A cross-sectional study to assess the morbidity pattern of ocular diseases in out-patient department of ophthalmology at a tertiary care hospital

Background: In developing countries like India lower socioeconomic status and lack of proper eye care are responsible for increase in the number of preventable and avoidable causes of blindness as compared to developed countries of the world. One-third of India's blind population lose their eyesight before 20 years of age. Therefore, early detection and treatment of ocular morbidity is important. The best option to reduce ocular morbidity is to bring eye care services to their doorsteps in the form of outreach programs. The aim of the study was to assess the morbidity pattern of ocular disease in the region, which will show the trend of ocular morbidities in our society and help to provide basic data for planning and provision of adequate eye care services, appropriate treatment and intervention for management of these diseases.Methods: This was a prospective and cross-sectional type of study which has been conducted in Department of Ophthalmology, Geetanjali Medical College and Hospital. For the study, total of 600 patients who attended OPD of Ophthalmology, GMCH, Udaipur have been taken in the duration of 1 year i.e. 2013-2014.Results: Out of 600 patients majority (50.67%) of the patients were found to be in the age group of 30-60 years and there was no sex preponderance as ratio of male to female was found to be 1.2:1 among the patients which shows that common eye diseases are usually not sex linked but may be linked with age. Distribution of diseases treated in OPD showed that allergic conjunctivitis (43.33%) was the most common disease followed by infective conjunctivitis (14.00%) which was found to be the second most common problem. Other common ocular diseases were anterior blepharitis (12.33%), stye or hordeolum externum (7.5%) and vernal conjunctivitis (6%).Conclusions: It has been observed that allergic conjunctivitis is the most common disease due to hot and dry environment, dust and more of pollution due to marble mining in the region. Thus this study gives the picture of morbidity pattern of ocular disease in the region which is helpful in planning and management.

A study to assess serum levels of superoxide dismutase and catalase in senile cataract patients with and without diabetes mellitus at tertiary care hospital

Background: The objective was to assess the possible relationship of serum levels of superoxide Dismutase and catalase and development of senile cataract in patients with and without diabetes mellitus.Methods: The study was done in the Department of Ophthalmology with support of Department of Biochemistry at Geetanjali Medical College and Hospital, Geetanjali University, Udaipur, Rajasthan. The study has been conducted during the time period of October 2014 and October 2015. Blood samples of 120 senile cataract patients, i.e. 60 with diabetes and 60 without diabetes were taken and levels of superoxide dismutase and catalase were studied.Results: Statistically significant difference in age wise occurrence of cataract was found between diabetic and non-diabetic patients i.e. cataract was found at a later age in senile non diabetic patients as compared with senile diabetic patients (p<0.001). Senile diabetic patients had significantly lower serum level of SOD as compared to senile non diabetic patients (p<0.001 for both). Similarly, senile diabetic patients had significantly lower serum levels of catalase as compared to senile non diabetic patients (p<0.001 for both).Conclusions: Increase in oxidative stress and decrease in anti-oxidant enzyme activities have a role in the early development of cataract in senile patients with diabetes. Thus, diabetic cataract seems to be associated with decrease in serum levels of SOD and catalase

Clinical profile of ocular trauma in a tertiary care hospital of Southern Rajasthan

Background: Ocular trauma is a major cause of preventable visual impairment and blindness leading to permanent loss of vision and deterioration of quality of life. 90% of the injuries are preventable. Aim of the current study was to study the clinical profile of patients with ocular trauma at a tertiary care hospital in Southern Rajasthan. Current study was a cross- sectional, observational study was conducted at Geetanjali medical college and hospital, Udaipur.Methods: After taking a well-informed consent a generalized detailed history of 108 cases (123 injured eyes) was obtained. Assessment of best corrected visual acuity, near vision, intraocular pressure, slit-lamp evaluation and dilated fundus examination was carried out. Then injury was classified as per BETTS classification. Patients with corneal foreign bodies and chemical injuries were recorded separately. Imaging modalities like ultrasound B-scan, CT-scan and MRI were employed wherever required. Results: Number of males (98) was much higher than females (9) in our study. Male: female ratio was found to be 10.8:1. The most commonly affected age group was 21-30 years, this highlights the alarmingly high incidence of ocular injuries in economically active young males. Farming is the primary occupation across India, hence it deserves a special mention. 22% of injury cases in our study were farm- work related injuries. Farmers need to be educated and provided eye protective equipment during high-risk activities. Laws regarding agricultural code of practice should be implemented and followed.Conclusions: In our study, not a single case out of 108 had used eye protection at the time of injury. Every effort should be made to create awareness regarding use of safety measures during driving and engaging in high-risk occupations. This will help prevent sight-threatening complications of ocular trauma and the deleterious impact on quality of life

Universal behavior of multiplicity differences in quark-hadron phase transition

The scaling behavior of factorial moments of the differences in multiplicities between well separated bins in heavy-ion collisions is proposed as a probe of quark-hadron phase transition. The method takes into account some of the physical features of nuclear collisions that cause some difficulty in the application of the usual method. It is shown in the Ginzburg-Landau theory that a numerical value $\gamma$ of the scaling exponent can be determined independent of the parameters in the problem. The universality of $\gamma$ characterizes quark-hadron phase transition, and can be tested directly by appropriately analyzed data.Comment: 15 pages, including 4 figures (in epsf file), Latex, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Gravity, Lorentz Violation, and the Standard Model

The role of the gravitational sector in the Lorentz- and CPT-violating Standard-Model Extension (SME) is studied. A framework is developed for addressing this topic in the context of Riemann-Cartan spacetimes, which include as limiting cases the usual Riemann and Minkowski geometries. The methodology is first illustrated in the context of the QED extension in a Riemann-Cartan background. The full SME in this background is then considered, and the leading-order terms in the SME action involving operators of mass dimension three and four are constructed. The incorporation of arbitrary Lorentz and CPT violation into general relativity and other theories of gravity based on Riemann-Cartan geometries is discussed. The dominant terms in the effective low-energy action for the gravitational sector are provided, thereby completing the formulation of the leading-order terms in the SME with gravity. Explicit Lorentz symmetry breaking is found to be incompatible with generic Riemann-Cartan geometries, but spontaneous Lorentz breaking evades this difficulty.Comment: 21 pages REVTeX, references added, accepted in Physical Review

A cross-sectional study to assess the morbidity pattern of ocular diseases in out-patient department of ophthalmology at a tertiary care hospital

Background: In developing countries like India lower socioeconomic status and lack of proper eye care are responsible for increase in the number of preventable and avoidable causes of blindness as compared to developed countries of the world. One-third of India's blind population lose their eyesight before 20 years of age. Therefore, early detection and treatment of ocular morbidity is important. The best option to reduce ocular morbidity is to bring eye care services to their doorsteps in the form of outreach programs. The aim of the study was to assess the morbidity pattern of ocular disease in the region, which will show the trend of ocular morbidities in our society and help to provide basic data for planning and provision of adequate eye care services, appropriate treatment and intervention for management of these diseases.Methods: This was a prospective and cross-sectional type of study which has been conducted in Department of Ophthalmology, Geetanjali Medical College and Hospital. For the study, total of 600 patients who attended OPD of Ophthalmology, GMCH, Udaipur have been taken in the duration of 1 year i.e. 2013-2014.Results: Out of 600 patients majority (50.67%) of the patients were found to be in the age group of 30-60 years and there was no sex preponderance as ratio of male to female was found to be 1.2:1 among the patients which shows that common eye diseases are usually not sex linked but may be linked with age. Distribution of diseases treated in OPD showed that allergic conjunctivitis (43.33%) was the most common disease followed by infective conjunctivitis (14.00%) which was found to be the second most common problem. Other common ocular diseases were anterior blepharitis (12.33%), stye or hordeolum externum (7.5%) and vernal conjunctivitis (6%).Conclusions: It has been observed that allergic conjunctivitis is the most common disease due to hot and dry environment, dust and more of pollution due to marble mining in the region. Thus this study gives the picture of morbidity pattern of ocular disease in the region which is helpful in planning and management.