ABSTRACT
Background: Various adjuvants are being used with local anesthetics for prolongation of intraoperative and post-operativeanalgesia. Among them, clonidine and dexmedetomidine are two α2-agonists which can be used as neuraxial adjuvants.Dexmedetomidine, a highly selective α2- adrenergic agonist, is a newer neuraxial adjuvant gaining popularity.Objectives: The objective of the study was to compare sensory and motor block characteristics, hemodynamic effects and sideeffects of low doses of clonidine or dexmedetomidine as an adjuvant to 12.5 mg hyperbaric bupivacaine in spinal anesthesiain lower-limb surgeries.Materials and Methods: A total of 90 patients of American Society of Anesthesiology I and II posted for lower-limbsurgeries were randomly allocated into three groups of 30 each. Group B received plain 12.5 mg of hyperbaric bupivacainediluted to 3 ml with normal saline. Group C received 30 mcg clonidine added to 12.5 mg hyperbaric bupivacaine anddiluted to 3 ml. Group D received 3 mcg dexmedetomidine added to 12.5 mg hyperbaric bupivacaine and diluted to 3 mlwith normal saline.Results: Patients in Group D and Group C had a significantly shorter onset time of sensory and motor block and significantlylonger duration of sensory and motor block compared to bupivacaine group. The mean time for sensory regression to S1 segmentwas 301.90 ± 31.96 min in Group D, 283.23 ± 13.59 min in Group C, and 181.70 ± 18.55 min in Group B (B vs. D and B vs. C,P < 0.001). There was a statistically significant difference in the two segment regression of sensory block in Group D (140.32± 17.6 min) when compared to Group C (124.5 ± 16.10 min) and Group B (92.13 ± 11.45 min). The regression of motor blockto Bromage 0 was 262 ± 24.40 min in Group D, 261 ± 24.19 min in Group C, and 164.40 ± 15.26 min in Group B (B vs. D andB vs. C, P < 0.0001). The onset and regression times were comparable between Groups D and C. Time for the first request ofrescue analgesia was nearly equal in Groups D and C and prolonged compared to Group B. Patients were hemodynamicallystable in all the groups.Conclusion: Dexmedetomidine and clonidine have a similar onset of sensory and motor block, prolonged duration of analgesia.Dexmedetomidine provides better analgesia than clonidine
ABSTRACT
India has over a century old tradition of development and production of vaccines. The Government rightly adopted self-sufficiency in vaccine production and self-reliance in vaccine technology as its policy objectives in 1986. However, in the absence of a full-fledged vaccine policy, there have been concerns related to demand and supply, manufacture vs. import, role of public and private sectors, choice of vaccines, new and combination vaccines, universal vs. selective vaccination, routine immunization vs. special drives, cost-benefit aspects, regulatory issues, logistics etc. The need for a comprehensive and evidence based vaccine policy that enables informed decisions on all these aspects from the public health point of view brought together doctors, scientists, policy analysts, lawyers and civil society representatives to formulate this policy paper for the consideration of the Government. This paper evolved out of the first ever ICMR-NISTADS national brainstorming workshop on vaccine policy held during 4-5 June, 2009 in New Delhi, and subsequent discussions over email for several weeks, before being adopted unanimously in the present form.
Subject(s)
Budgets , Decision Support Systems, Clinical , Evidence-Based Medicine , Humans , Immunization Programs , India , /economicsABSTRACT
Since there are no reliable methods to demonstrate the effect of BCG vaccination in children, culture filtrates of BCG were evaluated for their specificity and sensitivity. BCG culture filtrate (BCG-CF), BCG sonicate and tuberculin were used as antigens and tested against serum, for the presence of IgG class of antibodies by ELISA and Western blot. Methodology: Children in the age-group of 1 to 10 years, were categorized as: (a) normal, and vaccinated, n=35; (b) normal, without a scar and with no evident history of vaccination, n=15; and (c) children with tuberculosis (meningitis, miliary and lymphadenitis) n=15. Results: The mean values of optical density (OD) in group (a), 4.0+0.08, were significantly high (P<0.001) to BCG-CF, compared to that of groups (b) (1.0+0.02) and (c) (1.4+0.03). The Western blot results revealed that a greater number of children (71%) in the vaccinated group reacted to low molecular weight proteins (10-30kDa) compared to other groups (unvaccinated: 17% and TB: 20%). The overall specificity, sensitivity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of BCG-CF were higher in the vaccinated group. Conclusions: The results of the study suggest that the secreted antigens of BCG induce antibody formation, which are specific and are directed mostly towards the low molecular weight proteins. The presence of these antibodies could probably be exploited in an assay to distinguish children immunized by BCG from the unvaccinated and those having tuberculosis.