Nutritional Status of Households of Rural Field Practice Area of a Tertiary Care Hospital in India

Introduction: In the world as a whole there appears to be a shift from under-nourishment towards over-nourishment making more and more children, adolescents, adults and even elderly to be overweight and obese. Objectives: Study aimed to find out the age and sex wise commonness of over-weight & obesity amongst the families of an overtly different socio-economic environment and its trend in the members of one type of families. Materials & Methods: The undergraduate medical students are supposed to maintain record of individual health (including height & weight) of their own family as well as that of the allotted family. The data collected (record maintained ) by students was utilized to calculate Body Mass Index (BMI). Results: Out of total 291 subjects (males 168; females 123) in students own family 28.9% (28.0%; 30.1%) were overweight and 5.9% (6.0%; 5.7%) were obese. The similar figures for 262 subjects (males 143 & females 119) in the allotted families were 20.2% (18.5%; 20.2%) and 6.5% (4.2%; 8.4%) respectively. The respective percentages of under nourished individuals were 18.6 (17.9; 19.5) and 35.5 (37.8; 32.8). Thus over-nutrition was more common amongst the members of students own families (34.8% vs. 26.7%) and under-nutrition was more common amongst the members of allotted families (35.5% vs. 18.6%) For the years 2000-2003, BMI amongst individuals of students own families the under-nutrition in the age group of 15-24 years amongst males increased from 15.9% to 32.9% and over-nutrition from 13.6% to 20.5%. There was no case of overweight and obesity up to the age of 34 years in the previous analysis which was 2.6% in the present analysis Previous results demonstrated overweight to be more common in males (32.4% Vs. 24.4% in females) and obesity being more common females ( 6.3% Vs. 2.6% in females). Conclusion: Males are increasingly becoming prey of malnutrition (adolescents for under-nutrition and adults & elderly for over-nutrition. More studies covering larger samples are required to be conducted on a more frequent basis

Assessment of genetic diversity among collected genotypes of Chlorophytum borivilianum using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers

Chlorophytum borivilianum (Family: Liliaceae), an important threatened medicinal herb is designated as ‘Rare’ in Red Data Book of Indian plants. Morphological as well as biochemical markers used in the authentication of herbal drugs have many limitations due to the impact of environmental conditions. Molecular markers therefore, are an important tool in quality assurance and preservation of germplasm of medicinal plant species in the plant kingdom. In this study, RAPD markers were used to assess genetic diversity in nine genotypes of C. borivilianum collected from different geographical regions of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Out of the 43 bands obtained, 26 were polymorphic, with (67.49) percent polymorphism, thus, revealing a high degree of polymorphism. Percentage of polymorphism detected with each primer was as high as 80.00 (OP L18) and as low as 33.30 (OP L12). The Jaccard’s similarity coefficient ranged from 0.609 to 0.810. The maximum similarity value was noticed between V3 and V5 genotypes collected from Lamni (C.G.) and Chitrakoot (U.P.),respectively.Keywords: Genetic diversity, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR, UPGMA, Chlorophytumborivilianum

STEROIDS IN THE TREATMENT OF CHRONIC DISEASES

Since their identification, which was almost 80 years ago, steroids have played a prominent role in the treatment of many disease states such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease. Many of the clinical roles of steroids are related to their potent anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating properties. Numerous skin diseases are successfully treated with systemic steroids. Corticosteroids, though they are lifesaving drugs, produce adverse reactions which may be mild or life threatening. Steroids have diverse effects on various systems of the body. Therefore, educational interventions among physician, patients, as well as students should be carried out to further enhance rational drug use. The purpose of this review was to identify the most commonly prescribed steroids and their side effects, basic pharmacology, complications, as well as the assessment of patient knowledge about the use of steroids in tertiary care teaching hospitals

Inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) polymorphism-based analysis of diversity in the freshwater turtle genus Pangshura

Assessment of genetic variability among the freshwater turtles is critical to the development of effective conservation strategies. In the present study, analysis of phenetic relationship of the genus Pangshura was studied using inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers to see the concordance of currently available morphological data with genetic data along with spatial pattern of distribution. Ten microsatellite-based primers amplified 156 ISSR markers among 36 individuals belonging to four turtle species Pangshura sylhetensis, Pangshura tecta, Pangshura simithii and Pangshura tentoria, collected from certain localities of Assam, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh of India. Estimations of Nei’s genetic diversity (h), Shannon’s Index (I) and Total genetic diversity (Ht) reveal the existence of greater genetic diversity in P. tentoria and P. sylhetensis than in the other two species. However, low values of gene flow (Nm) and of within sample diversity (Hs) indicate prevalence of inbreeding in these species groups. The coefficients of differentiation (GST) values divulge that divergence started in the Pangshura species. Projections on the principal components analysis (PCA) plot reflect the distinct genetic identity of these four species. The consensus Neighbour Joining dendogram depicts P. sylhetensis, P. tecta, and P. tentoria as genetically closer to each other than to P. smithii.Keywords: Differentiation, genetic diversity, inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR), Pangshura, turtleAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(3), pp. 238-24

Operating Manifold Services in Hospitals: A costly affair?

Manifold services form an important cost centre in hospitals. Most public sector hospitals do not have standard cost accounting system and therefore budget allocation is often difficult for support services such as the manifold. The study was conducted in a 1045 bedded tertiary care hospital in New Delhi, India with the objective of identifying the cost incurred in delivery of manifold services.This traditional costing exercise was conducted from 01 July to 30 Sept 2010 and included classification of costs, identification of the cost centres in the hospital, cost allocation and apportioning. Direct and indirect costs as well as capital and operational costs were calculated. The process of manifold services from delivery to the operational aspects was studied. Tender documents and supply orders were perused to arrive at expenditure on manifold gas pipeline system, equipment & accessories. Total annual cost of manifold services at the hospital was calculated to be $333,676 and per day cost was calculated to be$ 941 .Annual cost per manifold terminal unit was $207.3. The daily cost of manifold system was calculated to be$ 0.56. The annual and daily cost per bed was deduced to be $320 and$ 0.87 respectively.While manifold is a vital support service, the fact remains that it is cost intensive and underutilized and often poorly planned in terms of cost effectiveness. The focus on technology in manifold services needs to be sustained

Transfusion related acute lung injury presenting with acute dyspnoea: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Transfusion-related acute lung injury is emerging as a common cause of transfusion-related adverse events. However, awareness about this entity in the medical fraternity is low and it, consequently, remains a very under-reported and often an under-diagnosed complication of transfusion therapy.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report a case of a 46-year old woman who developed acute respiratory and hemodynamic instability following a single unit blood transfusion in the postoperative period. Investigation results were non-specific and a diagnosis of transfusion-related acute lung injury was made after excluding other possible causes of acute lung injury. She responded to symptomatic management with ventilatory and vasopressor support and recovered completely over the next 72 hours.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The diagnosis of transfusion-related acute lung injury relies on excluding other causes of acute pulmonary edema following transfusion, such as sepsis, volume overload, and cardiogenic pulmonary edema. All plasma containing blood products have been implicated in transfusion-related acute lung injury, with the majority being linked to whole blood, packed red blood cells, platelets, and fresh-frozen plasma. The pathogenesis of transfusion-related acute lung injury may be explained by a "two-hit" hypothesis, involving priming of the inflammatory machinery and then activation of this primed mechanism. Treatment is supportive, with prognosis being substantially better than for most other causes of acute lung injury.</p

Minimizing the postoperative complications of severe hypospadias using a simple technique

Background The aim of this study was to decrease complication rates in proximal hypospadias surgery.Methods A simple method of stenting using a polypropylene stent has been developed for the most severe form of hypospadias during the period from January 2008 to January 2011 in the Department of Pediatric Surgery. The total number of patients was 46. The patients were classified into group 1 (n= 23), in which a polypropylene stent was used, and group 2 (n= 23), in which a polypropylene stent was not used.Results In group 1, complications occurred in three patients (13.04%), whereas in group 2 it occurred in 12 patients (52.2%). The difference in the total number of complications between groups was highly significant (P &lt; 0.001). In group 1, no patient needed redo surgery, and in group 2 four patients (17.39%) needed redo surgery (P &lt; 0.05). All other patients responded to repeated dilatation in the follow-up.Conclusion Although the sample size was small, this simple modification can decrease the complication rate significantly in the most severe form of hypospadias. Keywords: polypropylene stent, proximal hypospadias, surgical complications, urethroplast

Saving the Greater Adjutant Stork by Changing Perceptions and Linking to Assamese Traditions in India

https://ojs.ethnobiology.org/index.php/ebl/article/view/1648https://ojs.ethnobiology.org/index.php/ebl/article/view/164

Pediatric carcinoma of rectum - Varanasi experience

Background : Primary gastrointestinal system malignancies constitute approximately 2% of pediatric neoplasm and of these; colorectal carcinoma is the second most common malignancy. This is one of the rarer diseases in children. Aim : We reviewed our records to study the clinical features, outcome and the follow-up of this condition with evaluation of the prognostic factors. Settings and Design: Tertiary care Pediatric Surgery centre. Retrospective study. Materials and Methods : The data of all patients with diagnosis of colorectal carcinoma from January 1986 to January 2006 were reviewed. The confirmation of the diagnosis was by biopsy from the lesion. The age, sex, family history, clinical features, response to the treatment and follow-up were studied. Results : There were four male patients. All had bleeding per rectum as the presenting complaint. Three patients had advanced disease at presentation. All the patients had signet cell adenocarcinoma. The two patients expired and one was lost to follow-up. One patient is alive after one year of follow up and is receiving treatment. Conclusion : Colorectal cancer in children though rare can be a reality, hence any children presenting with pain in abdomen along with doubtful history of constipation and rectal bleeding should be examined carefully with special emphasis on digital rectal examination