Kikuchi–Fujimoto disease: A rare cause of cervical lymphadenopathy

Kikuchi–Fujimoto disease (KFD), also known as histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis, is a rare and generally self-limiting disease of uncertain etiology that presents with fever and cervical lymphadenopathy in both the pediatric and adult populations. Here, we present the case of a 5-year-old male who presented with acute onset of fever and cervical lymphadenopathy which was initially diagnosed and managed as staphylococcal lymphadenitis. He underwent an excisional biopsy when symptoms persisted, which confirmed the diagnosis of KFD and was managed conservatively. This case study emphasizes awareness of this entity in the differential diagnosis of fever with persistent lymphadenopathy. Due to its characteristic overlap with other disorders such as tuberculous lymphadenitis, and lymphoma, KFD remains an arduous diagnosis for physicians. Therefore, awareness about its symptoms helps in minimizing potentially harmful unnecessary evaluations and thereby preventing misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs Among Dental Students and Faculty Members Regarding COVID-19 Vaccines in Dental Colleges of Haryana, India - A Cross-Sectional Study

Aim: To assess knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs among dental students and faculty members regarding COVID?19 vaccines in dental colleges in Haryana, India. Objectives: To assess knowledge level, attitudes, and beliefs differences among BDS, MDS students and faculty members and find association between knowledge and COVID?19 vaccine inoculation among study participants. Materials and Methods: A cross?sectional study was carried out among students and faculty members of dental colleges in Haryana, India. Data collection was done via an online questionnaire based on questions to assess the knowledge, attitude and beliefs regarding COVID?19 vaccines. Results: The present study comprised of 270 study participants, where majority, i.e., 81.5% have reported COVID?19 vaccine inoculation. The mean knowledge score of the participants was reported to be 5.54 ± 2.19. A significant difference was found in the mean knowledge score of faculty members (7.81 ± 1.69), MDS (6.72 ± 1.49), and BDS (4.39 ± 1.68) students. COVID?19 vaccine inoculation was found to be significantly associated with average knowledge score of participants (OR = 6.1, P < 0.01). Conclusion: Dental professionals have an adequate degree of knowledge and attitude level regarding COVID?19 vaccines and are generally optimistic about resolving the pandemic situation with the immunization.

Knowledge, attitude and practices among sanitation workers regarding SARS-CoV-2 prevention – A cross-sectional study

Aim: To evaluate knowledge, attitude and practices among sanitation workers regarding SARS?CoV?2 prevention during hospital waste management. Materials and Methods: A cross?sectional study was conducted among 426 sanitation workers using an interviewer?administered questionnaire to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of the study participants. The unpaired t?test and Spearman’s correlation were used to find the mean difference and correlation among different study variables. Statistical significance was set at 5% (confidence interval 95%). Results: The mean knowledge score of the participants was found to be 7.15 ± 2.02. About 93.7% of the participants had good knowledge about COVID?19. About 64.3% of the participants strongly agreed that COVID?19 is a life?threatening disease. Regarding practices, a majority reported (69.7%) that they washed hands frequently using water and soap. A significant positive correlation was found between knowledge, attitude, practices and education, indicating a favourable work environment in hospital settings. Conclusion: More than half of the sanitation workers and housekeeping staff had adequate knowledge of COVID?19, and their attitudes were found to be favourable. They also had satisfactory practices, which may be a result of the prompt training and sensitization of sanitation workers by the authorities. Clinical Relevance: Sanitation workers come under the essential services category and their knowledge, attitude and practices needed to be assessed and updated in the concerned area for their protection and better management of biomedical waste, especially in the current pandemic situation.

Safety and efficacy of ayush rasayana A and B in improving functionality of the elderly – A single-arm multicenter study

Background: As per Ayurvedic classics, Ras?yana is a term used for unique therapeutic measures intended to improve cognition, memory, physical strength and delay the degenerative processes. Ayush Rasayana A & B are developed from extracts of herbs pertaining rasayana property. Aims & Objectives: To assess the safety and effectiveness of ‘Ayush Rasayana A and B’ in improving physical endurance, quality of life and cognition of elderly. Materials and Methods: This is an open label, single arm, multi-centre study among 256 apparently healthy elderly between 60?75 years. Ayush Rasayan A was given for 6 days and Ayush Rayana B for 180 days. The effect of the trial drug was seen on functional capacity, quality of life and cognitive function and, safety of the intervention was assessed through haematological and biochemical tests, clinical examination and incidence of adverse events. Results: Significant improvement in 6 minute walk test and HMSE score was observed at 187th as compared to baseline (p<0.0001). Quality of life of the participants especially in domains of physical health, social relationship and environment also improved at the end of intervention period (p<0.0001). The haematological and bio-chemical parameters showed no significant changes as compared to baseline and no adverse events were observed during the study. Conclusion: Ayush Rasayana A and Ayush Rasayana B, both were well tolerated by all the participants. This ayurvedic intervention can be safely given to apparently healthy elderly to improve their functionality, quality of life and cognition. However, a randomized controlled trial is warranted to substantiate the efficacy of this drug.

Validation of Hindi (Indian) version of the child perceptions questionnaire (CPQ11-14) among 11–14 year old School Children

Context: Oral health is a fundamental aspect of general health which significantly affects quality of life (QoL) of an individual. Oral health-related QoL is a multidimensional concept determined by race, education, culture, and experiences related to oral diseases. Aim: This study aims to evaluate the Hindi (Indian) version of the child perceptions questionnaire (CPQ11-14) among 11–14-year-old school children in Rohtak City, Haryana, India. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 586 children in Rohtak city, Haryana, India, to find out the translation and cross-cultural adaptation of CPQ11-14. The original version of CPQ11-14was translated to Hindi language, and the dental caries experience was measured by caries assessment spectrum and treatment index. Statistical Analysis: The data were entered into Microsoft Excel and analyzed using SPSS 18. Reliability was assessed in 2 ways: internal consistency reliability and test-retest reliability. The level of significance was set at 0.05. Results: Construct validity was confirmed demonstrating statistically significant associations between total CPQ11-14 score and global ratings of oral health (P = 0.00) and overall well-being (P = 0.00). Mean CPQ11-14scores (20.30 ± 10.91) including all the domain scores were higher among children without dental caries when compared to children with dental caries (19.79 ± 9.88) and the instrument was not able to discriminate between two clinical groups significantly (P = 0.08). Conclusion: The Hindi version of the CPQ11-14 questionnaire is a reliable instrument having good reliability, good construct, and convergent validity but lacks discriminant validity. Shorter forms of CPQ11-14may be more useful when compared to original construct.

Neuronal Remodeling and Dendritic Spines: A Review

The neurons show remodeling in their dendritic arbor and spine/synapsenumber in many brain regions including the hippocampus, amygdala and the prefrontalcortex. The dendritic spine density is reported to be changed due to experiences andstressful conditions. The dendritic spines are the small protrusions arising from thedendritic shaft of the neurons. They have basic shapes as large mushroom spines, shortstubby spines and thin spines. The morphology of spines changes rapidly in response tovarious stimuli that may be internal such as hormones and external such as environmentalchanges. Dendritic spine density plays a major role in classification of principal neuronsi.e. multipolar and pyramidal neurons. The principal neurons may be classified as sparselyspinous, moderately spinous and heavily spinous on the basis of density of spine over thedendritic branches. In response to environment dendritic remodeling takes place in theform of spine shapes, spine turnover and spine density etc. Synaptic plasticity primarilytakes place in dendritic spines and enriched environment have positive effect while socialisolation have negative effect on synapse formation. Exposure of animals to environmentalcomplexity may improve the learning and memory by providing adaptive changes in thedendritic spine density.

Detection of butachlor in viscera by thin layer chromatography.

Butachlor, a selective systemic herbicide, was isolated, analyzed and detected in viscera obtained from medi-colegal autopsy. Butachlor was extracted by using solvent extraction methods and then identified by Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC). For chromatographic separation, various solvent systems were used. Bromophenol blue was used as chromogenic reagent on developed TLC plates which successfully increased the sensitivity without dispensing with the simplicity of the method. For the study, a total of 15 solvent systems in different ratios were chosen. Of these, the best two solvent systems, namely, Benzene:Diethyl ether (8.5:1.5) and Hexane: Acetone (9:1) were chosen for statistical analysis, which included the calculation of mean Rf value and value of standard deviation and coefficient of variance.

Determination of malathion in blood and urine using thin-layer chromatography.

Malathion is a broad-spectrum Organophosphorus insecticide generally used to control a variety of insects. Routinely it is analysed by Gas Liquid Chromatography & High Performance Liquid Chromatography. Now an attempt has been made to develop a new method for analysis of Malathion in biological samples using Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) technique, which is inexpensive, accurate and non-destructive. Malathion was extracted from blood and urine using solvent extraction methods and then identified on the TLC plates. For chromatographic separation, various binary and tertiary solvent systems were used to demonstrate in the laboratory. For detection on developed plates, palladium chloride reagent was used which successfully increased the sensitivity without dispensing with the simplicity of the method. For the analysis, a total of 20 solvent systems were chosen. Out of these 20 solvent systems, the three best solvent systems namely Cyclohexane: Chloroform (60:40), Hexane: Acetone (80:20) and Acetone: Hexane: Toluene (40:40:20) were chosen for statistical analysis which included the calculation of mean Rf value, value of standard deviation and coefficient of variance. The method developed is simple, inexpensive, accurate and non-destructive that allows for sensitive and reproducible analysis of Malathion.

Extradural Hematoma - An Experience of 300 Cases

Three hundred cases of extradural haematoma seen over a period of nine years from June 1995 to May 2004 in Neurosurgery unit of Postgraduate Department of Surgery, Government Medical College, Jammu were analysed retrospectively for their clinical profile and operative measures. Their clinical presentation varied from intense headache to deep coma and fixed pupil. Two hundred forty five of them were operated and rest managed conservatively. Overall mortality in operated cases was 14%. Cases managed conservatively were monitored closely and serial CT Scans were done to assess progress. In two cases we had to operate as haematoma increased in size.

Situs inversus vis-à-vis sudden death.

Situs Inversus, a rare congenital anatomical abnormality although is not directly related to Sudden Death. However, 3-5% of people with Situs Inversus have associated functional heart defect & 25% have an underlying condition i.e. Primary Ciliary Dyskinesis presenting as Kartagener's Syndrome; are prone to Sudden Death. Two cases of Situs Inversus on which medico-legal autopsy was conducted are reported. In first case, death was attributed to cardiac component (massive cardiomegaly, narrowing of coronaries and an old, healed apical scar) and in the second, due to respiratory complications (infection of lungs with areas of pus formation) with Blood Alcohol Concentration as 241.50 mg % ; being another significant finding. Apart from discussing the various aspects of the condition, vital medico-legal issues varying from 'Negligence' to 'Assessment for Insurance purpose' are being discussed.

Primary Neuroectodermal Tumour of Scalp in Infancy

A case of orimary neuroectodermal tumor of scalp in infancy is presented.