A study on correlation of gall bladder wall thickness with severity of Dengue fever

Background: Dengue is an acute viral infection with potentially fatal complications. This study was done to describe the correlation of Gall bladder wall thickness with severity of Dengue fever and to predict the fatal outcome of Dengue fever at the earliest to prevent serious consequences by timely interventions.Methods: This was a hospital based prospective observational study conducted at Niloufer Hospital, a tertiary care pediatric hospital attached to Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad, Telangana, India from October 2017 to November 2018. All children between 1 year to 12 years of age that had clinical features of dengue and who were serologically confirmed were included in this study.Results: Age group most commonly affected was 5-8 years with maximum number of dengue cases without warning signs (55.7%). Majority of severe dengue cases (64.3%) had gall bladder wall thickness >5mm. The correlation between severity of dengue and gall bladder wall thickness was found to be highly significant indicating the higher the severity of dengue more the gall bladder thickness.Conclusions: This study concludes gallbladder wall thickness (GBWT) measured by ultrasonography can be used in children for early prediction of the severity of DHF in children and authors can include gall bladder wall thickness as an admission criteria during epidemics.

Anti-psoriatic activity of flavonoids from Cassia tora leaves using the rat ultraviolet B ray photodermatitis model

The plant Cassia tora L., Fabaceae, traditionally, is claimed to be useful in the treatment of psoriasis and other skin diseases. In order to evaluate this information, antipsoriatic activity of three flavonoids, namely luteolin-7-O-β-glucopyranoside (1), quercetin-3-O-β-D-glucuronide (2) and formononetin-7-O-β-D-glucoside (3), isolated from the ethanol extract of C. tora leaves were investigated using UV-B induced photodermatitis model. Further, the flavonoids present in the ethanol extract were identified using HPLC by comparing their retention time with known standard luteolin, quercetin and formononetin. In the UV induced photodermatitis model, histopathological analysis of the section revealed the absence of Munro's microabscess, elongation of rete ridges, and capillary loop dilation in ethanol extract (400 mg/kg), isolated compound 2, 3 and standard group. The ethanolic extract (400 mg/kg) and isolated compounds 1, 2 and 3 exhibited a significant (p < 0.01) percentage reduction of relative epidermal thickness when compared with a positive control. In the HPLC analysis, three flavonoids were identified by comparison of the retention times of standard marker, namely luteolin, quercetin and formononetin. We concluded, using animal model, that the flavonoids from Cassia tora leaves have significant antipsoriatic activity. .