Morbidity pattern among tribal farmers in a selected district of Tripura, India

Background: Tribal communities in Tripura comprise 31.76% of the state's total population. The tribal people of Tripura are primarily farmers, and in spite of concerns about their poor health and unfulfilled requirements, they continue to get healthcare in isolated locations where there are obstacles such as undernourishment, a lack of medical facilities, and a labor scarcity. The study's objective is to ascertain the morbidity pattern among tribal farmers in Tripura. Methods: In 2021 after receiving approval from IIPS, Mumbai, selected farmers from Dhalai district were surveyed. We utilised cross-tabulation, chi2, PCA and straightforward logistic regression. Results: Only 5.17% of the sample population had higher education, 54.1% overall was male, and 23.1% were smokers. Jhum (Hill) cultivation was used by 15.5%, while regular (plain) farming was used by 84.5%. Tribal farmers in Tripura were suffered by both acute and chronic diseases. Diarrhoea and fever amongst acute diseases seemed to have the highest prevalence rates (1.82% each), whereas jaundice and reproductive tract infections have the lowest levels (0.30 each). Asthma had the highest prevalence (3.65%) among the chronic diseases, followed by hypertension (2.74%). The morbidity rate decreased as education levels rose. Normal cultivators and the cultivators who worked more times were more likely to have both acute and chronic diseases than jhum cultivators. Conclusions: It is possible to draw the conclusion that farmers didn't lead a healthy lifestyle and suffered from diseases. The study's findings could serve as a foundation for developing economic, educational, and medical plans for tribal farmers to safeguard them from health risks and workplace dangers.

Comparison of outcomes of acute kidney injury in elderly and non-elderly hospitalized patients in a tertiary care hospital in India: a prospective observational study

Background: The prevalence of acute kidney injury (AKI) progressively increases with age. A higher rate of dialysis dependency and mortality is observed in elderly with AKI. Here we have studied the comparison of clinical features, outcomes of AKI between elderly (age � years) and non-elderly AKI patients and their risk factors for mortality. Methods: This prospective observational study enrolled 100 patients with AKI, with elderly and non-elderly in a 1:1 ratio for comparison, from September 2021 to January 2023 at AIIMS Rishikesh in India. Detailed history, clinical examination, relevant laboratory and radiological investigations were done to evaluate for the cause of AKI. Etiological causes, complications of AKI, and in-hospital outcomes were observed. They were given standard treatment and dialysis as per standard indications. We analysed the mortality risk of these groups using the Cox proportional hazards model. Results: The in-hospital mortality rates among these two groups were non-significant (p=0.29). A significantly higher number of patients with non-elderly AKI were HD-dependent at discharge (p=0.027). Elderly patients had significantly lesser complications like uremic encephalopathy and fluid overload compared to non-elderly. There was a significant association between mortality and female gender, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, hospital-acquired AKI, pre-renal/renal causes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as comorbidity, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), mechanical ventilation requirement, vasopressor support requirement, need for hemodialysis and prolonged ICU stay. Conclusions: Elderly patients with AKI do not experience worse mortality outcomes than non-elderly patients with AKI. Therefore, elderly patients should not be denied timely treatment, solely based on their age.

Stroke Characteristics as Predictors of New-onset Seizure in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke

Introduction: The current guidelines on diagnosis and management of new-onset seizures in stroke are not well defined, especially in the Indian setting. Our study aims at providing insight into the hospital prevalence risk of new-onset seizures following ischemic stroke and to correlate seizure risk with the characteristics of stroke and other clinical parameters. Methods: A total of 127 patients were analyzed for the study where we assessed the clinical severity and the imaging severity of stroke using the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score and Alberta Stroke Program Early CT (ASPECT) score, respectively. Seizure-related variables including semiology, timing, and details of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) were assessed under the domain of early and late poststroke seizures (PSSs). All patients were followed for 6 months for the seizure recurrence and change in Barthel index. In statistical analysis, quantitative variables were compared using the independent t-test/Mann–Whitney U test, and qualitative variables were correlated using Chi-square test/Fisher’s exact test. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression was used to find out the significant risk factors of acute symptomatic seizure. Results: The mean age of the study population was 59.72 years (±14.77), with a male predominance (60.63%). About 78.74% of the cases had an NIHSS score more than or equal to 6.24% had posterior circulation strokes and the rest had anterior circulation strokes. A cortical location of infarct was observed in 62.2% of cases and a subcortical location in 61.4% of cases. The prevalence of early PSSs observed in our study was 10.6%. Of those, 80% had generalized seizures, 13.3% had focal seizures, and 6.67% had focal seizures with secondary generalizations. No patient in the study group had late-onset seizures. Total leukocyte count, serum protein levels, serum uric acid levels, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) values were associated with early seizures (p<0.05). Patients with early seizures were found to have a longer hospital stay (8 vs 6 days with p<0.05). In the Trial of Org 10,172 in Acute Stroke Treatment (TOAST) etiological classification, an acute stroke of undetermined etiology was found to have a significant association with the occurrence of early seizure in both univariate and multivariate analysis [p = 0.030; odds ratio (OR) 4.735 (1.160–22.576)]. There was no difference in change in the Barthel index among the two groups. Conclusion: There was no recurrence of seizures in those who defaulted for AED and one patient had a seizure even on AED. Prophylactic AEDs in stroke patients based on stroke characteristics could not be ascertained, but the sample size was small. Knowing the fact that antiepileptics cause sedation and increase the chance of aspiration, continuing AEDs in patients who develop acute symptomatic seizures should be judged judiciously.

Predictive Value of Frailty Index in Comparison to Traditional Markers of Sepsis in Predicting Mortality among Elderly Admitted in Tertiary Care Hospital

Introduction: The frailty index’s potential as a prognostic marker of sepsis is so far been untapped. Here we studied the predictive value of frailty index in the elderly with sepsis. Methods: This prospective cohort study was conducted in a tertiary level hospital in North India. The duration of the study was 18 months starting from January 2020 to July 2021. The frailty index was calculated along with traditional markers of sepsis such as sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA), quick sequential organ failure assessment (qSOFA), and systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) within 24 hours of admission in elderly patients suspected to have sepsis. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) of frailty index, SOFA, qSOFA, and SIRS was compared for in-hospital and 3-month mortality. Results: There was no significant difference between the performance of the frailty index and SOFA (DeLong’s test p = 0.242) in predicting in-hospital mortality, but there was a statistical difference between the AUROC of SOFA score (AUC = 0.548) and frailty in predicting 3-month mortality (DeLong’s test p ?0.001). Conclusion: The frailty index had greater sensitivity and negative predictive value among the other scores in predicting in-hospital mortality, whereas SOFA had higher specificity in predicting in-hospital mortality. The frailty index was superior to SOFA and the other prognostic markers of sepsis in predicting 3-month mortality.

Risk factors and survival analysis of the esophageal cancer in the population of Jammu, India.

Objective: To identify the risk factors of esophageal cancer and study their effect on the survival rates patients of Jammu region, India. Materials and Methods: Detailed information was collected on socio-demographic, dietary and clinico-pathological parameters for 200 case control pairs. Discrete (categorical) data of 2 independent groups (control and cases) were summarized in frequency (%) and compared by using Chi-square (χ2 ) test. The mean age of two independent groups was compared by independent Student's t-test. To find out potential risk factor (s), the variable (s) found significant in univariate analysis were further subjected to multivariate logistic regression analysis. The association of potential risk factors with patients survival (3-year overall survival) was done by Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis using Log-rank test. A 2-tailed (a = 2) P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Out of the 63 response parameters, seven were found highly significant on multivariate analysis. The mean (± SD) age was 56.74 ± 10.76 years, the proportions of males were higher than females, mostly illiterate and lower income group. Among dietary characteristics, snuff was highest (OR = 3.86, 95% CI = 2.46-6.08) followed by salt tea (OR = 2.53, 95% CI = 1.49-4.29), smoking (OR = 1.97, 95% CI = 1.18-3.30), sundried food (OR = 1.77, 95% CI = 1.10-2.85) and red chilly (OR = 1.76, 95% CI = 1.07-2.89). Probability of survival lowered significantly (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01 or P < 0.001) in those consuming tobacco in the form of snuff (Log-rank c 2 = 24.62, P = 0.000) and smoking (Log-rank c 2 = 5.20, P = 0.023) as compared to those who did not take these. Conclusions: The analysis finally established snuff (smokeless tobacco) as the most powerful risk factor of esophageal cancer in Jammu region, followed by the salt tea, smoking and the sundried food.

Alopecia universalis in a case of systemic lupus erythematosus.

We report a case of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who presented with alopecia universalis. MR, a 23 years female patient was admitted with alopecia universalis and other features of SLE like peripheral arthritis, fever, nephritis, butterfly rash over the malar regions, positive ANA and anti-ds DNA antibodies. There was a gap of four years between the onset of alopecia universalis and other clinical features of SLE. The alopecia was of non-scarry variety and responded to systemic and topical steroids.

Molecular cloning and restriction enzyme analysis of a long repetitive DNA sequence in rice.

Rice long repetitive DNA (9-20 kbp) reassociating at Cot 50 M.s was cloned in pBR325. Out of several recombinants (Camr Ampr Tets), only a few were selected randomly for further characterization. The insert size in all these clones was 3-4 kbp. Restriction enzyme analysis showed the absence of EcoRI and BclI sites, presence of a single PstI and PvuII site and multiple sites for AluI in 3 clones namely pRLl, pRL7 and pRL10. The BamHI-PstI fragment of about 0·4 kbp in the pRL7 insert DNA (pRL7-0·4 kbp) was subcloned in M13mpl8 and partially sequenced using Sanger’s dideoxynucleotide chain termination method. Dot matrix comparison of this sequence with rice rDNA sequences revealed low homology with the 25S rDNA sequence of rice, however, hybridisation did not indicate any homology.

Morphine-like activity of some N-substituted amides of met-enkephalin.

Opioid activity of a homologous series of met-enkephalin alkylamides was analysed. In guinea pig ileum test, the hexylamide derivative was most active, whereas the isopropylamide derivative was most potent in analgesia test. The results suggest that structural changes of this type at the C-terminus of the pentapeptide improve the opioid activity.

Effect of melatonin on glucose tolerance and blood glucose circadian rhythm in rabbits.

Experimental studies on pinealectomized animals and in vitro studies using pancreatic tissue, have indicated that the pineal gland has a suppressive effect on the pancreatic B cells which secrete insulin. In this study, melatonin, was injected into rabbits and a statistically significant decrease in glucose tolerance was noted. The effect of melatonin in influencing the circadian rhythm of blood glucose was also studied in rabbits. Results showed that melatonin influences the circadian rhythm leading to a shift in the occurrence of minimum levels from 16.00 hr to 04.00 hr (next day) during fasting and from 16.00 hr to 20.00 hr during feeding. Also melatonin treatment lead to a statistically significant rise in blood glucose levels. It is probable that melatonin administration reduces glucose tolerance and influences the blood glucose circadian rhythm mainly through its effects on insulin release by pancreatic B cells.