Dermatoglyphic characterization of Blood groups and its relevance to oral diseases-An in vivo Study

Background: Dermatoglyphics have proven to be an extremely useful tool to characterize various health and disease states, through decades of scientific research, the hand has come to be recognized as a powerful tool in the diagnosis of psychological, medical and congenital disorders. Aim: To determine if there is any significant co-relation between various blood groups and dermatoglyphic patterns. Settings and Design: In the present study Dermatoglyphic patterns of sixty subjects divided into 4 groups(A,AB,B,O) of 15 each were evaluated using Cummins and Midlo method and were correlated with predetermined blood groups .Methods and Material: The dermatoglyphic patterns of all individuals 10 palmar digits were recorded using stamp-pad method and the frequency of occurrence of type of dermatoglyphic pattern on fingertip of each digit was analysed.. Statistical Analysis: Data was subjected to statistical analysis and correlation of dermatoglyphic pattern with blood group was determined using chi sq test.Results and Conclusion:Whorls were highest in A blood group and lowest in B blood group, Loops were highest in O blood group and the difference was significant in AB blood group, Arches were highest in B and lowest in A blood group.Â

X-ray Crystallographic Structure of Ibuprofen Bound to Human Adipocyte Fatty Acid Binding Protein at 1.4 Å Resolution

The fatty acid-binding proteins (FABPs) are a family of nine structurally related proteins, which bind to long-chain fatty acids with high affinity. Fatty acid binding proteins were first discovered in 1972, while conducting studies on the factors that regulate the uptake of intestinal fatty acids in rats. These proteins are most abundantly found in the tissues engaged in active lipid metabolism. Adipocyte fatty acid binding protein or aP2 is a member of this family, which is found in adipocytes and macrophages and integrates metabolic and inflammatory responses (Furuhashi et al., 2007). Studies on aP2 knockout mice have shown that aP2 null mice were more insulin sensitive compared to their wild type counterparts when kept on a high fat diet. This lipid chaperone plays an important role in metabolic syndromes, including type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis. Targeting aP2 with small-molecule inhibitors can lead to a new class of therapeutic agents that may provide a model of study to prevent metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes. This study focuses on the purification of aP2 by ion exchange chromatography in preparation for co-crystallization with ibuprofen. Previous attempts to do this have failed due to the tight binding of fatty acid at the binding site of the protein. To overcome this issue, delipidation was attempted by means of chromatography using the Lipidex 1000 sorbent. The purified protein was crystallized using the hanging drop method with seeding in the presence of ibuprofen. This study describes the crystal structure of human aP2 with bound ibuprofen at 1.4 Å resolution. Crystalline 3 aP2 was orthorhombic with cell dimensions of a = 32.20 Å, b = 53.64 Å, c = 74.44 Å and the space group was P212121

Solid dispersion: A promising technique to enhance solubility of poorly water soluble drug

Poorly water soluble compounds have solubility and dissolution related bioavailability problems. The present review deals in detail about solid dispersion technology and its manufacturing techniques at laboratory and industrial level. This highlight about various hydrophilic polymers used in this technique to enhance solubility of poorly soluble drugs. It also discusses about modern characterization technique to characterize solid dispersion. In this review, it is intended to discuss the recent advances related on the area of solid dispersion technology.Keywords: Solid dispersion; Carriers; Solubility; Dissolution; Bioavailability

Solid dispersion: A promising technique to enhance solubility of poorly water soluble drug

Poorly water soluble compounds have solubility and dissolution related bioavailability problems. The present review deals in detail about solid dispersion technology and its manufacturing techniques at laboratory and industrial level. This highlight about various hydrophilic polymers used in this technique to enhance solubility of poorly soluble drugs. It also discusses about modern characterization technique to characterize solid dispersion. In this review, it is intended to discuss the recent advances related on the area of solid dispersion technology.Keywords: Solid dispersion; Carriers; Solubility; Dissolution; Bioavailability

Innovations in existing routes and novel drug delivery systems for local anaesthetics

New drug delivery systems (NDDS) are developed for improvement in efficacy of the drugs, provide maximum benefit to the patient and to minimize the adverse drug reactions. For local anaesthetics (LAs), the development of new effective delivery systems modulate the release rate, extend their anaesthetic effect , and helps to enhance their localisation as desired. The various routes of local anaesthetic delivery (epidural, peripheral, wound catheters, intra-nasal, intra-vesical, intra-articular, intra-osseous) are under innovation these days. Different methods such as include iontophoresis, electroporation, sonophoresis, and magnetophoresis are being used to enhance local anaesthetic permeation. Adjuvants are added to potentiate drug effects. The use of different delivery systems should  help to keep the LA at  the  target  site  for  longer  periods  prolonging  the  anesthetic  or  analgesic  effect  with an extended range of agent

Elective versus emergency caesarean section: differences in maternal outcome

Background: Caesarean section is a life-saving surgical procedure when certain complications arise during pregnancy or labour. The use of CS worldwide has increased worldwide unprecedented levels although the gap between higher- and lower-resource settings remains. The present study evaluates the difference in maternal outcome in elective versus emergency caesarean sections in our institute.Methods: The study included first 65 cases of emergency caesarean section (group A) and during the study period, first 65 elective caesarean section (group B) if they fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Various intra operative and postoperative events were recorded which included intra operative complications, postpartum haemorrhage and transfusion indices.Results: The most common indication of caesarean section in group A was fetal distress (27.7%). In group B most caesarean sections were classified under 5 followed by class 6, the most common indication being previous caesarean section (27.6%). It was observed that pre-operative mean haemoglobin in group A was 10.6 g/dl and in group B was 11.2g/dl. A drop of 1.36 g/dl in group A and 1.10 g/dl in group B was observed in the post-op period. Cross match / transfusion ratio 1.5 in group A and  2 in group B, transfusion probability ratio was 60 % in group A and  66.7%  in group B and transfusion index was 1 in group A and  group B. There was significantly higher contraception acceptance in group B compared to group A.Conclusions: Elective caesarean section has more favourable maternal outcome as compared to emergency caesarean section as the former is done under controlled and planned circumstances.  However, there should be stringent audit to scrutinise indication of caesarean section, outcome of caesarean and blood transfusion practices

Epidemiology of MTP in a tertiary care center over a period of 3 years

Background: Medical termination of pregnancy was legalized in India under the MTP act of 1971 which states that all the women can legally have an abortion up to 20 weeks of gestation if indicated. This study is a retrospective analysis of incidence, indication, the age group availing the facility, socio-demographic and obstetric profile of MTP seekers and the method of contraception followed after MTP.Methods: A retrospective 3-year data was analyzed by MTP register of the hospital as a reference.Results: The incidence rate of MTP is 96/1000 live births in the institute. The main reason for MTP is failure of contraception which highlights the unmet need of contraception and counselling. Majority of the age group availing MTP belonged to 16-20 years. Most of the women were   from urban slums, were illiterate and belonged to class IV and V according to Prasad’s classification. Mostly MTP seekers were parous, having ≥2 living children, and maximum no. of them went to private hospitals for their previous MTP. Medical method was the most favoured method of the care giver as well as of the patient. OCP was the choice of contraception after MTP. Religious difference is still very evident in availing   MTP services which can be minimized by tactful counselling. Conclusion: MTP act of 1971 opened new horizons for the unwanted pregnancies. Young population opting for MTP indicates the unmet need of contraception and counselling suggesting that implementation and integration of MTP services should be at the root level

Sensitivity and specificity of prenatal screening methods for detection of risk of fetal chromosomal abnormalities

Background: Babies born with chromosomal abnormalities pose a burden on the family as well as the society at large. Early detection and management of fetal chromosomal abnormalities has become an essential component of antenatal care. Hence pregnant women of all ages are offered screening methods for early detection of chromosomal abnormalities. We intended to study the sensitivity and specificity of prenatal screening methods for detection of risk of fetal chromosomal abnormalities.Methods: A three-year retrospective study was conducted from January 2015 to December 2017 in 258 singleton pregnant mothers attending antenatal clinic and delivering at DMCH. The patients were screened for chromosomal abnormalities in the first trimester by NB NT scan along with dual marker and level II anomaly screen scan along with quadruple test in the second trimester. Based on the test results the patients were classified into high risk and low risk pregnant mothers. All the patients with abnormal quadruple test were subjected to amniocentesis for karyotyping. The results of the first trimester and second trimester screening methods were statistically analyzed using chi square test, sensitivity and specificity of the prenatal screening methods was calculated.Results: The sensitivity and specificity of dual marker test for detection of chromosomal abnormality is 50% and 85.94% respectively and that of quadruple test sensitivity is 50%, specificity is 95.3%. The difference was highly significant in the favour of the quadruple marker with P-value of 0.0004.Conclusions: While counseling the patients regarding possibility of having abnormal fetus, obstetrician should keep in mind the false negatives and false positives of prenatal screening and diagnostic methods

Prevalence of enterococci and its antibiotic resistance in various clinical samples at tertiary care hospital in Southern Rajasthan, India

Background: Enterococci has been emerging as a major cause of infection and gaining increasing clinical importance due to developing resistance to various antibiotics. Emergence of vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) in the recent past has been a concern. Aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of enterococci in tertiary care hospital in Southern Rajasthan, India and observe its antibiotic resistance pattern.Methods: Enterococci strains were isolated from various clinical samples by culture and biochemical methods and its antibiotic susceptibility testing was seen by Kirby Bauer method as per CLSI guidelines.Results: Out of 100 samples, 50% were isolated from urine samples followed by pus and blood. Resistance to all the drugs was observed with least towards Vancomycin (11%), followed by doxycycline (14%).Conclusions: The prevalence of multiple drug resistance enterococci with 11% VRE is observed in present study. The study emphasizes on invitro antibiotic susceptibility testing for clinical samples and also rational drug usage

Otocephaly: a case report

A case of otocephaly was reported in 26±4 week’s female fetus during routine fetal autopsy at GMCH, Chandigarh, India. Mother was 25 years old, second gravid. The first child is one year old normal male baby. Present pregnancy resulted in spontaneous abortion. Antenatal history, past history, family history and medical history of mother was not suggestive of any ethiological factor responsible for the defect. The external examination showed 2 vessels in umbilical cord. There was anteroposterior lengthening of skull, mouth was in the form of a proboscis with a small opening in the centre, the right ear was absent. The left pinna was low placed and had small tags. On internal examination oral cavity was found small with hypoplastic mandible, tongue was absent (aglossia), thoracic cavity was small, left lung was absent, right lung had only single lobe, heart dilated with normal position of major vessels, In abdominal cavity gut was opening in a dilated cloaca like chamber. X-ray examination revealed small hypoplastic mandible and maxilla. Otocephaly is a rare lethal syndrome of microstomia, agnatia and ear anomalies. Other anomalies associated are holoprosenxcephaly, skeletal, genitourinary, cardiovascular system, endocrine gland hypoplasia etc. The differential diagnosis includes Treacher Collins syndrome, Goldenhar syndrome and Mobius syndrome. The etiology, incidence, causative factors of this case will be discussed in light of available literature