Extreme complication of somnambulism: death due to accidental fall from height

Somnambulism is NREM sleep disorder which associated with severe injuries and violence and even death. We reported an extreme complication of somnambulism i.e. death due accidental fall from height leading to head injury. Twenty-one-year-old male fell from a terrace of a three-storey residential building (13-14 meters) in the early morning. Police and relatives thought it to be suicidal or homicidal death. On inquiry, he had a history of somnambulism (SA) and sleep talking [somniloquy (SL)] since childhood. He never had severe injuries due to somnambulism except for minor injuries. Autopsy findings showed multiple comminuted fractures of the skull, but no evidence of long bone and spine fractures. Multiple graze abrasions on both the sheens, right knee, and toes; these were suggestive of brushing or hitting with enclosure wall of a terrace. Other injuries were suggestive of impact with the hard surface of ground. He died due to a complication of somnambulism, which was accidental in nature. We suggest safety practices, regular psychiatric and psychological assessment for a person suffering from somnambulism

Socio-demographic and clinical profile of sudden natural deaths in South Mumbai, India

Background: Sudden and unexpected death from the natural disease has been of continuing interest to the medical profession. The aim was to study the socio-demographic and clinical profile of sudden natural deaths, in South Mumbai, India.Methods: Prospective and descriptive study of sudden natural deaths (SND) whose autopsy conducted in the department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Topiwala National Medical College and Hospital, Mumbai from 1st September 2006 to 31st August 2009.Results: The total of two hundred thirty SND studied during the study period of three years. The proportion of affected female cases was same as that of a male in each system. Male to female ratio in cardiovascular system, respiratory system, gastrointestinal system, central nervous system, and genitourinary system were 4.75:1, 6.20:1, 8:1, 7:2 and 1:2 respectively. The most of the victims were from Mumbai city (67.83%), followed by Mumbai suburban (23.91%). The maximum number of cases had primary level (27.39%) education. The most common terminal sign and symptoms of SND were unconsciousness (32.61%), followed by chest pain (22.61%). The common place of onset of terminal signs and symptoms of SND were home (44.78%). The most of the deaths seen in monsoon (June-September: 40%), followed by summer (Feb-May: 30.43%).Conclusions: Proper health education and awareness among the people regarding sudden natural death. We emphasize to reduce the deaths by emergency services and early transportation of the cases after identifying clinical signs.

Wound Healing Evaluation of Some Herbal Formulations Containing Curcuma Longa and Cynodon Dactalon Extract

The wound healing effect of herbal cream formulated with Curcuma longa, and Cynodon dactylon embedded in different ointment bases (anionic, cationic and non-ionic) has been evaluated in vivo using the incision, excision and dead space tissue wound models, on Swiss wister rat. Curcuma longa, and Cynodon dactylon was extracted using Pet ether (60-800C ), chloroform, ethanol, methanol and water. The  methanolic  extract formulated as herbal preparations. The herbal preparations were used to treat wounds inflicted on experimental  Swiss wister rat. The wound healing effects of the formulations were compared to that of a standard antibiotic. In all cases, there was a progressive decrease in wound area with time, indicating an efficacy of the formulations in healing the induced wounds. By the 14th day, the formulation  containing 100 mg/g of Curcuma longa, and Cynodon dactylon in cationic base showed 100 % healing. The wound areas in the animals treated with the standard antibiotic, showed a 100% healing by the 17 th day, indicating that the plant extract, at that given concentration, had a better wound healing property

Are prisons safe? Death due to depression while in custody: a case report

Prisoners are not born but made. Custodial deaths were becoming crunch to the mistreated police control for so many decades. A 32-year-old male was found dead inside prison because of depression that he was prisoned. On examination, there was ligature mark over neck that was suicidal in nature. Proper care of the prisoners, motivation inside the prison, maintaining surprise visits by higher officials, and closed monitoring by CCTV may prevent thesetype of suicidal behaviours inside the prison. The present case gives the idea for the police personnel to motivate and monitor the prisoners to prevent suicidal behaviour

Facile method for trimethylsilylation of alcohols using hexamethyldisilazane and ammonium thiocyanate under neutral conditions

A highly efficient method for trimethylsilylation of primary, secondary, tertiary, allylic, and a variety of sugar-derived alcohols using hexamethyldisilazane in the presence of a catalytic amount of ammonium thiocyanate under neutral conditions is reported

PanGFR-HM: A Dynamic Web Resource for Pan-Genomic and Functional Profiling of Human Microbiome With Comparative Features

The conglomerate of microorganisms inhabiting various body-sites of human, known as the human microbiome, is one of the key determinants of human health and disease. Comprehensive pan-genomic and functional analysis approach for human microbiome components can enrich our understanding about impact of microbiome on human health. By utilizing this approach we developed PanGFR-HM (http://www.bioinfo.iicb.res.in/pangfr-hm/) – a novel dynamic web-resource that integrates genomic and functional characteristics of 1293 complete microbial genomes available from Human Microbiome Project. The resource allows users to explore genomic/functional diversity and genome-based phylogenetic relationships between human associated microbial genomes, not provided by any other resource. The key features implemented here include pan-genome and functional analysis of organisms based on taxonomy or body-site, and comparative analysis between groups of organisms. The first feature can also identify probable gene-loss events and significantly over/under represented KEGG/COG categories within pan-genome. The unique second feature can perform comparative genomic, functional and pathways analysis between 4 groups of microbes. The dynamic nature of this resource enables users to define parameters for orthologous clustering and to select any set of organisms for analysis. As an application for comparative feature of PanGFR-HM, we performed a comparative analysis with 67 Lactobacillus genomes isolated from human gut, oral cavity and urogenital tract, and therefore characterized the body-site specific genes, enzymes and pathways. Altogether, PanGFR-HM, being unique in its content and functionality, is expected to provide a platform for microbiome-based comparative functional and evolutionary genomics

Extreme complication of somnambulism: death due to accidental fall from height

Somnambulism is NREM sleep disorder which associated with severe injuries and violence and even death. We reported an extreme complication of somnambulism i.e. death due accidental fall from height leading to head injury. Twenty-one-year-old male fell from a terrace of a three-storey residential building (13-14 meters) in the early morning. Police and relatives thought it to be suicidal or homicidal death. On inquiry, he had a history of somnambulism (SA) and sleep talking [somniloquy (SL)] since childhood. He never had severe injuries due to somnambulism except for minor injuries. Autopsy findings showed multiple comminuted fractures of the skull, but no evidence of long bone and spine fractures. Multiple graze abrasions on both the sheens, right knee, and toes; these were suggestive of brushing or hitting with enclosure wall of a terrace. Other injuries were suggestive of impact with the hard surface of ground. He died due to a complication of somnambulism, which was accidental in nature. We suggest safety practices, regular psychiatric and psychological assessment for a person suffering from somnambulism

Are prisons safe? Death due to depression while in custody: a case report

Prisoners are not born but made. Custodial deaths were becoming crunch to the mistreated police control for so many decades. A 32-year-old male was found dead inside prison because of depression that he was prisoned. On examination, there was ligature mark over neck that was suicidal in nature. Proper care of the prisoners, motivation inside the prison, maintaining surprise visits by higher officials, and closed monitoring by CCTV may prevent thesetype of suicidal behaviours inside the prison. The present case gives the idea for the police personnel to motivate and monitor the prisoners to prevent suicidal behaviour

An efficient synthesis of D-erythro- and D-threo-sphingosine from D-glucose: olefin cross-metathesis approach

The D-erythro- and D-threo-sphingosine were synthesized via E-selective olefin cross-metathesis using a D-glucose-derived building block and long-chain terminal alkene