Blood glucose level on admission as potential indicator of in-hospital mortality in non-diabetic patients presenting with acute stroke

Background:A stroke or cerebrovascular accident is defined as an abrupt onset of a neurologic deficit that is attributable to a focal vascular cause. Stress hyperglycemia has been defined as hyperglycemia in previously euglycemic patients that corrects once the acute process resolves.Methods: The present study was conducted in the medicine department, Guru Nanak Dev hospital attached to government medical college, Amritsar from April 2021-December 2021 after taking approval from institutional ethics committee. This was a prospective observational study. A total of 50 non-diabetic patients of acute stroke with age group >18 to <75 of either sex wereenrolled in this study. Comparison of mortality was done in hyperglycemic and non hypergylcemic non-diabetic patients on1stday of admission and up to 10thday during hospital stay.Results: Mortality percentage on day 1 was higher among those who had high blood glucose levels but there was no significant association between glucose levels and day 1 outcome (survival or death) observed in our study (p=0.078). Mortality percentage on day 10 was higher among those who had high blood glucose levels and there was significant association between glucose levels and day 10 outcome (survival or death) observed in ourstudy (p=0.001). A significant association was observed between glucose levels and overall outcome in our study (p<0.001).Conclusions:We conclude that even in non-diabetic patients, hyperglycemia on admission is independently associated with a higher risk of in-hospital mortality.

A Study to Evaluate the Efficacy of Acupuncture for Treating Allergic Rhinitis

Introduction: Allergic Rhinitis is a common inflammatorydisease of the nasal mucosa. It is a symptomatic disorderof the nose induced after allergen exposure due to an IgEmediated inflammation of membranes lining the nose. Usualtreatment of Allergic rhinitis includes allergen avoidance,effective symptomatic treatment, antihistamines or steroids,standardized immunotherapy, and patient health education.There are also recommended complementary and alternativemedicine (CAM) therapies including, Ayurvedic medicine,herbal medicines, Acupuncture, Homeopathy, and severalother modalities.Material and methods: This study was conducted on 80patients diagnosed positive for Allergic Rhinitis attending theOutdoor Patient Department (OPD) of Dr. D.N. Kotnis Health& Education Centre, Ludhiana, Punjab. The severity of thepatient’s problem was taken on Liker’s scale at their first visitand the last visit of the treatment. The acupuncture points werepunctured until the needling sensation/ Qi was achieved. Thepoints were connected with an electrical stimulator for 30-40 minutes followed by a moxibustion application with stickmoxa for 15-20 minutes. The collected data were subjected tomultinominal logistic regression using ROCR package of theR programming environment.Results: It is noted that, statistically after treatment, theresults for pre and post-treatment varied significantly withp=0.0039, df= 15. There was maximum improvement seen fornasal symptoms and insomnia treatment.Conclusion: Acupuncture provides an effective and safetreatment modality for allergic rhinitis. It provides a significantreduction in major symptoms of allergic rhinitis improving theQuality of life of the patient.

Interventional Study to Evaluate Efficacy of Acupuncture for Treating Sciatica Pain

Introduction: Low back pain has a profound impact bothdirectly and indirectly on individuals. It is estimated that 60%to 80% of any population will experience low back pain atsome point in their lives. There are number of causes for lowback pain and Sciatica is one of them. Study aimed to assessthe efficacy of Acupuncture for the management of Sciaticapain.Material and Methods: This study was conducted among 200patients attending the Outdoor Patient department at Dr D.N.Kotnis Health and Education Center. With each subject a priorinformed and written consent was obtained. A predesigned andpretested proforma was used to collect the socio demographicprofile. Severity of Pain was measured with the help of LikertScale whereas the reading on Likert scale was taken at thetime of first visit and last visit of patients for comparison ofpain. Data was first entered into MS excel sheet and then wasexported to SPSS version 20.0 for appropriate analysis.Results: Wilcoxon signed rank test was applied to determinethe efficacy of the treatment on reducing the pain, further itwas observed that the effect of the treatment was statisticallysignificant (p<0.001)Conclusion: Acupuncture provides effective relief fromSciatica pain. However initiation of treatment at young ageprovides quick response and healing by reducing suffering ofsciatica pain.

DPPH radical scavenging activity and contents of H2O2, malondialdehyde and proline in determining salinity tolerance in chickpea seedlings.

The involvement of 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity and contents of H2O2, malondialdehyde (MDA) and proline was investigated in determining salinity tolerance among seedlings of thirty chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes having different pedigrees. Chickpea genotypes, including cultivars and advanced lines were grown for 7 days under control and salt stress (50 mM NaCl) conditions. The genotypes showed differential response to salt stress in terms of growth, DPPH radical scavenging activity and contents of H2O2, MDA and proline in seedlings. On the basis of seedling growth, the genotypes having better performance under stress conditions had reduced levels of H2O2 and MDA contents, but increased levels of proline and DPPH radical scavenging activity. Stress tolerance index for these parameters was also determined. Agglomerative hierarchal clustering by Pearson correlation coefficient grouped the genotypes into two major clusters — MC I and MC II. MC II and A1-1 sub-cluster of MC-I comprised mainly of genotypes that showed higher stress resistance levels for the respective parameters in comparison to genotypes in other sub-clusters. Thus, it is possible to identify salt-tolerant genotypes on the basis of above parameters without a field trial.

Need for surveillance of concomitant peripheral artery disease in patients with coronary disease: results of the AGATHA survey in Malaysia / 老年心脏病学杂志（英文版）

Background For patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD), co-existence of peripheral artery disease (PAD) predicts increased mortality, and such patients are also more likely to benefit from aggressive therapy. Surveillance of PAD is often neglected at health clinics. Our aim is to highlight the importance and ease of surveillance of PAD in patients with CVD. Objective To determine the prevalence of symptomatic and asymptomatic PAD in a Malaysian patient population with documented CVD. Methods and Results A total of 393 subjects with established CVD were recruited from three centres (85 women and 308 men), as part of a larger international (AGATHA) survey. PAD, determined by presence of claudicant symptoms on interview and/or abnormal ankle-brachial index (ABI)score of less than 0.9, was present in 21.4% of patients - of whom 64% were asymptomatic. Abnormal ABI is associated with higher systolic blood pressure and number of arterial beds affected. Conclusions Concomitant PAD is prevalent among CVD patients in Malaysia. ABI screening is simple and yields a high proportion of patients with extensive atherosclerosis who may require more aggressive atherosclerotic risk management.