Epiphyseal Fusion of Iliac Crests in Male and Female Adolescents: An Age Estimation Criterion

Background: Determination of age depends upon physical examination, dental assessment, and skeletal evaluation. The radiological examination of bone for appearance and fusion of ossification centers helps in the assessment of skeletal maturity as the process occurs in a particular sequence which is almost constant for that particular bone. Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the age of fusion of iliac crest by radiological examination of subjects of age bracket 17-25 years coming to Shalamar Hospital Lahore Methods: In this cross-sectional study, radiological examinations (Digital X-Rays) were performed to evaluate the fusion of Iliac Crest in 200 subjects of both genders of 17 – 25 years. Data analysis was done using SPSS Version 23. Conclusions were drawn and compared with available results of previous work done in this field. Results: Out of 200 subjects, there were 132 males (66 %) and 68 females (34%). The mean ± SD age of both genders was 20.41± 2.55. There were 93 cases (70.45%) of complete fusion among males, showing 100 % union in the age groups of 21-25 years, while 40 cases (58.83%) of complete union among females were observed during 20-25 year of age groups. The mean ± SD age of complete union for males was 20.67± 2.61 years and for females 19.90 ± 2.38 years, with a significant p value of <0.05. Similarly, a statistically significant difference was observed among people of different socio-economic statuses. No difference was observed among different ethnic groups. Conclusions: The fusion of the iliac crest is not affected by ethnicity. Factors like diet and nutrition directly affect bone growth and hence bone age. More studies should be conducted across the country to formulate a standard in setting up a uniform criterion for assessing the age of adolescents

Association Analysis of Dna Variants With Dyslipidemia and Cardiovascular Disease

The recent insight that inflammation due to enhancing level of TNF (Tumor Necrosis factor) alpha cause to increase in LDL and decrease in HDL that results in dyslipidemia, which further leads toatherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF alpha) hasreported to perform a pivotal role in inflammation involving reactions that further tend to lead toward cardiovascular disease (CVD). Elevated levels of TNF alpha are found during observation, in acute and chronic inflammatory conditions, which include proatherogenic lipid profile (LDL, HDL). The prevalence of obesity and other related disease risk becomes high when luckily are influenced by the diet related transition, usually associated to the urbanization. This study was designed to investigate the individuals with dyslipidemia (n=50) and control group (n=50) with normal lipid profile. Blood samples were collected for lipid profile and genotyping analysis. TNFA -308 polymorphism was screened in both the disease and control group. Allele G was related with normolipidemic and allele A with risk. RFLP method was performed using NcoI enzyme for genotyping and then run on agarose gel. The allele frequency of the TNFA-308 polymorphism significantly different gender wise (P = 0.036). The genotyping data showed significant variation with respect to LDL levels (P = 0.026) in control and disease group. This study suggested that TNFA-308 can be potential marker for risk assessment, however exploration on a large cohort would add to the conclusion.