Genotoxicity testing of food additives by employing Vicia MN assay

In the present study genotoxic effect induced by two food preservatives viz. ammonium acetate and zinc acetate was evaluated in the root meristem cells of Vicia faba. Genotoxic property was evaluated by scoring micronucleus in the root tip cells of treated roots. Roots were treated with 1, 2.5. 5, and 7.5 g/l of ammonium acetate and zinc zcetate solutions at room temperature in dark for 6, 12, 18 and 24h. The dosages selected for evaluation were below LD50 dose of the compounds. The increase in the concentration and period of treatment of each compound resulted in increase in the frequency of micronuclei. The results indicate that ammonium acetate and zinc acetate induce genotoxic effect in the dose range tested

A clinical study on role of caroverine in the management of tinnitus

Background: Tinnitus is a perception of sound in the absence of sound stimulation and it continues to be a significant and costly health problem without a uniformly accepted treatment. The signals between the inner hair cells and the cochlear nerve fibres are most likely to be transmitted by glutamate. Hence, present study was undertaken to assess the role of caroverine which is a glutamate receptor antagonist in the management of sensory neural tinnitus.Methods: The present study was conducted among 50 adult patient with sensory neural tinnitus divided into two groups with 25 patients in each group. In group 1 caroverine 20 mg twice daily for a period of 90 days was administered and in group 2 placebos was given. The effect of caroverine and placebo on subjective relief and objective improvement was evaluated by using THI (Tinnitus Handicap, Inventory) scoring, Tinnitus frequency matching before and after the administration of caroverine and placebo.Results: In Group I reduction in tinnitus was seen in 16 patients (64%) in 90 days. In group II (placebo group) improvement was seen in 20% of the patient. Significant difference with respect to treatment was noted. In group 1, 8% of the patient showed complete relief from the tinnitus. 44% of the patient showed improvement below 50% whereas 12% of the patient showed improvement more than 50%.Conclusions: Carvoverine had shown a statistically significant improvement in tinnitus management.

A prospective observational study of prescription pattern in a tertiary care teaching hospital of Jharkhand

Background: Prescription error and irrational prescribing are the avoidable problems imposed on health care delivery system from prescriber side which must be addressed. Periodic prescription audit helps to curtail the error and irrational prescribing.Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted on patients visiting various Outpatient Department of RIMS, Ranchi, Jharkhand on all working days at 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM from 1 August 2018 to 31 July 2019. Various aspects of collected prescriptions were analyzed by using World Health Organization (WHO) prescribing indicators.Results: In this study, out of 700 prescriptions collected, 76 were excluded. Out of total 624 patients analyzed, 382 (61.28%) were male and 242 (38.72%) were female. 48 (7.69%) patients belonged to ≤18, 464 (74.36%) to 19-64 and 112 (17.95%) to ≥65 years of age group. Tablet (71%) was the most common dosage form. None of prescriptions were having registration number of the doctor. 242 (38.78%) prescriptions did not have a diagnosis duly written. The total no. of drugs prescribed in 624 prescriptions was 2176. Only 32 (5.13%) prescriptions were found to have medicines prescribed in block letters. Antibiotics (29%) were the most common class of drugs prescribed. Average number of drugs per prescription was 3.47. Only 48 (2.20%) drugs were prescribed by their generic name while total of injectables prescribed were 102 (4.68%). Total number of drugs from NLEM was 848 (38.97%). 196 (9.00%) drugs were fixed-dose combination.Conclusions: In our study, we found deficiencies in various parts of prescriptions. Prescribing pattern was not in accordance with WHO recommendation for prescribing practice

Diagnostic efficacy of fine needle aspiration cytology in soft tissue tumors and cytohistological correlation

Background: Soft tissues are the supportive tissue of various organ as well as the nonepithelial, extraskeletal structure. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a rapid diagnostic technique with limited patient morbidity for diagnosing soft tissue tumours. However, FNAC of soft tissue lesion has not been widely used because of concern about its diagnostic accuracy. The difficulties arise in exact typing and diagnosis of low-grade sarcomas. This study was undertaken to study the acceptability and diagnostic efficacy of cytodiagnosis as compared conventional histological diagnosis and determine distribution of soft tissue tumours according to age and sex. Methods: The study was conducted in the department of pathology, RNT Medical College, Udaipur for period of 1 year. FNAC was done in 77 cases of suspected soft tissue tumors. In 51 cases biopsy resorted and HPE carried out. On the correlation of FNAC diagnosis with histopathological diagnosis the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and positive predictive were calculated. Results: Maximum number of cases noted were in 40 to 60 years of age with wide range of 11 months to 81 years. Male to female ratio was 1.8:1. Out of total 51 cases 38 found benign and rest were found malignant. Lipomas were the commonest soft tissue tumors. Overall sensitivity obtained in the study using cytology as compared to histopathology was 100%, specificity was 67%, positive predictive value was 54%, negative predictive value was 100%. Conclusions: Cytology though with pitfall, can serve as a diagnostic tool especially when a rapid diagnosis is required

Pongamia pinnata L. (Karanja) based agri-silviculture system under rainfed conditions of south-west Haryana

The present study was conducted to assess the the performance of Karanja based agri-silviculture system in rainfed conditions of south west Haryana. The results showed that the yield (grain and fodder) of different crops was not affected significantly by the Karanja trees during initial four years of plantation. The mean grain yield of crops viz. cowpea (9.47q/ha), cluster bean (9.13q/ha), dhaincha (8.57 q/ha) and mung bean (9.50q/ha) was slightly less in agri-silvicultue system as compared to sole cropping. Similar trend was also observed for fodderyield. Karanja growth (height and diameter) was more in agri-silviculture as compared to sole plantation. Maximum height of 300.00 cm and diameter of 89.20 mm was recorded when Karanja was intercropped with cowpea, whereas it was 281.20 cm (height) and 80.90 mm (diameter) in sole plantation. Agri-silviculture system also improved the organic carbon and available N, P, K as compared to sole cropping. The lower net returns from agri-silviculture system of Karanja + cowpea (Rs. 7178/ha), Karanja +clusterbean (Rs. 7725/ha), Karanja +dhaincha (Rs. 7254/ha) and Karanja + mung bean (Rs. 7100/ha) were mainly due to the fact that during initial years Karanja plantation required some cost without any economic return. It is evident from the results that the cost of establishment of plantation can be meet out through intercropping during the gestation period of Karanja plantation

Impact of COVID-19 Nationwide Lockdowns and Unlock Phases in India on River Water Quality of Upper Part of the Ganga River

The river water quality index (RWQI) of the upper Ganga canal has been computed to assess the effect of lockdown and unlock phases lead down by COVID-19 in India. Geospatial distribution of RWQI from January 2019 to December 2021 in the study area revealed significant impacts of lockdown on water quality. However, unlock phases (post lockdown) have deteriorated water quality since August 2020 and reached to actual conditions of the river by August 2021. To evaluate the lockdown as a management strategy to clean the river, other factors were reviewed including rainfall data, migration, and other activities. The results revealed that all the monitoring stations have improved water quality index ranging from 3 to 45 between March to June 2020. The River Ganga at Haridwar showed a two-fold improvement in the water quality index making it the highest positive impact of the lockdown, and at Rishikesh, the water quality index showed the least changes. The average decrease in RWQI has been observed to be 13 units in the year 2020 as compared to 2019 between March to June. In October 2020, RWQI has been observed to be higher as compared to the years 2019 and 2021. This is possibly due to a shift in rainfall patterns and other factors such as evapotranspiration, precipitation, and atmospheric temperature involved in river water quality control. Up to 60% reduction in average total coliforms and fecal coliforms has been observed due to the nationwide lockdown and a shift in human behavior towards cleaner and sustainable approaches

Audit of Bilateral Simultaneous Cochlear Implantation in Pediatric Population: South Indian Study

Objective: To conduct a medical audit of bilateral simultaneous cochlear implantation (CI) in patients with severe prelingual sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL).Methods: A medical audit of a tertiary care ear, nose, and throat center in Southern India was conducted on data collected from January 2007 to December 2014. All cochlear implantees 6 years, sequential bilateral CI, revision cases, abnormal or malformed cochlea, and children with global developmental delay in milestones. Subjective outcome scores used were Category of Auditory Performance (CAP) and Speech Intelligibility Rating (SIR).Results: The CAP and SIR results showed that 20% of implantees achieved peak scores of 7 and 5, respectively. Mean CAP and SIR scores at 12 months were 5.4 and 3.1, respectively.Conclusion: The present study supports the claim that bilateral CI in severe prelingual bilateral SNHL is better than unilateral and recommends that bilateral CI should be the standard of care in children

Outcomes of Cochlear Implantation in Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder and the Role of Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials in Benefit Evaluation

Objective: To compare the outcomes of cochlear implantation (CI) in children with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) and age-matched controls with profound sensorineural hearing loss, using categories of auditory performance (CAP), speech intelligibility rate (SIR), meaningful auditory integration scale (MAIS), and meaningful use of speech scale (MUSS), and to determine the role of Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials (CAEP) in benefit evaluation after CI.Methods: Ten patients (8 males and two females) with ANSD who underwent CI were included in the study. Auditory and speech scores were compared between baseline and after 12 months of habilitation in children with ANSD. Post CI speech scores in children with ANSD were compared with the control group (age-matched children with profound sensorineural hearing loss) at 12 months of habilitation. P1 latency of CAEP has a good correlation with auditory and speech scores in children with ANSD in the study group.Results: Significant benefits were seen in children with ANSD who underwent CI compared to the baseline CAP and SIR scores and one year after habilitation. There is no statistically significant difference in outcomes between the two groups with CI (ANSD and profound sensorineural hearing loss) (p-value: CAP=1.00, SIR=0.84, MAIS=0.33, MUSS=0.08). Speech perception in noise test (SPIN) scores in children with ANSD were 63% and 80% with 0 dB signal noise ratio (SNR) and +10dB SNR, respectively. P1 wave of CAEP has a good correlation with the subjective outcomes.Conclusion: CI in children with ANSD has showed benefits comparable to children with profound sensorineural hearing loss. CAEP is a useful tool in objectively assessing cortical maturity in children with ANSD following CI

A Retrospective Study of Cochlear Re-Implantations - Experience from a Large Centre in India

Objective: Cochlear re-implantation (CRI) is becoming increasingly common throughout the world. However, studies regarding CRI incidence and etiology are lacking from developing countries like ours. The aim of this study was to present the Indian experience with CRI based on our experience. Objectives were to determine the incidence and the indications of CRI and the cumulative survival rate (CSR) of cochlear implantation (CI).Methods: Our study was a retrospective one, conducted at a tertiary care centre in southern India. 1,500 consecutive cochlear implanted ears from 1997 to 2016 were studied. All patients who underwent CRI during this period were included in the study.Results: There were a total of 53 ears (31 male and 22 female ears) who underwent CRI. This gives an incidence of 3.53%. The most common indication of CRI was device failure in 39 ears contributing to 73.6% of the total CRI. The overall CSR of CI in pediatric population was 96.5% over a 20-year period.Conclusion:The CRI incidence and etiology at our centre appears to reflect the findings of the literature. Cochlear implant centres across the world should report the CSR of devices used at their respective centres so that it can be made an important criterion in choice of implant