Bhutan ; Delivery of Health Care ; organization & administration ; Happiness ; Humans ; National Health Programs

The limited availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or inadequate accessibility to acquire foods can result in food insecurity. This study was conducted to investigate access and attitudes among private university students in a Colombo suburb, Sri Lanka to acquire healthy foods. Methods: A self-administered pre-validated questionnaire was used to interview a total of 103 undergraduate students who were conveniently recruited from private universities. Indications of food insecurity were assessed in terms of dietary habits. Relationships between demographic characteristics and dietary habits were determined. Access to healthy foods was based on availability of healthy foods such as herbal porridge, boiled grains and fruit salads at their university premises, and the students’ willingness to buy them. Results: The majority of the subjects were females (60.2%) and 66.7% of the subjects resided outside their family homes. Frequency of consuming at least one serving per week of grain, milk, fruits & vegetables showed no significant relationship with gender. Location of residence was significantly related to consumption of grains (P=<0.000). The results revealed that 73.1% of the subjects had no access to healthy foods in their respective university premises, while more than half (61.3%) were not satisfied with the foods they consumed. Conclusion: This study revealed a lack of access to healthy foods in private higher educational premises in the Colombo suburb, indicating the risk of food insecurity among university students.

Term, live abdominal pregnancy secondary to rupture of a uterine rudimentary horn is a rare condition. Pregnancies conceived in the rudimentary horn of the uterus usually rupture during early gestation and present as a catastrophic event. However, rarely, after rupture of the uterine horn the foetus may continue to grow in the abdominal cavity and reach term gestation. A primigravida with a term pregnancy was referred to our centre for caesarean section with ultrasonography findings of transverse lie and placenta previa. During surgery, a live baby was extracted from the abdominal cavity, revealing a bicornuate uterus with rupture of the rudimentary horn. The early peroperative diagnosis and prompt control of the bleeding with excision of the rudimentary horn and transfusion of multiple blood products saved the patient’s life. The case is presented for its rarity and to highlight the importance of a high index of suspicion in cases presenting with abnormal foetal presentation.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs that hybridize to mRNAs and induce either translation repression or mRNA cleavage.Recently,it has been reported that miRNAs could possibly play a critical role in cellular processes like regulation of cell growth,differentiation,and apoptosis,emphasizing their role in tumorigenesis.Likewise,several miRNA's are involved in lung cancer tumorigenesis.The present review puts forth a database of human miRNA's involved in lung cancer along with their target genes.It also provides sequences of miRNA's and their chromosomal locations retrieved from different databases like microCosm (218 microRNAs),PhenomiR (293 microRNAs),and mir2Disease (90 microRNAs) and target gene information such as the pathways like cell cycle regulation,angiogenesis,apoptosis etc.Though miRNA's are still to be explored,they hold a promise as therapeutic targets and diagnostic markers of cancer.

No abstract available.
Liver Transplantation ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Cytomegalovirus Infections ; Cytomegalovirus ; Cirrhosis, Cryptogenic ; Graft Rejection ; Bone Marrow ; Time Factors ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged

AIMTo examine what impact the loss of funding had on the utilization of the oral pathology service.

METHODOLOGYBiopsy records were retrieved and examined in the two year period before and after the elimination of the subsidies in 2003.

RESULTSAfter the loss of funding, there was a 31% decrease in the number of specimens submitted from practitioners in private practice, with the greatest drop noted in submissions from endodontists.

CONCLUSIONDespite the immediate decrease in the number of biopsies submitted after the introduction of fee-for-service, the number of specimens being submitted appears to be on the rise again, as practitioners appear to recognize the value of a specialized oral pathology diagnostic service.

Biopsy ; economics ; utilization ; Diagnosis, Oral ; economics ; Diagnostic Services ; economics ; utilization ; Endodontics ; Fee-for-Service Plans ; economics ; utilization ; Financial Support ; General Practice, Dental ; Humans ; Pathology Department, Hospital ; economics ; Pathology, Oral ; economics ; Periodontics ; Private Practice ; utilization ; Retrospective Studies ; Schools, Dental ; economics ; Specimen Handling ; economics ; utilization ; Surgery, Oral

Background & Objective:Epilepsy may have an impact on bone health of the patients even before drug therapy is initiated, particularly in the developing countries. This is in view of long delay in diagnosis and lifestyle changes. Therefore, in this study, bone health markers like bone mineral density (BMD) and urinary hydroxyproline were assessed in newly diagnosed epilepsy patients. Methods: The BMD was assessed by DEXA scan, and 24 hour urine hydroxyproline was estimated colorimetrically in 25 newly diagnosed epilepsy patients. Other bone markers like calcium, phosphorus, vitamin D and alkaline phosphatase were also estimated. Results were compared with 25 age and sex matched healthy controls, and were analyzed statistically. Results: The BMD and vitamin D were found to be significantly decreased (p<0.05) while serum alkaline phosphatase and urine calcium and phosphorus were observed to be significantly increased p<0.05) in epilepsy patients as compared to healthy controls. The difference in urinary hydroxyproline and serum calcium/ phosphorus in the two groups was not found to be statistically significant (p>0.05). Conclusions: Bone health is found to be already compromised in epilepsy patients in this study from North India. BMD and urinary hydroxyproline may act as simple, non-invasive, convenient and inexpensive markers to assess bone health in these patients
Bone Density ; Epilepsy

End-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients have a higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, congestive heart failure and advanced age, along with an increased incidence of non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF), thereby increasing the risk for cerebrovascular accidents. Systemic anticoagulation is therefore recommended in patients with ESRD with AF to reduce the risk and complications from thromboembolism. Paradoxically, these patients are at an increased risk of bleeding due to great degree of platelet dysfunction and impaired interaction between platelet and endothelium. Currently, CHA2DS2-VASc and Hypertension, Abnormal liver/kidney function, Stroke, Bleeding, Labile INR, Elderly, Drugs or alcohol (HAS-BLED) are the recommended models for stroke risk stratification and bleeding risk assessment in patients with AF. There is conflicting data regarding benefits and risks of medications such as antiplatelet agents, warfarin and direct oral anticoagulants in ESRD patients with AF. Moreover, there is no randomized controlled trial data to guide the clinical decision making. Hence, a multi-disciplinary approach with annual re-evaluation of treatment goals and risk-benefit assessment has been recommended. In this article, we review the current recommendations with risks and benefits of anticoagulation in patients with ESRD with AF.

In this report, we present a case of 35-year-old lady who had presented with atypical chest pain and exertional breathlessness for past six months. Transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiograms showed a well-circumscribed, echo-dense mass in the right atrium, attached to the interatrial septum at the level of atrioventricular junction and in the vicinity of coronary sinus ostium. She underwent successful resection of the cardiac mass. Histopathology revealed paraganglioma, which was reconfirmed by immunohistochemistry study. This represents an extremely rare presentation as primary cardiac tumors are 20-times less common than metastatic tumors and paraganglioma is one of the rarest primary cardiac tumors, accounting for < 1% of all cases.
Adult ; Chest Pain ; Coronary Sinus ; Dyspnea ; Heart Atria ; Heart Neoplasms* ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Myxoma* ; Paraganglioma* ; Pheochromocytoma

Most clinicians dread seeing the patient presenting with a primary complaint of a burning pain on one or more oral mucosal surfaces. Unlike most other clinical conditions presenting in a dental office, burning mouth syndrome is recently, advances have been made towards clarifying the possible etiology of the disorder and testing the possible therapeutic modalities available. This article attempts to summarize the "state of the art" today.
Burning Mouth Syndrome ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; etiology ; Candidiasis, Oral ; diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Glossalgia ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Paresthesia ; diagnosis ; Xerostomia ; diagnosis