Pancytopenia: etiologies and manifestation in eastern India

Background: Pancytopenia is the simultaneous presence of anemia, leucopenia and thrombocytopenia. The aetiologies causing pancytopenia varies depending upon factors e.g. age, sex, occupation, and geographical distribution. Unfortunately, the major treatises of haematology give more emphasis to Aplastic anaemia; while Megaloblastic anaemia is more common in developing countries than western world. Therefore, this Observational study was carried out over a period of two years in the Department of Medicine of Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS), BHU with the aim to identify etiologies of pancytopenia and its manifestation in eastern India.Methods: All the patients with features of anemia, thrombocytopenia or leukopenia were screened for pancytopenia and a total 214 cases were selected. A detailed physical examination, hematological and biochemical investigation was done.Results: The most common cause of pancytopenia in our study was Aplastic anemic (36.9%) followed by Megaloblastic anaemia (18.7%), Kala-azar (11.7%) and Myelodysplastic syndrome (10.5%).Conclusions: Megaloblastic anemia should be considered as important cause of Pancytopenia, especially when serum LDH level of patient is raised.

Vulvar malignant melanoma: a rare tumor with worse prognosis

Malignant melanoma, which has a highly malignant potential, is a tumor of the skin and mucosal membranes. Malignant melanomas of the female genital tract, including the vulva and vagina, are rare. Their overall prognosis is worse. A 75 year old woman presented with complaint of growth in vulvar region since 4 months. There was history of itching in vulvar region over growth. Surgery is still the best available treatment for the control and potential cure of malignant melanomas

Clinical and socio-demographic profile of substance abusing persons seeking treatment at a teaching hospital in Garhwal hills of Uttarakhand

Background: The substance abuse is gradually becoming one of the major public health issues of present day India. Many factors influence the pattern of substance abuse, including age, sex, educational level, social support, cultural factors, availability of drugs and the presence of cognitive or psychiatric problems. This study was planned to find out the clinical and socio-demographic profile of substance abusing persons.Methods: The study was conducted in the Out-patient facility of the Department of Psychiatry, Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Government Institute Of Medical Science and Research, Srinagar (Uttarakhand), starting from 23 September 2015. One hundred consecutive treatment seeking subjects fulfilling International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10), criteria for Mental and behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance use were included in the study. All the participants were required to sign an informed consent approved by the institutional ethical committee before being enrolled in the study. All the subjects included in the study were administered a self-structured proforma to elicit the clinical and socio-demographic variables.Results: One hundred patients consisting of 95 men (95%) and 05 women (05%) were included. The average age of the sample was 39.68 years (SD=11.97). As for the socio-demographic variables other than age, 87% of the patients were married, 62% patients were living in nuclear families and 66% belonged to the rural areas. 79% patients were educated up to high school and above and only 06% were illiterate. Alcohol was the most frequently abused substance seen in 78% patients followed by tobacco smoking in 58% of the study subjects. Peer Pressure was cited as the most common reason for the initiation of substance abuse by 75 (75%) patients.Conclusions: Alcohol was the most commonly abused substance. Substance abuse was higher in married, educated males from rural areas living in nuclear families

The general solutions of a functional equation related to information theory

The general solutions of a functional equation, containing two unknown functions, and related to a functional equation characterizing the Shannon entropy and the entropy of degree alpha, are obtaine

Quality of life in epilepsy

Background: The quality of life (QOL) evaluation is a relatively new measure to evaluate the outcome of epilepsy. Many factors influence the quality of life of people with epilepsy, including seizure severity, stigma, fear, and the presence of cognitive or psychiatric problems. QOL is influenced by biological factors as well as cultural, social and religious beliefs and values. This study was planned to find out the impact of epilepsy on quality of life of epileptic patients.Methods: The study was conducted in the epilepsy clinic of department of neurology at a tertiary care hospital over a period of one year.101 patients were included after fulfilling the inclusion criteria. All the patients seeking treatment in the OPD were screened, assessed and then all procedures were fully explained to them. History regarding name, age sex, socio-demographic profile and detailed history regarding seizure disorder was taken from both the patient and the reliable informant. Bengali version of QOLIE-9 was used to assess the quality of life.Results: One hundred and one patients with epilepsy consisting of 70 men (69.3%) and 31 women (30.7%) were included. Their ages ranged from 15 to 52, the mean age being 26.17 (SD = 7.84). Out of the 101 patients, 65 patients (64.4%) were suffering from partial epilepsies and 36 patients (35.6%) were suffering from generalized epilepsies. Mean QOLIE-9 total scores were 16.66, 19.74, 20.13 and 24.00 in married, widows, unmarried and separated individuals respectively. The differences in the means were statistically significant on ANOVA (p value 0.002). Mean QOLIE-9 total scores were 27.75, 19.64, 19.65, 18.14 and 18.00 in primary, secondary, higher secondary, graduate and postgraduate individuals respectively. The differences were highly significant statistically on ANOVA (p value<0.001). Frequency of seizures per month was positively correlated with QOLIE-9 total scores (Pearson Correlation 0.622) and was highly statistically significant (p value<0.001).Conclusions: Frequent seizures, lower education level and single status are associated with lower quality of life in persons with epilepsy

On a Functional Equation Related to Information Theory

The general solutions of a functional equation, without imposing anyregularity condition on the mappings appearing in it, have beenobtained. One solution of this functional equation is useful frominformation-theoretic point of view

On a sum form functional equation

The general solutions of a sum form functional equation containing two unknown mappings, without imposing any regularity condition on them, have been obtained.Publisher's Versio

Psychiatric morbidity in epilepsy

Background: Psychiatric morbidity occurs more frequently in patients with epilepsy than in the general population. Routine evaluation and treatment of psychiatric morbidity can be helpful in improving epilepsy care but such data are relatively meagre from developing countries.Methods: The study was conducted in the Epilepsy Clinic of Department of Neurology at a tertiary care hospital over a period of one year.101 patients were included after fulfilling the inclusion criteria. All the patients seeking treatment in the OPD were screened, assessed and then all procedures were fully explained to them. History regarding name, age sex, socio-demographic profile and detailed history regarding seizure disorder was taken from both the patient and the reliable informant. Bengali version of SRQ-24 was used to screen for psychiatric morbidity.Results: One hundred and one patients with epilepsy consisting of 70 men (69.3%) and 31 women (30.7%) were included. Their ages ranged from 15 to 52, the mean age being 26.17 (SD = 7.84). Out of the 101 patients, 65 patients (64.4%) were suffering from partial epilepsies and 36 patients (35.6%) were suffering from generalized epilepsies. 50.49% of the subjects screened positive for psychiatric morbidity. Psychiatric morbidity was higher in unmarried, unemployed males from rural background who were suffering from generalized epilepsy and taking multiple antiepileptic medications. Psychiatric morbidity was statistically significant in people with poor education and those born at home (p<0.05) as compared to well educated, institutionally born persons.Conclusions: 50.49% of the subjects screened positive for psychiatric morbidity