Integrating physician’s and patient’s interest before judging the efficiency of a diagnostic test

Background: Customarily, physicians utilize an efficient diagnostic test before confirming the illness to start a treatment procedure. In this process, physician’s seeks maximum possible sensitivity  and specificity. On the contrary, patient wants maximum attainable positive and negative predictive values. A duality exists between both vital patient’s and physician’s interest and it helps to judge whether a diagnostic is superior.Methods: This article integrates physician’s and patient’s interest in a novel manner to judge a diagnostic test is efficient. This approach is seen to be optimal, according to illustrations.Results: The results based on expressions of this article in data on rotavirus, mammogram, post-surgery infection, opinion of two independent nurses about ear infection, whether a surgery contained cancer cells, whether a second surgery rectifies ruptures in breast gels, and whether the elder’s fall due to medications they consumed are all convincing that the integration works well.Conclusions: The new integrated metric, , susceptibility index, excessive risk, calibration index, and phi-coefficients of this article are supportive to that both the physician’s and patient’s interest together identify a superior diagnostic test

IMPACT OF CALORIC VESTIBULAR STIMULATION ON CO-ORDINATION IN PARKINSON DISEASE INDUCED MICE

Objective: This study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of vestibular stimulation on motor coordination in Parkinson’s disease (PD) induced mice. Methods: 18 healthy adult male Swiss albino mice were used in this study. Vestibule was stimulated by caloric vestibular stimulation (CVS). Pesticide Rotenone was used to induce Parkinson’s disease (PD). Motor coordination was assessed by the fall-off time and the activity score using the rotarod and actophotometer, respectively. Results: In the rotarod test, there was a significant increase in the fall-off time (p<0.01) in the CVS PD group (131.63±18.34) on the 30th day when compared to the PD group (95.33±15.17). In the actophotometer, the activity score improved in the PD CVS group on the 15 (235±47.09) and 30th days (251.38±25.76), while there was no improvement in the PD group. This shows the significant effect of caloric vestibular stimulation on motor coordination in Parkinson’s disease. Conclusion: This study confirms that caloric vestibular stimulation with hot water resulted in the improvement of motor coordination in PD. Hence this study certainly merits further studies with a higher sample size to confirm the effect of caloric vestibular stimulation on the enhancement of motor coordination in individuals with Parkinson’s disease

Pathological study of non-neoplastic skin lesions by punch biopsy

Background: Accurate diagnosis of skin disorders is of utmost importance as treatment is varied for different skin disorders presenting with the similar clinical lesions. Thus biopsy becomes inevitable in various skin disorders to confirm diagnosis and initiate treatment. The present study was to analyse the age and sex distribution of dermatological disorders presenting to Bhaskar Medical College & Hospital (tertiary care centre), Telangana and assess their histo-pathological profile. The objective was to analyse the histo-pathological profile of skin disorders presenting to the Dermatology department of the hospital, determine the age and sex distribution of various skin diseases and to classify the most common disorders into their subtypes and thus assess the most common subtypes prevalent in the surrounding community.Methods: This was a prospective study carried out at the department of Pathology and department of Dermatology, Bhaskar Medical College & Hospital for a period of three years. Necessary clinical details were obtained in a proforma, punch biopsy taken and sent to the histopathology section for final report. Formalin fixed, paraffin embedded sections were prepared & slides were routinely stained with H & E and special stains applied wherever necessary. Data obtained was tabulated and analysed.Results: Total number of cases analysed were 92. The age group of 21-30 years constituted 31.5% of the total cases. There was a male predominance. Hyperpigmented patch/plaque was the most common clinical lesion (36.9%). Lichenoid lesions was the most common histopathological diagnosis reported (26%) followed by Hansen’s disease(23.9%). Lichen planus was the most common histopathological subtype of lichenoid lesion s(58.3%).

Fine-needle aspiration to improve diagnosis of melioidosis of the head and neck in children: a study from Sarawak, Malaysia

Melioidosis, the infection caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei, is associated with a high case fatality rate, due in part to difficulties in clinical recognition and diagnostic confirmation of the disease. Although head and neck involvement is common in children, specific disease manifestations differ between geographic regions. The aim of this study was to provide a detailed description of melioidosis of the head and neck among children in Sarawak, Malaysia, and determine if fine-needle aspiration of suspected head or neck lesions could improve melioidosis diagnosis. Methods We conducted a retrospective descriptive study of all children aged < 12 years with culture-confirmed melioidosis presenting with head and neck manifestations and admitted to Bintulu Hospital in Sarawak, Malaysia, from January 2011 until December 2020. Fine-needle aspiration of head and neck lesions suspected to be due to melioidosis with inoculation in blood culture bottles (FNA + BCB) was used from the beginning of 2016. Results Of 34 children with culture-confirmed melioidosis, 20 (59%) had an infection involving one or more sites in the head and neck. Of these, 17 (85%) were diagnosed in or after 2016. Cervical lymph nodes were the most common organ or site affected, involved in 19 (95%) children. Clinical presentations of B. pseudomallei lymph node infections were highly variable. Five (25%) children had salivary gland involvement. Lacrimal gland involvement (dacryocystitis) and skin or soft tissue infection (scalp abscess) were less frequent. B. pseudomallei was isolated from the head or neck using FNA + BCB in 15 (75%) children and by standard culture methods of direct plating of pus on agar following incision and drainage in only 2 (10%) children. B. pseudomallei was isolated from non-head or neck specimens or blood in 3 (15%) children. Conclusions Manifestations of pediatric head and neck melioidosis in Sarawak, Malaysia, differ from those of other regions. Fine-needle aspiration, mainly of affected cervical lymph nodes, facilitates B. pseudomallei detection and enables confirmation of melioidosis infections

The apicomplexan plastid and its evolution

Protistan species belonging to the phylum Apicomplexa have a non-photosynthetic secondary plastid—the apicoplast. Although its tiny genome and even the entire nuclear genome has been sequenced for several organisms bearing the organelle, the reason for its existence remains largely obscure. Some of the functions of the apicoplast, including housekeeping ones, are significantly different from those of other plastids, possibly due to the organelle’s unique symbiotic origin

Screeing carnation and gladiolus cultivars for vascular wilt resistance.

Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus Linn.)and gladiolus(Gladiolus hortulanus L.H. Bailey)are important commercial cut flower crops,which suffer substantial losses during cultivation and storage by several diseases. Vascular wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. dianthi (FOD)(Prill. & Delacr.) Snyd.& Hans and Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. gladioli(FOG) (Massey) Synd.& Hans in carnation and gladiolus, respectively, inflict heavy crop damage, leading to deterioration in quality and quantity of the marketable blooms and planting material.Disease incidence ranging from 7 to 64% has been reported in Himachal Pradesh due to Fusarium in gladiolus (4,5). Though effective chemical control of these diseases, these are not economical to the farmers. Hence, a better way of managing these diseases is through host resistance. Screening cultivars is important to select those suitable for pathogen resistance and to indentify the presence of resistance-related genes

EFFECT OF VESTIBULAR STIMULATION ON BEHAVIORAL CHANGES IN PARKINSON DISEASE-INDUCED MICE

Objective: This prospective study was conducted to provide an authoritative database for beneficial effects of vestibular stimulation, a simple non-invasive method to alleviate the behavioral changes in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Methods: Vestibule is stimulated by caloric vestibular stimulation (CVS). Pesticide Rotenone is used to induce PD. Open field test and elevated plus maze were used to access learning, memory, and behavior. Results: Behavioral scores were taken before and after stimulation of the vestibular system. The scores were significantly different between rotenone-induced PD, control, and hot water vestibular stimulation groups (p&lt;0.05). Conclusion: This study categorically confirms that CVS with hot water causes behavioral changes in PD. This study certainly merits further studies with higher sample sizes to confirm the effect of CVS for enhancement of learning, memory, and behavior in patients with Parkinsonism

Modelling Approach for the Prediction of Machinability in Al6061 Composites by Electrical Discharge Machining

This work aims to identify the pattern for the major output parameters, material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (Ra) of different combinations of Al6061-based composites. Based on the verification carried out on these patterns using analysis of variance (ANOVA) as the mathematical tool, the work predicts the mentioned output characteristics while machining Al6061 composites of different material compositions based on their hardness values. ANOVA was employed for the generation of equations of the particular composite. The equations were compared for the coefficients of each parameter employed in ANOVA. The work was carried out comparing the characteristic equation of different combinations of Al6061-based composite. The results indicate that the coefficients of the current show a drastic variation when compared to other coefficients for both the output parameters. It was observed that the current and its coefficients contribute to the output parameters based on the variation in hardness. For surface roughness, the constant of the characteristic equation was also found to influence the parameter for the change in hardness. The equation derived for both material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (Ra) were identified to be matching with the experimental result carried out for validation. The average variation observed was 9.3% for MRR and 7.2% for surface roughness