Age and sex related variations in the levels of tear proteins in healthy Indian people

In 150 healthy Indians, aged 10 months to 84 years, levels of total proteins. IgA, IgG and lysozyme in tears have been estimated to find age and sex, related variations. No sex related changes, were observed but levels increased significantly with advancing age upto 30 years, remained stationary between 31–45 years, and started declining thereafter, Immunoglobulin G was quantifable in 26% cases only. Furthermore, tear samples with high concentrations of total proteins had high level of IgA and lysozyme.     

Lack of precision in HbA1c values on variant II in cases of hemoglobin Q India

This study was carried out to check the precision of HbA_1c values on Bio-Rad Variant II in cases of a rare hemoglobin variant Q India. The study was carried out over a three month period on samples collected for HbA_1c estimation. Seven out of eleven patients showed variable results of HbA_1c with a very high and unacceptable intraday mean coefficient of variation (CV) of 9.93%. We conclude, that the results of HbA_1c on Variant II can not be reported without adversely affecting HbA_1c as a marker of long-term glycemic control in patients who have hemoglobin Q India. The HbA_1c value of these patients needs to be assessed by a different instrument/method or the glycemic control be monitored by an alternate test like serum Fructosamine.     

Serum and amniotic fluid mucoproteins in normal and toxaemic pregnancy

Serum and amniotic fluid mucoprotein concentrations were estimated in normal and toxaemic pregnant women. The levels were found to be higher in preeclampsia and eclampsia than the normal controls. Comparatively higher concentrations were observed in amniotic fluid than serum. Data suggest that the estimation of serum and amniotic fluid mucoproteins may be useful in assessing the severity of toxaemia of pregnancy and fetal well being.     

Effect of latent iron deficiency on gaba and glutamate neuroreceptors in rat brain

Eight weeks of latent iron deficiency in weaned female rats of Sprague Dawley strain maintained on experimental low-iron diet (18–20 mg/Kg) did not significantly change the gross body weight and tissue weights of brain and liver. Packed cell volume (PCV) and hemoglobin concentration remained unaltered. However, non-heme iron content in liver and brain decreased significantly (P<0.001). The activities of glutamate dehydrogenase, glutamic acid decarboxylase, and GABA-transaminase (GABA-T) in brain decreased by 15%, 11.4% and 25.7% respectively. However, this decrease was not statistically significant. Binding of³H Muscimol at pH 7.5 and 1 mg protein/assay increased by 143% (P<0.001) in synaptic vesicular membranes from iron-deficient rats as compared to the controls.³H glutamate binding to the synaptic vesicles was also carried out under similar condition. However, the L-glutamate binding was reduced by 63% in the vesicular membranes of iron deficient animals. These studies in dicate that iron plays an important functional role in both excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitter receptors.     

Bone mineral content and bone density in Indian females

Bone mineral content and bone density of 234 females were measured using single photon absorptiometry technique on Computerised Bone Density Scanner-1100. The bone mineral content and bone density showed a decreasing trend with advancing age. There was no significant decrease in bone mineral content and bone density during pregnancy.     

It’s a MATERIALS World!

In this article, we describe our experiences of conducting a series of workshops titled ‘It’s a MATERIALS world!’ to popularize Materials Science among school children in India. Some of the hands-on activities that can be performed with easily available ingredients/equipment in a classroom are described for the benefit of educators.     

Identification of drug-resistantMycobacterium tuberculosis by single strand conformation polymorphism and cleavase fragment length polymorphism

Twenty isolates ofMycobacterium tuberculosis resistant to rifampicin(RIF), isoniazid(INH) and streptomycin(STR) were analysed by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) amplification of rpoB, katG and rrs genes to evaluate comparative diagnostic significance of genetic assays. Mutations were identified by single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) and cleavase fragment length polymorphism (CFLP) and were confirmed by DNA sequencing. SSCP of 4 RIF resistant and 14 INH resistant isolates showed an extra peak at the level of 75-bp and 85-bp respectively, while 2 STR resistant isolates showed 2 peaks with 9 bases difference. CFLP showed a different pattern among RIF, INH and STR sensitive and resistant isolates Thus SSCP and CFLP can be used as alternative diagnostic methods for identification of mutations in RIF, INH and STR resistant strains of M.tuberculosis.