Child, Preschool ; Echocardiography ; methods ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial ; complications ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Male ; Mobius Syndrome ; complications ; physiopathology ; Phenotype

Hypertension is a major health problem in India. Different clinical studies have reported that reducing the blood pressure can substantially decrease cardiovascular risk and all cause mortality. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of triple drug fixed dose combination of Telmisartan 40 mg, Amlodipine 5 mg and Hydrochlorthiazide 12.5mg. 41 hypertensive patients having systolic blood pressure ≥ 160 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure ≥100 mmHg who were uncontrolled on dual drug therapy with Telmisartan-Amlodipine or Telmisartan-Hydrochlorothiazide combinations were enrolled in this study. The treatment period was of 120 days and patients were administered once daily fixed dose combination of Telmisartan 40 mg, Amlodipine 5 mg and Hydrochlorthiazide 12.5mg. Patients were evaluated on 15th, 30th, 60th and 120th days of treatment. There was statistically significant (p<0.0001) decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure from baseline to 15th, 30th, 60th and 120th days of treatment. At the end of the study period of 120 days 95.6% & 94.4% patients of age group >60 years and <60 years achieved the JNC VIII recommended target goal respectively. This triple drug fixed dose combination of Telmisartan, Amlodipine and hydrochlorothiazide was found to be effective and safe option for the optimal management of hypertension without any safety concern.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease in which body's immune system eats away the protective sheath that covers nerves which interferes with the communication between brain and the rest of body. Ultimately this may result in deterioration of the nerves themselves a process that’s irreversible. Symptoms vary widely, depending on the amount of damage and the type of nerves affected. Patients with severe cases of multiple sclerosis may lose the ability to walk or speak. Multiple sclerosis can be difficult to diagnose early in the course of the disease because symptoms often come and go sometimes disappearing for months. There’s no cure for multiple sclerosis. However treatments can help treat attacks, modify the course of the disease and treat symptoms.

Aims: Prodigiosin is a bright red pigment produced by certain strains of Serratia marcescens, characterized by a common pyrrolylpyrromethane skeleton. This pigment is found to possess antibacterial, antifungal, immunosuppressive and antiproliferative activity. The present study aimed at designing process parameters for the enhanced production of this pigment. Methodology and Results: Peptone glycerol broth was selected as the best synthetic medium. The effects of various media components and process parameters like carbon and nitrogen sources, temperature, pH, incubation period and other supplements were investigated. Maximal amount of prodigiosin was produced at temperature 25 °C, pH 7.0 and incubation period of 48 h. Supplementation of media with maltose and peptone yielded maximal amount of prodigiosin. Incorporation of minimal amount of supplements like silica gel, iron salts, inorganic phosphate also showed promising results. Chromatographic separations suggested that prodigiosin is made up of three different fractions (purple, orange and red). Further investigation of antimicrobial properties of prodigiosin revealed that it is a potent inhibitor against gram positive bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus and fungal pathogens like Candida albicans, C. parapsilosis and Cryptococcus sp. This antimicrobial potency remained stable under a wide range of temperature and pH. The antioxidant capacity of prodigiosin was found to be 22.05 Bg ascorbic acid equivalents/ml of extract. When applied to textiles, prodigiosin resisted the action of acid, alkali and detergent. Conclusion, Significance and Impact of study: Besides combating gram positive bacterial pathogens and some pathogenic yeasts, prodigiosin with strong dyeing and antioxidant activity may find broad applications in textile and therapeutic industries.

Objective:To investigate the mosquito larvicidal activity of Cayratia trifolia (L.) Domin (Vitaceae:Vitales) (C. trifolia) which is distributed in many parts of India with medicinal properties as vector control is facing threat due to the emergence of resistance to synthetic insecticides.
Methods:Young and mature leaves of C. trifolia were investigated for larvicidal activity against 3rd instars larvae of Culex quinquefasciatus in different seasons throughout the year. The active fractions were extracted using six different solvents in a non-polar to polar fashion viz petroleum-ether, benzene, chloroform:methanol (1:1 v/v), acetone, absolute alcohol and distilled water. Dose dependent mortality was recorded against each solvent extract. Determination of LD50 and LD90 were executed through log-probit analysis using the most bioactive fraction. The fluctuations in mortality were statistically co-related through ANOVA analyses concerning different seasons and types of leaves as random variables. Justification of larvicidal activity was established through student’s t-test. Costing effects were evaluated on the non-target water fauna under laboratory conditions. Thin layer chromatographic techniques were performed for phytochemical analysis and categorization of chemical personality of the active fractions using the most effective solvent extract following standard methods.
Results:Significant variations in mortality rate were noted with respect to the type of leaves (mature and senescence), concentration of leaf extract and between seasons. The water extract among all the solvent extracts was found to induce cent percent mortality at 50 mg/L in test mosquito species within 24 h with a LD50 and LD90 value of 10.70 mg/L and 27.64 mg/L respectively. No significant mortality was recorded in non-target water population. Chromatographic analyses of the water extract revealed the presence of steroids, triterpene glycosides, essential oil, phenolics and diterpenes as secondary phytochemicals.
Conclusions:Water extract of C. trifolia leaf promised as a cost effective and potent larvicidal agent against Culex quinquefasciatus.

The quality of life for women after menopause is one of the key health issues today, and osteoporosis is a silently progressing metabolic bone disease widely prevalent in post-menopausal women in India. Rapid bone loss occurs in post-menopausal women due to hormonal factors that lead to an increased risk of fractures. Thus, the present study was undertaken to observe the serum calcium and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels in post-menopausal women as these substances are biochemical markers of bone metabolism. In this small-scale cross-sectional study, 100 samples were taken. Of these, 50 were taken from post-menopausal women (experimental group) and 50 were taken from pre-menopausal women (control group). Serum calcium and serum ALP were measured in the blood samples of both groups. The findings demonstrated that the serum calcium level was significantly lower in the post-menopausal group than in the pre-menopausal group, while the ALP level was slightly higher. Therefore, an increase in bone turnover accelerates bone mass reduction in post-menopausal women, whereas a decrease in bone turnover is associated with the preservation of bone mass.
Alkaline Phosphatase ; Postmenopause ; Calcium ; Osteoporosis ; Women

Various physiological parameters like blood pressure, temperature, blood sugar after onset of stroke have been proposed as possible marker of stroke prognosis to study the glycaemic status after acute stroke and assess the role of glycaemic status along with other clinical parameters in influencing stroke outcome. Forty-two confirmed stroke patients attending hospital within 6 hours of onset of stroke onset were included in the study. The time lag for hospitalization, blood pressure, blood sugar, HbA1c, stroke severity according to Toronto Scale, demographic factors, stroke onset type, type of stroke, past history of stroke, diabetes, and hypertension were recorded. The outcome was whether patient survived at the end of forth week. Twenty-one percent of patients who were not known diabetic found to be hyperglycemic though their HBA1C level was normal. Eighty-nine percent of such patients died. This rate was significantly higher than patients known to be diabetic with raised sugar and HBA1c level (26% patients, 12% mortality). There was strong and significant association between stroke severity and poor outcome. Strong and significant association was also found between stroke severity and blood sugar level. Modeling of stroke outcome using decision tree analysis (QUEST) found stroke severity as most important and significant predictor especially for severe stroke cases. In mild and moderately severe stroke, high sugar level was found to be a predictor, though not statistically significant.This study suggests that stroke severity is the most important predictor of stroke outcome, with high sugar level as a marker of stroke severity.
Cerebrovascular accident ; Biological Markers ; Sugars ; prognostic ; Blood Glucose

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is rapidly spreading throughout the world. It's an insidious disease and still treated in an indirect manner without having specific drug target. In majority cases T2D is treated with drugs that address type 1 diabetes, majority of drugs aim to increase insulin release although the root cause for T2D is not the dearth of insulin release, it occurs in the later stage of disease development. T2D silently progressed in the patient; it begins with insulin resistance that takes place due to the loss of insulin sensitivity. Though insulin resistance is the centre of pathogenesis, our treatment of the disease has not yet addressed it. It is now a fact that insulin resistance is manifested by lipid and fatty acids (FAs) play a critical role in blunting insulin sensitivity. Our understanding is still poor in deciphering how lipid impose insulin insensitivity, majority of workers suggest it is because of insulin signaling defects which implements insulin function in inhibiting glucose to the cell from circulation. Number of long chain saturated FA has been shown to produce insulin signaling defects. However, we really need further investigation to find specific target(s) for FA induced damage. In addition to these information, a new dimension of T2D is getting attractive is fetuin-A/alpha2-Heremans-Schmid Glycoprotein, a secretary protein from liver. Its gene locus has been identified as T2D susceptible. Fetuin-A's excess expression occurs by FA and it disrupts adipocyte function. It has been shown to be associated with T2D especially in obesity. In this review, we briefly discuss the present status on the mechanistic understanding of lipid induced insulin resistance that leads to T2D. More we understand the mechanism; opportunity to fight the battle with T2D will be increasing. Since, this field is now vast; we covered a few major events.
Adipocytes ; alpha-2-HS-Glycoprotein ; Fatty Acids ; Glucose ; Glycoproteins ; Hypogonadism ; Insulin ; Insulin Resistance ; Liver ; Mitochondrial Diseases ; Obesity ; Ophthalmoplegia