Tenascin-C,a biomarker of disease activity in early ankylosing spondylitis

Clinical Rheumatology - Monocytes of patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) over-express toll-like receptor (TLR) 4. Tenascin-C (TNC) is an endogenous TLR4 ligand. Thus, we studied the serum and...     

Metabolic aspects of the toxicology of mixtures of parathion, toxaphene and/or 2,4-D in mice.

The effects of mixtures of parathion (PA;5 mg kg-1), toxaphene (TOX; 50 mg kg-1)and/or 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D; 50 mg kg-1) on the hepatic mixed-function oxygenase (MFO) system were studied in ICR male mice (21-24 g) by oral intubation daily for 7 days. In general, TOX and TOX-containing mixtures were found to induce the metabolism of amidopyrine (21-52%), aniline (58-72%), phenacetin (239-307%), pentobarbital (104-148%) and benzo[a]pyrene (143-304%) in the 9000 g liver supernatants and to increase the hepatic cytochrome P-450 contents (57-80%). Furthermore, the TOX pretreatment was effective in enhancing the biotransformation of PA or paraoxon (PO) in the supernatants. This enhancement was not altered significantly by 5 mM EDTA. Although TOX increased the aliesterase activity in the serum and liver homogenates and supernatants by 31-158%, the activity of paraoxonase was not affected in these preparations. The TOX-induced increase in the metabolism of PA or PO was, at least in part, associated with the MFO system, and paraoxonase did not have significant involvement in the increase. These findings suggest that the toxicity of the PA + TOX mixture would be lower than that of PA, as TOX has the ability to increase the biotransformation of PA, as well as of PO, and the levels of aliesterase, thereby providing a pool of noncritical enzymes for the binding of PO. Because of these properties of TOX, it is anticipated that the toxicity of the PA + TOX + 2,4-D mixture also would be lower than that of PA.     

An epidemiological study of congenital malformations in new born

In a prospective study of 3000 consecutive deliveries (14 twin deliveries), the rate of congenital malformation was reported to be 27.20 per 1000 births (82 out of 3014). No significant difference was observed in the frequency of congenital malformation in urban rural status, in different religion and caste, and in male female babies. An increase in frequency was seen in advanced maternal age and in primi and fourth gravida mothers. A number of environmental factors studied, such as use of different tooth powders, type of drinking water, different cooking vessels, associated vitamin deficiencies did not seem to influence the prevalence of birth defects significantly. The factors which significantly increased the rate of congenital malformation were consanguinity in parents, heridofamilial history of malformations, presence of hydramnios, maternal febrile illness in first trimester, past history of abortion and history of progesterone intake during pregnancy.     

Clinical profile of atrophic rhinitis with special reference to the status of maxillary sinuses

This study describes clinical profile of 62 cases of atrophic rhinitis. Maximum cases (35.48%) were in the age group 11– 20 yrs. The male female ratio was 1:1.06. The major symptoms were foul smell from nose, nasal discharge and nasal crusting, while the major signs found were roomy nasal cavities, atrophic turbinates, nasal crusting, foetor and nasal discharge. Maxillary sinus was found opaque on radiograph in 43.4% cases. The medial wall of maxillary antrum was found to be thicker and size of antrum was found to be smaller as compared to control cases, which was statistically significant (p < 0.001). The antrum puncture was difficult in 43.6% cases. The most common organism found in nasal cavity and antrum were Kleb species and Ps aeroginosa. A positive correlation in the form of same organism between nasal cavity and antrum was found in 44.15% cases. Sinuses have been blamed as one of the causative factors for atrophic rhinitis. Ballenger (1908) and Adam (1919) considered atrophic rhinitis as the result of long standing sinusitis. Taylor and Young (1961) and Ssali (1973) said that walls of the sinuses in atrophic rhinitis are thickened, while Chatterji (1980) found evidence of fragmentation but Ghosh (1987) stated that significant osteoporosis was absent in medical wall of antrum. The present study describes the clinical profile of 62 cases of atrophic rhinitis with special reference to states of maxillary sinus from February 1991 to March 1992.     

Toxicity of mixtures of parathion, toxaphene and/or 2,4-D in mice

The toxicity of the mixtures of parathion (PA), toxaphene (TOX) and/or 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) was studied in ICR male mice (21-24 g) by oral intubation, in corn oil, daily for up to 14 days. On Day 15, the exposure was discontinued, and animals were monitored for an additional period of 7 days for the possible reversibility of the toxicity. The body weight gain decreased with the mixtures, as well as with the individual agricultural chemicals (ACs), during the 14-day period. The cholinesterase (ChE) activity in the serum and brain was inhibited in the animals of the groups of PA (1-10 mg kg-1) and PA (5 mg kg-1)-containing mixtures. TOX (50-200 mg kg-1) caused initial inhibitory effects of 20-65% on the serum ChE (Day 1) before producing increases of 53-64% in the enzyme activity by Day 15, with little effects on the brain ChE levels. 2,4-D (50-200 mg kg-1) resulted in significantly elevated levels of the serum ChE, with substantial decreased in the brain ChE activity. The serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase level was up (38-630%) in TOX (50 mg kg-1), 2,4-D (50 mg kg-1) or their mixture group. No pathological changes at the light microscopic level in the brain and liver were noticed. TOX and TOX-containing mixtures significantly increased the liver/body weight ratio and decreased the pentobarbital (60 mg kg-1, i.p., in saline)-induced sleep.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)