Role of uterine artery Doppler and roll over test in prediction of pregnancy induced hypertension

Background: The objectives of the study were the role of uterine artery Doppler ultrasound and roll over test in prediction of PIH.Methods: After assessment of inclusion and exclusion criteria  54 antenatal women of 11-13 weeks of gestation selected for study in Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of JSS Hospital, Mysore and are subjected to transabdominal ultrasound for dating scan and screening of uterine artery Doppler ultrasound at 11-13 weeks and again rescanned at 21-24 weeks for uterine artery Doppler ultrasound and further followed up for Roll Over Test at 28-32 weeks of gestation for development of gestational hypertension, preeclampsia and eclampsia. The presence of early diastolic notch, increased pulsatility index and resistance index are considered to be a positive predictor of preeclampsia. A positive Roll Over test is an elevation of 20 mm of Hg or more in diastolic pressure when the woman rolls over from lateral decubitus to the supine position.Results: The primary outcome was that uterine artery Doppler ultrasound alone and combined together with roll over test shows a high specificity of 96.29% for prediction of PIH than Roll over test alone (77.77%). Positive predictive value of uterine artery study (91.68%) was higher than Roll over Test alone (64.70%) and almost equal when both uterine artery and Roll over Test are taken together (91.66%).Conclusions: From this study we concluded that uterine artery Doppler in first and second trimester is a better predictor of PIH. Combination of Roll over test and uterine artery Doppler has similar predictive value as uterine artery Doppler than Roll over test alone

A tale of two boys: case report on non-consanguineous siblings with cerebral palsy.

Cerebral palsy is a common cause of childhood disability. It has a great impact on parents and caregivers, especially when it reoccurs in the same family. Although familial cerebral palsy is relatively uncommon, cases have been reported among children from consanguineous, non-consanguineous marriages and multiple pregnancies suggesting a possible complex genetic mode of inheritance. Physicians need to be aware of the possibility of familial cerebral palsy for early detection and counseling. We describe a rare case of two male siblings from a non-consanguineous marriage affected by cerebral palsy

Contact dermatitis following use of tropical traditional medicine

Traditional or herbal medications are generally perceived as safe since it is derived from natural or plant sources. A rise in number of adverse reactions are being reported with the use of traditional medications including localized cutaneous reactions. The diagnosis of contact dermatitis is often quite straight forward based on its appearance, pattern, site and distribution of the lesion which usually corresponds to the area of contact. We report the case of a 65-year-old woman who presented with redness, burning sensation and swelling of her hand after applying topical Chinese traditional medication. This report aims to outline simple measures to identify and manage contact dermatitis secondary to topical medication. The present case creates awareness that topical traditional medications are not as harmless as previously thought to be. Precautions regarding adverse reactions are required, as those with conventional medications

SLE during pregnancy, maternal and perinatal outcome in teritary hospital

Background: SLE is an autoimmune disease most frequently found in women of child bearing age and may co­exist with pregnancy. Its multisystem involvement and therapeutic interventions pose a high risk for both the mother and the foetus. Disease flares in pregnancy pose challenges with respect to distinguishing physiologic changes related to pregnancy from disease related manifestations. The present study analyzes the fetomaternal outcome of pregnant women with SLE.Methods: An analysis of fetomaternal outcome of pregnant women with SLE during April  2015 to May 2016 at JSS hospital.Results: During the period from April 2016 to May 2016, 3773 deliveries were conducted in the department. Eleven pregnant women with SLE were followed up during this period, giving an incidence of 0.29/1000 deliveries. A high rate of lupus flare during pregnancy was found in the current study. Even among women in remission for more than six months before pregnancy, the rate of lupus flare was not low (27%). Also other complications seen were pre-eclampsia 54.54%, HELLP syndrome in 9.09% , PPH in 50%, polyserositis seen in 9.09% and one maternal death was seen (9.09%). No neonate suffered from heart-blocker however there was 75 % NICU admissions among live borns.Conclusions: Advancing technology and better understanding of the maternal-foetal relationship in lupus have improved outcomes in lupus pregnancies over the last decade. The multisystem nature of the disease, the severity of the organ involvement needs to be assessed and a multidisciplinary approach is required for its diagnosis and successful management

Advances in Plant Molecular Farming

Plant molecular farming (PMF) is a new branch of plant biotechnology, where plants are engineered to produce recombinant pharmaceutical and industrial proteins in large quantities. As an emerging subdivision of the biopharmaceutical industry, PMF is still trying to gain comparable social acceptance as the already established production systems that produce these high valued proteins in microbial, yeast, or mammalian expression systems. This article reviews the various cost-effective technologies and strategies, which are being developed to improve yield and quality of the plant-derived pharmaceuticals, thereby making plantbased production system suitable alternatives to the existing systems. It also attempts to overview the different novel plant-derived pharmaceuticals and non-pharmaceutical protein products that are at various stages of clinical development or commercialization. It then discusses the biosafety and regulatory issues, which are crucial (if strictly adhered to) to eliminating potential health and environmental risks, which in turn is necessary to earning favorable public perception, thus ensuring the success of the industr

Managing conception and pregnancy for HIV serodiscordant couple : a case report

Worldwide, there is an increasing number of people living with HIV and AIDS especially in the reproductive age group. This has a huge impact when they wish to start a family. Managing reproductive issues among serodiscordant HIV couples is complex and often presents as a challenge especially in minimizing the risk of transmission. We report a case of a HIV positive man and his seronegative wife who successfully achieve conception and deliver a healthy baby without disease transmission of HIV to mother or child. Both partners were managed with treatment where the HIV positive male partner was treated with HAART while the unaffected female partner was on PrEP and conception was achieved through intrauterine insemination (IUI). Planning of conception, the use of medications and options for conception methods will be discussed in detail

CPU card for Remote Terminal Unit of SCADA System for Traction Power Network of Railways

Abstract: SCADA stands for Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition. SCADA system is employed all over the world for effectively monitoring and controlling different utility networks. Indian Railways employs SCADA systems for monitoring and controlling the distribution of Traction Power. The systems employed were of proprietary in nature and did not have any standard specifications both with respect to protocol and hardware. Moreover, the SCADA systems from different vendors could not coexist in a given network. In view of this, Railways formulated the specifications for the SCADA systems wherein the systems should conform to SPORT protocol for data transaction and corrective action of tripping the circuit breakers in case of over load etc. In current scenario, lots of intelligence needs to be built into the Remote Terminal Unit, which requires a powerful Central Processor Unit (CPU). The objective of this paper is to present the design and development of the CPU Card for Remote Terminal Unit of SCADA system for Indian Railways. The traction power distribution network requires continuous real time monitoring and controlling of the system failing which, leads to catastrophic disasters. SCADA system helps in achieving real time monitoring. This new CPU card design meets all the high demands of the Indian Railways

Spectrum of glomerular diseases – clinico-pathologic observations from a state run tertiary care centre

Background: Renal biopsy is an accurate tool for the diagnosis of glomerular disorders. This study was done to evaluate the histo-pathological spectrum of GDs at our centre and analyze its clinico-pathological correlation.Methods: All renal biopsies performed for suspected glomerular diseases at our institute over a period of 2 years from Jan 2013 to Jan 2015 were analyzed (n= 597). Biopsies were performed under ultrasound guidance and processed for light microscopy and immunofluorescence.Results: Among the total biopsies done, 597 (69.49%) had biopsy proven GD .The mean age of the patients included was 37.96 ± 15.58 years. M:F ratio was 2.3 : 1. The most common clinical syndrome was nephrotic syndrome (44.38%). PGDs were more common than SGDs The most common GD presenting as NS was FSGS (29.8%). Among patients with nephrotic syndrome, FSGS, MCD, and MGN predominated. DN was the commonest SGD, followed by Lupus nephritis. NDRD was reported in 33 patients (5.52%).Crescentic GN was seen in 11.89% cases majority presenting as RPGN. IgAN comprised 40.42% of the immune complex crescentic GNs. Amyloidosis was diagnosed in 1.84% of biopsies.Conclusion: Histo-pathological examination with LM and IF techniques and correlation with clinical, biochemical and serological markers as done in this study, have proved useful for the accurate diagnosis of glomerular diseases. It also provides important epidemiological information towards setting up a renal biopsy registry.