Immunobiology of trophoblast cells

A female patient who had two primary cancers was investigated. Biochemical analysis of patient's serum for different parameters indicated an alteration in the metabolic process. Prognostically, the patient has shown favourable clinical features.     

The relationship between sexual abuse during childhood and parenting outcomes: modeling direct and indirect pathways

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the association between childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and parenting outcomes including parenting stress, feelings of competence and discipline strategies. Maternal depression and current partner violence were hypothesized to be mediators of the association between CSA and parenting. METHOD: This study is based on secondary data analysis of archived data. The participants were 263 primiparous mothers (107 with a history of CSA and 156 comparison mothers recruited from a prenatal clinic prior to the birth of their first child. Mothers were interviewed twice: once when they were between 28 and 32 weeks gestation and again when their child was between 2 and 4 years of age. During the first interview, women were asked about childhood experiences of sexual abuse. During their second interview, they were asked about current symptoms of pathology and experiences with partner violence and parenting beliefs and practices. RESULTS: Structural Equation Modeling indicated that the relationship between CSA and punitive discipline was mediated by maternal depression and current partner violence. CSA was associated with higher maternal depression and higher partner violence. CSA, maternal depression, and current partner violence were associated with more negative parental perceptions and higher punitive discipline. Once maternal depression and current partner violence were in the model, the relationship between CSA and parenting outcomes was no different from zero. CONCLUSION: These results highlight the risks associated with CSA for parenting outcomes and suggest two potential pathways for this increased risk.     

Estimation of the levels of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) in cardiac blood samples by a simple and indigenous enzyme linked immunosorbent assay

Levels of Atrial Natriuretic Peptide (ANP) were estimated in twenty four blood samples collected from the right and the left ventricles of the patients undergoing cardiac catheterization by an Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) developed to the sensitivity of 5 pp/well and within 10% of interassay coeficient of variance. Simultaneously, levels of ANP in plasma samples from the systemic venous blood of seventy five normal subjects were also estimated which ranged between 25–60 pg/ml.     

Role of ascorbic acid in human seminal plasma against the oxidative damage to the sperms

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.     

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.     

Building Vocabulary Knowledge in Preschoolers Through Shared Book Reading and Gameplay

This study moves beyond previous investigations to examine whether an educational intervention combining shared book reading with a vocabulary game increases children's vocabulary knowledge. Four‐year‐olds (N = 44) were randomly assigned to dyads in either an intervention (shared book reading plus vocabulary review game) or comparison condition (shared book reading, after‐reading vocabulary review, and game that did not teach vocabulary). After two 30‐min sessions, results demonstrated that the intervention condition outperformed the comparison condition on measures of receptive and expressive knowledge of taught vocabulary words. Children in the intervention group who scored the lowest at pretest on the receptive measure saw the most gains in taught word knowledge. Findings suggest that combining vocabulary gameplay with shared book reading improved children's learning of the vocabulary words in comparison to a comparison group.     

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.     

Effect of insulin on serum lipids in relation to nutritional status in diabetics

Serum levels of cholesterol, triglyceride, free fatty acid (FFA) and high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol were studied in 10 undernourished and 10 better nourished diabetic patients at different periods of insulin treatment and in non-diabetic controls. Serum concentrations of cholesterol, triglyceride and FFA were significantly higher in untreated diabetic patients than in control but the elevated lipid levels gradually shifted towards normal on insulin treatment. The HDL cholesterol, on the other hand, was significantly lower in untreated diabetic subjects than those in controls and the HDL cholesterol also gradually modified on insulin therapy. However, the improvement of all the lipid parameters on insulin treatment was somewhat delayed in undernourished compared to those of better nourished diabetics. These results, therefore, suggest that malnutrition interferes with the serum lipid improvement in diabetics on insulin treatment and may make them more prone to develop vascular complications.     

Interaction ofLabeo rohita lectin (LRP) with mycobacterial surface oligosaccharide

A C-type mannose specific lectin (LRP) isolated from plasma of fresh water fishLabeo rohita showed 500 times higher specificity towards cell surface oligosaccharide (LAM) ofMycobacterium tuberculosis (H37Rv). Using biotinylated LRP, binding between lectin and LAM was demonstrated by ELISA and it was observed that even 3ng of oligosaccharides might be detected using only 1μg of biotinylated lectin.