A Study of Somatic Nerve Functions in Diabetic and Normal Persons.

This hospital-based case-control study was undertaken among 50 diabetic cases and 50 non-diabetic controls of Burdwan to evaluate neurophysiological changes. Neurophysiological assessment was done with nerve conduction velocity, amplitude and latency of median nerve motor and sensory component of upper arms and tibial motor and sural sensory part of lower limbs. NCV and amplitude had negative correlation where latency had positive correlation with age and duration of diabetes. Independent t-test was done to compare NCV and amplitude among cases and controls and results showed diminished values in cases than controls (p< 0.001). This study reflected that early diagnosis and management of neuropathy by neurophysiological test may retard the progression of neuropathy in diabetic persons.

Retrospective Study on Prevalence of Primary and Recurrent Inguinal Hernia and its Repairs in Patients Admitted to a Tertiary Care Hospital.

A total of 498 cases were followed up from the past 5 years data from hospital records to evaluate several aspects of Recurrence of Inguinal hernia and its repair in Medical College, Kolkata. The data included type of hernia, primary or recurrent hernia, year of primary operation, primary and recurrent operation type, nature of mesh used, years to recurrence, presence of risk factors. Inguinal hernia recurrence is found among 153 (30.72%) cases, with a male preponderance of primary hernia with considerable recurrence in female too. The left sided and indirect hernias seemed to be more prevalent than others. Early recurrence (37.91%) represented predominantly technical failures of the operative procedure and selection of patients. Both primary and recurrent hernias were found predominantly in the middle aged persons. An increase in incidence of primary and recurrent hernias was seen with advancement of time. The usual techniques that are implemented in repair of inguinal hernia were mostly the Laparoscopic technique (36.23%) and also Lichtenstein Repair in recurrent hernia cases (58.82%) with the use of Polypropelene mesh. Shouldice repair and Modified Bassini’s techniques are implemented in very few cases. Smoking, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases, Chronic Constipation, Diabetes and Benign Hypertrophy of Prostate were found to be the prominent risk factors in precipitating recurrence of inguinal hernia. The study points to the loop holes in the hospital’s strategy, to tackle with a case of inguinal hernia, which are necessary to be removed, in order to curb the morbidity of the patient and hospital management, by the overwhelming patient load.

Association of Sleep Disorders with Essential Hypertension in Subcontinental Population.

Effects of sleep disorders on different physiological functions have been studied in depth. One such association is that of insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea with hypertension. This study intended to evaluate the relationship between sleep disorders and essential hypertension. In this institution based case-control study, the study population was selected by simple random sampling among all patients attending the outpatient department of Medicine. Patients with major risk factors for essential hypertension and other causes of secondary hypertension were excluded. Patient’s meeting the eligible criteria of blood pressure equal to or greater than 140/90 (mean of 3 readings) mm of Hg were included as cases and matched controls were selected from the rest. The eligible population of 216 people (92 cases, 124 controls) was assessed using the modified SLEEP-50 questionnaire and evaluated using an original “Sleep Scale”. Significant sleep disorder (Sleep Scale score >6), had a prevalence of 13.89%. The mean sleep scores were significantly higher (p = 0.0037) in cases than controls. The association between sleep disorder and essential hypertension was significant. (Odd’s Ratio=2.270, 95% Confidence Interval 0.970-5.364, p=0.047). Sleep disorders are an unconventional risk factor for essential hypertension. Further studies are needed to validate the present observations.

Prevalence, Geographical Distribution, Social Problems and Treatment of Thalassemia Patients.

A total of 700 beta thalassemia patients were gathered at the outdoor of the Hematology department of Medical College, Kolkata, attending during the period from January 2010 to December 2010. The data is generated by the interaction between them and their family members in presence of the physicians. Actual ethnic identities, place of residence, parity and sibship together with social stigma, if any, faced by the patient or by the member of the family and details of their treatment including transfusion history were noted down and reconfirmed from past records. The prevalence of thalassemia was found 70% among Hindus of which the 62.26% was contributed by castes like Maishya, Namasudra, Barga Kshatriya and Panda Kshatriya. The relative prevalence of subtypes of b-thalassemia was found to be 65% E-b thalassemia, 30% Homozygous b-thalassemia and 5% S-b thalassemia. The aboard of the 85.28% patients were found to be localised along banks river Hooghly and Ganga delta region and we can thus consider tentatively that this belt is a thalassemia zone in West Bengal. The maximum number of cases showed parity to be 1 and there was considerable amount of reproductive wastage. Regarding social stigma, 82.71% responded with no stigma. Early diagnosis and early onset of transfusion with chelation therapy was found to provide benefit for the patient reducing the total amount of transfusion needed per year and also restoring the quality of their life.

Study of the Fatigue Strength of the Artificial Ceramic on Ceramic Hip Joint under Normal Walking Conditions

Hip joint, bearing and transmitting the major part of our body weight, is very vulnerable to damage, which may be further accentuated by certain factors like osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, avascular necrosis of femoral head following fracture neck femur, tumour, osteoporosis or any type of street accident. Of them single most determining factor is osteoporosis – observed in most of the postmenopausal women which may be further magnified by lack of proper nutrition in a developing country like India. When these factors become chronic and debilitating, leading to severe pain, restriction of mobility and function; – need for the complete or partial hip arthroplasty comes to play. Number of patients suffer every year throughout the world is well over 10 lakh and the figure in India is about 4 lakh. In India however, number of hip operation every year is much lower (about 1 lakh)1 as most of our patients cannot afford the prosthesis and operation cost. Again, while opting for surgery, along with cost other factors like the material itself or its efficacy should be considered. The most popular material, which is in vogue internationally, is ceramic on ceramic prosthesis which is now considered to be the best material.