Utility of diffusion-weighted imaging in differentiating benign and malignant breast lesions.

Background: Breast cancer presents a significant global health burden. An accurate differentiation between benign and malignant lesions is imperative for timely intervention. While dynamic contrast enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) is highly sensitive, its specificity is limited.

Clinical characteristics and functional outcomes of pediatric Guillain-Barré syndrome admitted to the Neuro-intensive care unit: a decade-long retrospective observational study.

Background: Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) remains a significant contributor to acute flaccid paralysis in pediatric patients worldwide. Despite its impact, studies focusing on pediatric GBS requiring intensive care unit (ICU) management are limited. This study aimed to address this gap by exploring the clinical and outcome characteristics of pediatric GBS necessitating ICU care.

Functional reorganization of the brain in distinct frequency bands during eyes-open meditation.

Meditation is a self-regulatory process practiced primarily to reduce stress, manage emotions and mental health. The objective of this work is to study the information exchange between electrodes within and across the hemispheres during meditation using functional connectivity (FC) measures. We investigate the changes in the coherence between EEG electrode pairs during the meditation with open eyes practiced by long-term Brahmakumaris Rajyoga meditators and during listening to music by controls as the comparable task.

Does gender diversity affect the number and impact of publications among major academic institutes in India? Barriers and opportunities.

Background: A glaring gender inequality persists in global neurosurgery, influenced by various factors, including the notion that female neurosurgeons have lower academic output. This study aims to compare the research output of female and male neurosurgeons at the leading academic institutions in India.

Methods: The pertinent details regarding female neurosurgeons were collected from the Neurological Society of India (NSI) and Women In Neurosurgery (India) database.

Surgical Strategy and Decision-Making in Recurrent Atlanto-Axial Dislocations: The Role of Traction.

Objective: To analyse patients with recurrent atlanto-axial dislocation and give a criterion of an ideal patient who can benefit from redo surgery.

Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in a tertiary care center, which included 20 patients who failed atlanto-axial surgery from January 2013 to June December 2021. They were evaluated using X-ray, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging examinations, and their clinical data were accessed from the hospital's medical records department and the picture archiving and communication system.

Integrating personality functioning in brief psychotherapy for substance use disorders: a case study.

A large treatment gap exists for substance use disorders (SUDs) in India. Among other factors, personality vulnerabilities are widely implicated in the initiation and maintenance of SUDs leading to poor outcomes. Available brief interventions do not adequately address this.

Polysomnographic Findings into Sleep Disorders in Essential Tremor and Essential Tremor Plus: A Comparison with Healthy Controls.

Objective: To explore sleep patterns in individuals with Essential Tremor (ET) and Essential Tremor Plus (ET-Plus), compared to healthy controls, and assess differences between ET and ET-Plus, given the lack of established polysomnography (PSG) data on these groups and the potential for sleep disturbances to serve as clinical markers.

Methods: We conducted a prospective cross-sectional study at NIMHANS, Bengaluru, from November 2021 to August 2023 on 45 patients (26 ET, 19 ET-Plus) and 45 controls. Tremor severity was assessed using TETRAS and FTMTRS, and sleep symptoms with ESS, PSQI, Mayo Sleep Questionnaire, RLS-Q, BQ, GAD-7 and PHQ-9.

Effectiveness of a training program in improving knowledge and skills about selected common neurological disorders among primary healthcare doctors: The Karnataka Brain Health Initiative (KaBHI) in India.

Introduction: Neurological disorders are the leading causes of death and disability globally. In low-middle-income countries such as India, there is a wide treatment gap for neurological disorders. To address this gap, an initiative known as the Karnataka Brain Health Initiative (KaBHI) was developed in collaboration with the public health system of the state of Karnataka in India.

Risk and protective factors of miscarriage: Evidence from a nationally representative sample of women in India.

Context: Miscarriage is the most distressing complication in early pregnancy, with one in every five pregnant women ending in a miscarriage, and its causes are multifactorial.

Aim: This study aimed to find the risk and protective factors of miscarriage among women aged 15-49 years in India by using the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) data.

Methods And Material: The data were taken from NFHS-5; 53,560 women aged 15-49 years who had reported either a miscarriage (n = 5104) or livebirth (n = 48,456) during the last 12 months preceding the survey were included in the study.

Optimizing psychiatric social work interventions: Formulating guidelines for mental health settings.

Background: Psychiatric social workers typically play an important role in the treatment and management of psychosocial issues at different levels, such as individual, family, and community levels. However, despite the field having a long history, there are significantly fewer standardized guidelines for interventions in mental health settings.

Methodology: This study aims to develop guidelines for psychiatric social work interventions in mental health settings.

A character-strengths based coaching intervention to improve wellbeing of rural community health workers in Madhya Pradesh, India: Protocol for a single-blind randomized controlled trial.

Background: There is scarce knowledge on the use of structured positive psychology interventions for reducing work-stress and improving wellbeing of rural community health workers in India, particularly the Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) who are village-level (resident women, incentivised) lay health workers. This trial will test the effectiveness of a 'character-strengths' based coaching intervention compared to routine supervision on wellbeing ('authentic happiness') of ASHAs.

Methods: This protocol is for a single-blind, parallel group randomized controlled trial comparing the effectiveness of a five-day residential workshop focusing on the use of character-strengths and subsequent 8- to 10-week remote telephonic coaching (weekly) to individually support ASHAs to improve their wellbeing, against routine health system support.

The genetics of severe depression.

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of major depressive disorder (MDD) have recently achieved extremely large sample sizes and yielded substantial numbers of genome-wide significant loci. Because of the approach to ascertainment and assessment in many of these studies, some of these loci appear to be associated with dysphoria rather than with MDD, potentially decreasing the clinical relevance of the findings. An alternative approach to MDD GWAS is to focus on the most severe forms of MDD, with the hope that this will enrich for loci of larger effect, rendering their identification plausible, and providing potentially more clinically actionable findings.