International Physiology

The aim of this short communication article was to enlighten the role of polyol pathway in pathophysiology of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) through an evidence-informed overview of current literature. Findings from experimental models of DPN suggest that altered glutathione redox state, with exaggerated NA(+)-K(+)-ATPase activity, increased malondialdehyde content, decreased red blood cell 2,3-diphosphoglycerate concentration, reduced cyclic adenosine monophosphate, reduced myo-inositol and excessive sorbitol in peripheral nerves were indicative of polyol metabolic pathwayin producing pathophysiological changes of DPN, and treatments using aldose reductase inhibitors were found to reverse those changes.

Keywords: Polyol pathway; Myo-inositol; Sorbitol; Neurophysiology; Endocrinology.

Background: First year medical students are burdened with a huge study load in a short span of time. They are under tremendous stress during assessment times and often they go without sufficient sleep during examinations. Objectives: To determine the number of hours of sleep of all study participants on the night before Physiology internal assessment and the marks obtained by them and thus try to find a correlation between the duration of sleep and exam performance. Methods: Study included 146 first year medical students of a private deemed University. The number of hours of sleep obtained by the study participants on the night before the Physiology internal examination was recorded. Then their marks obtained in it exams were tabulated accordingly. Pearson’s correlation was applied to determine if there is a significant correlation between the exam performance and duration of sleep. Results: There was a significant positive correlation between duration of sleep and exam marks obtained showing that lesser the duration of sleep, lesser is the performance in the exams. Conclusion: This study concludes that adequate sleep is essential for optimum performance during exams and deprivation of sleep is an added stress and is detrimental to student performance. Revising the method of assessing the students must be considered as the study reveals the shortcomings of the current pattern.

Keywords: Academic Performance,Cognition, Sleep

Background: Advancement in health care facility has increased the geriatric population across the globe. It is expected to shoot up by 360% by 2050. India has 7.7% of its population with more than 60 years old. Elderly people suffer from social, medical and psychological problems. Geriatric people of middle and higher income groups are prone to develop obesity and its related complications due to a sedentary lifestyle and decreased physical activity. There is increased prevalence of diabetic patients in this age group. Nutrition status plays a vital role in maintenance of good functional status among the elderly. Aims and Objectives: 1. To analyze the obesity parameters on geriatric diabetic patients. 2. To study the effects of diet on Blood Pressure (BP) blood glucose levels and various Obesity markers. Methods: 104 geriatric male diabetic patients in the age group of 60 years and above were included in the study. They were divided into two groups based on their food habits with respect to type of meat consumed (viz. red meat consumers, white meat consumers). Their age, BP, Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS), Post Prandial Blood Sugar (PPBS), obesity parameters; Body Mass Index (BMI), Waist-Hip (W/H) ratio, A Body Shape Index (ABSI), Body Fat%, Body Adiposity Index (BAI) were calculated. These parameters were compared between two groups by unpaired t-test. Results and Conclusions: Consumption of red meat has aggravated obesity parameters, blood glucose and blood pressure in geriatric patients with type2 diabetes. Moderation of red meat consumption should be advocated to such patients.

Keywords: Geriatric; Obesity; Red meat; White meat; Type 2 diabetes; Blood pressure.

India, the second most populous country in the world, is now considered as an emerging economy. It is undergoing a major nutrition and lifestyle transition in recent days. Consequently, obesity has often been found paradoxically coexisting with under nutrition in different parts of the country. Adolescents are important future human resources and their health must be ensured. Because any negative health impact in childhood and adolescence eventually leads to an adult onset of chronic disease that in turn reduces life expectancy and quality of the life. As unhealthy body composition is an established risk factor for many non communicable diseases, identifying accurate ways to assess body composition, in particular body fat, is very important. Anthropometry, widely used traditional technique and impedance, a relatively new one are such examples of body composition measurement techniques. Present study has focused to find out the association, if any, between the values of body fat obtained from anthropometric and impedance techniques in Bengalee adolescent females receiving Bharatnatyam type of Indian classical dance training. It has been found that the trainee adolescent dancers have favorable body composition values. It has also been found that no significant difference (P > 0.05) exists between body fat values obtained from anthropometry and impedance method. Moreover a significant (P < 0.05) positive correlation (r=0.98) has been found between the body fat values obtained from the two techniques. Based on the relationship a new regression equation was developed and test retest validity was carried out.

Keywords: Body composition; Traditional method; Under nutrition; Overweight; Physical activity.