Quality of life, social support, coping strategies, and their association with psychological morbidity among people living with HIV.

Objectives: Enhancement of quality of life and social support havebecome important therapeutic goals among people living with HIV. However, research from developing countries is sparse in this area. Index study was aimed to assess association of social support, coping, and quality of life with psychological morbidity among people living with HIV.

Quality of Life, Social Support, Coping Strategies, and Psychiatric Morbidity in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

 Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have greater psychological morbidity, despite that research in this area is scarce from developing countries. This study was aimed to assess the association of quality of life, social support, coping strategies, and psychological morbidity in patients with RA.  In this cross-sectional study, 40 patients with RA, who were not receiving steroids or disease modifying antirheumatic drugs, were recruited through purposive sampling.

Differential diagnosis of disseminated and infection in HIV patients using duplex PCR.

Disseminated complex (MAC) and infections have almost similar clinical presentations but require different therapeutic management. A duplex PCR was designed based on the sequence variation between the genes encoding catalase-peroxidase (KatG) of complex and , so as to discriminate MAC, and mixed mycobacterial (MAC + ) infections in HIV patients. An accurate, single-step differential diagnosis of disseminated mycobacterial infections in HIV patients was achieved with specific detection of a single band each for (120 bp) and  (90 bp) and two bands for the mixed (120 and 90 bp) infections.

Analysis of transporter associated with antigen presentation (TAP) genes polymorphisms with HIV-1 infection.

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I molecules of the human major histocompatibility complex (MHC) play an important role in modulating immune response. HLA class I molecules present antigenic peptides to CD8 T cells and thereby play a role in the immune surveillance of cells infected with viruses. TAP1 and TAP2 are MHC-II-encoded genes necessary for the generation of a cellular immune response and polymorphism of these genes can influence the specificity of peptides preferentially presented by the MHC class I molecules and the outcome of the immune response.

Pseudogout of the cervical and thoracic spine mimicking infection after lumbar fusion: case report.

Pseudogout is a form of acute calcium pyrophosphate deposition (CPPD) disease that typically afflicts the elderly. CPPD commonly involves larger joints, such as the knees, wrists, shoulders, and hips, and has been known to involve the spine. The authors report the case of a 66-year-old woman with a recent history of lumbar laminectomy and fusion who presented 5 weeks postprocedure with a clinical and radiographic picture consistent with multilevel skip lesions involving the cervical and thoracic spine, thoracic discitis, and epidural abscess.

Right ventricular thickness as predictor of global myocardial performance in systemic sclerosis: A Doppler tissue imaging study.

Background: Cardiopulmonary involvement in systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a poor prognostic factor, due to pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular dysfunction. We assessed the echocardiographic parameters of right ventricular (RV) function in SSc and correlated echocardiographic findings to clinical features of the disease.

Methods: Thirty patients with SSc (cases) and 30 healthy, age-matched subjects (controls) were studied.

Analysis of HLA association among North Indian HIV-positive individuals co-infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Background: Genetic variation in HLA genes influence the immune response and may thus contribute to differential development of tuberculosis (TB) in HIV-infected individuals. The study was designed to determine whether HLA polymorphisms influence the development of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in HIV-infected individuals.

Materials And Methods: Fifty HIV-positive individuals without TB (HIV+TB-), 50 HIV patients co-infected with TB (HIV+TB+) and 50 control subjects (HIV-TB-) were analyzed for HLA Class I and II polymorphisms.

Relapsing polychondritis: clinical presentations, disease activity and outcomes.

Background: Relapsing polychondritis is a rare disease characterised by inflammation of cartilaginous and proteoglycan rich structures. As there are only a few published single centre case series from all across the world, we describe our experience with 26 patients at a tertiary centre in north India.

Methods: A retrospective study with all patients meeting Damiani and Levine's modification of McAdam's diagnostic criteria.

Specific amplification of gene encoding N-terminal region of catalase-peroxidase protein (KatG-N) for diagnosis of disseminated MAC disease in HIV patients.

Disseminated Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex (MAC) infection is considered as severe complication of advanced HIV/AIDS disease. Currently available various laboratory investigations have not only limited ability to discriminate between MAC infection and tuberculosis but are also laborious and time consuming. The aim of this study was, therefore, to design a molecular-based strategy for specific detection of MAC and its differentiation from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.

Pattern of mucocutaneous manifestations in human immunodeficiency virus-positive patients in North India.

Background: Mucocutaneous diseases are among the first-recognized clinical manifestations of acquired immune deficiency syndrome. They function as visual markers in assessing the progression of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Given the relative ease of examination of skin, its evaluation remains an important tool in the diagnosis of HIV infection.

A study on the association of autoantibodies, chemokine, and its receptor with disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus in North Indian population.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic and complex autoimmune disease characterized by the production of autoantibodies against a spectrum of nuclear antigens. RANTES and its receptor CCR5 have been associated with the pathogenesis of SLE. The objective of this study is to analyze autoantibodies (DNA/RNA), allelic distribution of RANTES and the association of levels of RANTES and its receptor CCR5 in SLE patients in North Indian region.

HIV Stigma and Specified Correlates in North India.

Background: Worldwide, the stigma and discrimination impede HIV-AIDS programs across the continuum of prevention to care. We studied stigma and related issues in HIV-positive subjects.

Materials And Methods: At a tertiary care hospital in North India, we studied 100 HIV-positive outpatients not receiving antiretroviral therapy.

Causes of mortality among inpatients with systemic lupus erythematosus in a tertiary care hospital in North India over a 10-year period.

Introduction: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a systemic autoimmune disorder with significant morbidity and mortality. The present study was undertaken to identify the causes of in-hospital mortality of patients with SLE.

Methods: This was a retrospective study.

Profile of presentation of human immunodeficiency virus infection in north India, 2003-2007.

Background: Clinico-epidemiological profile of the Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic in India is varied and depends on multitude of factors including geographic location. We analyzed the characteristics of HIV-infected patients attending our Immunodeficiency Clinic to determine any changes in their profile over five years.

Settings And Design: A retrospective observational study.

Treatment failure with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

Introduction: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients taking disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) may experience treatment failure due to adverse effects or a lack of efficacy/resistance. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prescription patterns, the incidence and reasons for failure, and the time to treatment failure of DMARDs in RA patients.

Methods: The medical records of patients visiting the Rheumatology Clinic were scrutinised retrospectively in order to extract the relevant data, including demographics, clinical and laboratory investigations and drug usage, for analysis.

Altered redox state and apoptosis in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus.

An altered redox status and increased lymphocyte apoptosis have been implicated in the development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In this study, we evaluated the relationship between glutathione (GSH) depletion, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and, the progression of apoptosis and their association with SLE severity. Significant low levels of intracellular glutathione, total thiol and altered redox state (GSH/GSSG) were found in SLE patients, in which lymphocyte apoptosis and activated caspase-3 expression in the lymphocytes were remarkably increased.

Molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 subtypes in India: origin and evolutionary history of the predominant subtype C.

Background: India has the third largest HIV-1 epidemic with 2.4 million infected individuals. Molecular epidemiological analysis has identified the predominance of HIV-1 subtype C (HIV-1C).

A retrospective study of AIDS-associated cryptomeningitis.

Cryptococcal meningitis has emerged as a leading cause of infectious morbidity and mortality in patients with AIDS. A retrospective analysis of records of HIV-infected individuals registered in the Immunodeficiency Clinic of a tertiary care hospital and research institute was carried out. Records of 6900 HIV-infected individuals who were enrolled in the clinic between January 2002 and March 2011 were analyzed.

Renal cortical necrosis, peripheral gangrene, perinephric and retroperitoneal haematoma in a patient with a viper bite.

Snakebites are estimated to affect more than 2.5 million people annually, of whom more than 100,000 die. Viper bites cause various systemic symptoms such as: coagulopathy; haemolysis; acute renal failure; a generalized increase in capillary permeability; rhabdomyolysis; and neurotoxicity.

Dietary adequacy of HIV infected individuals in north India--a cross-sectional analysis.

Background & Objectives: Dietary inadequacy is common in developing countries and so is in immune-deficient HIV infected individuals. Hence, an assessment of dietary patterns was done among a group of HIV infected individuals and compared with recommended dietary allowances.

Methods: One hundred consecutive HIV infected individuals were interviewed from the Immunodeficiency Clinic of a tertiary care center at Chandigarh.

The -137G/C polymorphism of interleukin 18 promoter and risk of HIV-1 infection and its progression to AIDS.

A growing body of evidence suggests that host genetic factors play an important role both in susceptibility to human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) infection and in progression to AIDS. Interleukin 18 (IL-18) is a pleiotropic proinflammatory cytokine that serves as an important regulator of immune responses. It plays a key role in induction of both Th1 and Th2 cytokines and, thereby, modulates their immune responses.