ABSTRACT
Background: The acute abdomen is a condi?on that demands urgent a?en?on and treatment, ranging from trivial to life threatening condi?ons. The aim of this study was to know in detail the epidemiology and outcome in nontrauma?c acute abdomen. Methods: An ins?tu?on based, cross-sec?onal study was conducted from December 2019 to April 2020, at Department of General Surgery Govt. Medical College Kota Rajasthan. The study included 100 cases of non-trauma?c abdomen. Results: Non- trauma?c acute abdominal pain was more common in 2ndto 6thdecade of life. The males to female ra?o is 2.85:1. Hollow viscus perfora?on (30%) forms the commonest cause of acute abdomen followed by acute appendici?s, Sub acute intes?nal obstruc?on, renal/ureteric colic, cholelithiasis, pancrea??s, non-specific pain abdomen, OBG related pathology, liver abscess, Meckel’s diver?culi?s and splenic abscess in 24%, 23%, 8%, 4%, 3%, 3%, 2%, 1%, 1% and 1% respec?vely. Sixteen pa?ents managed conserva?vely. Most common surgical procedures done were exploratory laparotomy with needful for hollow viscus perfora?on and open/laparoscopic appendicectomy for acute appendici?s. Conclusions: Proper history taking, clinical examina?on with suppor?ve imaging findings are most important to narrow the differen?al diagnosis and for immediate interven?on to limit morbidity and mortality.
ABSTRACT
Schizophrenia (SZ) is a debilitating mental illness with a multigenic aetiology and significant heritability. Despite extensive genetic studies, the molecular aetiology has remained enigmatic. A recent systems biology study suggested a protein–protein interaction network for SZ with 504 novel interactions. The onset of psychiatric disorders is predominant during adolescence, often accompanied by subtle structural abnormalities in multiple regions of the brain. The availability of BrainSpan Atlas data allowed us to re-examine the genes present in the SZ interactome as a function of space and time. The availability of genomes of healthy centenarians and nonpsychiatric Exome Aggregation Consortium database allowed us to identify the variants of criticality. The expression of the SZ candidate genes responsible for cognition and disease onset was studied in different brain regions during particular developmental stages. A subset of novel interactors detected in the network was further validated using gene expression data of post-mortem brains of patients with psychiatric illness. We have narrowed down the list of drug targets proposed by theprevious interactome study to 10 proteins. These proteins belonging to 81 biological pathways are targeted by 34 known Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs that have distinct potential for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders. We also report the possibility of targeting key genes belonging to celecoxib pharmacodynamics, Gα signalling and cGMP-PKG signalling pathwaysthat are not known to be specific to SZ aetiology.
ABSTRACT
The present market for herbal drugs is estimated about ₹40 billion, which is expected to increase by 16% in next 3-4 years. The current production of many Ayurvedic herbs is less than their market demand, which incentivizes adulteration in the Ayurvedic drug supply chain. The present work aims to highlight the most used Ayurvedic plants that have been listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature's "red list" of endangered or vulnerable plants. The future of Ayurvedic medicines from these listed plants is uncertain, as the collection of herbs from their natural habitat is prohibited and their cultivation does not meet market demands. Many of these plants, such as Taxus baccata and T. wallichiana, are endangered and are only grown in their natural habitats; their cultivation in other areas is impractical. This is the present state, and will worsen as demand continues to grow, with increasing populations and increasing adoption of this system of medicine. It is possible that in coming years most of the Ayurvedic drugs will be adulterated, and will cause only side effects rather than the therapeutic effects. The Ayurvedic fundamentals are under-explored areas where the Ayurvedic practitioners and research scientists can work together. The scientific work on the basic principles will unravel many unknown or little-known facts of this ancient science. Hence, the present review emphasizes the conservation of Ayurvedic herbs, minimization of the use of medicinal plants and the promotion of the research based on Ayurvedic fundamentals.