Concept of Health Care Counseling for Pediatricians.

The term ‘Health Care Counseling’ denotes introduction of the science and practice of counseling at all healthcare delivery points, apart from the existing mental health settings. Introduction of healthcare counseling is expected to bring about palpable changes in the existing communication gap between health care professionals and their clients, particularly the parents of the young ones. There is ample opportunities for introducing health care counseling in the life-cycle approach to child care and development, a philosophy that encompasses all actions essential for preparing for future motherhood, joyful pregnancy, safe delivery, and optimal growth and development till 18 years of age [1]. Establishing health care counseling services in the healthcare sector would involve: (i) a formal need assessment, (ii) identification of research priorities, (iii) development of human resources, (iv) identification of services for all specialized healthcare situations across the entire pediatric age group – birth to 18 years, (v) development of service models, (vi) formal evaluation, and (vii) seeking policy support. This article intends to highlight the relatively new concept of Health Care Counseling (HCC), particularly relevant to practicing pediatricians, in terms of; (i) system approach to counseling, (ii) the conceptualization of HCC, (iii) the need for HCC, (iv) capacity building for HCC, (v) description of HCC, and (vi) plan of action.

Histoarchitecture of ovary of Haemaphysalis bispinosa during engorgement period

The ovary of Haemaphysalis bispinosa was of panoistic type with asynchronous development of oocytes. The wall of the ovary was composed of a layer of epithelial cells to which the oocytes were attached by means of pedicel cells with elongated nucleus. The oocytes were classified into stages I to V based on morphologic characteristics like size and shape, presence / absence of germ vesicle, cytoplasmic appearance, presence or absence of yolk granules and presence of chorion. Day wise changes were in the form of occurrence of oogonia from partially fed upto day zero of engorgement, presence of all stages of oocytes on day one and two after engorgement and onset of degenerative changes in oocytes from day three onwards. Degeneration was complete on day eight with the appearance of polymorphism, vacuolation, cytoplasmic blebbing and autophagic activity in oocytes.

A pilot study of HTLV-I infection in high-risk individuals & their family members from India.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Human T lymphotropic virus-I (HTLV-I) has been associated with adult T cell lymphoma/leukemia (ATLL). There are Indian studies on HTLV-I infection among people with sexually transmitted infection, but no large study has been conducted on individuals with haematological malignancies. In this group of individuals, serology is known to under-diagnose HTLV-I infection. This study was carried out to identify serologically and where possible with molecular techniques, HTLV-I infection in individuals with haematological malignancies. To understand the modes of transmission, family members of individuals with proven HTLV-I infection were also studied. Individuals with sexually transmitted infection (STI), blood donors and pregnant women were also studied. METHODS: Particle agglutination test was used to detect antibody to HTLV-I. HTLV genome was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and detected with probes by digoxiginin (Dig) ELISA. RESULTS: There was no serological evidence of HTLV-I infection among the healthy blood donors and pregnant women studied. High prevalence of anti-HTLV-I antibody was identified in the patients with haematological malignancies (8 of 86 patients, 9.3%) and a lower prevalence in individuals with STI (8 of 670 individuals, 1.2%). In the STI group, all 8 individuals seroreactive to HTLV-I were coinfected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In the group with haematological malignancies, three of 22 (13.6%) patients with leukemia, 3 of 11 (27.3%) with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) and 2 of 53 (3.8%) with lymphoma were reactive for anti-HTLV-I antibody. In this group, PCR identified all the seroreactive individuals tested. There were also seronegative infected individuals who were only identified by PCR. There was also a large number of seronegative family members who were only positive by PCR. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: The study revealed a strong disease association of HTLV-I with haematological malignancies and evidence for both horizontal and vertical transmission of the infection in the Indian population. HTLV-I infection appears to be common among family members of individuals with HTLV-I associated haematological malignancies.

Abnormal insect bite reactions: a manifestation of immunosuppression of HIV infection?

Pruritic papular eruptions are a common manifestation in patients infected with HIV. The significance of these lesions is not known. We have many apparently normal individuals presenting with exaggerated insect bite reaction on the exposed parts of the body as the only manifestation of HIV disease. A pilot study was done to see whether the appearance of exaggerated insect bite reactions is an indicator of impending immune suppression in HIV infected individuals. CD4 count was done in 10 serial patients presenting to our clinic with exaggerated insect bite response of recent onset and HIV infection. Out of the 10 cases, 8 showed low CD4 counts (less than 400/cmm). Further studies may prove that exaggerated insect bite reaction can be a marker of impending immunosuppression.

Transplant associated Kaposis sarcoma.

This case reports the first transplant associated Kaposis sarcoma reported from India.

Formation of replica of root canal morphology of maxillary first premolars. A technique.

Various methods have been used to study the root canal morphology of human teeth. The purpose of this study was to develop a technique for the formation of a resin replica of the root canal morphology of maxillary first premolars. 30 recently extracted maxillary first premolars were used for the study. An occlusal access cavity was prepared and the teeth placed in 5% sodium hypochlorite solution to dissolve the pulp remnants. The teeth were then rinsed in water. A two-part resin system was then introduced into the root canal through the access cavity opening. Subsequent to curing the resin using a specific curing cycle the specimens were put in 20% hydrochloric acid. This facilitated the dissolution of the tooth and the retrieval of the resin replica of the root canal. The different types of root canal morphology observed are discussed. The relevance and utility of the resin models and further possibilities in this field are discussed.