Rising trends of caesarean section: a retrospective study

Background: The indications of Caesarean Section (CS) have been changing over time, along with a visible, much talked about rise in the rate. Without a doubt, C-sections can effectively prevent maternal and perinatal mortality when done for a medical indication. However, little is researched about the extent of maternal indications and the fetal outcomes of C-sections.Methods: Data of January to March 2012 and January to March 2017 was obtained by detailed study of the patient files from the Medical Records Department of the hospital. A predesigned proforma was used to record the relevant information. Data was analysed using standard statistical methods.Results: Cephalo pelvic disproportion (CPD) and fetal distress (FD) remained the major causes of CS in both the groups, being 50.4% in group2012 and 60.5% in group2017. Trends of CS due to maternal demand and tubal ligations are emerging. Though the rise in CS was not significant in the 5 year period having gone up from 45.41% to 48.81%, there was significant increase in deliveries without complications, having jumped up from 74.8% to 88.3%.Conclusions: As per the study, there was non-significant rise in the incidence of C-sections in the time period of study. Major contributory factors observed were CPD and FD, in which it is imperative to perform C-sections

Newer Root Canal Irrigants in Horizon: A Review

Sodium hypochloride is the most commonly used endodontic irrigant, despite limitations. None of the presently available root canal irrigants satisfy the requirements of ideal root canal irrigant. Newer root canal irrigants are studied for potential replacement of sodium hypochloride. This article reviews the potential irrigants with their advantages and limitations with their future in endodontic irrigation

The role of modified biophysical profile in predicting perinatal outcome in high risk pregnancies

Background: The goal of antepartum fetal surveillance is early identification of the compromised fetus and timely intervention when the fetus is at risk, but still in an uncompromised state. Modified Biophysical Profile (MBPP) includes Amniotic Fluid Index (AFI) and non stress test (NST). AFI is a marker of long term placental function and NST is a marker of short term fetal condition. The aim of this study is to assess the role of Modified Biophysical Profile in high risk pregnancies and assess perinatal outcome and to study the impact of NST and AFI individually in high risk pregnancies.Methods: 100 ANC patients with high risk factors were evaluated with modified biophysical profile 37 week onwards with non stress test (NST) for 20 mins and amniotic fluid index (AFI) with 4 quadrant technique. High risk pregnancies include preeclampsia, IUGR, oligohydramnios, postdated pregnancy, etc. and various parameters were assessed to determine perinatal and maternal morbidity. All parameters were statistically analyzed.Results: The above study states that need for LSCS, intrapartum fetal distress, meconium stained liquor, APGAR score, need for neonatal resuscitation and perinatal morbidity were definitely higher in cases with abnormal MBPP.Conclusions: Thus MBPP is an easy, cost effective and time saving measure and hence can be used as a primary antepartum fetal surveillance test to predict perinatal outcome and provide timely intervention in high risk pregnancies

Detection of Mesiobuccal Canal in Maxillary Molars and Distolingual Canal in Mandibular Molars by Dental CT: A Retrospective Study of 100 Cases

Objective. To detect presence of MB2 canal in maxillary molars and distolingual canal in mandibular molars by Dental CT. Material and Methods. A retrospective study of 100 Dental CTs was done. Axial and paraxial images obtained were used to assess the presence of MB2 canal in maxillary molars and distolingual canal in mandibular molars. Results. The youngest patient was of 11 years while the eldest patient was of 77 years. Males were 58 in number and females were 42 in number. MB2 canals were present in 57 patients and distolingual canal was present in 18 patients. Maximum MB2 canals were present in age group between 51 and 60 years, while distolingual canals were present in age group of 21–30 years. Conclusion. Dental CT allows adequate visualization of variation in root canal morphology and can be important diagnostic tool for successful endodontic therapy

IMAGE FORGERY DETECTION USING DYADIC WAVELET TRANSFORM

In this paper, we propose a blind copy move image forgery detection method using dyadic wavelet transform (DyWT). DyWT is shift invariant and therefore more suitable than discrete wavelet transform (DWT) for data analysis. First we decompose the input image into approximation (LL1) and detail (HH1) subbands. Then we divide LL1 and HH1 subbands into overlapping blocks and measure the similarity between blocks. The key idea is that the similarity between the copied and moved blocks from the LL1 subband should be high, while the one from the HH1 subband should be low due to noise inconsistency in the moved block. We sort pairs of blocks based on high similarity using the LL1 subband and high dissimilarity using the HH1 subband. Using thresholding, we obtain matched pairs from the sorted list as copied and moved blocks. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method over competitive methods using DWT and the LL1 or HH1 subbands only

A comparative study of azelastine, cromolyn and olopatadine ophthalmic solution in vernal keratoconjunctivitis in a tertiary care hospital-open label parallel group study design

Background: Vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC) is a chronic, bilateral, external ocular inflammatory disease primarily affecting young boys living in warm, dry climates with seasonal variations. The disease causes lot of discomfort to the patient and sometimes can predispose to serious problems like shield ulceration and keratoconus. A number of drugs are used in the management of the condition, with variable results. The aims and objectives of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of the drugs, cromolyn sodium, azelastine and olopatadine ophthalmic solutions in the treatment of VKC.Methods: Sixty patients of VKC were studied over a period of 6 weeks. They were divided into 3 groups randomly to receive one of the drugs under study. Symptoms and signs were recorded after detailed questioning and examination according to modified criterion of Tabbara and Arafat.Results: There was significant reduction in the mean itching scores with olopatadine as compared to cromolyn sodium and azelastine (p<0.05). Olopatadine significantly decreased mean lacrimation scores as compared to cromolyn sodium and azelastine (p<0.005). Olopatadine, cromolyn and azelastine showed significant reduction of corneal stippling, but no drug was significantly better than the other. Both cromolyn and olopatadine showed reduction of limbal edema equally (p<0.05), olopatadine reduced limbal edema more significantly as compared to azelastine (p<0.05).Conclusions: All the three drugs were found to be safe in the treatment of VKC. Olopatadine may be preferred over the other two drugs since it reduced both itching and discharge most significantly

Role of Fluid Dynamics in Cardiac Blast Effect – A Case Report

Background: A large variety of injuries is sustained during vehicular accidents. Blunt cardiac injury (BCI) encompasses a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations, ranging from cardiac concussion to cardiac rupture.  Apart from the usual blunt injuries, an uncommon type is the compression injuries of the chest.  Such compression results not only in direct damage to the solid organs but also results in blast injury of fluid filled organs due to the variations  in the intraluminal pressure, in accordance with laws of fluid dynamics.Case Report: Here is a rare and interesting case of such nature, in which tangential force over the chest resulted in the massive rise of intraluminal pressure in the ventricles leading to burst of chambers resulting in death.Conclusion: In this article, we have tried to explain the various factors resulting in bursting of the fluid filled organs and their relations with fluid dynamics

A COMPARATIVE ANTIBACTERIAL STUDY OF IXORA COCCINEA L. PLANTS WITH RED, ORANGE, PINK AND WHITE FLOWERS

Eradication of pathogenic bacterial infection is the most effective means of curing several diseases and preventingrecurrent episodes. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the comparative antibacterial activity of Ixora coccinea L.plants with red, orange, pink and white flowers against tested bacteria Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis,Klebsiella pneumoniae. Both the methanolic and aqueous extracts of all four types of flowers exhibited considerable antibacterialactivities against bacteria. The methanolic extracts of red and pink flowers exhibited high antibacterial activity whereas orangeflowers showed moderate activity while white flowers showed low activity. The aqueous extracts displayed less inhibitory effectscompared to the methanolic extracts. The aqueous extracts of red and pink flowers showed considerable high antibacterialactivity compared to orange and white flowers. The preliminary phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids,glycosides, steroids, carbohydrates, flavonoids and tannins

Cost analysis of critical patient care at a pediatric intensive care unit of a tertiary care public hospital in an urban metropolis of India

Background: The cost of critical care is widely recognized as being high. However, it remains a challenge to accurately assess the cost of intensive care due to a lack of standardized methodology. There is also considerable heterogeneity with regard to allocation of resources and distribution of critical care services.Methods: We conducted a prospective study to analyse diagnosis-based costs of paediatric patient care at a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) in a public hospital in Mumbai on the basis of identified cost components; direct (fixed and variable) and indirect costs.Results: Out of 167 (102 boys, 61%) patients enrolled, 65 (39%) were aged 1-7 months. They spent an average of 4±1.46 bed days in the PICU. The cost of direct fixed components (salaries, capital equipment, disposables) was Rs. 64,48,200 for six months. The maximum cost of direct variable components spent by the hospital (physiotherapy intervention, expert opinion, investigations, medicines, blood products, piped gases) amounted to Rs. 548.63/patient/day for treatment of non-infectious diseases. Cost of indirect components (building maintenance) was Rs. 12,500/six months. Linear regression analysis showed 83-99.99% dependency of treatment cost to diagnosis and bed days. The average cost of treatment of infectious and non-infectious diagnoses/patient/day spent by the hospital was Rs. 260 and Rs. 548.63 respectively as compared to Rs. 169.96 and Rs. 356.21 spent by the patients.Conclusions: Our study showed that majority of the treatment costs depended on the diagnosis and number of bed days of the patients. Also being a tertiary care public hospital, 60% of the treatment costs were borne by the hospital. Thus, our study attempts to quantify, in financial terms, the expenditure involved in running a paediatric ICU in a tertiary care public hospital so as to assist doctors and healthcare decision makers in the allocation of resources

Idiopathic Gingival Fibromatosis: Case Report and Its Management

Idiopathic gingival fibromatosis is a rare condition. We present a case of idiopathic gingival fibromatosis with its multidisciplinary approach of management. The clinical, radiographic, and histopathological features have been described in detail