Improving Quality of Life during Androgen Deprivation Therapy in Prostate Adenocarcinoma Patients: Effect of Prescribed Clinic-Based Exercise Program

Context: The mainstay of treatment of advanced prostate adenocarcinoma is androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). ADT invariably results in a progressive loss of bone density and muscle mass and diminishing cardiopulmonary and cognitive function. Exercise is beneficial as adjuvant treatment during ADT. Aim: This study seeks to identify the benefit of prescribed exercise programs beyond routine physical activities of daily living in low‑income patients on ADT. Settings and Design: Men on ADT for 12 months who were in the remission phase of the disease were recruited for a 6 week supervised aerobic and resistive exercise program. Subjects and Methods: The effects of the prescribed exercise on muscle strength (MS), peak expiratory flow rate ( PEFR), maximum  oxygen uptake (MOU) and brief fatigue inventory (BFI) were assessed. 10R max test was deployed for MS while the modified Young Men Christian Association protocol for bicycle ergometer was used for PEFR and MOU. All measures were taken pre‑ and post‑intervention with a check for adverse events at week 3. Statistical Analysis Used: Simple frequency in SPSS version 21 was used. Results: Only 5 of 34 recruited subjects completed the study. There was 34.0% improvement in MOU, 34.9% improvement in PEFR, 130.0% increase in exercise duration, and 29.2% reduction in reported BFI. Improvement in parameters was more among those that had lower values at recruitment. Compliance with exercise prescription was a major challenge. All participants reported improvement in activities of daily living. Conclusions: Prescribed aerobic and resistive exercise program is beneficial during ADT for prostate adenocarcinoma. Those with poorer reserves tend to benefit more. Keywords: Androgen deprivation therapy, muscle strength, peak exploratory flow rate, prescribed exercise, prostate adenocarcinom

Effect of Combined Intake of Garcinia Kola and Ascorbic Acid on Intraocular Pressure of Normotensive Nigerians.

This study was carried out to determine the effect of combined intake of Garcinia kola and Ascorbic acid on Intraocular pressure (IOP) of normotensive Nigerians. A total of one hundred and sixty (n= 160) parcipants, males, and females within the age range of 18-50 years (Mean age = 29.29± 8.74) were used for this study. The participants were randomly assigned to four groups: A, B, C, D (n=40 in each group). About 500mg of Ascorbic acid only was administered to subjects in Group A; 7.4g of Garcinia kola only was administered to subjects in Group B; combined 7.4g of Garcinia kola and 500mg of Ascorbic acid was administered to subjects in group C, while 100ml of water was administered to Group D to serve as a control. The IOP of each subject was measured with a Tonopen Tonometer pre and post ingestions of the assigned treatment at 30 minutes interval for 120 minutes. The findings showed a statistically significant reduction (p< 0.05) in mean IOP from baseline values in groups A, B, and C at 60minutes and 90 minutes post administration of assigned treatment, with peak reducon at 60 minutes. The percentage change in mean IOP at 60 minutes in Groups A, B, C were 6.76%, 15.07%, 23.04% respectively. This change was statistically significant (p<0.05) in the three groups, with group C recording the highest reduction in mean IOP. There was, however, an increase in mean IOP towards baseline after 60 minutes. Group D recorded no statistically significant change in mean IOP. The reduction in mean IOP recorded in group C was statistically significant at all times of assessment post ingeson. (P<0.005). It was concluded from this study that combined intake of Garcinia kola and Ascorbic acid had a greater effect on IOP than Garcinia kola or Ascorbic acid alone. However, this effect was transient, since the reduction was not sustained after 60 minutes of ingestion. This may form the basis for the development of affordable medicine for lowering IOP.Keywords: Garcinia kola, Ascorbic acid, intraocular pressure, tonometer

Rare occurrence of the Torpedo shrimp

Torpedo shrimps Kishinouyepenaeopsis maxillipedo (synonym of Parapenaeopsis maxillipedo) occur along the Indo-West Pacific, Sri Lanka, Malaya and Australia. In India, K. maxillipedo has been reported from Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andaman Islands and recently from Kerala. On 8th July 2019 seven specimens of Torpedo shrimps were found in the gill net catch at Vizhinjam, Thiruvananthapuram district, on the south west coast of Keral

महाराष्ट्र की डोल जाल मात्स्यिकी

महाराष्ट्र की डोल जाल मात्स्यिक

New distributional record of spiny lobster Panulirus longipes longipes

Among the known species of spiny lobsters in India, Panulirus longipes longipes is striking due to its colorful appearance. Globally, fishery of this species is of low volume distributed along eastern Africa to Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia and India. Purely marine inhabiting up to a depth of 130 m it is mostly found within 18 m depth along shallow coral reefs or rocky sea bottom. Live lobsters of this species occasionally exported from the Philippines and Indonesi

Towards a standardised informed consent procedure for live donor nephrectomy:the PRINCE (Process of Informed Consent Evaluation) project-study protocol for a nationwide prospective cohort study

Introduction: Informed consent is mandatory for all (surgical) procedures, but it is even more important when it comes to living kidney donors undergoing surgery for the benefit of others. Donor education, leading to informed consent, needs to be carried out according to certain standards. Informed consent procedures for live donor nephrectomy vary per centre, and even per individual healthcare professional. The basis for a standardised, uniform surgical informed consent procedure for live donor nephrectomy can be created by assessing what information donors need to hear to prepare them for the operation and convalescence. Methods and analysis: The PRINCE (Process of Informed Consent Evaluation) project is a prospective, multicentre cohort study, to be carried out in all eight Dutch kidney transplant centres. Donor knowledge of the procedure and postoperative course will be evaluated by means of pop quizzes. A baseline cohort (prior to receiving any information from a member of the transplant team in one of the transplant centres) will be compared with a control group, the members of which receive the pop quiz on the day of admission for donor nephrectomy. Donor satisfaction will be evaluated for all donors who completed the admission pop-quiz. The primary end point is donor knowledge. In addition, those elements that have to be included in the standardised format informed consent procedure will be identified. Secondary end points are donor satisfaction, current informed consent practices in the different centres (eg, how many visits, which personnel, what kind of information is disclosed, in which format, etc) and correlation of donor knowledge with surgeons' estimation thereof. Ethics and dissemination: Approval for this study was obtained from the medical ethical committee of the Erasmus MC, University Medical Center, Rotterdam, on 18 February 2015. Secondary approval has been obtained from the local ethics committees in six participating centres. Approval in the last centre has been sought. Results: Outcome will be published in a scientific journal

Value of risk scores in the decision to palliate patients with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm

Background: The aim of this study was to develop a 48-h mortality risk score, which included morphology data, for patients with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm presenting to an emergency department, and to assess its predictive accuracy and clinical effectiveness in triaging patients to immediate aneurysm repair, transfer or palliative care. Methods: Data from patients in the IMPROVE (Immediate Management of the Patient With Ruptured Aneurysm: Open Versus Endovascular Repair) randomized trial were used to develop the risk score. Variables considered included age, sex, haemodynamic markers and aortic morphology. Backwards selection was used to identify relevant predictors. Predictive performance was assessed using calibration plots and the C-statistic. Validation of the newly developed and other previously published scores was conducted in four external populations. The net benefit of treating patients based on a risk threshold compared with treating none was quantified. Results: Data from 536 patients in the IMPROVE trial were included. The final variables retained were age, sex, haemoglobin level, serum creatinine level, systolic BP, aortic neck length and angle, and acute myocardial ischaemia. The discrimination of the score for 48-h mortality in the IMPROVE data was reasonable (C-statistic 0·710, 95 per cent c.i. 0·659 to 0·760), but varied in external populations (from 0·652 to 0·761). The new score outperformed other published risk scores in some, but not all, populations. An 8 (95 per cent c.i. 5 to 11) per cent improvement in the C-statistic was estimated compared with using age alone. Conclusion: The assessed risk scores did not have sufficient accuracy to enable potentially life-saving decisions to be made regarding intervention. Focus should therefore shift to offering repair to more patients and reducing non-intervention rates, while respecting the wishes of the patient and family