A rare presentation of snake bite

In India, doctor’s in casualty frequently get confronted with snake bite. A wide range of complications occur in snake bite. Intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) is an unusual presentation following snake bite. Here authors discuss a patient presents with ICH after snake bite. Venom induced consumption coagulopathy is the most accepted theory behind intracerebral haemorrhage

A rare case of recurrent hypoglycaemia

Very often clinicians are confronted with unconscious patients; the cause being hypoglycaemia. In addition to correction of hypoglycaemia promptly, a search for the cause of hypoglycaemia must be attempted at the earliest with a stepwise approach. Here, the authors present a rare case of recurrent hypoglycaemia where a stepwise approach ultimately led to a diagnosis, but there were various reports which were misleading. The diagnosis was insulinoma which was apparent from the history and presenting features. But, the initial investigations, even though having high sensitivity, were normal, thus leading to a more invasive approach. The patient was ultimately cured by enucleation

A study of high sensitive C-reactive protein in rheumatoid arthritis patients

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is not only merely limited to joints but has many extraarticular features. The major cause of mortality in RA is cardiovascular disease (CVD). Inflammation in RA predispose them to succumb to CVD. The aim of this study to observe whether therapy with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARD) decreases inflammation and if it does so than it can be said that decrease the risk to develop CVD. Aim and objectives were to assess hs-CRP level in early and established RA both at diagnosis and again at 3 months of DMARD therapy and compare between them.Methods: Total 58 early RA (group A) and 58 established (group B) DMARD naïve RA patients were included in the study. Age, BMI, haemoglobin, random blood sugar, lipid profile, ESR, hs-CRP, RA factor and anti-CCP were measured. All of them were treated with DMARD and hs-CRP was again assessed after 3 months.Results: The mean hs-CRP level at diagnosis was 6.14±1.90 mg/l in group A while it was 10.39±3.13 mg/l in group B. The mean hs-CRP level after 3 months of DMARD was 2.56±1.35mg/l in group A while it was 7.91±3.13 mg/l in group B. The mean reduction in hs-CRP level in early RA (3.58±0.99 mg/l) was statistically significantly (p<0.001) higher than that in established RA (2.48±0.09 mg/l).  Conclusions: DMARD decreases level of inflammation in RA more efficiently if initiated early in the course of the disease

Study of the correlation of epicardial adipose tissue with left ventricular mass and left ventricular mass index in patients with essential hypertension

Background: Epicardial Adipose Tissue (EAT) is recognized to be a cardiovascular risk factor. In addition to providing fuel to heart, it plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis though the secretion of adipokines. This study aims to find the correlation of EAT with Left Ventricular Mass (LVM) and Left Ventricular Mass Index (LVMI) in patients with essential hypertension. Increasing LVM and LVMI are predictors of poor cardiovascular outcome. So, if we find a positive correlation, we can say that measurement of epicardial fat in essential hypertension may help us identify high risk hypertensive patients.Methods: This study was carried out in SMS Hospital, Jaipur, after approval from the Ethics Committee. 100 consecutive eligible patients were included in the study after application of inclusion and exclusion criteria and taking proper informed consent. After history, examination and routine laboratory investigations, all patients underwent transthoracic 2D and Doppler echocardiography. EAT thickness, LVM and LVMI were measured and correlated using Spearman correlation coefficient.Results: The mean LVM was 139±42.12 g and mean LVMI was 35.76±11.28 g/m2.7. The spearman correlation coefficient (r) was calculated to be 0.691 between EAT and LVM and 0.677 between EAT and LVMI, indicating strong positive correlation between EAT and both LVM and LVMI. This implies that as; EAT increases, LVM and LVMI increases significantly.Conclusions: Thus, authors have found that EAT is positively correlated with LVM and LVMI. So, we can say that increase in EAT may lead to adverse cardiovascular outcome in patients with essential hypertension

Labour Reforms in the Indian State of Rajasthan: a boon or a bane?

The authors examine the impact of labour law deregulations in the Indian state of Rajasthan on plant employment and performance. In 2014, after a long time, Rajasthan was the first Indian state that introduced labour reforms in the Industrial Disputes Act (1947), the Factories Act (1948), the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act (1970), and the Apprentices Act (1961). Exploiting this unique quasi-natural experiment, the authors apply a difference-in-difference framework using the Annual Survey of Industries longitudinal data of India's manufacturing establishments. Their results show that reforms had an unintended consequence of the decline in labour use. Also, worryingly, the flexibility resulted in a disproportionate decline in the directly employed worker. Evidence suggests that the reforms positively impact the value-added and productivity of the establishments. The strength of these effects varies depending on the underlying industry and reform structure. These findings prove robust to a set of specifications

Least-square Analysis of Non-genetic Factors on the Growth Performance Traits of HD-K75 Pigs

Northeastern India has a good population of indigenous pig breeds with unique traits. However, they possess reduced productive and reproductive potential compared to exotic breeds of pigs. So, the HD-K75 pig variety with 75% Hampshire inheritance and 25 % indigenous inheritance has been developed under AICRP on pigs. Records about the progenies of 44 sires and 114 dams of HD-K75 pigs maintained over 6 years were utilized through least square analysis to study the pre- and post-weaning growth. The least squares analysis of variance technique was carried out to study the effects of season of birth, sex, and parity on the traits under study. Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT) was used to make all the pairwise comparisons among the means to test the significance of differences among the different subclasses for various traits. The overall least-squares means of the HD-K75 pigs for body weight at birth, 1 month, weaning, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 6 months, 8 months and average daily gain during birth to 42 days, 42 days to 4th month, 42 days to 6th month and 42 days to 8th month of age were found to be 1.001± 0.001 kg, 6.912± 0.011 kg, 9.666± 0.013 kg, 12.207 ± 0.007 kg, 18.324 ± 0.001 kg, 28.349 ± 0.052 kg, 51.177 ± 0.091 kg, 71.229 ± 0.110 kg, 206.299 ± 0.311 g, 237.294 ± 0.773 g, 299.541 ± 0.700 g and 311.206 ± 0.557 g respectively. The effect of season of birth, parity, and sex on body weight at various growth stages and average daily gain (ADG) at various growth periods were found to be significant. Hence, the popularization of this crossbreed pig variety would increase the production, livelihood, and income of the regional farmers