A replication study of 49 Type 2 diabetes risk variants in a Punjabi Pakistani population.

AIM: The burden of Type 2 diabetes is alarmingly high in South Asia, a region that has many genetically diverse ethnic populations. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) conducted largely in European populations have identified a number of loci predisposing to Type 2 diabetes risk, however, the relevance of such genetic loci in many South Asian sub-ethnicities remains elusive. The aim of this study was to replicate 49 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) previously identified through GWAS in Punjabis living in Pakistan. METHODS: We examined the association of 49 SNPs in 853 Type 2 diabetes cases and 1945 controls using additive logistic regression models after adjusting for age and gender. RESULTS: Of the 49 SNPs investigated, eight showed a nominal association (P < 0.05) that also remained significant after controlling for the false discovery rate. The most significant association was found for rs7903146 at the TCF7L2 locus. For a per unit increase in the risk score comprising of all the 49 SNPs, the odds ratio in association with Type 2 diabetes risk was 1.16 (95% CI 1.13-1.19, P < 2.0E-16). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that some Type 2 diabetes susceptibility loci are shared between Europeans and Punjabis living in Pakistan.

Assessment of personal occupational radiation exposures received by nuclear medicine and oncology staff in Punjab (2003-2012).

The impact of occupational radiation exposures on oncology staff working in the disciplines of Nuclear Medicine (NM), Radiotherapy (RT), and Diagnostic Radiology (DR) is of significance to ensure a health risk free environment. In this study, occupationally received radiation doses amongst Pakistani oncology staff in NM, RT and DR during the period (2003-2012) were assessed. The Film Badge Dosimetry (FBD) technique has been utilized to process over 81,000 films (13,237 workers) concerning the occupationally exposed workers data (2003-2012) at a national scale. The annual effective doses were found to range between 0.30-0.97 mSv for NM, 0.44-1.02 mSv for RT and 0.31-1.09 mSv for DR. The annual effective doses averaged over a period of 10 years were assessed to be 0.63, 0.70 and 0.68 mSv for NM, RT and DR respectively. The exposure data were categorized into three exposure levels (≤0.99, 1-4.99 and 5-9.99 mSv) to establish the staff distribution in these categories. It was found that 89.8-96% in NM, 82-94.5% in RT and 76-96.8% staff workers in DR have received doses within the range from the Minimum Detectable Limit (MDL)--0.99 mSv. The annual effective doses, in all categories, were measured to be less than the recommended annual limit of 20 mSv.

Development and microwave analysis of slot antennas for localized hyperthermia treatment of hepatocellular liver tumor.

Slot antennas are often considered as a suitable choice for microwave ablation due to design simplicity, low cost to manufacture and a highly confined temperature profile. In this paper, an iterative coupled thermal/microwave numerical formulation is presented to analyze and develop miniature slot antenna geometries for localized liver cancer treatment. The thermal solver determines the specific absorption rate (SAR) as a pre-processing step to determine the temperature distribution profile within malignant tissues. The microwave solver uses this computed thermal solution together with related boundary/sub-domain settings to determine complex propagation wave number as an Eigen value. The desired microwave response in terms of insertion loss <0.1 dB, VSWR 1:1.1, and return loss less than -22 dB was achieved at 2.45 GHz. The simulated results agree well with the measured response.

A statistical evaluation of common cancer trends and cancer occurrence by age group in the population of Lahore, Pakistan, 1984-2011.

BACKGROUND: Due to the unavailability of a common cancer incidence database in Pakistan, the cancer incidence data from nuclear medicine and oncology institutes have been gathered and presented. METHODS: The cancer incidence data for the last 27 years (1984-2011) is included to present a data set of male and female patients. The data analysis concerning occurrence, trends of common cancers in male and female patients, stage-wise distribution, and mortality/follow-up cases is also incorporated for the last 7 years (2004-2011). RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The cancer incidence rates for head and neck (13.41 percent), brain tumors (10.90 percent), and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL, 9.70 percent) were found to be the highest in male patients, whereas breast cancer (45 percent), ovary tumors (6.6 percent), and head and neck (6.21 percent) cancer incidence rates were observed to be the most common in female patients. The age range distribution of diagnosed and treated patients in conjunction with the percentage contribution of cancer-treated patients from different cities of Punjab at the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Oncology, Lahore is also included. Leukemia has been found the most common cancer for the age group of 1-12 years. It has been identified that the maximum number of diagnosed cases were found in the age range of 51-60 years for male and 41-50 years for female cancer patients.

Phthalates in indoor dust in Kuwait: implications for non-dietary human exposure.

Phthalates are semivolatile organic compounds with a ubiquitous environmental distribution. Their presence in indoor environments is linked to their use in a variety of consumer products such as children's toys, cosmetics, food packaging, flexible PVC flooring among others. The goal of this study was to investigate the occurrence and concentration of phthalates in dust from homes in Kuwait and to assess non-dietary human exposure to these phthalates. Dust samples were randomly collected from 21 homes and analyzed for eight phthalates. The concentrations of total phthalates were log normally distributed and ranged from 470 to 7800 µg/g. Five phthalates [Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), Di-n-octyl phthalate (DnOP), Di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), Benzyl butyl phthalate (BzBP), and Dicyclohexyl phthalate (DcHP)] were routinely detected. The major phthalate compound was DEHP at a geometric mean concentration of 1704 µg/g (median, 2256 µg/g) accounting for 92% of the total phthalates measured. Using the measured concentrations and estimates of dust ingestion rates for children and adults, estimated human non-dietary exposure based on median phthalate concentrations ranged from 938 ng/kg-bd/day for adults to 13362 ng/kg-bd/day for toddlers. The difference in exposure estimates between children and adults in this study supports previous reports that children are at greater risk from pollutants that accumulate indoors.

Rabies out-break in mules at Mansehra, Pakistan.

An unusual sickness in mules at Batrasi camp, District Mansehra, Pakistan, was reported. Twelve animals died with in 2-3 days after showing the clinical symptoms confusing with colic and nervous disorders. Animals did not respond to any treatment. A team of veterinary doctors/researchers from institute visited the place and collected the samples and information in all aspects related to any disease occurrence on epidemiological basis. Animals were also showing symptoms confusing with rabies. Brain samples were collected for rabies testing. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) by amplifying "N" region gene and mouse inoculation test (MIT) were performed and results showed that disease was nothing except rabies and RT-PCR is the rapid and sensitive method for diagnosis of rabies virus as compared to other conventional methods of diagnosis.

Snake bite experience at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences.

We reviewed 40 cases of snake bite seen from January, 1996 to December, 1996. Most of the cases survived uneventfully but many developed complications which were either haematologic, (23 patients) or neurological (5 patients). Appropriate treatment was offered in every case. Polyvalent antisnake venom was administered to 30 patients (75%). Premedication used was steroids and antihistamines to prevent anaphylactic reactions. Antifibrinolytic therapy (tranxemic acid) was given to every bleeding patient. The species of offending snake could be recognized in one patient while in all others, it was not possible due to night time incidence and poor description by the patient.