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.

Pattern of unnatural deaths - a cross sectional study of autopsies at mortuary of KLES'S Hospital and MRC, Belgaum.

Unnatural deaths claim a substantial number of lives in developing countries like India. Among the various types of deaths RTAs account for majority of deaths followed by burns, poisoning, fall from height, animal bite and hanging. Accidental deaths accounted for 87.5% cases followed by suicidal (10%) and homicidal (2.5%) deaths. Males (80.83%) were more commonly involved as compared to females (19.17%). The types of unnatural deaths encountered in our study were RTAs (61.67%), burns (15%), FFH (7.5%), poisoning (6.67%), assault (2.5%), snakebite (1.67%), scorpion bite (0.83%), death due to blast injury (1.67%), death due to bull gore injury (0.83%), hanging (0.83%) and accidental fall of stone on head (0.83%). Poisoning 7 (58.33%) was the most common method of self-destruction followed by burns 2 (16.67%), FFH 2 (16.67%) and hanging 1 (8.33%). In homicidal deaths, stabs 2 (66.67%) were the most common type of death followed by 1 (33.33%) case of combination of stab and blunt force impact. Preventive measures should be adopted where ever possible and prompt steps should be taken to decrease the incidence of road traffic accidents which take a lion’s share among the unnatural deaths.

Antibacterial effect of bioactive glass in combination with powdered enamel and dentin.

Background and Objectives: In endodontics, various intracanal medications have been advocated to eliminate bacteria after root canal instrumentation. A recent study has revealed that addition of powdered dentin to bioactive glass (BAG) led to increased glass dissolution, and an increased antibacterial efficacy. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to compare the effect of enamel and dentin powder on the antibacterial efficacy of a commercially available BAG. Materials and Methods: Dentin blocks (dbs) were prepared from single rooted human teeth. These dbs were infected with Enterococcus faecalis for two weeks in Tryptic Soy Broth (TSB), while negative controls were kept in sterile TSB. In group I, the infected dbs were filled with BAG, in group II with BAG + Enamel powder and group III with BAG + Dentin powder. Dentin samples were harvested from the dbs and cultured. Statistical Analysis: Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA was used for multiple group comparison followed by Scheffe's post hoc test for pair-wise comparisons. Results: All the combinations of BAG evaluated significantly reduced the bacterial counts compared to the control group. However, at the end of 24 hours, three days, and five days BAG + Dentin powder showed significant reduction ( P < 0.01) in bacterial counts compared to the other experimental groups. Conclusion: Among the various materials evaluated, it appeared that though BAG exhibits antimicrobial efficacy, the addition of powdered enamel and dentin in aqueous suspension definitely enhanced this property. However, the addition of enamel powder BAG did not significantly alter its antimicrobial efficacy compared to BAG + dentin powder.

Molecular electrostatic potential mapping and structure-activity relationship for 3-methoxy flavones.

Molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) maps of certain 3-methoxy flavone derivatives having different anti-picornavirus activities have been studied. Geometries of the molecules were optimised and charge distributions computed using the AM1 molecular orbital method. Hybridization displacement charges (HDC) were combined with the Löwdin charge distributions to compute the MEP maps. Reliability of the method of computing MEP maps was tested by studying certain other molecules for which ab initio MEP results are available. The anti-picornavirus activities of the flavones have been shown to be related with negative MEP values in two regions, one near the 3-methoxy group and another in a diagonally opposite region near the substituent attached to the C7 atom of the molecules.

Spectroscopic evidence for structural oscillations in DNA caused by oxygen.

It has been shown that interaction of dissolved oxygen with DNA in an aqueous solution causes oscillations in the DNA structure and leads to the formation of a loose DNA-oxygen complex. These results have been compared with those obtained with solution of DNA in high salt concentration.