Acute phase reactants and lipid profile in acute chest pain presentations: a multimarker approach

Background: Cardiovascular diseases cause more deaths and disability and incur greater economic cost than any other illness in the world. Our objective is to study the biological activity and evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic values of acute phase reactants, high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and ferritin in association with traditional lipid profile, in screening subjects who developed chest pain due to cardiac event as indicated by a positive cardiac troponin I (cTnI) test.Methods: In this hospital-based prospective study, a total of 150 cases (n=150), presented consecutively to the emergency department with symptoms of cardiac ischemia and tested positive for troponin I (enzyme-linked flourescent assay), were compared with an equal number of age and gender matched healthy controls (n=150) for hsCRP (immunoturbidimetric assay), ferritin (immunoturbidimetric assay) and lipid profile (enzymatic colorimetric assay).Results: Median serum hsCRP levels were 2.12 mg/L)±1.79 mg/L) than controls (2.82±significantly elevated in cases (3.57 (p0.05) different between the two groups.Conclusions: hsCRP and ferritin are independent novel predictors for cardiovascular risks and events. Lipid profile demonstrates low specificity in such cases.

Variation in carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, augmentation pressure and augmentation index during different phases of menstrual cycle: Indicators of arterial stiffness during phases of menstrual cycle

Physiological variation of estrogen and progesterone during menstrual cycle is well known.  They not only have an effect on blood pressure control, but also seem to have a role in regulating arterial compliance. This study was done to find out whether there are any changes in central arterial parameters during different phases of menstrual cycle. Thirty female  subjects  in the  age  group  of  18-22  years  with  normal,  regular menstrual  cycles  participated in this prospective observational study at our teaching hospital. Anthropometric parameters were recorded.  Blood pressure in all 4 limbs was recorded using cardiovascular risk analyzer-Periscope™ on Day 3rd to 5th (follicular phase), Day 12th to 14th (ovulation phase), Day 22nd to 24th (luteal phase) of their menstrual cycle. We collected blood samples during these three phases for estimation of estradiol and progesterone by ELISA technique. Analysis of variance and correlation statistics were done using SPSS 17.0 statistical software. No significant statistical changes were observed in systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure, pulse pressure, aortic systolic pressure, aortic diastolic pressure, aortic augmentation pressure, aortic index and pulse wave velocity during the three recorded phases of the menstrual cycle. There are many studies which correlate changes in peripheral artery blood pressure with different phases of menstrual cycle. But there is scarcity in data available which correlates central arterial pressures and arterial stiffness with natural hormonal variations in different phases of menstrual cycle. However, our results show that although there are subtle changes in blood pressure parameters along with estrogen and progesterone levels throughout the menstrual cycle, yet these were not statistically significant

A medical student’s insight into set induction: A Cross sectional study

Background: Set induction are preliminary measures taken by the teacher to start effectual classroom instruction and training. Objectives: The aim of the study is to familiarize the mode of set induction to MBBS students. To know the perceptions of MBBS students batch wise towards set induction as an introductory step in teaching/learning method. Methods: A Cross sectional study with cluster sampling was done on of second, third and fourth year MBBS students of Deccan College of Medical Sciences. After taking informed consent orally they were introduced to different types of set induction namely case -based scenarios, narratives and audio visual aids, then a questionnaire was given and results were noted and analyzed statistically in R-language software. Results: Among the 312 students that participated, 208 students (66%) answered all questions. Set induction impacts the students immensely and has significant role to play for all the batches 2020(2st year), 2019(3rdYear), 2020(4thyear). There is a statistically significant difference between batches regarding their perceptions towards set induction and was found to be engrossing and applicable. Conclusion: Set induction must be deliberately designed to facilitate its incorporation for smooth teaching learning process. Case based scenario introduction is the most preferred by students, closely followed by narration based and lastly by audio-visual based introduction