Mesenteric cysts associated with recurrent small-bowel volvulus: cause or effect?

Recurrent small-bowel volvulus is a state of recurrent intermittent or long-standing persistent twisting of small-bowel loops around its mesentery. The association of mesenteric cysts with recurrent small-bowel volvulus as the cause or effect is a much debated issue in the literature. We report two cases of mesenteric lymphangioma and one case of enteric duplication cyst seen in association with recurrent small-bowel volvulus of long duration in absence of malrotation.     

Genetic Diversity of Asian Sea Bass,Lates calcarifer (Bloch) Populations in India Revealed by Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA

The genetic diversity of five feral populations of Asian Sea bass, Lates calcarifer collected from five isolated locations in India viz., Paradeep, Chilka lake, Kakinada, Chennai and Mumbai was studied using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA. Out of 20 primers screened, 5 decamer random primers amplified a total of 373 DNA bands of which 137 bands were polymorphic. The Kakinada population showed the highest polymorphism (65.71 %) whereas the Chennai population showed the lowest (48.28 %). The inter-population genetic similarity (GS) values estimated for the five populations were checked by one-way ANOVA and found to be significantly different at P < 0.01. The highest inter-population GS was found between Paradeep and Chilka (0.909) and lowest was between Kakinada and Chennai (0.800). Genetic distance tree developed by Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean cluster analysis depicted that the Sea Bass of Paradeep, Chilka and Kakinada belong to one cluster while Chennai and Mumbai populations make different cluster. Overall, Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA technique could be used for genetic differentiation of diverse populations of Sea bass to provide information on their population genetic structure.     

Alterations in the concentration of an apolipoprotein E-containing subfraction of plasma high density lipoprotein in coronary heart disease

The concentrations of high density lipoprotein (HDL) subfractions in 100 healthy male subjects were compared with 100 newly presenting patients with myocardial infarction (MI) within 12 h of the onset of chest pain. A subfraction of HDL enriched in apolipoprotein E (apo E), separated by heparin-Sepharose affinity chromotography, was present in lower concentrations (P < 0.001) in the plasma of the coronary patients than in the control subjects. This finding was confirmed by a lower content (P < 0.02) of apo E, measured by ELISA, in the total HDL fraction isolated from the coronary patients. Gradient gel electrophoresis of the total HDL demonstrated that the coronary patients had a significantly decreased concentration of the large HDL particles, HDL_2b, of mean diameter 10.57 nm and a higher concentration of the smaller-sized HDL₃, especially HDL_3c, of mean diameter 7.62 nm. The coronary patients had a lower concentration of HDL cholesterol than the control subjects, attributable to the HDL₂ fraction, with no difference in HDL_2a between the two groups. There was no difference in the concentration of plasma cholesterol or triglyceride. The distribution of apo E phenotypes was similar in the two groups. HDL_2b produced the highest discriminant power between the two groups, followed by apo E-rich HDL, HDL₂ and HDL_3c Plasma cholesterol correlated strongly with apo E-rich HDL for control subjects but not for MI survivors. This study demonstrates that the inverse relationship between HDL cholesterol and coronary risk shown in epidemiological studies is attributable to the large, apo E-containing HDL subspecies which under some circumstances are implicated in cholesterol removal by reverse cholesterol transport. This study also suggests that the concentration of the large, ago E-containing HDL may provide a sensitive predictor for subjects at risk of developing coronary heart disease.