Footwear Usage and Practice in Indian Healthcare Centres

Healthcare Centres are where the patients get treated, but most of the time, we ignore that it is also a major source of Infections, to both patients and visitors. In India, many hospitals don抰 allow patients & visitors to enter with their Footwear on, whereas, Doctors & other Health Care Workers can. There are no specific guidelines for visitors and patients for wearing Footwear in India. Also, the Indian National Guidelines of infection prevention & control doesn抰 provide sufficient protocol regarding the importance of wearing Footwear for patients and visitors in Healthcare Centres. This article focuses on finding the risk of acquiring Infection & transmission of microorganisms when a patient walks barefoot within the hospital.

Correlation of pre-operative vitamin D3 levels with post-operative hypocalcemia in patients undergoing total thyroidectomy

Background: Total thyroidectomy (TT) is a commonly performed procedure for various  thyroid disorders, with parathyroid insufficiency manifesting as hypocalcaemia being a well-known complication. Albeit, vitamin D is well implicated in calcium homeostasis, the association between hypovitaminosis D and postoperative hypocalcaemia is yet to be concluded. The aim of our study is to evaluate the correlation of preoperative serum vitamin D3 levels  with occurrence of post-operative hypocalcemia in patients undergoing TT.Methods: A prospective  study  was conducted on 50 patients  undergoing TT for benign thyroid diseases from November 2016 to May 2018. Pre-operative vitamin D3 levels were estimated. Serum calcium levels was measured pre‑ and post‑operatively at 24hours, 1st week and 4th week. Serum calcium level ≤8.5 mg/dl was considered as biochemical hypocalcemia. A data of demographic, clinical, biochemical and intraoperative findings were documented and analysed.Results: Statically 14 (28%) patients developed symptomatic hypocalcemia. Out of these, 11 (78.5%) patients had preoperative vitamin D levels of <30 ng/dl (p=0.034). 24 hours postoperative serum calcium level was significantly  lesser in patients with  lower preoperative vitamin D levels (p=0.015), suggesting that postoperative  hypocalcemia (24 hr) is statistically related to pre-operative vitamin D3 levels.Conclusions: It could be concluded from our study that preoperative serum vitamin D3 levels can predict post-operative occurrence of symptomatic and/or biochemical hypocalcemia. Thus, it could be hypothesized that supplementing vitamin D preoperatively could curb the incidence of hypocalcaemia following TT. However, further relevant trials are needed to attest to this.

Kumar S Santhosh, Sudarshan M, Chakraborty A

Trace Elemental concentration of the Ayurvedic medicinal plant, Karunthakali (Solanum rubrum Mill), is investigated for the first time in detail, using EDXRF technique. Ca, K, S, Si, Cl, and Fe are the elements found more in leaf while K, Si, AL, Fe, Ca, S, and Mg are more in the root, and which are available in mg/g level. V, Cr, Cu, Rb, As, Co, Se, Br, and Pd are available in µg/g level. The lowest concentration of heavy minerals and a higher concentration of essential minerals placed it in the traditional medicine of Ayurveda system. Presence of Rb in leaf and root (1:2) 70 µg/g plays a crucial role in the central nervous system of human body. This paper explores the maximum possible utility of it in the pharmaceutical industry in accordance with its content of the elemental composition. This may be classified as poisonous plant due to its higher content of the aluminium.