Suryanarayana Rao

Radiotherapy and Verrucous Carcinoma of the Oral Cavity: A study of 107 cases

One hundred and seven cases of oral verrucous carcinoma treated primarily with radiotherapy at Kasturba Hospital, Manipal, India between 1977 and 1987 were analysed concerning location within the oral cavity, clinical extent, and effectiveness of radiotherapy. The most common site was the buccal mucosa followed by the buccogingival sulcus. Only 13.2% of the patients presented with T1 or T2 tumours and 32.7% had clinically negative nodes. Biopsy had to be repeated more than once in 22 patients to get confirmation of invasive carcinoma. The 5-year survival rate was 35% for stage III and 26% for stage IV. The treatment results with radiotherapy were comparable with those for ordinary squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity. It is felt that the treatment policy for verrucous carcinoma can be the same as for ordinary squamous cell carcinoma. In order to prevent delay in diagnosis and treatment, proper cooperation between the treating oncologist and the pathologist is essential.

Role of antioxidant enzymes in brain tumours

Erythrocyte antioxidant enzymes were analysed in 100 patients with intracranial neoplasm and in 47 controls. There was a significant decrease in RBC glutathione reductase (GRx) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in most types of brain tumor cases. Patients with acoustic neurinoma showed a significant reduction in selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase (Se-GPx) activity. A decrease in catalase (CT) activity was seen in most of the brain tumor patients but remained statistically insignificant when compared to controls. A significant increase in plasma ceruloplasmin concentration was observed in patients with glioma. These enzymes were also studied in 27 post-treatment cases. GRx activity returned to normal levels in these patients. RBC SOD and plasma ceruloplasmin levels showed a tendency to return to normal. Hence, a marked decrease in the antioxidant enzymes may have a role in the genesis of considerable oxidative stress in patients with brain tumors.

Serum immunoglobulins in brain tumours.

SummaryImmunoglobulin level in the sera of 62 patients with intracranial space occupying lesions was assayed using the radial immunodiffusion method. Serum IgM levels showed a highly significant increase in all types of brain tumour when compared to controls. Serum IgG levels were also increased in benign as well as malignant cases. Serum IgA levels were high only in benign cases. Hence, increased serum Ig levels may be of prognostic value in these cases.

Evaluation of knowledge of and attitudes toward epilepsy among the health science students of Manipal University

This study was carried out to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices with respect to epilepsy among health science students of Manipal University. The study was conducted among first-year health science students of Kasturba Medical College on the Manipal and Mangalore campuses of Manipal University. All students willing to participate (n=587) were asked to answer a standardized questionnaire on epilepsy. Our study group included educated urban people from various ethnic backgrounds of various countries who chose health science as a career, which makes the study different from others. Even though most of the students had heard about epilepsy, very few knew about the underlying cause. Most of the students were ignorant about the drugs and ways to deal with epileptic seizures. Questions related to community and religion were deliberately avoided as some subjects found such questions offensive, which may have resulted in a difference in response as compared with previously published studies. It was observed that a large number of students were not aware of the nuances of epilepsy. However, we expect the knowledge, attitudes and awareness to improve considerably with time and increased exposure. These findings support a need to promote epilepsy awareness programs as a means of increasing public knowledge of epilepsy.

Urinary Excretion of 6-Hydroxymethylpterin in Brain Tumours

The urinary 6-hydroxymethylpterin(Pt-6-CH2OH) excretion was determined in 87 patients with brain tumours and in 50 control patients. The Pt-6-CH2OH levels were significantly elevated in all patients with tumours. No difference was observed when malignant tumours were compared with benign neoplasms. Following therapy, the Pt-6-CH2OH levels were partially reduced when compared with control patients and their pre-operative values.

Estimation of Salivary Protein Thiols And Total Antioxidant Power of Saliva in Brain Tumor Patients

BACKGROUND The role of oxidative stress in the genesis of various types of cancers is well established. Several chemical, cell culture and animal studies also indicate that antioxidants may slow or even prevent the development of cancer. Brain is considered abnormally sensitive to oxidative damage as brain tissue has high rate of oxygen consumption, high lipid content and relatively low antioxidant defenses, compared to other tissues. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study design chosen for the present study was cross sectional. The biochemical parameters that were estimated in saliva manually using spectrophotometric methods were ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay--a direct measure of total antioxidant activity of biological fluids and protein thiols. The physical parameters of saliva that were also assessed were salivary flow rate, pH of the saliva and the osmolality of the saliva. RESULTS The mean values of salivary flow rate and pH were significantly decreased among malignant and benign tumor patients whereas the salivary osmolality was significantly increased in both the groups of patients. The mean values of salivary FRAP were significantly reduced among malignant and benign tumor patients. However, the salivary protein thiols were significantly increased in these patients. CONCLUSION Hence with these observations it can be concluded that in saliva, besides the physical characteristics, salivary FRAP and protein thiol levels are appropriate indicators of the antioxidant status in brain tumor patients.

Plasma protein oxidation in patients with brain tumors

Abstract Objective: Proteins can undergo numerous covalent changes on exposure to oxidants. Oxidative modification of protein in vivo may affect a variety of cellular functions. Protein oxidation in vivo is a natural consequence of aerobic life. Oxygen radicals and other activated oxygen species generated as byproducts of cellular metabolism or from environmental sources cause modifications to the amino acids of proteins that generally result in loss of protein function/enzymatic activity. It is now well known that reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a key role in human cancer development. Moreover, the brain is especially vulnerable to ROS mediated injury. Method: Therefore, in the present study, protein oxidation was assessed in the plasma of 17 patients with brain tumors and 16 age and gender-matched controls by measuring protein thiols and protein carbonyls spectrophotometrically. Results: There was a significant decrease in protein thiols and carbonyls in malignant cases of brain tumors when compared with the control group. No significant change in protein thiols was noted in benign cases compared to controls. A comparison of levels in benign and malignant cases for both the parameters also showed no significant difference. Discussion: Thus, free radical toxicity does lead to protein oxidation in patients with brain tumors.

Elevation of serum ceruloplasmin levels in brain tumours

Serum ceruloplasmin levels have been estimated in 80 patients with various intracranial space occupying lesions and in 30 controls. The ceruloplasmin levels were significantly increased in all brain tumours except in meningiomas. After therapy, the ceruloplasmin levels were still significantly increased when compared to controls and their respective preoperative values. However, the rise in levels of ceruloplasmin in malignant tumours compared to benign was statistically not significant. It is concluded that ceruloplasmin may have a role to play as an acute phase reactant protein in brain tumours.

Serum adenosine deaminase activity in brain tumours

SummaryAdenosine deaminase (ADA) activity in serum was estimated in 86 patients with intracranial tumours and 40 healthy volunteers. Although high ADA concentrations in biological fluids and tumour tissues were observed in several neoplastic conditions, there was no significant difference in the ADA in sera of brain tumour patients when compared to the control values. Therefore, cell-mediated immunity probably does not play a significant role in brain tumours.

Erythrocyte glutathione and serum total glutathione-S-transferase in epilepsy

Free radicals are involved in a number of human disease processes (1–4) including epilepsy. To combat the oxidative damage brought about by these reactive oxygen species (ROS) the body has a variety of defense mechanisms in the form of antioxidants, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CT), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), glutathione (GSH), etc. It has been well documented that ROS can induce seizure activity (5–9). In a previous study we showed that lipid peroxidation was significantly increased and erythrocytic GR and the plasma antioxidant vitamins, A and C were markedly reduced in epileptics compared to control subjects (10). However, erythrocytic GSH and serum total GST were not assessed. GST (EC 2.5.1.18) is a family of multifunctional isoenzymes found in all eukaryotes. Therefore, in the present study, concentrations of erythrocytic GSH and serum total GST were estimated in patients suffering from epilepsy before treatment. The study was conducted in patients aged 17–35 years suffering from epilepsy and in ageand sex-matched healthy volunteers. All patients were subjected to a detailed clinical examination for assessment of neurological status. Electroencephalography was conducted on all the patients. In some cases, computerized axial tomography scans were carried out for a more definitive diagnosis. Based on the latter, there were two categories of patients, namely, those suffering from primary generalized epilepsy/generalized tonic clonic seizures (GTCS, ns19, 16 males, 3 females) and those with complex partial seizures with secondary generalization (CPS, ns11, 5