Postthrombotic Syndrome: Surgical Possibilities

Postthrombotic syndrome (PTS) is a late outcome of deep vein thrombosis characterized by cramping pain, swelling, hyperpigmentation, eczema, lipodermatosclerosis, and ulceration in the leg due to increased venous outflow resistance and reflux venous flow. Newer surgical and endovascular interventions have a promising result in the management of postthrombotic syndrome. Early surgical or endovascular interventions in appropriately selected patients may decrease the incidence of recurrent ulceration and skin changes and provide a better quality of life. Duplex and IVUS (intravenous ultrasound) along with venography serve as cornerstone investigative tools for assessment of reflux and obstruction. Venous obstruction, if present, should be addressed earlier than reflux. It requires endovenous stenting, endophlebectomy, or open bypass procedures. Venous stripping, foam sclerotherapy, radiofrequency, or laser ablation are used to abolish superficial venous reflux. Valvuloplasty procedures are useful for incompetent but intact deep venous valves, while transposition or axillary vein autotransplantation is done for completely destroyed valves

A STUDY ON SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF ASHMARI VIS-A-VIS UROLITHIASIS PATIENTS IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Objective: To assess the socio-demographic profile of Ashmari vis-à-vis Urolithiasis patients in a tertiary care hospital. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Patients suffering from silent features of Mutrashmari described in Ayurvedic and Modern texts attending the O.P.D. and I.P.D. of a tertiary care hospital were selected (age 21-60 years) for the study. The diagnosis was made by radiological (plain X-ray, intravenous urography) and sonological (ultrasonography). Results: More than one third of Ashmari patients were between 31-40 years (40%). More than half of Ashmari patients were males (53.3%). Desk work occupation was most common (36.7%). More than half of Ashmari patients were educated high school & above (63.3%). Majority of Ashmari patients were married (83.3%) and belonged to above poverty line (96.7%). Majority of Ashmari patients took routine food (80%) and were mixed type of diet (70%). Fluid intake was <3 liters per day among majority of Ashmari patients (73.3%). Conclusion: Males formed the majority of patient with Ashmari/urolithiasis with commonest age group of 31-40 years. Larger studies are however recommended to confirm this observation

Colonic carcinoma with multiple small bowel perforations mimicking intestinal obstruction

BACKGROUND: Carcinoma of the colon may present with perforation proximal to the site of malignancy. Caecum is the commonest site of perforation if the ileocecal valve is patent and the jejunal and ileal perforations are very rare. CASE PRESENTATION: A 35 year male presented with intestinal obstruction. Emergency laparotomy revealed carcinoma of the transverse colon with multiple pinpoint perforations along antimesenteric border of ileum, which were wrapped with omentum, and no peritoneal contamination was present. Extended right hemicolectomy with jejunocolic anastomosis was done. Patient made uneventful recovery in postoperative period and was treated with adjuvant chemotherapy. CONCLUSION: Patients with colonic carcinoma and incompetent ileocecal valve may present with intestinal perforation. Increased intraluminal pressure and closed loop obstruction may lead to ischemia and perforation of the small bowel

Hemangiopericytoma of the spleen: Unusual presentation as multiple abscess

BACKGROUND: Hemangiopericytoma is a soft tissue vascular neoplasm arising from capillary pericytes and is found throughout the body in soft tissues and bone. It was first described in 1942. Primary vascular neoplasm of the spleen constitutes the majority of nonhaematolymphoid splenic tumors like haemangioma, lymphangioma, hemangioendothelioma, hemangiopericytoma etc. Splenic hemangiopericytoma is a rare tumor and probably first case was described in 1989. Uptill now only eight cases are reported in the English literature. CASE PRESENTATION: A-35-year old male presented with fever and dull aching pain in left hypochondriac region. Radiological evaluation showed presence of multiple abscesses in spleen. Investigations were done to rule out common causes of abscess in spleen. After failure of medical management, he was subjected to elective splenectomy. There were dense adhesions between the spleen and the adjacent structures and the diaphragm. The histopathology of the resected specimen showed hemangiopericytoma of spleen. CONCLUSION: The present case illustrate that the hemangiopericytoma of spleen can mimic as multiple abscess. Splenectomy is the treatment of choice

Rotational fluid flow experiment: WPI/MITRE advanced space design GASCAN 2

The design and implementation is examined of an electro-mechanical system for studying vortex behavior in a microgravity environment. Most of the existing equipment was revised and redesigned as necessary. Emphasis was placed on the documentation and integration of the mechanical and electrical subsystems. Project results include the reconfiguration and thorough testing of all the hardware subsystems, the implementation of an infrared gas entrainment detector, new signal processing circuitry for the ultrasonic fluid circulation device, improved prototype interface circuits, and software for overall control of experiment design operation

Rfam: annotating non-coding RNAs in complete genomes

Rfam is a comprehensive collection of non-coding RNA (ncRNA) families, represented by multiple sequence alignments and profile stochastic context-free grammars. Rfam aims to facilitate the identification and classification of new members of known sequence families, and distributes annotation of ncRNAs in over 200 complete genome sequences. The data provide the first glimpses of conservation of multiple ncRNA families across a wide taxonomic range. A small number of large families are essential in all three kingdoms of life, with large numbers of smaller families specific to certain taxa. Recent improvements in the database are discussed, together with challenges for the future. Rfam is available on the Web at http://www.sanger.ac.uk/Software/Rfam/ and http://rfam.wustl.edu/

Estimation of vitamin D level in low backache cases and their outcome after treatment with vitamin D

Background: Vitamin D has a significant role to play in bone metabolism and neuromuscular function. Several researchers have indicated that vitamin D deficiency may be possibly related to chronic musculoskeletal pain including chronic low back pain (CLBP). Objectives of this present study were conducted to rule out the vitamin D deficiency in a patient can also be a cause of low backache other than various spinal disorders like PIVD, spondylolisthesis etc.  Methods: A total of 50 patients, of any age who visited the Department of Orthopedics outpatient/Emergency, with chief complaint of low backache without any low backache disease like PIVD and spondylolisthesis etc. were thoroughly interviewed and examined for any concomitant pathological disease of spine. Patient’s Blood sample of about 5 ml with syringe of 10 cc. were taken and the serum vitamin D level was assayed by “direct competitive chemiluminescence immunoassay” (CLIA). Results: Out of 50 patients of low backache and vitamin D deficiency, 33 patients have good outcome in their pain after getting treatment in form of Vitamin D.  Conclusions: We concluded that the vitamin D plays a major role in low backache and after treatment there is significant improvement in low backache.  

A Parametric Study on the Bixin Oil Suspensions Produced Using Annatto Seeds (Bixia Orella) and Its Potential Application in Coloring Margarine Products

Bixin obtained from Annatto seeds (Bixinella orella), has been used by the food industry as a source for natural color for a long time due to its low toxicity and high colorific value. Given its potential applications in dairy and meat industry to obtain a desired reddish - orange hue, a method was sought, which would quickly extract the desired pigment from the seed coat at low cost and allow for its direct application in the desired product. The bixin mass was extracted using demineralized water (D.M.W), sunflower oil or methanol and was then re-suspended in sunflower oil to a bixin strength of 10%. A study of the extraction process, viscosity and color hue (L*a*b value) of the 10% formulated product in margarine at low doses of 0.1% was carried out. Data indicated that methanol extraction provided the desirable reddish hue in margarine and yielded a product with lowest viscosity

Comparison of Rates of Fast and Catastrophic Visual Field Loss in Three Glaucoma Subtypes.

Purpose:To compare the distribution of visual field progression rates in three subgroups of glaucoma, being primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG), POAG, and juvenile open-angle glaucoma (JOAG). Methods:We assessed glaucoma patients treated in an Indian tertiary care setting with at least four visual field assessments. We determined rates from a single eye of each of 525 patients using linear regression of the summary index mean deviation (MD) over time. The main outcome measures were the proportions of fast (<-1.0 to -2.0 dB/y) and catastrophic (<-2 dB/y) visual field progression. Bootstrapped 95% CIs allowed comparison with published data from a large clinical cohort in Canada. Results:The combined proportion of fast and catastrophic progressors in our cohort was less than half that in the Canada dataset (2.3% vs. 5.8%), despite median progression rates differing by only 0.03 dB/y. PACG, POAG, and JOAG represented 45%, 32%, and 12% of our cohort, respectively. Baseline MD values were similarly distributed between these subtypes. All subtypes showed a similar shaped distribution for progression rates, with median progression rates of -0.03, -0.05, and 0.02 dB/y for PACG, POAG, and JOAG, respectively. Combined proportions of fast and catastrophic progression rates did not significantly differ between subtypes. Conclusions:Differences in fast and catastrophic visual field progression can exist despite only small changes in median progression rates, highlighting the importance of considering the full shape of the progression rate distribution when comparing the risk of devastating visual field loss

Pfam: clans, web tools and services

Pfam is a database of protein families that currently contains 7973 entries (release 18.0). A recent development in Pfam has enabled the grouping of related families into clans. Pfam clans are described in detail, together with the new associated web pages. Improvements to the range of Pfam web tools and the first set of Pfam web services that allow programmatic access to the database and associated tools are also presented. Pfam is available on the web in the UK (http://www.sanger.ac.uk/Software/Pfam/), the USA (http://pfam.wustl.edu/), France (http://pfam.jouy.inra.fr/) and Sweden (http://pfam.cgb.ki.se/)