A case of adult onset Still's disease with flare of arthritis.

Adult onset Still's disease is a febrile illness of unknown aetiology, accounting for about 6% cases of fever of unknown origin. It was first described by Eric GL Bywater in 1971, and since then few case series have been reported from India and other parts of the globe. A case of adult onset Still's disease who presented with fever and polyarthralgia of 18 months duration with flare of joint symptoms during fever spikes has been reported.

Haemoglobin SD disease--rare case of jaundice.

A 15 years old Muslim female presented with moderate anaemia, mild jaundice and hepatosplenomegaly with no history of blood transfusion in the past. Routine examination was suggestive of haemolytic jaundice. High pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) electrophoresis of the patient's blood showed haemoglobin (Hb) SD disease. As it is a double heterozygous disease, family screening was done. It showed that the father was sickle cell trait. Mother was Hb D trait. Both the brothers were sickle cell trait and the only sister was normal. Hb SD disease is a very rare variety of haemoglobinopathy and the case is presented here due to its rarity.

Dyslipidaemia in rheumatoid arthritis in a tertiary care centre in Eastern India--a non-randomised trial.

Dyslipidaemia in rheumatoid arthritis, is associated with accelerated atherosclerosis. A nonrandomised trial was conducted to find out the proportion of rheumatoid arthritis patients suffering from dyslipidaemia and change in lipid levels after an intervention with antirheumatic drugs in a tertiary care centre in Eastern India from April 2006 to July 2008. The trial was done on 161 diagnosed patients of rheumatoid arthritis (fulfilling the American College of Rheumatology criteria) on lipid levels. Lipids estimations were done enzymatically by semi-autoanalyser and dyslipidaemia was defined by taking the cut-off value of National Cholesterol Education Programme-Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III) guidelines. Patients with other comorbid illness and on statins were excluded. Disease activity score 28 (DAS-28) was also employed for evaluating disease activity. Patients were followed up to 10 -12 weeks for repeat lipid level estimation. Using the high cut-off values of NCEP-ATP III, 39.1% of the patients showed dyslipidaemia in initial visit. Low high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was the commonest abnormality seen in 37.2%. In the follow-up study after getting disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (methotrexate, sulfasalazine, hydroxychloroquine) therapy, 19.9% patients had dyslipidaemia again and there were increase in total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, HDL-C but triglyceride was reduced. Low HDL-C again became the commonest (17.9%) and rise in HDL-C level was statistically significant. DAS-28 showed a good reduction and significant negative correlation with HDL-C. Lipid abnormalities, common in Indian patients with rheumatoid arthritis, are also observed in Eastern India. Low HDL-C being the commonest abnormality. Disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis is inversely related to the lipid levels.

A study to find out the proportion of prediabetes in patients with acute coronary syndrome in a medical college of Kolkata.

Prediabetes is now considered as a definite entity for increased incidence of cardiovascular disease and a potent risk for progression to type 2 diabetes mellitus. As macrovascular disease is the commonest cause of increased mortality in dysglycaemic individuals (prediabetes and diabetes) by 2-4 times as opposed to normal individuals, clinicians do encounter patients with cardiovascular disease of varying severity regularly. There are increased constellation of other cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, dyslipidaemia, etc), in prediabetes as compared to normal population. Here a study was carried out among 62 acute coronary syndrome patients who were admitted in a tertiary care hospital in Kolkata to find out the proportion of prediabetes in them. Majority of the patients (54.8%) were in the age group of 45-64 years and were males (77.4%). The study showed 48.4% of all acute coronary syndrome patients were prediabetic and 25% were diabetic. The proportion of impaired fasting glucose and impaired glucose tolerance were 19.4% and 22.6% respectively. So, altogether 72.4% patients were dysglycaemic. Out of all acute coronary syndrome patients, non-ST elevated myocardial infarction group had 50% prediabetic patients, ST elevated myocardial infarction group had 50% prediabetic patients and unstable angina group have 45.8% prediabetic patients. So, all patients of acute coronary syndrome should be screened to detect hyperglycaemia in early stage to prevent further development of diabetes mellitus and also further cardiovascular events.

Two-tier Haddon matrix approach to fault analysis of accidents and cybernetic search for relationship to effect operational control: a case study at a large construction site.

The Haddon matrix is a potential tool for recognizing hazards in any operating engineering system. This paper presents a case study of operational hazards at a large construction site. The fish bone structure helps to visualize and relate the chain of events, which led to the failure of the system. The two-tier Haddon matrix approach helps to analyze the problem and subsequently prescribes preventive steps. The cybernetic approach has been undertaken to establish the relationship among event variables and to identify the ones with most potential. Those event variables in this case study, based on the cybernetic concepts like control responsiveness and controllability salience, are (a) uncontrolled swing of sheet contributing to energy, (b) slippage of sheet from anchor, (c) restricted longitudinal and transverse swing or rotation about the suspension, (d) guilt or uncertainty of the crane driver, (e) safe working practices and environment.

Management of neonatal purpura fulminans with severe protein C deficiency.

Neonatal purpura fulminans is a life threatening clinical entity characterized by extensive subcutaneous thrombosis and disseminated intravascular coagulation usually manifesting shortly after birth. We report an autosomal recessive form of the disease in a neonate who was diagnosed with compound heterozygosity for mutations in his protein C gene as the molecular basis of his disorder.