Study on Association of Maternal Serum Triglyceride with Pre-eclampsia.

Till now pre-eclampsia is a disease of multiple theories. This case control study was carried out in the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital and Dhaka Medical College Hospital, from January 2006 to December 2007 to determine the association of maternal serum triglyceride with pre-eclampsia. Ninety pregnant women were studied, among them 45 patients were pre-eclamptic and served as case and 45 normal healthy pregnant women served as control. Estimation of serum triglyceride levels of all study patients was done with the help of enzymatic method. The mean (± SD) systolic blood pressure was 152.4 ± 19.8 mmHg in study group and 112.0 ± 8.9 mmHg in control group (p<0.05). Similarly the mean (± SD) diastolic blood pressure was 103.1 ± 12.2 mmHg in case group and 75.5 ± 6.6 mmHg in control group (p<0.05). Serum triglyceride level was more than the normal reference value in pre-eclamptic group. The mean (± SD) serum triglyceride level was 242.9 ± 36.8 mg/dl in case group and 184.6 ± 12.5mg/dl in control group. Statistically the difference was significant (p<0.05). The level of serum triglyceride positively correlated with the rise of blood pressure and degree of albuminuria. Thus serum triglyceride level increase in pre-eclampsia and the level correlate with the severity of the disease.

Serum zinc level in preterm low birth weight babies and its comparison between preterm AGA and preterm SGA babies.

Low birth weight (LBW) is a major child health problem in Bangladesh and continuing to great threat to child health and child survival in Bangladesh. LBW is a silent emergency but crisis is real and its persistence has profound and frightening impact on neonatal mortality. This observational study was conducted in Dhaka Shishu Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh during July 2004 to June 2005. Serum zinc levels were estimated between two groups: group-I preterm AGA (n=50), group II preterm SGA (n=50) babies. Blood samples were collected from the study population in neonatal unit and serum zinc levels were measured by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry in Atomic Energy Center, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Observed data were made comparison among groups by Students 't' test. It was observed serum zinc level (60.2+/-15.2) in group I and (62.1+/-12.4) in group II. Serum zinc level was in lower limit of normal range in both groups with more lower level in preterm AGA babies but their difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05). So zinc supplementation may enhance the growth of preterm LBW babies in their early months of lives.

Relevance of carcass palpation in lambs to protecting public health.

We recently reviewed the Food Safety and Inspection Service's (FSIS's) inspection procedures for lambs. As a result, FSIS published a Federal Register notice informing the public of its intent to change from an inspection system that requires extensive carcass palpation to an inspection system that requires no carcass palpation for lambs. This decision was based on the following three points. (i) Extensive carcass palpation in lambs does not routinely aid in the detection of food safety hazards that result in meat-borne illnesses. (ii) Hands are capable of spreading or adding contamination to the carcasses. (iii) FSIS inspection systems must reflect science-based decisions as they pertain to meat-borne illnesses consistent with a Pathogen Reduction/Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point environment.

Case report of Plesiomonas shigelloides-associated persistent dysentery and pseudomembranous colitis.

An adult Bangladeshi woman had persistent bloody diarrhea. Repeated stool cultures yielded Plesiomonas shigelloides in pure growth. Tissue specimens of the colon were consistent with pseudomembranous colitis. Treatment with tetracycline, to which the isolate was susceptible, brought prompt recovery; the stool cultures became negative and the serum antibody titer against P. shigelloides lipopolysaccharide, as measured by hemagglutination inhibition with P. shigelloides lipopolysaccharide-sensitized sheep erythrocytes, declined from 1:160 to 1:40.