Polyradiculopathy in a patient of systemic lupus erythematosus.

The relationship of the neurological manifestations to the lupus disease process is not always clear. We present a case of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with subacute onset muscle weakness, which was due to polyradiculopathy, a rarely described neurological manifestation of SLE.

Seasonal variation in the incidence of hyponatremia.

AIM: To study the seasonal variation in the incidence of hyponatremia and to correlate it with the rainfall pattern. METHOD: Retrospective analysis of patients having serum sodium of less than 120 meq/L was done during the 24 months from March, 1995. Patients with fever, renal failure, cardiac failure, cirrhosis, hyperlipidemia, hyperproteinemia, patients taking diuretics and postoperative patients were also excluded. Average inpatient number and rainfall for each month was noted. Daily incidence of hyponatremia was expressed as percentage of total inpatients for each day and was compared with the rainfall. RESULTS: A total of 353 patients had hyponatremia during the two years from March, 1995; 174 cases during the first year and 179 during the second year. Average inpatient strength was 302.17 +/- 21.41 during the first year and 313.67 +/- 12.94 during the next year. The incidence of hyponatremia was 0.24 +/- 0.096% between June and August and 0.1 +/- 0.04% between December and February (95% confidence interval 0.045-0.235, p < 0.01). Statistically significant correlation was observed between rainfall pattern and hyponatremia, r = 0.711, 95% confidence interval 0.478-0.913, p = 0.01 during 95-96 and r = 0.825, 95% confidence interval 0.478-0.949, p < 0.001, during 96-97. CONCLUSION: Incidence of hyponatremia is higher during the peak southwest monsoon season with similar pattern for the study period of two years. Humidity and temperature may have important role in the manifestation of hyponatremia.

Blood sugar profile in diabetics receiving plain insulin.

Blood sugar profile was studied by checking multiple plasma venous samples at 1/2 hr interval after porcine plain insulin. Mean blood sugar was the highest (198.8 +/- 24.6 mg%) at 1 1/2 hrs and the lowest (86.3 +/- 18.4) at 4 1/2 hrs after breakfast. 52% of the patients had hypoglycemias between 4 and 5 hrs. It is recommended that pre-lunch blood sugar be checked in those receiving plain insulin.

Distribution of malarial parasites: effect of gender of construction workers.

The city of Mangalore in South India was having increasing number of malaria cases from 1990. Concerned over the import of cases through migrant construction workers, a screening was done among them using clinical and parasitological methods. This demonstrated 6.28% slide positivity rate with statistically insignificant difference in prevalence of infection between males and females. There were many asymptomatic individuals reporting positive only on peripheral smear examination. Yet, clinical symptoms like fever were found to have good predictive value on logistic regression. It was more so with the P. falciparum which is a relatively new entrant to Mangalore.

Bilateral pulmonary aneurysm in Behçet's disease (a case report).

While investigating a chest opacity in Behcet's disease possibility of pulmonary aneurysm should be considered. Contrast enhanced CT is a safe diagnostic method which is useful in confirming or excluding the presence of an aneurysm in such cases. We report here the first case of bilateral pulmonary aneurysms in Behcet's disease.

Calcified hypernephroma. A case report.

Pattern of classification in an renal neoplasm is variable. If calcium is located nonperipherally (within the mass) it is more likely to be a renal cell carcinoma. But peripheral calcification does not rule out malignancy.