A Comparative Clinical Study Of Matrabasti With Sahacharataila And Ashtakatwara Taila In The Management Of Gridhrasi With Special Reference To Sciatica

In present era, attentively engaged in professional and social life, eventually forgotten normal sit and lie postures. Hustles like Jerky movements during travelling, poor postures, bending and lifting awkward etc., creates extreme pressure on the spine which affects functional ability of lower limbs. Hence Gridhrasi is taken for present clinical study and is approximately correlated to sciatica. Sciatica is a set of symptoms including pain that may be caused by general compression or irritation of one of five nerve roots that give rise to the sciatic nerve. This can also happen by compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve itself. The pain is felt in the lower back, buttock, thigh, leg and foot. Basti karma is praised by all the Acharyas in the management of Gridhrasi to relive from the pain, to improve functional disability and restore functional abilities & controls the condition. The study was conducted with the aim of comparing Ashtakatwaratailamatrabasti with Sahacharatailamatrabasti in the management of Gridhrasi. The clinical trial included 40 patients of Gridhrasi categorized into two groups. 20 patients recieved 75 ml of Sahachara Taila Matrabasti and 20 patients recieved 75 ml of Ashtakatwara Taila Matrabastiafter sthanika abhyanga and swedana for 7 days. Both the groups are having similar effect on reducing the symptoms statistically. Among the subjective and objective parameters B group (Ashtakatwara taila matrabasti) showed better reduction% in Ruk, Sthambha, Toda, right lateral flexion, left lateral flexion and extension of lumbar movement, walking time, VAS, Oswesry disability index.

A Comparative Clinical Study To Evaluvate The Effect Of Haridradi Gana Churna And Triphala Churna Udvartana In Sthoulya (obesity)

In the present century due to the busy and sedentary life people open the gate to welcome numerous diseases. Sthoulya is one among the major diseases that falls under the category of Santarpanottha vyadhi. The term overweight and obesity refers to body weight that is greater than what is considered healthy for a certain height. Sthoulya is mainly caused by Kapha, Vata Doshas and Meda Dhatu. Udvartana has better results in the management of Sthoulya, as it does Kapha-Vatahara, Medo vilayana. So, the present has been conducted to compare and evaluate the effect of Haridradi gana Churna and Triphala Churna Udvartana in Sthoulya. The study has been conducted in two groups with 20 patients each. One with Haridradi gana Churna and other group with Triphala Churna which are Kapha-Medahara & Kapha-Pramehahara respectively because of Laghu, Ruksha & Ushna properties. The present study concludes saying Haridradi gana Churna showed better results than Triphala Churna.

Raised serum IgE levels in chronic inflammatory lung diseases.

OBJECTIVE: To study the serum IgE response in nonallergic subjects with chronic inflammatory lung diseases. SETTING: Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore. SUBJECTS: Twenty six patients with bronchiectasis, five with pulmonary mycosis referred from all over India and 30 healthy subjects. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Serum IgE value (determined by radioimmuno assay) above the upper limit of normal control range (136 to 948 iu/ml) was considered as raised level. RESULTS: Of the 26 patients with bronchiectasis 13 had pyogenic infections, six had pulmonary tuberculosis; in six patients sputum culture was sterile while another patient had herpes zoster. Five cases of mycosis included one each of actinomycosis, aspergillosis, blastomycosis, cryptococcosis and nocardiasis. The serum IgE levels were raised in 20 (65%) of the 31 patients. CONCLUSION: Associated bacterial, fungal and parasitic infections were probably responsible for inducing an hyper-IgE response in these non-allergic subjects.

Random plasma glucose and the glucose challenge test in pregnancy.

BACKGROUND. The oral glucose tolerance test for detecting women with gestational diabetes is too complicated and prolonged for routine use. Similar and less time consuming screening tests have been proposed including random plasma glucose estimation and the glucose challenge test (blood glucose estimation one hour after a 50 g glucose load). However, in practice, correct timing of the blood sample, which is of critical importance in the interpretation of the results of these tests, is difficult to ensure. This study was designed to evaluate these two screening tests in identifying women with abnormal glucose tolerance in pregnancy. METHODS. One hundred and eleven consecutive pregnant women at risk for gestational diabetes and 121 consecutive pregnant women with no risk factors had random plasma glucose estimation followed by the 50 g glucose challenge test at 26 to 30 weeks of gestation. A 100 g 3 hour oral glucose tolerance test was done within two weeks of the screening tests. The sensitivity and specificity of screening tests in predicting abnormal glucose tolerance were calculated. RESULTS. Seven (6.3%) women in the high risk group and four (3.3%) in the low risk group had gestational diabetes, while 11 (9.9%) and 8 (6.6%) had impaired glucose tolerance. Random plasma glucose level of 90 mg/dl or greater had a sensitivity of 63% and specificity of 66% in predicting abnormal glucose tolerance, while a threshold level of 115 mg/dl for the glucose challenge test yielded a sensitivity of 63% and a specificity of 55%. CONCLUSIONS. Neither random plasma glucose estimation nor the glucose challenge test is a useful screening procedure for abnormal glucose tolerance in pregnancy.

alpha 1-Antitrypsin deficiency in Indian patients with chronic obstructive airways and other pulmonary diseases.

OBJECTIVE: To determine alpha 1-antitrypsin (A1AT) deficiency in patients with chronic obstructive airways disease (COAD) and other pulmonary diseases. DESIGN: Observation study. SUBJECTS: 45 patients with COAD, 20 with bronchiectasis, 11 with pulmonary tuberculosis, 25 with chest malignancies and 42 healthy subjects. SETTING: Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore, India. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Serum A1AT level of 10% or less of the mean serum value of the control group was recognised as severe deficiency and A1AT level between 10 and 60% was considered as intermediate deficiency. RESULTS: 26 patients (18 with COAD, 2 with bronchiectasis, 3 with tuberculosis and 3 with chest malignancies) had intermediate A1AT deficiency. CONCLUSION: The finding of an A1AT deficiency in over a quarter of the patients comprising various categories of pulmonary diseases emphasises the need to explore the possibility of an underlying acquired cause existing either alone or in association with genetic defect in patients showing such a deficiency.

Chest malignancies & serum immunoglobulin E.

Serum IgE levels were measured by the radioimmunoassay technique in the sera of 53 patients with neoplastic chest diseases. Forty seven patients had malignant chest tumours and another 6 had benign tumours or mediastinal cysts. They included 33 smokers and 20 non-smokers. For comparison, 30 normal non-smoking controls matched for age and sex were included. The serum IgE levels in patients with chest malignancies showed an increase as compared to controls. The IgE levels increased significantly in adenocarcinoma (P < 0.01) and squamous cell carcinoma (P < 0.001), while they were not raised in poorly differentiated carcinoma. There was no significant difference between the serum IgE levels of 32 smokers and 15 non-smokers with malignant chest tumours.

Giant emphysematous bullae of the lung.

Emphysematous bullae may at times assume large proportions. We report a case of symptomatic giant bullae in a female which were removed surgically. The relevant literature has also been reviewed.

Candida antibodies in amniotic fluid.

Amniotic fluid samples were tested for specific immunoglobulins against Candida albicans by indirect immunofluorescence. Nineteen of the 23 samples tested contained specific IgA while specific IgG antibodies were detected in only seven samples (P less than 0.01). None of the samples contained specific anticandidal IgM (P less than 0.001). These 23 samples and a further 30 amniotic fluid samples were tested for Candida mannan antigen by latex agglutination. Mannan was not detected in any of the samples tested. It is concluded that anticandidal IgA in amniotic fluid is naturally occurring.

Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and human papilloma virus infection.

Evidence of human papilloma virus (HPV) infection was sought in 50 patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and 50 controls. Cytologic, colposcopic and histopathological examinations were carried out in each one of them. Cytological evidence of HPV infection was found in 13 cases and two controls. Colposcopic evidence was found in 33 (66%) cases and 17 (34%) controls and histopathological evidence in 35 (70%) patients and 14 (28%) controls. These differences were statistically significant. Colposcopy proved to be a good method of diagnosing HPV infection with a sensitivity of 86% and specificity of 80% compared to histopathologic diagnosis.

Surgical management of coarctation of aorta.

Between 1961 and 1988, 68 patients underwent operation for coarctation of the aorta. The average age of presentation of these subjects was higher than in other series. 7.1 percent were asymptomatic, a finding which is not seen in reports from the west. Operative procedures included resection and end to end anastomosis, resection and graft interposition, bypass grafting, patch aortoplasty and subclavian flap aortoplasty. However, the technique of patch aortoplasty, routinely performed in the last 24 years of this series seemed by far the most satisfactory procedure. Subclavian flap aortoplasty was carried out in a selected group of younger children. Associated cardiac anomalies influenced the results adversely. The overall operative mortality was 5.8 percent. Hypertension did not regress in 11.7 per cent of patients inspite of a successful operation as judged by the return of peripheral pulses in the lower limbs. Re-coarctation was not seen in this series. The overall results of operation for coarctation of the aorta have been very satisfactory and comparable with those in other published series.

A bypass technique for aneurysms of descending aorta.

Uniformity of opinion does not exist regarding optimal surgical strategy for descending aortic aneurysms. We present a surgical technique for bypass during aortic cross clamp while operating on such aneurysms. Five patients have undergone surgery using this technique. All of them are alive, doing well with no complications.

Colposcopy in the diagnosis of cervical neoplasia.

Two hundred and ninety one women were evaluated for cervical cancer by cytology and colposcopy. Of these, 152 patients underwent colposcopically directed biopsy for histological evaluation. Colposcopy and cytology were in agreement in 88 per cent of cases whereas colposcopy and histopathology were in agreement in 79 per cent of cases. Cytology underestimated the severity of the lesion in nine per cent while colposcopy underestimated the lesion in 7.2 per cent (False negative rate). In 13.8 per cent of cases colposcopy overestimated the lesion (False positive rate). The cone biopsy rate in this series was 30 per cent. We conclude that since colposcopy shows excellent correlation with histopathology, it will be a useful tool to reduce cone biopsy rates, particularly in younger women in the child-bearing age group.

Lack of evidence for seroconversion to human immunodeficiency virus in recipients of anti-D immunoglobulin containing HIV antibody.

Twenty nine Rh negative women who had received injections of anti-D (Rho) immunoglobulin preparations (from an Indian firm) contaminated with antibody to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), were tested for seroconversion to HIV, 14-38 wk after injections. All 29 were negative for HIV antibody, indicating that infectious HIV or immunogenic concentrations of inactivated HIV were not present in the investigated immunoglobulin product.

Relapsing polychondritis--a case report and review of literature.

A case of relapsing polychondritis with aortic aneurysm is presented and relevant literature reviewed. Only one case of relapsing polychondritis has been previously reported in Indian literature. Increased awareness of this relatively rare, multi-system disease is warranted, to facilitate the diagnosis.