Human rickettsial infections in India - A review.

Rickettsial infections are emerging and/or re-emerging disease that poses a serious global threat to humans and animals. Transmission to humans and animals is through the bite of the ectoparasites including ticks, fleas and chigger mites. Most of the rickettsial diseases are endemic in India, but underdiagnosed.

Epilepsy surgery in children with genetic etiologies: A prospective evaluation of current practices and outcomes.

Objective: This study assesses current practices and outcomes of epilepsy surgery in children with a genetic etiology. It explores the pre-surgical workup, types of surgeries, and post-surgical outcomes in a broad array of disorders.

Methods: Patients ≤18 years who completed epilepsy surgery and had a known genetic etiology prior to surgical intervention were extrapolated from the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Consortium (PERC) surgery database, across 18 US centers.

A multi-center comparison of surgical techniques for corpus Callosotomy in pediatric drug-resistant epilepsy.

Objectives: Corpus callosotomy (CC) is used to reduce seizures, primarily in patients with generalized drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE). The invasive nature of the procedure contributes to underutilization despite its potential superiority to other palliative procedures. The goal of this study was to use a multi-institutional epilepsy surgery database to characterize the use of CC across participating centers.

Creating and sustaining a digital community of practice for quality improvement in South-East Asia during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction: Ensuring quality of care in Low and Middle Income countries (LMICs) is challenging. Despite the implementation of various quality improvement (QI) initiatives in public and private sectors, the sustenance of improvements continues to be a major challenge. A team of healthcare professionals in India developed a digital community of practice (dCoP) focusing on QI which now has global footprints.

Efficacy and Safety of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors for Advanced Malignant Melanoma: A Meta-Analysis on Monotherapy Vs Combination Therapy.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are approved as cancer immunotherapeutic agents for advanced malignant melanoma (MM) in recent years, and nivolumab and ipilimumab are the most widely used ICIs either alone or in combination. However, their efficacy and safety between single and combined ICIs are not clear. This meta-analysis (MA) is aimed to update the efficacy and safety of ICIs by comparing monotherapy and combination therapy in the treatment of advanced MM.

The effect of mental health training on the knowledge of common mental disorders among medical officers in primary health centres in rural Karnataka.

Background: Deficits in knowledge regarding identification and treatment of common mental disorders (CMD) and stigmatizing attitudes towards CMDs exist among primary care physicians in India.

Objectives: We aimed to assess the gain in knowledge of CMDs among primary health centre (PHC) doctors, after they underwent training in the identification and treatment of CMDs, and to assess the relationship between the gain in knowledge and demographic variables. We also assessed attitudes towards depression among PHC doctors who underwent training.

Atypical Presentation of Dysphagia in a Patient Diagnosed Later With Dermatomyositis: A Case Report.

Dysphagia has been reported in 10%-73% of patients with dermatomyositis. We present the case of a 58-year-old female patient who presented to the emergency department of Peterborough City Hospital with acute-onset difficulty in swallowing. Physical examination demonstrates proximal muscle weakness of the upper limbs and symmetrical skin rash over the face, chest, and thighs.

Case Report: Occurrence of Severe Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms (Involving the Ascending, Arch, and Descending Segments) as a Result of Fibulin-4 Deficiency: A Rare Pathology With Successful Management.

Aortic diseases requiring surgery in childhood are distinctive and rare. Very few reports in the literature account for the occurrence of multiple thoracic aortic aneurysms in the same pediatric patient because of a genetic cause. We report a rare occurrence of severe thoracic aortic aneurysms (involving the ascending, arch and descending aortic segments) with severe aortic insufficiency in a 7-year-old female child secondary to the extremely rare and often lethal genetic disorder, cutis laxa.

Application of immunofluorescence assay and nested polymerase chain reaction for query fever diagnosis in animal handlers of Puducherry, South India, and phylogenetic analysis based on IS1111 repetitive gene element.

Background And Aim: Diagnosis of query fever (QF) is mostly done on the basis of serological/molecular tests, due to the stringent requirement of biosafety level-3 containment facilities for isolating in culture. QF is an important zoonosis and is considered to be an occupational hazard to livestock handlers. This report describes our study on the serological as well as molecular evidence of QF in animal handlers from Puducherry and surrounding Tamil Nadu, from where, to the best of our knowledge, no such reports are available so far.

Can Mobile Health Improve Depression Treatment Access and Adherence Among Rural Indian Women? A Qualitative Study.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is associated with low rates of treatment and medication non-adherence, more so in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Mobile mental health (mHealth) interventions offer promise as a tool to address these problems. However, the feasibility and acceptability of mHealth interventions among rural women in LMICs is unknown.

Intimate Partner Violence among Ever-married Women Treated for Depression at a Rural Health Center in Bengaluru Urban District.

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a risk factor for depression among women. Spousal alcoholism and marital quality are associated with both depression and spousal abuse Knowledge about the factors contributing to IPV in depression will enable us to have interventions to address IPV in tandem with treating depression.

Objectives: (1) To estimate the prevalence of IPV in women treated for depression in a rural community health-care facility in Bengaluru Urban District.

Elevated Unconjugated Bilirubin in Schizophrenia Compared to Bipolar Affective Disorder.

Objective: The evidence linking schizophrenia and total and unconjugated bilirubin is primarily from retrospective studies. To overcome this limitation, we conducted a prospective study of total and unconjugated bilirubin levels of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar affective disorder.

Methods: Serum total and unconjugated bilirubin levels were compared between patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (n = 50) and bipolar affective disorder (n = 43) (ICD-10 criteria) admitted to an inpatient psychiatric unit of a tertiary hospital in India.

Serological evidence of spotted fever group rickettsiosis in and around Puducherry, south India-A three years study.

Background & Objectives: Rickettsial diseases are important re-emerging infections that mostly go unnoticed or are misdiagnosed. Though few case reports of Indian tick typhus have been reported in Indian literature in the past 10 yr, prevalence surveys are few and far between. The objective of this research was to study the seroprevalence of spotted fever (SF) group rickettsiosis and its coinfection with scrub typhus (ST) in Puducherry region of south India, as these two diseases may show similar clinical presentations.

Ductal Cell Reprogramming to Insulin-Producing Beta-Like Cells as a Potential Beta Cell Replacement Source for Chronic Pancreatitis.

Islet cell auto-transplantation is a novel strategy for maintaining blood glucose levels and improving the quality of life in patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP). Despite the many recent advances associated with this therapy, obtaining a good yield of islet infusate still remains a pressing challenge. Reprogramming technology, by making use of the pancreatic exocrine compartment, can open the possibility of generating novel insulin-producing cells.

Challenges in Taking Sexual History: A Qualitative Study of Indian Postgraduate Psychiatry Trainees.

Context: In India, psychiatrist is an important point of helpseeking for sexual complaints. A detailed sexual history can go a long way in understanding sexual difficulties. In this background, there is inadequate information on the difficulties that psychiatry postgraduate trainees experience while taking a sexual history as part of a routine mental health evaluation.

Prevalence and measurement of anterior loop of the mandibular canal using CBCT: A cross sectional study.

Background: Anterior loop of the mental nerve is a very important anatomic landmark in implant placement and anterior mandibular osteotomies.

Purpose: Two-dimensional imaging techniques are not competent enough to locate and measure the mental nerve loop in majority of the cases. Any injury to this loop results in pain/paresthesia/numbness in the region supplied by the mental nerve.

Unreliability of three commercial phase II IgM ELISA kits for the seroscreening of acute Q fever in human cases.

Background & Objectives: Seroprevalence of Q fever (QF) caused by Coxiella burnetii has been reported from different parts of India. Usually serological/molecular tests are employed for detection of infection. The present study was undertaken to verify the validity of three different QF phase II IgM ELISA kits for acute QF diagnosis by comparing with the gold standard indirect fluorescent antibody assay (IFA).

Diagnosis of Acute Q Fever by Detection of DNA using Real-Time PCR, Employing a Commercial Genesig Easy Kit.

Introduction: Query (Q) fever is an important zoonosis and a cause of concern for humans, due to the potential bioterrorism threat posed by the causative agent, . Because of the danger of contracting the illness, isolation attempts are seldom made. Serological and molecular diagnostic tests are the main option.

Seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in voluntary blood donors of Puducherry and surrounding districts of Tamil Nadu.

Our objective is to study the seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in the voluntary blood donors of Puducherry and surrounding districts of Tamil Nadu. A total of 275 healthy blood donors were screened for the presence of IgM and IgG antibodies to by ELISA test. Donor samples positive for IgM and/or IgG antibodies to were subjected to IgG avidity ELISA.

Validation of Geno-Sen's Scrub Typhus Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction Kit by its Comparison with a Serological ELISA Test.

Background: In the recent past, scrub typhus (ST) has been reported from different parts of India, based on Weil-Felix/enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)/indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA). Molecular tests are applied only by a few researchers.

Aims: Evaluation of a new commercial real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) kit for molecular diagnosis of ST by comparing it with the commonly used IgM ELISA is our aim.