Dentin dysplasia type I - A rare entity.

Dentin dysplasia is a rare disturbance of dentin formation characterized by normal enamel but atypical dentin formation with abnormal pupal morphology. The teeth appear clinically normal in morphologic appearance and color. The teeth characteristically exhibit extreme mobility and are commonly exfoliated prematurely. Radiograph shows obliteration of all pulp chambers, short, blunted and malformed or absent roots with periapical radiolucencies involving apparently intact tooth. This case is reported here because of its rarity along with the description of various clinical, radiological and histological features.

Genetic admixture studies on four in situ evolved, two migrant and twenty-one ethnic populations of Tamil Nadu, south India.

We analysed the genetic structure of ≈ 1000 samples representing 27 ethnic groups settled in Tamil Nadu, south India, derived from two linguistic families (Dravidians and Indo-Europeans) representing four religious groups (Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Jainism) using 11 mtDNA markers. Out of 27 ethnic groups, four are in situ populations (Anglo-Indian, Labbai Muslim, Nadar Christian and south Indian Jain) and two are migrants (Gypsy and north Indian Jain) from north India to Tamil Nadu, and 21 are native ethnic groups. Six of the markers we used were monomorphic (HaeIII663, HpaI3592, AluI5176, AluI7025, AluI13262, 9-bp deletion) and five markers were polymorphic (DdeI10394, AluI10397, HinfI12308, HincII13259 and HaeIII16517). Haplogroup frequencies, genetic affinities and admixture analysis are based on the genotype data of polymorphic markers observed in these populations. Haplogroup frequencies indicate that various ethnic groups entered Tamil Nadu during different time periods. Genetic affinities and admixture estimates revealed that the ethnic groups possessing advanced knowledge of farming cluster in a branch (C), and could be the late arrived settlers as agriculture, was introduced to this region at about 5 to 3 thousand years ago. In situ ethnic groups appear to have arisen at various times as a result of the prevailing dominant socio-cultural forces. Hierarchical Hindu caste system created many ethnic groups in the history of its existence; some of them became isolated for considerable period of time. Over all, among Tamil ethnic groups, in spite of caste systems' rigidity, built in flexibility in the system in the form of hypergamy and hypogamy had allowed maternal gene flow between them.

Genetic variation of 15 autosomal microsatellite loci in a Tamil population from Tamil Nadu, Southern India.

The genetic profiles for 15 autosomal microsatellite loci were analyzed in a Tamil population from Southern India to study the genetic diversities and relatedness of this population with other national and global populations. Statistical analyses of the data revealed all loci were within Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) expectations with the exception of the locus D5S818 (p=0.011). A significantly greater inter-individual variation (Fst=99%) observed within the individuals among the four subgroups in this study and low population differentiation (Fst=1%) suggests relative genetic closeness of these four subgroups. This indicates that the populations in the southern region of India might have a common ancestry or probably experienced high gene flow during the period of their coexistence. The Neighbor Joining tree derived from genetic distances of samples from this study and other national and global populations show clustering of all the Indian populations in one branch of the tree while the African and Middle Eastern populations cluster in a separate branch. Principal Co-ordinate Analysis of the genetic distance data show clustering similar to the NJ tree.

Y chromosome STR allelic and haplotype diversity in five ethnic Tamil populations from Tamil Nadu, India.

We have analyzed 17 Y chromosomal STR loci in a population sample of 154 unrelated male individuals of the Tamil ethnic group residing in the state of Tamil Nadu, Southern India using AmpFlSTR(R) Yfiler PCR amplification kit. The population samples consist of the following castes: Kongu Gounder (KOG), Nadar Hindu (NAH), Agamudayar (AGA), Parayar (PAR) and other Tamil individuals (MCT) of mixed castes. A total of 152 unique haplotypes were identified among the 154 individuals studied. The haplotype diversity was found to be 0.9935 or higher for all the five groups. The results of population pairwise Fst p values indicate no statistically significant differentiation between the five populations in this study, but the results were highly significant when compared with 12 other global populations (p<0.05). Comparison of populations in this study with other national and global populations using Principal co-ordinate analysis (PCA) using Rst distance matrix indicates a delineation of all the Indian populations from other unrelated populations.

Chemical poisoning in three Telengana districts of Andhra Pradesh.

Medical records of (i) toxico-medico-legal death cases from three districts of Telengana region in the state of Andhra Pradesh, viz. Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy and Medak, and (ii) clinical toxicology cases in suspected poisoning from hospitals in and around Hyderabad city were examined for a period of 5 calendar years. The age group at risk in both the types of cases is 15-24. The cause of suicides includes physical illness, family/spouse problems and financial problems. Labourers form a dominant risk group in rural and semi-urban industrial area, whereas in urban area the employees were the dominant risk group. The agricultural pesticides and household insecticides were the predominant poisons used for suicide purposes.

Influence of unrefined sorghum or maize on serum lipids.

The rural population in many parts of India consumes sorghum (Jowar) and maize as staple food. The flour made out of these cereals is consumed after cooking or baking on a pan with or without oil. The present study was undertaken in two groups of healthy human volunteers. Each subject of first group consumed ground unrefined sorghum (100g) daily as supper for three weeks in the form of pancake. The subjects of second group consumed ground unrefined Maize (50g) daily as supper for three weeks also as pancake. Both the diets showed significant reduction in serum total cholesterol and triglyceride levels with simultaneous increase in HDL cholesterol value.