Forty mycobacterial strains comprising clinical Indian isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (28 field isolates +1H37 Rv) and Mycobacterium bovis (10 field isolates +1 AN5) were subjected to restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis (RFLP) using IS6110 and IS1081 probes. Most of these strains originated from dairy cattle herd and human patients from Indian Veterinary research Institute (IVRI) campus isolated from the period of 1986 to 2000. Our study showed presence of 8 copies of IS6110 in most of the M.tuberculosis (96.6%) strains irrespective of their origin with the exception of one M.tuberculosis strain with presence of an extra copy (3.4%). All M.bovis strains showed a single copy of IS6110 on the characteristic 1.9kb restriction fragment. RFLP analysis with IS1081 invariably showed the presence of 5 copies in all isolates of M.bovis and M.tuberculosis at the same chromosomal location. Similarity of IS6110 RFLP fingerprints of M.tuberculosis strains from animals and human suggested the possibility of dissemination of single M.tuberculosis strain among animals as well as human. It was not possible to discriminate within the isolates of either M.tuberculosis or M.bovis, when IS1081 was used as target sequence. The IS6110 RFLP is a valuable tool for disclosing transmission chain of M. tuberculosis and M. bovis among humans as well as animals
Animals ; Bacterial Typing Techniques ; Cattle ; DNA Fingerprinting/*veterinary ; DNA, Bacterial/*genetics ; Deer ; Humans ; India/epidemiology ; Mycobacterium bovis/classification/*genetics/isolation&purification ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis/classification/*genetics/isolation & purification ; Polymerase Chain Reaction/veterinary ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ; Zoonoses/epidemiology

Extra-adrenal /retroperitoneal paraganglioma is a rare cause of hypertension in young with increased incidence of metastasis as compared to adrenal pheochromocytoma. We present a case of a young female with history of headache, nausea/vomiting, palpitations, uncontrolled hypertension, heat intolerance and diaphoresis. The 24-hour urine catecholamine levels were elevated. Clinical diagnosis of pheochromocytoma was made and further evaluation with Computed Tomography (CT) scan of the adrenals revealed extradrenal para-aortic retroperitoneal mass in keeping with paraganglioma. Gallium-68 DOTATE positron emission tomography-CT scan (PET-CT) confirmed the diagnosis without evidence of metastatic foci.
Paraganglioma

A 55-year-old woman presented with a mucopurulent sinusal discharge from the right supragluteal region, with symptoms over the previous five months. This abscess began as a slowly swelling growth, which eventually turned into a discharging sinus, and she was diagnosed with a gluteal abscess. The patient underwent incisional drainage, and intra-operatively, the sinus tract could be seen extending to the retroperitoneum. A subsequent CT scan and an MRI of the abdomen revealed a large heterogeneous retroperitoneal cystic mass on the right side of midline, extending inferiorly into the anterior thigh along the iliopsoas. Superiorly, a tubular projection extended from the lesion, indenting the ileocaecal junction, while a fluid filled cutaneous fistulous tract was seen, extending to the right flank. A diagnosis of pseudomyxoma retroperitonei, likely of retrocaecal appendicular origin, was proposed. An explorative laparotomy with an appendectomy, and the evacuation of the retroperitoneal collection were completed. The subsequent histopathology confirmed the diagnosis of appendicular mucinous cystadenoma, with pseudomyxoma retroperitonei.

Objective: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of epilepsy in prisoners suffering from substance dependence and the relationship between onset of epilepsy and substance dependence in a prison population. Methods: The present cross-sectional study in a prison population was conducted in Central Jail (CJ), New Delhi, India over a period of 3 months. The convenience sample consisted of 900 subjects. The study group consisted of 450 prisoners taken from the deaddiction ward and the rest were placed in the control group. Physical examination and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) of subjects were done to make necessary exclusion. Assessment tools were applied in the order starting from MMSE, Basic Socio-demographic Performa, Present State Examination (PSE), and Addiction Severity Index (ASI). Results: The average ages of study and control subjects were 34.5 + 2.3 years (mean + standard deviation) and 35.6 + 3.6 years respectively. Prevalence of epilepsy among substance using prisoners was 1.4 times higher than in non-substance using prisoners. Alcohol, opioid, and cannabis, either alone or in various combinations, were the most commonly used substances. Subjects suffering from epilepsy were likely to have higher chances of consuming three or more substances than those without problem of epilepsy. Study subjects suffering from epilepsy compared with those without epilepsy performed worse in all parameters. This is indicative of higher severity of psychoactive substance dependence. Conclusion: Findings of high prevalence rate of epilepsy and co-morbid substance dependence highlight the need for better screening among epileptic subjects for substance abuse at entry into prison for effective treatment while in custody, and at follow-up on release. Specialist addiction services for prisoners have a considerable impact in a wellplanned intervention programme for prisoners with substance use and comorbid epilepsy. ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 15 (2): July – December 2014: 153-163.

Fine needle aspiration (FNA) of the thyroid is a well-tolerated minimally invasive procedure. Thyroid abscess, as a complication of FNA in an immune-competent adult, is extremely rare. Diagnosis requires a high index of suspicion, for which treatment is intravenous antibiotics, drainage, and sometimes surgery. Here we present a case of thyroid abscess in an otherwise healthy man who presented with neck pain, rapidly increasing neck swelling, difficulty in swallowing, and hoarseness of the voice that developed two weeks after diagnostic FNA of a thyroid nodule which had been present for ten months. Despite antibiotic treatment, the abscess ruptured into the trachea, requiring surgical intervention. This highlights the importance of maintaining asepsis during FNA of the thyroid. Timely diagnosis of a thyroid abscess is essential to avoid life-threatening airway complications.

Serous ovarian cancer is the most common malignant ovarian tumour. Traditional management consists of surgical resection with postoperative chemotherapy. Currently neoadjuvant chemotherapy is offered to patients with advanced stage disease. The present study aims to analyse the histomorphological alterations in serous ovarian cancer following neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Correlation of these morphological alterations with survival is also presented here. Serous ovarian cancers from 100 advanced stage cases were included; 50 were treated with pre-surgery chemotherapy. Semi-quantitative scoring was used to grade the alterations in tumour morphology. Survival data was correlated with the final morphological score. Tumour morphology was significantly different in cases treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (CT group) as compared to cases with upfront surgery. The CT group cases showed more fibrosis, calcification, and infiltration by lymphocytes, plasma cells, foamy and hemosiderin-laden macrophages. The residual tumour cells had degenerative cytoplasmic changes with nuclear atypia. Patients with significant morphological response had a longer median survival, although it did not attain statistical significance in the current study. With the increasing use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in management, the pathologist needs to be aware of the altered morphological appearance of tumour. Further studies are required to establish a grading system to assess the tissue response which can be helpful in predicting the overall therapeutic outcome and the prognosis of patients.

We performed bibliometric analysis of the research papers published on clinical cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) in the last 50 years. We extracted bibliometric data from Scopus and PubMed from 1970 to 2020 pertaining to clinical studies of CSM. The predominant journals, top cited articles, authors, and countries were identified using performance analysis. Science mapping was also performed to reveal the emerging trends, and conceptual and social structures of the authors and countries. Bibliometrix R-package was deployed for the study. The total numbers of clinical studies available in PubMed and Scopus were 1,302 and 3,470, respectively. The most cited article was published by Hilibrand AS, as observed in Scopus. Regarding the conceptual structure of the research, two main research themes were identified, one involving symptomatology, scientific-scale-based objective evaluation of symptoms, and surgical removal of the offending culprit, while the other was based on patho-etiology, relevant diagnostic modalities, and the surgery commonly performed for CSM. In terms of emerging trends, in recent times there is an increasing trend of scale-based objective evaluations, along with investigations of advanced nonoperative management. The United States is the most productive country, whereas Canada tops the list for inter-country collaboration. The trend of research showed a shift toward noninvasive procedures.

During this unprecedented time of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) pandemic, most countries are struggling to optimize their healthcare resources. Although the prevention and treatment of COVID 19 has become the priority for the majority of the population, most medical professionals are facing the challenge of balancing the management of this pandemic and treating patients with other diseases. Healthcare professionals from all specialties are facing this situation and designing guidelines and recommendations that are contributing to the literature that is crucial for disease management at the current time. We share our experience with two ends of the spectra that we currently observe in spine patients. One group of patients included the non-operative cases that presented with back pain. Further, we discuss our experience with operative precautions and digitally assisted discharge.

We report an important observation that the surface conductivity of antibody layer immobilized on polylysine-coated glass substrate decreases upon the formation of complex with their specific antigens. This change in conductivity has been observed for both monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies. The conductance of monoclonal mouse IgG immobilized on polylysine-coated glass substrate changed from 1.02x10(-8) ohm(-1) to 1.41x10(-11) ohm(-1) at 10 V when complex is formed due to the specific biomolecular interactions with rabbit anti-mouse IgG F(ab')(2). Similar behavior was observed when the same set up was tested in two clinical assays: (1) anti-Leishmania antigen polyclonal antibodies taken from Kala Azar positive patient serum interacting with Leishmania promastigote antigen, and (2) anti-p21 polyclonal antibodies interacting with p21 antigen. The proposed concept can represent a new immunodiagnostic technique and may have wide ranging applications in biosensors and nanobiotechnology too.
Animals ; Antigen-Antibody Complex ; analysis ; Biosensing Techniques ; Electric Conductivity ; Humans ; Immunoassay ; methods ; Rabbits

Objectives: The aims of the study were to investigate whether Sudarshan Kriya (SK), a form of Yoga and related practices can lead to increased Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) and increased feeling of wellness in patients with substance dependence. Method: This was a 3-month single blind parallel randomized controlled study with sample size of 111 patients which were allocated by simple randomization to two groups. Study subjects were involved in an intensive program of Sudarshan Kriya and practices (SK&P) which they practised daily for 6 weeks. The control subjects were instructed to sit in an armchair with their eyes closed and pay gentle attention to their breath. A period sample of three months consisting of all patients admitted in De-addiction (DAC) ward fulfilling study criteria was taken. Only male patients diagnosed to be suffering from Substance Dependence by ICD-10 (DCR) criteria, aged between 18-65 years were included in this study. The assessment tools were the Basic Socio-demographic Performa, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Severity of Dependence Scale (SDS), Schedule for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN) based clinical interview, Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) and Psychological General Well Being (PGWB). These assessments were conducted before starting the intervention and six weeks thereafter. Results: In the final analysis, number of participants analyzed in the study group was 55 and in the control group was 56. Majority of subjects were unemployed, married individuals who did not have occupational skills of more than skilled labour level. After six weeks of SK&P, statistically significant improvement in study subject dimensional scores of GAF (48.43+/- 0.08 to 66.77+/-0.14), Anxiety (ANX) (9.64+/-0.52 to 15.66+/-0.38), Depressed Mood (DEP)(7.19+/-0.2 to 9.18+/-0.37), Positive Well Being (PWB)(10.28+/-0.61 to 12.92+/-0.73), General Health (GH)(7.74+/-0.18 to 9.75+/-0.22) and Total PGWB(41.46+/-0.35 to 59.28+/-0.63) were noticed. However, when compared with control subjects, improvement was statistically significant in the case of GAF (p=0.000158), Anxiety (ANX)(p=0.011), Positive Well Being (PWB)(p=0.02), General Health (GH)(p=0.02) and Total PGWB(p=0.05); but not in the case of Depressed Mood (DEP), Self Control (SC) and Vitality. Conclusion: Practicing SK&P helps in improving Global Assessment of Functioning, Psychological General Well Being, General Health (GH) and positive well being of an individual. SK&P also causes significant reduction in anxiety levels of an individual.