Browsing by Author "S. Pandey"

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A brief perspective on Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica temminck & schlegel, 1846) an indispensable part of Japanese culture
(National Institute of Science Communication and Policy Research, 2020) V.K. Yadav; S. Pandey; P. Kaushik
Anguilla japonica, also known as Japanese eel, is an integral part of Japanese culture from centuries. This fish spawns in the Mariana islands, and subsequently the larval stages migrate towards east Asia. Whereas, the sexually maturing eels return back to the spawning grounds in the ocean. Being commercially vital, the glass eels are intensively captured to be used in aquaculture systems along east Asia. This practice along with the climate change contributes to a significant decline in the Japanese eel population. Further, to counteract the increasing demand of Japanese eel in domestic market, their mass production through aquaculture systems require a higher amount of innovation in terms of their feeding and rearing technology. Here we have summed up all the important information about the Japanese eel based on the thorough survey of already published literature. Overall, this review will be useful for a better understanding of the currently available information pertaining to the species. © 2020 National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (NISCAIR). All rights reserved.
Annular alopecia areata: Report of two cases
(2013) Manish Bansal; Kajal Manchanda; S. Pandey
Alopecia areata (AA) is an auto-immune disorder characterized by the appearance of non-scarring bald patches affecting the hair bearing areas of the body. Scalp is the most common site of involvement. AA can affect any age group. The usual pattern of the hair loss is oval or round. We hereby, report two cases of annular and circinate pattern of AA due to its unusual morphology.
Anti-platelet activating factor property of Rubia cordifolia Linn.
(1993) Y.B. Tripathi; S. Pandey; S.D. Shukla
Rubia cordifolia is clinically used for the purification of blood by the physicians of the Indian System of Medicine. For the first time, the effect of the partially purified fraction of this whole plant has been studied on rabbit platelets. It inhibits the platelet aggregation induced by PAF (platelet activating factor) but not thrombin. It also inhibits the binding of 3H-PAF to the platelets in the dose-dependent manner. Thus it appears that R. cordifolia inhibits action of PAF at its receptor level either by it's blocking or by desensitization.
ATHENA detector proposal - a totally hermetic electron nucleus apparatus proposed for IP6 at the Electron-Ion Collider
(Institute of Physics, 2022) J. Adam; L. Adamczyk; N. Agrawal; C. Aidala; W. Akers; M. Alekseev; M.M. Allen; F. Ameli; A. Angerami; P. Antonioli; N.J. Apadula; A. Aprahamian; W. Armstrong; M. Arratia; J.R. Arrington; A. Asaturyan; E.C. Aschenauer; K. Augsten; S. Aune; K. Bailey; C. Baldanza; M. Bansal; F. Barbosa; L. Barion; K. Barish; M. Battaglieri; A. Bazilevsky; N.K. Behera; V. Berdnikov; J. Bernauer; C. Berriaud; A. Bhasin; D.S. Bhattacharya; J. Bielcik; J. Bielcikova; C. Bissolotti; W. Boeglin; M. Bondì; M. Borri; F. Bossù; F. Bouyjou; J.D. Brandenburg; A. Bressan; M. Brooks; S.L. Bültmann; D. Byer; H. Caines; M. Calderon De La Barca Sanchez; V. Calvelli; A. Camsonne; L. Cappelli; M. Capua; M. Castro; D. Cavazza; D. Cebra; A. Celentano; I. Chakaberia; B. Chan; W. Chang; M. Chartier; C. Chatterjee; D. Chen; J. Chen; K. Chen; Z. Chen; H. Chetri; T. Chiarusi; M. Chiosso; X. Chu; J.J. Chwastowski; G. Cicala; E. Cisbani; E. Cline; I. Cloët; D. Colella; M. Contalbrigo; G. Contin; R. Corliss; Y. Corrales-Morales; J. Crafts; C. Crawford; R. Cruz-Torres; D. D'Ago; A. D'Angelo; N. D'Hose; J. Dainton; S. Dalla Torre; S.S. Dasgupta; S. Dash; N. Dashyan; J. Datta; M. Daugherity; R. De Vita; W. Deconinck; M. Defurne; K. Dehmelt; A. Del Dotto; F. Delcarro; G. Dellacasa; Z.S. Demiroglu; G.W. Deptuch; V. Desai; A. Deshpande; K. Devereaux; R. Dhillon; R. Di Salvo; C. Dilks; D. Dixit; S. Dobbs; X. Dong; J. Drachenberg; A. Drees; R. Dupré; M. Durham; R. Dzhygadlo; L. El Fassi; D. Elia; E. Epple; R. Esha; O. Evdokimov; O. Eyser; D. Falchieri; W. Fan; A. Fantini; R. Fatemi; S. Fazio; S. Fegan; A. Filippi; H. Fox; A. Francisco; A. Freeze; S. Furletov; Y. Furletova; C. Gal; S. Gardner; P. Garg; D. Gaskell; K. Gates; M.T.W. Gericke; F. Geurts; C. Ghosh; M. Giacalone; F. Giacomini; S. Gilchrist; D. Glazier; K. Gnanvo; L. Gonella; L.C. Greiner; N. Guerrini; L. Guo; A. Gupta; R. Gupta; W. Guryn; X. He; T. Hemmick; S. Heppelmann; D. Higinbotham; M. Hoballah; A. Hoghmrtsyan; M. Hohlmann; T. Horn; D. Hornidge; H.Z. Huang; C.E. Hyde; P. Iapozzuto; M. Idzik; B.V. Jacak; M. Jadhav; S. Jain; C. Jena; A. Jentsch; Y. Ji; Z. Ji; J. Jia; P.G. Jones; R.W.I. Jones; S. Joosten; S. Joshi; L. Kabir; G. Kalicy; G. Karyan; V.K.S. Kashyap; D. Kawall; H. Ke; M. Kelsey; J. Kim; J. Kiryluk; A. Kiselev; S.R. Klein; H. Klest; V. Kochar; W. Korsch; L. Kosarzewski; A. Kotzinian; F. Krizek; A. Kumar; K.S. Kumar; L. Kumar; R. Kumar; S. Kumar; A. Kunnath; N. Kushawaha; R. Lacey; Y.S. Lai; K. Lalwani; J. Landgraf; L. Lanza; D. Lattuada; M. Lavinsky; J.H. Lee; S.H. Lee; R. Lemmon; A. Lestone; N. Lewis; H. Li; S. Li; W. Li; W. Li; X. Li; X. Li; X. Liang; T. Ligonzo; T. Lin; J. Liu; K. Liu; M. Liu; K. Livingston; N. Liyanage; T. Ljubicic; O. Long; N. Lukow; Y. Ma; J. Mammei; F. Mammoliti; K. Mamo; I. Mandjavidze; S. Maple; D. Marchand; A. Margotti; C. Markert; P. Markowitz; T. Marshall; A. Martin; H. Marukyan; A. Mastroserio; S. Mathew; S. Mayilyan; C. Mayri; M. McEneaney; Y. Mei; L. Meng; F. Méot; J. Metcalfe; Z.-E. Meziani; P. Mihir; R. Milton; A. Mirabella; M. Mirazita; A. Mkrtchyan; H. Mkrtchyan; B. Mohanty; M. Mondal; A. Morreale; A. Movsisyan; D. Muenstermann; A. Mukherjee; C. Munoz Camacho; M.J. Murray; H. Mustafa; M. Myška; B.P. Nachman; K. Nagai; R. Naik; J.P. Naim; J. Nam; B. Nandi; E. Nappi; Md. Nasim; D. Neff; D. Neiret; P.R. Newman; M. Nguyen; S. Niccolai; M. Nie; F. Noferini; J. Norman; F. Noto; A.S. Nunes; T. O'Connor; G. Odyniec; V.A. Okorokov; M. Osipenko; B. Page; C. Palatchi; D. Palmer; P. Palni; S. Pandey; D. Panzieri; S. Park; K. Paschke; C. Pastore; R.N. Patra; A. Paul; S. Paul; C. Pecar; A. Peck; I. Pegg; C. Pellegrino; C. Peng; L. Pentchev; R. Perrino; K. Piotrzkowski; T. Polakovic; M. Płoskoń; M. Posik; S. Prasad; R. Preghenella; S. Priens; E. Prifti; M. Przybycien; P. Pujahari; A. Quintero; M. Radici; S.K. Radhakrishnan; S. Rahman; S. Rathi; B. Raue; R. Reed; P. Reimer; J. Reinhold; E. Renner; L. Rignanese; M. Ripani; A. Rizzo; D. Romanov; A. Roy; N. Rubini; M. Ruspa; L. Ruan; F. Sabatié; S. Sadhukhan; N. Sahoo; P. Sahu; D. Samuel; A. Sarkar; M. Sarsour; W. Schmidke; B. Schmookler; C. Schwarz; J. Schwiening; M. Scott; I. Sedgwick; M. Segreti; S. Sekula; R. Seto; N. Shah; A. Shahinyan; D. Sharma; N. Sharma; E.P. Sichtermann; A. Signori; A. Singh; B.K. Singh; S.N. Singh; N. Smirnov; D. Sokhan; R. Soltz; W. Sondheim; S. Spinali; F. Stacchi; R. Staszewski; P. Stepanov; S. Strazzi; I.R. Stroe; X. Sun; B. Surrow; Z. Sweger; T.J. Symons; V. Tadevosyan; A. Tang; E. Tassi; L. Teodorescu; F. Tessarotto; D. Thomas; J.H. Thomas; T. Toll; L. Tomášek; F. Torales-Acosta; P. Tribedy; Triloki; V. Tripathi; R. Trotta; M. Trzebiński; B.A. Trzeciak; O. Tsai; Z. Tu; R. Turrisi; C. Tuvè; T. Ullrich; G.M. Urciuoli; A. Valentini; S. Vallarino; M. Vandenbroucke; J. Vanek; G. Vino; G. Volpe; H. Voskanyan; A. Vossen; E. Voutier; G. Wang; Y. Wang; D. Watts; N. Wickramaarachchi; F. Wilson; C.-P. Wong; X. Wu; Y. Wu; J. Xie; Q.-H. Xu; Z. Xu; Z.W. Xu; C. Yang; Q. Yang; Y. Yang; Z. Ye; Z. Ye; L. Yi; Z. Yin; M. Yurov; N. Zachariou; J. Zhang; Y. Zhang; Z. Zhang; Z. Zhang; Y. Zhao; Y.X. Zhao; Z. Zhao; L. Zheng; M. Żurek
ATHENA has been designed as a general purpose detector capable of delivering the full scientific scope of the Electron-Ion Collider. Careful technology choices provide fine tracking and momentum resolution, high performance electromagnetic and hadronic calorimetry, hadron identification over a wide kinematic range, and near-complete hermeticity. This article describes the detector design and its expected performance in the most relevant physics channels. It includes an evaluation of detector technology choices, the technical challenges to realizing the detector and the R&D required to meet those challenges. © 2022 The Author(s).
Birthweight: its relationship with maternal and newborn skinfold thickness.
(1991) S. Swain; B.D. Bhatia; S. Pandey; L.K. Pandey; A. Agrawal
Two hundred and forty seven pregnant women at term and their offsprings were studied. Maternal skinfold thickness was measured from ten different sites and newborn skinfold thickness was measured from four different sites in each set of cases. Maternal skinfold thickness was positively correlated with the birthweight and skinfold thickness of the offspring. The birthweight was also positively correlated with the skinfold thickness of offspring. The maternal axillary sites and offspring's subscapular site had higher inter correlation as well as with the birthweight of offspring.
Cellular immunity status in anaemia in pregnancy.
(1991) A. Kandoi; B.D. Bhatia; L.K. Pandey; S. Pandey; P.C. Sen; K. Satya
Fifty pregnant women (25 anaemic and 25 non-anaemic) and 20 non pregnant women (10 anaemic and 10 non-anaemic) were studied. All pregnant women delivered full term (37-41 wk) singleton babies. Maternal blood lymphocyte stimulation indices (SI) at 0 and 24 h were lower in anaemic and non-anaemic pregnant women, compared to anaemic and non-anaemic non-pregnant women. This difference was more marked in anaemic pregnant women, as compared to non pregnant anaemic women at 0 and 24 h respectively. The SI of maternal and cord blood lymphocytes were significantly lower in severely anaemic mothers both at 0 and 24 h and in those with maternal serum iron levels below 50 micrograms/dl or maternal per cent transferrin saturation was below 15 per cent. The anaemic mothers and their offspring were found to have significantly lower blastogenic response to PHA added at 24 h indicating depression of T-suppressor cell function.
Changes in antioxidant enzyme activities and gene expression in two muskmelon genotypes under progressive water stress
(Springer Netherlands, 2017) W.A. Ansari; N. Atri; B. Singh; S. Pandey
Responses of two muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) genotypes (drought tolerant SC-15 and drought susceptible EC-564755) were analyzed at 0, 7, 14, and 21 d of progressive water stress. Although water deficit caused a significant decline in relative water content, the magnitude of reduction was lower in SC-15. Electrolyte leakage, hydrogen peroxide, and malonydialdehyde generation were higher in EC-564755, whereas accumulation of proline was higher in SC-15. Higher activities of antioxidant enzymes, such as catalase, superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase, guaiacol peroxidase, and glutathione reductase, and higher expression of the respective genes were recorded in SC-15 than in EC-564755. Expressions of DREB2C and DREB3 in SC-15 revealed a fluctuating pattern with down-regulation on days 7 and 21 of water stress, whereas up-regulation was observed on day 14. Concurrently, both genes in EC-564755 showed continuous down-regulation on days 7, 14, and 21 of water stress. Expressions of RD22 and dehydrin recorded on days 7, 14, and 21 were lower in SC-15. The cluster analysis showed that, these two genotypes had a clear distinction in physiological and biochemical properties and gene expressions under water stress and the genotype SC-15 had more efficient osmoprotectant mechanism than genotype EC-564755 under water deficit conditions. © 2017, The Institute of Experimental Botany.
Changes in chlorophyll content and photosynthetic rate of four cultivars of mango during reproductive phase
(1999) S. Pandey; D.N. Tyagi
Total chlorophyll (Chl) content, leaf mass per area (LMA), and net photosynthetic rate (P(N)) were studied in four cultivars of mango (Mangifera indica L.) from September to May. Maximum Chl contents were found in September and December, the period considered to be crucial for flowering in mango. P(N) was maximum during October and maintained almost steady during the fruit growth period. However, LMA varied significantly in all cultivars. Mean Chl content, P(N), and LMA were lower in cv. Malaviyabhog than in other cultivars.
Conjoined twins with a single heart: A rare case report
(2011) S. Pandey; S. Mendiratta; S. Pandey; R. Sinha; L.K. Pandey
A case of abdomino-thoracopagus twins with a single heart is described. The male twins were delivered in the 15th week of gestation following the parents' request to terminate the pregnancy. This case is of particular interest because of the rarity of the abdominothoracopagus twins with a single heart, in the literature.
Effect of Saussurea lappa alcoholic extract on different endocrine glands in relation to glucose metabolism in the rat
(1993) P. Chaturvedi; P. Tripathi; S. Pandey; U. Singh; Y.B. Tripathi
In this report the alcoholic extract of the root of Saussurea lappa C. B. Clarke (Compositae) has been used on albino rats to investigate the response on the histology of the thyroid gland, adrenal gland, pancreas and liver. Its effect on liver glycogen, blood glucose and plasma insulin has also been investigated. Treatment up to 7 days shows a significant hypoglycaemic response without an increase in plasma insulin. The acute response shows the accumulation of glycogen in the liver followed by its depletion. The histology of the thyroid shows stimulation. Liver sections do not show any toxic effects up to 400 mg/kg body weight. No change was observed in sections of adrenal gland and pancreas. Copyright © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Effectiveness of directly observed treatment of tuberculosis patients under RNTCP in a rural area of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
(Institute of Medico-Legal Publications, 2010) S.K. Jha; S.C. Mohapatra; C.P. Mishra; S. Awasthi; S. Pandey; C.M.S. Rawat
Background Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major public health problem worldwide and India rank first in terms of total numbers of incident cases. Directly Observed Treatment Short Course (DOTS) is the heart of Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) and the effectiveness of this programme has not been evaluated in the rural setup of Varanasi. With this background this study was conducted in this area. Objective To describe the socio demographic characteristics of registered patients in PHC Chiraigaon block and the treatment outcome of DOTS. Methods This study was conducted in Primary Health Center (PHC) Chiraigaon community development block of Varanasi district adopting a community based prospective design. All the case of TB patients registered at PHC Chiraigaon block from 1st July 2006 to 30th June 2007, were the study subjects and were followed up to 15 months to know the treatment outcome as recommended by RNTCP. Information pertaining to patients was collected by interviewing them with the help of predesigned and pretested interview schedule. Results About half 75 (51.7%) patients were male and rest 48.3% were females. The treatment success rate was 109(75.2%). The defaulter rate was 25(17.2%). Patients who received drugs from Informal DOT Providers were significantly more likely to be Defaulters than patients who were treated by Formal DOT Providers (Relative risk = 3.5; 95% Confidence Interval=1.1-11.1; p=0.03). None of DOT providers was found to observe the swallowing of tablets by the patients Conclusion The cure rate in our study was below and defaulter rate was more than the target of RNTCP and the important factors identified were type of DOT providers and distance of patients from DOT center. © 2010, Indian Journal of Public Health Research and Development. All rights reserved.
Failure of conspecific males to prevent the water deprivation-induced disruption of oestrous cycle in laboratory mice.
(1994) S. Pandey; C.J. Dominic
Chronic water deprivation induced severe disruption of the oestrous cycle in regularly cycling laboratory mice. Most of the water-deprived females became anoestrous from the beginning of water deprivation or after one complete cycle in the initial stages. The presence of a conspecific male was ineffective in preventing the cycle disruption in water-deprived females. The inability of conspecific males to prevent the water deprivation-induced disruption of oestrous cycle in females contrasts with the ability of conspecific males to prevent the diet restriction-induced irregularities in the oestrous cycle in females. It is suggested that as compared with diet restriction, water deprivation induces a greater suppressive effect on the hypothalamo-hypophysial-gonadal axis in females which cannot be removed by the male-originating olfactory cues.
Genetic diversity of stem cells and their functional impact on the development of neural tube defects in Eastern population of India
(2013) A.K. Saxena; S. Pandey; L.K. Pandey
Anencephaly and myelomeningocele are the 2 most common forms of neural tube defects (NTDs). During embryogenesis large numbers of extrinsic and intrinsic factors are responsible for the closing of the neural tube. "Stem cells" maintain the pluripotency during differentiation of 3 germ layers, including the neural ectoderm. We examined the role of Oct4, Nanog3, and Sox2 genes in the etiopathology of NTDs in an eastern Indian population using PCR-based DNA analysis. The highest frequency (16%) of complete loss of the Sox2 gene was found in NTDs. The highest frequency (48%) of overexpression (upregulation) was found for Nanog3, while 40% was observed for Oct4 and Sox2. The odds ratio for cases versus controls was from 0.132 at 95% confidence interval = 0.005-1.298 for Nanog3 to 2.316 (0.424-13.812) for Oct4. The highest frequency (77%) of overexpression for Nanog3 and Sox2 was observed in encephalocele and anencephalic patients, while in the comparison of regional variation, i.e., cephalic to caudal regions of NTDs, the highest frequency of downregulation (regression) of Nanog3 and Sox2 was found in lumbosacral myelomeningocele patients. However, cervical myelomeningocele patients had the highest frequency of overexpression in all 3 genes, suggesting that the mutational spectra of stem cells influence the cells of the neural crest in NTDs. © FUNPEC-RP.
Loss of the AZFc region due to a human Y-chromosome microdeletion in infertile male patients
(Fundacao de Pesquisas Cientificas de Ribeirao Preto, 2010) L.K. Pandey; S. Pandey; J. Gupta; A.K. Saxena
Infertility is a major reproductive health threat; the frequency of male infertility due to Y-chromosome microdeletions is 13-18% in the human population; these microdeletions involve recurrent loss of three non-overlapping regions designated as AZFa, AZFb and AZFc, associated with spermatogenic failure. Several contradictory reports have been published regarding deletion frequency based on sequence-tagged site markers and genotype- phenotype correlation. We examined the prevalence of Yq- deletion in 64 clinically diagnosed infertile male patients. We found a 3% frequency of microdeletion of the AZFc region; hormone profiles (FSH, LH and testosterone) showed significantly (P < 0.001) elevated levels compared to controls. No mutations were observed in the AZFa and AZFb regions, perhaps due to the selective use of sequencetagged site markers. © FUNPEC-RP.
Maternal hemoglobin and serum albumin and fetal growth.
(1994) S. Swain; S. Singh; B.D. Bhatia; S. Pandey; M. Krishna
Four hundred and eighty four pregnant women and their offsprings were studied to determine the relationship of maternal hemoglobin and serum protein levels on the birthweight of offspring. The correlation coefficient of maternal hemoglobin as well as serum albumin level (gamma = 0.1097 and 0.0936, respectively) with birthweight were not statistically significant. However, mean birthweight of neonates born to nonanemic mothers was significantly higher than of those born to anemic mothers. The prevalence of low birthweight babies was significantly higher among anemic mothers (p < 0.01); however, no such trend was observed in relation to maternal serum albumin (p > 0.05).
Morpho-physiological and biochemical responses of muskmelon genotypes to different degree of water deficit
(The Institute of Experimental Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, 2018) W.A. Ansari; N. Atri; B. Singh; P. Kumar; S. Pandey
Morpho-physiological and biochemical analyses were carried out in eight diverse indigenous muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) genotypes exposed to different degrees of water deficit (WD). The ability of genotypes MM-7, and especially MM-6, to counteract better the negative effect of WD was associated with maintaining higher relative water content (RWC), photosynthetic rate, efficiency of PSII, and photosynthetic pigments compare to other genotypes. Furthermore, MM-6 showed a better ability to maintain cellular homeostasis than the others. It was indicated by a stimulated antioxidative defense system, i.e., higher activities of antioxidant enzymes, accumulation of nonenzymatic antioxidants together with lower concentration of reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde. However, the genotypes MM-2 and MM-5 suffered greatly due to WD and showed reduced RWC, photosynthetic rates, pigment content, and exhibited higher oxidative stress observed as lower antioxidant enzyme activities. © 2018, The Institute of Experimental Botany.
Multiple fibrochondromatous hamartoma of the lung.
(1991) T.K. Lahiri; S. Pandey
[No abstract available]
Non-specific vaginitis vis-a-vis Gardnerella vaginalis.
(1990) A. Ray; A.K. Gulati; L.K. Pandey; S. Pandey
One hundred patients of vaginitis along with 50 age matched control women were studied. Non-specific vaginitis (NSV) was diagnosed on the basis of the presence of at least any three of the four parameters which included presence of thin gray homogeneous discharge, pH of the discharge greater than or equal to 4.5, liberation of fishy odour from the discharge after adding 10 per cent KOH and presence of clue cells Using these criteria, NSV was diagnosed in 22 of the 100 patients and in 4 of 50 control women. Gardnerella vaginalis was cultured from 23 of the 26 women with NSV and 19 women without NSV (8 patients and 11 normal women). Women with NSV showed statistically significant difference in the presence of clue cells, amine test positivity and concentration of G. vaginalis as compared to women without NSV.
Plasma isatin is increased in maternal anxiety and obstetrical stress
(2002) Manjari; S. Pandey; A. Chakrabarti; L.K. Pandey; S.K. Bhattacharya
Isatin (2,3-dioxoindole) is a component of tribulin. Tribulin, an inhibitor of monoamine oxidase (MAO) and benzodiazepine (BDZ) receptor binding, bas been identified as an endogenous marker of stress and anxiety. In animal experiments, isatin bas been found to produce an anxiety-like action and its level is increased during stress and anxiety. Maternal anxiety and obstetrical complications are two different stressors that can affect perinatal outcome. In this study we investigated plasma isatin levels in maternal anxiety and stress. The study was conducted in 279 pregnant and non-pregnant women. The patients were stratified into five groups-A, B, C, D and E. Plasma cortisol was measured to assess the intensity of the stressor and plasma isatin was measured by a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. Perinatal outcome was measured by gestational weight and birth weight of the baby. Non-pregnant women (group D) had a significantly lower plasma isatin level (P < 0.001) compared to women with normal pregnancies (group E), whose plasma isatin was monitored once in each trimester. Patients with anxiety and psychological stress (group B) and patients with obstetrical stress from obstetrical complications (group C had significantly higher levels of plasma cortisol (P < 0.001) and plasma isatin (P < 0.001) compared to women with normal pregnancies (group A). Perinatal outcome data were significantly lower (P < 0.001) in both groups B and C. In conclusion, our data proved that maternal anxiety and obstetrical complications are two different stressors evidenced by higher plasma cortisol and isatin levels in patients of these two groups. The present study further validated the postulated role of isatin as a marker of anxiety and stress in a clinically relevant condition in humans. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Prevalence of cystathionine beta synthase gene mutation 852Ins68 as a possible risk for neural tube defects in eastern India
(Fundacao de Pesquisas Cientificas de Ribeirao Preto, 2011) A.K. Saxena; J. Gupta; S. Pandey; A.N. Gangopadhaya; L.K. Pandey
Cystathionine beta synthase gene (CβS) catalyzes the condensation of homocysteine with serine, forming cystathionine by the transsulfuration pathway. Disruption of CβS enzyme activity due to defective folic acid metabolism increases the risk factor for neural tube defects. We evaluated the CβS gene mutation in 25 children with neural tube defects (NTDs), including lumbosacral and thoracic myelomeningocele and open NTDs and mothers of cases, along with 25 healthy children and their mothers, serving as controls. Genomic DNA was isolated to assess the polymorphism of 852Ins68 in the CβS gene using PCR-RFLP analysis and nucleotide sequencing techniques. The 68-bp insertion was observed in one of the 25 NTD cases (lumbosacral myelomeningocele), and in two of the mothers of NTD cases. Statistical analysis was carried out using the Fischer exact probability test, which showed a lack of significance (P > 0.05), but the odds ratio of 2.08 with 95% confidence interval of 0.17-24.6 in NTDs mother was quite high because of the small sample size. However, the study was further extended to find out the involvement of specific nucleotide sequences, which again confirmed the 852Ins68 insertion and replacement of nucleotides (TCCAT to GGGG) in lumbosacral myelomeningocele (due to other category of NTDs), suggesting that it could be an independent risk factor for birth defects, including NTDs. © FUNPEC-RP.