Is handgrip strength a useful tool to detect slow walking speed in older Indian adults: A cross-sectional study among geriatric outpatients in a tertiary care hospital in South India.

Objectives: To determine whether handgrip strength can be used as a proxy for detecting slow walking speed in older adults. Measuring walking speed in older adults can be challenging as cognitive and functional decline may have a significant impact on test performance.

Methods: Hundred subjects aged >/= 60 were recruited.

Prevalence and factors contributing to primary sarcopenia in relatively healthy older Indians attending the outpatient department in a tertiary care hospital: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Literature is scarce on primary sarcopenia among Indian older adults. This study was aimed to estimate the prevalence of primary sarcopenia among older persons in India using the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in the Older People 2010 (EWGSOP) diagnostic criteria and to elucidate the factors leading to its development.

Methodology: Two hundred twenty-seven subjects over 60 years of age attending the geriatric outpatient clinic were recruited for the study.

Acute colonic pseudo-obstruction in two patients admitted with severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 pneumonia.

We have described two cases of severe SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia presenting with acute colonic pseudo-obstruction with normal liver enzymes and serum lactate. These older adults presented predominantly with constitutional symptoms, silent hypoxia, distended abdomen, sluggish bowel sounds, and colonic dilatation supported by abdominal imaging (plain X-ray and computerized tomography of abdomen) to a tertiary care center in South India. Both patients received standard treatment for severe SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia and acute colonic pseudo-obstruction according to available guidelines but succumbed to complications during hospital stay.

Amyloid cranial polyneuropathy: A rare neurological presentation of immunoglobulin light-chain amyloidosis.

Amyloidosis, a disease with extracellular tissue deposition of fibrils, results in clinical manifestations based on deposition of these fibrils in multiple organ systems. Usual manifestations include nephrotic-range proteinuria, cardiac failure, hepatosplenomegaly, and skin manifestations. Common neurological manifestations include peripheral and autonomic neuropathies.

Prevalence of Bone Mineral Density Abnormalities and Factors Affecting Bone Density in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Southern India.

Introduction: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a disease of wasting with airflow limitation, associated with a variety of systemic manifestations such as reduced Bone Mineral Density (BMD). There is a paucity of Indian studies on the effects of COPD on BMD.

Aim: This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of osteopenia and osteoporosis in COPD patients and the correlation between bone density and severity of COPD classified according to GOLD Global initiative for chronic Obstructive Lung Disease guidelines (GOLD).

Clinical Profile and Predictors of Outcomes in Older Inpatients with Pyelonephritis in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Southern India.

Background: Pyelonephritis is a serious infection associated with significant morbidity and mortality in the elderly with an estimated annual incidence rate of around 10% from previous studies. Older people are at a higher risk for pyelonephritis due to multiple factors including structural, functional and co-existent conditions. There is very little data on the incidence, clinical features and outcomes among elderly patients with pyelonephritis in India.

Ornidazole-induced ataxia in an Indian woman: A case report.

The nitroimidazole group of antibiotics like metronidazole have been reported to cause cerebellar ataxia as a rare side effect. Ornidazole, the newest derivative of this class, has a long half life and is very rarely known to cause cerebellar ataxia. Here, we report a 61-year-old patient who developed ataxia due to ornidazole to highlight an unusual adverse event that improved rapidly after discontinuation of the offending drug.

Clinico-epidemiological profile of seven adults with spotted fever from a tertiary care hospital in South India.

Spotted fever (SF), a tick-borne rickettsial infection, is being increasingly reported from mainly northern Indian states. A lack of awareness and confirmatory laboratory tests underestimate the incidence of this infection which, in India, is predominantly seen during the rainy season. Many patients diagnosed with viral exanthematous illnesses may be suffering from SF, which is treatable if detected early.

Acute undifferentiated febrile illness in adult hospitalized patients: the disease spectrum and diagnostic predictors - an experience from a tertiary care hospital in South India.

Local prevalences of individual diseases influence the prioritization of the differential diagnoses of a clinical syndrome of acute undifferentiated febrile illness (AFI). This study was conducted in order to delineate the aetiology of AFI that present to a tertiary hospital in southern India and to describe disease-specific clinical profiles. An 1-year prospective, observational study was conducted in adults (age >16 years) who presented with an undifferentiated febrile illness of duration 5-21 days, requiring hospitalization.

Scrub typhus associated macrophage activation syndrome.

Macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) is a rare phenomenon that occurs either primarily or secondary to a multitude of conditions, including juvenile rheumatoid arthritis most commonly, and other infections like enteric fever and tuberculosis. It has been reported as an extremely rare complication of scrub typhus with no cases presented from India. We report three cases of scrub typhus presenting with confirmed MAS between January 2007 and December 2007 to a tertiary care hospital in South India.

A clinical study of renal tubular dysfunction in Cleistanthus collinus (Oduvanthalai) poisoning.

Introduction: Self-poisoning through the ingestion of Oduvanthalai is common in South India. Mortality may occur because of arrhythmias, renal failure, shock, and respiratory distress. The mechanisms of toxicity are unclear.

Scrub typhus: an unrecognized threat in South India - clinical profile and predictors of mortality.

Scrub typhus is an important cause of acute undifferentiated febrile illnesses in the Indian subcontinent. Delay in diagnosis and in the initiation of appropriate treatment can result in severe complications such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), septic shock and multisystem organ failure culminating in death. We conducted a prospective, observational study to delineate the clinical profile and predictors of mortality in scrub typhus in adults admitted to the medical wards of a tertiary care, referral hospital in South India over a one-year period.