Yoga intervention may be helpful in control of oxidative stress in prediabetes subjects. Yoga can also be beneficial in reduction in BMI, waist circumference, systolic blood pressure and fasting glucose. Effect of yoga on antioxidant parameters was not evident in this study. The findings of this study need to be confirmed in larger trials involving active control groups.

A growing understanding of antioxidant mechanisms and insulin-like actions of trace elements selenium and zinc has rekindled researchers' interest towards their role in diabetes mellitus, nutritional management of which concentrates predominantly on macronutrient intake. However, selenium studies limiting largely to diabetes have yielded inconsistent results with sparse knowledge in the pre-diabetes population. This hospital-based cross-sectional study screened 300 people who came to the institutional hospital laboratory with fasting plasma glucose and glycosylated haemoglobin requisition over a period of 6 months. Thirty-five pre-diabetes subjects aged 25-45 years and 35 age-matched healthy controls were selected as per inclusion criteria and clinical history. Serum selenium was estimated by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, zinc and magnesium by colorimetric end-point methods and insulin by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and insulin resistance was calculated using a homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) 2 calculator. Data analysis was done using SPSS ver. 16 employing an independent sample t test for intergroup comparison of means and Pearson's correlation for correlation analysis. Serum mineral levels in the pre-diabetes group (selenium 63.01 ± 17.6 μg/L, zinc 55.78 ± 13.49 μg/dL, magnesium 1.37 ± 0.38 mg/dL) were significantly reduced (p < 0.05) in comparison to the healthy controls (selenium 90.98 ± 15.81 μg/L, zinc 94.53 ± 15.41 μg/dL, magnesium 2.12 ± 0.22 mg/dL). A significant negative correlation was seen with glycaemic indices and insulin resistance. This study conducted in pre-diabetes subjects highlights a considerable deficiency of serum selenium, zinc and magnesium observed at a much earlier pre-clinical phase. This coupled with the evidence of a strong inverse association with glycaemic indices and insulin resistance postulates the role of mineral alterations in the pathophysiology of hyperglycaemia and insulin resistance.

Introduction and Aims:Hair fall is a common problem faced by many younger people, which has variety of risk factors. Vitamin D3 has emerged as a molecule with key role to play in various disorders. This study was done to assess its role in diffuse hair fall among student population.Materials and Methods:This was a case–control study including young adults presenting with complaints of hair fall (>100 a day) as cases, with age-matched healthy controls. Vitamin D3 levels were measured in all the patients. Data analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 11.5 software and significance was tested using Chi-square test and binary logistic regression analysis.Results:Atotal of 44 participants were enrolled; 22 in each arm. The mean age of the study population was 20.89 years (standard deviation: 1.49). The median value of Vitamin D was 6.80 (interquartile range - 5.350–16.63) for the study population. Overall, 81.8% cases had Vitamin D deficiency compared to 45.5% of controls and this difference was statistically significant (P = 0.007). Furthermore, females had a statistically significant difference in Vitamin D levels between cases and controls. Higher level of full sleeve cloth usage, sunscreen lotion application, and lesser sun exposures were seen among cases although these differences were not statistically significant. The levels of Vitamin D3 were not significantly different among Indians, nonresident Indians, and foreigners. None of the cases had normal Vitamin D values whereas 4.5% controls fell in the normal category.Conclusions:Female patients with diffuse hair fall were found to have significantly low Vitamin D3 levels among student population.

Background:Insulin resistance (IR) has known to be associated with coronary artery disease (CAD), but the assessment of severity of the CAD based on IR in type 2 diabetes mellitus has not been established in detail.Aims:The aim of our study was to establish the correlation between IR and the severity of CAD in type 2 diabetes mellitus.Materials and Methods:In a cross-sectional study design, 61 consecutive patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus who underwent coronary angiogram for the evaluation of CAD were recruited. Fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin levels, systolic blood pressure and total cholesterol/high density lipoprotein-cholesterol ratio were determined. Homeostasis model assessment-IR (HOMA-IR) was correlated with severity of CAD, which was measured by modified Gensini Score.Results:There was a significant correlation between log HOMA-IR and severity of CAD (r = 0.303, P = 0.009) in diabetic patients. Correlation of the Gensini Score with other known risk factors was not significant.Conclusions:The results of our study indicate that we might able to predict the severity of CAD by measure of IR.

AIMThis study aimed at evaluation of ischemia-modified albumin (IMA), malondialdehyde (MDA), and advanced oxidative protein products (AOPP) as markers of vascular injury in diabetic nephropathy (DN) with derivation of cutoff values for the same.MATERIALS AND METHODSStudy population comprised 60 diabetes patients and 30 controls, with diabetes patients further categorized into three groups based on urine albumin/creatinine ratio (UACR) of <30 mg/g (diabetes without microalbuminuria), 30–300 mg/g (early DN), and >300 mg/g of creatinine (overt DN). Serum IMA, MDA, and AOPP were estimated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; HbA1c, serum creatinine, urine albumin, and urine creatinine were estimated using automated analyzers. Statistical analysis was done using analysis of variance, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and receiver-operating characteristic curve.RESULTSA statistically significant difference was found in the levels of IMA among patients with early DN (154 ng/mL), diabetes without nephropathy (109.4 ng/mL), and healthy controls (45.7 ng/mL), with highest levels in early DN cases. Similar increase was seen in AOPP as well. A significant correlation was observed between IMA and UACR in diabetes without nephropathy (r = 0.448).CONCLUSIONThe present study postulates serum IMA as a novel biomarker for the assessment of disease progression in diabetes even before microalbuminuria, and a cutoff point ≥99 ng/mL can be used for detection of early DN.

The aim of this study was to determine the malondialdehyde (MDA) level and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in colchicine induced Alzheimer’s disease (AD), resveratrol (RS) treated and RS + donepezil (DPZ) treated rat models. The objective was to compare the MDA level and SOD activity among these rat models. The present study included 3 months old male albino Wistar rats, which were in-house bred and weighting about 220–250 g. The rats were divided into nine subgroups which included control, sham, AD induced, RS treated and DPZ treated groups in different doses and combinations. The lipid peroxidation product for MDA in the brain homogenate was measured by estimating the levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substance. Estimation of SOD was done by the method of autoxidation of pyrogallol by Marklund and Marklund. There was a marked increase in the MDA levels in AD induced group in comparison to the control group (p < 0.05). The SOD activity was higher in the RS 10 and RS 20 treated groups in contrast to the AD group (p < 0.05). In DPZ + RS group, there was a substantial increase in the SOD activity (p < 0.05). It is also observed that the RS 20 treatment group showed higher SOD activity than the RS 10 group (p < 0.05). This study showed that, AD induced group had elevated levels of MDA, which indicates the poor oxidative stress–defence mechanism. The RS 10 and RS 20 groups showed higher SOD activity in comparison to the AD group, which indicated the improved oxidative stress–defence mechanism. The RS + DPZ group showed higher SOD activity, indicating a synergistic effect of DPZ and RS.

INTRODUCTIONPTB is associated with weight loss, nutritional deficiency and impaired metabolism [6]. In the prebiotic era, sun exposure, TB sanatorium and cod liver oil were commonly used to treat patients infected with TB. All these incidentally are good sources of Vit D [2,7]. DOTS is the current treatment modality for TB which comprises of administration of anti-tubercular drugs in two phases, intensive phase and continuous phase [8]. With the advent of effective antituberculosis drugs, enthusiasm for treating TB with the earlier Vit D rich modalities subsided [9]. Impaired metabolism in PTB may possibly worsen the effects of VDD [6]. In TB, liver functions may be hampered by diffuse hepatic involvement, granulomatous hepatitis or local abscess formation [10].Previous reports on the interaction between Vit D and anti-tubercular drugs have shown that, rifampicin causes an accelerated loss of Vit D due to increased clearance as it acts as an agonist to pregnane X receptor and inducing the activity of CYP3A4 and limiting the formation of active one alpha 25(OH)2D3 [11]. CYP3A4, a hepatic cytochrome P450 enzyme is involved in drug metabolism, and catabolism of Vit D via a similar pathway as CYP24A1 (an enzyme catalysing the hydroxylation steps of Vit D2 and Vit D3) [12]. Isoniazid causes impairment of 25-hydroxylation leading to impaired Vit D action [13,14], although pyrazinamide, isoniazid and rifampicin have all been associated with hepatotoxicity and the risk is enhanced when these drugs are used in combination. Studies have reported 1-31% of TB patients experience drug related hepatotoxicity following TB treatment [15]. However, isoniazid and ethambutol have been associated with acute kidney injury, rifampin is the most common as reported by most studies [16,17]. Immune responses to TB are influenced by a variety of factors, including younger age [18], diabetes mellitus, tobacco smoking, alcohol, immunosuppressive drugs [19], HIV status, and concurrent infections. Cachexia has been linked to poor prognosis and is a major risk factor for mortality [20]. All these factors are also associated with VDD [21]. The underlying mechanism of how Vit D metabolisms could be linked to the pathophysiology of PTB is complex and not fully understood. This research was carried out to study the changes in Vit D levels in active PTB, the effect of DOTS on Vit D status and alterations in hepatic and renal profiles possibly contributing to the effects.

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