Biochemical diagnosis of alcoholism

Medically diagnosed alcoholics can be differentiated reliably from non-alcoholics using clinically laboratory tests. In the present study, patients with liver diseases either due to alcohol or without alcohol compared with a group of normal healthy persons. Heavy drinkers showed significantly lower body weight and percent body fat, and low BMI compared with other groups. The percentage of hemoglobin and total number of RBC were found to be significantly decreased, whereas mean corpuscular volume (MCV) significantly increased in alcoholic liver disease (ALD). Hyperbilirubinemia, hyperuricemia and hypoalbuminemia correlate with alcohol intake. Albumin/globulin ratio significantly decreased in ALD. In acute liver injury AST/ALT ratio is ≤1.0, whereas in alcoholic hepatitis it is always >1.0. Moderately elevated level of ALP and high GGT values are good discriminator of alcoholic patients. Alcohol-induced liver injury is linked to oxidative stress as observed by decreased level of reduced glutathione and ascorbic acid, and increased level of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances.     

The perceptions of stakeholders of the implementation of a state funding model in South African public schools

The government has made great strides in redressing past imbalances in education through the National Norms and Standards for School Funding (NNSSF) policy that focuses on equity in school funding. This NNSSF model compels the state to fund public schools according to a poverty quintile system, where poor schools are allocated much more funding for resources than affluent schools. Using qualitative research, school management teams, school governing bodies and principals of six public schools located within the Gauteng West District were interviewed to determine their views of how the NNSSF policy had been implemented. One of the findings revealed that equity in public schools has not been fully achieved since funding provided by the state is insufficient to address the backlog in educational resources. It is recommended that the state abandons the policy of funding schools according to quintile rankings but instead, fund schools based on resource needs.     

On a Problem of Alaoglu and Erdős

Starting with an elementary problem that appeared in the Putnam mathematics competition, we proceed to discuss some techniques of transcendental number theory and prove the following result. If p, q, r are distinct primes and if c is a real number with the property that p^c, q^c, r^c are integers, then c must be a non-negative integer. The tools used are some linear algebra and complex analysis. The zero-density estimate method discussed here was used by Alan Baker to prove his celebrated theorem on linear forms in logarithms. The question as to whether we can replace three primes by two primes is an open question.     

Searching the Polish Medical Bibliography (Polska Bibliografia Lekarska) for trials

Background: The Polish Medical Bibliography (Polska Bibliografia Lekarska) contains 350 000 records dating from 1979. These records from the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health care systems and preclinical sciences are from nearly 300 biomedical journals published in Poland. Methods: We systematically searched the Polish Medical Bibliography Part II (1996–2006) CD‐ROM (July 2006) using both English and Polish phrases for randomized trials, manually checked results and, for the trials identified in this way, sought these on medline and embase . Results: Systematic searching identified records of 680 randomized trials from all areas of health care. Nearly 40% of these were not found on either medline or embase . Conclusions: The Polish Medical Bibliography should be of interest to health care information specialists concerned with comprehensive searches for trials.     

Effect of intraperitoneal administration of carbohydrates on simulated altitude tolerance in rats

Intraperitoneal administration of glucose (20%), Sucrose (20%) and mannitol (15%) to the rats, at a dose of 5ml/100g body weight 3 hrs. prior to hypoxic exposure (simulated high altitude 10,973m, 32°C) significantly increased the hypoxic tolerance. Intraperitoneal administration of these solutions resulted in accumulation of transudate fluid in the peritoneal cavity. A decrease in the excretion of urine, increase in hematocrit value, haemoglobin level, blood viscosity and serum protein were observed. Moisture content of lungs amongst other tissue was found to be decreased. Results are suggestive that dialysis across the peritoneal membrane might have removed some material from the blood in the peritoneal fluid which might have been responsible for the increased hypoxic tolerance.     

Adenosine deaminase levels in cerebrospinal fluid as a diagnostic test for tuberculous meningitis in children

Adenosine deaminase activity (ADA) was estimated in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 30 patients of tuberculous meningitis (TBM) and 10 patients each of partially treated pyomeningitis (PTM), aseptic meningitis (AM) and pyogenic meningitis (PM). Mean ADA levels in CSF of TBM patients were higher (18.22 U/L) as compared to 6.28 U/L, 3.43 U/L and 7.98 U/L in PTM, AM and PM respectively. This difference of ADA values in CSF between TBM and other types of meningitis was statistically significant (p<0.01) different. Sensitivity and specificity of ADA levels in CSF of children to diagnose tuberculous meningitis was 66.6% and 90% respectively at 10 U/L cut off of ADA levels in CSF. ADA levels in CSF could also differentiate PTM, AM and PM from TBM with a specificity of 90%, 100% and 80% respectively.     

Sialic acid in cardiovascular diseases

Sialic acid, the acylated derivatives of 9-carbon sugar neuraminic acid, present as terminal component of oligosaccharide chains of many glycoproteins and glycolipids, has been recognized to be involved in the regulation of a great variety of biological phenomena. Studies have shown that serum sialic acid predicts both coronary heart disease and stroke mortality and reflects the existence or activity of an atherosclerotic process. Most of the studies have shown an elevation in serum sialic acid concentration in coronary heart disease and a positive correlation between the raised serum sialic acid and the severity of the coronary lesions is observed. However, a few contradictory reports are also available. Racial differences in serum sialic acid have also been reported and correlated with international differences in the prevalence of atherosclerosis. Reduced sialic acid content of platelets, erythrocytes and lipoproteins may play important role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Elucidation of the mechanism of alternation in sialic acid concentration may throw more light on its potential clinical utility. Hence more studies are needed to designates sialic acid as a cardiovascular risk factor/marker.     

Salivary glycoproteins as indicators of oral diseases

The present study deals with the estimation of total carbohydrate, protein bound carbohydrate, bound fucose and sialic acid along with total protein in disease conditions like gingivitis, periodontitis and their comparison with the normals. The neutral hexose values in gingivitis (8.08±2.20mg/100mg protein) and periodontitis (12.5±2.16mg/ 100mg protein) decreased significantly when expressed per 100 mg protein compared to normals (19.8±1.89mg/100mg protein). This might be because of higher protein concentration in these two clinical conditions. The ethanol insoluble hexose values were significantly reduced in both these conditions compared to controls (3.71±1.64,5.91±1.63,7.65±0.86mg/100mg protein respectively). The ethanol soluble hexose values were also found to be drastically reduced. This decrease in saliva appears to be characteristic feature of oral diseases. In gingivitis and periodontitis fucose level was found to be increased compared to normals when expressed as a function of salivary volume. However in terms of protein concentration the values in gingivitis (2.95±1.59), periodontitis (3.26±0.98) and normals (3.20±0.50mg/100mg) were not different. Sialic acid in ethanol insoluble fraction of salivary samples mg/100mg protein was found to be significantly reduced in both gingivitis (0.78±0.33) and periodontitis (0.95±0.31) compared to controls (1.92±0.33)     

Assessment of Hematological Parameters in Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients

The aim of the study was the assessment of hematological parameters in pulmonary tuberculosis patients. Forty patients diagnosed with tuberculosis were recruited from the Institute of Thoracic Medicine on the basis of history, clinical examination, chest radiography, sputum examination and related laboratory parameters and were compared with age and sex matched healthy volunteers (n = 40). Hematological parameters and CRP in tuberculosis patients were determined. The mean values for serum hemoglobin level, RBC count and platelet count in PTB was found to be less (p < 0.001). Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), plasma C-reactive protein, WBC count in PTB subjects was increased (p < 0.001 for ESR & CRP, p < 0.05 for WBCs) and all were statistically significant. This study demonstrated that serum hemoglobin level, RBC count and platelet count was decreased in tuberculosis patients whereas ESR, CRP and WBC count was increased when compared with healthy controls.     

Iron deficiency and anemia in vegetarian mothers and their newborns

Blood haemoglobin, serum iron, iron binding capacity, transferrin saturation and ferritin levels were determined in two groups of mothers as well as their cords—strict vegetarians (lactovegetarians) and non-vegetarians (omnivores), closely comparable in age, weight, parity and gestation period but differing in their diet and food habits. All these parameters, except total iron binding capacity, were found to be significantly lower in vegetarian mothers and their cords as compared to nonvegetarian mothers and their cords, respectively, despite receiving supplemental iron for six months. Further, there was a greater incidence of anemia and iron deficiency in mothers consuming only vegetarian diet. Moreover, a significant correlation existed between mother's ferritin to cord ferritin confirming that maternal iron deficiency does affect neonatal iron status. All these observations suggest that strict vegetarian mothers as well as their newborns have a greater incidence and risk of anemia and iron deficiency.