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ABSTRACT

Reference intervals (RIs) of serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and free thyroxine (fT4) were determined in 402 healthy pregnant women by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique after partitioning them into three trimesters. The reference population was chosen from a study population of 610 pregnant females by applying strict inclusion and exclusion criteria. The assays were done using proper quality control measures. RIs were calculated from the central 95 % of the distribution of TSH and fT4 values located between the lower reference limit of 2.5 percentile and upper reference limit of 97.5 percentile value 0.90 confidence intervals for the upper and lower reference limits were also determined. The reference intervals for TSH were 0.25-3.35 μIU/ml for the first trimester; 0.78-4.96 μIU/ml for the second trimester and 0.89-4.6 μIU/ml for the third trimester. Similarly, the reference intervals for fT4 for first, second and third trimesters were 0.64-2.0, 0.53-2.12 and 0.64-1.98 ng/dl respectively. The values thus obtained varied from those provided by the kit literature. In comparison to our derived reference intervals, the reference data from kit manufacturer under-diagnosed both subclinical hypo- and hyper-thyroidism within our pregnant reference population.

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Eclampsia is an acute, life-threatening disease caused by low blood calcium levels (hypocalcaemia) in dogs and more rarely in cats. The causes of Eclampsia are poor nutrition, low blood level of albumin, excessive milk production and disease of parathyroid gland. Imbalance between the rates of in flow and out flow from the extra cellular fluid calcium because of the increased loss into the milk appears to be an important factor in the pathogenesis of puerperal tetany in the bitches. Normally the condition is diagnosed by careful investigation, recording proper history, correlating the clinical signs, response to therapy in most cases and confirming the condition with laboratory diagnosis. Generally, 5-10 ml of 10% calcium gluconate will provide sufficient calcium for a bitch weighing between five and ten Kg. Dietary supplements of calcium and vitamin D are useful in preventing relapse of the disease after treatment and prevention of the disease.

Objective To study oxidative stress in placental tissue as well as in serum in pre-eclamptic women. Methods Fifty pre-eclamptic cases and fifty normal pregnant women were selected in the study. Thio barbituric acid reacting substances (TBARS) was measured as oxidative stress marker and superoxide dismutase (SOD) and GSH (reduced glutathione) were measured for assessment of antioxidant status in placental tissue extract and serum. Results TBARS and SOD activity were increased significantly (P \ 0.001) in both placental homogenate and serum in pre-eclamptic women. Level of GSH was not altered much. Conclusion Placental oxidative stress can be assessed by measuring serum oxidative stress markers and this may help in prevention of further progress of this condition.

Background: Oxidative stress is considered to be involved in pathogenesis of different diseases including Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). In laboratory, this can be measured by a biochemical parameter called Oxidative stress Index (OSI), which can be calculated as the ratio percentage of Total peroxide to the total anti-oxidant potential.Aims and Objectives: This study was undertaken to determine OSI in MDD and healthy control and to find out whether any significant difference exists among the mean values of OSI in MDD and healthy controls. It was also aimed to find out whether OSI can be correlated with the severity of MDD. The validity of OSI as a biochemical parameter to diagnose MDD was also evaluated.Materials and Methods: In this study OSI was determined in 101 cases of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) along with 106 age and sex matched controls by measuring Total Peroxides (TP) and Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC). TP was measured by (FOX 2) method and TAC was measured by The Ferric Reducing Ability of Plasma (FRAP) method. The correlation of OSI & severity of depression was assessed by Spearman rank Correlation test. ROC curve was used for determining the validity of OSI for diagnosis of Depression.Result: Significant increase in OSI was observed in MDD (2.33 + 0.457) when compared to healthy controls (1.311 + 0.352). The increase was also found to be associated with severity of MDD (Spearman coefficient of rank correlation, rho = 0.289). The diagnostic ability of OSI was evaluated by ROC curve, which showed Area under curve as 0.96. The optimal cut off value of OSI was found to be 1.83, with 87.13% sensitivity and 92.45% specificity.Conclusion: Oxidative stress may play a role in pathogenesis of MDD as indicated by measuring OSI. This parameter is found to be significantly associated with severity of disease. The diagnostic ability of OSI for MDD is quite satisfactory. However, further study is needed to validate this finding.Asian Journal of Medical Sciences Vol.7(5) 2016 31-35

Background: The diagnosis of the disease, major depressive disorder (MDD), entirely depends on the presence of some symptoms without any biochemical parameter to support it. Depletion of dopamine though is an established feature, is not the sole causative factor of MDD. Moreover, it has very little diagnostic value due to a short half-life. Other chemical messengers like hormones have also been found to get altered due to significant over activity of hypothalamo-pituitary axis. Literature review suggests that cortisol, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), and prolactin (PRL) are mostly altered in MDD, which can be utilized to diagnose the condition. Materials and Methods: A total of 101 patients suffering from MDD along with 106 age- and sex-matched controls were included in this study. Cortisol, TSH, and PRL were assayed in all the study participants by enzyme immunoassay. Student's t -test and linear discriminant analysis were used for statistical analysis. Results: All the three hormones were found to be significantly high in cases with MDD. When applied for classification purpose, the errors in training group were found to be 15% and 15.74% from test set. None of the normal population was wrongly diagnosed as a patient of depression. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to evaluate multiple biochemical parameters as diagnostic marker of MDD. The study is in progress to find out a cutoff value of the responsible parameter so that they can be optimally used to diagnose a case of MDD.