Anatomical Study on the Variations in the Branching Pattern of Internal Iliac Artery

The internal iliac artery (IIA) arises from the common iliac artery at the level of the sacroiliac joint. It descends as trunk, divides into anterior and posterior divisions. From the anterior division it gives superior vesical, obturator, middle rectal, inferior vesical, inferior gluteal, and internal pudendal arteries. In females, inferior vesical artery is replaced by vaginal artery and gives an additional branch, uterine artery. The branches from the posterior division are ilio lumbar, lateral sacral, and superior gluteal arteries. An accidental hemorrhage and neurovascular injuries are common due to erroneous interpretation of variant arteries during surgical procedures. Hence the present study has been undertaken with reference to highlight its clinical and surgical significances. The study included 50 human bisected pelvises irrespective of their side and sex. Formalin-fixed specimens were selected and the branching patterns of IIA were studied. The level of origin, length, and the branching pattern of the IIA were examined and tabulated. The present study highlighted the variation seen in the origin, division branches of the IIA. The detailed knowledge of morphology is essential for successful ligation of the IIA during acute hemorrhage. This will guide the interventional radiologist in intra-arterial procedures during arterial embolization for hemorrhage, control of pelvic fractures, during selective catheterization of the intra-arterial chemotherapy, and embolization of the pelvic tumors.     

SULT1A1 copy number variation: ethnic distribution analysis in an Indian population

Cytosolic sulfotransferases (SULTs) are phase II detoxification enzymes involved in metabolism of numerous xenobiotics, drugs and endogenous compounds. Interindividual variation in sulfonation capacity is important for determining an individual’s response to xenobiotics. SNPs in SULTs, mainly SULT1A1 have been associated with cancer risk and also with response to therapeutic agents. Copy number variation (CNVs) in SULT1A1 is found to be correlated with altered enzyme activity. This short report primarily focuses on CNV in SULT1A1 and its distribution among different ethnic populations around the globe. Frequency distribution of SULT1A1 copy number (CN) in 157 healthy Indian individuals was assessed using florescent-based quantitative PCR assay. A range of 1 to >4 copies, with a frequency of SULT1A1 CN =2 (64.9%) the highest, was observed in our (Indian) population. Upon comparative analysis of frequency distribution of SULT1A1 CN among diverse population groups, a statistically significant difference was observed between Indians (our data) and African-American (AA) (p =?0.0001) and South African (Tswana) (p SULT1A1 varies significantly among world populations and may be one of the determinants of health and diseases.     

Influence of feeding habits on early childhood caries (ECC) within primary dentition in India

ObjectiveTo analyze the association between the feeding habits and prevalence of the early childhood caries among pre-school children of Udaipur city, Rajasthan.Study DesignA cross-sectional study was conducted in school children between age group of 24–72 months. Demographic and attitudinal data were sought from parents of stratified randomly selected 586 children from this age group which was calculated according to a pilot study done two months prior to the study.ResultsTwenty-two point eight percent of the children examined were found to be affected with ECC. Forty-three point two percent and 65.3% of the children were breast fed and bed time fed respectively. Fifty-nine point one percent were weaned after 12 months of age.ConclusionIt was observed that there was increase risk of developing ECC with bed time feeding and among those children weaned after 12 months of age.     

In spite of successful curative surgery for buccal mucosa carcinoma the health-related quality-of-life continues to remain poor

Background

In early stage buccal mucosa carcinoma, in spite of successful curative surgery, the health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) may not improve. We aimed to study HRQoL in these patients who had undergone successful curative surgery and determined factors that influence the HRQoL.

Methods

Subjects, aged 18–70 years, who had undergone successful curative surgery for stage I and II buccal mucosa cancer, were assessed for HRQoL using the University of Washington Quality of Life Questionnaire and factors affecting HRQoL were determined. Their scores were compared with normative reference scores.

Results

54 patients (stages I 54%, II 46%) aged 44?±?11 years (87% males) were studied. They had undergone curative surgery a median of 8.5 (IQR 4–13.5) months ago. Their mean global HRQoL score was 77?±?30, with significantly poorer scores compared to reference in domains of appearance, activity, swallowing, chewing, speech, shoulder, saliva, mood and anxiety. Anxiety, activity, and chewing were considered the most important domains by the patients. Among the factors influencing HRQoL, duration since surgery was the most important factor, and patients with recent surgery had worse performance in chewing, saliva and mood. Patients with stage II had worse performance in shoulder and anxiety compared to stage I. Post-operative radiotherapy worsened swallowing and shoulder function.

Conclusion

In spite of successful curative surgery for buccal mucosa carcinoma, the HRQoL continues to remain sub-optimal with poor scores in most of the domains. These domains must be focused on with appropriate measures in order to improve overall HRQoL in patients after successful curative surgery.

     

Assessment of preclinical effect of (+)-catechin hydrate on sexual function: An in silico and in vivo study

Considering dopamine-enhancing effect of (+)-catechin, the present study was designed to evaluate dopamine-2 (D2) receptor agonistic and phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) enzyme inhibitory effects in in silico and effect on male sexual function of Sprague Dawley rats in vivo. (+)-Catechin and standard (sildenafil and bromocriptine) were docked using Autodock Vina 1.1.2 and visualised by UCSF Chimera 1.14. Significant interactions in terms of binding energies were observed for catechin with both proteins. In in vivo study, the rats were dosed orally for 54 days with (+)-catechin hydrate (50 mg/kg), sildenafil citrate (standard, 4 mg/kg) and carboxymethylcellulose (vehicle, 0.25% w/v). The aphrodisiac effects were evaluated on the day 14, 28, 42 and 54 using the behavioural parameters of mounting and intromission. After the study, animals were sacrificed and testes and spermatozoa were assessed for safety profile. Results showed a significant increase in mount and intromission frequencies and a significant reduction in mount and intromission latencies in the catechin group on all tested days when compared to vehicle control. (+)-Catechin was found to be safe on histology of testes, sperm count, sperm motility and sperm morphology parameters. In conclusion, catechin demonstrated an enhancement in sexual behaviour without eliciting toxicity on the male reproductive system in rats.     

Implications of gene copy-number variation in health and diseases

Inter-individual genomic variations have recently become evident with advances in sequencing techniques and genome-wide array comparative genomic hybridization. Among such variations single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are widely studied and better defined because of availability of large-scale detection platforms. However, insertion-deletions, inversions, copy-number variations (CNVs) also populate our genomes. The large structural variations (>3?Mb) have been known for past 20 years, however, their link to health and disease remain ill-defined. CNVs are defined as the segment of DNA >1?kb in size, and compared with reference genome vary in its copy number. All these types of genomic variations are bound to have vital role in disease susceptibility and drug response. In this review, the discussion is confined to CNVs and their link to health, diseases and drug response. There are several CNVs reported till date, which have important roles in an individual's susceptibility to several complex and common disorders. This review compiles some of these CNVs and analyzes their involvement in diseases in different populations, analyses available evidence and rationalizes their involvement in the development of disease phenotype. Combined with SNP, additional genomic variations including CNV, will provide better correlations between individual genomic variations and health.