Primary oral myiasis : a case report

Myiasis is the infestation of live human and vertebrate animal with dipterous larvae which feed on the host?s dead or living tissue. A case of oral myiasis in the maxillary anterior region in a 42-year-old female with neurologic deficit caused by the larvae (maggots) of Musca Nebulo (Family Diptera) is reported. The treatment consisted of manual removal of the larvae by topical application of turpentine oil, oral therapy with ivermectin and surgical debridement of the oral wound

Acute Liver and Renal Failure: A Rare Adverse Effect Exclusive to Intravenous Form of Amiodarone

Amiodarone is an antiarrhythmic drug which is highly effective against a wide spectrum of ventricular tachyarrhythmias making it irreplaceable in certain group of patients. We report an unusual case of acute liver and renal failure within 24 hours of initiation of intravenous (IV) amiodarone which resolved after stopping the medication. The mechanism of acute liver and renal toxicity is not clearly known but is believed to be secondary to amiodarone induced (relative) hypotension, idiosyncratic reaction to the drug, and toxicity of the vector that carries the medication, polysorbate-80. In this case review, we discuss the hyperacute drug toxicity caused by IV amiodarone being a distinctly different entity compared to the adverse effects shown by oral amiodarone and support the suggestion that oral amiodarone can be safely administered even in patients who manifest acute hepatitis with the IV form

Baymax- Your Mental Health Care Companion - An Artificial Intelligence based Chat bot for Mental Health Care

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and techniques have useful purposes in every domain of mental health care including clinical decision-making, treatments, assessment, self-care, mental health care management and more. Recent technological innovations are highlighted to demonstrate capabilities and opportunities. This application involves an AI based Expert System which can significantly contribute to improving mental health of an individual to lead a better life without any stress or melancholy. The expert system provides expert advice and therapy to overcome negative thoughts. This app can also help to reduce the number of suicides caused due to extreme depression. It is about virtual human conversation with the system to support user’s interaction within a mental health care context. It provides private online healthcare guidance and support where the app can serve the role of a clinician or a psychotherapist.It uses Smartphone technology particularly relevant for applications in Mental health. Recent advances in artificial intelligence are providing an unprecedented ability of online mental health care research and clinical organizations to collect and analyse data that is broader in scope. This application provides a system capable of calculating the depression level using Fuzzy Logic Controller. It sends an alert message to user’s acquaintance thereby preventing the user from causing harm to himself. It tries to imbibe happy thoughts and optimism into the user. Thus, this system can have a meaningful impact on people’s lives by improving their mental health

Shigellosis in Nepal: 13 years review of nationwide surveillance

Background: Shigella is a major cause of gastroenteritis especially in children. In developing countries, the incidence is frequent and results are often life threatening. Changing epidemiology and emerging antibiotic resistance warrants continuous monitoring of susceptibility. The present study highlights the changing epidemiology and drug resistance patterns of Shigella isolated at different hospitals of Nepal over a period of 13 years (Jan. 2003\u2013Dec. 2015). Methods: This study was carried out in 12 participating laboratories. Stool specimens received at respective laboratories were processed for isolation and identification of Shigella species and confirmed by serotyping at National Public Health Laboratory. Antimicrobial resistance patterns were determined by Kirby Baeur disc diffusion test. Results: A total of 332 isolates were identified as Shigella species of which Shigella flexneri (50 %) was the predominant serotype. Shigella dysenteriae , Shigella sonnei , Shigella boydii , and untypable Shigella spp. respectively, accounted for 28.6, 27.54, 10.2, 4.5, and 6.6 % of the total number. Change in prevalent serotype is noted over the years. S. dysenteriae was the prevalent species in Nepal in 2003 and 2004, but since 2005, S. flexneri remained prevalent. Majority of the isolates were recovered from children aged 1\u201310 years and was statistically significant (p = 0.023) compared to the other age groups. High resistance among all Shigella species to the first-line drugs like ampicillin (88 %), cotrimoxazole (76 %), ciprofloxacin (39 %,) and nalidixic acid (80 %) was observed; 46.1 % of total isolates were multidrug resistant (MDR), and the most common MDR profile was ampicillin, nalidixic acid, and co-trimoxazole. Prevalence of MDR increased significantly in 2010 as compared to 2003. Only few Shigella isolates were resistant to ceftriaxone. Conclusions: The study revealed S. flexneri as the predominant serogroup in Nepal. Children below 10 years were more prone to the disease. Nalidixic acid, ampicillin, co-trimoxazole, and ciprofloxacin should not be used empirically as the first-line drugs in treatment of shigellosis. Since the distribution of different species of Shigella and their antibiotic susceptibility profile may vary from one geographical location to another and may also change with time, continuous local monitoring of resistance patterns is necessary for appropriate antimicrobial therapy

Clinical Proteomics of the Neglected Human Malarial Parasite Plasmodium vivax

Recent reports highlight the severity and the morbidity of disease caused by the long neglected malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax. Due to inherent difficulties in the laboratory-propagation of P. vivax, the biology of this parasite has not been adequately explored. While the proteome of P. falciparum, the causative agent of cerebral malaria, has been extensively explored from several sources, there is limited information on the proteome of P. vivax. We have, for the first time, examined the proteome of P. vivax isolated directly from patients without adaptation to laboratory conditions. We have identified 153 proteins from clinical P. vivax, majority of which do not show homology to any previously known gene products. We also report 29 new proteins that were found to be expressed in P. vivax for the first time. In addition, several proteins previously implicated as anti-malarial targets, were also found in our analysis. Most importantly, we found several unique proteins expressed by P. vivax.This study is an important step in providing insight into physiology of the parasite under clinical settings

Bovine Mastitis: Causes and Phytoremedies

Mastitis is a highly frequent chronic ailment with inflammation in the udder of the milking cows. The causative agents are mostly microbes. It is economically prominent contamination of lactating cows resulting in reduced milk production. The disease is diagnosed by chemical, physical and nutritional changes in the milk and pathological changes in the milk glands. Prevention measures for the disease can be taken by proper and timely sanitation of the cowshed through and time again disinfection of the teat, mechanized milking process, etc. The application of bactericidal drugs generates resistant varieties of microbes that cross the allopathic boundary. In this regard, an attempt is taken to focus the plant-based pharmacopoeia. Medicinal plants are traditionally used to cure various diseases as they are comparatively accessible to administer orally in different forms and can be along with fodder. Keeping the above facts in view, the present review deals with different types of mastitis, causative pathogens, detection and diagnosis, and effective plant-based treatment process available to date

A New Molecular Surveillance System for Leishmaniasis

Presently, global efforts are being made to control and eradicate the deadliest tropical diseases through the improvement of adequate interventions. A critical point for programs to succeed is the prompt and accurate diagnosis in endemic regions. Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) are being massively deployed and used to improve diagnosis in tropical countries. In the present report, we evaluated the hypothesis of, after use for diagnosis, the reuse of the Leishmania RDT kit as a DNA source, which can be used downstream as a molecular surveillance and/or quality control tool. As a proof of principle, a polymerase chain reaction-based method was used to detect Leishmania spp. minicircle kinetoplast DNA from leishmaniasis RDT kits. Our results show that Leishmania spp. DNA can be extracted from used RDTs and may constitute an important, reliable, and affordable tool to assist in future leishmaniasis molecular surveillance methods

Electrostatic cross-modulation of the pseudoaromatic character in single-stranded RNA by nearest-neighbor interactions

The generation of a single anionic or cationic center at an alkaline or acidic pH in a given molecule presents a unique opportunity to examine the electrostatic make-up of these molecules both at the neutral or ionic state. The generation of a single cationic center in the phenyl-nicotinamide system provided new straightforward evidence showing that the charge density of the electron-deficient pyridinium was actually enhanced by the donation of the charge from the electron-rich phenyl group (i.e., the pyridinyl became more basic by ca. 0.5 pKa unit compared to an analogous system where phenyl was absent) owing to the electrostatic interactions between these two moieties. On the other hand, the generation of the 5'-guanylate ion in the hexameric single-strand (ss) RNA [5'-GAAAAC-3'], in comparison with the constituent trimeric, tetrameric, and pentameric-ssRNAs, has unequivocally shown how far the electrostatic cross-talk (as an interplay of Coulombic attractive or repulsive forces) in this electronically coupled system propagates through the intervening pAp nucleotide steps until the terminal pC-3' residue in comparison with the neutral counterpart. The footprint of the propagation of this electrostatic cross-talk among the neighboring nucleobases is evident by measurement of pKas from the marker protons of ionization point (i.e., of G) as well as from the neighboring marker protons (i.e., of A or C) in the vicinity, as well as from the change of the chemical environment (i.e., chemical shifts) around their aromatic marker protons (δH2, δH8, δH5, and δH6) owing to a change of the stacking →← destacking equilibrium as a function of pH