CENTRAL NEURAL AND BEHAVIORAL CORRELATES OF VOICE SECONDARY TO INDUCED UNILATERAL VOCAL FOLD PARALYSIS

Understanding the involvement of the central nervous system (CNS) in voice production is essential to incorporating principles of neuroplasticity into therapeutic practice for voice disorders. Early steps to attaining this goal require the identification of specific neural biomarkers of the changes occurring in the CNS from a voice disorder and its subsequent treatment. In the absence of an adequate animal vocalization model, the larynx has not been acutely and reversibly perturbed to concurrently examine the effect on both peripheral and central processing of the altered input/output. Using a unique, reversible perturbation approach, it was the purpose of this study to perturb the larynx to mimic a voice disorder and study short-term neuroplastic response. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was the neuroimaging tool of choice for this study due to its superior spatial and temporal resolution. The voice was perturbed by anesthetizing the right recurrent laryngeal nerve, with a solution of lidocaine hydrochloride and epinephrine to induce a temporary right vocal fold paralysis. The paralysis lasted for approximately 90 minutes and had an overt presentation similar to that of a true vocal fold paralysis. Behavioral and fMRI data were obtained at three time points- baseline, during the vocal fold paralysis and one hour after recovery. Patterns of activity on fMRI during the three time points were found to be distinct on both subjective examination and statistical analysis. The regions of interest examined had distinct trends in activity as a function of the paralysis. Interestingly, males and females responded differently to the paralysis and its subsequent recovery. Strong correlation was not observed between the behavioral measures and fMRI activity reflecting a disparity between the overt presentation and recovery of vocal fold paralysis and cortical activity as seen on fMRI. The fictive paralysis model employed in this study provided a perturbation model for phonation that allowed us to examine behavioral and central neural correlates for disordered phonation in a controlled environment. Although this data is representative of acute changes from a transient paralysis, it provides an insight into the response of the cortex to sudden perturbation at the peripheral phonatory mechanism

AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF MOTIVATION AND FACTORS AFFECTING MOTIVATION FOR TEACHING STAFF IN PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES / COLLEGES IN VADODARA

An exploratory study was conducted in the city of Vadodara, India to examine the motivation levels of teaching staff in private universities. In order to study motivation levels, the factors leading to motivation were identified as “work and environment”, “superior relation”, “recognition”, “development” and “pay and benefits”. The research found that that motivation levels of teaching staff was low. The biggest factor contributing to this was the factor “work and environment” and “pay and benefits”. It could be advisable if bodies like the UGC/AICTE or other governing agencies could actually be strict in implementing norms relating to pay and benefits as well as working conditions. Currently, the focus of these agencies is more on infrastructure and other aspects and less on the teachers. This is also a reason as to why the quality of education in these institutes is declining with passage of time

Analysis of frozen section in correlation with surgical pathology diagnosis

Background: Frozen section (FS) is a rapid diagnostic procedure performed on tissues obtained intraoperatively. This method serves useful purposes, such as determining the malignancy or benignancy of a suspected lesion, determining the adequacy of a biopsy of a suspected lesion, confirming the presence or absence of metastasis, and identifying small structures. But it bears many disadvantages and limitations, the most of which is the danger of incorrect diagnosis. Therefore, it is critical to determine efficiency of frozen section performance periodically.  This study was performed to determine accuracy of frozen section by correlating the intra-operative frozen section diagnosis with final diagnosis on permanent sections.Methods: In this retrospective study, authors compared the results of frozen section with their final permanent section diagnosis in Government Medical College and Hospital, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India during January 2017 to December 2018.Results: Study comprises 83 patients, of which 73 were female and 10 were male. Out of 83 cases, the diagnosis of 76 cases was concordant with conventional histopathology diagnosis while seven were discordant. This gave overall accuracy rate of 91.57% and discordant rate of 8.43%. The overall sensitivity was 85.71% and specificity was 97.92%. The positive predictive and negative predictive value was 96.77% and 90.38% respectively.Conclusions: The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity of frozen section diagnosis in this study  are comparable with most international quality control statistics for frozen sections. The results suggest that the correlation of intra-operative frozen section diagnosis with the final histopathological diagnosis on permanent sections forms an integral part of quality assurance activities in the surgical pathology laboratory and specific measures should be taken to reduce the number of discrepancies

Clinicopathological study of testicular lesions

Background: Testis is affected by both neoplastic and non neoplastic conditions. Non neoplastic lesions of the testis include epididymo-orchitis, testicular atrophy, undescended testis, testicular abscess etc. Testicular tumors are relatively rare. They constitute the 4th most common cause of death from neoplasia in the young males. This study was undertaken to study the histopathological spectrum, age wise distribution and clinical symptoms of testicular lesions.Methods: This is a retrospective study of three years conducted in the department of pathology, Aurangabad from June 2015 to May 2018. It included all the orchidectomy specimens received from the department of surgery and excluded the orchidectomy specimens sent for infertility and prostatic carcinoma. A detail clinical history was taken. Histopathological examination was done after routine processing and staining with H and E. The data collected was tabulated, analysed and compared to other similar studies.Results: We studied 70 cases. Non neoplastic testicular lesions were 57 and 13 were neoplastic. Non neoplastic testicular lesions were more common than the neoplastic ones. Non neoplastic testicular lesions presented most commonly in the 2nd decade. Most common non neoplastic lesion was epididymo-orchitis followed by torsion, atrophy and testicular abscess. Most common neoplasm was malignant mixed germ cell tumor. Most of the patients of neoplasms presented in the 3rd decade. The most common complaint was testicular swelling and pain.Conclusions: Majority of testicular lesions are non neoplastic. Neoplastic lesions are rare. Non neoplastic lesions mimic neoplastic ones clinically, as testicular swelling is the most common complaint. So histopathological diagnosis is necessary for an accurate diagnosis of testicular lesions

Clinicopathological study of skin tumours

Background: Skin cancers are relatively uncommon malignancies worldwide, but the incidence of skin cancers has progressively increased over the last few decades. The distinction between benign and malignant neoplasm are more difficult to define when they appear in skin than when found elsewhere and histopathological examination is frequently required to establish a definitive diagnosis. Diagnosis of any skin tumours can be done by correlating clinical features and histological features. The aim and objective were to study age-sex wise distribution, clinical presentation and histopathological spectrum of various skin tumours.Methods: This is a retrospective study of three years conducted in the Department of Pathology, Government Medical College, Aurangabad, India from December 2015 to December 2018. Specimens received from Department of Dermatology were fixed in formalin and after adequately processing the sections were stained routinely with H and E stain and properly evaluated for histopathological examination. This study includes tumors of epidermis along with melanogenic tumors and skin appendageal tumors. The data collected was tabulated, analysed and compared to other similar studies.Results: The study consists of 130 cases. The ratio of male to female was 1.24:1. Head and neck region (48.46%) was the most common site observed where skin lesions were present followed by extremities (37.69%). Most of the malignant tumours were presented with non-healing ulcers (30.76%) and Noduloulcerative lesions (20.33%). Out of 130 cases, 83 (63.84%) were benign whereas 47 (36.15%) were malignant tumour. According to WHO classification, keratinocytic tumour 55 (42.30%) was the most common tumour type in the present study. Skin adnexal tumours and melanocytic tumours were observed in 54 (41.53%) and 21 (16.15%) respectively.Conclusions: The skin is a complex organ. Because of complexity of skin, a wide range of diseases can develop from the skin. The majority of benign neoplasms are from skin adnexal group whereas most common malignant neoplasm were from keratinocytic group. Skin adnexal tumors can occur anywhere in the body, however head and neck region constitute the most common site. Skin adnexal tumours are clinically often misdiagnosed, so histopathological examination remains gold standard for their correct diagnosis and for their differentiation between benign and malignant neoplasm

AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF MOTIVATION AND FACTORS AFFECTING MOTIVATION FOR TEACHING STAFF IN PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES / COLLEGES IN VADODARA

An exploratory study was conducted in the city of Vadodara, India to examine the motivation levels of teaching staff in private universities. In order to study motivation levels, the factors leading to motivation were identified as “work and environment”, “superior relation”, “recognition”, “development” and “pay and benefits”. The research found that that motivation levels of teaching staff was low. The biggest factor contributing to this was the factor “work and environment” and “pay and benefits”. It could be advisable if bodies like the UGC/AICTE or other governing agencies could actually be strict in implementing norms relating to pay and benefits as well as working conditions. Currently, the focus of these agencies is more on infrastructure and other aspects and less on the teachers. This is also a reason as to why the quality of education in these institutes is declining with passage of time

Niemann-pick disease type A-a case report

Niemann-Pick Disease is an autosomal recessive disorder of infancy, characterized by failure to thrive, hepatosplenomegaly and neurodegenerative changes. It is caused by inherited deficiency of an enzyme, acid sphingomyelinase. It leads to deposition of sphingomyelin and cholesterol within the lysosome of reticuloendothelial cells of various organs. Niemann-Pick Disease is classified into four types such as A, B, C and D. We present a case of niemann-pick disease type A. This case report encompasses an 18-month-old male child brought with complaints of progressive abdominal distension, developmental delay, intermittent fever and excessive cry. On examination patient had developmental delay and significant abdominal distension with moderate hepatosplenomegaly. Bone marrow examination showed characteristic lipid laden foamy histiocytes termed as niemann pick cells and sea blue histiocytes. Later on, liver biopsy and splenic aspiration cytology was performed, which also showed same type of foamy cells. Type A is very rare and a severe infantile form with neurologic degeneration resulting in death usually by 3 years of age. No treatment available for type A so far. It’s a rare disease in India. Genetic counseling.

Hepatic adenoma-an unusual case report

A 70-year-old female visited to tertiary care hospital with complains of abdominal pain on and off for 2 years. Pain gradually increased and was associated with vomiting. Patient is a known case of hypertension and diabetes mellitus. The patient`s complete blood count was normal with increased coagulation profile. Provisional clinical diagnosis was fibronodular variant of hepatocellular carcinoma. Computed tomography scan suggestive of fibronodular hyperplasia. Specimen received in pathology department, which on gross examination showed well circumscribed, well encapsulated tumour with variegated appearance. Histopathological diagnosis of Hepatic adenoma was made

Analysing Subgroups and Treatment Discontinuation in a Finnish Cohort of Patients with Neovascular AMD

Purpose: We aimed to study the regional detailed visual outcome and treatment discontinuation of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). Methods: Clinical records of 110 patients treated for nAMD at the sole referral centre in the Helsinki region were analysed retrospectively. The follow-up was up to the fourth year. Results: The mean visual acuity (VA) at baseline was 56.3 (SD 16.2) letters. The mean last VA at the first year was 59.7 (20.2), and the corresponding values for the second, third, and fourth years were 60.8 (20.6), 60.0 (19.0), and 59.7 (19.3). The mean difference from baseline was +3.39 (SD 14.6), +3.59 (17.6), +0.08 (18.9), and +3.08 (14.3). The number of patients declined each year, with only 51% of the patients being in treatment until the fourth year. The patients with shorter duration of follow-up tended to have a lower baseline VA, lesser gains, and an earlier decline in VA. The VA levels at the last visit were poorer in the shorter follow group. The initial VA response predicted later VA, whereas VA at baseline, age, or sex had no effect. However, the effect vanished with a longer time in treatment. Conclusions: Long-term VA stabilization was obtained in a regional material. Patients with neovascular AMD consist of cohorts with varying visual outcome and treatment time. Many of the patients benefit from the treatment for some time, however. When comparing real-world results, the outcome of the different follow-up time cohorts should be considered. This calls for new methods for analysing real-world nAMD treatment results.Peer reviewe