Lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) was measured serially in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum in 23 cases of meningitis (15 pyogenic and 8 tuberculous) and equal number of age and sex matched healthy controls to find out its diagnostic and prognostic significance in cases of meningitis. The LDH activity was significantly elevated in the CSF and serum (p < 0.001) in cases of pyogenic (PM) as well as tuberculous meningitis (TBM). The maximum elevation was seen on the 1st day and the activity declined thereafter. However, in 3 cases of PM and 5 cases of TBM, the LDH activity on subsequent estimations increased serially and all these cases died. Further, the basal LDH activity in the 3 cases of PM who died was significantly higher (p < 0.01) than those who survived. The rise in enzymatic activity in the CSF was significantly higher (p < 0.001) than in the serum in all the cases of meningitis. The LDH activity was significantly higher in PM as compared to TBM (p < 0.001) both in the CSF as well as the serum.

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Steroids produce anaesthesia besides producing the well known metabolic and hormonal effects. A number of anaesthetic steroids have been synthesized and tried clinically. Hydroxydione, althesin, minaxolone and pregnanolone are among those studied in detail. They act through GABAergic mechanism and are known to be advantageous over barbiturates.

[ABSTRACT]   Full text not available    [CITATIONS]  [PubMed]

Detection of infection with BBVs transmitted by the blood donated by apparently healthy volunteers is facilitated by several laboratory tests employed in screening out infected blood. Because several of the screening assays are immunological markers of host response to the infectious agents, the detection of viral nucleic acids remains a major goal that may possibly be fulfilled by the advent of PCR.

[ABSTRACT]   Full text not available     [PubMed]