A Clinical Study of Jalaukavacharana in Varicose Eczema (Vicharchika)

In adolescents varicose eczema is a common skin condition encountered by general practitioners and dermatologists in day today clinical practices. Varicose eczema is the condition usually present secondary to varicosity of superficial veins. For this condition there is no successful surgery as well as medical remedy available for the complete cure. However in Ayurveda, Jalaukavacharana (Leech therapy) as a parasurgical method is useful in this condition. Leech is used for the bloodletting at that particular site. With this background a study has been conducted to compare the effect of Jalaukavacharana without and with internal medications, Two groups were done as Group-A and Group-B, each with 15 patients. Jalaukavacharana was done at eczema in Group-A for four time with an interval of seven days that is, on day 1, day 7, day 14 and day 21 with internal medication. In Group B only internal medication is given. The pre and post therapeutic subjective and objective criteria were recorded. All data were analyzed clinically as well as statistically. In both Group-A and Group-B. Jalaukavacharana has shown good result in reducing the symptoms of varicose eczema (Vicharchika)

Scrotal Lipoma - A Case Study

Lipoma is one of the commonest benign mesenchymal tumor. It occurs with an incidence of 1% of the population. It is composed of fat cells of adult type. It may occur any where in the body, hence called Universal tumor or ubiquitous tumor. But lipomas with in the scrotum are rare and are included under para testicular or extra testicular tumors. To date, definite etiology of lipoma remains uncertain. One theory suggests cytokine release may trigger pre-adipocyte differentiation and maturation. Here we report a case of scrotal lipoma presented as a painless swelling in the scrotum

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field