Successful Intra-peritoneal Antibiotic Therapy for Primary Abdominal Nocardiosis in an Immunocompetent Young Female Masquerading as Carcinoma Ovary

Nocardiosis is a common opportunistic infection in the immunocompromised and in patients with chronic debilitating diseases,e.g continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients. Primary abdominal nocardiosis is rare and is indeed a very rare infection in immunocompetent persons. Only two cases have been reported in immunocompetent patients so far and this may be third case to the best of our knowledge and first in India. About 11 cases have been reported in CAPD patients and AIDS patients.We report a case of Nocardiosis in an immunocompetent young female who presented with an abdomino-pelvic mass masquerading as carcinoma ovary.After initial resistance to various antibiotics, she responded to intraperitoneal and oral linezolid and oral ciprofloxacin

Instability of black hole formation under small pressure perturbations

We investigate here the spectrum of gravitational collapse endstates when arbitrarily small perfect fluid pressures are introduced in the classic black hole formation scenario as described by Oppenheimer, Snyder and Datt (OSD) [1]. This extends a previous result on tangential pressures [2] to the more physically realistic scenario of perfect fluid collapse. The existence of classes of pressure perturbations is shown explicitly, which has the property that injecting any smallest pressure changes the final fate of the dynamical collapse from a black hole to a naked singularity. It is therefore seen that any smallest neighborhood of the OSD model, in the space of initial data, contains collapse evolutions that go to a naked singularity outcome. This gives an intriguing insight on the nature of naked singularity formation in gravitational collapse.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, several modifications to match published version on GR

Orgasm Induced Seizures: A Rare Phenomenon

A variety of stimuli can cause reflex seizures, Some triggers include light, music and cognitive phenomenon. There are case reports however where the phenomenon of sexual activity has been a trigger for epileptic seizures. Most of these cases reported are in women so far, and were found to be localized to right cerebral hemisphere. We report a case of a 36-year-old male with orgasm-induced seizures, with other atypical features compared to majority of previous reports.Keywords: Orgasm, Orgasmic seizures, Reflex epileps

ASSESSMENT OF WATER QUALITY ANALYSIS USING PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PARAMETERS: A CASE STUDY OF BHIMA RIVER IN DAUND TAHSIL, PUNE DISTRICT, MAHARASHTRA.

Objective: Our objective is to examine the previous and current physical and chemical properties of the water in Bhima river in the study area as well as to assess the change in physical and chemical properties of the study area. Materials and Methods: The physico-chemical characteristics of Bhima river water in Daund Tahsil (Pune district) have been studied. The stretch of Bhima river in Daund Tahsil is extending downstream from Dahitane to Malthan. Bhima River was assessed at three various stations in terms of critical pollution parameters in the year 2010-11 and 2011-12. Three sampling stations viz., Station A-near Dahitane (Towards the West side), Station B-near Rahu (in the middle), and Station C-near Daund (towards East side) were established for the collection of water samples during April, 2011 to March, 2012. The water quality parameters namely transparency, colour, (transparent-very turbid), turbidity, total dissolved solids pH ,dissolved oxygen, free carbon dioxide, total alkalinity, Biochemical Oxygen Demand, Chemical Oxygen Demand, total hardness, chloride, nitrate, nitrite, sulphate, phosphate , silicate, sodium, potassium, Calcium and Magnesium reflects on the nature of the river in the study area. Results: On the basis of various parameters studied it was found that the rivers receive industrial effluents from various industries, which are situated on the bank of river, along with the heavy loads of agriculture run off. Conclusion: The conclusion also deals with community response about Bhima river out of the many problems perceived by the river bank residents, the priority problem observed by maximum is that of the mosquitoes and habitants, Agriculture, including commercial livestock and poultry farming. is the source of many organic and inorganic pollutants in surface waters and ground water. Hence the river water quality is needed to be improve

Ayurveda based Non Pharmacotherapeutic Integrated Intervention in Sandhivata w.s.r. to Osteoarthritis

Sandhivata also known as Osteoarthritis, is a degenerative disease of the joints that mostly affects weight-bearing joints such as the elbow, knee, and so on. It causes discomfort and limits movement in the affected joint. The Sandhivata (Osteoarthritis) may be a form of Vatavyadhi, which usually manifests in adulthood due to Dhatukshaya (emaciation of tissues). Among the Vatavyadhi, Sandhivata is one such clinical entity that affects locomotion; Dhatukshaya is a major factor in this condition, which is characterised by specific symptoms including joint discomfort, swelling, stiffness, painful and restricted joint movement, etc. Osteoarthritis (OA), the most prevalent degenerative joint disease, results in excruciating swelling and irreversible destruction to the body's joints. As of now, the molecular causes of OA remain unknown. The development of osteoarthritis (OA) is a diverse illness that affects the entire joint and changes a number of different tissues. Classics have listed several Ayurvedic formulations for treating Sandhivata, including Kwatha, Guggulu Kalpana, Ghreeta, Taila, Gutika, and Rasa Aushadhi, as well as Panchakarma procedures including Abhyanaga, Swedana, Basti, Janubasti, Rasayana therapy, and Agnikarma, along with these dietetics also plays a major role to reduce the disease severity. In this article we try to collect and compile all the dietary preparations, food articles and Yoga Asanas explained in Samhithas which will be easier to adopt for people suffering from Sandhivata

Bio-nanotechnology application in wastewater treatment

The nanoparticles have received high interest in the field of medicine and water purification, however, the nanomaterials produced by chemical and physical methods are considered hazardous, expensive, and leave behind harmful substances to the environment. This chapter aimed to focus on green-synthesized nanoparticles and their medical applications. Moreover, the chapter highlighted the applicability of the metallic nanoparticles (MNPs) in the inactivation of microbial cells due to their high surface and small particle size. Modifying nanomaterials produced by green-methods is safe, inexpensive, and easy. Therefore, the control and modification of nanoparticles and their properties were also discussed

Development of real time PCR for detection and quantitation of Dengue Viruses

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Dengue virus (DENV), a mosquito borne flavivirus is an important pathogen causing more than 50 million infections every year around the world. Dengue diagnosis depends on serology, which is not useful in the early phase of the disease and virus isolation, which is laborious and time consuming. There is need for a rapid, sensitive and high throughput method for detection of DENV in the early stages of the disease. Several real-time PCR assays have been described for dengue viruses, but there is scope for improvement. The new generation TaqMan Minor Groove Binding (MGB) probe approach was used to develop an improved real time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) for DENV in this study.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The 3'UTR of thirteen Indian strains of DENV was sequenced and aligned with 41 representative sequences from GenBank. A region conserved in all four serotypes was used to target primers and probes for the qRT-PCR. A single MGB probe and a single primer pair for all the four serotypes of DENV were designed. The sensitivity of the two step qRT-PCR assay was10 copies of RNA molecules per reaction. The specificity and sensitivity of the assay was 100% when tested with a panel of 39 known positive and negative samples. Viral RNA could be detected and quantitated in infected mouse brain, cell cultures, mosquitoes and clinical samples. Viral RNA could be detected in patients even after seroconversion till 10 days post onset of infection. There was no signal with Japanese Encephalitis (JE), West Nile (WN), Chikungunya (CHK) viruses or with Leptospira, <it>Plasmodium vivax</it>, <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>and Rickettsia positive clinical samples.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We have developed a highly sensitive and specific qRT-PCR for detection and quantitation of dengue viruses. The assay will be a useful tool for differential diagnosis of dengue fever in a situation where a number of other clinically indistinguishable infectious diseases like malaria, Chikungunya, rickettsia and leptospira occur. The ability of the assay to detect DENV-2 in inoculated mosquitoes makes it a potential tool for detecting DENV in field-caught mosquitoes.</p

Case report: Thoracoscopic repair of renal ectopia associated with congenital diaphragmatic hernia: Report of two cases

Renal ectopia is a rare anomaly which may occur due to an abnormal ascent of the kidney. It is usually  asymptomatic and does not require treatment. Intrathoracic renal ectopia with concomitant congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is extremely rare. All symptomatic CDH cases must be treated with open or thoracoscopic repair. During plication of the diaphragm, care must be taken to avoid renal injury. Following, we present two rare variants of CDH with concomitant renal ectopia managed thoracoscopically.  Postoperative recovery was uneventful. Doppler ultrasound study performed one month after surgery confirmed normal vascularity of the kidneys and the absence of urinary outflow obstruction.KEYWORDS: Congenital diaphragmatic hernia; Renal ectopia; Thoracoscopic repai

Causal Pathways from Enteropathogens to Environmental Enteropathy: Findings from the MAL-ED Birth Cohort Study

Background Environmental enteropathy (EE), the adverse impact of frequent and numerous enteric infections on the gut resulting in a state of persistent immune activation and altered permeability, has been proposed as a key determinant of growth failure in children in low- and middle-income populations. A theory-driven systems model to critically evaluate pathways through which enteropathogens, gut permeability, and intestinal and systemic inflammation affect child growth was conducted within the framework of the Etiology, Risk Factors and Interactions of Enteric Infections and Malnutrition and the Consequences for Child Health and Development (MAL-ED) birth cohort study that included children from eight countries. Methods Non-diarrheal stool samples (N = 22,846) from 1253 children from multiple sites were evaluated for a panel of 40 enteropathogens and fecal concentrations of myeloperoxidase, alpha-1-antitrypsin, and neopterin. Among these same children, urinary lactulose:mannitol (L:M) (N = 6363) and plasma alpha-1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) (N = 2797) were also measured. The temporal sampling design was used to create a directed acyclic graph of proposed mechanistic pathways between enteropathogen detection in non-diarrheal stools, biomarkers of intestinal permeability and inflammation, systemic inflammation and change in length- and weight- for age in children 0–2 years of age. Findings Children in these populations had frequent enteric infections and high levels of both intestinal and systemic inflammation. Higher burdens of enteropathogens, especially those categorized as being enteroinvasive or causing mucosal disruption, were associated with elevated biomarker concentrations of gut and systemic inflammation and, via these associations, indirectly associated with both reduced linear and ponderal growth. Evidence for the association with reduced linear growth was stronger for systemic inflammation than for gut inflammation; the opposite was true of reduced ponderal growth. Although Giardia was associated with reduced growth, the association was not mediated by any of the biomarkers evaluated. Interpretation The large quantity of empirical evidence contributing to this analysis supports the conceptual model of EE. The effects of EE on growth faltering in young children were small, but multiple mechanistic pathways underlying the attribution of growth failure to asymptomatic enteric infections had statistical support in the analysis. The strongest evidence for EE was the association between enteropathogens and linear growth mediated through systemic inflammation