New indolic cysticidal agents.

From a series of compounds having amino acid esters linked into the 3 position of substituted indole 3-acetic acids only the compounds 2 and 6 have shown promizing biological activity where as compound 2 process excystment property only, compound 6 has shown both excystment and cysticidal properties. All other compounds are inactive.     

Deep vein thrombosis: a rare complication of thalidomide therapy in recurrent erythema nodosum leprosum

A case of deep-vein thrombosis is reported in a female patient with multibacillary leprosy who received pulses of dexamethasone and cyclophosphamide for recurrent ENL that had not responded to prednisone and thalidomide.     

Detection of gamma-irradiation induced DNA damage and radioprotection of compounds in yeast using comet assay

The single cell gel electrophoresis assay (SCGE), a very rapid and sensitive method, has been applied to follow gamma-irradiation induced DNA damage in budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Spheroplasting the gamma-irradiated yeast cells by enzyme glusulase, before subjecting them to electrophoresis, resulted in a well-defined appearance of comets. Yeast comets look quite different from mammalian comets. A linear relationship was observed between the doses of irradiation and the tail moments of comets. These studies were extended to follow the action of known radio-protectors, i.e., caffeine and disulfiram. The results revealed the usefulness SCGE as applied to yeast in studies of the gamma-irradiation-induced DNA breaks and also radio-protection by chemicals at doses that are not feasible with other eukaryotes.     

Response of DNA repair enzymes in murine fibrosarcoma, lymphosarcoma and ascites cells following gamma irradiation

The response of different tumours to radiation varies. This variation has been attributed to, among others, varying DNA repair capabilities The response of three tumour lines, differing in their sensitivities to radiation, namely, murine fibrosarcoma, lymphosarcoma and ascites, was studied by following the activities of enzymes known to be involved in DNA repair. The activities of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), DNA polymerase b and DNA ligase in fibrosarcoma, lymphosarcoma and ascites recorded varying degrees of increase following gamma irradiation (2 Gy). The increase was more pronounced in fibrosarcoma, which recorded a maximum 2 h after irradiation for b polymerase, and at 4 h for ligase and PARP, thereafter declining to near normal levels after 24 h. In contrast, the activity of DNA Topoisomerase I declined, corresponding to an increase in the PARP activity. The maximum increase in the activity of beta polymerase, ligase and PARP from lymphosarcoma and ascites was observed 2 h after irradiation with a corresponding decrease in Topoisomerase I activity. Search for the target enzymes and proteins for modification by PARP in gamma -irradiated fibrosarcoma tumour cells revealed that nuclei, and not chromatin, were preferentially modified by PARP. Among the nuclear proteins, histones were found to be ribosylated. The enzyme topoisomerase was ribosylated by PARP in vitro, and this modification was found to inhibit topoisomerase activity. We speculate that a possible role of PARP is to coordinate the activities of other enzymes in DNA repair by selectively inhibiting certain enzymes by the ribosylation process.     

Acute and short-term toxicity studies on p-aminodiphenylamine

p- Aminodiphenylamine (p-ADPA), an aromatic amine of wide industrial applications, also finds human exposure through hair dye preparations or via ingestion of a common food colouring metanil yellow. Acute and short-term toxicity studies in albino rats have been done following the biochemical markers, hematology and tissue histopathology. The acute LD50 value of p-ADPA is 0.847 g/kg body weight which qualifies for the 'moderately toxic' category. In short-term studies, animals were fed p-ADPA, mixed in routine laboratory diet at the concentrations of 0.0 (control), 0.1, 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75% (w/w), daily for 90 days. Feed intake and body weight gain in the highest dosed group were reduced. Hematological examinations exhibited moderate anemic conditions with decreased red blood cells, increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate and lowered packed cell volume suggesting normocytic normochromic anemia at 0.25% onward levels of p-ADPA intake. There was significant increase in the activities of acid/alkaline phosphatases and GOT/GPT in serum with simultaneous depletion from liver at the levels of 0.5 and 0.75% p-ADPA intake, suggesting biochemical lesions of the liver. Testicular LDH and hyaluronidase were lowered at 0.5 and 0.75% levels indicating partial arrest of spermatogenesis. These findings were supported histopathologically. The study warrants careful consideration on its exposure, industrially or through common food color or hair dye preparations.     

Papillon-Lefevre Syndrome

Papillon-Lefevre syndrome in six Saudi children in the same family is described. The parents were unaffected, and parental consanguinity was present. Palmoplantar keratosis started at the age of 1 1/2 years. The loss of deciduous teeth was a consequence of juvenile periodontitis. All essential features of the syndrome were present in this series.