Molecular Docking Study to Identify Potent Inhibitors of Alpha-synuclein Aggregation of Parkinson’s Disease

Introduction: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the widespreadneurodegenerative disorder ranked second in this categoriesand PD is also the most common movement disorder. PDdisorder affects more than 0.1% of the total population olderthan 40 years of age. Contemporary, therapies of PD arerestricted to only symptomatic relief without dealing withthe basic disease etiology such as aggregation of αSyn, thusthe progression of the disease continues with the currenttherapies. The major objective of this study was to find outputative inhibitors of human alfa-synuclein to search possibletherapeutics of Parkinson’s disease.Material and Methods: Our study included Moleculardocking study of 3D-Structure of alfa- synuclein of humanretrieved from PDB with their chemical ligands. The proteinligands docking were performed using AutoDock4.2.5.1.Further, Molecular Dynamic Simulation for protein-ligandcomplex of best dock complex was carried out usingGromacs16.10.Result: Total nineteen molecules was selected for dockingstudy out of which Amento flavones molecule shows bestbinding. The molecular docking simulation results indicatethat the protein complexes were stable throughout MDsimulations and thus proteins possess the ability to stability.Conclusion: This study provides an insight of in-silico drugdesigning approach towards alfa- synuclein modulators as apromising therapeutics of Parkinson’s’s disease.

Myths and unhealthy wound practices regarding animal bite among subjects attending anti rabies clinic in a South Delhi municipal corporation polyclinic in Mehrauli, Delhi

Background: Rabies is one of the highly fatal diseases, with nearly fifty nine thousand deaths annually globally and almost one third of these are in India. Higher rates of dog bites are common in our country, due to large stray dog population. Despite a preventable disease, unhealthy wound practices are still prevailing in the community due to lot of myths related to the disease. The objectives of the study were to assess the magnitude of unhealthy wound practices and to assess the knowledge regarding health seeking behaviour following animal bite.Methods: The present study was a cross sectional study conducted at SDMC Polyclinic, Mehrauli, Delhi from January to December 2015. A total of 160 cases of animal bite that attended OPD and consented were analysed for knowledge, practices and health seeking behaviour towards animal bite.Results: Out of total 160 respondents almost all were bitten by dogs of which 2/3rd was stray dogs and most common site of bite was lower limb. 55% of the subjects did not wash or clean the wounds after bite. 27% of subjects applied chilli powder or its paste with oil and 2.5% used oil and turmeric paste and 1.9% oil on the wound. Only 41.9% of the subjects believed that vaccination is the treatment of the choice following animal bite.Conclusions: Intensive health education through mass media and mid media can be used to create awareness about the disease transmission and preventive measures like wound management and post-exposure prophylaxis. Also, pet vaccination should be made mandatory for all those who keep pets.

Hepatitis A Virus-related Pediatric Liver Disease Burden and its Significance in the Indian Subcontinent

Objectives: To study the Hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection-related pediatric liver diseaseburden. Methods: Hospitalrecords of 431 children (age <18 y) diagnosed to be sufferingfrom acute HAV infection during 2011 to 2018 were extracted and analyzed. Additionally, aseroprevalence study was done on 2599 participants (696 children and 1903 adults).Results: HAV infection accounted for about half (48.6% of acute hepatitis and 46.5% (92/198) of acute liver failure cases) of all acute onset icteric illness, with significant morbidity andmortality. As per seroprevalence data, 16.2% of children between 10-18 years of age, and10.3% of adults aged 18-30 years remained susceptible to HAV infection. Conclusion: HAVinfection is the major contributor the overall pediatric liver disease burden. A significantproportion of subjects remain susceptible to HAV infection even after 10 years of age.Population-based studies are required to further delineate the epidemiology of HAV infectionin India for deciding introduction of HAV vaccine in the national immunization schedule.

Morbidity pattern and health seeking behaviour of the geriatric population in a rural area of district Faridabad, Haryana: a cross-sectional study

Background: The increase in life expectancy has resulted in changes in age composition of India and tripling of geriatric population in last 50 years. To provide adequate and comprehensive care to elderly, understanding their health problems and health seeking behavior is imperative. Hence, this study aimed to assess the morbidity pattern and health-seeking behavior and factors affecting them among geriatric population of a rural area of district Faridabad.Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 300 elderly above 60 years of age in village Pali of Faridabad district for a period of 3 months. The list of elderly was obtained from health workers’ records and they were interviewed regarding socio-demographic factors, morbidity status and health seeking behaviour using a predesigned and pretested structured questionnaire.Results: Out of 300 subjects, 56% were females and 63% were in age group of 60-69 years. Overall 93.3% subjects had one or more morbidities with musculoskeletal disorders being most common (57.3%) followed by visual impairment and cataract (54.0%) and hypertension (49.0%). Morbidities were significantly higher among females (p= 0.006), divorced/separated (p=0.014) and illiterate elderly (p=0.026). 77.7% elderly preferred allopathic system of medicine with private facilities preferred by 40%.Conclusions: Morbidity load among elderly was very high and health seeking behaviour was poor. So, strong efforts are needed to provide them with comprehensive and specialised care so that they contribute to their maximum potential to our society. Primary healthcare strategies targeting elderly needs to be strengthened and area specific strategies need to be formulated.

Reverse Vertical Transmission of Hepatitis-B from Transfusion-infected Children to Biological Mothers.

Background: Perinatal and horizontal are the common modes of transmission of hepatitis-B virus in children. Case characteristics: Two mother-child pairs with children having received multiple blood transfusions in past. Observation: Both the mothers developed acute hepatitis-B infection whereas children were demonstrated to be having chronic infection with hepatitis-B. Outcome: One mother cleared her hepatitis-B in fection whereas it persisted in the other. Both children required anti-viral treatment. Message: Hepatitis-B virus may rarely get transmitted from infected children to their mothers causing acute infection.

Sonographic evaluation of portal vein diameter in North Indian population.

Background: Portal vein size is a diagnostic index useful in measuring portal hypertension which is found in many disease conditions including cirrhosis where it occurs in > 60% of cases. Aims: The aim of this work is to determine the normal portal vein diameter in adult North Indian population. There is paucity of work describing the portal vein diameter in this population. Method: In this work we used a 2 D ultrasound- a non invasive method to assess the portal vein size in 400 adults aged 20-80 years of both sexes(146 males & 254 females). Results: The mean diameter of normal portal vein in the male subjects was 10.33 mm ± 1.004 & in female 9.41 mm ± 1.16. Conclusion: The portal vein diameter obtained in this work is comparable to that found in Caucasians. This information can be useful in diagnosing and treating portal hypertension in a variety of clinical situations.

Ethical aspects of operating on seropositive patients.

Infection with blood-borne pathogens has long been recognised as an occupational risk for healthcare workers (HCWs), particularly surgeons and anaesthetists whose work often involves breaching the cutaneous or mucosal barrier, exposing them to blood and other body fluids and putting them at risk of acquiring HIV or other blood-borne infections . However, in spite of these risks, systems to protect HCWs are not in place.

Circulation of Dengue virus-1 (DENV-1) serotype in Delhi, during 2010–11 after Dengue virus-3 (DENV-3) predominance: A single centre hospital-based study.

Background: Delhi, a city in north India, has so far witnessed several reported outbreaks of dengue. Dengue in Delhi from being epidemic is slowly changing towards being endemic and hyper-endemic. Circulating type of the virus is also changing over the years. In the absence of an effective vaccine, dengue prevention to a major extent relies on virological surveillance, and development of effective, locally adapted control programmes. In the present study, we tried to identify the between-year non-epidemic serotype of dengue virus circulating in Delhi, during 2010–11. Methods: Acute-phase samples were collected from the patients attending the Institute of Liver & Biliary Sciences, New Delhi, India. Dengue diagnosis was done using WHO case definitions. All the samples were subjected to Dengue NS1 Ag ELISA and modified nested RT-PCR. Results: A total of 75 acute-phase samples were received, of which 19 (25.3%) were positive for dengue NS1 antigen. Dengue RT-PCR was positive in 14.6% (11/75) samples. All the RT-PCR isolates were of DENV-1 serotype. No case of concomitant infection with more than one serotype was observed. Median age of involvement was 23 yr (range10–86). Maximum number of cases were seen in the age group of 21–30 yr. Male to female ratio was 1.2 : 1. Maximum number of suspected dengue cases (n=79) was seen during September and October. Conclusions: DENV-1 was circulating in Delhi in the year 2010–11 in non-epidemic period following reported predominance of DENV-3 and co-circulation of all dengue serotypes in the epidemic years 2003, 2006 and 2007.

Emerging resistance to carbapenems in a tertiary care hospital in north India.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Carbapenems are beta-lactam antibiotics, presently considered as most potent agents for treating multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacilli infections. In India carbapenems available for use are meropenem and imipenem, introduced recently. Resistance to these has been reported in a few bacteria especially Pseudomonas spp. We therefore retrospectively evaluated the antibiotic susceptibility pattern to these agents amongst various clinical isolates in a tertiary care hospital in north India. METHODS: In this study Gram-negative bacterial pathogens isolated from clinical samples were tested for extended spectrum beta lactamase (ESBL) production. All ESBL positive bacteria were tested for meropenem and imipenem activity pattern using NCCLS guidelines. A total of 2626 consecutively isolated Gram-negative bacteria, which tested positive for ESBL production by the double disk diffusion method, were included. RESULTS: The different bacteria isolated were Pseudomonas spp. 759, Acinetobacter spp. 676, Escherichia coli 569, Klebsiella spp. 343, Enterobacter spp. 150, Citrobacter spp. 57 and Proteus spp. 72. Overall resistance to meropenem was more (22.16%) than imipenem (17.32%). Maximum resistance was seen in Pseudomonas spp. M(R) 37.6 per cent, I(R) 30 per cent. In isolates from intensive care units (ICU) resistance to carbapenems was significantly higher than non-ICU patients. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION: Resistance to meropenem and imipenem was seen in various clinical isolates of Gram-negative ESBL-positive bacteria. There is a need to alarm our clinicians for judicious use of antibiotics.

Serodiagnosis of dengue during an outbreak at a tertiary care hospital in Delhi.

Dengue, an important human arboviral infection, is endemic in many parts of India. Outbreaks are now reported quite frequently from different parts of the country. We report here findings of serological investigation of serum samples received during a recent outbreak of dengue infection in Delhi from September to November 2003. Acute phase serum samples from suspected cases of dengue infection (including dengue fever, dengue haemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome) of duration 5 days, were tested for dengue specific IgM antibodies by enzyme linked immuno sorbant assay (ELISA). Of the 874 serum samples tested, 456 (52.3% ) were positive for dengue specific IgM antibodies. The maximum number of positive cases was reported in October, peaking in second and third week. Patients in the age group of 21-30 yr accounted for 34.2 per cent of positive cases. This outbreak was less severe as compared to the previous 1996 outbreak and showed a shift towards an older age group.