Radioactive uranium in various Indian tobaccos and consumable products (snuff, chutta, bidi and cigarette)

Tobacco is chewed in the form of snuff and thus its radioactivity--if there is any--goes directly into the body. Besides normal smoking, tobacco is also smoked in reverse manner in the form of "chutta", an indigenously prepared cigar made from the home grown plants of Nicotinia tobacum in South East coastal towns and villages in India. The burnt residue and the radioactive element--if there is any--in the case of chutta smoking will also go directly in the body causing hazardous effects. Uranium traces were determined in commercially available samples of snuff, chutta, bidi and cigarette tobacco using radiation damage etch technique. The analysis showed that uranium levels varied from 7.4 to 19.1 ppm in snuff, 0.16 to 0.37 ppm in chutta, 0.13 to 0.23 in bidi and 0.037 to 0.12 ppm in cigarette tobacco.

Postoperative wound infection in a pediatric surgical service

Seventy-two out of 1,325 consecutive pediatric patients (5.43%) developed an operative wound infection in a general pediatric surgery unit. The wound infection rate was observed to be highest in neonates (13.75%) as compared with the children over 5 years of age (2.93%). The increased susceptibility of newborns to wound infection was found to be statistically significant. Patients operated for gastrointestinal problems and solid abdominal neoplasms had the highest wound infection rate.

Steatocystoma Multiplex

A 19-year-old male had innumerable cysts of steatocystoma multiplex spread on almost the entire skin surface.

Age-related changes in the total protein in the brain of Periplaneta americana (L.)

Quantitative changes in the total protein in the brain of aging male and female Periplaneta americana have been observed. A significant increase of total protein and neurosecretory cells in the brain up to 5 months, followed by a considerable decline in later age, points to a direct relationship between the neurosecretory cell number and reproductive phenomenon. Higher total protein concentration and cell number maintain reproduction up to 5 months while a decline after 6 months of adult life adversely affects reproduction. This suggests that neurosecretory cell number and protein concentration are related to reproduction and thereby aging.

Optimization of carrier frequency and duty cycle for pulse modulation of biological signals

Digital modulation techniques are commonly used for the recording and transmission of biological signals. Hitherto, the choice of subcarrier frequency for recording or transmission of biological signals has been arbitary and this usually results in poor signal to noise ratio (SNR) due to the limited frequency characteristics of the system. In the present study the frequency characteristics of the system (first order approximation) has been taken to be that of a Butterworth filter. Computations based on this assumption show that for a given input signal there exists an optimum subcarrier frequency and a corresponding optimum duty cycle which would give maximum SNR of the system. For convenience, a nomogram has been prepared and it has been shown that for a given frequency response of the system, the nomogram could be used for selecting an optimum subcarrier frequency and a corresponding duty cycle. The theoretical formulations have been verified with experimental work.

A versatile SAMI--a self contained digital heart beat counter

The existing SAMI's (Socially acceptable monitoring instruments) as used for monitoring the variations in physiological parameters were considered to have certain drawbacks, such as trigger level adjustments and the need for frequent contact with the clinician/investigator. In the present system these drawbacks have been overcome by incorporating an automatic gain control into the circuitry and by using CMOS devices.

Indications, technique and results of caudal epidural injection for lumbar disc retropulsion

The indications, contra-indications and technique of caudal epidural injections in the treatment of low back pain and sciatica are described. Of 201 patients treated by epidural injection, about 56% had favourable results.

Biochemical and histochemical studies on non-specific phosphomonoesterases of swine kidney worm Stephanurus dentatus (Diesing, 1839)

Biochemical and histochemical studies have been made on non-specific acid and alkaline phosphomonoesterases of S. dentatus. The two forms of acid phosphomonoesterases have been found active at pH 4.0 and 6.0. The pH optima for the two forms of aklaline phosphomonoesterases lie at 8.0 and 10.0. Studies on the distribution of acid and alkaline phosphomonoesterases in various tissues have revealed an abundance of acid phosphomonoesterase in various parts of the alimentary canal and various organs of the reproductive system. The excretory ducts show alkaline phosphomonoesterase activity only.