Baseline Characteristics and Risk Factors for Retinal Vein Occlusions

Introduction: Venous obstructive disease of the retina iscausing significant visual morbidity affecting quality of lifeof patient. Incidence of CRVO is 0.8 per 1000 persons and 4.4per 1000 persons for BRVO. RVO most commonly affects thevenous blood supply of entire retina [CRVO] or a quadrantdrained by one of the branches [BRVO] less commonlysuperior or inferior half of retina alone is affected [HRVO].Study Aimed to study demographic characteristics and riskfactors of Retinal Vein Occlusions (Both CRVO and BRVO)Material and methods: This is a cross sectional observationstudy. It included 208 patients [64 CRVO patients and 144BRVO patients]at Retina department, Sarojini Devi EyeHospital, Hyderabad. Study was conducted for 1 year and 7months.Results: Hypertension stands alone as the most significantrisk factor (P Value is 0.005). Other factors studied likeUrban Background, Lack of physical Activity, Diabetes,Hyperlipidemias, CVA, CAD etc. though were present in goodnumbers in the cases studied but they were not statisticallysignificant.Conclusion: Hypertension, Diabetes and Raised SerumLipids are significant risk factors for Retinal Vein Occlusionsin South Indian population

Metformin as a safe and cost effective alternative to insulin in women with Diabetes in pregnancy.

There is a substantial rise in diabetes complicating pregnancies in south Asian countries especialy India. Until many decades, insulin eras thought to be the only management option to maintain euglycemia in these cases. But metformin can be a safe and convenient alternative in such cases. In this background we have conducted a study I 40 women with diabetes complicating pregnancies and studied the outcome of the mother and neonate in important parameters. Metformin was found to be a safe, effective and cheap alternative to insulin therapy in pregnant diabetic women.

A novel multiplex PCR for the simultaneous detection of Salmonella enterica and Shigella species

Salmonella enterica and Shigella species are commonly associated with food and water borne infections leading to gastrointestinal diseases. The present work was undertaken to develop a sensitive and reliable PCR based detection system for simultaneous detection of Salmonella enterica and Shigella at species level. For this the conserved regions of specific genes namely ipaH1, ipaH, wbgZ, wzy and invA were targeted for detection of Shigella genus, S. flexneri, S. sonnei, S. boydii and Salmonella enterica respectively along with an internal amplification control (IAC). The results showed that twenty Salmonella and eleven Shigella spp., were accurately identified by the assay without showing non-specificity against closely related other Enterobacteriaceae organisms and also against other pathogens. Further evaluation of multiplex PCR was undertaken on 50 natural samples of chicken, eggs and poultry litter and results compared with conventional culture isolation and identification procedure. The multiplex PCR identified the presence of Salmonella and Shigella strains with a short pre-enrichment step of 5 h in peptone water and the same samples were processed by conventional procedures for comparison. Therefore, this reported multiplex PCR can serve as an alternative to the tedious time-consuming procedure of culture and identification in food safety laboratories.

Pattern of cutaneous adverse drug reactions due to the use of fixed dose drug combinations.

Background: Fixed dose drug combinations (FDCs) possess a higher risk of causing adverse drug reactions (ADRs) compared to a drug used individually. This study analyzes the pattern of ADRs caused due to the use of FDCs in a tertiary care hospital. Methods: A prospective, spontaneous ADR reporting study was conducted for two years at a tertiary care hospital. ADRs reported due to suspected FDC use were evaluated for causality (WHO-UMC probability scale), severity (adapted Hartwig scale) and avoidability (Modified Hallas J. et al. scale). Results: Of the 29 (96.67%) cutaneous ADRs reported, 19 (63.34%) ADRs were due to irrational FDCs, of which 16 (53.34%) were ‘probable’, 13 (43.34%) were ‘possibly avoidable’ and 13 (43.34%) were ‘mild/level 2’ on the severity scale. Conclusion: Irrational FDCs carry a higher risk of causing cutaneous ADRs. Awareness and regular reporting of such ADRs can help physicians fight the evil of irrational prescribing.

Diagnostic value of biochemical predictive index in ovarian malignancy.

The aim of the study was to determine if diagnostic performance of CA-125 in ovarian malignancy can be improved by considering age of the patient. The study was a retrospective analysis of the medical records of 306 patients who underwent a CA-125 measurement in our Institute. Of the 306 patients, 31% had malignant ovarian diseases, 45% had benign ovarian diseases, 6% had non-ovarian gynaecological diseases and 18% had non-gynaecological diseases. A positive association was found between age and CA-125 levels in patients with ovarian diseases. Patients were divided into three age groups of 18–37 yrs, 38–56 yrs and 57–74 yrs and were given age scores as 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Biochemical predictive index (BPI) was calculated by multiplying age score and CA-125 value. Among the age groups ranging 38–56 yrs and 57–74 yrs, the CA-125 and BPI values were significantly higher in malignant ovarian diseases compared to benign ovarian diseases. ROC curve analysis revealed a cut-off of 86 for the BPI with the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value as 58%, 78%, 56% and 80% respectively. BPI had better specificity and negative predictive value compared to CA-125, can be used in the screening of ovarian pathology.

Concomitant occurrence of cemento-ossifying fibroma and adenomatoid odontogenic tumor with bilateral impacted permanent canines in the mandible.

Adenomatoid odontogenic tumor (AOT) is an uncommon, benign and slow growing odontogenic tumor, which is usually located in an anterior region of the maxilla without pain. Cemento-ossifying fibroma (COF) is a relatively rare benign tumor of the jaw. Here we present 2 lesions presenting in unusual forms, follicular variant of AOT in the mandible and COF associated with impacted canine in the mandible, occurring concomitantly in the same patient. Both lesions presented classic histopathologic features.

Histological And Histometric Analysis of Solitary And Non-Syndrome Associated Multiple Odontogenic Keratocysts.

Objectives: Odontogenic keratocysts are common, locally destructive lesions of the head and neck region. They can occur as solitary or multiple lesions, and if multiple, they are mostly associated with Gorlin-Goltz syndrome. This study aims to categorize the OKCs which behave more aggressively, using conventional histopathological techniques. Methodology: The present study exploits conventional histopathological techniques to gain an insight into the behavior of the OKC (both solitary and non-syndrome associated multiple OKCs). The histological features (keratinization pattern, presence of satellite cysts / odontogenic islands, epithelial infoldings and corrugations) and histometric parameters (total number of nuclei, epithelial height, total nuclear density, number of basal nuclei, basement membrane length, basal nuclear density and mitotic index) were compared between the two groups of cysts. Result: Multiple OKCs exhibited increase in number of infoldings, corrugations, mitotic index, reduced epithelial height, total number of nuclei, number of basal nuclei, and basal nuclear density. This information may be used to predict their biologic behavior and thus serve as a basis for diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. Conclusion: Conventional histopathological techniques can provide valuable information which may be useful to categorize those OKCs that have more aggressive biological behavior and helps in deciding the treatment protocol.

Compound composite odontoma in primary dentition--a case report.

Compound composite odontoma, is a tumor formed by the overgrowth of transitory or complete dental tissue, made up of one or more rudimentary teeth. Although odontomes are considered to be quite common of odontogenic tumors, these rarely occur solely in primary dentition. This paper is a report of case of a compound composite odontoma, five year old child who presented to the Department of Pedodontics and preventive Dentistry, College of Dental Surgery, Manipal.