the commonest mode of spread.

From January 1990 to December 2000, 202 patients with clinical evidence of liver disease underwent fine needle aspiration cytology of the liver. Of these, 102 patients were diagnosed as non-neoplastic lesions. These include diffuse parenchymal disease of liver, liver abscess, hepatitis, and granulomas. There were 100 patients with malignancies of the liver. Out of the above, 64 were due to metastatic carcinoma, 31 were primary hepatocellular carcinoma, 1 hepatoblastoma and in 4 patients the diagnosis of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was made. By comparing with clinical and biochemical parameters, the diagnostic accuracy of the fine needle aspiration cytology, in this study, was found to be more accurate in malignant nodules of the liver as compared to other pathological lesion. The findings of fine needle aspiration cytology of the liver reported by other authors are discussed and it is concluded that this diagnostic method is a safe, useful and economic procedure with minimum complication and can be routinely done for assisting diagnosis of liver diseases in our clinical set up.