Measurement of serum free (ionized) calcium (Ca(++)) reflects true calcium status of the body in health and disease. Present study evaluates efficacy of Ca(++) over total calcium (CaT) in serum for calcium status. 52 subjects were enrolled for study. Anaerobic fasting blood sample for Ca(++) measurement and autoclaved plain bulb for estimation of CaT, Total protein (TP) and Albumin was used. CaT, Corrected CaT, Ca(++), Calculated Ca(++) were measured and correlated. Corrected CaT and calculated Ca(++) were derived from the measured parameters. Study group showed significant difference between CaT and corrected CaT (p<0.006), Ca(++) and calculated Ca(++) (p<0.001). Negligible correlation was observed between Ca(++) and serum protein. Positive correlation was observed between CaT and calculated Ca(++), TP and albumin. Findings indicate that Ca(++) levels are independent of serum protein status. With scrupulous sampling, Ca(++) may be a better parameter than presently used CaT for assessing calcium status in serum.

Osteoporosis encompasses a wide spectrum of conditions associated with imbalance of osteoclastic and osteoblastic activities. The increased activity of osteoclasts leads to increased free radical formation and hence lipid peroxidation. Present study probes into the role of antioxidants as a palliative treatment for osteoporosis. It involved 50 healthy controls and 75 clinically diagnosed osteoporosis patients. Both the groups underwent baseline assessment of biochemical markers viz. osteoblastic markers: serum Alkaline phosphatase. Free or ionic calcium and Inorganic phosphorus, osteoclastic markers: serum Tartarate resistant acid phosphatase and Malondialdehyde and the antioxidant status: serum Superoxide dismutase and Erythrocyte reduced glutathione. The osteoporotic group was then divided into groups A (Vitamin E-Evinal 400 mg), B (Vitamin C-Celin 500 mg), C (Vitamin E+C-Evinal+Celin) for antioxidant supplementation for a period of 90 days. The results reveal that there is significant fall in concentration of serum MDA (p<0.001), TrACP (p<0.01). Improvement in antioxidant status is reflected by significant rise in concentration of serum SOD (p<0.001) and erythrocyte GSH (p<0.001) after 90 days of antioxidant supplementation in osteoporosis. The findings indicate that on the whole bone status improved with prolonged antioxidant vitamin supplementation, which can be used as a palliative treatment for osteoporosis. The efficacy is not affected whether the vitamins are administered singly or conjointly.

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It is a well established fact that long term use of oral contraceptives is hazardous to health. The most common methods of contraception used by women in reproductive age group include use of oral contraceptives and copper ' T '. One of the causative factors for the side effects of the ' pill' is presumed to be increase in serum cereloplasmin levels which has pro -oxidant activity. The present study involves the study of serum ceruloplasmin levels in two groups of subjects i.e. 30 women using oral contraceptive and 30 women using copper' T '. 30 healthy females in reproductive age group were chosen as controls. It was observed that oral contraceptives increase the serum ceruloplasmin levels (p < 0.001) and the difference is highly significant as compared to no change (p < 0.1) in the groups using copper ' T ' as contraceptives.