"Cell blocking" the parasitic imposter: In a rare case of isolated pulmonary cysticercosis.

Isolated pulmonary cysticercosis is a rare manifestation of human cysticercosis which mainly affects central nervous system, skeletal muscles, eyes and subcutaneous tissues. Pulmonary involvement is usually a part of disseminated disease and mainly presents as bilateral pulmonary nodules. We report a rare case of isolated pulmonary cysticercosis presenting as lung cyst with pleural effusion. The diagnosis was made on pleural fluid cytology and cell block preparation. Herein we wish to recapitulate the importance of cell block as a diagnostic aid for parasitic infections, where morphological features and architectural patterns are as clearly discernable as in histopathology.

Smart Cities Mission in the Face of COVID: Scope and Scale of 'Smart' COVID Responses in India.

COVID has expedited and expanded the already precarious smart city development in India with the multitude of 'smart' COVID responses-broadly known as CovTech-introduced since the early days of the global pandemic. This paper offers an analysis of the scope and scale of smart responses to COVID in the first 20 cities prioritized for smart city implementation-as part of the Smart Cities Mission in India. The analysis unravels the diversity within the smart COVID response, as 125 COVID applications, 14 COVID-War-Rooms, and numerous examples of smart public place initiatives are discussed. The findings include a typology of COVID applications and shed light on the operations of COVID-War-Rooms throughout the nation. The learnings point toward a mostly top-down approach to smart COVID response. Yet, early evidence indicates the existence of an alternative subaltern smart COVID response to provide bottom-up support to the most vulnerable groups, filling the gaps in the top-down approach. More research is required to thoroughly understand the scope and scale of the subaltern smart response to COVID.

Diagnostic Utility of Endometrial Aspiration Cytology in Women with Abnormal Uterine Bleeding.

CONTEXT: Abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) is a common problem for which women seek gynecological consultation. Endometrial aspiration cytology (EAC) has emerged as a minimally invasive and cost-effective diagnostic procedure for screening the endometrial status of these patients that can aid in diagnosis in high-burden and resource-limited settings. AIMS: The study was conducted to evaluate the utility of EAC in women with AUB, and the cytological diagnosis was compared with the histopathology. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 100 patients presenting with AUB were subjected to EAC using a 4-mm Karman's cannula. Later, they also underwent endometrial dilation and curettage. The cytology smears were evaluated for architectural and cytomorphological features. The cytological diagnoses henceforth made were compared with the histopathological diagnosis to calculate sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of EAC. RESULTS: EAC showed a sample adequacy of 89% viz a viz 90% for histopathology. EAC showed a sensitivity of 87.5% and 100% for diagnosing benign and malignant conditions, respectively. There was a good overall agreement between cytological and histopathological diagnosis (κ = 0.585). CONCLUSIONS: EAC is an effective and minimally invasive procedure for the primary investigation of women with AUB.

Seemingly insignificant, but crucial cytomorphological leads in diagnosis of pilomatricoma of parotid region.

Pilomatricoma is a benign cutaneous appendegeal neoplasm which occurs as dermal nodule on head and neck region of children and young adults. Tumors pose a potential difficulty when diagnosed on fine-needle aspiration cytology. In this communication, we illustrate the cytomorphological features of pilomatricoma in a 38-year-female who presented with a nodule over the parotid region. Repeated aspirations of this nodule revealed low cellularity and cytology was hence inconclusive. The final diagnosis was made on histological examination and then retrospectively when those paucicellular cytological smears were analyzed again; showed features that could have driven the pathologist toward pilomatricoma. Familiarization and careful cytological examination under appropriate clinical conditions is warranted.