Surgical Reconstruction of Carapace Fracture in an Indian Black Turtle

Shell injuries are a common presentation in wild and captive turtles. There are many methods of fracture fixation, which based on the characteristics of the fracture. The present paper discussed about the surgical reconstruction of carapace fracture in an indian black turtle by using orthopedic wire and dental luting cement. An Indian black turtle/Indian pond terrapin (Melanochelys trijuga) weighing 1.1 kg was presented with a displaced fracture of the right side of the carapace involving IM, IIM, IIIM & IVM marginal, IP & IIP pleural and IVe vertebral scutes with a depressed fracture involving II pleural scute. The coelomic membrane was exposed but intact. The wound was noticed at the fractured site and was contaminated. A dorso-ventral radiograph revealed fractured and displaced carapace over the right forelimb with the intact spinal card. Under Ketamine sedation the fractured fragments were immobilized by 26G stainless steel orthopedic wire, inter fragmental space was sealed using dental luting cement (Lute glass) to avoid infiltration of water into wound when the turtle was left in the water. Enrofloxacin was administered intramuscularly at a dose rate 5 mg/kg every 48 hours interval of 6 days. Meloxicam was administered intramuscularly at adose rate 0.2 mg/kg body weight every 24 hours interval for 3 days post-operatively. After complete recovery the turtle was released in its natural habituated place

Evaluation of Collagen, Calcium Alginate Protectants on Healing of External Wound on Teat in Cows

A total number of 36 cross bred jersey cows with external teat injury without involving the teat cistern and with exposed teat sinus were subjected for the present study. Clinical examination of teat for its shape, length, distance from the ground and etiology of the teat wounds were recorded. Following preoperative evaluation, the animals were divided into Group I with 12 animals and treatment group with 24 animals each. Group I were treated with Povidone iodine solution. In treatment (Group II), after suturing the wound was protected with sheets of collagen and calcium alginate as protectants. The application of collagen based teat protectant is an effective methodology for favoring healing process of external injuries when compared to the conventional antiseptic drugs using Povidone iodine

Word Processing Deficits in Persons with Right Hemisphere Damage: Evidence from in-Depth Analyses of Verbal Fluency Tasks

The role of the right hemisphere (RH) in word processing continues to interest the neuroscientists. Occasional explorations of the word retrieval functions of the RH with verbal fluency tasks have shown poor performance in persons with right hemisphere damage (RHD). However, there are differing views on the mechanism underlying the poor performance in this population. Some investigations attribute the deficient performance on verbal fluency task to the lexico-semantic deficits, whereas, others ascribe it to deficient cognitive agility. To illustrate these differing views, we performed in-depth analyses of (i.e., accuracy scores, clusters, switches, & time course of word retrieval) a group of 22 participants with RHD on eight semantic and three phoneme fluency tasks. Comparisons with the neuro-typical participants yielded evidence in favor of the linguistic rather than cognitive deficits as the mechanism behind poor word retrieval skills in persons with RHD

Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy: Pathogenesis and Role of Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography in the Diagnosis and Surveillance

Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is an entity unique to the cardiac transplant patients and remains the leading cause of mortality after the first year of transplantation causing chronic allograft rejection. It is an accelerated form of coronary artery disease, occurring diffusely, starting from the small distal vessels and ultimately extending to intramyocardial and epicardial vessels of the allograft. Multiple traditional metabolic risk factors known to cause atherosclerosis have been identified as a trigger for CAV. Moreover, several nontraditional environmental risk factors such as viral infections, donor’s age, underlying cardiac disease and mechanism of donor brain death have also been implicated. The pathogenesis of CAV is complex with involvement of both immunological and non-immunological mechanisms and still remains poorly understood. Clinical diagnosis of CAV is difficult as symptoms of angina are usually lacking because of denervated nature of the allograft and it is identified when the graft is already compromised. Currently, invasive testing stands as the gold standard for its diagnosis; however its utility has been questioned. Coronary CT angiography (CCTA) has emerged as a promising noninvasive tool for the diagnosis of CAV. This review discusses the risk factors, pathogenesis and diagnosis of CAV and utility of CCTA in its diagnosis and surveillance

Bioactivity and Antibacterial Effects of Ag-Ca-P Doped PEO Titania Coatings

Implant centered infections remain as one of the main complications associated with the use of biomedical implants. These infections can be avoided with the development of bactericidal coatings that prevent bacterial contamination since the very early stage of implantation. However, a multifunctional coating should inhibit bacterial contamination without generating cytotoxic responses. To achieve this purpose, this work presents a comparative evaluation of coatings with different concentrations of Ag. Coatings containing silver, calcium and phosphorous were obtained by plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) and its bactericidal activity and cytotoxicity were evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus and adipose derived stem cells (ADSC), respectively. Silver, calcium and phosphorous were successfully incorporated in the coatings and silver has not affected the coating morphology nor the crystalline structure. ADSC viability was unaltered by cell growth over the surfaces, despite the observation of thinner cells on coatings with higher silver content. After 24 h of incubation, bactericidal activity was observed in coatings with more than 0.6 % at. Ag incorporated, while coatings with 0.2 % at. Ag presented an increased bacterial proliferation indicating a hormetic response. Thus, Ag-CaP-TiO2 coating could be a potential solution for the prevention of implant infections

Variants of Primary Biliary Cholangitis: An Updated Mini-Review

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is an autoimmune cholestatic disease of the liver which affects mainly middle-aged women characterized by progressive destruction and loss of the small intrahepatic bile ducts which in turn, may lead to end-stage liver disease. The typical clinical phenotype is characterized by a middle-aged female with elevated cholestatic enzymes and positive antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA). However, apart from this typical presentation, there are important variants in everyday clinical practice. These variants include the AMA-negative PBC, the isolated AMA positivity, the AMA-positivity in patients with well-established autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), the premature ductopenic PBC variant and the PBC variant with characteristics of AIH (PBC-AIH variant). In this mini-review, we summarize and discuss the literature data and our own experience on the PBC variants highlighting also the uncertainties and a potential new era of the research agenda

Autoimmunity, Non-Classic Adrenal Hyperplasia, Insulin Resistance, and Vitamin D

Autoimmunity, Non-Classic Adrenal Hyperplasia, InsulinResistance, and Vitamin

An Estimation of HIV/AIDS’s Cost in the Voluntary Counseling and Testing Center of Imam Khomeini Hospital in 2010-2011

Introduction: Undoubtedly, HIV/AIDS is one of the most important emerging infectious disease in the late twentieth century; and its control is possible only with proper and organized program. To attain this goal, one of the most serious issues is the budget planning and distribution. The present study calculated the total costs of AIDS in Voluntary Counseling and Testing center of Imam Khomeini Hospital in 2010-2011.Methods: The total cost of AIDS at this center was divided into four categories: health care, training and educating, research and services. All costs for 2010-2011 were extracted and classified based on documents and bills which were found in the center.Results: According to the calculations, the center had a total of 6,603,479,058 IRR in 2010-2011, of which 49.5% (3,271,089,796 IRR) was allocated for health care expenditure, 20.3% (1,335,186,000 IRR) for research, 12.6% (834,000,000 IRR) for training and 17.6% (1,163,203,262 IRR) for services. The average expense for each person living with HIV was 2276 US dollars. The cost of treatment by drugs for each person eligible for treatment was 782 US dollars.Conclusion: The percentage of budget distribution in the center is equal to the same percentage in low and middle income countries; although, more percentage is allocated for research than the mentioned countries. Also, the expenditure spent for treatment by drugs is more than the average of the same found in low and middle income countries. Overall, the budget distribution in this center is almost in accordance with the international standards

HIV-TB Co-Infection among Clients Attending an Integrated Counselling & Testing Centre at Agra: Comparison with Studies in other Regions of India

Settings: This prospective cross-sectional hospital based study was carried out in order to determine the prevalence of HIV-TB co-infection among patients attending an ICTC of this Institute at Agra.Methods: The socio-demographic characteristics and clinical profile of 5391 clients attending the ICTC were analyzed at the time of testing in the context of symptoms. All clients were screened for the presence of the signs and symptoms of TB disease. TB patients were referred to DOTS centre and HIV-positive patients were referred to ART centre, S.N.Medical College, Agra for further care and management.Results: In this study, HIV prevalence among clients was found to be 24% and HIV-TB co-infection was 12%. Major symptoms among these clients, at the time of testing, were weight loss, fever, cough and chronic diarrhea. Both HIV-positivity and HIV-TB co-infection were found to be higher among males, in the age group of 21-35 years, married, illiterate and working as daily laborers.Conclusion: Our study emphasizes the need for routine screening of clients for HIV and TB patients which, in turn, would guide the clinicians in deciding the appropriate treatment regimens in the management of HIV- TB co-infected patients

Medicinal Chemistry of Brazil Nuts: An Overview

Brazil nuts are very consumed in the North of Brazil as well in other regions. Those nuts are rich in mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids, as well as essential and non-essential aminoacid residues, selenium, tocopherols and phytosterols. Although some studies pointed out some protective effect of Brazil nuts against cancer, in fact the best evidence supports cardiometabolic protection by regular ingestion of 1 nut per day