Prevalence of overweight in urban Indian adolescent school children

The prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is increasing in urban India. Overweight in adolescence is a marker of overweight in adult age, and it shows an association with the above diseases. There have been meagre data from India on the prevalence of childhood obesity. The objective of the study was to quantify the prevalence of overweight and its risk factors in adolescent children in urban India. School students in the age group of 13-18 years (n = 4700, M:F 2382:2318) were studied. Body mass index (BMI) was measured. Data on physical activity, food habits, occupation of parents and their economic status, birth weight of the children and age at menarche in girls were obtained by questionnaire. Age-adjusted prevalence of overweight was 17.8% for boys and 15.8% for girls. It increased with age and was higher in lower tertiles of physical activity and in higher socio-economic group. Birth weight and current BMI were positively associated. The study highlighted the high prevalence of overweight in adolescent children in urban India. Life style factors influenced BMI in adolescent age.

The salubrious effect of tamoxifen [correction of Tamaxifen] on serum marker enzymes, glycoproteins, and lysosomal enzymes level in breast cancer woman

Tumour markers correlate strongly with prognosis based on tumour burden and surgical resectability. If chemotherapy is extremely effective in certain stage of the disease, the sensitive marker may be of great use in monitoring disease response and drug treatment. Hence, this study was launched to evaluate the changes in tumour marker enzymes like lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT), glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT), alkaline phosphatase, and acid phosphatase in before and after 3 and 6 months tamoxifen treated breast cancer patients. In addition, the changes in serum glycoproteins viz., hexose, hexosamine, and sialic acid and lysosomal enzymes such as N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase, beta-D-galactosidase, and beta-D-glucuronidase were analysed in these patients. These values were compared with their age matched healthy control subjects. At 6 months evaluation, the tamoxifen treated postmenopausal breast cancer women showed a statistically significant decreased (p < 0.001, 0.05 respectively) levels of LDH, SGOT, SGPT, alkaline and acid phosphatases than their baseline values. Similarly, the levels of hexose, hexosamine, and sialic acid and N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase, beta-D-galactosidase, and beta-D-glucuronidase were decreased significantly (p < 0.001) in tamoxifen received postmenopausal women. The result of this study suggested that tamoxifen potentially retard the metastasis of breast cancer as well as the bone demineralisation in postmenopausal breast cancer women. Thus, tamoxifen may also have its antitumour activity through its beneficial effects on tumour marker enzymes and serum proteins in breast cancer women.

Effect of tamoxifen on lipids and lipid metabolising marker enzymes in experimental atherosclerosis in Wistar rats

Tamoxifen, a non-steroidal anti-oestrogen, is used in the treatment of breast cancer, both receptor positive and negative tumours. It also possesses weak oestrogenic activity which forms the basis of this study. Tamoxifen (2 different dosages) was administered through diet (10 mg/kg diet and 20 mg/kg diet) to experimental atherosclerosis induced female rats to assess the effect of tamoxifen on plasma lipid levels, lipoprotein cholesterol level and on the activity of lipid metabolising enzymes. The plasma total lipid level was increased in atherosclerosis suffering animals compared to control animals with concomitant changes in the activity of lipid metabolising enzymes. HDL-cholesterol was decreased while LDL-cholesterol and VLDL-cholesterol were increased in the atherosclerosis induced group. Cholesterol and free cholesterol were decreased in tamoxifen treated groups while the other lipids show a moderate increase. HDL-cholesterol was increased but LDL-cholesterol was decreased in the tamoxifen treated groups. The higher dosage tamoxifen given group animals show significantly favourable results from therapy stand point when compared to diseased group.

Effect of administering cyclophosphamide and vitamin E on the levels of tumor-marker enzymes in rats with experimentally induced fibrosarcoma

Cyclophosphamide, and antineoplastic drug, and vitamin E, the common antioxidant present in the diet, were administered in separate dosages and in combination to animals (rats) with fibrosarcoma, metastatic tumor of the connective tissues, induced. The anticancer drug (20 mg/kg body weight) and the vitamin-E (400 mg/kg body weight) was administered for a period of 28 days from the day of tumor transplantation. The individual and the combined effects of these two substances were investigated by checking the growth of the tumor. Tumor markers like lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), serum glutamate pyruvate transminase (SGPT), serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT), acid phosphatase, and alkaline phosphatase were analyzed for the changes in their concentration in serum, liver, and kidney to assess the success of the therapy. The increased level of the enzymes in the fibrosarcoma-suffering rats (GPII) was reduced by cyclophosphamide treatment (GP III) and vitamin E administration (GP IV). Among the treated groups, the combination therapy (GP V) showed greater efficacy in the treatment of fibrosarcoma than did individual administration, as there was more reduction in the levels of enzymes in Group V than those in to Groups III and IV. The enzyme levels were brought to near the normal level.