Development of standard therapeutic guidelines for selected common diseases for the primary health care centres of a South Indian district

Method A questionnaire survey of medical officers was conducted to collect data on the most commonly‐presenting diseases and doctors' treatment choices in PHCs in Mysore. Draft guidelines were developed for these conditions based on available literature, together with microbiological sensitivity data from the three district hospitals. User feedback on the draft guidelines and on guidelines in general was obtained from medical officers using a postal questionnaire. Objective To develop standard therapeutic guidelines for selected common diseases for the primary health care centres (PHCs) of a South Indian district and to evaluate medical officers' perceptions about the proposed guidelines and about guidelines in general. Setting Sample of 17 of the 93 PHCs in Mysore. Key findings Upper respiratory tract infection was the most commonly‐presenting condition. Procaine penicillin was the most commonly‐used drug and there were examples of inappropriate treatment choices. The survey produced evidence that access to medicines on the government's “essential” list was not uniform, with many patients having to purchase prescribed drugs that were not on the list. The response rate to the user feedback questionnaire was 62 per cent (31 doctors). The medical officers had positive opinions about guidelines in general and felt that the guidelines we proposed were useful and would help them to improve their prescribing habits. Conclusions Prescribing in primary care in India needs to be improved. The involvement of potential users of the guidelines in their development should increase their acceptability and thus their use in practice.     

Development and Application of a Serum C-Telopeptide and Osteocalcin Assay to Measure Bone Turnover in an Ovariectomized Rat Model

Biochemical markers applicable to the ovariectomized rat model can provide important tools for studying the bone remodeling process in this animal model of postmenopausal osteoporosis. We describe the development and application of two biochemical markers, a C-telopeptide (of type-I collagen) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for measuring bone resorption and an osteocalcin radioimmunoassay (RIA) for measuring bone formation in rat serum. The C-telopeptide ELISA is based on an affinity purified polyclonal antibody generated against human sequence DFSFLPQPPQEKAHDGGR. The antibody epitope involves amino acid sequence, which is similar in rat and human carboxyl terminal peptide of type-I (alpha 1) collagen. Sensitivity of the ELISA was 0.3 ng/ml. The averaged intra- and interassay variation was CV <7%. Averaged dilution and spiked recoveries were 91% and 105%, respectively. The second marker developed is a synthetic peptide-based osteocalcin RIA, which does not require isolation and purification of intact osteocalcin from rat bone. Osteocalcin antiserum used in the RIA was generated in rabbits against a synthetic peptide comprising amino acids 33–49 of the rat osteocalcin sequence. The sensitivity of the RIA was 0.15 ng/ml of peptide. The averaged intra (n = 10) and interassay variations for two controls were CV <9% and 12%, respectively. The averaged dilution and spiked recoveries were 99.6%. In vivo validation of the C-telopeptide ELISA and osteocalcin RIA was performed in an ovariectomized (OVX) rat model. In 12-week-old OVX Sprague Dawley rats, the C-telopeptide and osteocalcin concentrations were approximately 65% and 40%, respectively, higher than the sham group. Estradiol repletion significantly lowered the C-telopeptide and osteocalcin concentration to the levels of the sham group. In addition, changes in serum C-telopeptide concentration correlated negatively with trabecular BMD measured by pQCT (r =−0.51, P < 0.001). In conclusion, the C-telopeptide ELISA and osteocalcin RIA exhibited required sensitivity, accuracy, and adequate discriminatory power to be used for measuring bone resorption and bone formation in the ovariectomized rat model. Received: 20 August 1999 / Accepted: 5 January 2000     

Insulin-like growth factor system components in hyperparathyroidism and renal osteodystrophy

BACKGROUND: The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system plays a key role in regulation of bone formation. In patients with renal osteodystrophy, an elevation of some IGF binding proteins (IGFBPs) has been described, but there is no study measuring serum levels of both IGF-I and IGF-II as well as IGFBP-1 to -6 in different forms of renal osteodystrophy and hyperparathyroidism. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, we investigated 319 patients with mild (N = 29), moderate (N = 48), preuremic (N = 37), and end-stage renal failure (ESRF; N = 205). The ESRF group was treated by hemodialysis (HD; N = 148), peritoneal dialysis (PD; N = 27), or renal transplantation (RTX; N = 30). As controls without renal failure, we recruited age-matched healthy subjects (N = 87) and patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT; N = 25). Serum levels of total and free IGF-I, IGF-II, IGFBP-1 to -6, and biochemical bone markers including intact parathyroid hormone (PTH), bone alkaline phosphatase (B-ALP), and osteocalcin (OSC) were measured by specific immunometric assays. IGF system components and bone markers were correlated with clinical and bone histologic findings. Mean values +/- SEM are given. RESULTS: With declining renal function a significant increase was measured for IGFBP-1 (range 7- to 14-fold), IGFBP-2 (3- to 8-fold), IGFBP-3 (1.5- to 3-fold), IGFBP-4 (3- to 19-fold), and IGFBP-6 (8- to 25-fold), whereas IGFBP-5 levels tended to decrease (1.3- to 1. 6-fold). In contrast, serum levels of IGF-I, free IGF-I, and IGF-II remained constant in most patients. Compared with renal failure patients, pHPT patients showed a similar decline in IGFBP-5 levels and less elevated levels of IGFBP-1 (3.5-fold), IGFBP-2 (2-fold), IGFBP-3 (1.2-fold), and IGFBP-6 (4-fold) but no elevation of IGFBP-4 levels. In all subjects, free and total IGF-I levels showed significant negative correlations with IGFBP-1, IGFBP-2, and IGFBP-4 (that is, inhibitory IGF system components) and significant positive correlations with IGFBP-3 and IGFBP-5 (that is, stimulatory IGF system components). A positive correlation was observed between IGF-II and IGFBP-6. ESRF patients with mixed uremic bone disease and histologic evidence for osteopenia revealed significantly (P < 0.05) higher levels of IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-4 but lower IGFBP-5 levels. Histologic parameters of bone formation showed significant positive correlations with serum levels of IGF-I, IGF-II, and IGFBP-5. In contrast, IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-4 correlated positively with indices of bone loss. Moreover, dialysis patients with low bone turnover (N = 24) showed significantly (P < 0.05) lower levels of IGFBP-5, PTH, B-ALP, and OSC than patients with high bone turnover. CONCLUSION: Patients with primary and secondary hyperparathyroidism showed lower levels of the putative stimulatory IGFBP-5 but higher levels of IGFBP-1, -2, -3, and -6, whereas total IGF-I and IGF-II levels were not or only moderately increased. The marked increase in serum levels of IGFBP-4 appeared to be characteristic for chronic renal failure. IGFBP-5 correlated with biochemical markers and histologic indices of bone formation in renal osteodystrophy patients and was not influenced by renal function. Therefore, IGFBP-5 may gain significance as a serological marker for osteopenia and low bone turnover in long-term dialysis patients.     

Frequency of proteinuria in type 2 diabetes mellitus seen at a diabetes centre in southern India

The frequency of proteinuria was assessed in a cohort of 1848 diabetic patients attending a diabetes centre in south India. A total of 127 (6.9%) patients had evidence of macroproteinuria and 49 (2.5%) patients had microproteinuria. Thus overall 9.4% of patients had diabetes related proteinuria. In addition, 70 patients (3.8%) had evidence of proteinuria with no evidence of retinopathy. The frequency of both microproteinuria and macroproteinuria increased linearly with duration of diabetes. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that duration of diabetes, serum creatinine, and glycated haemoglobin were risk factors for macroproteinuria.     

An epidemiological study on patients undergoing dacryocystorhinostomy

Dacryocystorhinostomy is performed in patients with naso-lacrimal duct obstruction to bypass the site of obstruction so as to relieve the patient of the irritating and socially embarrassing symptoms of epiphora. We discuss the various epidemiological aspects especially the vast difference by which the females out-number the males in patients undergoing DCR and the likely explanations for this difference in our study on 74 patients which underwent DCR in our institute.     

Auditory brainstem implantation: The first Indian experience

Multichannel auditory brainstem implants (ABI) are currently indicated for patients with neurofibromatosis type II (NF2) involving both vestibulocochlear nerves. The ABI helps bypass the damaged cochlear nerves and restores a level of auditory sensation via the electrical stimulation of the cochlear nucleus. The implant is usually placed in the lateral recess of the fourth ventricle at the time of tumor resection to stimulate the cochlear nucleus. We report a case of ABI done on a 15-year-old girl with bilateral vestibular schwannomas.