Histoarchitecture and Histochemical Studies on the Lacrimal Gland of Pig (Sus scrofa)

The fresh tissues were collected from five pigs of either sex and processed for histomorphological studies. The gland was located on dorso-lateral aspect of the eye in the orbital cavity. The gland was multilobar tubulo-acinar with predominance of acini. It was covered by a thick connective tissue capsule and connective tissue septa, which penetrate into the glandular parenchyma and divided the gland into lobes and lobules. The acini were of mixed type but predominantly sero-mucous in nature. The secretory units were followed by a duct system. The excretory duct system was made up of intercalated, intralobular, interlobular and large excretory ducts. The strong presence of glycogen in the acini was demonstrated with the help PAS (McManus’) stain. The ducts showed very weak reaction for the presence of glycogen but goblet cells in the stratified ducts showed strong positive reaction for PAS. The acini showed strong reaction for acidic mucosubstances with PAS-AB. The goblet cells in the stratified ducts also showed strong positive activity towards the PAS-AB. The intense activity towards the Alcian blue showed presence of sialomucins and hyaluronic acids in glandular parenchyma of the lacrimal gland

The Ultra Structural Studies of Duodenum of Goat (Capra hircus)

The tissues from small intestine containing duodenum were collected from six young goats and processed for scanning and transmission electron microscopic studies. The villi of the duodenum varied in shape and size. The duodenal mucosal surface showed leaf shaped villi along with scanty population of goblet cells on the villi surface. The mucosal surface was having very faint corrugations and dense mat of microvilli. The basal surface of the villi, the number of goblet cells was more. The crypts openings were evident at some places. The transmission electron microscopic studies revealed the presence of different cell population which included columnar or absorptive cells and goblet cells in surface epithelium of the duodenum. The columnar cells were having many uniform regularly spaced microvilli. The goblet cells were very few in the villus epithelium and were interspersed in between the columnar cells and their cytoplasm was distended with mucus granules. The crypt region or glandular epithelium was consisted of polymorphic cell population which included the Paneth cells, enterochromaffin cells and goblet cells

Prevalence of diabetes mellitus and its associated risk factor assessment among elderly in urban area of Punjab

Background: Greek Physician Aretaeus (30-90CE) observed a disease with symptoms such as constant thirst (polydipsia), excessive urination (polyuria) and loss of weight. Based on these findings, he named the condition ‘diabetes’, meaning ‘a flowing through. Diabetes mellitus is a serious public health concern, not just because of its high prevalence or the chronicity, but more importantly because of its life-threatening micro vascular and macro vascular complications which are often silent and undetected until the advanced and irreversible stage has developed, and they may even appear years before the diagnosis of diabetes.Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on elderly (60 years and above). This study was intended to measure prevalence of diabetes mellitus and associated risk factors.Results: In present study, the prevalence of diabetes was found to be higher among female participants at 41.98% compared to males at 25.90%. Prevalence of diabetes was highest in the age group of 60-70 years. Mean BMI (28.05) of female participants was higher compared to the BMI of the male participants which was 25.52. It was observed that the prevalence of diabetes increases with increase in BMI.Conclusions: Early detection and treatment of these chronic morbidities should be done with regular health check- ups and screening of these diseases before they can cause permanent damage to health of individual or death. People should also be educated and counselled about monitoring their health parameters to ensure early detection and treatment.

Therapeutic guidelines for antimicrobial use in chronic suppurative otitis media for a tertiary care hospital in Sub Himalayan region

Background: The battle against micro-organisms, in their role as primary cause of the disease and infective complications of medical and surgical techniques, has not decreased in spite of modern antimicrobial therapy. Chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) is a disease with worldwide prevalence having potentially serious long term effects. The disease remains an important global public health problem leading to hearing impairment, and due to wide spread irrational use microbial resistance is very common to these antibiotics, thereby leading to treatment failure. Hence it is important to know the type of bacteria and their sensitivity pattern so that appropriate antibiotics may be given for treatment and prevention of complications.Methods: 428 patients of otitis media were enrolled from ENT OPD of Tertiary Care Hospital. Ear swab was taken from diagnosed cases of CSOM and culture and sensitivity were done.Results: The microbiology of the swab showed no growth in (25.4%) of samples. Staphylococcus aureus (26%) and Pseudomonas (25%) were the main organisms isolated. Staphylococcus aureus isolated was sensitive to vancomycin, clindamycin, cefixime, gentamicin and cefipime in descending order. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was sensitive to ceftazidime, imipenem, piperacillin, gentamicin, cefipime. In the present study Staph. aureus and Pseudomonas were the predominant bacteria, it is suggested to undertake a gram staining in all patients. If gram positive organisms are isolated it is suggested that presumptive treatment should be directed against Staphylococcus aureus and if gram negative then against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Such a treatment is not only likely to be effective but will also go a long way in preventing emergence of drug resistance.Conclusions: The antimicrobial therapy should be based on locally determined microbiological isolates and local sensitivity patterns to a particular antimicrobial agent. The presumptive antimicrobial therapy should therefore be directed against these organisms.

An unusual case of trifluoperazine induced hypoglycemia.

Hypoglycemia is a serious condition which if not diagnosed and treated urgently may cause irreversible damage to the brain and may be life threatening. There are various causes attributed to hypoglycemia, but drugs are one of the most important one of them. Various drugs are documented to cause hypoglycemia but we present a rare case report of a 52-year-old male patient with schizoaffective disorder on trifluoperazine who presented in emergency department with documented hypoglycemia and this hypoglycemic episode improved when the drug was withdrawn. When WHO causality assessment scale was applied, trifluoperazine was found as the probable cause of the episodes of hypoglycemia. Therefore, this possibility of hypoglycemia should always be kept in mind while prescribing trifluoperazine.

Comparison of an in-house multiplex PCR with two commercial immuno-chromatographic tests for rapid identification and differentiation of MTB from NTM isolates

Species specific diagnosis of mycobacterial infection is crucial because treatment of infections caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis [MTB] differs from that of non-tuberculous mycobacterial [NTM] species. The species identification used to be cumbersome and non-reproducible a decade ago. Recently, some commercial tests have been made available to differentiate the MTB and NTM growths in culture media. Sensitivity and specificity of these tests was evaluated. In this double blind study 572 clinical samples were cultured in an automated BACTEC-MGIT-960 system. A total of 147 [25.7%] samples were MGIT culture positive. These cultures were subjected to an in-house m-PCR [which amplifies hsp-65, esat-6 and ITS region for MAC], two commercial immune-chromatographic tests [ICTs] and phenotypic tests. Of the 147 MGIT positive cultures, m-PCR was able to correctly identify MTB in 123 cultures and NTM in 24 which included 3 MAC isolates. m-PCR showed 100% agreement with two gold standard methods-the nitrate reductase assay and PNB tests-in correctly identifying MTB. Commercial strips were able to correctly identify MTB in 120 [97.5%] of 123 cultures, while 3 [2.5%] isolates were falsely identified as NTM. However, none of the growth negative spent medium gave false positive results in any of the tests. None of the commercial strips misidentified any of the 24 NTM as MTB; hence, specificity of these strips was 100%. Of the 2 IC test systems, both SD Bioline and BD TBc strip tests missed 2.5% of MTB isolates and misidentified these as NTM. The in-house m-PCR was found to be the most accurate and efficient tool for identifying the MTB, MAC and other NTMs

Inhibition of MAO and GABA: probable mechanisms for antidepressant-like activity of Nardostachys jatamansi DC. in mice.

Ethanolic extract (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg, po) of N. jatamansi administered for 14 successive days to Swiss young albino mice (either sex) produced significant antidepressant-like effect in both tail suspension and forced swim tests. The efficacy of the extract was found to be comparable to imipramine (15 mg/kg, po) and sertraline (20 mg/kg, po). Ethanolic extract (200 mg/kg, po) did not show any significant change on locomotor activity of mice as compared to control; hence it did not produce any motor effects. Further, the extract decreased the whole brain MAO-A and MAO-B activities as compared tocontrol, thus increased the levels of monoamines. The antidepressant effect of the extract was also significantly reversed by pretreatment of animals with baclofen (GABAB agonist); when tested in tail suspension test. The results suggested that the antidepressant-like effect of the extract may also be due to interaction with GABAB receptors, resulting in decrease in the levels of GABA in mouse brain. Thus, the extract may have potential therapeutic value for the management of mental depression.