A case control study of serum vitamin D levels in alopecia areata

Background: Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disorder of anagen hair follicle leading to distressing and relapsing non-scarring hair loss. Vitamin D is an immunomodulator and plays a role in regulating normal hair cycle. Recent evidence suggests inconsistent association between vitamin D deficiency and alopecia areata.Methods: This case control study included 70 newly diagnosed cases of alopecia areata and 70 healthy controls. Competitive chemiluminescence immunoassay was used to determine and compare the serum vitamin D (25‑hydroxyvitamin D) levels between these groups. Also, the serum vitamin D levels correlation with severity of the disease was studied. ANOVA test and student t test were used for the statistical analysis.Results: Serum Vitamin D levels were significantly decreased in alopecia areata patients than in controls (p<0.05). There was no stastically significant relationship between serum 25-OH Vitamin D levels and severity of the disease (p=0.06).Conclusions: Prevalence of serum 25 (OH) deficiency was significantly higher in alopecia areata group. However no significant relation was found with disease severity

Metabolic syndrome in south Indian population with skin tags: a hospital-based case control study

Background: Metabolic syndrome is a constellation of several clinical and laboratory cardiovascular risk factors that have been linked with numerous medical and dermatologic conditions. Recent evidence suggests a strong association between skin tags and insulin resistance and obesity, yet there is a paucity of data on relation of skin tags with metabolic syndrome as a whole. Aim of the study was to evaluate the strength of association between skin tags and metabolic syndrome.Methods: 70 patients with skin tags and an equal number of age and gender matched controls were enrolled in a hospital-based case control study. Anthropometric measures, blood pressure, fasting glucose, high density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides were measured. Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed by the presence of 3 or more of the south Asian modified national cholesterol education program’s adult panel III criteria. Statistical analysis was performed using chi square test, and odds ratio was calculated. P≤0.05 were considered significant.Results: Metabolic syndrome was significantly more common in patients with skin tags than in controls (70% vs. 26%, p<0.001). Triglycerides and waist circumference values were significantly increased in cases as compared to controls (p<0.05).  There was no statistically significant difference in the high-density lipoprotein levels, fasting blood glucose levels and presence of hypertension among cases and controls.Conclusion: Skin tags when present in multiple could be an early warning sign for Metabolic syndrome. They serve a cutaneous marker to initiate early detection and intervention of at-risk patients for cardiovascular disorders

A Simple Position Sensing Device for Upper Limb Rehabilitation

Stroke is a leading cause of disability which can affect shoulder and elbow movements which are necessary for reaching activities in numerous daily routines. Rehabilitation under the supervision of physiotherapists in healthcare settings is to encourage the recovery process. Unfortunately, these sessions are often labor-intensive and limited intervention time between physiotherapist and the stroke patient due to staff constraints. Dedicated robotic devices have been developed to overcome this issues. However, the high cost of these robots is a major concern as it limits their cost-benefit profiles, thus impeding large scale implementation. This paper presents a simple and portable unactuated interactive rehabilitation device for upper limb rehabilitation purposes. This device has been developed by using a conventional mouse integrated with three interactive training modules, namely the Triangle, Square, and Circle modules intended for training shoulder and elbow movements. Results from five healthy subjects showed the more deviation from the path will be happened when the subject move their hand to the other side of their dominant hand. Besides, the shape of the module that includes combination of X and Y axis direction is more difficult compare to either X or Y axis

Studies of Simultaneous Observation of Spread-F Occurrence on Oblique & Vertical Incidence Records

248-249Results of simultaneous observation of spread-F irregularities on vertical and oblique incidence are presented, The vertical incidence data relate to Kakinada while the oblique incidence data relate to CW transmissions recorded from All India Radio, Hyderabad, at 4.8 MHz during 1800-2230hrs 1ST.Comparison of these data revealed that in a majority of the cases, there is no time delay in the spread-F occurrences on vertical and oblique incidence data indicating that the agency causing spread-F irregularities has an extent greater than 200 km in the east-west plane

Community prevalence of methicillin and vancomycin resistant Staphylococcus aureus in and around Bangalore, southern India

INTRODUCTION: Staphylococcus aureus is a known colonizer in humans and has been implicated in community acquired soft tissue infections. However emergence of methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) has aroused great concern worldwide. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of MRSA in the community of Bangalore, southern India. METHODS: Swabs were collected from anterior nares, forearm, dorsum and palm of the hands of 1,000 healthy individuals residing in and around Bangalore, belonging to different socioeconomic strata and age groups. RESULTS: Analysis verified that 22.5% and 16.6% of the individuals presented Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA, respectively, at any of the three sites. Vancomycin resistance was observed in 1.4% of the S. aureus isolates, which was confirmed by detection of the vanA gene. It was interesting to note that 58.8% of the children in the age group 1-5 years-old presented MRSA, the highest percentage compared to other age groups of < 1 (44.4%) year-old, 5-20 (21.7%) years-old, &gt; 40 (11%) years-old and 20-40 (9.9%) years-old. Among the population of various socioeconomic strata, maximum MRSA colonization was observed among doctors (22.2%), followed by upper economic class (18.8%), lower economic class (17.7%), apparently healthy hospital in-patients (16.5%), nurses (16%) and middle economic class (12.5%). Most of the MRSA isolates were capsular polysaccharide antigen type 8 (57.1%). CONCLUSIONS: There is a need for continuous surveillance and monitoring of the presence of MRSA in the community and a clearer understanding of the dynamics of the spread of MRSA will assist in controlling its dissemination