Hematological profile including alkali resistant hemoglobin of neonates at birth using cord blood in relation to gestational age and maternal diseases

Background: The importance of complete hemogram along with the hematological indices in the diagnosis of neonatal health cannot be overemphasized. There is a severe paucity of relevant data regarding neonatal hematological profile in relation to gestational age and maternal diseases in this part of the country. With this perspective, the authors intended to do a pilot study to analyse the haematological profile of neonates of different gestational ages and different maternal diseases born in a teriary care hospital in Eastern India.Methods: This is a cross sectional study design based on cord blood sample of newborns and their mothers recruited from those admitted in the gynae and obstetric department in IPGME&R. The umbilical cord blood was collected from the newborn babies and then examined for different haematological parameters. The data obtained was statistically analysed.Results: While there has been a sequential rise of fetal red cell count, hemoglobin and the total white cell count neutrophils with gestational age, the mean corpuscular cell volume decreased. All these values were comprised to varying degrees in maternal diseases except for nucleated rell blood cells which conspicuously increased in neonates of diabetic mothers.Conclusions: In this study, a small attempt was made to assess the haematological profile (including alkali resistant hemoglobin) of the newborns in relation to gestational age and maternal diseases in the population attending a tertiary care hospital in Eastern India

A profile of heart failure patients in a tertiary care centre in Eastern India

Background: Epidemiological data regarding profile of heart failure in India is lacking. So this study was done to assess the epidemiological profile of heart failure patients in eastern India. Aim of the study was to assess the epidemiological profile of heart failure patients in this part of country.Methods: Total 1000 outdoor and indoor patients presented with symptoms and signs of heart failure according to Framingham criteria were studied.Results: Age of onset of HF is lower than western country. IHD is the commonest cause of HF. Diabetes and hypertensions are important risk factors.Conclusions: Earlier detection and treatment of hypertension and diabetes mellitus might have greater impact in reducing the burden of HF in this part of country

Association of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and coronary artery disease

Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a feature of metabolic syndrome is a highly prevalent condition worldwide. Patients with NAFLD have a higher mortality when compared to general population. Many investigators have shown a close relationship between NAFLD and cardiovascular disease which contributes to the total mortality associated with NAFLD particularly in Western population. This study was therefore conducted to evaluate whether NAFLD independently affects angio-graphically proven coronary artery disease in Asians.Methods: The severity assessment of fatty liver disease was done by ultrasonography and was graded with increased severity from 0 to 4. Coronary angiography was performed to detect the presence or absence of significant coronary artery disease and modified Gensisni score, which determines the severity of coronary atherosclerotic involvement in individual patients was calculated.Results: Statistical analysis showed that Fatty liver disease was significantly higher in patients with significant coronary artery disease than in non-significant coronary artery disease group. When analyzed on basis on severity of fatty liver disease, modified Gensini score was significantly higher in group with fatty liver grade 2-3 than in group with fatty liver grade 0 or 1. Logistic regression analysis further showed that severity of fatty liver disease had independent effect on coronary atherosclerotic involvement.Conclusions: From our current study it can be reasonably said that NAFLD may be an independent risk factor for developing arteriosclerosis. This hypothesis should be verified with larger studies in different population groups

Assessment of serum nitrate-nitrite ratio vis-a-vis insulin sensitivity and resistance in type 2 diabetics in a tertiary hospital in Eastern India

Background: Insulin Resistance is of paramount importance in the pathophysiology of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus along with endothelial dysfunction is mediated by Nitric Oxide (NO). Central to this endothelial dysfunction is the action of Insulin on the Nitric oxide synthase enzyme. Since NO cannot be measured because of its short half-life, metabolites of NO (namely nitrite and nitrate) are measured towards assessing their relationship along with different direct and surrogate markers of insulin resistance in patients of Diabetes Mellitus attending a tertiary care hospital in Eastern India. Aim of the study was to assess the level of Insulin resistance with the direct and surrogate markers of insulin resistance in patients of Diabetes Mellitus attending a tertiary care hospital in Eastern India.Methods: Blood samples from newly diagnosed Type 2 Diabetic patients were assayed for fasting and postprandial sugar and insulin, lipid profile and serum nitrate and nitrite and different anthropological parameters were measured. After that, HOMA-IR and QUICKI’ index were measured.Results: Values of anthropological parameters and the direct and surrogate markers of insulin resistance showed statistically significant difference between cases and controls. Bivariate analysis of post-prandial blood glucose showed strong co-relation with HOMA-IR while serum total nitrate-nitrite ratio showed a strong co-relation with QUICKI.Conclusions: Serum nitrate-nitrite ratio showed a strong co-relation with HOMA-IR and QUICKI. The significance of this study lies in the fact that measurement of the serum nitrate-nitrite may give an idea of the level of insulin resistance of a diabetic patient

Role of inflammation as reflected by serum hsCRP and ferritin level in major depressive disorder

Background: The relationship between depression and inflammation has been strengthened by different studies for which Immune Cytokine Mechanism has been proposed to explain pathogenesis of depression.Methods: The role of inflammation in major depressive disorder (MDD) has been evaluated in this study among 101 patients suffering from MDD along with 106 age and sex matched control subjects. Two well known acute phase reactant proteins namely hsCRP and Ferritin were assayed in all study subjects by Enzyme Immuno Assay method.Results: Concentration of hsCRP in serum was found to be significantly increased in all patients suffering from MDD whereas Ferritin level was found to be significantly decreased in male MDD subjects only (male: 70.6 ng/ml±53.54 ng/ml in MDD vs 100.16 ng/ml±39.93 in controls; female: 38.43 ng/ml±11.2 in MDD vs 39.93 ng/ml±15.0 in controls). There was no significant alteration of the parameters among different grades of MDD. The possibility of these two parameters to be used as biomarkers has also been evaluated by ROC curve.Conclusions: The significant change in hsCRP & Ferritin which is not associated with grade wise alteration suggests that probably inflammation is the early event which causes depression. Therefore no gradual change is observed with increase in severity of the disease. hsCRP can be used as a biomarker of Inflammation in MDD cases

Hydrogen gas sensing using aluminum doped ZnO metasurface

Hydrogen sensing is crucial in a wide variety of areas, such as industrial, environmental, energy and biomedical applications. However, engineering a practical, reliable, fast, sensitive and cost-effective hydrogen sensor, is a persistent challenge. Here we demonstrate hydrogen sensing using aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) metasurfaces based on optical read-out. The proposed sensing system consists of highly ordered AZO nanotubes (hollow pillars) standing on a SiO2 layer deposited on a Si wafer. Upon exposure to hydrogen gas, the AZO nanotube system shows a wavelength shift in the minimum reflectance by 13 nm within 10 minutes for a hydrogen concentration of 4%. These AZO nanotubes can also sense the presence of a low concentration (0.7 %) of hydrogen gas within 10 minutes. Its rapid response time even for low concentration, the possibility of large sensing area fabrication with good precision, and high sensitivity at room temperature make these highly ordered nanotube structures a promising miniaturized H2 gas sensor.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figure

"The fruits of independence": Satyajit Ray, Indian nationhood and the spectre of empire

Challenging the longstanding consensus that Satyajit Ray's work is largely free of ideological concerns and notable only for its humanistic richness, this article shows with reference to representations of British colonialism and Indian nationhood that Ray's films and stories are marked deeply and consistently by a distinctively Bengali variety of liberalism. Drawn from an ongoing biographical project, it commences with an overview of the nationalist milieu in which Ray grew up and emphasizes the preoccupation with colonialism and nationalism that marked his earliest unfilmed scripts. It then shows with case studies of Kanchanjangha (1962), Charulata (1964), First Class Kamra (First-Class Compartment, 1981), Pratidwandi (The Adversary, 1970), Shatranj ke Khilari (The Chess Players, 1977), Agantuk (The Stranger, 1991) and Robertsoner Ruby (Robertson's Ruby, 1992) how Ray's mature work continued to combine a strongly anti-colonial viewpoint with a shifting perspective on Indian nationhood and an unequivocal commitment to cultural cosmopolitanism. Analysing how Ray articulated his ideological positions through the quintessentially liberal device of complexly staged debates that were apparently free, but in fact closed by the scenarist/director on ideologically specific notes, this article concludes that Ray's reputation as an all-forgiving, ‘everybody-has-his-reasons’ humanist is based on simplistic or even tendentious readings of his work

Deep phenotyping and genomic data from a nationally representative study on dementia in India

The Harmonized Diagnostic Assessment of Dementia for the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI-DAD) is a nationally representative in-depth study of cognitive aging and dementia. We present a publicly available dataset of harmonized cognitive measures of 4,096 adults 60 years of age and older in India, collected across 18 states and union territories. Blood samples were obtained to carry out whole blood and serum-based assays. Results are included in a venous blood specimen datafile that can be linked to the Harmonized LASI-DAD dataset. A global screening array of 960 LASI-DAD respondents is also publicly available for download, in addition to neuroimaging data on 137 LASI-DAD participants. Altogether, these datasets provide comprehensive information on older adults in India that allow researchers to further understand risk factors associated with cognitive impairment and dementia.Peer reviewe

A light and sound show of cancer therapy

Nanoparticle therapy continues to be an attractive avenue of targeted and personalised therapies. A molecular nano-conjugate developed by Zeng et al. effectively targets cancer cells and aids in their diagnosis, therapy, and also optimises innate immune responses