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Purpose: Leucotrienes have a role in pathogenesis of Bronchial asthma (BA). Modulation of production or action of leucotrienes can have therapeutic implication. DEC is known to inhibit formation of leucotrienes, [...]

PURPOSE: Recent literature implicate free radicals in physiologic/ pathophysiologic processes and in wide spectrum of diseases. Tuberculosis is an ancient disease but has stayed in modern times. Mycobacteria are intracellular [...]

PURPOSE: Cigarette smoking is the most prevalent modifiable risk factor for increased morbidity and mortality in the world. The WHO estimates that worldwide 1.1 billion people smoke, representing one third [...]

PURPOSE: GOLD guidelines emphasize the need of spirometery for diagnosis and management of COPD. However, in developing countries who share the major burden of COPD spirometery is not universally available [...]

A 6-week-old male infant was admitted to the nursery with a three-day history of fever, lethargy, and regurgitation of feedings. The infant had been full-term at birth. A detailed history of the family and social circumstances yielded no information to suggest child abuse or accidental trauma.On physical examination, the infant was febrile (temperature, 40°C) and had generalized muscular hypertonicity and a bulging anterior fontanelle. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) examination showed a white blood cell count of 1.5× 109/L (1500/mm3), a glucose level of 1.7 mmol/L (30 mg/dL), and a protein level of 2.15 g/L (215 mg/dL). The CSF culture yielded Klebsiella pneumoniae. The infant was administered parenteral gentamicin and chloromycetin. Ten days later, he had a tender swelling of the left shoulder. His white blood cell count was 37.2×109/L (37.2× 103/mm3) with 0.50 (50%) band cells and an erythrocyte sedimentation rate of

Sir.—We read with interest the article on perinatal risk factors and necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in premature infants by Kanto et al.1 Several recent case-control studies in the low-birth-weight (LBW) newborns2,3 have failed to identify the risk factors for NEC, which were interpreted as significant in the earlier descriptive clinical review.4 In the neonatal intensive care unit, we compared perinatal histories of 23 LBW infants with NEC (mean [±SD] birth weight, 1731 ± 45.4 g) with those of 155 LBW infants of equivalent weight without NEC (mean [± SD] weight, 1693 ± 21.4 g). The two groups had equivalent mean gestational ages (33.9 weeks and 33.4 weeks, respectively). The incidences of maternal toxemia, placenta previa, intrauterine growth retardation, asphyxia, shock, apnea, hypothermia, patent ductus arteriosus, and exchange transfusion were similar in the two groups. The only adverse factor present more frequently in infants who developed NEC