Analysis of various factors Including Surgical Apgar Score affecting outcome in Trauma Patients undergoing Emergency Laparatomy

AIM OF THE STUDY: 1. To correlate the Surgical Apgar score with the patient’s outcome in the form of complications (morbidity) including death within 30 days of surgery (30 day mortality). 2. To estimate other factors like age, sex, duration of injury, mode of injury, associated injuries, co-morbidities, and inter-relation of these factors in influencing the overall outcome of patient undergoing emergency laparotomy following trauma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 108 randomly selected patients admitted at Madras Medical College & Rajiv Gandhi Government General hospital, Chennai undergoing emergency laparotomy procedures following trauma. 108 randomly selected patients admitted at Madras Medical College & Rajiv Gandhi Government General hospital, Chennai undergoing emergency laparotomy procedures following trauma RESULTS: Road traffic accident appears to be the most common cause of trauma. Males are more affected than females. Spleen is the most commonly injured organ. Duration of injury was an important prognostic factor in prognosis of patient. Polytrauma patient had high morbidity and mortality. CONCLUSION: In our study, surgical Apgar score has proved to be an important tool in early detection of the complications and also in predicting mortality and morbidity with accuracy. In our study, road traffic accidents was found to be the most common cause of trauma. Men were more affected than females. Incidence of injury was higher in age of 15-55 years. 10 point Apgar scoring system is superior in identifying the patients at risk of complications and 30 day mortality in Emergency surgeries. Thus surgical Apgar score holds promise as both a prognostic measure and a clinical decision support tool based on this study

SCANMOT: searching for similar sequences using a simultaneous scan of multiple sequence motifs

Establishment of similarities between proteins is very important for the study of the relationship between sequence, structure and function and for the analysis of evolutionary relationships. Motif-based search methods play a crucial role in establishing the connections between proteins that are particularly useful for distant relationships. This paper reports SCANMOT, a web-based server that searches for similarities between proteins by simultaneous matching of multiple motifs. SCANMOT searches for similar sequences in entire sequence databases using multiple conserved regions and utilizes inter-motif spacing as restraints. The SCANMOT server is available via

Intraurethral Catheter: Alternative Management for Urinary Retention in Patients With Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy

A polyurethane intraurethral catheter (IUC) was used in 27 patients with benign prostatic hypertrophy who were unfit for surgery, or were awaiting surgery. All of them had previously had a periurethral catheter inserted. The IUC was inserted with a cystoscope under fluoroscopic control. Spontaneous voiding through the IUC resumed in 25 patients (93%) in the immediate postprocedure period. At the end of 6 months follow-up, the peak flow rates and the residual volumes estimated in 22 patients were satisfactory. Immediate complications included incontinence due to distal displacement in 2 patients and hematuria in one patient; long-term complications included mild encrustation of the IUC in 2 patients and calculus formation on the IUC in 1 patient. None of the patients had clinically significant urinary tract infection. The presence of the IUC did not compromise the subsequent transurethral resection of the prostate gland. We recommend the use of an IUC for up to 6 months in patients with urinary retention who are awaiting surgery or are unfit for surgery as an alternative to an indwelling urethral catheter

Anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of coral reef associated gastropod, Trochus tentorium from Tuticorin coastal waters, Southeastern India

The aim of this work was to investigate extensively, the biomedical potential of the mollusc Trochus tentorium which are abundantly associated with coral reef of the Tuticorin coastal water. The 100% acetone fraction of the gastropod tested for its analgesic effect on Swiss mice model and anti-inflammatory activity on albino rat showed promising results. T. tentorium at the concentration of 25 and 50 mg/kg (p.o) showed significant decrease in the paw thickness (41.15 and 73.6%, respectively) at the 5th hour of the experiment. The 100% column-purified fraction of the T. tentorium (200 mg/kg p.o) exhibited significant (p < 0.001) inhibition of 79.22% against acetic acid induced abdominal constrictions. The dose of 25 mg/kg showed the inhibitions in the writhings of 67.86% (p<0.001) of animals when compared to the standard (diclofenac sodium), and 56.83% (50 mg/kg) inhibition was observed. These facts suggest that T. tentorium is a potential source for anti-inflammatory and analgesic compounds.Key words: Analgesic activity, anti-inflammatory activity, mollusc, southeastern India

Isolation and Characterization of Bacteria from the Gut of Bombyx mori that Degrade Cellulose, Xylan, Pectin and Starch and Their Impact on Digestion

Bombyx mori L. (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae) have been domesticated and widely used for silk production. It feeds on mulberry leaves. Mulberry leaves are mainly composed of pectin, xylan, cellulose and starch. Some of the digestive enzymes that degrade these carbohydrates might be produced by gut bacteria. Eleven isolates were obtained from the digestive tract of B. mori, including the Gram positive Bacillus circulans and Gram negative Proteus vulgaris, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Citrobacter freundii, Serratia liquefaciens, Enterobacter sp., Pseudomonas fluorescens, P. aeruginosa, Aeromonas sp., and Erwinia sp.. Three of these isolates, P. vulgaris, K. pneumoniae, C. freundii, were cellulolytic and xylanolytic, P. fluorescens and Erwinia sp., were pectinolytic and K. pneumoniae degraded starch. Aeromonas sp. was able to utilize the CMcellulose and xylan. S. liquefaciens was able to utilize three polysaccharides including CMcellulose, xylan and pectin. B. circulans was able to utilize all four polysaccharides with different efficacy. The gut of B. mori has an alkaline pH and all of the isolated bacterial strains were found to grow and degrade polysaccharides at alkaline pH. The number of cellulolytic bacteria increases with each instar

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

Household, community, sub-national and country-level predictors of primary cooking fuel switching in nine countries from the PURE study

Introduction. Switchingfrom polluting (e.g. wood, crop waste, coal)to clean (e.g. gas, electricity) cooking fuels can reduce household air pollution exposures and climate-forcing emissions.While studies have evaluated specific interventions and assessed fuel-switching in repeated cross-sectional surveys, the role of different multilevel factors in household fuel switching, outside of interventions and across diverse community settings, is not well understood. Methods.We examined longitudinal survey data from 24 172 households in 177 rural communities across nine countries within the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology study.We assessed household-level primary cooking fuel switching during a median of 10 years offollow up (∼2005–2015).We used hierarchical logistic regression models to examine the relative importance of household, community, sub-national and national-level factors contributing to primary fuel switching. Results. One-half of study households(12 369)reported changing their primary cookingfuels between baseline andfollow up surveys. Of these, 61% (7582) switchedfrom polluting (wood, dung, agricultural waste, charcoal, coal, kerosene)to clean (gas, electricity)fuels, 26% (3109)switched between different polluting fuels, 10% (1164)switched from clean to polluting fuels and 3% (522)switched between different clean fuels