Inderjit S. Thind

Vitamin profiles in elderly persons living at home or in nursing homes, versus profile in healthy young subjects.

ABSTRACT: The vitamin profile of 473 elderly persons was compared with that of 204 healthy volunteers (controls). Of the 473 elderly, 327 (mean age 87) lived in nursing homes, and 146 (mean age 77) lived at home. The 204 controls were in the 20–50 year age group. The circulating levels of biotin, pantothenate, riboflavin, vitamins A, B6, B12, C, E, folate, thiamine, nicotinate, and carotenes were determined in all groups. Hypovitaminemia was not obvious for biotin, pantothenate, riboflavin, vitamins A, E, and carotenes in either the institutional or non‐institutional elderly. Thiamine, vitamin C and vitamin B12 levels were strikingly depressed in the non‐institutional elderly as compared with the institutional population or the controls. Over 30 percent of the institutional elderly had vitamin B6 and nicotinate hypovitaminemia compared to the controls. Both the institutional and the non‐institutional elderly showed depressed levels of folate and vitamin B12. Vitamin supplementation reduced the percentage of folate and B12 deficits. The marked vitamin deficits in the institutional population, in descending order of incidence were: vitamin B6, nicotinate, vitamin B12, folate, thiamine, and ascorbate, whereas the pattern for the non‐institutional elderly was: vitamin B12, thiamine, ascorbate, vitamin B6, nicotinate, and folate. In the 473 elderly studied, vitamin B6, nicotinate, and vitamin B12, in that order, were the most common deficits; folate, thiamine and ascorbate deficits comprised a lesser percentage. The role of vitamin deficits and the effects upon the aging population are discussed.

Vitamin levels in low-birth-weight newborn infants and their mothers

The cord blood of 50 normal-birth-weight neonates (more than 2,500 grams) and 50 low-birth-weight neonates (less than 2,500 grams) and the respective mothers blood were analyzed for folate, vitamin B6, riboflavin, nicotinate, pantothenate, thiamin, biotin, vitamin B12, vitamin A, and beta-carotene concentrations at parturition. No mothers had received supplemental vitamin intake. Except for vitamin A and beta-carotene, maternal vitamin levels were lower than those of neonates in all instances. Vitamin levels in the blood of low-birth-weight neonates were the same of those of normal-birth-weight infants except for significantly lower folate, vitamin B12, and pantothenate levels.

Primary and secondary prevention among adults: An analysis with comments on screening and health education☆

A review of the literature relating to a variety of diseases afflicting adults shows that only a small number is preventable by risk factor modification, and in the majority, the risk factors are the societal intoxicants alcohol and tobacco. There is also only a small number of diseases in which there is clear evidence that detection in the early presymptomatic stages results in an outcome different from that observed if the disease is detected when symptoms occur. If primary (risk factor modification) or secondary (early intervention) approaches to medicine are to be effective, health education efforts will have to be augmented markedly. An analysis of health knowledge and patterns of licit and illicit intoxicant use in four schools or school systems suggests that current health education programs are not achieving their stated objectives. A review of current screening practices for asymptomatic persons suggests that the battery of tests used might be significantly altered in order to focus efforts on those diseases that present data show reasonably convincingly can be modified by secondary prevention. A 10-point program of selective screening and risk factor modification is proposed which is believed to be achievable, practical, and acceptable to consumers.

Potentiation of the neurovirulence of langat virus infection by lead intoxication in mice

Abstract Lead intoxication of mice increased the mortality due to experimental Langat virus infection. Lead enhanced viral replication, resulting in early detection and higher virus multiplication in the brain with associated widespread and more severe neurohistological changes. More severe brain damage by the virus in lead intoxicated mice contributed to increased mortality since Langat virus is known to kill by its encephalitogenic potential.