EVALUATING RISK FACTORS, CLINICAL AND THERAPEUTIC PROFILE OF STROKE PATIENTS PRESENTING TO A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Objective: According to the World Health Organization, stroke is the second leading cause of death for people above the age of 60 years, and the fifth leading cause in people aged 15–59 years old. This study mainly aims to evaluate the prevalence of risk factors, clinical features, pattern of drugs prescribed, and severity of stroke among patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in a tertiary care teaching hospital on 210 patients for a period of 6 months. Patients aged 18 years and above were included in the study. The severity of stroke was assessed using National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). Results: The majority of the patients were under the age group of 61–70 years (31%). The incidence of ischemic stroke (81%) was more common compared to hemorrhagic stroke (19%). Males (66%) are prone to stroke compared to females (34%). The most common risk factor was hyperlipidemia (29%) followed by hypertension (17%). Antihypertensives (28%) were most commonly used drugs followed by antihyperlipidemics (23%). Most of the prescriptions were prescribed with 4–6 drugs per prescription (62%). Moderate stroke (69%) was most commonly observed in patients. A total of 147 drug-drug interactions were observed. Among 147 drug-drug interaction, the most commonly observed drug-drug interaction was aspirin with metformin (15%). Conclusion: The present study emphasizes on the need to identify risk factors and providing awareness among the patients by a pharmacist in minimizing the disease burden. Early identification of risk factors and pattern of therapy based on therapeutic guidelines plays a crucial role in qualitative patient care

Fabrication and Characterization of Electrospun Poly(acrylonitrile-co-Methyl Acrylate)/Lignin Nanofibers: Effects of Lignin Type and Total Polymer Concentration

Lignin macromolecules are potential precursor materials for producing electrospun nanofibers for composite applications. However, little is known about the effect of lignin type and blend ratios with synthetic polymers. This study analyzed blends of poly(acrylonitrile-co-methyl acrylate) (PAN-MA) with two types of commercially available lignin, low sulfonate (LSL) and alkali, kraft lignin (AL), in DMF solvent. The electrospinning and polymer blend solution conditions were optimized to produce thermally stable, smooth lignin-based nanofibers with total polymer content of up to 20 wt % in solution and a 50/50 blend weight ratio. Microscopy studies revealed that AL blends possess good solubility, miscibility, and dispersibility compared to LSL blends. Despite the lignin content or type, rheological studies demonstrated that PAN-MA concentration in solution dictated the blend’s viscosity. Smooth electrospun nanofibers were fabricated using AL depending upon the total polymer content and blend ratio. AL’s addition to PAN-MA did not affect the glass transition or degradation temperatures of the nanofibers compared to neat PAN-MA. We confirmed the presence of each lignin type within PAN-MA nanofibers through infrared spectroscopy. PAN-MA/AL nanofibers possessed similar morphological and thermal properties as PAN-MA; thus, these lignin-based nanofibers can replace PAN in future applications, including production of carbon fibers and supercapacitors

Disseminated Cryptococcosis in an Immunocompetent Patient: A Case Report

Cryptococcus neoformans is ubiquitous encapsulated yeast found throughout the world. It predominantly causes significant infections in immunocompromised individuals, of which 80–90% occur in people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Disseminated cryptococcal infection is uncommon and almost always occurs in HIV-infected patients. Disseminated disease, especially noncutaneous cryptococcal abscess in immunocompetent hosts, is exceedingly rare. We report a case of disseminated cryptococcosis with soft tissue, pulmonary, and cerebral involvement in an otherwise healthy immunocompetent patient initially diagnosed by fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC)

Fine needle aspiration diagnosis of cryptococcal lymphadenitis: A window of opportunity

Cryptococcal meningitis is the most common, life-threatening, opportunistic, fungal disease in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals. An expeditious diagnosis is of utmost importance because once a cryptococcal infection disseminates, it becomes life-threatening. Pulmonary, intestinal, bone marrow, and retinal involvement have been described. There are very few reports, however, of lymphadenopathy along with cryptococcal meningitis. We report here a case of cryptococcal meningitis with lymphadenitis, which was diagnosed by fine needle aspiration cytology of the involved lymph nodes

Fine needle aspiration cytology of solitary fibrous tumor of the orbit

Solitary fibrous tumor (SFT) is a distinct and a rare spindle cell neoplasm, commonly known to occur in the pleura and other serosal sites. With the advent of immunohistochemistry, varied extraserosal sites are being recognized as common locations for this rare tumor. We report a case of SFT in a 50-year-old male patient who presented with multiple swellings in the eyelid, with emphasis on the cytological features

Significance-Driven Logic Compression for Energy Efficient Multiplier Design

Approximate Arithmetic is a new design paradigm that is being used in many applications which are tolerant to imprecision and do not require accurate results. It can reduce circuit complexity, delay and energy consumption by relaxing accuracy requirements. The partial product bit matrix can be reduced based on their progressive bit significance using a Significance Driven Logic Compression(SDLC) approach. Further, the complexity of the approximate multiplier can be reduced by using Approximate adders in place of exact adders in the accumulation method. Removing some of the transistors from an accurate adder will result in an approximate adder. By using approximate adders which have less number of transistors, the power, propagation delay, and the switching capacitance can be reduced. In this paper, approximate multipliers are implemented using different approximate adders and they are compared with an exact multiplier in terms of power, delay and energy savings