Age Related Changes in Weight of the Thymus Gland of Bangladeshi People

Context: Thymus is intimately related to the immuno regulatory mechanism of the body, its weight in general as well as at different age in a particular population might also be related to the overall immune status of that population. Thus the knowledge of the weight of the thymus at different ages may be helpful in planning of the medical and surgical treatment of thymus related problem as well as dealing patients from immunologic aspects Objective: To measure the age related changes in weight of the thymus gland of Bangladeshi people Study design: A descriptive type of study Place and period of study: The study was carried out in the Department of Anatomy, IPGMR Dhaka from October 1996 to March 1997. Materials: 40 (forty) thymuses from Bangladeshi cadaver of either sex were taken for this study. Method: The collected samples were divided into four age groups ranged from still born to sixty years old individuals and comparative studies were done between different age groups. Result: The thymuses increased significantly in weight steadily through the increasing age groups from the still born babies to <16yrs and then declines through the age still higher. Conclusion: In the present study the weight of the thymus increases through the increasing age groups and then declined. Key words: Thymus; Weight DOI: 10.3329/bja.v8i1.6101 Bangladesh Journal of Anatomy January 2010, Vol. 8 No. 1 pp. 10-12

Comparison of the Volatile Constituents of Thymus serpylum from the Altitude of Far Western Nepal & North India

The composition of aerial parts of the Thymus Serpylum family Labiatae, collected from two localities in Uttarakhand of India viz., Martoli village (3600 m), Jageshwar (1500 m) and one locality from Dadeldhura district of far western Nepal (1900 m) are reported. The steam-distilled essential oils have been investigated for its flavor constituents by GC and GC-MS. Seventeen compounds representing (88.16%), twenty compounds representing (97.03%) & seventeen compounds (96.13%) respectively from Martoli village, Jageshwar and Dadeldhura have been identified. The collection from Martoli village contained thymol (68.32%) along with carvacrol (7.19%) as major constituents and the sample collected from Dadeldhura is also rich in thymol (74.92%) and carvacrol (5.09%). However, the sample from Jageshwar had reduced amount of thymol (46.24%) along with significant quantities of ã-terpinene (12.21%), thymoquinone (9.43%), p-cymene (7.30%) and considerably reduced amount of carvacrol (4.62%). The Nepali (Dadeldhura) sample is good source of thymol. Key words: Thymus serpylum; Labiatae; Composition of volatile constituents; Dadeldhura; Thymol; Carvacrol; Thymoquinone; P-cymene. DOI: 10.3126/sw.v7i7.3834 Scientific World Vol.7(7) 2009 pp.92-93