Serological and molecular approaches for leptospirosis at a tertiary care centre in northern India

Background: Aims and objectives of the study was to determine prevalence rate of leptospirosis and recognition of common epidemiological situation and clinical manifestations of leptospirosis in patients with pyrexia of unknown origin at a tertiary care centre.Methods: This was a hospital based prospective observational study. The duration of study was from August 2015 to July 2016. Patients with clinical symptoms of pyrexia of unknown origin attending Gandhi Memorial and Associated Hospital, King George’s Medical University Lucknow during the study period were enrolled in this study. We performed the IgM ELISA and PCR for the leptospirosis at our centre and for the Micro Agglutination Test (MAT), we sent the serum samples to regional medical research centre Department of Health Research Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India Port Blair.Results: A Total of 104 symptomatic patients were recruited. Of total, IgM ELISA for leptospirosis were positive in 25 patients, PCR in 20 patients and MAT shows significant titres in 3 samples. The ROC curve analysis revealed significant diagnostic accuracy of IgM ELISA with 100.00% sensitivity and 78.22% specificity however showed less positive predictive value (12.0%) but high negative predictive value (100.0%). Most common presentation were fever, jaundice and rashes (40.4%) followed by fever and jaundice (29.8%).Conclusions: Leptospirosis IgM ELISA and PCR showed good detection accuracy. Age, sex, occupation is not significantly associated to the leptospirosis

Warfarin induced hematuria

Warfarin is an oral vitamin K antagonist prescribed to those patients for the treatment and prevention of thromboembolism. The major challenges to be faced during the therapy were a greater risk for both major as well as minor bleeding, which makes the regular monitoring of INR (international normalized ratio) mandatory. Herein, we reported a case of Warfarin induced hematuria which is serious and we concluded this causality as possible category according WHO-UMC causality category

Seizure and Hepatosplenomegaly—Rare Manifestation of Parvovirus B-19: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Parvovirus B19 is the etiologic agent of erythema infectiosum (fifth disease), a fever-rash illness occurring in childhood. We present a 10 month old child with high grade fever for 10 days, generalized tonic-clonic seizure, bilateral cervical lymphadenopathy, generalized maculopapular rash, hematemesis and malena. Bone marrow aspiration and liver biopsy were done. EBV serology and parvovirus PCR were also performed. Bone marrow aspiration and biopsy showed giant pro-erythroblast consistent with parvovirus infection. PCR showed amplification of parvovirus genomic sequences. Present case highlights an atypical presentation of Parvovirus B19 infection as fever, rash and hepatosplenomegaly

Screening for exopolysaccharide production from basidiomycetes of chhattisgarh

Polysaccharides extracted from mushrooms have wide applications. Seven species of mushrooms  i.e. Grifola frondosa, Polyporus species 1, Polyporus species 2, Pleurotus sajorcaju, Pleurotus florida, Schizophyllum commune and Jelly species were collected and each species was tested for their polysaccharide producing ability. Among all seven species, Pleurotus sajorcaju produces maximum exopolysaccharide & minimum was produced by Pleurotus florida 1. Polysaccharide production was checked by incubating all seven species in shaking and static conditions. Although 28°C at 150 rpm for 7 and 14 days is the best condition  for exopolysaccharide production from mushroom species. Total biomass (dry weight and wet weight) was also recorded. Maximum biomass was found to be of Schizophyllum commune. Total free glucose produced was also determined and was found to be highest in Pleurotus florida. Natural polysaccharides can play a relevant role in biomedical and pharmaceutical applications, particularly in the field of drug delivery, for their intrinsic biocompatibility and potential low cost

Underground Corrosion by Microorganisms Part-I : Analytical Studies of Some Inclian Soils

Fourteen types of Indian soils were analysed far their mechanical, physical, chemical, electrical properties and potential corrosion causing microorganisms. An effort to correlate these individual soil properties was also made

Brucellosis - A major differential for juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Brucellosis is a Gram-negative, aerobic zoonotic infection acquired by Brucella species and transmitted from animals to humansthrough the ingestion of infected food products, direct contact with an infected animal, or inhalation of aerosols. Usually, thedisease remains undiagnosed due to lack of awareness and inadequate reporting and is a challenging health problem in tropicalcountries. We report a case of 16-year-old male presenting to us with chronic inflammatory symmetric polyarthritis misdiagnosedas juvenile idiopathic arthritis but later found to be suffering from brucellosis on reevaluation. Through this case report, we wouldlike to highlight the possibility and advantage of the high degree of suspicion for an infectious etiology responsible for arthritis inthe background of autoimmunity and would also like to emphasize on the possibility of Brucella inducing a false-positive responsefor young patients presenting with arthritis

Suspected immune mediated response to COVID-19 vaccine: two individual case reports

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19), has spread rapidly around the world. Researchers have been working round the clock to develop effective vaccines, which people started receiving in December 2020. Therefore, careful follow-up and surveillance studies for continued vaccine safety monitoring will be needed to ascertain the potential risks of such adverse events or disease. Here, we present two individual cases of pancreatitis and typhilitis following COVID 19 vaccination. In the first case of a 38 years old male patient developed pancreatitis after 4 days of COVID 19 vaccination and in second case, of a 60 years old female patient developing typhilitis after just one day after vaccination. All possible causes of this occurrence were ruled out. Two main factors suggest a possible link to the vaccine, the chronology of the events and the incongruent immune response to the vaccine component. It is not possible to establish a direct causal relation between vaccination and adverse event following immunization; however, this report can be used to alert practitioners to this possibility of adverse event following immunization after COVID-19 vaccine

To study the effect of glycemic control and duration of disease on pulmonary function tests and diffusion capacity in type 2 diabetes mellitus

Background:Type 2 diabetes mellitus is known to cause serious progressive macro and micro vascular complications leading to end organ damage like retinopathy, nephropathy and neuropathy. Pulmonary complications due to collagen and elastin changes as well as microangiopathy has also been demonstrated in type 2 diabetes mellitus but prevalence in most of population is unknown and its possible correlation with duration of disease and degree of glycemic control is not studied more in our population. Aims and objectives: To compare Pulmonary Function Tests (PFT) in type 2 diabetes mellitus with control group and to evaluate possible correlation of PFT with status of sugar control and duration of disease.Methods:Consecutively consenting 120 subjects who satisfied the inclusion criteria were recruited over one year duration. These 120 subjects are categorised into two i.e. healthy volunteers recruited as controls (n=60) and type 2 diabetic patients (n=60).  Results:Both group compared and studied with each other. Diabetic patients showed a significant reduction in Forced Expiratory Volume in one second (FEV1), Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) and pulmonary diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO) relative to their matched controls and these values were further reduced in diabetic patients with uncontrolled glycemic status.Conclusion:Our study concluded that lung functions in type2 diabetes mellitus are impaired with restrictive pattern of respiratory abnormality. Duration of diabetes did not influence on pulmonary function and diffusion capacity.

Dietary antioxidant curcumin inhibits microtubule assembly through tubulin binding

Curcumin, a component of turmeric, has potent antitumor activity against several tumor types. However, its molecular target and mechanism of antiproliferative activity are not clear. Here, we identified curcumin as a novel antimicrotubule agent. We have examined the effects of curcumin on cellular microtubules and on reconstituted microtubules in vitro. Curcumin inhibited HeLa and MCF-7 cell proliferation in a concentration-dependent manner with IC50 of 13.8±0.7μm and 12±0.6μm, respectively. At higher inhibitory concentrations (>10μm), curcumin induced significant depolymerization of interphase microtubules and mitotic spindle microtubules of HeLa and MCF-7 cells. However, at low inhibitory concentrations there were minimal effects on cellular microtubules. It disrupted microtubule assembly in vitro, reduced GTPase activity, and induced tubulin aggregation. Curcumin bound to tubulin at a single site with a dissociation constant of 2.4±0.4μm and the binding of curcumin to tubulin induced conformational changes in tubulin. Colchicine and podophyllotoxin partly inhibited the binding of curcumin to tubulin, while vinblastine had no effect on the curcumin-tubulin interactions. The data together suggested that curcumin may inhibit cancer cells proliferation by perturbing microtubule assembly dynamics and may be used to develop efficacious curcumin analogues for cancer chemotherapy