On the stranding of sperm whales at Nagapattinam,Tamil nadu coast

A whale baby female sperm whale, Physeter macrocephakis Linnaeus measuring 3.71 m and weighing about 700 kg was stranded on18th December, 1988 at Samnathanpettai near Nagapattinam . Another sperm whale was found dead and washed ashore at Vizhunthamavadi near Nagapattinam on 18th January, 1991. The stranded sperm whale was an young female of 9.70 m weighing about 5 tonnes and estimated to be around five years old

T-Lymphocyte subpopulation in tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is associated with both qualitative and quantitative defects in the cell mediated immune response. The changes that occur in the lymphocyte profile in blood in children with tuberculosis are not well understood. Design: Prospective study. Setting: Referral hospitals. Methods: Lymphocyte subpopulations were determined by flow cytometry in 17 healthy tuberculin positive children, in 22 children with newly diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis and in 8 of these children after antituberculosis therapy, Results: Absolute numbers and percentages of CD3+ and CD4+ T cells were reduced in children with tuberculosis, compared to controls. CD4+ counts increased significantly following antituberculosis treatment, compared to baseline values. In contrast, the proportion of T cells expressing the gd T cell receptor was similar in tuberculosis patients and controts. Conclusion: Children with tuberculosis have a systemic decrease in the proportion and number of CD3+ and CD4+ T cells which reverses during therapy

La cuerda dulce – a tolerability and acceptability study of a novel approach to specimen collection for diagnosis of paediatric pulmonary tuberculosis

BACKGROUND: Recent data demonstrate the utility of the string test for the diagnosis of sputum-scarce HIV-associated TB in adults. We hypothesized that, if well-tolerated by children, this simple tool might offer a breakthrough in paediatric TB diagnosis. Thus the objective of this study, undertaken in the paediatric service of the Hospital Nacional Dos de Mayo, Lima, Perú, was to determine the tolerability and acceptability of the string test to paediatric TB suspects, their parents and nursing staff. METHODS: 22 paediatric subjects aged 3–14 years (median 8) under investigation for TB were invited to undergo 2 string tests (four-hour downtime each). Subjective and objective pain and discomfort rating scales were used to assess the perception of the subject, parent and attending nurse. RESULTS: Patients as young as 4 years tolerated the procedure extremely well with 84% willing to undergo a second procedure. Peak discomfort at the time of swallowing and of string retrieval was mild (30% of maximum possible score) and brief as judged by visual analogue ratings and objective indicators. Good concordance of parent/child and objective/subjective ratings strengthened the validity of these findings. CONCLUSION: The string test is well tolerated and achievable for most paediatric TB suspects as young as 4 years. A formal prospective paediatric efficacy study is now needed

Workforce strategies and challenges faced to mitigate risk for employees during COVID 19 in a 2000 plus bedded tertiary care teaching hospital in south India

Background- Many countries have devised formulas to protect their healthcare workers and also to increase number of staff available for primary care. In present study, the strategies employed in managing healthcare human resource during COVID-19, to understand the opportunities and challenges faced during the crisis and to initiate a health policy towards handling of workforce during a pandemic were studied. Methodology: The strategies employed by the HR department for manpower deployment during the pandemic were studied. Results: There were 393 doctors, 348 post graduates and 239 interns. Doctors’ morning shift was from8 am to 2 pm, evening shift from 2 pm to 8 pm and night shift from 8 pm to 2 am. Nurses morning shift was from 7:30 am to 1:30 pm, evening shift was from 1:30pm to 7:30pm and night shift for 1st batch:  Covid patient care was from 7:30 pm to 1:30 am and for file work was from 1:30 am to 7:30 am and for 2nd batch: Covid patient care was from 1:30 am to 7:30am and for file work was from 7:30 pm to 1:30 am.&nbsp

Analysis of hospital website contents for promoting medical tourism among accredited and non-Accredited hospitals

Hospital websites act as significant marketing channels for promoting and showing medical destinations, amenities, medical personnel, and services. It is believed that the accreditation status of hospitals assures the provision of quality care and adherence to high standards of patient safety practices. Hence, a cross-sectional analysis of hospital websites is performed to examine the association between the status of accreditation and hospital website content in promoting medical tourism. The contents of 111 hospitals’ websites were coded using an ‘ad-hoc Codebook’ that has five categories of website information summing to a total of 38 items and the total evaluation scores were calculated for each hospital. The findings show a significant difference in the 3 groups of hospitals. JCI accredited hospitals displayed most of the information on their websites significantly, followed by NABH accredited hospitals. Minimum information such as accommodation/travel arrangements and photos of the facilities were predominantly displayed on the websites of non-accredited hospitals. A high percentage of hospitals need improvement in the areas of admission and medical services follow-up through phone calls, email, or real-time chats

Tracheostomal Myiasis: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

“Myiasis” is considered in Hindu mythology as “God's punishment for sinners.” It is known to infest live human or animal tissue. Literature abounds with reports of myiasis affecting the nasal cavity, ear, nonhealing ulcers, exophytic malignant growth, and cutaneous tissue. But report of myiasis of the tracheal stoma is rare. Only a few cases of tracheal myiasis have been reported in literature. We report a case of tracheostomal myiasis in an elderly male. The species which had infested the stoma was identified as Chrysomya bezziana, an obligate parasite. This is to our knowledge the first case report of an obligate parasite (Chrysomya bezziana) infestation of the tracheostoma from India