Anorectal Melanoma: A Case Report.

Anorectal mucosal melanoma (AMM) is an infrequent and highly aggressive form of mucosal melanoma. Its rarity makes it challenging to clinically diagnose, and its initial symptoms are typically nonspecific such as rectal/anal bleeding (the most common symptom), anal pain, or the presence of an anal mass. The prognosis for this condition is generally poor, and its incidence appears to be increasing each year. AMMs often go undetected and/or are already metastasized at the time of diagnosis. We present a case report of a patient who initially presented with nonspecific symptoms of anemia and blood per rectum, and was later found to have stage IV melanoma of the anorectal region. There is a notable scarcity of literature on this disease, resulting in a lack of a comprehensive understanding of its nature. Most available information consists of isolated case reports rather than comprehensive studies. Although surgical resection remains the primary treatment approach, the majority of patients (over 80%) will die due to distant metastasis within five years after undergoing surgery. The five-year survival rate for anorectal melanoma is estimated to be between 6% and 22%.

Safety and procedural outcomes of intravascular lithotripsy in calcified coronaries in Indian patients.

OBJECTIVE: Calcified coronaries still remain a major challenge for interventional cardiologist. This study aims to evaluate safety and efficacy of intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) in management of coronary artery calcification. METHODS: This was a retrospective single centre study regarding the utility of IVL in management of calcified coronaries. Patients with hemodynamically stable acute coronary syndrome or symptomatic chronic coronary syndrome (CCS) and calcified coronaries on angiography and who underwent IVL were enrolled. Intravascular imaging was performed wherever feasible. The primary endpoint was procedural success. In addition, data regarding procedural complications were collected. RESULTS: A total of 29 patients underwent IVL with a majority being males and having comorbidities such as hypertension and diabetes. A procedural success rate of 93.1% was achieved with no patient having >50% residual stenosis. IVL catheter was successfully delivered in all patients. The mean catheter diameter was 3.3 ± 0.4 mm and mean number of delivered pulses was 70.3 ± 16.4. The arteries most commonly intervened were the left main coronary and the left anterior descending artery. Intracoronary imaging revealed a significant increase in minimum luminal cross-sectional area (MLA) post IVL (pre-MLA: 5.1 ± 2.5 mm2; post-MLA: 10.7 ± 2.9 mm2; P<0.001). Two patients had in-hospital MACE in form of peri-procedural non Q-wave MI. No patient had arrhythmias, stent thrombosis, coronary perforation, or slow flow/no-reflow. Two patients had a rupture of IVL balloon while four had coronary artery dissection. CONCLUSIONS: IVL is a safe and highly effective modality with high procedural success rate in management of calcified coronaries.

Population genetic structure of the melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) (Diptera: Tephritidae) based on mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase (COI) gene sequences.

Population genetic structure of melon fly analysed with mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene suggested that melon fly populations across the globe is homogeneous with non-significant variation of 0.000-0.003 base substitutions per site. Test isolates representing various geographic situations across the world were placed in 26 mitochondrial haplotypes based on variations associated with a maximum of three mutational steps and the predominant haplotype i.e. H1 was present in all melon fly populations except Hawaiian population. Evolution of mtCOI gene suggested that the fly could have originated some 0.4 million years ago. The present study also indicated that the B. cucurbitae population expansion is an event of post Pleistocene warm climatic conditions with small number of founder population. The invasion of B. cucurbitae in Hawaii was associated with the large population size and the global presence of the fly is associated with human mediated dispersal. The very low genetic variation suggested that the fly management might be possible by large scale sterile insect techniques programme.

Molecular and biochemical characterization of three bacterial symbionts of fruit fly, Bactrocera tau (Tephritidae: Diptera).

Characterization of three bacterial symbionts (BC1, BC2 and BC3) of fruit fly Bactrocera tau including morphological, biochemical and 16S rDNA (rrs gene) analysis was done to determine their taxonomic position. Morphological and biochemical characterization placed two bacteria (BC1, Klebsiella oxytoca and BC2, Pantoea agglomerans) into family Enterobacteriaceae and the third one (BC3, Staphylococcus sp.) into family Staphylococcaceae. 16S rDNA gene sequence comparison with the available NCBI database sequences further confirmed the characterizations of bacterial symbionts. Molecular phylogeny of Klebsiella oxytoca and Pantoea agglomerans closely related to the other free living enterobacterial members with 74 to 93% sequence homology (genetic distance 0.000 to 0.085); however, they showed only 74 to 87% similarity with other insect symbionts (genetic distance 0.090 to 0.121). Staphylococcus sp. showed 94% sequence homology with other members of family Staphylococcaceae with the genetic distance of 0.013. Population of these symbionts in adult fruit flies increased exponentially up to the 10th day of adult emergence and thereafter it became almost constant.