Treatment outcome of antiretroviral treatment naive HIV infected patients initiated on antiretroviral therapy in a tertiary care hospital in South India

Background: About 2.1 million people are infected with HIV in India. Clinical profile of patients has evolved over a period of time in the Antiretroviral treatment (ART) era. This study was done to document the clinical presentation of patients in a tertiary care in Mysuru in Karnataka. The aim of the study was to follow the patients who were initiated on ART over a period of time and to know its effect on the clinical outcome and overall morbidity and mortality of the patients.Methods: A prospective study of HIV positive patients who were initiated on ART was done regarding clinical profile and outcome over a period of one and a half to two years depending on when they were initiated on ART.Results: Totally 183 patients were registered during the period, out of which 114 patients (62.29%) were males and the rest were females (37.70%). The commonest route of transmission was heterosexual route seen in 97.3% (178). Most (56.8%) of the patients were asymptomatic. The mean basal CD4 count was 162.70. The mean age of patients was 39.07. The mean BMI was 20.29. A 23.5% (43) had one or other side effects. Anemia (44.2%) was the most common side effects seen. There were 18 deaths (12.2%). A 39.34% (72) patients had opportunistic infections (OI), the commonest being tuberculosis 45(%).Conclusions: It was concluded that patients with low CD4 count, low BMI were more prone for Opportunistic infections and death. Early initiation of ART can prevent such incidences and improve the quality of life of HIV positive patients

Tenofovir Induced Hypokalaemia - A case report

Tenofovir, an important medication for HIV/AIDS, carries the risk of hypokalemia in patients receiving treatment. Factors such as dietary deficits, vomiting, or diarrhea further increase this risk. Tenofovir acts as a mitochondrial toxin by inhibiting the DNA polymerase gamma enzyme, crucial for mitochondrial DNA replication. Consequently, ATP generation is depleted through the aerobic pathway, leading to dysfunction in the proximal tubule. This dysfunction manifests as renal acidosis type 2, which involves reduced bicarbonate excretion by the proximal tubule, resulting in renal bicarbonate wasting and decreased serum bicarbonate levels. Consequently, the lumen of the distal nephron becomes negatively charged, leading to compensatory potassium secretion and ultimately causing severe hypokalemia. Understanding the mechanisms underlying tenofovir-induced hypokalemia is crucial for healthcare providers to monitor and manage electrolyte imbalances in patients undergoing tenofovir treatment

Assessment of depression and diabetes distress in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in a tertiary care hospital of South India

Background: Depression is one of the many complications seen among diabetics. Depression leads to lack of self-care by the diabetic and endangers the therapeutic compliance, accounting for a derangement in metabolic control which in turn causes further diabetic complications and may even result in hospitalization. This leads to an increase in depressive symptoms and thus the vicious cycle continues.Methods: It is a Descriptive, cross sectional study conducted in the Medicine outpatient department. Depression was assessed by Hamilton depression rating scale. Diabetic distress was assessed by diabetic distress scale.Results: Out of the 250 study participants, 142 (56.8%) were found to be suffering from depression and 6 (2.4%) were found to have diabetes distress. The magnitude of depression was similar in both male and female. Depression was high among illiterates, unemployed (70%), single, separated individuals and patients with complications of diabetes. There was no significant association between religion and low economic status with depression. Treatment modalities, complications of diabetes, sociodemographic factors like age, sex, occupation, education, marital status, religion and socio-economic status had no significant correlation with diabetic distress. But there was a statistically significant association between diabetic distress and co-morbid conditions. 95.8% with depression had no distress and this association was found to be statistically significant (0.038).Conclusions: The magnitude of depression and distress is much high among diabetics. Early detection, counselling and treatment are required for all diabetics, especially those who have additional risk factors for the development of depression

Hemicastration-induced changes in the electrophoretic pattern of some enzymes in the brain of the skink, Mabuya carinata

Hemicastration in the skink induces change in the electrophoretic pattern of some enzymes like LDH, MDH, acid phosphatase and esterases

Dielectric response of makrofol-KG polycarbonate irradiated with 145 MeV Ne6+ and 100 MeV Si8+ ions

The passage of heavy ions in a track detector polymeric material produces lattice deformations. These deformations may be in the form of latent tracks or may vanish by self annealing in time. Heavy ion irradiation produces modifications in polymers in their relevant electrical, chemical and optical properties in the form of rearrangement of bonding, cross-linking, chain scission, formation of carbon rich clusters and changes in dielectric properties etc. Modification depends on the ion, its energy and fluence and the polymeric material. In the present work, a study of the dielectric response of pristine and heavy ion irradiated Makrofol-KG polycarbonate is carried out. 40 μm thick Makrofol-KG polycarbonate films were irradiated to various fluences with Si8+ ions of 100 MeV energy from Pelletron at Inter University Accelerator Centre (IUAC), New Delhi and Ne6+ ions of 145 MeV from Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Kolkata. On irradiation with heavy ions dielectric constant ( ) decreases with frequency where increases with fluence for both the ions. Variation of loss factor (tan ) with frequency for pristine and irradiated with Si ions reveals that tan increases as the frequency increases. Tan also increases with fluence. While Ne irradiated samples tan shows slight variation with frequency as well as with fluence. Tan has positive values indicating the dominance of inductive behavior.Author Affiliation: Rajesh Kumar, S Asad Ali, Udayan De, D K Avasthi and Rajendra Prasad 1.Department of Applied Physics, Z H College of Engineering & Technology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh-202 002, Uttar Pradesh, India 2.Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, 1/AF, Bidhan Nagar, Kolkata-700 064, India 3.Inter-University Accelerator Centre, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi-110 067, India E-mail : [email protected] of Applied Physics, Z H College of Engineering & Technology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh-202 002, Uttar Pradesh, India Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, 1/AF, Bidhan Nagar, Kolkata-700 064, India Inter-University Accelerator Centre, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi-110 067, Indi