Comparative studies on haemato-biochemical changes following pre-emptive analgesia with tramadol, pentazocine lactate and meloxicam inpain management of canine ovariohysterectomy

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of tramadol, pentazocine lactate and meloxicam as pre- emptive analgesics in dogs premedicated with glycopyrrolate, inducted with propofol and maintained with propofol continuous rate infusion (CRI) for certain haematological and biochemical parameters. The animals were randomly divided into three equal groups,viz. Group-T, Group-P and Group-M comprising six animals in each group and all the animals were premedicated with glycopyrrolate. After 10 min of pre-anaesthetic administration, pre-emptive analgesia was given. Blood was collected from cephalic or saphenous vein at intervals 0 (baseline) min before premedication, thereafter at 10 min, 30 min, 1 h, 2 h and 3 h after pre-emptive analgesic administration and haemato- biochemical parameters were recorded. Hb, PCV and TEC were significantly decreased at 30 min and 1 h interval in all the three groups. TLC and glucose concentration were significantly higher in group-M as compared to group-T and group-P at different time intervals. GGT level increased significantly at 30 min in all the three groups. CRP concentration was significantly higher in group-M as compared to group-T. Total protein was significantly decreased at 1 h interval in group-T and group-P, but in group-M such finding was noticed at 2 h interval. Cortisol was significantly lower in group-T in entire study period. The alterations in physiological and haematological parameters caused by tramadol, pentazocine lactate and meloxicam were found to be minimal and within the physiological limits. Tramadol produced less significant rise in CRP and cortisol concentrations which indicated better pain management. Based on the findings of the present study, it is concluded that tramadol is more effective as compared to pentazocine lactate and meloxicam in the management of post-operative pain due to canine ovariohysterectomy

Adult immersion test for assessment of amitraz resistance in Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks

Ticks are obligate blood sucking ectoparasites recognised globally as vectors of various pathogens, next to mosquitoes. The present study is conducted on brown dog ticks collected from naturally infested dogs in and around Thrissur district. Adult immersion test was performed and the parameters such as engorged tick weight, egg mass weight as well as tick mortality were recorded to derive the reproductive indices, percentage inhibition of oviposition and percentage mortalities. Non-linear regression analysis of the dose response data yielded the LC50 values at 95% confidence intervals and, the slopes and regression coefficients of the different parameters were also derived. The Resistance factors (RF) were calculated to categorise resistance levels into I, II, III and IV. Resistance to amitraz was detected at level II in tick isolates collected from Choolissery and Mundur, at level III and level IV in isolates collected from Mannuthy and Paravattani, respectively. Two isolates collected from Mannuthy were found to be susceptible. One way ANOVA of resistance levels revealed that the resistance levels III and IV were significantly different from that of susceptible and resistance level II. This is the first report on detection of amitraz resistance levels in dog ticks from south India calling for proper implementation of tick control strategies to prevent spread of amitraz resistance

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 Delta variant replication and immune evasion

Abstract: The B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first identified in the state of Maharashtra in late 2020 and spread throughout India, outcompeting pre-existing lineages including B.1.617.1 (Kappa) and B.1.1.7 (Alpha)1. In vitro, B.1.617.2 is sixfold less sensitive to serum neutralizing antibodies from recovered individuals, and eightfold less sensitive to vaccine-elicited antibodies, compared with wild-type Wuhan-1 bearing D614G. Serum neutralizing titres against B.1.617.2 were lower in ChAdOx1 vaccinees than in BNT162b2 vaccinees. B.1.617.2 spike pseudotyped viruses exhibited compromised sensitivity to monoclonal antibodies to the receptor-binding domain and the amino-terminal domain. B.1.617.2 demonstrated higher replication efficiency than B.1.1.7 in both airway organoid and human airway epithelial systems, associated with B.1.617.2 spike being in a predominantly cleaved state compared with B.1.1.7 spike. The B.1.617.2 spike protein was able to mediate highly efficient syncytium formation that was less sensitive to inhibition by neutralizing antibody, compared with that of wild-type spike. We also observed that B.1.617.2 had higher replication and spike-mediated entry than B.1.617.1, potentially explaining the B.1.617.2 dominance. In an analysis of more than 130 SARS-CoV-2-infected health care workers across three centres in India during a period of mixed lineage circulation, we observed reduced ChAdOx1 vaccine effectiveness against B.1.617.2 relative to non-B.1.617.2, with the caveat of possible residual confounding. Compromised vaccine efficacy against the highly fit and immune-evasive B.1.617.2 Delta variant warrants continued infection control measures in the post-vaccination era

Growth Aspects, Structural and Optical Properties of 2-aminopyridinium 2,4 Dinitrophenolate Single Crystal

International audienceOrganic single crystal of 2-aminopyridinium 2,4-dinitrophenolate single crystal was grown by slow evaporation technique. The cell parameters and space group (P1) were determined from single X-ray diffraction analysis. HRXRD studies ascertained the crystalline quality. UV-Visible and PL spectral studies revealed the emission in red region, transparency (75%) cutoff wavelength around 440 nm respectively. The laser damage threshold of grown crystal was estimated by using Nd:YAG laser beam and these results were mutually related with specific heat capacity of the grown crystal. The third-order nonlinear optical parameters were estimated by Z-scan technique which is useful for optical applications

Antifungal and phytochemical studies of Eupatorium birmanicum DC.

1868-1872The isolation of coumarin, β-sitosterol and β-sitosterol-D-glucoside from the chloroform extract; and o-coumaric acid, cerebroside 1, ceramide 2, and quercetin-3-o-rutinoside 3 from the methanol extract of the leaves of Eupatorium birmanicum DC. along with the antifungal study of the chloroform and methanol extracts from the plant are reported. The structures of the isolated compounds are characterized by different spectroscopic methods

2-Aminopyridinium 2,4-dinitrophenolate

The asymmetric unit of the title organic salt, C5H7N2+·C6H3N2O5−, comprises two 2-aminopyridinium cations and two 2,4-dinitrophenolate anions. The cations are protonated at the pyridine N atoms, while the anions are deprotonated at hydroxyl O atoms. In the crystal, bifurcated N—H...O hydrogen bonds generate two R12(6), two R21(6), and one R21(4) ring motifs. Adjacent anions and cations are linked by N—H...O hydrogen bonds into infinite chains along [110]. Weak C—H...O contacts and π–π interactions further link the components, forming a complex three-dimensional supramolecular network

Dosimetric comparison of linear accelerator-based stereotactic radiosurgery systems

Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is a special radiotherapy technique used to irradiate intracranial lesions by 3-D arrangements of narrow photon beams eliminating the needs of invasive surgery. Three different tertiary collimators, namely BrainLab and Radionics circular cones and BrainLab micro multileaf collimator (mMLC), are used for linear accelerator-based SRS systems (X-Knife). Output factor (St), tissue maximum ratio (TMR) and off axis ratio (OAR) of these three SRS systems were measured using CC01 (Scanditronix/ Welhofer) and Pinpoint (PTW) cylindrical and Markus plane parallel ionization chambers as well as TLD and radiochromic film. Measurement results of CC01 and Pinpoint chambers were very close to each other which indicate that further reduction in volume and physical dimensions of cylindrical ionization chamber is not necessary for SRS/SRT dosimetry. Output factors of BrainLab and Radionics SRS cones were very close to each other while output factors of equivalent diameter mMLC field were different from SRS circular cones. TMR of the three SRS systems compared were very close to one another. OAR of Radionics cone and BrainLab mMLC were very close to each other, within 2%. However, OARs of BrainLab cone were found comparable to OARs of Radionics cone and BrainLab mMLC within maximum variation of 4%. In addition, user-measured similar data of other three mMLC X-Knives were compared with the mMLC X-Knife data measured in this work and found comparable. The concept of switching over to mMLC-based SRS/SRT is thus validated from dosimetric characteristics as well