Recent Articles

With rapid economic advancement and increasing westernization of lifestyle in the past few decades, prevalence of many diseases like obesity, diabetes, arthritis, cardiovascular diseases, spinal problems, carcinomas of different parts of body, high cholesterol level, anxiety & depression, etc. has reached alarming proportions among people in the recent few years. Diet & life style are the major factors thought to influence susceptibility to these diseases. Drug abuse, tobacco smoking, alcohol intake as well as lack of exercise, a sedentary life style combined with an increase in the consumption of fatty & junk food is to blame cases of obesity, diabetes, etc. Failure of modern medicines in the prevention of major health burdens force us to revert back for the original detoxifying naturopathy [1]. Ayurveda the science of life, describes the management of life style diseases in the forms of proper dietary & behavioural management(dinacharya & ritucharya), Panchkarma procedures, medicaments & rejuvenation therapies. Vitiated dosha is the basic factor in the manifestation & progress of any disease. Panchkarma therapy aims at the elimination of vitiated Dosha from the body so that the disease would be prevented or if the pathology has already established can be treated in the effective manner. Panchkarma helps in detoxifying and rejuvenating body by simple techniques that can be done easily in outdoor practice[2].

Stress has emerged as a factor associated with cardiovascular disease. Catecholamines released during the stress reaction by the sympathetic nerves and the adrenal medulla couple to β1-and β2-adrenoceptors in the cardiomyocytes membrane enhancing heart function in order to attend the organism demand. This might produce excessive reactive oxygen species what may culminate with oxidative stress and progression of several cardiac diseases. Sirtuins have been described as cardioprotective factors and important regulators of the cellular stress response in the heart. The aim of this work is to investigate the putative participation of oxidative stress and sirtuins in the heart of rats submitted to foot shock stress, an experimental model where there is up regulation of β2-adrenoceptors and downregulation of β1-adrenoceptors. The data have shown that in the myocardium of rats submitted to foot shock stress the H2O2 concentration, catalase and superoxide dismutase activity, NAD+/NADH ratio, as well as the protein expression of sirtuins 1 and 3 were not altered. Pharmacological blockade of the β2-adrenoceptors by ICI118,551, did not modify this scenario. It is concluded that foot shock stress does not cause disruptions in oxidative stress or redox state processes in the myocardium, and consequently, sirtuins are not recruited to stress response.

Background: Tracheal mucoepidermoid carcinoma is a rare form of non-small cell lung carcinoma and is defined as a tumor characterized by a combination of squamous, mucus-secreting, and intermediate cell types. This carcinoma is usually located in the lobar or segmental bronchus. Currently, surgery is the preferred treatment for this disease, which includes pneumonectomy, lobectomy, and sleeve lobectomy. Case presentation: A 50-year-old Chinese male presented with cough, shortness of breath and hemoptysis, and the effect of antibiotic therapy was not good. Subsequently, the airway occupied lesion was found by chest CT, and he was transferred to our hospital for surgical resection. Histologically, the tumor contained squamous epidermal cells, mucoepidermoid cells and intermediate cells. Immunohistochemistrically, the tumor cells were positive for p63, CK5/6, CK7 and Ki67. However, the tumor is generally negative for TTF-1 and neuroendocrine markers. The patient had no recurrence 15 months after the surgery. Conclusions: We report a rare case of mucoepidermoid carcinoma in the distal trachea in which the surgery was difficult and could not be performed like a traditional pulmonary resection. We first provide a comprehensive description of airway management and anesthesia intubation. After surgery, we reviewed the literature and found that PD-1/PD-L1 detection had never been reported in tracheal mucoepidermoid carcinoma. Therefore, we studied the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway in this patient, and the results were negative, which may indicate that potential adjuvant therapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) is not useful in this case.

Covid 19 pandemic has taken away millions of lives. Our understanding of this disease, till to date, is not complete. This disease has a wide variety of neurological manifestations. Acute transverse myelitis is one such rare neurological complication of Covid 19. The exact etiology is not clear. Auto immunity might be one of the possible mechanisms. We report a case of 39-year-old lady, who had recent history of high-grade fever and cough. This was followed by weakness of both legs and in- ability to pass urine. SARS-CoV-2 (PCR) from nasopharyngeal swab was positive. She was found to have features of acute non compressive myelopathy. MRI brain and MRI cervical spine with contrast was normal. MRI dorso lumbar spine with contrast was suggestive of diffuse hyper intensity of conus medullaris with contrast enhancement suggestive of conus myelitis. CSF analysis ruled out infection and autoimmune causes. She was pulsed with high dose steroids. There was some transient improvement in symptoms. Learning points: 1) Physicians should not consider Covid as a respiratory illness only. It can present with a variety of extra pulmonary manifestations. 2) Acute transverse myelitis is a rare complication of Covid 19 infection. Timely recognition and treatment can prevent permanent neurological damage and residual disability. 3) Conus myelitis might not present with classic upper motor neuron signs. Any new onset bladder dysfunction in a setting of a recent covid infection should be taken seriously and requires urgent imaging of the spine.

Exposure to asbestos can lead to asbestosis or malignancy 10-40 years after initial exposure [1]. Although its use has been banned in multiple countries, past occupational exposure leads to most cases that we see in present time. Malignant mesothelioma is an insidious and rare neoplasm that can arise from mesothelial surface cells, being Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma (MPM) the most common type. Lifetime risk of developing mesothelioma among asbestos workers can be as high as 10 percent and latency period is approximately 30-40 years since time of exposure to development of disease [2]. Annual incidence in the united states is approximately 3,300 cases per year [3]. Median overall survival of patients with advanced unresectable disease is approximately 12 months [4]. Clinical suspicion should arise in patients with previous exposure to asbestos who present with pleural thickening and/or effusion with associated respiratory symptoms. Most symptoms are nonspecific such as chest pain, dyspnea, cough and night sweats. Initial evaluation includes chest x-ray, contrast enhanced CT of the chest to find pleural abnormalities, thoracentesis and closed pleural biopsy. However, difficulties establishing diagnosis have been illustrated on studies where thoracentesis and pleural fluid cytology only yields diagnosis in 26% of cases. The diagnosis, then, is established by morphologic and immunohistochemistry findings of cytologic and surgical specimens.

Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) is a localized enlargement of the abdominal aorta, such that the diameter exceeds 30 mm. AAA is a progressive growth leading to rupture, with high risk of mortality, therefore elective surgical repair is indicated when AAA diamenter is >55 mm. Screening programs, that use morphological imaging, have been developed internationally with the aim of detecting AAA before rupture with important limitations in term of cost and benefit for patients. Furthermore, different biochemical markers have been proposed to monitor AAA progression to overcome the above-mentioned limitations but none of them is used in the clinical practice. In fact, most of the biomarkers proposed are expensive and not feasible in the majority of laboratories. Combining different methodologies coming from Statistics and Operational Research fields, we developed an algorithm able to assess the importance of common biomarkers, requested in the clinical practice to evaluate the health of patient, and therefore no exams are required. Furthermore, we develop an Easy, Affordable Statistics and Economic (EASE) model able to identify if the AAA remain below the cut off for surgical repair. This prediction can provide guidance to how closely the patient’s abdominal aorta should be monitored avoiding additional and expensive exams.

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a disease characterised as left ventricular (LV) or biventricular dilatation with impaired systolic function. Regardless of underlying cause patients with DCM have a propensity to ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) implantation for these patients results in significant reduction of sudden cardiac death [1-3]. ICD devices may be limited by right ventricle (RV) sensing dysfunction with low RV sensing amplitude. We present a clinical case of patient with DCM, implanted ICD and low R wave sensing on RV lead.

The intracellular As-protein binding in cytosol and methanol–water extract of the auricle and saphene tissues of As impacted people was evaluated by bidimensional size exclusion FPLC-UV-ICP-MS. The fractionation of cytosol using Superdex, Phenomenex and MonoQ HR 5/5 columns, shows that As is distributed in a wide range of contiguous fractions of each column, being 8, 25, 50 % the percentages of As in the collected fractions, respectively. In the methanol: water extracts a similar study than performed with the cytosol using preparative gel chromatography on Sephadex G-75 and Shephadex G-100 columns and the MonoQ HR 5/5 anion protein exchange was carried out. A very low As (

Aim: Develop nursing recommendations based on scientific evidence, aimed at reducing the probability of developing pre-eclampsia during prenatal care. Material and methods: A bibliographic search was carried out on the web: Medline, BVS, Cinahl and Google Scholar with the descriptors: pre-eclampsia, prenatal care, nursing with the conjunction AND and the disjunction OR. The documents with the referred descriptors were included. Two reviewers selected the articles. Conflicts were resolved by another reviewer. The methodological quality of each article was evaluated. The evidence was ranked and the recommendation was made. The Shekelle and Galvez Toro model was used for grading. Results: 4 aspects were evidenced: risk factors, timely detection, nursing care, protective factors and recommendations. Conclusions: Prenatal care continues to be a source of protection and control for pregnant women. Blood pressure measurement continues to be the gold standard for early detection. Nursing is a primary protective factor.

Background: This descriptive study aimed to study the relationship between administrative factors and the effectiveness of the referral system of patients with acute ischemic heart disease in Thai hospitals. Materials and methods: The target population was 1,180 hospitals that serving heart disease in Thailand. Data were collected by using a questionnaire. A total of 1,022 response data were obtained. Administrative factors were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and the relationship was analyzed using multiple regression analysis (MRA) methods. Results: The study showed that the administrative factors which consisted of personnel, finance, supporting, and management factors had overall average readiness at a high level (x̄ = 3.34, S.D. = 0.27). Except budget sufficiency was at a low level (x̄ = 2.43, S.D. = 0.43). All factors were related to the mortality rate significantly, as follows: management factor (Adjusted R2 = 0.433), personnel factor (Adjusted R2 = 0.231), supporting factor (Adjusted R2 = 0.092) and financial factor (Adjusted R2 = 0.035). All factors were also significantly related to the timely cardiac catheterization rate, as follows: management factor (Adjusted R2 = 0.442), personnel factor (Adjusted R2 = 0.244), supporting factor (Adjusted R2 = 0.212) and financial factor (Adjusted R2 = 0.091). Conclusion: Thai Ministry of Public Health should provide adequate support for administrative factors, especially in terms of management, personnel, supporting factors, and budget sufficiency.