While the system of offering dowry to the groom by the parents of the bride at the time of the marriage is an age old one amongst the Hindus of India; during the recent past this evil custom has resulted in a large number of newly wed young housewives being either killed or tortured to end their own lives by their husbands and in-laws, for the unfulfilled demands or desire for dowry from the parents or guardians of the bride. Indeed in India today, torture of the young housewives by their husbands and in-laws for failure to bring insufficient dowry has become the order of the day all over the country. Some of them are burnt to death and others choose to die by fire; while still others are put to death by some means other than fire and disposed of by burning in order to hide the heinous offence. Hardly a day passes in the life of a forensic pathologist working in one of the states of Northern India, when he is not called upon to do an autopsy on the dead body of a burnt housewife who almost invariably is a married Hindu woman in the prime of her youth, between 15-30 years of age.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Autopsy ; Burns ; pathology ; Female ; Forensic Medicine ; methods ; Homicide ; Humans ; India ; Spouse Abuse ; legislation & jurisprudence

Albendazole ; therapeutic use ; Animals ; Antiparasitic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Cellulitis ; parasitology ; Eyelid Diseases ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Ivermectin ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myiasis ; complications ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; Wounds and Injuries ; complications

Noninvasive imaging of coronary artery disease is rapidly replacing angiography as the first line of investigation. Multislice CT is the non-invasive modality of choice for imaging coronary artery disease and provides high speed with good spatial resolution. CT coronary angiography in addition to detecting and characterising atherosclerotic coronary artery disease is also a good imaging tool for evaluating anomalies of coronary arteries. Superdominant right coronary artery with absent left circumflex artery is one such rare coronary artery anomaly which is well evaluated with multislice CT angiography. The authors report one such case of superdominant right coronary artery with absent left circumflex artery imaged with 64-slice MDCT.

A rapid and sensitive ultra-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC–MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the estimation of 17-desacetyl norgestimate in human plasma using solid-phase extraction technique. 17-desacetyl norgestimate D6 was used as the internal standard. Simple gradient chromatographic conditions and mass spectrometric detection enabled accurate and precise measurement of 17-desacetyl norgestimate at sub-picogram levels. The proposed method was validated for a linear range of 20–5000 pg/mL with a correlation coefficient Z 0.9988. The intra-run and inter-run precision and accuracy were within 10%. The overall recoveries for 17-desacetyl norgestimate and 17-desacetyl norgestimate D6 were 96.30%and 93.90%, respectively. The total run time was 4.5 min. The developed method was applied for the determination of the pharmacokinetic parameters of 17-desacetyl norgestimate following a single oral administration of a norgestimate and ethinyl estradiol 0.250 mg/0.035 mg tablets in 35 healthy female volunteers.

Vascular anomalies are frequently encountered in abdomen. But they are usually asymptomatic and diagnosed accidently during angiography or surgery leading into severe complications. Thus knowledge of angioarchitecture in abdomen, whether normal or variant, is considered prerequisite for successful, uncomplicated surgeries and interventional radiology. This case report describes one of such varying branching pattern of celiac trunk and superior mesenteric artery. During routine abdominal dissection, gastroduodenal artery was seen arising from celiac trunk along with its usual three branches. Common hepatic artery continued as left hepatic artery after giving rise the right gastric artery and a tortuous replaced right hepatic artery arose from superior mesenteric artery. An unusually long cystic artery arose from left hepatic artery and gave rise to 2-3 small anastomotic branches towards hepatic flexor of colon, in addition to its normal gallbladder supply. Awareness of such variations would certainly be helpful in upper abdominal surgeries.
Abdomen* ; Angiography ; Arteries ; Colon ; Gallbladder ; Hepatic Artery ; Mesenteric Artery, Superior ; Radiology, Interventional

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.

PURPOSE: Simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is associated with excessive blood loss and morbidity arising from postoperative reduction in hemoglobin (Hb). The purpose of this prospective randomized study was to determine if drains have any effect on blood loss, postoperative reduction in Hb levels and transfusion rates compared to no drainage in simultaneous bilateral TKAs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two hundred and thirty patients who underwent simultaneous bilateral TKA by a single surgeon were randomly allotted to drain or no-drain group (n=115 in each group). Postoperative Hb level, blood loss volume and transfusion rate were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The mean postoperative Hb level (p=0.38), blood loss volume (p=0.33) and transfusion rate (p=0.52) in the drain group were not significantly different compared to the no-drain group. No statistical difference was found in terms of complications, readmissions and mortality rates between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: No significant difference was observed in the two groups with respect to blood loss and blood transfusion. Non-drainage does not offer an advantage over drainage with respect to conserving blood in simultaneous bilateral TKA.
Arthroplasty ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee ; Blood Transfusion ; Drainage ; Humans ; Knee ; Mortality ; Postoperative Hemorrhage ; Prospective Studies ; Suction

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of Lead (Pb) acetate exposure on Semliki forest virus (SFV) pathogenesis in mice.

METHODSDifferent doses (62.5, 125, 250 and 500 mg/Kg body weight) of Pb dissolved in normal saline were given to mice by oral intubation in a sub-acute (28 days) and sub-chronic (90 days) regimen followed by SFV infection. Morbidity, mortality, clinical symptoms, mean survival time (MST), changes in body and organ weight, accumulation of lead in soft tissues, virus titre in brain and histopathological alterations were compared between lead exposed and infected groups.

RESULTSEarly appearance of virus symptoms, increased mortality, decreased MST, enhanced SFV titre and greater tissue damage were observed in lead exposed-SFV-infected mice.

CONCLUSIONPre-exposure to lead increases the susceptibility of mice towards SFV infection. Further studies are suggested in view of the persistence of lead in the environment and the possibility of infection by microbial pathogens.

Alphavirus Infections ; etiology ; veterinary ; Animals ; Brain ; pathology ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Kidney ; pathology ; Lead ; administration & dosage ; toxicity ; Liver ; pathology ; Mice ; Semliki forest virus ; pathogenicity

PURPOSE: Perineal transposition of the antropyloric valve following an anorectal excision as a substitute for a permanent colostomy has recently been reported in humans. However, the problem of neural control still remains in these patients. Our aim herein was to study the anatomical feasibility of an anastomosis between the pudendal nerve branches (inferior rectal nerve) innervating the external anal sphincter and the anterior vagal branches of the perineally-transposed antropyloric segment in cadavers. METHODS: The antropyloric segment, along with its carefully dissected branch of the anterior vagus, was mobilized based on the left gastroepiploic pedicle in six fresh human cadavers. The antropyloric valve was then transposed in the perineum after the pudendal nerve branches had been dissected out, and an approximation of these two nerves was performed to ascertain the technical feasibility of their neural anastomosis. RESULTS: The anterior vagus innervating the antropylorus could be harvested in all cadavers below the hepatic division of the main vagus trunk. The inferior rectal nerve or its branches were found consistently around the 3 or the 9 o'clock position in the ischioanal fossa. An anatomical tension-free approximation of the anterior vagus branch (of the transposed antropyloric segment) to the inferior rectal nerve in the perineum was feasible in all the cadavers studied. CONCLUSION: An inferior rectal nerve anastomosis with the anterior vagal branch of the perineally-transposed antropyloric segment can be achieved anatomically. This preliminary step can be the basis for future animal studies and subsequent clinical application of the procedure for possible neural control of the transposed antropyloric segment in the perineum.
Anal Canal ; Animals ; Cadaver ; Colostomy ; Humans ; Perineum ; Pudendal Nerve ; Pylorus ; Vagus Nerve

AIMTo determine if Yq microdeletion frequency and loci of deletion are similar in two tissues (blood and sperm) of different embryological origin.

METHODSThe present study included 52 infertile oligozoospermic cases. In each case, DNA was isolated from blood and sperms and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) microdeletion analysis was done from genomic DNA isolated from both the tissues. The PCR products were analyzed on a 1.8% agarose gel. PCR amplifications found to be negative were repeated at least three times to confirm the deletion of a given marker.

RESULTSOnly 1 case harbored microdeletion in blood DNA, whereas 4 cases harbored microdeletion in sperm DNA.

CONCLUSIONThe frequency of Yq microdeletions is higher in germ cells as compared to blood. As the majority of infertile couples opt for assisted reproduction procreation techniques (ART), Yq microdeletion screening from germ cells is important to understand the genetic basis of infertility, to provide comprehensive counseling and most adapted therapeutics to the infertile couple.

Chromosomes, Human, Y ; genetics ; DNA ; blood ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Humans ; Male ; Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid ; Sequence Deletion ; Spermatozoa ; physiology