Assessment of medication adherence among patients with chronic diseases: a descriptive cross-sectional study

Background: Adherence is a key factor associated with effectiveness of all pharmacological therapies. Medication non-adherence is a significant barrier to achieve positive health outcomes especially for patients suffering from chronic diseases. Improving medication adherence is a public health priority and could reduce economic and health burdens. The aim of the present study was to assess medication adherence to some common chronic ailments.Methods: Pre-validated questionnaires were distributed among 300 patients suffering from chronic illnesses, by simple randomization out of which 240 patients returned completely filled questionnaires. The analysis was done by manual calculators, VassarStats, and SPSS V20. Results were calculated using univariate linear regression, with each patient’s adherence score as the dependent variable and each predictor as the independent variable. Results are expressed in frequencies and percentages.Results: In this study, 46.66% patients were males and 53.33% females. The mean age was 56.69 years ranging from 24 to 90 years.65.00% patients were uneducated.40.00% were taking one drug, 53.33% two to four drugs and 6.66% more than four drugs. 63.33% had low medication adherence, 35.00% medium and only 1.66% had high adherence. Compared to 14.28% men, 43.75% women were moderately adherent to medications. 41.02% uneducated patients had medium adherence as compared to 14.28% educated patients. 92.30% young patients had low adherence as compared to 53.25% in adults. 44.79% of patients receiving a single drug had medium adherence as compared to 25.00% in those receiving multiple drugs. Linear regression analysis demonstrated that the level of medication adherence was associated with patient gender, age, educational level, and number of prescribed drugs.Conclusions: There are many challenges in understanding the reasons for non-adherence. In this study medication adherence in chronic diseases was found suboptimal and associated with patient`s socio-demographic characteristics. Patient-tailored interventions are required to achieve sufficient adherence to therapeutic drug regimens

Role of danazol in management of mastalgia: a tertiary care experience from North India

Background: Mastalgia is one of the most common complains, for which women consult their general practitioner. Majority of the patients presented with fear of cancer so patient education and availability of quality radiological and pathological services are crucial in the management of patients with mastalgia. This study is aimed to assess the efficacy of danazol on cyclical and non-cyclical mastalgia.Methods: The study was conducted at Sher-I-Kashmir institute of medical sciences (SKIMS), Srinagar between January 2018 to July 2019. All the patients with mastalgia between 19 to 45 years presenting to surgical OPD were considered eligible for the study. After standard triple assessment, all our patients received 100 mg of danazol twice a day for a period of 3 months. Data was collected and analyzed.Results: All the patients with mastalgia between 19 to 45 years presenting to surgical OPD were considered eligible for the study. 72% of our patients presented with cyclic mastalgias while as 28% had non cyclic symptoms. 89.65% of patients in cyclic group had responded to cap. Danazol 100 mg twice daily and 81.81% had shown improvement in non-cyclic group. 19 of our patients had side effects due to medications.14 of our patients developed recurrence after discontinuation of medication.Conclusions: Danazol is very effective in the management of both cyclical and non-cyclical mastalgias. However, cost of the drug and side effects limits its use. Further studies are needed to examine the long-term effectiveness and sustainability of the effects after stopping the treatment

Comparative Evaluation of Different Antivirals against Lumpy Skin Disease in Cattle

India is facing a new wave of Lumpy skin disease outbreaks since May 2022, spreading in more than 22 states and causing morbidity to more than 29 lakh animals and mortality to more than 2 lakh animals. Lack of specific antiviral treatment restores symptomatic therapeutic interventions. However, in the advent of large no. of cases and severity of disease, investigations on specific antiviral drugs are imperative. This scientific study was conducted on a group of LSD-affected cattle (n = 40) from the trans-Himalayan region of Kashmir (Jammu and Kashmir). The affected cattle were subjected to different treatments, including acyclovir (n = 27), symptomatic treatment (n = 7), and ivermectin (n = 6), along with supportive drugs. The animals were carefully monitored and compared both within and between groups at various intervals (0-96 hr) using a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Significant (P ≤ 0.05) improvement in regaining rectal temperature, respiration rate, and heart rate was noted 48 hours after treatment in a group of LSD-affected animals (n = 27) treated with acyclovir at a dose rate of 1 mg/kg body weight (small cattle) to 1.5 mg/kg (large cattle) intravenously in 500 ml normal saline along with supportive drugs including enrofloxacin (2.5 mg/kg), combination of meloxicam (0.25 mg/kg) and paracetamol (7.5 mg/kg) and pheniramine maleate (0.5 mg/kg) all intramuscularly, compared to group of LSD affected cattle (n = 6) treated with ivermectin (0.2 mg/kg subcutaneously) and supportive drugs and another group of LSD affected cattle (n = 7) treated symptomatically with only supportive drugs. Acyclovir treated group showed a significant (P ≤ 0.05) decrease in total leucocyte count, lymphocyte, and basophil count from 0 hour to 96 hour of treatment (23.00 ± 0.534 to 5.59 ± 0.208; 13.97 ± 0.310 to 3.43 ± 0.126; 0.11 ± 0.003 to 0.03 ± 0.001 respectively). Significant (P ≤ 0.05) decrease in total oxidative status (TOS: 73.31%) and increase in total antioxidant status (TAS: 59.9%) was observed in acyclovir treated group followed by ivermectin treated group (TOS: 68.05% and TAS: 27.16%) compared to symptomatically treated group (TOS: 42.41% and TAS: 18.75%). Acyclovir being comparatively more specific antiviral agent than ivermectin may have helped in amelioration of clinical severity and regaining of normal physiological, hematological, and oxidative indices in LSD-affected animals. The current study demonstrates expedited recovery, diminished clinical severity, and re-establishment of physiological, hematological and oxidative markers in animals subjected to acyclovir treatment, followed by animals administered with ivermectin, when compared to animals receiving symptomatic treatment. However, further studies are required to investigate safety or adverse effects, if any

Measurement of t(t)over-bar normalised multi-differential cross sections in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV, and simultaneous determination of the strong coupling strength, top quark pole mass, and parton distribution functions

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MUSiC : a model-unspecific search for new physics in proton-proton collisions at root s=13TeV

Results of the Model Unspecific Search in CMS (MUSiC), using proton-proton collision data recorded at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1), are presented. The MUSiC analysis searches for anomalies that could be signatures of physics beyond the standard model. The analysis is based on the comparison of observed data with the standard model prediction, as determined from simulation, in several hundred final states and multiple kinematic distributions. Events containing at least one electron or muon are classified based on their final state topology, and an automated search algorithm surveys the observed data for deviations from the prediction. The sensitivity of the search is validated using multiple methods. No significant deviations from the predictions have been observed. For a wide range of final state topologies, agreement is found between the data and the standard model simulation. This analysis complements dedicated search analyses by significantly expanding the range of final states covered using a model independent approach with the largest data set to date to probe phase space regions beyond the reach of previous general searches.Peer reviewe

Measurement of prompt open-charm production cross sections in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

The production cross sections for prompt open-charm mesons in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13TeV are reported. The measurement is performed using a data sample collected by the CMS experiment corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 29 nb(-1). The differential production cross sections of the D*(+/-), D-+/-, and D-0 ((D) over bar (0)) mesons are presented in ranges of transverse momentum and pseudorapidity 4 < p(T) < 100 GeV and vertical bar eta vertical bar < 2.1, respectively. The results are compared to several theoretical calculations and to previous measurements.Peer reviewe

Calibration of the CMS hadron calorimeters using proton-proton collision data at root s=13 TeV

Methods are presented for calibrating the hadron calorimeter system of theCMSetector at the LHC. The hadron calorimeters of the CMS experiment are sampling calorimeters of brass and scintillator, and are in the form of one central detector and two endcaps. These calorimeters cover pseudorapidities vertical bar eta vertical bar ee data. The energy scale of the outer calorimeters has been determined with test beam data and is confirmed through data with high transverse momentum jets. In this paper, we present the details of the calibration methods and accuracy.Peer reviewe

Measurement of B-c(2S)(+) and B-c*(2S)(+) cross section ratios in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

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Measurement of the azimuthal anisotropy of Y(1S) and Y(2S) mesons in PbPb collisions at root s(NN)=5.02 TeV

The second-order Fourier coefficients (v(2)) characterizing the azimuthal distributions of Y(1S) and Y(2S) mesons produced in PbPb collisions at root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV are studied. The Y mesons are reconstructed in their dimuon decay channel, as measured by the CMS detector. The collected data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 1.7 nb(-1). The scalar product method is used to extract the v2 coefficients of the azimuthal distributions. Results are reported for the rapidity range vertical bar y vertical bar < 2.4, in the transverse momentum interval 0 < pT < 50 GeV/c, and in three centrality ranges of 10-30%, 30-50% and 50-90%. In contrast to the J/psi mesons, the measured v(2) values for the Y mesons are found to be consistent with zero. (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

Search for a light pseudoscalar Higgs boson in the boosted mu mu tau tau final state in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A search for a light pseudoscalar Higgs boson (a) decaying from the 125 GeV (or a heavier) scalar Higgs boson (H) is performed using the 2016 LHC proton-proton collision data at root s = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1), collected by the CMS experiment. The analysis considers gluon fusion and vector boson fusion production of the H, followed by the decay H -> aa -> mu mu tau tau, and considers pseudoscalar masses in the range 3.6 aa -> mu mu tau tau, down to 1.5 (2.0)x10(-4) for m(H) = 125 (300) GeV. Model-dependent limits on B(H -> aa) are set within the context of two Higgs doublets plus singlet models, with the most stringent results obtained for Type-III models. These results extend current LHC searches for heavier a bosons that decay to resolved lepton pairs and provide the first such bounds for an H boson with a mass above 125 GeV.Peer reviewe