Mohammed Nasimul Islam

Cardiac lesions and their reversibility after long term administration of methamphetamine.

In order to clarify the effect of methamphetamine (MA) on myocardium, histological, immunohistochemical and electron microscopic changes in the myocardium of rats were examined following daily intraperitoneal administration of MA at a dose of 1 mg per kg body weight for 4, 8, and 12 weeks before sacrifice. Normal saline (NS) was similarly injected for the same period before sacrifice to constitute a control group. Light microscopic changes found in the myocardium of the MA-treated group included atrophy, hypertrophy, patchy cellular infiltration, eosinophilic degeneration and disarray, edema myolysis, fibrosis, and the appearance of vacuoles. Ultrastructurally, nuclei and normal mitochondria had various shapes and there were dilated T tubules and sarcoplasmic reticulum, the accumulation of glycogen granules and fat droplets. Intra- and extra-cellular edema and intramyocytic vacuoles were often found. Withdrawal of MA at the twelfth week in another group of rats evidenced gradual recovery of the myocardial changes, commencing at 3 weeks after withdrawal. Optimism is therefore generated about the possibility of the affected hearts in MA-abuse patients returning towards the normal state if they give up the drug.

Two distinct Alu-mediated deletions of the human ABO-secretor (FUT2) locus in Samoan and Bangladeshi populations.

The human secretor α(1,2) fucosyltransferase encoded by the FUT2 determines the production of ABO(H) antigens in secretions. Recent studies demonstrated the presence of several nonfunctional alleles in the FUT2. During the analysis for inactivating mutations at the FUT2 locus from 24 Samoan and 47 Bangladeshi individuals, we found two distinct Alu‐mediated deletions of FUT2. The FUT2 deletion in a Bangladeshi population was identical with that found in Indian individuals with the Bombay phenotype (sedel), but not associated with the null allele (T725G) of the H gene (FUT1). The FUT2 deletion in Samoans is a novel null allele (sedel2). The junction region of sedel2 was successfully amplified using the same primers for the sedel amplification. DNA sequencing of the junction region of the sedel2 indicated that there was a 32‐bp sequence identity between DNA sequences surrounding the 5′ and 3′ breakpoints. The size of the deletion of the sedel2 was 9.3 kb, including the full coding region of FUT2. The frequency of the sedel in a Bangladeshi population was 0.074, and that of the sedel2 in a Samoan population was 0.104. Hum Mutat 16:274, 2000.

Retrospective study of alleged rape victims attended at Forensic Medicine Department of Dhaka Medical College, Bangladesh.

Sexual assault is one of the fast growing violent crimes in Bangladesh. We carried out a retrospective study of 675 alleged rape victims out of total examined 1665 cases during 1994-2000. In the last seven years, 441 victims refused examination and a final report is pending in 2.4% cases due to non-availability of ancillary investigation reports. We found that 48.9% cases were sexually abused based on history, physical evidence and opinion of the examining doctor although high vaginal swab for spermatozoa was found to be negative in all cases. Out of 675 cases studied in this paper, 33.5% was in the 12-15 year age group, in 511 cases the assailant was known to the victims, 23.7% was reported and was examined within 72 h of occurrence, unmarried persons constituted 56.6% cases and 69.9% was literate. In 45.8% of the cases the victims were abused during the daytime. Non-genital violence was observed in 91 cases, 2.9% was admitted to the hospital, 2% reported with pregnancy, 0.4% reported with abortion and four cases had a history of previous abuse. Genital findings included hymenal rupture in 38.9% and 9.6% cases of forchette were found with recent tears. In 248 cases, opinion was negative due to delayed attendance, false charge and time-consuming procedures.

Histopathological studies of cardiac lesions after long term administration of Methamphetamine in high dosage – Part II

A small amount of Methamphetamine (MA) can produce behavioural changes such as euphoria, increased alertness, paranoia, decreased appetite and increased physical activity. In cardiovascular system, it can produce chest pain and hypertension which can result in cardiovascular collapse. In addition, MA causes accelerated heartbeat, elevated blood pressure. It can also cause irreversible damage to blood vessels in the brain. A number of sympathomimetic amines are capable of causing myocardial damage, but the cardio-toxic action of MA has been of particular interest since standardized dosage consistently produces myocardial lesions. As this drug is a choice of many teenagers and young adults, the damage to their health, as well as their future aspects could be greatly affected, therefore more evidence must be sought to convince them the negative root and show them the optimism of recovery and salvation. To clarify the effect of Methamphetamine (MA) on myocardium, 56 male Wister rats aged four weeks were divided equally into MA, Methamphetamine withdrawal (MW), Placebo (P) and Control (C) group were examined following daily intra-peritoneal administration of MA at a dose of 5 mg/kg body weight for 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks. Normal saline was similarly injected in P group. Light microscopic changes was seen in the myocardium of MA treated group including eosinophilic degeneration, atrophy, hypertrophy, disarray, edema, cellular infiltration, myolysis, granulation tissue, fibrosis and vacuolization. On the other hand, the withdrawal group showed evidence of gradual recovery of those myocardial changes. Optimism is therefore generated about possibility of returning towards normal by withdrawing of this drug by the addicts.

Rapid and clear detection of ABO genotypes by simultaneous PCR-RFLP method.

We reported a new approach of ABO genotyping by a polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism method. Instead of amplifying the loci containing the positions of nucleotides 258 and 700 of cDNA of the A transferase separately, we successfully amplified these 2 loci together in one reaction mixture using 2 sets of primers. The amplified DNA products were digested at the same time with restriction enzymes Kpn I and Alu I. The digested DNA products were then separated by electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gel. In addition, we evaluated the influence of various amplification parameters (concentration of template DNA, primers, Taq DNA polymerase, MgCl2, and number of cycles). In particular, high Mg2+ concentration (3.5 mM) made effective amplification of this locus without producing any unspecific band. By using that optimized condition for PCR, together with a simultaneous approach, our study proved to be time saving, more economic, and convenient in interpreting the results.

Pattern of unnatural death in a city mortuary: a 10-year retrospective study.

This paper investigates the pattern of autopsy findings in the Forensic Medicine Department of Sir Salimullah Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh. We examined 2534 autopsy reports that were carried out over a period of 10 years from January 1, 1988 to December 31, 1997. Findings have been presented in the aggregate as well as by gender and the manner of death. The manner of death is categorized into four groups: homicide, suicide, accident and natural. We have also included negative autopsies and undecided cases as separate categories. In our study period, 73% of the cases were male. Total growth of autopsy rates in male and female were 7 and 5%, respectively. In terms of incidence most autopsy cases related to accidents (37%), followed by homicide (21%) and suicide (18%). There were numerous problems with chemical reports that led to undue delay in disbursement of justice. In many cases autopsy findings remained undecided because the manner of death could not be determined due to lack of coordination between the forensic doctors and the legal authorities. Undecided and negative autopsy cases were increasing at a very high rate.

Direct cardiotoxic effects of cocaine and cocaethylene on isolated cardiomyocytes

We investigated the cardiotoxic effects of cocaine and cocaethylene on the Ca2+ flux responsible for excitation-contraction coupling in isolated ventricular rat myocytes. We simultaneously measured intracellular Ca2+ transients and cell length in isolated cardiac myocytes loaded with a fluorescent Ca2+ indicator, indo-1, during electrical field stimulation at 1 Hz. The cell length was estimated by video dimension analysis. We also measured the activities of Ca2+ ATPase and Ca2+ release channels of cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum membrane vesicles. Both cocaine and cocaethylene produced significant decreases in both peak intracellular Ca2+ and the cell-contraction rate in a dose-dependent manner. The K0.5 for the reduction of peak intracellular Ca2+ was 157.5 microM for cocaine, but 90.0 microM for cocaethylene. Both cocaethylene and cocaine inhibited neither Ca2+ ATPase nor Ca2+ release channel activity. These results demonstrate that cocaethylene has a more potent direct negative inotropic action on cardiomyocytes, without preventing Ca2+ flux through the cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum membrane.

Forensic medicine in Bangladesh

In this paper, we discuss the current medico-legal practice and future plan to improve the medico-legal service of Bangladesh which is rooted in the remnants of British medical jurisprudence. It includes clinical forensic medicine and forensic pathology. In Bangladesh all unnatural deaths are to be reported at the nearest police station and an appointed police officer should visit the scene of crime for investigation and to arrange postmortem if required. The forensic services of the country are delivered partly by academic staffs of Government Medical Colleges and the rest by the Civil Surgeons. Sometimes, residential medical officers in the district hospitals perform the medico-legal work. Most of them have no forensic qualifications except a long exposure in the medico-legal field. Currently academic and professional postgraduate courses are available. The chemical examiners laboratory is situated at Dhaka with the facility of quantitative tests only. The Government of Bangladesh is trying to standardize the existing system. A Workshop on medico-legal services has been organized regularly by The Medico-legal Society of Bangladesh. A DNA profiling laboratory at the Dhaka Medical College is in the process of being set up. Such progress will be a milestone in the development of the medico-legal service in Bangladesh. However, with a few exceptions, teaching and training facilities are still lacking.

Detection of D1S80 (pMCT118) locus polymorphism using semi-nested polymerase chain reaction in skeletal remains

We evaluated the usefulness of a semi-nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method for detecting D1S80 (pMCT118) locus polymorphisms of DNA extracted from old skeletal remains. The semi-nested PCR has been applied to the amplification of D1S80 nucleic acid sequences. For amplification of the locus D1S80, a pair of oligonucleotide primers have been used widely as described by Kasai et al. We have designed another set of primers for semi-nested PCR. This method resulted in D1S80-VNTR detection from low-titered DNA isolated from old skeletal remains. The first and second step PCR achieved amplification from as little as 10 ng and 10 pg of template DNA, respectively. Specificity and sensitivity of the amplification products was markedly improved by semi-nested PCR. In DNA extracted from biological samples, this method took about 5 hours to amplify the target DNA and 3 hours for electrophoretic separation. We demonstrated that this semi-nested PCR method was superior in sensitivity to conventional 1-step standard amplification for VNTR typing of the D1S80 locus.

Morphology of the Intestinal Barrier in Different Physiological and Pathological Conditions

© 2012 Khan and Nasimul Islam , licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Morphology of the Intestinal Barrier in Different Physiological and Pathological Conditions