Analysis of reactivity pattern of venereal disease research laboratory test in a tertiary care hospital

Background: In India, sexually transmitted diseases are one of the major risk factors for acquisition of HIV and infertility. Most of the sexually transmitted diseases are asymptomatic and we rely on cytology, culture, serological evidence and sexual history to diagnose them. VDRL and TPHA are the two most important serological tests in the diagnosis of syphilis. Aim of the study was analysis of quantitative VDRL reactivity pattern and the prevalence of false positive VDRL.Methods: 7543 patient records were taken. Age, gender, and referral status were recorded. Total records of study population were divided into 2 groups. Group 1- true positive-both VDRL and TPHA Positive. Group II- False positive- VDRL positive and TPHA negative.Results: Among 7543 cases the ratio of True positive: false positive = 84:16 and in both groups males outnumbered females. In both groups, low titer VDRL took 70%. 61% of false positive cases were in the older age group.Conclusions: True positives were seen mainly in younger sexually active age group with majority having low titer VDRL (Less than 1:8) emphasizing the need for creating awareness of STDs among this age group and the need for early interventions

Linear Dermatoses: A Prospective study

INTRODUCTION : Skin is a very important and largest organ of the body. It is the only organ which is visible and is in direct contact with the environment. In the examination of the skin, the morphology of individual lesions, their overall pattern and spatial relationship to each other, and their body site distribution are helpful and provide an easily recognizable clue to a rapid visual diagnosis. Indeed, clinical diagnosis is more precise than laboratory tests in many disorders. Skin lesions present with innumerable patterns like Discoid, Petaloid, Arcuate, Annular, Polycyclic, Livedo, Reticulate, Target, Stellate, Digitate, Linear, Serpiginous, Whorled, etc. Among these patterns, Linearity is a stellar pattern which attracts the attention of patients and clinicians alike. A single lesion may assume a linear shape or a number of lesions may be arranged in a linear pattern. The mechanisms or anatomical factors dictating the Linearity are of the following groups: - Linear configurations determined by the course of blood vessels, lymphatics or nerve trunks - Linear lesions of developmental origin - Linear lesions following Dermatomal pattern - Linear lesions caused by External factors like Plants, Allergens, Chemicals, Thermal and Physical factors (includes Koebner’s phenomenon). - Linear configurations due to other determinants Most of the Linear lesions follow the Blaschko’s lines. Patients with linear lesions attending the Dermatology Out Patient Department at Govt. General Hospital comprise my study group. AIMS OF STUDY : 1. To study the Incidence of Linear Dermatoses at the Skin Out Patient Department, Government General Hospital, Madras Medical College, Chennai, during the period Sep-2004 to Sep-2006 2. To study the age and sex distribution. 3. To study the symptomatology and predisposing factors. 4. To study the various sites of distribution. 5. To study the histopathological pattern. 6. To look for other associated conditions. CONCLUSION : 1. The Incidence of Linear Dermatoses in our skin Out Patient Department, Govt. General Hospital, Madras Medical College, Chennai during the period of Sep- 2004 to Sep-2006 --- 0.32 % 2. Among the Linear Dermatoses, Lichen striatus was found to be more common 3. The other Dermatoses following Blaschko’s lines, in the descending order of frequency seen in this study were Linear Lichen Planus, Linear Verrucous Epidermal Nevus, Linear Morphoea, Linear Vitiligo, Linear Psoriasis and Linear Lichenoid Dermatitis. 4. In this study, on the whole, slight Male preponderance was noted. 5. Majority of patients showed unilateral distribution in a linear pattern, more often on the extremities. 6. The importance of histopathological correlation is very obvious. Cases which were clinically diagnosed as Lichen Striatus showed histopathological features of Psoriasis and Linear Epidermal Verrucous Nevus, ultimately changing the management in any given condition. 7. The lesions were more of a cosmetic concern in most of the cases in this study. 8. Very few associations were noted such as, cases of Lichen Planus which were associated with Becker’s Nevus, Insect bite allergy and HBs Ag sero positivity and Lichen Striatus with Xerosis, Tinea Versicolor and photosensitivity

Sexually transmitted infections among men who have sex with men: a retrospective study in a tertiary care hospital

Background: Men who have sex with Men (MSM) have a higher prevalence of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STI) than the heterosexual men. In India, NACP recommendations to reduce HIV prevalence among MSM include early detection of HIV and other STI by screening and treatment. We conducted a study of STIs among MSM attending our OPD. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of STIs in MSM attending our OPD.Methods: 1215 MSM among 9008 patients who attended our OPD between June 2015 and May 2016 were included in the study. Detailed history was taken and clinical examination carried out. Urethral discharge and urine samples were tested for Gonococcal infection. Smears from ulcers were tested for Syphilis, Chancroid, Herpes and Donovanosis. Serum samples were tested for HIV and other STIs like Syphilis and Herpes.Results: Among 1215 MSMs, 55 (4.5%) tested positive for VDRL and TPHA and 33 (2.7%) tested positive for HIV. 24 (2%) had urethritis (10 GU and 14 NGU), 15 (1.25%) had Balanophosthitis, 12 (1%) had genital herpes, 9 (0.75%) had genital scabies, 6 (0.5%) had Genital Wart and 2 (0.16%) had Molluscum contagiosum. Prevalence of these STIs were far higher in MSMs than in heterosexual men.Conclusions: This study highlights the higher prevalence of STIs among MSMs and the need for early intervention and treatment in this high-risk population

Bioactive potential of sea urchin Temnopleurus toreumaticus from Devanampattinam, Southeast coast of India

The present investigation elucidates the bioactive potential of aqueous extract of sea urchin Temnopleurus toreumaticus. In this investigation biochemical, heamolytic, cytotoxic and FT-IR analysis were followed by standard methods. In biochemical analysis, proteins content 2.70 mgmL-1, total carbohydrates content 2.15 mgmL-1 and total lipids content 0.03 mgmL-1 were showed in aqueous extract of sea urchin. In heamolytic assay, the goat and chicken erythrocytes showed the maximum 64 Hemolytic Unit (HU) and human blood group “A” shows 32 HU, blood group “B” shows 64 HU, blood group “AB” shows 32 HU and blood group “O” shows 128 HU. In cytotoxic study, aqueous extract of sea urchin showed LC50 value 0.12±0.09 mgmL-1 concentration was showed 50% mortality. In antimicrobial assay, maximum zone inhibition 12.26 ± 0.6 mm showed by K. oxytoca and 3.33 ± 0.9 mm showed by Mucor sp. against chloroform extract of sea urchin T. toreumaticus. Thin layer chromatogram showed the spots of Rf values of 0.38, 0.85 cm. The FT-IR study shows the presence of functional groups such as chloroalkanes, bromoalkanes, iodoalkanes, alcohols groups, acids or aromatic ethers, methyl alkyl groups, 1° amines groups and ammonium ions. These results indicate that, sea urchin has remarkable hemolytic and cytotoxic activities.Keywords: Antimicrobial Assay, Biochemical, FT-IR, Sea Urchin, Heamolyti

Effect of Stalling after Mismatches on the Error Catastrophe in Nonenzymatic Nucleic Acid Replication

The frequency of errors during genome replication limits the amount of functionally important information that can be passed on from generation to generation. During the origin of life, mutation rates are thought to have been quite high, raising a classic chicken-and-egg paradox: could nonenzymatic replication propagate sequences accurately enough to allow for the emergence of heritable function? Here we show that the theoretical limit on genomic information content may increase substantially as a consequence of dramatically slowed polymerization after mismatches. As a result of postmismatch stalling, accurate copies of a template tend to be completed more rapidly than mutant copies and the accurate copies can therefore begin a second round of replication more quickly. To quantify this effect, we characterized an experimental model of nonenzymatic, template-directed nucleic acid polymerization. We found that most mismatches decrease the rate of primer extension by more than 2 orders of magnitude relative to a matched (Watson-Crick) control. A chemical replication system with this property would be able to propagate sequences long enough to have function. Our study suggests that the emergence of functional sequences during the origin of life would be possible even in the face of the high intrinsic error rates of chemical replication

Effect of Magnetic Field Annealing on the Magnetostriction and Deflection Properties of CoFe2O4 Thin Films Grown by PLD

In this study, we investigate the effect of magnetic field annealing on the magnetostriction and deflection properties of polycrystalline CoFe2O4 thin films grown on Si(100) substrates by pulsed laser deposition. Prior to the field-annealing process, both structural and magnetic properties of the CoFe2O4 films were optimized through controlling the oxygen pressures from 7 to 13.3 Pa. A good combination of saturation magnetization (195 emu/cm3) and coercivity (690 Oe) was obtained for the CoFe2O4 films grown at 9.0 Pa. These films when subjected to field-annealing demonstrated improved magnetostriction (91 micro-strain) and deflection (730 nm) properties, as compared to the conventionally annealed counterparts. The observed enhancement in the magnetostriction and deflection in the CoFe2O4 films is hypothesized to both domain wall rotation and movement facilitated by the field-annealing process

Grain to Grain Epitaxy-Like Nano Structures of (Ba,Ca)(ZrTi)O3/ CoFe2O4 for Magneto–Electric Based Devices

Multiferroic nanocomposites with grain to grain epitaxy-like feature comprising of Ba0.85Ca0.15Zr0.1Ti0.9O3 (BCZT)/CoFe2O4 (CFO)/BCZT layers were deposited on Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si substrates by pulsed laser deposition. To enhance strain coupling between the phases, vertically ordered continuous nanostructures with grain to grain epitaxy-like feature was achieved by careful choice of material and optimized growth conditions. The columnar grains between the BCZT/CFO and CFO/BCZT interface were optimized such that every column grew in an epitaxy-like growth with grain-over grain crystallographic relation even at nanoscale. Grain to grain epitaxy was evident from TEM analysis (inverse FFT analysis). Elastic strain coupling present between various vibrational modes of BCZT and CFO was confirmed by cross-sectional Raman studies. Ferroelectric polarization of 10 μC/cm2 and out-of-plane remnant magnetization (40emu/cc) was observed in the columnar structure. The morphologically coherent columnar structure of both the phases and the epitaxial registry at the interface of the composite significantly enhanced the strain coupling between the ferroelectric/ferromagnetic phases, which is evident from the magneto-dielectric studies with a 21% change in dielectric constant and the magneto-electric(ME) coefficients (620-840 mV/cm·Oe). The ME values indicate the existence of high elastic strain coupling in continuous columnar structures compared with granular structures with an incoherent interface. Enhanced magneto-electric coupling in these types of nanostructures can be of great potential in realizing devices like actuators and sensors

UV Spectrophotometric Method for Determination of Cinitapride in Pure and its Solid Dosage Form

A new, rapid, precise, accurate and sensitive analytical method was developed for the UV spectrophotometric assay of cinitapride (CTP). The drug obeyed the Beer's law and showed good correlation. It showed absorption maxima at 260 nm in methanol. The linearity was observed between 5-40 µg mL-1. The results of analysis were validated by recovery studies. The recovery was more than 99%. The proposed method is the only method available for spectrophotometric determination of the drug. It is simple, precise, sensitive and reproducible and can be used for the routine quality control testing of the marketed formulations

UV Spectrophotometric Estimation of Acipimox inBulk and Capsule Dosage Form

A new simple, rapid, accurate, sensitive and precise spectrophotometric method in ultra violet region has been developed for determination of acipimox (ACX) in bulk and capsule dosage form. Acipimox exhibited maximum absorbance at 231 nm with apparent molar absorptivity of 1.5104 × 104 in distilled water. Beer’s law was found to be obeyed in the concentration range 1-10 μg mL-1. Correlation coefficient was found to be 0.9998. The developed method was validated respect to linearity, precision, accuracy. The proposed method is useful for the routine estimation of ACX in bulk and capsule dosage form