The present study was conducted to assess correlation of ammonia levels with valproate levels in epileptic patients presenting
with valproate toxicity and also whether liver enzymes and ammonia levels could serve as biochemical marker of valproate toxicity.
100 patients with epilepsy who had received valproate therapy for more than 12 months and had presented with valproate toxicity
and 100 controls were included in the study. The serum valproate, ammonia and liver enzymes were measured in these subjects.
In patients with valproate toxicity, the mean level of serum valproate was 110.91 ± 28.68 mg/dL (therapeutic range 50–100
mg/dL). Serum ammonia was higher (86.37 ± 39.90 μg/dL) in patients with valproate toxicity compared to controls (68.73 ± 30.07
μg/dL). Out of 100 patients, only 37 patients had serum valproate level > 120 mg/dL and 22 patients had raised levels of valproate
as well as ammonia. Age < 30 years and serum ammonia > 69 μg/dL is risk factors for valproate toxicity. Serum ammonia, liver
enzymes should be regularly investigated in patients on valproate therapy for early diagnosis of valproate toxicity. 相似文献
Helicobacter pylori remains a controversial organism with regards to humans, its epidemiology still unclear nearly two decades
after discovery. The present study was undertaken to estimate the prevalence of the organism in the gastrointestinal tract
in symptomatic and asymptomatic subjects to understand its precise natural history in India. A total of 154 specimens were
a part of the study. These included gastric biopsies from peptic ulcer disease and Non ulcer dyspepsia subjects, as visualized
on endoscopy, saliva and stool samples from apparently normal healthy adults. Nested polymerase chain reaction was performed
using the primers Hp1, Hp2, Hp3 targeting 16S rRNA gene. A prevalence of 65.1%, 100%, 66.7%, and 73.3% respectively was observed
by polymerase chain reaction. No association was observed between the H.pylori status and the disease condition of the patient. 相似文献
In a doctoral study undertaken at Edith Cowan University the author set out to investigate the influence of home and school environments on the academic performance and educational/occupational aspirations of high school students from eight Chinese‐Australian and Anglo‐Australian families residing in a middle class suburb of Perth metropolitan area. These students graduated from a high school where the author conducted this research as a teacher‐researcher. In this longitudinal study data were collected by employing ethnographic techniques such as participant observation, semi‐formal interviewing and document analysis. The author spent 500 hours in the homes of the participating students, observed and interviewed them at school for 2 years, and collected data on their educational performance from Year 8 to Year 12.
Pivotal to this research was the key question: Do Chinese‐Australian and Anglo‐Australian high school students perform differently? If so, how do we account for this difference? An investigation of the home experiences and attitude towards school revealed the existence of “Asian high achieving syndrome” in Chinese‐Australian students and “self‐deprivation syndrome” in Anglo‐Australian students. Nonetheless, the unexpected finding is that excessive parental pressure takes its toll on the mental health of Chinese‐Australian students and deprives them of the other opportunities that Australia offers. On the other hand, the leisure and sports oriented life style of Anglo‐Australian parents leads to low educational expectations and their children fail to reach their full potentials. To substantiate this claim the experiences of students from four families are discussed. 相似文献
Autonomic activity may be deranged in thyroid dysfunctions and may lead to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Myopathy is a common manifestation in thyroid disorders and may be associated with raised serum creatine kinase (CK). We hypothesized that cardiovascular abnormality in thyroid dysfunction may manifest as raised CK-MB. This study was designed to investigate the correlation of CK and its isoform CK-MB with thyroid profile and linear parameters of heart rate variability (HRV). The study was conducted on 35 hypothyroid and hyperthyroid patients each, and 25 age-matched healthy controls. Autonomic activity was assessed by simple short term 5-min HRV. Biochemical evaluation of serum thyroid profile, CK-NAC and CK-MB were estimated in all the subjects. Our results demonstrated low HRV in hypo- as well as hyperthyroid patients. We observed significantly higher serum CK levels in hypothyroid patients when compared to hyperthyroids and controls. However, no significant differences were observed in CK-MB levels in the three groups. Significant positive correlation of CK with TSH and negative correlation with some HRV parameters (LF power, HF power, total power, SDNN, RMSSD) was observed in hypothyroid patients. Whereas correlation of CK-MB with thyroid profile as well as HRV parameters was non-significant in all the groups. Based on the CK and CK-MB findings and their correlation, we conclude that the cardiovascular changes seen in thyroid dysfunctions may primarily be due to autonomic imbalance without apparent cardiac muscle involvement. Whereas, raised CK levels indicate predominantly skeletal muscle involvement in hypothyroid patients. 相似文献
This study evaluated the extent of oxidative stress by measuring malondialdehyde and ascorbic acid in the seminal plasma of
human subjects with different fertility potential. Semen samples from 148 subjects were evaluated (48 normozoospermics, 34
oligoasthenoteratozoospermics, 34 asthenoteratozoospermics and 32 azoospermics). malondialdehyde level was found to be significantly
higher in the abnormal groups (oligoasthenoterato and asthenoterato-zoospermics) than normozoospermics (P < 0.01). Negative
correlation was also found between malondialdehyde level, sperm concentration, sperm motility and sperm morphology. Level
of ascorbic acid was found to be significantly higher in normozoospermics than other abnormal groups (P < 0.01). It was found
to be correlated positively with all seminogram parameters and negatively with malondialdehyde level. The study revealed that,
excess lipid peroxidation reflected by high malondialdehyde level with reduced ascorbic acid in human seminal plasma is associated
with poor semen quality where as ascorbic acid content has positive correlation with fertility potential. 相似文献