OBJECTIVES To examine early changes in biochemical markers of bone turnover and bone mineral density (BMD) in a clinical trial of anti-resorptive agent alendronate versus alfacalcidol in postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes mellitus. METHODS 12 subjects (mean age; 73.1 +/- 6.3 yrs, duration of diabetes; 13.2 +/- 3.7 yrs) were administered alendronate sodium (5 mg/day) and 12 subjects (me...

The present study was aimed to find out the variation of age and training on biochemical variables of Indian elite hockey players. A total of 120 hockey players who volunteered for the present study, were equally divided (n=30) into 4 groups: under 16 years (14-15 yrs); under 19 years (16-18 yrs); under 23 years (19-22 yrs); and senior (23-30 yrs). The training sessions were divided into 3 phas...

Since olfactory dysfunction is among the first signs of idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD), olfactory testing may aid in the early of 'preclinical' diagnosis of this disorder. Indeed, the proportion of early-stage PD patients with olfactory dysfunction appears to be greater than the proportion of early-stage PD patients exhibiting some of the cardinal signs of PD. Because olfactory function va...

Basal serum growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and somatostatin concentration were measured by standard radioimmunoassay in patients with a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) according to the criteria of the American College of Rheumatology as well as in a group of age-matched normal subjects. RA patients exhibited significantly elevated (age, 45-55 yrs, p less than 0.05; ...

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the prevalence of radiographic changes in the condylar morphology and its association with age, clinical signs and symptoms of temporomandibular dysfunction and dentition status and also to evaluate the intra examiner and inter examiner reliability in assessing condylar changes using panoramic radiographs. A total of 75 subjects were recruited for th...

The purpose of the present study was to investigate how far the short term practice of yoga (30 and 60 days) for an hour daily can improve the respiratory function. Male subjects (n=50, age 30-50 years) were randomly selected. Respiratory parameters (FVC, FEV1, PEFR, FEF(25-75%) and MVV) were determined by using a multifunctional computerized spirometer. Yoga (posture and pranayamas) practice f...

Children with acute asthma account for a significant proportion of paediatric hospital admissions, and clear guidelines exist for their care. The aim of this study was to determine their management in the UK. Over 1 year (February 1995 to January 1996), children aged 1-14 yrs admitted with acute asthma were studied in both teaching and district general hospitals. An admission pro forma was used...

The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) has defined stage I chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as forced expiratory volume in one second/forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC)% <70% and a FEV1% predicted of >80%. Stage 2 has been defined as FEV1/FVC <70% and a FEV1% pred of <80%. The authors examined the extent of COPD misdiagnosis using this definition in healthy,...

This study examined inflammatory responses from primary cultured human bronchial epithelial cells in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the clinical factors modulating them. Epithelial cells from bronchoscopic biopsies from 14 patients with COPD ((mean +/- SD) age 74.6 +/- 5.7 yrs, forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) 1.21 +/- 0.36 L, FEV1 %, predicted 51.1 +/- 15.8%, 51....