A cross sectional study of sociodemographic profile and treatment seeking behavior of cases of animal bite attending anti Rabies clinic at tertiary health care center in central India.

Rabies is 100% fatal zoonotic disease which can be prevented by appropriate anti rabies post exposure prophylaxis. The incidence of animal bite is managed poorly due to ignorance and rampant myths & misconceptions. It is discovered that a vital time period is lost in taking medical aid as people due to ignorance opt for traditional medications the authenticity of which is not completely established. Aims & objectives: 1) To study the social, demographic characteristics of victims of animal bites. 2) To study the treatment seeking behavior of persons and to find their correlations. Methods: An observational cross-sectional study. The respondents were selected amongst new cases of animal bites attending Anti Rabies clinic of Gandhi medical college Bhopal M.P. India for 3 months using pretested questionnaire. Data was analyzed & interpreted using percentages and tests of significance using Epi info 7. Results: Out of total 315 cases of animal bite nearly 38.75% were below 15 years of age. In total, 82.5% cases were bitten by dogs. The majority of cases (73%) had a category III bite, only 45% consulted within 24 hours of the bite. Nearly 9% did not wash the wound with soap & water instead applied home remedies or opted for traditional or non-allopathic treatment. A statistically significant (P <0.0001) association was found between educational status & knowledge of fatality due to rabies. Conclusions: Rising level of literacy enhances knowledge about the fatality of rabies.

Rupture of Term Noncommunicating Rudimentary Horn of Uterus.

Pregnancy in noncommunicating rudimentary horn is rare. It occurs following transperitoneal migration of sperms or zygote. Uterine rupture usually occurs in 70-80% cases in the second trimester by 20 weeks. Neonatal survival in rudimentary horn pregnancy is poor occurring in only about 11% of cases.

Reliability of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) in Very Small Breast Lumps.

FNAC diagnosis and subsequent histopathology of 166 breast lumps of different sizes, depth and mobility were studied prospectively over a 10-year period (1990-2000) and grouped into two groups. Group-I of lumps <2cm and Group-II of lumps >2cm (control 80 cases). They were again subclassified as deep or not deep and mobile or fixed. Statistically significant positive correlation was found in all categories for less accurate diagnosis of lumps of <2 cm as compared to those of >2 cm. Therefore, because of low diagnostic accuracy in Group- I, it is recommended that for lumps <2cm even if the FNAC diagnosis is “non-malignant” a lumpectomy histopathological examination be done.

Presence of Hb S in Uttaranchal.

Haemoglobin-S has been reported in several studies on remote populations from various parts of India eg Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Malaysian Indians. Uttaranchal also has got scattered areas with people living in remote-pockets due to its geophysical nature. There has been no previous report from this state about prevalence of Hb-S. In the present study on 38 individual eight were found to have Hb-S positivity by sickling test. In one of these electrophoretic confirmation was positive with demonstration of associated Beta thalassaemia. The group was a family of muslims in village Baghori near Haldwani. Due to technical, geographical and social restrictions further study could not be done. However, this study does establish the presence of Hb-S-Beta thalassaemia in Uttaranchal State for the first time. Follow up study in the affected area and elsewhere in the state might discover more of Hb-S positivity, other haemoglobinopathies and thalassaemias.

TORCH infection in women with bad obstetric history--a pilot study in Kumaon region.

TORCH infections in the mother are transmissible to fetus in the womb or during the birth process and cause a cluster of symptomatic birth defects. In mother they are inapparent or asymptomatic and hence difficult to diagnose clinically. Over a nine months period 20 pregnant women with bad obstetric history were-studied. Seropositivity of Toxoplasma, rubella, CMV, and HSV infections (TORCH) were demonstrated by the presence of IgM and IgG antibodies by ELISA method. It was found that, IgM antibodies were positive in 4 cases (20%) for Toxoplasma, 4 cases (28.6%) for rubella and 4 cases (26.7%) for CMV and HSV each. IgG antibodies were positive in 11cases (55%) for Toxoplasma, 10 cases (66.6%) for rubella, 14 cases (93%) for CMV and 11 (73%) for HSV. Therefore all antenatal cases with BOH should be routinely screened for TORCH as early diagnosis and appropriate intervention will help in proper management and fetal outcome.

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with pure red cell aplasia.

Pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) associated with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is an extremely rare condition, with few cases reported worldwide. More commonly PRCA is associated with thymoma or viral infections. Steroids and other immunosuppressive drugs are the preferred treatment of PRCA.

Report of NEQAP--the ten years growth success.

External quality assessment forms a vital aspect of health laboratory service. Decisionto start National External quality assessment Programme (NEQAP) under IAPM was taken at the Annual conference at Bombay in December, 1989 to be run from Varanasi at the initiative of the author. It has been running now for more than ten years and is unique in that it does not have financial backing from government or any institution and runs by contributions from participants and help from IAPM from time to time. Another unique feature is that it is truly multiparametric including clinical chemistry, hematology, microbiology and cytology. It covers about 300 labs from all corners of India. Details of the IAPM-NEQAP programme made during successful running for ten years (1990-1999) and recommendations for further action are given.

Familial gliomas : a case report.

Two non-twin brothers were found to have intracranial malignant neoplasms. The age of presentation was third and fourth decade but the onset was simultaneous, at the same time. Diagnosis in each of them was made by computed tomography and confirmed by histopathology. Elder among them had cellular ependymoma and the younger had oligodendroglioma. Both the brothers received radiotherapy post operatively and were surviving asymptomatically without any neurological deficit, leading active life as police constable, 12 months after surgical treatment.

A simple device for performing fine needle aspiration cytology.

A Simple reusable device has been fabricated from the barrel of the ten ml plastic disposable syringe to hold the piston of 20 ml disposable syringe for Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC), in position of full retraction so as to produce continuous negative pressure inside. The device has been found very satisfactory inexpensive and has special relevance to situations where the standard syringe holder is not available.

Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) isoenzymes patterns in ocular tumours.

Estimation of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) isoenzymes in the serum and aqueous humor was carried out in 15 cases of benign ocular tumour, 15 cases of malignant tumor and 15 normal cases. Cases of both sexes aged between 1 year and 75 years were included. LDH, isoenzymes specially LDH4 and LDH5 are higher and LDH1 and LDH2 lower in sera of patients with malignant tumor specially retinoblastoma as compared to benign tumor cases and control cases. LDH isoenzymes in aqueous humor are significantly higher and show a characteristic pattern in retinoblastoma cases, the concentration was presumably too low in the control, malignant tumor other than retinoblastoma and benign tumor cases as its fractionation was not possible.