The Effectiveness of the Pitstop Method of Teaching Among Phase II Medical Students.

Background and objectives The pitstop method of teaching involves short educational videos that entail a stepwise approach to augment knowledge retention and understanding. Short videos stimulate both visual and auditory pathways, thereby improving learner's experiences, knowledge retention, and understanding of the concept, which will help with long-term memory. In this study, we aimed to compare the pitstop method of teaching with the didactic lecture technique based on assessment and feedback.

Patterns of Care, Prognostic Factors, and Survival Outcomes for Patients of Cervical Carcinoma: A Study From North India.

Objectives: Cervical cancer is the second most common malignancy among Indian women after breast cancer. This study was undertaken to determine the pattern of care, long-term survival outcomes, and prognostic factors for cervical cancer patients treated at a tertiary care cancer centre in North India.

Methods: Ten-year data was retrieved for 435 stage I-IVA carcinoma cervix patients treated between 2009 and 2019.

Association of obesity and metabolic syndrome with incident primary open angle glaucoma in the UK Biobank.

Background: We sought to investigate the association between obesity, metabolic syndrome, and metabolic health with incident primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG).

Methods: We included 103 249 UK Biobank participants without previously diagnosed glaucoma or glaucoma-related procedures at enrolment. The primary outcome was POAG identified from diagnostic coding via linked hospital inpatient and primary care data.

Neurocognitive impairments in rat offspring after maternal exposure to vortioxetine: Involvement of BDNF, apoptosis and cholinergic mediated signaling pathways.

Depression in pregnant women raises concerns about the safety of antidepressants use, particularly its impact on offspring's neurocognition. This study investigates the effects of maternal exposure to vortioxetine (VOX) on the neurocognitive development of rat offspring. Pregnant Wistar rats were administered clinically pertinent doses of VOX, 1 mg/kg/day or 2 mg/kg/day from gestational day 6-21.

Utility of shear wave elastography in evaluation of children with chronic kidney disease.

Background: Shear wave elastography (SWE) is proven for liver fibrosis. However, there are challenges in assessing the kidney owing to its surrounding structures, retroperitoneal location, and visceral fat. Kidney biopsy is the gold standard for estimating fibrosis, but is associated with inherent risks of bleeding and sedation.

Treatment optimisation for blood pressure with single-pill combinations in India (TOPSPIN) - Protocol design and baseline characteristics.

Background: The burden of over 300 million individuals living with hypertension in India is increasing steadily. Most current guidelines recommend initial combination therapy for effective blood pressure (BP) control. However, there is no randomised evidence to inform which combinations to use in the South Asian population, who account for over one-quarter of the world's population.

Serum p-Glycoprotein and Monomeric C-Reactive Protein are Elevated in Takayasu Arteritis.

Purpose: Existing biomarkers including C-reactive protein (CRP) do not adequately distinguish active and inactive TAK. We compared serum p-glycoprotein (p-gp)/Multidrug Resistance Protein 1 (MDR1), monomeric CRP (mCRP), CRP, and mCRP:CRP ratio in Takayasu arteritis (TAK) and healthy controls and their relationship with disease activity.

Patients And Methods: Serum p-gp mCRP (ELISA) and CRP (nephelometry) were compared between consecutive adults with TAK (>18 years) enrolled from a prospective cohort (n = 92) and healthy controls (n = 29), and between active vs inactive TAK (n = 46 each).

Harnessing computational and experimental approaches to identify potent hits against Leishmania donovani sterol C-24 methyltransferase from ChemBridge library.

Leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease and is one of the major causes of mortality in poverty-stricken areas. A limited chemotherapeutics arsenal is available to tackle this deadly infection. Thus, identifying novel potent scaffolds using innovative strategies is the need of the hour.

Toxic effects of chlorpyrifos on biochemical composition, enzyme activity and gill surface ultrastructure of three species of small fishes from India.

The effects of chlorpyrifos, a frequently detected organophosphate in aquatic ecosystems, on biochemical (protein and glycogen) contents and oxidative enzyme activities (catalase and lipid peroxidation) in liver, muscle and gill tissues of three freshwater fish Trichogaster fasciata, Mystus vittatus and Heteropneustes fossilis were evaluated after 21-day exposure to 1 and 10% of 96 h LC of this pesticide, which were 1.63 and 16.3 µg L; 5.

Community-level knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding cardiovascular diseases and modifiable risk factors in India.

Background: Assessment of knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) is critical to inform CVD prevention strategies, but limited community-level data exist from developing countries.

Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding CVD and CVRF and acceptability of non-physician health workers and text-message based reminders to guide CVD prevention strategies in India.

Methods: We conducted a telephone-based survey nested in the on-going Centre for Cardiometabolic Risk Reduction in South Asia (CARRS) cohort in Delhi and Chennai, India between January 2021 to February 2021.

E2F1-induced autocrine IL-6 inflammatory loop mediates cancer-immune crosstalk that predicts T cell phenotype switching and therapeutic responsiveness.

Melanoma is a metastatic, drug-refractory cancer with the ability to evade immunosurveillance. Cancer immune evasion involves interaction between tumor intrinsic properties and the microenvironment. The transcription factor E2F1 is a key driver of tumor evolution and metastasis.

Sleep and Immune System Crosstalk: Implications for Inflammatory Homeostasis and Disease Pathogenesis.

Background: Sleep and immune function are interconnected aspects of health that mutually impact each other in disease development and inflammatory homeostasis. Different aspects of immunology are regulated by different sleep characteristics, impacting on specific aspects of immune function including cytokine production and T-cell activity. Ongoing disruptions of sleep have been linked to heightened inflammation and are suspected in the pathogenesis and disease course of a range of life-style-related illnesses, including diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases.

Rights-based reproductive services in medical schools in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Chandigarh, India: baseline findings of mixed-methods implementation research.

Introduction: There is a need to assess and strengthen reproductive rights-based family planning and abortion services in Indian medical schools that play a key role in medical education and service delivery. This study presents the findings of baseline assessment across nine schools in two states and one union territory with objective to assess, identify the gaps and improve the status of reproductive rights and evidence-based family planning and abortion services in Indian medical schools.

Methods: A convergent parallel mixed methods study was conducted in nine medical schools in Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Chandigarh a Union territory in India from October 2018 to June 2019.

Efficacy and Safety of Biosimilar Cetuximab Versus Innovator Cetuximab in Indian Patients With Head and Neck Cancer: A Multicenter, Randomized, Double-Blind, Phase III Trial.

Purpose: Squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) is the sixth most common cancer, with approximately 225,419 new cases with over 125,000 deaths annually in India. This trial compared the efficacy and safety of biosimilar cetuximab versus innovator cetuximab (IC) in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy in patients with recurrent locoregional or metastatic SCCHN.

Methods: This phase III trial is a multicenter, randomized, double-blind and parallel group study performed in Indian patients with recurrent locoregional or metastatic SCCHN.

In-vitro evidence indicating that IL-10 causes aging-related hypoalbuminemia via JAK1/STAT3 and CEBP-β.

Albumin (ALB) has numerous vital physiological outcomes for healthy aging. A decrease in serum albumin, i.e.

Raising a child with cancer: Impact on parents' health-related quality of life.

Background: Having a child with a serious illness like cancer has a detrimental and negative impact on the parents' health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Many factors have been identified as being associated with poorer HRQOL. Acquiring knowledge about these factors is essential to enhancing the quality of life (QOL) of children as well as their parents.

Tree-based classification model for Long-COVID infection prediction with age stratification using data from the National COVID Cohort Collaborative.

Objectives: We propose and validate a domain knowledge-driven classification model for diagnosing post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), also known as Long COVID, using Electronic Health Records (EHRs) data.

Materials And Methods: We developed a robust model that incorporates features strongly indicative of PASC or associated with the severity of COVID-19 symptoms as identified in our literature review. The XGBoost tree-based architecture was chosen for its ability to handle class-imbalanced data and its potential for high interpretability.

The Genomic Landscape of Wilson Disease in a Pan India Disease Cohort and Population-Scale Data.

Background: Wilson's disease (WD) results from pathogenic ATP7B gene variations, causing copper accumulation mainly in the liver, brain, and kidneys.

Objectives: In India, despite studies on ATP7B variants, WD often goes undiagnosed, with the prevalence, carrier rate, and mutation spectrum remaining unknown.

Methods: A multicenter study examined genetic variations in WD among individuals of Indian origin via whole exome sequencing.