Assessment of Vitamin D status In Patients of Chronic Low Back Pain of Unknown Etiology

Low back pain is very disabling and dispiriting because of the physical impediment it causes and its psychological effects. Innumerable factors have been implicated in its etiology. In spite of improvements in diagnostic modalities, a considerable number of such cases fall in the ambiguous zone of unknown etiology or ‘idiopathic.’Early diagnosis of low back pain will allow effective prevention and treatment to be offered. This study was conducted to assess the contribution of vitamin D levels and other biochemical factors to chronic low back pain in such cases. All patients attending the orthopedics OPD for low back pain in whom a precise anatomical cause could not be localized, were prospectively enrolled in this study. We measured serum levels of glucose, calcium, phosphorus, uric acid, rheumatoid factor, C reactive protein, alkaline phosphatase, total protein, albumin and 25 (OH) D concentrations in 200 cases and 200 control samples. The patients showed significantly lower vitamin D levels compared to controls with p value < 0.0001. The maximum number of low back pain patients were in the age group of 31–50 years (42 %).The average BMI was 23.27 ± 5.17 kg/sq m, 73 % of total patient population were females and 27 % were known case of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Calcium, alkaline phosphatase, was positively correlated with vitamin D and glucose showed a negative correlation with vitamin D in the patient population. The problem of low back pain provides a challenge to health care providers. The problem in developing countries is compounded by ignorance to report for early treatment and occupational compulsions in rural areas and sedentary lifestyle in urban youth. The authors strongly recommend early frequent screening for vitamin D along with glucose, protein, albumin, calcium, phosphorus, CRP as part of general health checkup for non-specific body pain, especially low back pain.     

Effect of Certain Antibiotics Against Filarial Parasite <Emphasis Type="Italic">Brugia malayi</Emphasis> In Vitro: Possible Role of Oxidative Stress

WHO-Tropical Disease Research scheme highlighted the need for development of new anti-filarial drugs. Certain antibiotics have recently been found effective against Wolbachia, co-existing symbiotically with filarial parasites. Inflammatory response entails oxidative mechanism to educe direct anti-microbial effect. In the present study microfilariae were maintained in vitro in medium supplemented with varying concentrations of tetracycline, doxycycline (20–100 μg/ml) or ciprofloxacin (50–250 μg/ml) separately to find out any involvement of oxidative mechanism in the anti-filarial effect of these antibiotics. Loss of motility of the microfilariae was measured after 48 h and correlated with the levels of MDA, nitric oxide and protein-carbonylation. Significant loss of microfilarial motility was recorded with increasing concentration of tetracycline and doxycycline but with ciprofloxacin the effect was not marked. Agents with high antifilarial activity revealed significant association with oxidative parameters in a dose dependent manner. The result suggests that oxidative effect might be exploited to design novel antifilarial drug candidate.     

Oxidative Stress and Its Relationship With Adenosine Deaminase Activity in Various Stages of Breast Cancer

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) cause damage to the DNA producing mutations and formation of tumours such as carcinoma of breast. Tumour cells are known to produce ROS at a greater pace than the non-transformed cells. The increased production of reactive oxygen species causes oxidative stress leading to cell proliferation and hence increased inflammatory conditions. The present study was aimed to investigate the role of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of breast cancer. Females suffering from breast cancer had significantly decreased Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and reduced glutathione (GSH) levels in comparison to normal females. The compromised antioxidant defence system produces the oxidative stress which in turn creates the inflammatory response shown by concomitant increased adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity in female patients. ADA diminishes the protective molecule adenosine. There were significant variations (p < 0.01) in ADA activity with different clinical stages (stage 1–4) of breast cancer suggesting thereby that estimation of ADA activity can be used as a diagnostic tool to detect the stage of cancer along with cytological studies. Mastectomy was performed and post-operatively serum SOD and ADA activity and plasma GSH levels were estimated. There was a statistically significant increase in activity of SOD and levels of GSH while serum ADA activity decreased significantly, suggesting thereby that oxidative stress is responsible for increased cell proliferation and hence the inflammatory conditions in CA breast that got ameliorated post-operatively.     

Uric acid a better scavenger of free radicals than vitamin C in rheumatoid arthritis

Uric acid an endogenous aqueous antioxidant in normal humans is present in much higher concentrations than vitamin C and has been known to cover 2/3^rd of the free radical scavenging capacity in plasma. In the present study average uric acid levels of patients of rheumatoid arthritis were found to be close to the normal individuals. A unique feature was observed after classifying the patients on the basis of the duration of suffering, the patients having longer duration of disease had least uric acid levels as compared to those suffering from relatively lesser period, similar trend was observed in the ascorbic acid estimations. The decline in uric acid values with progression of the disease was much more than what was observed in case of ascorbic acid suggesting the significant role of uric acid in scavenging of free radicals. Too much lowering of Uric Acid should be checked and vitamin C should be supplemented in diet for maintaining the balance between pro oxidant and antioxidant forces to check pro oxidant insult in rheumatoid arthritis.     

The Landau theory of phase transitions: A mechanical analog

The Landau theory of phase transitions occupies a centerpiece position in physics. We illustrate the theory by a pedagogical example at the pre-university level. In the example a bead of mass is threaded on a ring which is set rotating about a vertical diameter. The dynamics of the bead mimics key features of the Landau theory.     

Teaching biological evolution effectively

Biological evolution by naturalselection, a conceptthat unifies biology and greatly influences our worldview, is taught in our school and college biology courses. However, students do not seem to understand the ‘how’ of the process of natural selection as put forward by Charles Darwin. Even special lectures integrating evolution with modern biology have largely failed to improve their understanding.     

Correlation of bone mineral density with biochemical markers in post menopausal women

To evaluate the magnitude of bone loss in postmenopausal women and to study the effect of a selective estrogen Receptor Modulator, raloxifene, on bone loss by quantitative ultrasound of calcaneus and serum bone specific alkaline phosphatase (BAP). Postmenopausal women with ostesopenia/osteoporosis were assigned randomly to receive placebo (n=30) or raloxifene (60mg/d, n=30) with calcium (500mg/day) and vitamin D (250 IU/day). The bone mineral density (BMD) and BAP levels were measured at the beginning of therapy and six months later. They were subjected to statistical analysis (t test, p value) using SPSS statistical package. 70% of postmenopausal women suffered from osteopenia/osteoporosis. After raloxifene therapy, there was improvement in the BMD but this was not statistically significant (p>0.05). There was a fall in the value of serum BAP by 26.6% (p<0.05). Raloxifene has a favourable effect on bone turnover as evident from changes in BMD and a significant fall in serum BAP.