Can community-based integrated vector control hasten the process of LF elimination?

Community-based integrated vector control (IVC) using polystyrene beads (EPS) and pyrethroid impregnated curtains (PIC) as an adjunct to mass drug administration (MDA) was implemented for lymphatic filariasis elimination, in the filaria endemic villages of Tirukoilur, south India. In all the villages, MDA was carried out by the state health machinery, as part of the national filariasis elimination programme. Thirty-six difficult-to-control villages were grouped as, viz, MDA alone, MDA + EPS and MDA + EPS + PIC arms.

Antibiotics as Japanese Encephalitis virus inhibitors: a combinatorial computational approach.

Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a viral neurologic disease of global public health importance. JE is caused by an RNA virus - the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) belonging to genus Flavivirus in the family Flaviviridae. JE is endemic in many parts of Asia and western pacific.

Synthesis of multi ring-fused imidazo [1,2- a]isoquinoline-based fluorescent scaffold as anti-Herpetic agent.

Background: Natural product-inspired synthesis is a key incorporation in modern diversity-oriented synthesis to yield biologically novel scaffold. Inspired by β-carboline fused system, we have designed molecules with multi ring fused scaffold by modifying the tricyclic pyrido[3,4- b]indole ring with imidazo[1,2- a]isoquinoline.

Methods: A highly convergent approach with new C-N and C-C bond formation to synthesize multiring fused complex scaffold imidazo[1,2- a]isoquinolinies as fluorophores.

Esophageal Cancer Epigenomics and Integrome Analysis of Genome-Wide Methylation and Expression in High Risk Northeast Indian Population.

Esophageal cancer is a major global health burden with a strong host-environment interaction component and epigenomics underpinnings that remain to be elucidated further. Certain populations such as the Northeast Indians suffer at a disproportionately higher rate from this devastating disease. Promoter methylation is correlated with transcriptional silencing of various genes in esophageal cancer.

An Estimation of Private Household Costs to Receive Free Oral Cholera Vaccine in Odisha, India.

Background: Service provider costs for vaccine delivery have been well documented; however, vaccine recipients' costs have drawn less attention. This research explores the private household out-of-pocket and opportunity costs incurred to receive free oral cholera vaccine during a mass vaccination campaign in rural Odisha, India.

Methods: Following a government-driven oral cholera mass vaccination campaign targeting population over one year of age, a questionnaire-based cross-sectional survey was conducted to estimate private household costs among vaccine recipients.

Status of epigenetic chromatin modification enzymes and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma risk in northeast Indian population.

Esophageal cancer incidence is reported in high frequency in northeast India. The etiology is different from other population at India due to wide variations in dietary habits or nutritional factors, tobacco/betel quid chewing and alcohol habits. Since DNA methylation, histone modification and miRNA-mediated epigenetic processes alter the gene expression, the involvement of these processes might be useful to find out epigenetic markers of esophageal cancer risk in northeast Indian population.

Emergence and spread of tetracycline resistant Vibrio cholerae O1 El Tor variant during 2010 cholera epidemic in the tribal areas of Odisha, India.

Objectives: The epidemics of cholera were reported in the Kashipur, K.singhpur, B cuttack blocks of Rayagada district and Mohana block of Gajapati district of Odisha during 2010. The present study was carried out to isolate the bacterial pathogen, its drug sensitivity pattern and to describe the spread of the disease in those areas.

Uptake during an oral cholera vaccine pilot demonstration program, Odisha, India.

Approximately 30% of reported global cholera cases occur in India. In 2011, a household survey was conducted 4 months after an oral cholera vaccine pilot demonstration project in Odisha India to assess factors associated with vaccine up-take and exposure to a communication and social mobilization campaign. Nine villages were purposefully selected based on socio-demographics and demonstration participation rates.

Factors associated with history of drug use among female sex workers (FSW) in a high HIV prevalence state of India.

Background: The intersection between illicit drug use and female commercial sex work has been identified as an important factor responsible for rising HIV prevalence among female sex workers (FSW) in several northeastern states of India. But, little is know about the factors associated with the use of drugs among FSWs in this region. The objective of the paper was to describe the factors associated with history of drug use among FSWs in Dimapur, an important commercial hub of Nagaland, which is a high HIV prevalence state of India.

Epidemic of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Central India, an area where chloroquine has been replaced by artemisinin-based combination therapy.

India contributes greatly to the global incidence of malaria. The factors influencing malaria in India are highly diverse and vary greatly from the epidemiological setting of any other country. Central India is the most vulnerable area to malaria in India.

Clinical progression of chikungunya fever during acute and chronic arthritic stages and the changes in joint morphology as revealed by imaging.

This longitudinal follow-up study of 203 patients with serologically confirmed chikungunya (CHIK) virus infection describes the clinical features of CHIK fever during the first and tenth months of illness. During the acute stage CHIK fever presents with a wide array of symptoms. The foremost chronic symptoms at the end of a month were rheumatism (75%) and fatigue (30%).

Epidemics of severe cholera caused by El Tor Vibrio cholerae O1 Ogawa possessing the ctxB gene of the classical biotype in Orissa, India.

Background: We investigated the epidemic of cholera that occurred in Kashipur and Dasmantpur blocks of Orissa, reported during July-September 2007.

Methods: Sixty-two rectal swabs and 28 water samples collected from diarrhea patients at different hospitals and villages were bacteriologically analyzed for the identification, antibiogram, and detection of toxic genes of Vibrio cholerae.

Results: The cholera outbreaks were caused by V.

Injecting and sexual risk behaviours, sexually transmitted infections and HIV prevalence in injecting drug users in three states in India.

Objective: To describe and compare sexual and injecting risk behaviours and sexually transmitted infections (STI), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV prevalence in injecting drug users (IDU) in six districts in three states of India: Manipur, Nagaland, and Maharashtra.

Method: The respondent-driven sample consisted of 2075 IDU. Consenting participants were administered a structured questionnaire and samples of blood and urine were collected to test for HIV and STI.

Molecular tracking of the lineage of strains of Vibrio cholerae O1 biotype El Tor associated with a cholera outbreak in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India.

A large outbreak of acute watery diarrhoea involving all age groups of mongoloid tribal aborigines occurred during October-November, 2002 in the Nancowry group of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean. Twenty-one of the 67 stool samples from 67 patients were positive for toxigenic Vibrio cholerae O1, serotype Ogawa biotype El Tor, which showed striking similarity in its antibiogram with some of the strains of V. cholerae O1 Serotype Ogawa biotype El Tor isolated in Kolkata.

Japanese encephalitis in Assam, northeast India.

Japanese encephalitis is one of the major public health problems in Assam, northeast India. We aimed to elucidated the clinical and epidemiological profile of the disease during several outbreaks in Assam in 3 consecutive years. Cerebro-spinal fluid and or serum samples of 348 out of 773 clinically-suspected viral encephalitis patients admitted to different hospitals during the period June to August of 2000 to 2002 were tested for detection of JE specific IgM antibody, employing MAC ELISA test at RMRC (ICMR), Dibrugarh.

Leptospirosis among schoolchildren of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, India: low levels of morbidity and mortality among pre-exposed children during an epidemic.

Leptospirosis is an important public health problem in the Andaman Islands. The disease is being increasingly reported among children and adolescents in recent times. An attempt was made to find out the level of exposure to leptospires, to estimate the incidence of infection and to identity the risk factors for acquiring infection among children.

The PfCRT (K76T) point mutation favours clone multiplicity and disease severity in Plasmodium falciparum infection.

In Orissa, a malaria-hyperendemic area of India, we assessed the relationship between the PfCRT (K76T) point mutation of Plasmodium falciparum and the clinical severity of malaria. Forty uncomplicated and 36 severe malaria cases were selected, and parasite species, density and schizontaemia determined by examination of Giemsa-stained thick or thin blood films. The PfCRT point mutation was analysed by PCR-RFLP and genotypes of the parasite isolates investigated by nested PCR using the polymorphic region of the merozoite surface protein-2.

Codeine containing cough syrup addiction in assam and nagaland.

The drug abuse monitoring study of Regional Medical Research Center, Dibrugarh, reported 181 and 395 addicts from the states of Assam and Nagaland respectively in one year. Of these, 48 (26.5%) and 49(12.

Amputee population in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

A 14 year retrospective study was conducted of 3210 amputees who attended during the period 1977-1990 at Riyadh Medical Rehabilitation Centre (RMRC), the first and the largest rehabilitation centre in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The mean age was 30.5 years, male slightly older than female.

Response of Plasmodium falciparum to chloroquine in a tribal area of Madhya Pradesh.

In vivo tests for chloroquine sensitivity of P. falciparum malaria parasites were carried out on a sample of 130 patients (mean age, 21 years) from two PHCs during October-November 1988. During this period 20 cases (5.