Clinical features, diagnostics, and outcomes of patients presenting with acute respiratory illness: a comparison of patients with and without COVID-19.

Background: Emerging data on the clinical presentation, diagnostics, and outcomes of patients with COVID-19 have largely been presented as case series. Few studies have compared these clinical features and outcomes of COVID-19 to other acute respiratory illnesses.

Methods: We examined all patients presenting to an emergency department in San Francisco, California between February 3 and March 31, 2020 with an acute respiratory illness who were tested for SARS-CoV-2.

Efficacy and tolerability of a β-1 selective β blocker, bisoprolol, as a first-line antihypertensive in Indian patients diagnosed with essential hypertension (BRIGHT): an open-label, multicentric observational study.

Objectives: This study was aimed to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of bisoprolol, in Indian patients diagnosed with stage I essential hypertension as first-line drug.

Design: This was an open-label, phase IV, multicentric prospective study.

Settings: 239 outpatient centres across India.

Effect of vitamin D repletion on testicular function in vitamin D-deficient rats.

Freshly weaned 30-day-old male Wistar rats were fed a vitamin D-deficient diet adequate in calcium and phosphorus for 3 months. On the 120th day of age three different doses of vitamin D were injected intramuscularly into three groups of rats and maintained for another month with water and a normal diet ad libitum. One group was continued with a vitamin D-deficient diet up to the 150th day.

Transfer lung factor for Co (TLCO) and its components (DM & VC) in flour mill workers.

Tlco, Kco (Tlco/Va), Va, Vc and Dm were measured in 25 flour mill workers (non-smoker 9, smoker 16) and 50 healthy control subjects (25 non-smoker, 25 smoker) of similar anthropometric parameters and socio-economic status. Tlco (P < 0.05) was decreased significantly and rest of the parameters were decreased insignificantly in flour mill workers as compared to control subjects.

Vasopressin antagonist disrupts the circadian rhythm of water intake on suprachiasmatic injection.

The present study makes an attempt to find out the action of arginine vasopressin (AVP) and its antagonist d-(CH2)5 Tyr (Me) AVP applied at the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) on the circadian rhythm of water intake. Chronic implantation of a 22 G stainless steel cannula for injection was performed using a stereotaxic technique under Nembutal anesthesia. AVP and its antagonist were injected into the SCN of free-moving rats at the beginning of light and dark phases of the light-dark (LD) cycle.

Effect of graded doses of naloxone on renal function in canine hemorrhagic shock.

All the parameters of renal function (inulin clearance, para amino hippuric acid clearance and urine flow) which were depressed during experimentally induced hemorrhagic shock in dogs improved significantly in addition to improvement in mean arterial pressure (MAP) after bolus administration (iv) of 1 or 2 mg/kg naloxone. A smaller dose (0.5 mg/kg) of naloxone, however, did not improve the renal function.

Effect of vitamin D deficiency on testicular function in the rat.

To study the effect of vitamin D deficiency on testicular function, 30-day-old male rats were put on a vitamin-D-deficient diet. At 120 days of age, the testicular function of these animals was compared with that of rats of the same age group fed, ad libitum, a diet containing vitamin D and rats fed on a restricted amount of diet with vitamin D. In vitamin-D-deficient rats, there was a significant reduction in the total body weight, testicular and epididymal sperm count and testicular glutamyl transpeptidase activity (an index of Sertoli cell function) as compared to control group rats, but there was no difference in the testicular lactate dehydrogenase activity (an index of germ cell function).

Effect of vitamin D supplementation in lactating rats on the neonatal growth.

In lactating rats consuming a commercial diet adequate in calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D, the effect of supplementation of 3000 IU and 7,500 IU of vitamin D3 on the lactational performance of the dams and soft tissue and skeletal growth in the pups has been investigated. On 28th day of age, the pups in the supplemented groups were significantly heavier than in the control group. Study of the indices of cellular growth in the liver and gastrocnemius muscle revealed that the increase in the soft tissue weight was due to a significant increase in protein, RNA and DNA contents (cellular hyperplasia) without any change in protein/DNA ratio (cell size).

H-reflex latency and sensory conduction in the assessment of neuropathy in patients of chronic obstructive lung disease.

H-reflex latency, proximal conduction velocity and distal proprioceptive conduction velocity were studied along with distal motor and sensory conduction in 38 patients of chronic obstructive lung disease grouped according to age and duration of the disease, as well as in 35 age-matched smoker controls and 14 non-smoker controls. The mean values of all the parameters studied in all the patient groups were significantly different from those of the non-smoker control group. Smoker controls also showed significant abnormality in all the parameters except motor conduction velocity.

Vasopressin: its possible role in circadian time keeping.

In this review article an insight has been made into the strong possibility of the role of vasopressin (VP) in the control of circadian rhythms which has emerged from the results of the recent experiments in this field. A role for VP, which is identified in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of mammals, as a neurotransmitter/neuromodulator in the central nervous system has been postulated for some time now. The presence of certain abnormalities in the circadian rhythms in VP deficient Brattleboro rats has suggested that this neuropeptide is a likely candidate in controlling circadian rhythms.

Effect of vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy on the neonatal skeletal growth in the rat.

In rats on normal intakes of calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D3, 3,000 and 7,500 IU of vitamin D3 were injected on the 10th day of pregnancy and the pups were investigated for the skeletal growth on 28th day of age. Compared to controls, the pups in the supplemented groups showed significantly greater dry weight and ash weight of the tibiae. However, the ash weight/dry bone weight ratios in the supplemented groups were not different from controls.

Effect of cold challenge on alveolar capillary blood volume in normal individuals.

The effect of immersion of both the hands and the feet in water at 10 degrees C on lung transfer factor for carbon monoxide (Tlco) and on pulmonary capillary blood volume (Vc) was investigated in 20 normal young adult males immediately, 60 min and 120 min after the end of the cold challenge. Vc was significantly reduced immediately and the reduction was aggravated at 60 min. Tlco was significantly reduced only at 60 min.

Comparison of effects of naloxone and catecholamines on acid-base balance in canine hemorrhagic shock.

The present study was conducted to compare the effect of naloxone, an opiate receptor antagonist, with catecholamines on acid-base status and survival in dogs subjected to hemorrhagic shock. Arterial lactic acid concentration which had increased during hemorrhage, decreased significantly (P less than 0.05) in naloxone treated animals but increased further in catecholamine treated dogs.

Response of lung transfer components to grades of smoking.

Pulmonary functions were studied in 50 healthy, asymptomatic, 20 to 47 years, male smokers along with 50 healthy non-smokers matched for age, height, socio-economic status and physical activity. Smokers consumed 2-30 cigarettes per day with duration of smoking ranging from 2 to 26 years. In smokers FEF, V75.

Ventilatory and diffusion studies in smoker and non smoker flour-mill workers.

Various pulmonary function tests, FVC, FEV1/FVC%, PEFR, EFR25-75, MVV and Tlco were measured in 25 asymptomatic male flour mill workers and 50 healthy subjects not working at flour mill, to assess the effect of flour dust on lungs. All the subjects of different groups were well matched in their anthropometeric parameters and socio economic status. In smoker flour mill workers significant reduction was present in both ventilatory and diffusion functions of lungs, which was more pronounced in subjects who consumed larger quantity of tobacco and were exposed to flour dust for longer duration.

Long latency cutaneous reflex effect on H-reflex recovery in hemiplegics and paraplegics: a longitudinal study for the assessment of motor function.

H-reflex recovery by twin pulses was recorded serially in 10 paraplegics for 5 months and in 23 hemiplegics for 2 months after the lesion. Fifty-one normal subjects acted as controls. The effect of cutaneous tactile stimulation was also studied simultaneously by applying electrical stimuli synchronized with twin pulses to the skin over the lateral border of small toe.

Effect of ganglionic stimulating and blocking agents on the fast components of colonic myoelectrical activity in the rat.

The presence of two types of fast myoelectrical activities, medium fast activity and fast activity, has been demonstrated previously in the electromyogram of colon in normal children and in the rat by the authors. An absence of medium fast activity in Hirschsprung's disease and in experimental aganglionosis of colon in the rat has also been described. In the present study the fast components of colonic myoelectrical activity were analysed during the procedures affecting ganglionic transmission.

Effect of vitamin D administration during pregnancy on neonatal growth in the rat.

Groups of rats on commercial diet were injected 3,000 IU (group 2) and 7,500 IU (group 3) of vitamin D3 on the 10th day of pregnancy. Compared to control pups (group 1), the pups in group 2 and 3 weighed significantly more on the 10th, 20th and 28th day of age. At 28th day of age, study of the gastrocnemius muscle revealed significantly greater organ weight, protein, DNA and RNA contents, protein/DNA and RNA/DNA ratios in group 2 and 3 pups than in controls.

Lithium chloride SCN injection alters the circadian rhythm of food intake.

Effect of lithium injections through chronically implanted cannulae into the bilateral suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) on the circadian rhythm of food intake was investigated in the rat. It was observed that the circadian rhythm was disrupted by injections of lithium at the beginning of the light as well as the dark phase of the LD cycle. In either case the percentage of the food consumed during the 12-hr light period increased while that during the dark period decreased without any significant change in the total daily intake.