RADIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF SINONASAL, INTRAORBITAL AND INTRACRANIAL EXTENSION OF MUCORMYCOSIS IN POSTCOVID PATIENTS

Background: Mucormycosis is a fatal and progressive condition that affects immunocompromised patients in the post-COVID state. Radiological assessment by computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging is useful to determine the severity and extent of the disease. Objective: The objective of this research is to evaluate mucormycosis in post-COVID patients using radiological investigations like computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging and also to study the extent of disease in patients with diabetes and with steroid/ immunosuppressant use. Methods: A prospective observational study was undertaken at Dr. D. Y. Patil Hospital and Medical College, Pimpri Pune from March-June 2021. All patients who presented with mucormycosis were either COVID-19 positive or recovered from COVID-19 infection. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging were performed in these patients. Results: The association between the status of diabetes mellitus and extent of involvement, steroids/immunosuppressant use and extent of involvement was statistically significant with a p value of <0.001. Conclusion: Patients with post COVID-19 status and diabetic status with steroid therapy during the treatment of COVID-19 may increase the risk of developingopportunistic infections like mucormycosis. Post COVID-19 related mucormycosis on computed tomography and magnetic resonance imagin

Risk factors for myocardial infarction among low socioeconomic status South Indian population

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>As longevity increases, cases of myocardial infarction (MI) are likely to be more. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major global health problem reaching epidemic proportions in the Indian subcontinent, also among low socio-economic status (SES) and thin individuals.</p> <p>Objectives</p> <p>The present study was undertaken to elicit risk factors for MI among low SES Southern Indians and to find out its association with body mass index (BMI).</p> <p>Materials and methods</p> <p>A case-control study of patients with MI matched against healthy control subjects was carried out in a tertiary care teaching hospital. Standard methods were followed to elicit risk factors and BMI. Chi-square and Fishers exact test for categorical versus categorical, to show relationship with risk factors were analyzed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 949 patients (male (M) = 692 and post menopausal female (F) = 257) and 611 age and sex matched healthy controls were included. In our study, BMI was below 23 in 48.2% of patients and below 21 in 22.5%. The risk of developing MI was significantly more in males (odds ratio (OR) = 3.3, 95% confidence interval (C.I.) = 2.69-4.13), among females with post-menopausal duration (PMD) of more than or equal to 3 years (OR = 9.27, 95% C.I. = 6.36-13.50) and in those with BMI less than 23 with one or other risk factors (P = 0.002, OR = 1.38, 95% C.I. = 1.13-1.70).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>BMI cannot be considered as a lone independent risk factor, as the study population had low BMI but had one or more modifiable risk factors. It would be advisable to keep BMI at least 21 kg/m²for screening program. Health education on life style modification and programs to diagnose and control diabetes and hypertension have to be initiated at community level in order to reduce the occurrence.</p

Transcultural Diabetes Nutrition Therapy Algorithm: The Asian Indian Application

India and other countries in Asia are experiencing rapidly escalating epidemics of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease. The dramatic rise in the prevalence of these illnesses has been attributed to rapid changes in demographic, socioeconomic, and nutritional factors. The rapid transition in dietary patterns in India—coupled with a sedentary lifestyle and specific socioeconomic pressures—has led to an increase in obesity and other diet-related noncommunicable diseases. Studies have shown that nutritional interventions significantly enhance metabolic control and weight loss. Current clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are not portable to diverse cultures, constraining the applicability of this type of practical educational instrument. Therefore, a transcultural Diabetes Nutrition Algorithm (tDNA) was developed and then customized per regional variations in India. The resultant India-specific tDNA reflects differences in epidemiologic, physiologic, and nutritional aspects of disease, anthropometric cutoff points, and lifestyle interventions unique to this region of the world. Specific features of this transculturalization process for India include characteristics of a transitional economy with a persistently high poverty rate in a majority of people; higher percentage of body fat and lower muscle mass for a given body mass index; higher rate of sedentary lifestyle; elements of the thrifty phenotype; impact of festivals and holidays on adherence with clinic appointments; and the role of a systems or holistic approach to the problem that must involve politics, policy, and government. This Asian Indian tDNA promises to help guide physicians in the management of prediabetes and T2D in India in a more structured, systematic, and effective way compared with previous methods and currently available CPGs

Chickpea

The narrow genetic base of cultivated chickpea warrants systematic collection, documentation and evaluation of chickpea germplasm and particularly wild Cicer species for effective and efficient use in chickpea breeding programmes. Limiting factors to crop production, possible solutions and ways to overcome them, importance of wild relatives and barriers to alien gene introgression and strategies to overcome them and traits for base broadening have been discussed. It has been clearly demonstrated that resistance to major biotic and abiotic stresses can be successfully introgressed from the primary gene pool comprising progenitor species. However, many desirable traits including high degree of resistance to multiple stresses that are present in the species belonging to secondary and tertiary gene pools can also be introgressed by using special techniques to overcome pre- and post-fertilization barriers. Besides resistance to various biotic and abiotic stresses, the yield QTLs have also been introgressed from wild Cicer species to cultivated varieties. Status and importance of molecular markers, genome mapping and genomic tools for chickpea improvement are elaborated. Because of major genes for various biotic and abiotic stresses, the transfer of agronomically important traits into elite cultivars has been made easy and practical through marker-assisted selection and marker-assisted backcross. The usefulness of molecular markers such as SSR and SNP for the construction of high-density genetic maps of chickpea and for the identification of genes/QTLs for stress resistance, quality and yield contributing traits has also been discussed

Enhancement of the fluorescence properties of double stranded DNA templated copper nanoparticles

The weak fluorescence emission from dsDNA templated copper nanoparticles necessitates the use of high-end detectors like photomultiplier tubes for their detection. This sets limitations on their applicability to in-situ analyte detection and point-of-care applications which utilize comparatively low cost and less sensitive detectors. In this article, a technique to improve the fluorescence properties of copper nanoparticles templated on dsDNA is reported. The fluorescence enhancement is achieved by introducing a modification in the conventional synthesis technique by using a combination of sodium ascorbate and Taq buffer. When compared to the existing methods, the proposed method achieves 11 times higher fluorescence signal intensity from the dsDNA templated copper nanoparticles and 4 times faster attainment of maximum fluorescence signal. The effect of the ionic strength of the individual constituent components of Taq buffer on the fluorescence emission from the copper nanoparticles is also studied here. The utility of this enhancement strategy for analyte measurement is demonstrated with the example of melamine detection from milk samples. A linear relationship was observed between the fluorescence intensity from the copper nanoparticles and the concentration of melamine in the range from 0.5 ppm to 100 ppm (R-2 = 0.9919), with a limit of detection of 0.1 ppm. The reported fluorescence enhancement technique also results in 2.95 times improved sensitivity of detection when compared to the conventional technique

Multi-criteria decision analysis in policy-making for climate mitigation and development

Greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation policy-making has largely been conducted in isolation of development considerations. An emerging literature, bolstered by the “nationally determined” nature of the Paris Agreement, explores the identification and assessment of the co-impacts of mitigation actions. There is now a recognized need to consider mitigation an integral part of a multi-objective development challenge. However, the literature on how to practically and effectively apply this in policy-making, particularly in developing economies, is limited. This paper explores the potential for using approaches that fall under the umbrella of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) in guiding analyses and policy-making that relate to the climate mitigation–development interface. It categorizes three distinct types of decision problems in the broad area of climate and development policy-making, and presents lessons from three case studies, in India, Chile, and Peru and Colombia taken together, where aspects of MCDA approaches were explored. Based on these reviews, the paper concludes that MCDA approaches, despite certain limitations, can add substantive and procedural credibility to existing toolkits supporting climate and development decision-making. Key contributions of the approach are to structure the analyses, systematically include stakeholder deliberations, and provide tools to rigorously incorporate quantitative and qualitative co-impacts in multiple objective-based decisions