Background:Lichen planus (LP) is a common disorder whose etiopathogenesis is not clear. Recently, it has been suggested that increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) play important roles in the underlying mechanism of LP.Objectives:The principal aim of this study was to evaluate serum uric acid (UA) levels as a measure of the antioxidant defense status in LP patients.Methods:Serum UA levels were determined in 58 LP patients and 61 controls.Results:Serum UA levels were significantly decreased in patients with respect to controls. Moreover, serum UA level was decreased according to increasing duration of disease.Conclusions:The results of our study suggest that LP is associated with decrease of UA levels in serum. UA may be a potential, useful biomarker of antioxidant status in LP for elaboration of treatment strategy and monitoring.

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Background: Patients of thalassemia who are conventionally treated by a regular transfusion regimen are at a risk of developing transfusion transmissible infections, including hepatitis. The present study was conducted to assess the prevalence of hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus infections among repeatedly transfused thalassemia patients.Methods: A total of 207 patients of beta-thalassemia, who had received at least 10 transfusions were tested for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and anti-HCV antibody using enzyme linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA).Results: The overall number of anti-hepatitis C antibody seropositive was 51 (24.6%) and that for hepatitis B surface antigen positives was 7 (3.38%). The prevalence rate for hepatitis B surface antigen was in agreement with average national values, but in case of anti-HCV antibodies the prevalence rate values were comparatively much higher.Conclusions: Stringent measures need to be taken on urgent basis while screening blood for anti-hepatitis C antibody and hepatitis B surface antigen including inclusion of other sensitive assay like nucleic acid test (NAT) as well as better donor recruitment.

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Context: Malaria is one of the major public health problems worldwide with increased morbidity and mortality. India has the fourth highest malaria burden in the world. Malaria parasite affects multiple organs of the body including liver, spleen, brain, kidney, blood vessels etc. Organ dysfunction predominantly seen in Plasmodium falciparum malaria, is not in Plasmodium vivax infections. Aims: The present study investigated the abnormalities of liver function test in acute cases of Plasmodium Falciparum infection. Settings and Design: A hospital-based case–control study conducted in a tertiary care center in West Bengal, India, for a duration of 7 months and included 53 acute falciparum malaria cases attending the outpatient department (OPD) and 47 age and sex matched patients, with complaints unrelated to the present study, as controls. Materials and Methods: Serum levels of bilirubin, serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT), serum glutamic pyruvate transaminase (SGPT), alkaline phosphatase, total protein and albumin were assayed using autoanalyzer (Konelab 60i autoanalyser). Statistical analysis used: SPSS software version 20 (IBM, New York, USA). Results: In this study serum bilirubin (total, conjugated and unconjugated) SGOT, SGPT, alkaline phosphatase levels were highly significantly raised in cases with respect to controls. Levels of total protein, albumin and globulin in cases was not significantly different from the corresponding levels in controls. Conclusions: Hepatic function impairment in malaria is an important and potentially dangerous complication. Data from the present study can be useful for future research and also help in determining the prognosis and treatment.