Study of Prevalence Rate, Side Effect and Co-Morbidities Associated with Current Drug Therapy in Patients Suffering with Nephrotic Syndrome

Background: Nephrotic syndrome is a kidney disease caused by damage to the cluster of small blood vessels in the kidney. Nephrotic syndrome causes misfunctioning of the kidney that affects metabolism of the body significantly. It causes complications of blood clots, high blood cholesterol and elevated blood triglycerides, poor nutrition, high blood pressure, acute kidney failure, chronic kidney disease and various infections. Objectives: The present investigation was objected to study prevalence rate, side effect of prescribed drugs and co-morbidity associated with current drug therapy in patient suffering with nephrotic syndrome. Methodologies: The present observational study was conducted on 43 nephrotic syndrome patients. These patients were evaluated for effects and side effects of prescribed drugs. Co-morbidity related to drug current prescribed was assessed and prescribed drugs for co-morbidity for also assessed. Prevalence rate of nephrotic syndrome was calculated among the all investigated patients. Patients were investigated who signed consent form. Patients above 18 years of age were excluded from study. Results: The involved 43 patients of nephrotic syndrome. These patients were prescribed with Corticosteroids (27%), Immunomodulator (8%), Immunosuppressant (5%), Diuretics (20%), ACE Inhibitors (5%), Angiotensin II receptor antagonist (5%). Co-morbidity were related to current drugs were observed and it was found that 9 (20%) patients were  suffering from asthma, 3 (7%) patients were suffering epilepsy, 1 (2%) patients were suffering from inflammatory bowel disease, 5 (11%) patients were suffering from other diseases along with nephrotic syndrome. Prevalence rate of nephrotic syndrome was found 2.38% in patients. Conclusion: The present study revealed that the current prescribed drugs for nephrotic syndrome causes side effects that are skin infection, behavioral changes, blood in urine and decreased neutrophils. And co-morbidity of asthma, epilepsy, inflammatory bowel disease and other disease were present in patients of nephrotic syndrome. 1 patient out of every 42 investigated patients was suffering from  nephrotic syndrome. Keywords: Nephrotic syndrome, corticosteroids, side effects, co-morbidity and prevalence rate

Potentially inappropriate prescribing in elderly: a comparison of Beers and STOPP criteria in tertiary care

Background: Prescribing in elderly is a challenging task as they have age related physiological changes, various co-morbidities, altered pharmacological properties and higher propensity for adverse events. They are often prescribed medications which are potentially inappropriate for them, sometimes may even be unnecessary. The medicines are considered as inappropriate if the risk associated with them outweighs benefits. The objective of this study is to assess the prevalence of potentially inappropriate medications (PIM) at a tertiary care teaching hospital according to the Beers updated 2015 criteria and STOPP criteria and to compare the two criteria in detection of PIMs.Methods: A prospective observational study involving 228 elderly patients (>65years) of medicine wards was conducted from October 2015 to March 2016. Relevant information was recorded in a predesigned proforma. The use of potentially inappropriate medications is assessed using Beers updated 2015 criteria and STOPP criteria using descriptive statistics.Results: The prevalence of PIM use in the sample was 26.31% according to the 2015 Beers criteria and 14.03% using the STOPP criteria. The most prevalent PIM according to the Beers criteria were sliding scale insulin (17.54%) and long acting benzodiazepines (5.26%); according to the STOPP criteria, they were aspirin in heart failure (5.26%) and chlorpheniramine (3.07%).Conclusions: The prevalence of PIM varied when different criteria were applied. The 2015 Beers criteria identified more PIM than the STOPP criteria

Study of the Association between Hypothyroidism and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Aim: The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between hypothyroidism and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods: In a prospective observational study, the hypothyroidism patients were evaluated for NAFLD using ultrasonography. The participant’s characteristics such as age, gender, thyroid profile, history of diabetes, hypertension, ischemic heart disease (IHD) were recorded using a data gathering form. Results: A total of 51 participants were included in this study. From 51 participants, 47 (92.18%) individuals were females whereas 4 (7.82%) individuals were males. Out of 51 participants 27 individuals had NAFLD. There was statistically significant difference in FT4 levels with the participants with NAFLD. Conclusion: Results from this study suggested that low FT4 concentration is associated with increased risk of NAFLD. Keywords: Hypothyroidism, NAFLD, ultrasonography, FT4

EFFECT OF ETHANOLIC FRUITS EXTRACT OF EMBELIA RIBES BURM ON DEXAMETHASONE INDUCED INSULIN RESISTANCE IN MICE

This study was designed to examine the effect of ethanolic fruits extract of Embelia ribes Burm on dexamethasone-(1mg/kg, intramuscular, 22 days) induced Insulin resistance in Mice. Twenty two  days of oral feeding the extract (100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg) to induced mice resulted in significant (P < .01) decrease in blood glucose, triglyeride, Insulin, HOMA-IR index and  increase in body weight  levels as compared to dexa control mice. Further, the extract also significantly (P < .01) decreased the MDA levels and significantly (P < .01) increased the superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione levels as compared to above levels in Hepatic tissue of dexa control  mice and also increased glucose uptake by skeletal muscle. The results of test drug were comparable to pioglitazone (2 mg/kg, i.m , 22 days), a standard antihyperglycemic agent. The study concludes that Embelia ribes enhances the antioxidant defense against reactive oxygen species produced under hyperglycemic condition and Embelia ribes may prove to be effective in the treatment of Type-II Diabetes mellitus owing to its ability to decrease insulin resistance

Potential drug-drug interactions among elderly in-patients with cardiac illness at a tertiary care centre

Background: Drug interactions are major cause of concern in hospitalized patients with cardiac illness especially in elderly population. Therefore, the study was conducted to determine the prevalence and pattern of potential drug-drug interactions (pDDI) and risk factors, if any.Methods: It was a prospective observational study involving 75 elderly in-patients with cardiac diseases. IHEC approval was taken before commencement of study and written informed consent was taken from all the study participants. Data was collected using structured data collection tool. pDDI were analyzed using MEDSCAPE databse. Data was analyzed using SPSS 20.0 in terms of descriptive statistics. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to find the association between the risk factors and potential DDIs. P value of ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: The prevalence of pDDI was found to be 100%. Total 593 pDDI and 33 interacting drug pairs were observed in the study. The common drug interacting pairs were aspirin and furosemide 140 (23.61%), followed by aspirin+ enalapril 98 (16.53%) and heparin and clopidogrel 56 (9.44%). Majority of pDDI 480 (81%) were found to be of moderate severity. A significant association was documented between length of hospital stay (p=0.041) and occurrence of pDDI. A statistically significant correlation (r =0.621; p<0.01) was noted between number of drugs prescribed and total number of pDDIs.Conclusions: A high prevalence of pDDI was observed. The prevalence rate is directly related to number of drugs prescribed and length of hospital stay. Therefore, close monitoring of hospitalized patients is recommended

Joint translation and unit conversion for end-to-end localization

A variety of natural language tasks require processing of textual data which contains a mix of natural language and formal languages such as mathematical expressions. In this paper, we take unit conversions as an example and propose a data augmentation technique which leads to models learning both translation and conversion tasks as well as how to adequately switch between them for end-to-end localization

Hypothyroidism Relationship with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Meta-Analysis

Thyroid hormones play an important role in the regulation of body weight, lipid metabolism and insulin resistance. Therefore, it is predictable that thyroid hormones may play an important role in the pathogenesis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). In this study, we reviewed the all current research articles and literatures on the association between hypothyroidism (thyroid dysfunction) and NAFLD/NASH. In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis using a comprehensive search of PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trails till April 2019 for evaluating the relationship between hypothyroidism (thyroid dysfunction) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Sixteen studies were included in the present meta-analysis. The present meta-analysis provides strong epidemiological evidence for the relationship between hypothyroidism and NAFLD. Both individuals with sub-clinical hypothyroidism and overt hypothyroidism are at higher risk for NAFLD than euthyroid subjects. Keywords: Hypothyroidism, Meta-analysis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis