Pulmonary function in healthy young adult Indians in Madras.

Forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in one second, functional residual capacity, residual volume, total lung capacity, and single breath diffusing capacity measurements (effective alveolar volume, carbon monoxide transfer factor, and transfer coefficient) were measured in 247 young healthy adults (130 male, 117 female) aged 15-40 years living in Madras. Subjects were of Dravidian stock, living at sea level with rice as their staple diet. Regression equations were derived for men and women for predicting normal pulmonary function for young adults in South India. The values were similar to those reported for subjects from Western India and lower than those reported for North Indians and caucasians.     

Molecular detection of the G(-248)A BAX promoter nucleotide change in B cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

BACKGROUND: A novel single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), G(-248)A, in the 5' untranslated region of the BAX promoter and its association with reduced protein expression, progression beyond Rai stage 0, and treatment resistance in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) has been reported previously. AIM: To develop a restriction enzyme analysis (REA) based method for routine detection of BAX promoter SNP in a clinical laboratory. METHODS: The BAX promoter was analysed in duplicate by REA and sequencing in 90 samples (from 45 patients with CLL, 43 controls, and two cell lines). The promoter region was amplified, digested with restriction endonucleases (Aci I and Tau I), and separated by gel electrophoresis. RESULTS: After digestion, the normal GG genotype samples produced three distinct bands. The homozygous AA replacement abolished the cleavage site, resulting in a single band. Although the heterozygous samples produced three bands, the two smaller visible bands were reduced in intensity (> 50%). The test characteristics of Aci I REA were better than those of Tau I REA, in terms of sensitivity (100% v 77.8%), specificity (98.6% v 92.3%), positive predictive value (95.03% v 87.4%), and negative predictive value (100% v 85.83%). CONCLUSIONS: REA using Aci I is a highly sensitive and specific method for detecting the BAX G(-248)A SNP in CLL.     

Cutaneous vasculitis associated with rifampin therapy

Immune complex-mediated vasculitis is a well-recognized form of idiosyncratic drug reaction. We report cutaneous vasculitis in association with therapy with rifampin (rifampicin). To our knowledge, this has not previously been documented. Rifampin is widely used, and such reactions are therefore important to note.