Mineralizing angiopathy presenting with recurrence of basal ganglia stroke following minor head trauma.

Basal ganglia stroke secondary to mineralizing angiopathy of lenticulostriate arteries is a well-recognized clinical entity following minor head trauma in children. Recurrences are uncommon, and the majority of these recurrences occur within a few months of initial insult. We report a 2-year-old boy who developed recurrence of basal ganglia stroke after a latency of 18 months from the time of first unrecognized insult at 6 months of age. The case brings forth the need to recognize the condition of basal ganglia stroke secondary to mineralizing angiopathy considering the risk of recurrence to occur as far as 18 months after the first stroke.

Therapeutic use of Lucilia sericata maggot in controlling bacterial bio-burden in Rat wound model.

Delayed wound healing due to extraneous bacterial contamination, antibacterial resistance and other associated factors are of great concern in dealing patients having chronically infected wound. Medicinal properties of certain maggots of Calliphoridae family are known for its effective wound debridement therapy. The objective of the study was to evaluate the wound healing potential of maggots of Lucilia sericata in an experimentally infected cutaneous wound model in Wistar rat. The study was carried out by using male Wistar rats (n=48) by creating excisional wounds and later contaminated with mixed population of gram positive and gram-negative bacteria. Animals were divided randomly in to four groups with 12 individuals each, being denominated as control, antibiotic treated, maggot treated, and antibiotic plus maggot combination treated group. Ten pre-sterilized maggots were applied per centimetre square wound bed for 24 hours. Different wound kinetics in L. sericata maggot treated wounds revealed significant reduction in wound area with maximum contraction, early elimination of bacterial bioburden as compared to group of infected control and group of rats receiving only antibiotic treatment. The histopathological examination of wounded tissue of maggot treated groups showed early and better epithelialization, collagenation and neovascularization with complete healing of wound in two weeks. The maggot effects on healing when used singly or in combination with antibiotic were recorded to be similar. The results of the present study clearly demonstrate that the maggots of L. sericata possesses a definite antibacterial action along with removal of dead tissues and effectively reduced the bacterial bio-burden in infected wound and induced wound healing quickly.

Abducens nerve palsy in a patient with scrub typhus: a case report.

Abducens nerve palsy is a known but rare complication of a few bacterial and viral infections like Mycoplasma pneumonia, cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, Hanta virus, herpes zoster, and measles. Abducens nerve palsy due to scrub typhus is extremely rare and so far only one case has been reported in the literature. Scrub typhus is a febrile illness caused by rickettsia, Orientia tsutsugamushi, a gram negative intracellular obligate parasite which is endemic in Asia. This disease can present with wide range of clinical manifestations with involvement of any organ system, alone or in combination. Central nervous system involvement is very common and includes meningism, altered sensorium to focal neurological deficits. We present a rare manifestation of Scrub typhus in the form of sixth cranial nerve involvement which responded to the treatment with doxycycline.

Recurrent pneumomediastinum in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis.

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum (SPM); also known as mediastinal emphysema, is a rare and usually benign self-resolving appearance of extraluminal air in the mediastinum without any underlying trigger. This is an uncommon disorder mostly seen in the young males and classic clinical presentation is with chest pain, dyspnea, cough and appearance of subcutaneous emphysema. Although several connective tissue disorders have been reported in association with SPM, it is a rare occurrence in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with only small number of cases reported in literature. We report a 69 years old male with RA who developed recurrent asymptomatic episodes of SPM detected over a period of one year. The recurrent but benign episodes of SPM in this patient reestablish the usual uncomplicated course of this unusual clinical entity even in the rare recurrent cases.

Effects of soybean genotype and growing location on oil and fatty acids in tofu.

Soyfood products like tofu are becoming popular among American consumers due to health benefits. In order to increase production to meet consumer demands, it is imperative that factors that effect quantity and quality of tofu be characterized. The present study was conducted to determine the effects of soybean genotypes and growing locations on contents of oil and fatty acids in tofu which was prepared from twelve soybean genotypes (BARC-8, BARC-9, Enrei, Hutcheson, MD86-5788, Nakasennari, S90-1056, Suzuyutaka, V71-370, V81-1603, Ware, and York) grown at three southern U.S. locations (Huntsville, Alabama; Princess Anne, Maryland; and Petersburg, Virginia) during 1995. The results showed that tofu quality was determined by the soybean genotype. The tofu made from seeds of high seed-protein and low seed-oil genotypes (BARC-8 and BARC-9) resulted in tofu with low contents of oil (15.8 and 11.3 g/100g, respectively) and total saturated fatty acids (2.59 and 160 g/100g, respectively). Tofu made from seeds of conventional grain type genotypes, such as Hutcheson, resulted in higher oil (24.0 g/100g) and total saturated fatty acids (3.80 g/100g) contents in tofu. Effects of growing environment on contents of oil were not significant but tofu made from seeds grown in Alabama had significantly higher content of total saturated fatty acids (3.50 g/100g) as compared to that made from seeds grown in Maryland (2.88 g/100g) or Virginia (2.96 g/100g). Tofu made from seeds of large and medium-seeded genotypes had higher contents of total monounsaturated fatty acids in tofu as compared to that made from small-seeded genotypes. Highly positive correlation existed between contents of oil, 18:1, 18:2, total saturated, and total unsaturated fatty acids in the seeds and their contents in the tofu (+0.80, +0.75, +0.79, +0.62, +0.68, respectively). These results indicated that tofu quality is governed by soybean genotype, seed size and growing location.

Genotypic and environmental effects on lupin seed composition.

Currently, white lupin (Lupinus albus L.) is gaining importance due to its high nitrogen fixation capability and potential in sustainable crop production systems. Even though research conducted in Australia, Chile, Germany, New Zealand, and Portugal has indicated lupin's positive potential as human and animal food, such information from Virginia and adjoining areas of the United States is not available. In addition, effects of growing environment and genotypes on lupin seed composition need to be characterized to evaluate lupin's potential as a food and feed crop. Towards this end, seed of 12 lupin genotypes produced in Maine (USA) and Virginia (USA) were compared to determine genotypic and environmental effects on contents of protein, sugar, oil, various fatty acids, amino acids, and minerals. The protein content of dry seed was not affected by growing environment. However, growing environment had significant effects on contents of total sugar, amino acids, oil, fatty acids, and minerals. Significant variation existed among 12 lupin genotypes for various traits when composition of seed produced in Virginia was evaluated. The results indicated that site-specific evaluation of adapted lupin genotypes for chemical composition should be included in efforts to evaluate lupin's overall potential as a food or feed crop.

Seed characteristics and nutrient composition of selected beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) with different ozone tolerance.

Ozone sensitivity, nutritional quality, seed characteristics, and growth habit of beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) were evaluated in two separate experiments. In the first experiment the data showed a significant variation among 34 bean accessions for ozone sensitivity following acute exposure of 18-day-old plants to 0.6 microliters/l O3 for 2 hours under environmentally controlled greenhouse conditions. PI-163579, PI-169735, PI-171790, PI-176684, PI-201374, PI-310711, PI-345576, PI-370569, PI-379435, and PI-414831 were identified as tolerant to acute ozone exposures. Protein, oil, starch, sugar, and ash contents in the seed of selected germplasm were determined and no correlation was found between these components and ozone sensitivity. Seed size and growth habit varied considerably among the 34 accessions but were not correlated to ozone sensitivity. In a second experiment, ten accessions, selected from the tolerant ones identified in the first experiment, were subjected to chronic ozone exposure in open-top chambers at 0.04 and 0.08 microliters/l concentrations for 7 hours/day 44 days after transplanting. Based on foliar injury and yield reductions, only PI-370569 and PI-414831 were tolerant to prolonged ozone exposure (0.08 microliters/l). A significant positive correlation (r = 0.83) existed between foliar injury rating from chronic treatments involving 0.04 and 0.08 microliters O3/l and acute exposure (0.6 microliter O3/l/2 hours). The data indicated that acute ozone exposure can be used to initially screen a large number of bean accessions, however, this is an imperfect indicator of ozone sensitivity with chronic exposure.

Evaluation of Minolta jaundicemeter and icterometer for assessment of neonatal jaundice.

Neonatal jaundice is an important disorder, because of its potential complication of kernicterus. Biochemical estimation of bilirubin can be unreliable with lots of interpersonal and interlaboratory variability. Minolta jaundicemeter and perspex icterometer were evaluated for their usefulness in assessment of neonatal jaundice. Thirty premature babies with hyperbilirubinemia were simultaneously studied with jaundicemeter, icterometer and their plasma bilirubin were estimated by AO Bilirubinometer. Babies were subdivided into three groups, viz., Group I upto 1500 g birth weight, Group II 1501-2500 g with gestation 33-34 weeks and Group III 1501-2500 g with gestation 35-36 weeks. There was a good correlation between minolta Jaundicemeter and plasma bilirubin with 'r' values of 0.84, 0.89 and 0.72 in Groups I, II and III, respectively. Except for Group III (r = 0.67), good correlation was found between icterometer and plasma bilirubin with 'r' value of 0.84 and 0.82 in Groups I and II, respectively.