Role of Anticholinergic, Uroselective α 1D/1A Blocker, Combination of Two Drugs and Placebo in Treatment of Ureteral Stent Related Discomfort and Urinary Symptoms

Introduction: The ureteral stent placement has become a partof urological clinical practice to relieve ureteral obstructioncaused by variety of urological condition since 1967. Studyaimed to access the role of anticholinergic (Tolterodine),uroselective α 1D/1A blocker (Naftopidil) alone and incombination to evaluate DJ stent related discomfort or pain,lower urinary tract symptoms and impact on quality of life.Materials and methods: This was a randomized double blindplacebo controlled comparative prospective clinical studyconducted between May 2013 to February 2015 to access therole of anticholinergic (Tolterodine), uroselective α 1D/1Ablocker (Naftopidil) alone and in combination to evaluate DJstent related discomfort or pain, lower urinary tract symptomsand impact on quality of life.Result: Total of 280 patients were enrolled for the study. 33patients were excluded. We found Naftopidil and combinationto be significanty better for pain score, combination beingmore effective for storage symptoms, voiding symptoms andquality of life scores.Conclusion: Combination of Tolterodine and Naftopidil canbe recommended for relief of stent related discomfort andurinary symptoms.

Prevalence, risk factors, circumstances for falls and level of functional independence among geriatric population - A descriptive study

Background: Falls is one of the common problems faced by elderly population and in preventing falls in India, research has largely focused on identification and management of risk factors, but the circumstances of the fall and its associated factors are sparsely researched. Objectives: The primary objective is to find the prevalence of fall, investigate risk factors, and its circumstances for falls and level of functional independence in elderly population. The secondary objective is to find out fear of fall (FOF) and its association of demographic factors on elderly population. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study; 2049 elderly population of 60 years and above were recruited by one-stage cluster sampling technique within Mumbai, Panvel, and Thane cities, Maharashtra. Data were collected using a questionnaire, Fall Efficacy Scale-International, Barthel Index, and Kuppuswamy Scale. Obtained responses were analyzed using SPSS software; descriptive statistics and Chi-square test were applied. Results: The prevalence of falls in this study found as 24.98%. Demographic factors such as age group, education, marital status, and socio-economic status had demonstrated a significant association with older adults (P < 0.05); 44.92% of falls occurred in the morning, the majority of falls (65.43%) occurred indoors, 56.45% of the fallers reported to had slips, and 60.55% of the fallers had sustained injuries. From the total participants, 34.70% of the fallers reported FOF, 23.67% of the fallers expressed reduced functional activities, and 18.06% of the fallers demonstrated affection in activities of daily living. Conclusion: This study reveals fall as a significant health problem and provides insight into the influencing risk factors for falls among older adults.

Eales' disease with neurological manifestations.

Eales' disease is a primary retinal perivasculitis of an undetermined etiology seen predominantly in the Indian subcontinent. However, neurological involvement is rare. We report here a patient of retinal perivasculitis with neurological dysfunction. Our patient is a 39 years male who developed acute diminished vision right eye in March 99, which progressed for four days and remained static. In April 99 he developed acute diminished vision left eye, which progressed to near total blindness in 48 hours. He was undergoing ophthalmic evaluation. Fourty five days later he developed incoordination and weakness left half of body. The examination revealed bilateral retinal perivasculitis with pyramidal signs and left sided cerebellar signs. Investigations revealed an ESR of 40 mm at the end of first hour. His CT head revealed bilateral basal ganglionic infarcts. MRI head revealed enhancing lesions both basal ganglia and right parietal region. Cerebrospinal fluid examination showed xanthochromic fluid with markedly elevated protein and lymphocytic pleocytosis. His workup for connective tissue disorders was negative. He was put on ATT with steroids. Eales' disease is presumed allergy to tuberculoprotein. A trial of ATT with steroids has been tried with varying results. Our patient had bilateral retinal perivasculitis and neurological dysfunction. He had lymphocytic pleocytosis with markedly elevated protein in the CSF.

Prognostic factors for persistent diarrhoea managed in a community setting.

Two hundred and five cases (mean age 13.4, SD 9.5) of persistent diarrhoea (PD) of 14-28 days duration, attending an urban slum clinic and treated according to standard WHO guidelines, were monitored at weekly intervals to obtain an estimate of treatment failure rates and to identify its clinical predictors. Vitamin and micronutrients (daily 2RDA) were additionally provided. Only 9 (8.2%) of 109 children with criteria for hospital care accepted in-patient care. Weight gain was considered inadequate if the daily increment between enrollment and day 7 of follow up was < 10 g at age 0-3 months, < 5 g at 4-6 months, and any weight loss for those older than 6 months. Recovery was considered delayed if diarrhoea ceased 7 days after enrollment. Overall, 28.3% cases had inadequate weight gain and 25.6% had delayed recovery. The non-breast milk calorie intake was 11.2% during infancy and 40.6% at later ages of the recommended intakes. In a logistic regression model, initial watery stool frequency greater than median (adjusted OR 2.30, p = 0.01), age < or = 6 months (adjusted OR 2.24, p = 0.04) and low consumption of micronutrient mixture (adjusted OR 2.62, p = 0.01) were associated with an increased risk of delayed recovery. In a Cox proportional hazards model for time to recovery from diarrhoea, low consumption of the micronutrient mixture and age < or = 6 months reduced the chances of recovery by 29% and 37% respectively. Low consumption of the prescribed micronutrient mixture (adjusted OR 2.21, p = 0.04), fever (adjusted OR 1.91, p = 0.05) and diarrhoea continuing beyond study day 7 (adjusted OR 2.29, p = 0.03) increased the risk of inadequate weight gain. Breast feeding status and animal milk consumption did not influence weight gain or recovery. Due to the low compliance for advised hospitalisation, approaches for care at community level itself need to be evolved. Focus should be on increasing the overall dietary intake and provision of generous but safe amount of micronutrients; our findings do not support need for routine elimination of animal milk. The efficacy of individual micronutrients needs evaluation in controlled trials.

Allergy diagnosis by Pharmacia Cap System.

From September 1995 to September 1998, sera from 959 suspected allergy patients have been tested by the new Pharmacia Cap System. Of these, 80 per cent were diagnosed to suffer from some allergy while 20 per cent reacted negative. It was found that the CAP system gave accurate and clear cut results to the satisfaction of the patient and referring physician.

Role of protozoa as risk factors for persistent diarrhea.

A case control study including 175 children aged 0-36 months suffering from diarrhea of > or = 14 days duration was undertaken to determine whether there is an association between Giardia lamblia, Entamoeba histolytica or Cryptosporidium infection and persistent diarrhea (PD). Subjects were identified by ongoing household surveillance and enrolled as cases. For each case two controls were selected by survey of neighbouring households--a child with acute diarrhea and one without diarrhea. Both the controls were matched with the case for age and nutritional status. Two fresh stool samples were collected from all cases and controls at enrollment and examined for trophozoites of Giardia lamblia, Entamoeba histolytica and Cryptosporidium. Giardia lamblia trophozoites were detected in a significantly higher proportion of PD cases (20.0%) than acute diarrheal and non diarrheal controls (4.6% each, p < 0.0001). There were no significant differences in the proportion of cases and controls who passed E. histolytica trophozoites or cryptosporidium in their stools. There was a consistent trend towards poorer weight gain in PD cases who passed Giardia trophozoites in stool; the differences were statistically significant at days 14 and 21, after enrollment. Giardia lamblia infection is more prevalent in PD cases than in acute diarrhea or non-diarrheal controls. This prevalence is not high enough to warrant routine anti-giardia therapy in patients with PD. However, as giardiasis was observed to have adverse growth impact in PD cases, stool microscopy for detection and subsequent treatment of Giardia lamblia seems to be justified.

Epidemiology & management of persistent diarrhoea in children of developing countries.

Diarrhoea that begins acutely but lasts longer than two weeks is defined to be persistent. Revised estimates in developing countries including India showed that acute diarrhoea accounts for 35 per cent, dysentery 20 per cent and non-dysenteric persistent diarrhoea (PD) for 45 per cent of total diarrhoeal deaths. PD also often changes marginal malnutrition to more severe forms. Factors that increase the risk of acute diarrhoea becoming persistent have been identified in India and other developing countries. These include antecedent malnutrition, micronutrient deficiency particularly for zinc and vitamin A, transient impairment in cell mediated immunity, infection with entero aggregative Escherichia coli and cryptosporidium, sequential infection with different pathogens and lack of exclusive breast feeding during the initial four months of life particularly use of bovine milk. Several issues regarding the management of persistent diarrhoea in hospitalized children in India have been resolved. Diets providing modest amounts of milk mixed with cereals are well tolerated. In those who fail on such diets providing carbohydrate as a mixture of cereals and glucose or sucrose hasten recovery. The role of antimicrobial agents and individual micronutrients in PD is currently being investigated. A management algorithm appropriate for India and other developing countries has been developed and found to substantially reduce case fatality in hospital settings to about 2-3 per cent. Recent epidemiological and clinical research related to persistent diarrhoea is also reviewed.

Reduced-osmolarity oral rehydration salts solution multicentre trial: implications for national policy.

World Health Organization (WHO) recommended standard ORS solution has sodium (90 mmol/L) and glucose (111 mmol/L) almost in the ratio of 1:1 and a total osmolarity of 311 mmol/L. There are concerns that the sodium or glucose concentration and the overall osmolarity in the formulation is not appropriate. Therefore, the efficacy of standard and reduced-osmolarity ORS solutions in young children with acute diarrhea was evaluated in a recent WHO supervised multicentre trial conducted in India (New Delhi), Brazil, Mexico and Peru. The implications of trial results are discussed. In non-cholera diarrhea, both the standard and reduced osmolarity ORS solutions were effective in achieving clinical rehydration. The stool output was 39% higher in the standard ORS solution group as compared to the reduced-osmolarity ORS solution group. The duration of diarrhea was 22% higher in the standard ORS solution group. The risk of requiring supplementary intravenous infusion was increased in children treated with standard ORS solution [relative risk 1.4 (0.9-2.4)]; this benefit was not observed in Indian patients due to high breast feeding rate. The mean sodium concentration at 24 hours after admission was lower in the reduced osmolarity ORS solution group [135 (134-136) vs 138 (136-139), p < 0.01). The low osmolarity ORS deserves to be evaluated in adult cholera to determine its efficacy and any excess hyponatreamia. Meanwhile, it is reassuring that the WHO formulation was effective and its use was not associated with hypenatremia even in young children. Efforts must continue to be made to promote WHO-ORS while research to improve it further is welcome.

Association between diarrheal duration and nutritional decline: implications for an empirically validated definition of persistent diarrhea.

In an empiric approach to develop the definition of persistent diarrhea, we evaluated the relationship between diarrheal duration and risk of ensuing clinically significant decline in nutritional status, in a cohort of 395 children < 24 mo. Weights were obtained at the onset of diarrhea (wt I) and after three months interval (wt II). The occurrence of an adverse outcome (AO) was defined as a decline of -- 5% in NCHS weight for age (% WFA) between weights I and II or death in this interval. The risk of AO was similar for episodes of / or > 7 days while it was substantially higher in episodes with > 14 days duration (45%) than for shorter duration episodes, relative risk (RR) = 2.5 (p < 0.001). Relative risk remained similar for duration thresholds of 21 (2.3) and 28 days (2.6). As episode durations greater than 14 days are associated with substantial elevation of the risk of clinically cogent sequelae, such episodes may be termed 'persistent' at least in terms of poor prognostic expectations.

Cerebrospinal fluid N-acetyl neuraminic acid estimation for early diagnosis and differentiation of bacterial meningitis.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis for free, bound and total N-Acetyl Neuraminic Acid (NANA) as well as serum NANA was done in 68 patients of bacterial meningitis, of which 37 cases were of pyrogenic meningitis and 31 of tuberculous meningitis. Ten patients were included in the control group. The free NANA levels were increased in only pyogenic meningitis, independent of protein levels but the bound form increased with the increase in CSF proteins. The increase of free NANA in CSF of pyogenic meningitis patients was not related to the cell count or sugar content in CSF or to the duration or severity of illness. This finding can be of great help in differentiating cases of pyogenic meningitis, particularly partially treated patients, who may have ambiguous pictures of CSF analysis, from the cases of tuberculous meningitis.

Human enterocyte adhesion of enteroadherent Escherichia coli.

Esch. coli strains manifesting localised (17), diffuse (8) or aggregative (17) phenotypes of adherence to HEp-2 cells were tested for their ability to adhere to human enterocytes isolated from duodenal biopsies of adult volunteers to obtain further evidence of their enteropathogenecity. Esch. coli strains H10407+; CFAI+ and LT+ STp+ STh+, F 294 B; a localised adherent strain positive with entero-adherent factor probe reported previously to attach to small intestinal enterocytes and F 582 C; LT- STp+ STh+ were the positive controls: H10407P (CFAI- mutant of H10407+) and K12 served as negative control strains. Adherence of variable degree was seen with 35.3 per cent of enteroaggregative Esch. coli (EAggEc) and with 58.8 per cent of enteroadherent Esch. coli localised (EAEC-L); EAEC-diffuse (EAEC-D) did not adhere to the human enterocytes. The possibility that EAgg EC and diffuse phenotypes may adhere better to lower small intestine or the large intestine, needs to be investigated.

Litholapaxy: a fading art.

The bladder stones in 45 patients were treated with tactile litholapaxy over a period of 3 years. The overall success rate was 91.1%. The associated urological lesions like enlarged prostate, bladder neck contracture and urethral stricture could be safely dealt with simultaneously with litholapaxy in one sitting which was advantageous to the patient as well as to the surgeon.

Intestinal glucoamylase & other disaccharidases in children with protracted diarrhoea.

Brush border lactase, sucrase and glucoamylase activities were assessed in jejunal mucosal biopsy specimens from 34 children (median age 11 months; range 1.5-38) having protracted diarrhoea with failure to thrive and 8 well nourished children with normal jejunal mucosal histology (median age 10.2 months; range 2-37). All enzymes showed progressive decrease in activity which was directly in relation to increasing degree of mucosal injury (P less than 0.002). Lactase was significantly reduced even in patients with protracted diarrhoea and normal mucosa (P less than 0.05). Glucoamylase and sucrase were significantly reduced only in the presence of mucosal injury (P less than 0.01). Our data suggest that most children with protracted diarrhoea may not tolerate lactose containing feeds and may need lactose-free diets preferably based on starch. A small number of children with protracted diarrhoea, who have severe mucosal injury may not be able to handle even starch and may require diets based on short chain glucose polymers. The findings of this study, need to be corroborated with well-controlled metabolic balance studies.

Pregnancy outcome in women exposed to toxic gas at Bhopal.

A study was undertaken to compare the effects of exposure to the toxic gas in pregnant women in Bhopal with pregnant women in a similar, unexposed area. A high incidence of spontaneous abortions (24.2%) in the pregnant women exposed to the toxic gas was observed as compared to those in the control area (5.6%). Other indices of adverse reproductive outcome, such as the rate of still birth and congenital malformation were not found to be different. The perinatal and neonatal mortalities were significantly higher in the affected area (6.9 and 6.1% respectively), as compared to the control area (5.0 and 4.5% respectively).