Long-term outcomes following primary intraocular lens implantation in infants younger than 6 months

Purpose: To study the long-term safety profile and visual outcomes of primary intraocular lens (IOL) implantation in infants <6 months of age. Methods: This was a retrospective observational study conducted at a tertiary eye care center in South India. Infants under 6 months meeting the selection criteria who underwent cataract surgery (lens aspiration, primary posterior capsulorhexis, and anterior vitrectomy) with primary IOL implantation between January 2008 and December 2011 and minimum 3-year follow-up were included. Patient demographics, serial refractions, visual acuity, complications, and associated amblyopia/strabismus were reviewed. Visual acuity, myopic shift, and complications were the outcome measures. Results: Sixty-nine eyes of 38 infants (31 bilateral; mean age: 4.6 months) were reviewed. Mean follow-up was 51 months (range: 36�). Median logMAR best-corrected visual acuity at the final visit was 0.74 (interquartile range [IQR]: 0.50�98) in eyes with bilateral cataracts and 0.87 (IQR: 0.60�14) in eyes with unilateral cataracts with an average myopic shift of 6.7 diopters over 4.2 years. Most common postoperative complication was visual axis opacification (VAO) (13 eyes, 18%), necessitating membranectomy followed by pigmentary IOL deposits (11 eyes, 15%), and IOL decentration and glaucoma in four eyes each (5.6%). Mixed linear effect model found no significant association of age, gender, laterality, and postoperative complications with final visual acuity (P ? 0.05). Eyes with unilateral cataracts had a greater myopic shift than bilateral cases (P = 0.03). Conclusion: Primary IOL implantation in infants <6 months is reasonably safe in appropriately selected infants. VAO was the most common postoperative complication, and a large myopic shift was observed.

Correlation of antioxidants and fitness levels in undergraduate medical students.

Fitness is the ability of the organism to maintain the various internal equilibriums as closely as possible to the resting state during strenuous exercise and to restore promptly after exercise. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the fitness and correlate it with anti-oxidant levels of 50 male medical students in the age group of 18 to 25 years. Fitness was assessed by Harvard Step Test. The antioxidant status was assessed by Vitamin C and Vitamin E levels in the blood. Three groups were formed on the basis of fitness score. The mean values of fitness scores were 95.33 +/- 7.66, 68.5 +/- 9.22 and 37 +/- 10.9, in-group A, B and C, respectively. Between the three groups, Vitamin E values were significantly different but not the Vitamin C levels. Thus, it is concluded that Vitamin E levels influence the fitness state of an individual.

Incidence of enteroadherence in diarrhoegenic Escherichia coli in infants in Delhi.

Fifty-six isolates of Escherichia coli including 40 isolates from diarrhoeic infants and 16 from non-diarrhoeic infants were investigated. Twenty-two of the diarrhoeic isolates were typable, the most common serogroup being 086 (33%). None of the non-diarrheic isolates are typable with EPEC antisera with enteropathogenes. Adherence tests with HEp-2 cell line revealed localized adherence in 23%, diffuse adherence in 14% and aggregative adherence in 5.7% of the 35 isolates tested. Aggregative adherence was not observed in any of the EPEC isolates. None of the isolates in the control group exhibited localized or aggregative adherence. However, 25% of these isolates showed diffuse adherence (DA) which was not significantly different from the incidence of DA (34%) in the test group (p > 0.05). The importance of serogrouping and studying adherence pattern of E. coli isolates in establishing their pathogenic potential is thus emphasized.

V. cholerae 01 outbreak in remote villages of Shimla district, Himachal Pradesh, 1994.

An outbreak of V. cholerae 01 occurred in remote villages of Rohru tehsil, district Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, during June-July 1994. Seven villages were affected. Overall attack rate was 16.4 per cent in surveyed villages. Attack rate in children < 5 was significantly high. Suspected source was spring water contaminated from open air defaecation. V. cholerae was resistant to co-trimoxazole and streptomycin.

Widespread emergence of Vibrio cholerae 0139 in India.

The National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) has been monitoring the incidence of laboratory confirmed cases of cholera in Delhi in collaboration with Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) since 1965. Cholera and cholera-like cases from all hospitals in Delhi are admitted in IDH and the rectal swabs of all such cases are processed for isolation of Vibrio cholerae at NICD laboratory. Since April 1993, there has been isolation of Vibrio cholerae serotype 0139, in increasing numbers (831 out of 2,830, 29.2%) The isolates have been characterized and enterotoxin studies carried out. As a referral laboratory NICD has also confirmed the causative role of Vibrio cholerae 0139 in diarrhea outbreaks from various parts of the country. The implications of establishment of this newer serotype of Vibrio cholerae, as a potential epidemic strain are discussed.