Effect of testosterone replacement therapy on insulin sensitivity and body composition in congenital hypogonadism: A prospective longitudinal follow-up study.

Aims: To evaluate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) and whole-body composition in patients with congenital hypogonadism and investigate the effects of replacement therapy with testosterone undecanoate on MS, insulin resistance (IR), and whole-body composition in subset of patients. Methods: In a single arm prospective longitudinal intervention study, 33 patients with congenital hypogonadism, ages 20-39 years, were recruited and their parameters of MS, whole-body composition by DXA were compared with age and BMI matched healthy controls. In 21 patients, after 9 months we prospectively studied the effect (pre-post difference) of injection testosterone undecanoate (1,000 mg) replacement on MS, IR, and whole-body compositions. Results: The prevalence of MS was similar in patients and controls (27.3% vs. 9.1%, P = 0.05). Hypogonadism patients had higher prevalence of hypertension (33% vs. 3%, P < 0.01). Patients had decrease in lean body mass (P < 0.05) as compared to controls. After testosterone replacement, there was significant decrease in waist circumference (88.6 ± 13.1 cm vs. 83.9 ± 12.9 cm, P < 0.01), truncal fat (25.9 ± 7.3% vs. 24.0 ± 6.3%, P < 0.05), fasting C-peptide (2.1 ± 0.79 ng/ml vs. 0.68 ± 0.23 ng/ml, P < 0.01), serum proinsulin [1.43 (0.32-13.4) vs. 0.5 (0.5-3.2) pmol/l, P < 0.001] and a significant increase in lean body mass (46,906 ± 8,876 gm vs. 50,083 ± 7,590 gm, P < 0.001). Homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (4.6 ± 1.7 vs. 0.5 ± 0.2, P < 0.001) and homeostatic model for assessment of insulin sensitivity (HOMA%S) [21 (12-65) vs. 206 (125-714), P < 0.001] were improved significantly following testosterone replacement. Conclusion: In this study, 36 weeks of testosterone replacement resulted in significant decrease in waist circumference, IR, truncal fat, total body fat and improvement in lean body mass, and insulin sensitivity.

Evaluation of the prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus in North Indians using the International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study groups (IADPSG) criteria.

OBJECTIVE: Currently, there is controversy regarding the diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) as per the newer International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG) criteria. We studied the prevalence and associations of GDM in North Indians, diagnosed by the IADPSG criteria. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study on 332 pregnant women, predominantly belonging to lower and middle socioeconomic strata. The women were screened for GDM between 24 weeks and 28 weeks of gestation by 75g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and GDM diagnosed by the IADPSG criteria. RESULTS: The prevalence of GDM was 41.9% [95% Confidence interval (CI) 36.6-47.2%]. Amongst the women diagnosed to have GDM, 91.4% had abnormal fasting plasma glucose (FPG), while 1-h and 2-h post-glucose (PG) levels were abnormal in 18.7% and 17.3% of women, respectively. No maternal factors were significantly associated with GDM. Birth weight of the neonates was similar in women with GDM as compared to those with normal glucose tolerance. In the entire group, fasting glucose levels were associated with the weight of the patient while 1-h PG levels were associated with weight, height, socioeconomic score, and parity. CONCLUSIONS: There is a very high prevalence rate of GDM using the IADPSG criteria in North Indian women of low and middle socioeconomic strata. Further studies are needed to assess the utility of applying these criteria in settings with limited resources.

Genetic and non-genetic factors affecting morphometry of Sirohi goats.

AIM: The aim was to estimate genetic and non-genetic factors affecting morphometric traits of Sirohi goats under field condition. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The detailed information of all animals on body measurements at birth, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months of age was collected from farmer's flock under field condition born during 2007-2013 to analyze the effect of genetic and non-genetic factors. The least squares maximum likelihood program was used to estimate genetic and non-genetic parameters affecting morphometric traits. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Effect of sire, cluster, year of birth, and sex was found to be highly significant (p<0.01) on all three morphometric traits, parity was highly significant (p<0.01) for body height (BH) and body girth (BG) at birth. The h(2) estimates for morphometric traits ranged among 0.528±0.163 to 0.709±0.144 for BH, 0.408±0.159 to 0.605±0.192 for body length (BL), and 0.503±0.197 to 0.695±0.161 for BG. CONCLUSION: The effect of sire was highly significant (p<0.01) and also h² estimate of all morphometric traits were medium to high; therefore, it could be concluded on the basis of present findings that animals with higher body measurements at initial phases of growth will perform better with respect to even body weight traits at later stages of growth.

A prospective study of prevalence and association of peripheral neuropathy in Indian patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) predisposes to foot ulceration and gangrene. It has been reported that DPN is lower in Indians relative to Caucasians. Studies among recent onset patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are very few. We studied the prevalence and risk factors of DPN in patients with newly diagnosed T2DM. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We prospectively studied 195 consecutive patients over age 30 with a duration of diabetes ≤6 months. All underwent a clinical and biochemical evaluation and were screened for DPN using Neuropathy Symptom Score (NSS) and Neuropathy Disability Score (NDS) as well as the vibration perception threshold using a biothesiometer. We compared the prevalence of peripheral neuropathy (PN) in 75 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. RESULTS: The cases had a mean age of 47.6 ± 10.2 years (59% males) and duration of symptoms of 5.9 ± 8.2 months prior to presentation. The overall prevalence of DPN was 29.2% [95% CI 22.8-35.7]. PN among matched control was 10.7% (95% CI 3.5-17.8). The prevalence of DPN showed an increasing trend with age (trend chi-square 11.8, P = 0.001). Abnormal vibration perception threshold was present in 43.3% (95% CI 36.3-50.3) of cases and had a significant correlation with NDS (P = 0.000). Abnormal monofilament testing was present in 6.1% of cases (95% CI 2.7- 9.5). A logistic regression analysis showed that DPN was independently associated with age (P = 0.002) and duration of diabetes prior to presentation (P = 0.02) but not with body mass index, plasma glucose, or HbA1c. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed high prevalence of PN in recently diagnosed patients with T2DM, which was independently associated with age and duration of symptoms of diabetes prior to the diagnosis. Screening for DPN at diagnosis of diabetes is warranted, especially among older subjects.

A novel flavonoid C-glycoside from Sphaeranthus indicus L. (family Compositae).

A novel flavonoid C-glycoside, 5-hydroxy-7-methoxy-6-C-glycosylflavone (1), was isolated from the aerial part of Sphaeranthus indicus. Its structure was elucidated by spectroscopic methods.

A new flavanone, reflexin, from Cuscuta reflexa and its selective sensing of nitric oxide.

A new compound, reflexin, 5-hydroxy-7-methoxy-6-(2,3-epoxy-3-methylbutyl)-flavanone, is isolated from the stems of Cuscuta reflexa along with three other known compounds. This new compound has good potential for application especially in the photoactivity of reflexin. It was found to be sensitive to glutathione, forming a fluorescent product that is utilized for sensing nitric oxide (NO). The lowest detection limit of NO analysis was found to be 0.05 micro/M.

A new triterpenoid from Lantana camara.

A new ursane was isolated from the leaves of Lantana camara and its structure elucidated as 3,24-dioxo-urs-12-en-28-oic acid (1) by means of spectral analysis.

Projection of lactation milk yield from part records in crossbred dairy cows.

First lactation records of a total of 242 Jersey (JH), Brown Swiss (BH) and Holstein-Friesian (FH) halfbreeds from Hariana cows were studied for projecting 300 d milk yield from 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40 weeks' milk yield. The correlation coefficients between 300 d milk yield and part records ranged from 0.84 to 0.9 in the JH, 0.80 to 0.90 in the BH and 0.72 to 0.86 in the FH groups. Prediction equations and standard errors of estimation for prediction of 300 d milk yield for an individual animal are presented. It is suggested that part records up to 16, 22 and 22 weeks may be used for projecting 300 d yield with sufficient accuracy in the JH, BH and FH groups respectively.