Comparison of Serum Phosphorus Level among Women with Preeclampsia and Normal Pregnancy.

Pregnancy is a physiological state. During pregnancy increased physiological changes may lead to many biochemical and anatomical alterations. The biochemical changes that seen in blood of the pregnant mother are exaggerated in various complications of pregnancy like preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is a dangerous complication that may leads to maternal and neonatal mortality. Globally it affects 3.0-5.0% of pregnant women. The study was done to analyze the changes in serum phosphorus level in pre-eclamsia compared with normal pregnancy. The study was cross sectional and was performed from July 2016 to June 2017 in the department of Biochemistry, Mymensingh Medical College, Mymensingh, Bangladesh. Total 100 subjects were included in this study. Among them 50 preeclamptic patients were taken as case and another 50 normal pregnant women were taken as control. Statistical difference was calculated by Student's unpaired 't' test. Biochemical values were expressed as mean±SD. The mean±SD of serum phosphorus levels in case and control group were 2.81±0.79 and 3.40±0.87mg/dl respectively. The difference in mean±SD of serum phosphorus were highly significant (p<0.001) when compared between case and control.

In Vitro Antibacterial Activity of Ethanol Extracts of Cinnamomum zeylanicum against Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Cinnamomum zeylanicum as medicinal plants are measured as new resources for preparing elements in the treatment of antibiotic-resistant microbes as alternatives to antibiotics. This study was aimed to evaluate the antibacterial activity of ethanol extracts of Cinnamomum zeylanicum against a Gram-negative bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This experimental study was carried out in the department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics and department of Microbiology, Mymensingh Medical College, Mymensingh, Bangladesh from July 2017 to July 2018. Evaluation of the in vitro antibacterial activity of ethanol extracts of Cinnamomum zeylanicum against Pseudomonas aeruginosa was performed by disc diffusion method. And also in this study we used broth dilution method to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Ethanol cinnamon extract (ECE) was found active against P. aeruginosa. Zone of inhibition (ZOI) ranged between 6-25mm at different concentration of extracts. The MIC was 0.3g/ml. Cinnamomum zeylanicum showed strong antibacterial activity against a Gram-negative bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The results may contribute to the development of potential antimicrobial agents for inclusion in antipseudomonal regimens.

Maternal serum zinc level and its relation with neonatal birth weight.

The present study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, Mymensingh and Molecular Microbiology & Central Laboratory of Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) from 15th November 2007 to 31st May 2009 to find out the relation between maternal serum zinc level with neonatal birth weight. Hundred pregnant women who were advised to take 61.8 mg zinc daily throughout pregnancy were assigned to study group while the pregnant woman did not take zinc orally were allocated into control group. Serum zinc levels were measured between 37-42 weeks gestation and birth weight were measured just after delivery. Data were processed and analyzed using SPSS version 11.5. The test used to analyze the data was descriptive statistics, Chi-square probability test, Pearson correlation, unpaired t-test and odds ratio. A probability value of <0.05 was considered significant. Majority (97%) of the cases who received zinc during their antenatal period had normal serum zinc (≥ 700µg/L) level compared to only 22% of the control group woman who did not receive zinc. Normal birth weight of babies in pregnant woman who received zinc is 5.7 times higher than the pregnant woman who did not receive zinc. As the present study was a cross-sectional one, further study with large sample size and prospective design is recommended.

Phytoestrogen intake and cardiovascular risk markers in Bangladeshi postmenopausal women.

Menopause is the transitional event of female life creating a considerable degree of clinical and psychological as well as social problem and it is known to affect the risk markers of cardiovascular diseases. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was though to be a cornerstone in the management of menopause, but evidences accumulated in the recent past have raised serious questions regarding its safety and usability. In this context, phytoestrogens are getting increasingly more attention for therapeutic (as an alternate of HRT) and dietary interventions. Menopause is a special problem for women in developing countries and intake of phytoestrogens can be highly useful also from the economic point of views. The nutraceuticals of specific vitamins, minerals and especially phytoestrogens supplementations are a vital component of the strategy to reduce health problem. The present study was aimed to assess the association of phytoestrogens and risk markers of cardiovascular diseases in postmenopausal women. A total of 111 postmenopausal subjects [age, (years, M±SD) 52±5.35] were studied. The dietary intake of phytoestrogens by study subjects was calculated by a specific food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Serum fasting homocysteine was measured by AxSYM system. Serum glucose was estimated by glucose-oxidase method. Serum total cholesterol, triglyceride and HDL-C were estimated by enzymatic-colorimetric method LDL-C was estimated by the Friedewald's formula. The intake of total phytoestrogens, isoflavones and lignans (mean±SD, mg/day) were 7.65±3.33, 0.32±0.16, 7.32±3.28 respectively in postmenopausal women. The intake of diadzein, genistein, formononetin, biochanin A (mean±SD, mg/day) were 0.085±0.035, 0.168±0.101, 0.074±0.052 and 0.001±0.0008 respectively. The intake of matairesinol and secoisolaiciresinol (SILR) (mean±SD, mg/day) were 0.022±0.006 and 7.30±3.28 respectively. The total phytoestrogens (r=-0.19, p=0.03) and SILR, one specific type of lignans (r=-0.19, p=0.04) consumption in this study were inversely significantly associated with serum glucose level. The dietary formononetin, one specific type of isoflavones was negatively significantly associated with LDL-cholesterol (r=-0.18, p=0.04). There was no significant relationship found between phytoestrogen intake and serum homocysteine level (r=-0.11, p=0.23). Phytoestrogens containing food intake should be encouraged for reducing risk markers of cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women.

In vitro antibacterial and cytotoxic activities of different parts of plant Swietenia mahagony.

Crude extracts from different parts (leaf, bark and seed) of Swietenia mahagony (Family: Meliaceae) were screened for their antibacterial activity against 4 Gram positive and 8 Gram negative bacteria. Disc diffusion technique was used for in vitro screening. Among the crude extracts, chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts of leaf and bark showed good activity against all the tested organisms. The chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts of seed exhibited little or positive effect against most of the tested bacteria. The activities were compared to a standard antibiotic-kanamycin. Cytotoxic activity of crude extracts were determined using brine shrimp lethality bioassay and standard vincristine sulphate was used as positive control. The chloroform extract of seed and ethyl acetate extract of bark showed good cytotoxic activities and the LC50 values were found 13.75 and 11.64 microg mL(-1), respectively.