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Background: Carcinoma esophagus is the 6th most common cancer in India with an incidence of 5.04% It most commonly affects older age individuals, with incidence peaking in seventh and eighth decades of life. Adenocarcinoma (AC) and Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) are the two main histological variants. Our aim was to study the risk factors, clinical and epidemiological profile of patients diagnosed with Esophageal Cancer from two tertiary care centres located in North India.Methods:This was a retrospective study carried in departments of gastroenterology of two tertiary care hospitals North India. Data was collected from respective institutes for the previous 1 year i.e. from 1st October 2020 to 30th September 2021. All patients presenting to Gastroenterology OPD or emergency with dysphagia who were diagnosed as having Carcinoma esophagus were included in the study.Results:A total of 106 patients were included in this study. There were 44 females & 66 males. The most common presenting complaint was Dysphagia (48%) followed by Loss of weight (26.4%), Vomiting (in 23.6%) and Odynophagia (22.6%). Involvement of the lower one third of the oesophagus was the most common (37.7%). SCC (Squamous Cell Carcinoma) was the most common type of oesophageal carcinoma in this study, seen approximately in 80% of cases.Conclusion:Our study from North India suggested poor oral hygiene as a strong risk for carcinoma esophagus Males were more commonly affected and SCC was the predominant variant.
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Background: It is essential to spread awareness about known adverse drug reactions (ADRs) for identification, prevention and their proper management. The aim of this study is to assess disparities in documented ADRS of antiepileptic drugs in various sources of drug information.Methods: An observational, cross sectional study was done to compare different drug information sources for ADRs. Six sources of information namely: National Formulary India (2011), Drug Today (2018), Current index of medical specialties (CIMS), and some textbooks like Lippincott’s illustrated reviews: Pharmacology (2012), Brenner and Stevens' Pharmacology (2018) and George and Goodman and Gilman's (GG): The pharmacological basis of therapeutics (2018) were critically analysed for ADRs of a total of 34 drugs. Prototype drugs and most commonly prescribed antiepileptic drugs, were chosen for study. They were categorized according to therapeutic classification and guidelines by Indian Society of Epilepsy. ADRs were categorized according to various body systems, and serious and life threatening ADRs, then were tabulated and compared. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of this data was also done.Results: None of analysed sources mentioned all antiepileptic drugs. GG contained information for maximum number of drugs studied (76.4%) and National Formulary of India gave information for (52.9%) drugs only. There was wide variability among various resources while listing ADRs. CIMS listed maximum number of ADRs (85.5%) while minimum was included in Brenner and Stevens' Pharmacology (13%) for all antiepileptic drugs. The quality of data though limited was relatively better in CIMS, but none of sources studied were found to be complete.Conclusions: No source of information provided complete information about adverse effects of all 34 anti-epileptic drugs. Academicians and policymakers can work towards providing complete ADR information in all sources of information and updating it from time to time. Thus, making drug use safer in patients of epilepsy.
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Background: Hypertension is common medical problem encountered during pregnancy, complicating up to 10% pregnancies. Hypertension is defined as the systolic blood pressure ≤140 mmHg and a diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mmHg on two separate measurements at least 4-6 hours apart. During pregnancy thyroid demand changes with increased iodine uptake and synthesis of thyroid hormone. Serum from pre-eclamptic women had both a higher ratio of free fatty acid to albumin and increase up take of free fatty acids, which are further esterified to triglyceride. The aim of the present study was to evaluate thyroid hormone, lipid profile and urine albumin in hypertensive pregnant women and its comparison with normotensive pregnant womenMethods: Total 90 samples were collected from Beri Maternity Hospital and Civil Hospital, Amritsar. Blood samples were analysed for biochemical parameters viz. lipid profile and thyroid profile. Urine samples were also analysed for presence of albumin.Results: From the study it has been revealed that thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels increased in hypertensive pregnant women mean (4.26±1.1µ/ml). The total cholesterol (234.56±14.2mg/dl), triglyceride (138±16.96mg/dl), HDL (50.7±7.4mg/dl), LDL (156.2±17.11mg/dl) and VLDL (27.7±3mg/dl) was found altered in hypertensive pregnancy as compared to normotensive pregnancy. The albumin excretion was seen in 13.3% hypertensive pregnancies.Conclusions: TSH were elevated in hypertensive pregnant women due to the effects of estrogen. Among all the parameters of lipid profile, total cholesterol, TG, LDL and VLDL has been increased significantly in hypertensive pregnant women as compared to normotensive pregnant women due endothelial dysfunction.
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Background: Menstruation has always been surrounded by different perceptions throughout the world. Nowadays, there is some openness toward menstruation, but differences in attitude still persist between different populations depending upon the education, socioeconomic status and the surroundings. We conducted this study to assess the knowledge regarding menstruation, their attitudes and the practises undertaken by the young girls of India .A prewritten questionnaire was distributed to these girls and the answers were analysed.Methods: A school based cross-sectional study design was employed in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. A multi stage sampling technique was used to select 1000 female high school and junior college and pharmacy college students. Data collection was carried out from May 2018 to August 2018 using a pre- tested structured questionnaire. The data were entered into a computer using Epi-info version 3.5.1 and then exported to SPSS for Windows version 20.0 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was done at 95 % confidence interval.Results: In this study 682and 552 respondents had good knowledge and practice of menstruation respectively. The findings of the study showed a significant positive association between good knowledge of menstruation and educational status of mothers (AOR = 1.51, 95% CI = 1.02-2.22), (AOR = 2.42, 95% CI:1.64-3.56). Educational status of the mother (AOR = 2.03, 95 % CI =1.38-2.97), revealed significant positive association with good practice and attitude of menstrual process.Conclusions: The findings showed that the knowledge and practice of menstruation is low. Hence awareness programmed should be conducted in schools regularly. Participation of mothers can also add to the knowledge and good practice scores of the young girls.
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VACTERL association is a notable syndrome for various congenital malformations, occurring in neonates. These neonates usually present for corrective surgery of one or more malformations. We report here a rare case of VACTERL spectrum with cleft lip and palate along with hypoplastic mandible, undergoing surgery for imperforate anus under general anesthesia
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In this study a rapid, simple and sensitive assay to quantify clozapine in human plasma by using reverse phase high performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed. Clozapine was extracted from human plasma using a mixture of chloroform: n-hexane 50:50 employing liquid- liquid extraction method. The calibration curve was found to be linear in the concentration range of 25-800 ng/ml. The inter day and intra day assay accuracy and precision fulfilled the criteria specified by USFDA, Guidance for industry: bioanalytical method validation. Clozapine was found to be stable in human plasma after 6 h incubation at room temperature, 50 days storage at -27[degree sign] C and freeze thaw cycles, as well as after reconstitution with mobile phase after 24 h of storage in refrigerator. The validated method offers the advantage of using minimum injection volume [25micro l] and plasma sample volume [300micro l]. The extraction method is simple and single step with no back extraction step, thus, making this method applicable to determination of pharmacokinetic profiles and parameters