Upper respiratory tract infection: drug utilization study

Background: One of the most common causes of visit to physician is upper respiratory tract infections (URTI). This infection is often considered to be of little value from a stand point of mortality but this infection is responsible for limited activity and absence from work and school in the general population of nation mainly in a developing country like India, when compared it with other infections.Methods: This study was conducted in Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences, Karad, India to see the prescription pattern of URTI patients in medicine department. It was a retrospective study record based, observational study and the data were collected from the medical record room.Results: Out of 212 patients, 53.30% were of URTI, 31.60% were sinusitis, pharyngitis and CSOM accounted for 11.79% and 3.30% respectively. Female accounted for 62.26% and male for 37.73% of total cases. In 8 cases culture and sensitivity was done and all were sterile. Only in 8 cases antimicrobial agents were not prescribed.Conclusions: Azithromycin was the most commonly used antimicrobial, followed by ceftriaxone. Apart from antibiotics the most frequently prescribed class was antihistamines followed by expectorants and bronchodilators. Paracetamol was the preferred antipyretic. Acid reducing agents were prescribed in 84.82% of Patients, might be used to check the acidity caused by antibiotics. The use of generic medicines should be promoted

Efficacy of Diode Laser for the Management of Potentially Malignant Disorders

Introduction: Laser dentistry is a one of the upcoming advanced treatment modality for oral mucosal lesions. Diode laser is a soft tissue laser that has found much acceptance in all branches of dentistry. Available compact size and feasibility has render diode laser an enhanced tool for today’s clinical practice. The aim of this study is to determine the efficacy and safety of diode laser for the management of white lesions such as oral leukoplakia (OL) and oral lichen planus (OLP).Methods: The study was conducted by using diode laser 980 nm on 10 patients with white lesions (5 OL and 5 OLP) aged between 35 to 65 years.Results: Of the 10 patients (5 OL and 5 OLP), 3 patients (30%) complained of moderate pain and 7 patients (70%) complained of mild pain, for first 3 days after laser irradiation, and pain disappeared at end of first week. There was no recurrence of the lesion during the 6-month follow up.Conclusion: Diode lasers provide acceptable clinical improvement of potentially malignant lesions with minimal side effects. It can be considered one of the best alternative treatment modality for oral mucosal lesions

Asana (Pterocarpus marsupium Roxb.) - A Drug Review

Asana (Pterocarpus marsupium Roxb.) commonly known as Honne Mara in Kannada, Bijasal in Hindi, Indian kino or Malabar kino in English, belongs to the family Fabaceae and it is widely distributed among several regions of India. It is one of the important medicinal plant of Indian traditional system of medicines and it has been used in India for several medicinal purposes. The Indian Kino is a medium to large; deciduous tree having chemical constituents like pterostilbene, (-)-epicatechin, pterosupin, marsupsin, etc. Asana have the pharmacological activity like antioxidant, antiinflammatory, antibacterial, etc

Phylogenetic ctDNA analysis depicts early-stage lung cancer evolution.

The early detection of relapse following primary surgery for non-small-cell lung cancer and the characterization of emerging subclones, which seed metastatic sites, might offer new therapeutic approaches for limiting tumour recurrence. The ability to track the evolutionary dynamics of early-stage lung cancer non-invasively in circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) has not yet been demonstrated. Here we use a tumour-specific phylogenetic approach to profile the ctDNA of the first 100 TRACERx (Tracking Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Evolution Through Therapy (Rx)) study participants, including one patient who was also recruited to the PEACE (Posthumous Evaluation of Advanced Cancer Environment) post-mortem study. We identify independent predictors of ctDNA release and analyse the tumour-volume detection limit. Through blinded profiling of postoperative plasma, we observe evidence of adjuvant chemotherapy resistance and identify patients who are very likely to experience recurrence of their lung cancer. Finally, we show that phylogenetic ctDNA profiling tracks the subclonal nature of lung cancer relapse and metastasis, providing a new approach for ctDNA-driven therapeutic studies

Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality for 282 causes of death in 195 countries and territories, 1980-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.

BACKGROUND: Global development goals increasingly rely on country-specific estimates for benchmarking a nation's progress. To meet this need, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2016 estimated global, regional, national, and, for selected locations, subnational cause-specific mortality beginning in the year 1980. Here we report an update to that study, making use of newly available data and improved methods. GBD 2017 provides a comprehensive assessment of cause-specific mortality for 282 causes in 195 countries and territories from 1980 to 2017. METHODS: The causes of death database is composed of vital registration (VR), verbal autopsy (VA), registry, survey, police, and surveillance data. GBD 2017 added ten VA studies, 127 country-years of VR data, 502 cancer-registry country-years, and an additional surveillance country-year. Expansions of the GBD cause of death hierarchy resulted in 18 additional causes estimated for GBD 2017. Newly available data led to subnational estimates for five additional countries-Ethiopia, Iran, New Zealand, Norway, and Russia. Deaths assigned International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes for non-specific, implausible, or intermediate causes of death were reassigned to underlying causes by redistribution algorithms that were incorporated into uncertainty estimation. We used statistical modelling tools developed for GBD, including the Cause of Death Ensemble model (CODEm), to generate cause fractions and cause-specific death rates for each location, year, age, and sex. Instead of using UN estimates as in previous versions, GBD 2017 independently estimated population size and fertility rate for all locations. Years of life lost (YLLs) were then calculated as the sum of each death multiplied by the standard life expectancy at each age. All rates reported here are age-standardised

Performance appraisal of nutritional rehabilitation centers in central India: A retrospective facility-based descriptive study

Background: Nutritional rehabilitation centers (NRCs) were established with the objective of providing institutional care to malnourished children and building the capacity of the primary caregivers of these children. Objectives and Methodology: The objective of this study was to assess the effect of nutritional interventional measures undertaken at NRCs in improving the nutritional status of admitted children; a retrospective facility-based descriptive study was conducted using the monthly performance reports (March 2015 to November 2019) of all NRCs in Dhamtari district, Chhattisgarh. Results: Of the 3171 children registered in the NRCs, the majority were 1–3 years of age (59.22%), female children (55.50%), and from Other Backward Class caste category (56.79%). The district records a cure rate of 56.12%, death rate of 0.03%, and defaulter rate of 4.71%, with an average length of stay being 16.5 days. NRCs of Dhamtari district had less than acceptable level of recovery/cure rate though death rate and defaulter rate were within acceptable standards. Conclusion: Lower cure rate along with lower defaulter rate and death rate with more than recommended length of stay reflects the below-average performance of the NRCs in the district

Hexagonal Microstrip Patch Antenna Design for UWB Application

Microstrip patch antennas is one of the most used antennas for wireless communication. Its key features include a limited bandwidth, low cost, and ease of manufacture. This paper describes about the design of microstrip patch antenna over the frequency range of 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz for UWB applications. The substrate material chosen is FR4, having a loss tangent of 0.02, dielectric constant of 4.4, and substrate thickness of 1.59 mm. This work presents design of microstrip antenna with hexagonal shaped radiating patch. An antenna is modelled and analysed using HFSS 2021 R2 software. The antenna structure provides return loss which is less than -10 dB and a VSWR less than 2 over the specified frequency range. The simulated results of proposed hexagonal shaped microstrip patch antenna provides a peak gain of 5.32 dB with radiation efficiency of 90.88%. The planned antennas can be used for UWB applications

Implementation of an educational model leveraging the power of incentive reward theory with Blockchain

Recent studies conducted to investigate the reasons for an alarming decline in the performance of undergraduate students have thrown up a few compelling facts. These necessitate our immediate attention. Demographic shuffling along with lack of intrinsic motivation stand out as the cardinal reasons among other miscellaneous ones. There is a need to introduce programs that perk up one’s persistence level and provide the missing tangible incentive for a purposeful engagement with our education system. The paper endeavours to fulfil this requirement through the use of Blockchain (cryptocurrency) guided by the principles of extrinsic motivation theory

Neurofibromatosis type 1 with unusual oral manifestations

Neurofibromatosis (NF) is a genetically transmitted autosomal dominant disorder with variable penetrance and about 50% of cases representing new mutations. It is progressive in nature and one of its unique feature is the diversity of clinical expression from one patent to another and even within a family. The disease is often characterized by complex and multicellular neurofibroma. It may also lead to different complications throughout the life of an affected individual. We report a case of NF involving alveolus of maxilla and mandible causing expansion of the buccal and lingual cortical plates in a 10-year-old gir