A Case Study on the Ayurvedic Management of Vicharchika (Eczema)

Vicharchika has been described under Kshudra Kushthas with Laxanas like Kandu, Shyavapidika and Bahusrava. Eczema is a skin disorder, also called as dermatitis. it clinically manifests by pruritus, erythema, oedema, papules and vesicles and oozing in acute stage whereas itching, scaling, dryness and lichenification occur in chronic stage. The prevalence of atopic eczema in 56 countries had been found to vary between 3 and 20.5%. In our study the point prevalence of AD was 6.75%. In contrast to children in north India, only 0.01% (3 out of 2100) children in a south Indian study had AD. Even in our study, the prevalence in South India was only 2.8%. Virechana and Jaloukavacharana are the treatments adopted for the management of Vicharchika

Surgical management of Stenson’s duct injury using epidural catheter: A novel technique

Stenson’s duct of parotid gland is a major duct which drains saliva into the oral cavity. Deep penetrating wound in the form of cut or crush injury to the buccal area carries the risk of parotid duct injury. It is in the form of ductal exposure, laceration, total severing, or crushing of the duct. These conditions are difficult to diagnose because of complex anatomy and variable nature of injury. Successful management of parotid duct injury depends on early diagnosis and appropriate intervention, failing of which may lead to complications like sialocele or salivary fistula. Many techniques have been proposed for diagnosis and management of parotid duct injuries. This article presents an easy and novel technique to diagnose and manage the parotid duct injuries using an “epidural catheter” which is often used for inducing spinal anesthesia. The technique of epidural catheter usage, its advantages, and limitation over other techniques proposed for the management of parotid duct injury are discussed.Key words: Epidural catheter, parotid duct, salivary fistula, sialocel

Local firms versus MNCs in India : a study of competitive performance

We studied the performance of 187 firms drawn from MNC subsidiaries (55), domestic private-owned (76), and domestic state-owned (56) firms operating in India. The underlying objective was to assess which group of firm demonstrated superior economic performance and competitiveness. We analyzed data for two periods of time 2002-03 and 2011-12 using four measures of economic performance namely operating profit margin (OPM), net profit margin (NPM), return on net worth (RONW) and asset turnover ratio (ATR). As the data set did not lend itself to parametric analysis, we adopted the nonparametric method. We employed Kruskal-Wallis H Test, Mann-Whitney U Test, Two-Step Cluster Analysis, and Chi-Square Test. We found that domestic private-owned firms performed better and were more competitive than the other two groups of firms.peer-reviewe

Evaluation of clopidogrel on acute and sub-acute models of inflammation in male Wistar rats

Background: Atherosclerosis and its complications remain the major cause of death and premature disability. Atherogenesis involves elements of inflammation, a process that now provides a unifying theme in the pathogenesis of the disease. Anti-platelet drugs are currently used in the treatment of atherosclerosis and its complications. Our study evaluated the influence of clopidogrel on acute and sub-acute models of inflammation in male Wistar rats.Methods: Male Wistar rats (150-200 g) were divided into three groups, i.e. control, aspirin and clopidogrel (n=6 animals in each group). The effect of clopidogrel administered orally on inflammation was studied using acute (carrageenan-induced rat paw edema) and sub-acute (cotton pellet granuloma and histopathological examination of grass piths) models. Experiment was conducted according to the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision on Experiments on Animals guidelines. Analysis was done using one-way ANOVA followed by post-hoc test of Dunnets. p<0.05 was considered as statistically significant.Results: Clopidogrel showed significant inhibition of rat paw edema in acute model (p<0.01) and granuloma dry weight, in sub-acute model of inflammation when compared to control (p<0.01). Histopathological examination of grass pith revealed markedly reduced fibroblasts, granulation tissue, fibrous tissue and collagen in clopidogrel group when compared to control.Conclusion: Clopidogrel exhibited a significant anti-inflammatory activity in acute and sub-acute models of inflammation

Single business vs multi business firms in India: an empirical analysis

We studied the performance of 60 firms, 30 each from two types of firms namely, focused and diversified. Further, of the 30 firms in each group, 10 each were selected on the basis of three different sizes; small (with assets INR50 billion). Our intent was to determine which of these displayed superior economic performance. We analysed data for two points of time 2006-07 and 2013-14 using three measures of economic performance. These include profit after tax (PAT), return on capital employed (ROCE) and asset turnover ratio (ATR). We employed parametric (MANOVA, ANOVA) as well as nonparametric (Mann Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and Chi square) tests. Our analysis started with MANOVA to compare the overall performance of the selected firms for all the three measures. Later, ANOVA was used to further understand specifically, which performance measure was influenced by type and size of the firm. Since, there was a possibility for outliers to influence the findings, nonparametric tests were employed with the assumption that both the finding would give similar results. Our study concluded that there is no significant difference in the performance between focused and diversified firms. However, we found significant difference in the performance of firms based on size, though there were no interaction effects between size and type. Particularly, when diversified and focused firms were separately studied, it was found that for focused firms alone there were significant differences in performance between firms of different sizes.peer-reviewe

Rare case report of metastatic cervical carcinoma

Although carcinoma of cervix is among the most common malignancies in women, cutaneous metastasis is very unusual. Here we report a case of a parous woman diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of cervix who did not undergo chemotherapy in spite of being advised after initial surgery, presenting with cutaneous metastasis at the operative scar site 2 years later

Pregnancy outcome in a rare case of complex cyanotic congenital heart disease

A 28 year old primigravida with the very rare congenital heart condition of single ventricle with single atrium presented with 34 weeks gestation, and underwent caesarean section with minimal morbidity. As the condition is not known for survival into adulthood, the carrying of a pregnancy successfully to near term makes this an even rarer case

Diabetes mellitus and smoking among tuberculosis patients in a tertiary care centre in Karnataka, India

Supported by the TB Union/MSF Course on Operational Researc

Razvoj i validacija spektrofotometrijskih metoda za određivanje ceftazidima u farmaceutskim doziranim pripravcima

Two spectrophotometric methods for the determination of ceftazidime (CFZM) in either pure form or in its pharmaceutical formulations are described. The first method is based on the reaction of 3-methylbenzothiazolin-2-one hydrazone (MBTH) with ceftazidime in the presence of ferric chloride in acidic medium. The resulting blue complex absorbs at λmax 628 nm. The second method describes the reaction between the diazotized drug and N-(1-naphthyl)ethylenediamine dihydrochloride (NEDA) to yield a purple colored product with λmax at 567 nm. The reaction conditions were optimized to obtain maximum color intensity. The absorbance was found to increase linearly with increasing the concentration of CFZM; the systems obeyed the Beer’s law in the range 210 and 1050 µg mL1 for MBTH and NEDA methods, respectively. LOD, LOQ and correlation coefficient values were 0.15, 0.79 and 0.50, 2.61. No interference was observed from common excipients present in pharmaceutical formulations. The proposed methods are simple, sensitive, accurate and suitable for quality control applications.Razvijene su dvije spektrofotometrijske metode za određivanje ceftazidima (CFZM), čistog ili u farmaceutskim pripravcima. Prva metoda se temelji na reakciji 3-metilbenzotiazolin-2-on hidrazona (MBTH) sa ceftazidimom u prisutnosti željezovog(III) klorida u kiselom mediju. Nastaje plavi kompleks s maksimumom apsorpcije pri λmax 628 nm. Druga metoda se temelji na reakciji između diazotiranog lijeka i N-(1-naftil)etilendiamin dihidroklorida (NEDA), pri čemu nastaje ljubičasti produkt s λmax pri 567 nm. Reakcijski uvjeti su optimirani da se dobije maksimalni intenzitet boje. Apsorbancija raste linearno s porašću koncentracije CFZM; sustavi slijede Beerov zakon u koncentracijskom području 210 za MBTH metodu i 1050 µg mL1 za NEDA metodu. LOD i LOQ te vrijednosti korelacijskog koeficijenta su 0,15, 0,79 i 0,50, 2,61. Uobičajene pomoćne tvari ne smetaju određivanju ceftazidima. Predložene metode su jednostavne, osjetljive, točne i pogodne za primjenu u kontroli kvalitete