Ocular Parasitic Infections – An Overview

Eyes are said to be the windows of body, by which this beautiful world is visualized. Human eye has a unique structure and is vulnerable to numerous infections. Whenever anatomical structures are breached, host defenses come into play, but if infection is severe and not treated timely, it could lead to visual impairment or blindness. Parasitic infections are considered, the significant causes of ophthalmic diseases worldwide. In this chapter, an overview of ocular parasitic infections (OPI) is detailed out, with an initial brief introduction followed by description of anatomy of the human eye and various defense mechanisms to provide better understanding of the parasitic infections affecting different parts of human eye. The last part includes individual details of various human ocular parasitic infections

Hypokalemic Quadriparesis Associated with Dengue: A Case Series

Dengue is an important viral cause of febrile illness in tropical and subtropical regions. Manifestations may range from an asymptomatic infection to life threatening hemorrhagic fever and shock syndrome. Neurological presentations of this disease are rare. Here, we are presenting a case series of three confirmedcases of dengue fever with hypokalemic paralysis presenting as acute pure motor reversible quadriparesis. A clinician should keep dengue virus associated hypokalemic paralysis in mind while dealing with a case of fever with quadriparesis

Malaria in Pregnancy

Malaria infection during pregnancy is an important public health problem with substantial risks to both the mother and foetus. Pregnant women are the most vulnerable group of malaria‐associated morbidity and mortality. A pregnant woman has an increased risk (up to four times) of getting malaria and twice the chances of dying from malaria, compared to a non‐pregnant adult, becuase the immune system is partially suppressed during pregnancy. Malaria in pregnancy not only affects the mother but also has a dangerous sequel for the developing foetus, resulting in premature delivery or intrauterine growth retardation. Diagnosis of malaria in pregnancy remains a challenge due to the low parasite density and placental sequestration of Plasmodium falciparum. Thus, there is an urgent need for new diagnostic methods to detect malarial parasites in the pregnant women. Though antimalarial drugs are available, which can be safely given in the pregnancy, increasing drug resistance of malarial parasite may pose a big problem in the future. In this chapter, we review the burden of pregnancy‐associated malaria (PAM), its pathogenesis, diagnostic issues during pregnancy and recent guidelines for chemoprophylaxsis and treatment

Poor oral health may prolong COVID-19 illness

Non peer reviewe

A comparative study between I-gel and endotracheal tube in elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy surgeries under general anesthesia

Background: With increase in incidence of gall bladder stone the laparoscopic cholecystectomy preferred in various hospitals. Laryngoscopic stimulation of oropharyngeal and laryngeal structures leads to hemodynamic stress response. I-gel is a second generation supraglottic airway device with noninflatable cuff, having several advantages such as minimal hemodynamic changes during insertion and easy to insert. Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare I-gel and endotracheal tube regarding hemodynamic stability, adequacy of ventilation, ease of insertion through number of attempts, and time for insertion and associated complications in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Materials and Methods: Total 60 patients of either sex, 25–55 years age of ASA Grades I and II were randomly allocated into two groups of 30 patients each; Group A (endotracheal tube) and Group B (I-gel). Ease of insertion in terms of number of attempts and time for insertion, hemodynamic variation and their complications were recorded. Results: Significantly less time was required for insertion of I-gel as compared to endotracheal tube (P=0.04), while number of attempts required for insertion were comparable, highly significant difference in heart rate, systolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure just after insertion and at extubation of endotracheal tube than I-gel group (P<0.01), peak airway pressure at insufflation with endotracheal tube was highly significant (P<0.01), and SPO2 and ETCO2 were comparable. The complications were statistically insignificant among the study groups. Conclusion: Comparison to endotracheal tube, I-gel required less time and less number of attempts for insertion and causes fewer hemodynamic alterations. In addition, peak airway pressure was also significantly more in endotracheal tube just before and at pneumoperitoneum

Pharmacological Properties, Molecular Mechanisms, and Pharmaceutical Development of Asiatic Acid: A Pentacyclic Triterpenoid of Therapeutic Promise

Asiatic acid (AA) is a naturally occurring aglycone of ursane type pentacyclic triterpenoids. It is abundantly present in many edible and medicinal plants including Centella asiatica that is a reputed herb in many traditional medicine formulations for wound healing and neuropsychiatric diseases. AA possesses numerous pharmacological activities such as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory and regulates apoptosis that attributes its therapeutic effects in numerous diseases. AA showed potent antihypertensive, nootropic, neuroprotective, cardioprotective, antimicrobial, and antitumor activities in preclinical studies. In various in vitro and in vivo studies, AA found to affect many enzymes, receptors, growth factors, transcription factors, apoptotic proteins, and cell signaling cascades. This review aims to represent the available reports on therapeutic potential and the underlying pharmacological and molecular mechanisms of AA. The review also also discusses the challenges and prospects on the pharmaceutical development of AA such as pharmacokinetics, physicochemical properties, analysis and structural modifications, and drug delivery. AA showed favorable pharmacokinetics and found bioavailable following oral or interaperitoneal administration. The studies demonstrate the polypharmacological properties, therapeutic potential and molecular mechanisms of AA in numerous diseases. Taken together the evidences from available studies, AA appears one of the important multitargeted polypharmacological agents of natural origin for further pharmaceutical development and clinical application. Provided the favorable pharmacokinetics, safety, and efficacy, AA can be a promising agent or adjuvant along with currently used modern medicines with a pharmacological basis of its use in therapeutics