Impact of Prevalent Dietary Pattern on Serum Vitamin B12 Status and Its Association With Inflammation Among Reproductive Age Women.

Scope: Association between vitamin B12 deficiency (VB12D) and dietary patterns being well documented has bearing on obstetrics and neonatal outcomes. However, relationship between VB12D and serum inflammatory markers (IMs), particularly in vegetarian diet and Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), remains elusive. This cross-sectional study assesses VB12D and IMs among reproductive age women consuming different diets.

Serum Adipokines as Biomarkers for Surveillance of Metabolic Syndrome in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Survivors in Low Middle-Income Countries.

Background: Serum adipokines (leptin and adiponectin) are dysregulated before the onset of metabolic syndrome and hence may be useful biomarkers for screening of cardiometabolic late effects in childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (cALL) survivors.

Methods: We compared serum adipokine levels between 40 cALL survivors (aged 10-18 years, >2 years from treatment completion) with similar controls. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was then done to assess the association of metabolic syndrome in cALL survivors with variables including adipokines and other metabolic parameters, demographic and treatment details, and Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan-derived variables.

Association of obstructive sleep apnea and sleep quality with cognitive function: a study of middle-aged and elderly persons in India.

Introduction: Symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and poor sleep quality affect around one in ten people in India. We aimed to determine if OSA symptoms and poor sleep quality are independently associated with cognition in middle-aged and elderly urban Indian populations.

Methods: We studied the cross-sectional association between OSA symptoms (by Berlin Questionnaire), poor sleep quality (by Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), and cognitive function in adults ≥ 50 years.

Challenges in setting up a large population-based prospective cohort study in India - learnings from the LoCARPoN cohort.

Unlabelled: Population-based prospective cohort studies can yield vital new evidence. However, they are difficult to setup especially in non-western contexts such as India. We describe our experience in establishing the Longitudinal Cognition and Aging Research on Population of the National Capital Region (LoCARPoN) cohort, which was the first-of-its-kind public-funded study with target sample size of 15,000, 3 sites, and funds of approx.

Multimodal imaging of the aging brain: Baseline findings of the LoCARPoN study.

We quantified and investigated multimodal brain MRI measures in the LoCARPoN Study due to lack of normative data among Indians. A total of 401 participants (aged 50-88 years) without stroke or dementia completed MRI investigation. We assessed 31 brain measures in total using four brain MRI modalities, including macrostructural (global & lobar volumes, white matter hyperintensities [WMHs]), microstructural (global and tract-specific white matter fractional anisotropy [WM-FA] and mean diffusivity [MD]) and perfusion measures (global and lobar cerebral blood flow [CBF]).

Recurrent syncope in long survivors and its association with geriatric syndromes.

Objective: Syncope is a common clinical condition in the elderly, associated with significant morbidity and risk of recurrence. Recurrent syncope causing a repeated reduction in the cerebral blood flow can predispose to progressive neurodegeneration, a decline in overall health and functionality. Hence, this study was conducted to study the common causes of recurrent syncope and its association with various geriatric syndromes.

Mechanisms of 1 Hz Inhibitory and 5 Hz Excitatory Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulations in Parkinson's Disease: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive disorder with alterations in cortical functional activity. Transcranial magnetic stimulation is known to incur motor benefits in PD by inducing motor activity through cortical connectivity, although the mechanisms are unclear. The effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) (at three cortical sites) on functional and structural plasticity were studied in PD to understand inhibitory or excitatory rTMS-induced motor improvement.

Carotid Intima-Media Thickness (cIMT) and Cognitive Performance: A Population-Based Cross-Sectional Study From North India.

Introduction: Atherosclerosis has been shown to impact cognitive impairment, with most of the evidence originating from European, African, or East Asian populations that have employed carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) as a biomarker for atherosclerosis. Vascular disease is related to dementia/cognitive decline. There is no community-based study from India that has looked at the association of cIMT with cognitive performance.

Metabolic risk factors and psychosocial problems independently explain poor sleep quality and obstructive sleep apnea symptoms among adults in urban India.

Study Objectives: To determine if metabolic risk factors are associated with poor sleep quality and obstructive sleep apnea-like symptoms (OSA symptoms) independent of psychosocial problems and demographic and lifestyle factors in older Indian adults.

Methodology: We analyzed baseline data from adults (≥ 50 years) from a population-based cohort, the LoCARPoN study, in India. Variables were grouped as (a) demographic and lifestyle factors such as smoking, alcohol use, and physical activity; (b) psychosocial problems including symptoms of depression, anxiety, and perceived stress; and (c) metabolic risk factors including glycated hemoglobin, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, total cholesterol, body mass index, and hypertension.

Scrambler Therapy Enhances Quality of Life in Cancer Patients in a Palliative Care Setting: A Randomised Controlled Trial.

Objectives: Given the known side effects of opioids and the negative impact of these side effects on quality of life (QOL), there is a need for therapies that can reduce opioid intake and improve QOL in patients suffering from cancer pain. Scrambler therapy (ST) is a neuromodulatory therapy that has been shown to reduce cancer pain, but its effect on QOL is not well understood. This study intended to evaluate the efficacy of ST for enhancing QOL in cancer patients through minimising pain and opioid intake.

Validation of Tools to Assess Predictors of Successful Weight Loss Outcome in Individuals With Overweight and Obesity.

Objective: To develop and validate questionnaires to assess the behavioral, psychosocial, and environmental predictors of successful weight loss outcomes.

Design: Mixed method study. Questionnaires were developed using 5 steps: item generation by literature review and preexisting questionnaires, expert evaluation, pilot testing, factor analysis, and internal consistency.

Auditory perception of ambiguous and non-ambiguous sound in early and late blind children: A functional connectivity study.

Introduction: Auditory perception and associated cognition involve visual and auditory cortical areas for inference of meaningful soundscape.

Objective: To investigate auditory perception of ambiguous and non-ambiguous stimulation in auditory and visual cortical networks for categorical discrimination.

Methodology: Functional mapping was carried out in twenty early (EB), twenty late blind (LB) and fifteen healthy children, during auditory ambiguous and non-ambiguous stimulation task in a 3 T MR scanner to estimate hemodynamic signal alteration and its effect on functional connectivity.

Oral Isotretinoin Combined with Oral Terbinafine Versus Oral Terbinafine Alone to Treat Recurrent Dermatophytosis: An Open-Label Randomised Clinical Trial.

Background: Recurrent dermatophytosis is becoming arduous to treat. Recently, oral itraconazole with oral isotretinoin was successful in a patient suffering from recurrent dermatophytosis.

Objectives: To evaluate if oral isotretinoin confers any added benefit over oral terbinafine in the treatment of recurrent dermatophytosis.

Diagnostic concordance between Amsel's criteria and the Nugent scoring method in the assessment of bacterial vaginosis.

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is diagnosed by the microbiological Nugent scoring method or clinical Amsel's criteria. Assessment of 404 vaginal samples (293 women) identified 110 (27.2%), 108 (26.

Comparison of hazard models with and without consideration of competing risks to assess the effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy on locoregional recurrence among breast cancer patients.

Context: While analyzing locoregional recurrences (LRRs), it is necessary to consider distant metastasis as a competing event. Because, later one is more fatal than LRR. It may change ongoing treatment of breast cancer and may alter the chance of LRR.

Evaluation of the dose-effect association between the number of doses and duration since the last dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and its efficacy in preventing the disease and reducing disease severity: A single centre, cross-sectional analytical study from India.

Aims: To evaluate the dose-effect association between COVID-19 vaccination and probability of turning RT-PCR positive and to assess the correlation between disease severity and vaccination status.

Methods: A single centre cross-sectional study was conducted amongst 583 individuals presenting to COVID-19 testing clinic and 55 hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Vaccination status was assessed by the number of doses and duration since the last dose.

Evaluation of Memory and Language Network in Children and Adolescents with Visual Impairment: A Combined Functional Connectivity and Voxel-based Morphometry Study.

Functional network changes associated with Braille reading are different in early blind (EB) and late blind (LB) participants. The objectives were to study the functional connectivity (of memory and language areas based on blood oxygen level-dependent [BOLD] mapping) and structural changes in EB and LB children and adolescents. A total of 110 participants (all right-handed) were recruited in two age groups of 6-12 years (children) and 13-19 years (adolescents) consisting of EB (n = 20), LB (n = 20), and sighted controls (SC, n = 15) in each group.

Perceived barriers and facilitators for adherence to lifestyle prescription: Perspective of obese patients with non alcoholic fatty liver disease from north India.

Background And Aims: This study aims to identify the barriers and facilitators faced by obese patients with NAFLD from north India, while undergoing lifestyle-modification.

Methods: 30 obese patients with NAFLD were interviewed regarding the barriers and facilitators to lifestyle change and responses were noted. Inductive thematic analysis was used.

Changes in β-Cell Function in Offspring of Type-2 Diabetic Patients, as per Fasting and Two-Hour Plasma Glucose Levels.

Background The changes in β-cell function in high-risk populations who are apparently in the normal glucose tolerant stage are still under investigation for designing earlier prevention strategies. This study analyzes changes in β-cell function and insulin sensitivity across fasting and two-hour glucose categories spanning normal glucose tolerance (NGT) to impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), in offspring of subjects with type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) compared to the controls without a known family history of T2DM. Methods Offspring of T2DM patients (cases) and individuals without a family history of T2DM (controls) were the subjects for this cross-sectional study.

Knowledge, barriers and facilitators regarding COVID-19 vaccine and vaccination programme among the general population: A cross-sectional survey from one thousand two hundred and forty-nine participants.

Background And Aims: The success of the COVID-19 vaccination program is dependent on people's knowledge and attitude regarding the vaccination program. Higher vaccine acceptance can be ensured by strengthening the facilitators and limiting the barriers being observed among the general population.

Material And Methods: Indexed study is a cross-sectional web-based survey using a pre-validated questionnaire to assess knowledge, barriers and facilitators of COVID-19 vaccine and vaccination programme administered on adults across India using a Google online survey platform.

Development and validation of a questionnaire for assessing preventive practices and barriers among health care workers in COVID-19 pandemic.

Objectives: COVID-19 has affected thousands of health care workers worldwide. Suboptimal infection control practices have been identified as important risk factors. The objective of this study was to develop and validate a questionnaire to holistically assess the preventive practices of health care workers related to COVID-19 and identify the reasons for shortcomings therein.

Development and validation of a questionnaire to assess preventive practices against COVID-19 pandemic in the general population.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected millions of people worldwide with far-reaching socio-economic implications in society. The adoption of preventive practices by the public remains the mainstay in reducing the spread of COVID-19 but there is a dearth of validated tools to assess such infection prevention practices related to pandemics. This study was conducted to develop and validate a questionnaire for the assessment of preventive practices against COVID-19 in the general population.