Childhood Middle Ear Tuberculosis–A Rare Case Report.

Tuberculosis rarely affects the middle ear cleft; the disease is a curiosity and not often considered in the differential diagnosis of otorrhea. The diagnosis is thus made too late, with resulting complications such as irreversible hearing loss and facial nerve paralysis. A case report with review of the literature is presented, emphasizing that tuberculosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of chronic ear infection in children. In our case direct nosocomial spread of tuebrculous bacilli has been attributed.

Routine primary immunization: status in two district of West Bengal.

The study was conducted at Birbhum and Purba Medinipur districts of West Bengal to assess the routine primary immunization coverage following 40 cluster sampling technique was used to study 320 children in each of the districts. BCG coverage was found to be 79.69% at Birbhum and 84.38% at Purba Medinipur. Only 62.81% children at Birbhum and 67.81% children at Purba Medinipur received all the three primary doses of DPT. Regarding OPV, coverage with three primary doses were only 65% and 66.88% at Birbhum and Purba Medinipur respectively. Measles vaccine coverage was very poor at both the districts, 55.94% at Birbhum and 62.5% at Purba Medinipur. Full primary immunization was observed 53.13% and 61.56% in Birbhum and Purba Medinipur respectively. High drop-out rate was identified as a major deficiency in both the districts. Of the children who received at least one routine vaccine, more than 1/3rd at Birbhum and more than 1/4 th at Purba Medinipur did not turn up later for completion of their primary vaccine doses. It is evident that routine immunization coverage was poor in both the districts and it seems there has been no improvement in situation for last few years. It will influence not only the child morbidity and mortality situation but also will jeopardize the paralytic polio eradication programme. Urgent intervention should be undertaken to address the large number of non-immunized children as well as high proportion of drop-outs.

Interrelationship among prognostic factors in carcinoma breast.

Presentation of breast cancer at an advanced stage is a rule than exception in rural West Bengal. It was observed that 65.6% of fresh cases presented with history of breast lump with a duration of over 12 months. Of the total 32 cases, 27 (84.4%) had breast lump of more than 5 cm size and had 4 or more pathologically positive axillary nodes. In 28 cases (87.5%) largest node measured was 2 cm or more. In histology of breast specimen, 12 (37.5%) showed high degree of lymph vessel invasion while 31 (96.9%) had at least some lymphatic invasion. Blood vessel invasion of high degree was observed in 18 cases (56.2%) while 29 cases (90.6%) showed at least some blood vessel invasion.

The effect of malathion dust on certain tissues of male rats fed varying levels of dietary protein.

The effect of malathion, an organophosphorus insecticide on tissue levels of acetylcholinesterase (Ache), phosphomonoesterases and transaminases have been studied in presence of different levels of dietary proteins. Adult male albino rats weighing 150-200 gms were given 5%, 10% and 20% protein diets containing 400 mg malathion (dust) 5% conc./kg feed for 30 days. Its effect was evaluated in liver, kidney, brain, lungs and spleen and results were compared with their respective malathion dust, pair-fed animals (5%, 10% and 20% protein groups without malathion). Animals kept on low protein diets (5% and 10%) when exposed to malathion dust showed significant increase in the activities of GOT and alkaline phosphatase in liver, kidney, brain, lungs and spleen, while a marked inhibition in the activity of Ache was observed under similar treatment. GPT was decreased in kidney and lungs, in the low protein groups (5% and 10%, whereas its activity was increased in liver, brain and spleen of animals receiving 5% protein, when exposed to compared to their respective pair-fed animals. Thus, although the degree of alteration in the enzyme profile is less severe, these changes show that high protein diet has a protective role against pesticide hazards, whereas low protein diet provides less stability to the structural integrity of the tissues.