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Cancer cervix is diagnosed late in women due to anatomical inaccessibility of the area. Hence, a robust screening strategy will help detect carcinoma cervix early which will significantly decrease the mortality and morbidity due to this disease. We evaluated DNA methylation of three tumour suppressor genes p15, p16 and E-Cadherin on cervical smears to assess DNA methylation as a screening tool for detection of early cervical cancer in comparison to PAP smears. DNA was extracted from cervical smears of 20 cases and 30 controls. The DNA was bisulphite modified. Methylation specific PCR (MSP) was performed to assess the methylation status of the promoter region of each of the genes. MSP results were compared with PAP smears to assess the utility of DNA methylation of these genes in screening for cervical cancer. DNA methylation was detected in 55% subjects in p15 gene, 45% in p16 gene and 40% in E-Cadherin gene. This was statistically significant when compared to the controls. DNA methylation of E-Cadherin, and p15 genes as a panel has a sensitivity and specificity of 80% and 90% respectively, which is better than the sensitivity of PAP smear for detection of early cancer cervix. Increased DNA methylation is seen in p15, p16 and E-Cadherin genes in early cancer cervix. p15 and E-Cadherin in combination can be used as a screening tool for detection of early cancer cervix., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© Association of Clinical Biochemists of India 2019.)

Thalassemia is a congenital hemolytic disease which is treated by repeated blood transfusion. Chronic iron overload is currently considered to be the primary cause of mortality in β-thalassemia, mainly due to the induction of left-sided cardiac failure. Iron overload results from a number of mechanisms associated with the disease itself. In addition to chronic iron overload thalassemic patients are more prone for procoagulant status which in turn lead to clinical thrombotic events. The hypercoagulable state in thalassemia is due to multiple elements, a combination of which is often the drive behind a clinical thromboembolic events. PAI-1 study was done in thalassemia major patients receiving multiple blood transfusion as a marker for procoagulant status. Total of 30 thalassemic patients on repeated blood transfusion was included in the study and total of 30 healthy age and sex matched controls were included in the study. It was also found that there was significant differences between cases and controls. The mean level of PAI 1 in controls was 3047 ± 414 pg/ml, the value in cases was 3683 ± 358 pg/ml. The level was significantly increased ( p  < 0.05) in the cases compared to controls. PAI-1 levels were also compared with the total number of blood transfusion which correlates well.

Increase in urine albumin excretion rate (AER) precede a fall in glomerular filtration rate in patients developing diabetic chronic kidney disease (CKD). Our results have shown that 7 (50 %) of diabetic and hypertensive individuals with decreased GFR do not have increased AER. In this cross-sectional study, we measured AER of 75 patients with type 2 diabetes and hypertension by immunoturbidimetric method. We correlated the results with eGFR values obtained by Cockcroft-Gault and MDRD method. The method used was not a compensated method. We measured serum creatinine by modified Jaffe's kinetic method in autoanalyzer XL-600. Analysis of data showed positive correlation between eGFR and microalbuminuria by both the methods with eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m(2). Pearson's correlation co-efficient (r) was 0.9 (p = 0.0001) by Cockcroft-Gault formula and 0.69 (p = 0.0063) by MDRD formula. Our results concluded that there was positive correlation between AER and eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m(2). We have recognized that these two parameters provide a complimentary benefit in management of cases with CKD.

To establish utility of single enzymatic marker for the diagnosis of acute pancreatitis. This is a cohort study. Tertiary care centre proven cases of acute pancreatitis (n = 50) admitted in surgery ward between December 2011 and May 2013 were included in the study. Serum amylase and lipase were performed along with many analytes. All relevant data including serum lab values and imaging were collected. All 50 patients included in the study had raised serum lipase, 42 patients had both amylase and lipase raised, 8 patients had amylase normal but lipase raised. In smaller hospitals where limited lab and radiological facilities are available, estimation of serum lipase will be a better choice over serum amylase in diagnosis of acute pancreatitis.

Cancer cells generally exhibit increased glycolysis for ATP generation (the Warburg effect). Compounds that inhibit glycolysis have potential applications in cancer treatment. dl-glyceraldehyde (DLG) and 2-Deoxyglucose (2-DG) have been proven effective in the inhibition of glucose metabolism. Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) cells were injected intraperitoneally (i.p) in 10-12 weeks old Swiss albino mice, weighing between 20 and 30 g. The anticancer activity of DLG and 2-DG were determined by tumor volume, tumor weight, viable and nonviable tumor cell count, average survival time, percentage increase in life span and tumor inhibition ratio. The blood samples were obtained for biochemical analysis after 9 days of treatment to study the effect on liver, kidney and haematological parameters. Histopathological examination of liver and kidney was also performed. One-way ANOVA test and Dunnett's test were used for comparisons of parameters in study groups. Both DLG and 2-DG individually decreased the tumor weight, tumor volume, viable tumor cell count and significantly increased the life span of treated mice, however the combination was found to be better. The biochemical parameters of liver and kidney functions and haematological parameters were restored close to control group as compared with the EAC bearing mice. Histopathological examination of liver and kidney in EAC control group showed large areas of necrosis, congestion and mononuclear cell infiltration but such changes were not observed in liver and kidney sections observed after i.p injection of DLG and 2-DG for 9 days. Improvement was much better in the group where combination of these two drugs were used.

Routine laboratory investigations play an important role in estimating the risk of mortality in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. The significance of urea:albumin ratio (UAR) in predicting the stay and mortality of ICU patients is not known. It is a retrospective study of patients admitted to ICU (n = 412) with non-chronic kidney disease (non-CKD). Receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) analysis for predicting mortality was carried out to find area under curve (AUC) and threshold levels. Analysis of survival probability was carried out by Kaplan-Meier method and Log-rank test. The AUC to predict mortality were 0.695, 0.767 and 0.791 for serum albumin, urea and UAR, respectively. The threshold levels for albumin, urea and UAR were 2.8 g/dL, 53 mg/dL, and 23.44 mg/g, respectively. The highest odds ratio (OR) of 9.75 to predict mortality at threshold level was observed for UAR, while OR were 7.0 and 3.62 for serum urea and albumin, respectively. The serum urea above and albumin below threshold level were associated with increase in ICU stay of >3 days but the highest OR of 4.73 to predict stay of >3 days was observed for UAR. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis shows significant (p < 0.001) difference at the threshold value of UAR. Serum urea and albumin are found to be an independent predictor for the mortality and stay; however an increased UAR value is the best parameter in predicting mortality and stay in ICU patients with non-CKD illness.