Recent Articles

Present trend of the crimes in India reveals that a wide variety of firearms including factory /country made are illegally used in crimes like murder, armed robbery, riot, poaching etc. Out of the total firearms received in Tripura State Forensic Science Laboratory, Agartala for the last ten years, about 30% of the firearms are observed to be belonging to country made pistol/pipe guns.

A prospective case-control study was undertaken to evaluate the association of inner segment-ellipsoid (ISel) band disruption with severity of diabetic retinopathy on spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. ISel disruption was graded as - grade 0: intact ISel; grade 1: focal disruption (subfoveal ISel disruption) and grade 2: global disruption (ISel disruption involving macular cube). Increased severity of diabetic retinopathy was found to be associated with increase in disruption of ISel (r = 0.49, p < 0.001).

Aspergillus infection in an immunocompetent human host is a rare entity. In most cases it presents as an opportunistic pathogen in immunocompromised patients. The portal of entry is usually the respiratory tract or direct inoculation of the organism to the site. Aspergillus osteomyelitis is a debilitating and severe form of Invasive Aspergillosis.

This study investigated comparative concentrations of individual amino acids, total amino acids (TAA), non-essential amino acids (NEA) and essential amino acids (EAA) in the blood after the administration of Rice Protein Isolate (RPI) compared to Whey Protein Isolate (WPI).

The purpose of this study is to synthesize and characterize nanodroplets, loaded with docetaxel for treatment of prostate cancer under MR-guided focused ultrasound. Water insoluble docetaxel encapsulated in nanodroplets is expected to be delivered into tumors with greater efficiency while minimizing drug related systemic toxicities when used in combination with focused ultrasound. The sequence of our studies toward development and characterization of docetaxel-loaded nanodroplets is as follows. First, we developed methods for synthesis of ultrasound-responsive, docetaxel-loaded nanodroplets (Doc-nd) by a solid dispersion technique. Secondly, we characterized Doc-nd by its morphology and size distributions using a dynamic light scattering (DLS) method.

Esophageal carcinoma is the eighth most common cancer, and the sixth most common cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Esophageal carcinomas in developing nations account for more than 80% of the total cases and deaths. Esophageal cancer can arise as esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) or esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), which have distinct etiological and pathological characteristics. ESCC is the most common histological type of esophageal cancer in the Eastern world, and its incidence remains stable. In contrast, the epidemiology of esophageal cancer in developed nations has dramatically changed over the past 40 years. Forty years ago, ESCC accounted for more than 90% of esophageal cancer cases in the United States. However, adenocarcinoma has now become the leading type of esophageal cancer in the United States, representing 80% of cases.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the encapsulation performance of Croscarmellose sodium, a superdisintegrant in a low-dose, poor-solubility drug formulation and the in-vitro dissolution performance of the Piroxicam capsules. Preparation, characterization and evaluation of the effects of the different concentrations of carmellose sodium and the amount of dried starch on in-vitro dissolution of Piroxicam capsules. Piroxicam was chosen for its very low solubility in biological fluids, which result in poor systemic bioavailability after oral administration. Piroxicam can be categorized as Class II drugs according to the Biopharmaceutics Classification System.

The Health Improvement Network (THIN) provided data from UK General Practitioners (GPs) for 144 pregnant women who were prescribed zanamivir and 144 age- and date-matched untreated comparators with no recorded diagnosis of influenza. Groups were assessed for baseline characteristics, treatment-emergent diagnoses in the mother, pregnancy outcomes and congenital malformations diagnosed in the offspring within 28 days of birth.

The aim of this study is to apply wet granulation on liquisolid powders to overcome issues of poor powder flowability and compressibility especially with using high viscosity liquid vehicles. Different liquisolid formulations were made using three excipients where the effect of each excipient used in the dissolution of the model hydrophobic drug (Glibenclamide) was evaluated. The Glibenclamide tablets were formulated using PEG 400, Synperonic PE/L44 and Cremophor ELP, at a 10 %w/w in liquid vehicle drug concentration. The carrier (Avicel®PH102) was used followed by colloidal silicon dioxide (coating material) that converted the wet mixture into dry powder. Potato starch, 5%w/w, as a disintegrant was mixed with the mixture manually for 10 minutes and was finalized by adding 0.75% of magnesium stearate as a lubricant.

Heart failure (HF) is a complex clinical syndrome, of a progressive character, that has a limited prognostic factor and manifested by various extracardiac aspects. It represents a serious and growing public health problem worldwide, both for its high prevalence and the severity of its clinical manifestations, being the final common pathway of most diseases. Undernutrition is often associated with HF, especially in the later stages of the disease, and may chronically reach cardiac cachexia, a severe manifestation related to poor clinical prognosis.

One of the core components of Safe Motherhood Initiatives (SMI) is nutrition, yet only few studies have considered this adequately. The goal of this intervention study was to evaluate the effect of training programme on knowledge and perception of PHC health workers on nutrition components of SMIs.

Opinion is divided as to the changes in ventricular function brought about by exercise, with few studies on water-based exercise programmes for heart-failure patients. This study investigates whether following a partial water-based exercise programme could lead to an earlier improvement in ventricular function in heart-failure patients compared with a land-based exercise programme.

New analytic methods based on nonlinear system theory have been developed to characterize the nonlinear features in HR dynamics. It is known from long time series (24h ECG recordings) that patients with chronic heart failure or stable coronary heart disease have altered fractal organization in heartbeat dynamics. During such long-time series, many confounding could limit the assessment of autonomic functions.

Recently, the pathogenesis of coronary atherosclerosis - a primary cause of cardiovascular disease – studied in a swine model has been investigated by considering in particular the effects of a high cholesterol diet lasting 8 or 16 weeks.

Stroke symptoms noticed upon waking, wake-up stroke, account for up to a quarter of all acute ischemic strokes. Patients with wake-up stroke, however, are often excluded from thrombolytic therapy.

Feline lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD) is a supposed to a life threatening condition in cats, especially in males (Toms), when obstructive. Early diagnosis and treatment is necessary otherwise it may lead to death. Condition appears with stranguria, pollakiuria, dysuria and sometime in severe conditions hematuria and anuria may be present. Similar five cases of age ranging from 3-6 years, with common history of commercial feed and indoor placement were examined during the course of 3 month. Firstly clinical evaluation including clinical parameters and physical manipulation was done followed by laboratory tests. Complete blood count (CBC) didn’t give any significant change but urinalysis results were quite doubtful with high values of specific gravity (SP), pH, erythrocyte, bacterial and leukocyte count.

Sarcoidosis is a multisystem granulomatous disease of unknown aetiology. It usually has a benign course, but those cases with multi system involvement have poorer prognosis. Sarcoidosis is an under diagnosed disease in India, probably due to the close resemblance to tuberculosis and the lack of awareness. But this disease is not so rare in India, as previously thought.

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the most common serious bacterial infection in febrile children younger than 3 months, with reported rates ranging from 5% to 20% depending on different series. Neonates and infants up to age 2 months who have pyelonephritis usually do not have symptoms localized to the urinary tract.

To develop and test nutrition messages for Asian Indian mothers addressing eight feeding behaviors likely to influence children’s dietary intake and weight.

Physical inactivity, poor diet habit, and poor dental hygiene are big concerns among people with intellectual disabilities that cause a rise in obesity rates with increases in the risk of chronic diseases as well as emotional problems. A healthy diet and regular physical activity can prevent chronic diseases. Proper oral hygiene may improve a person’s health and quality of life.