Perceptions and attitude towards tobacco smoking among doctors in Chandigarh

Two hundred and eighteen randomly selected doctors drawn from among the faculty and students of Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research; Interns and staff at the General Hospital; and General practitioners of the Chandigarh city, were administered a structured questionnaire. Among them 31.6% were current smokers whereas 23.3% had stopped smoking (ex-smokers). All but one of the smokers were men who smoked cigarettes. Spirit of experimentation and peer influence were important initiating factors whereas the habit was continued mainly to concentrate on work/study. Doctors were uniformly aware of the detrimental effects of smoking, particularly its association with lung cancer, chronic bronchitis and coronary artery disease, and this was the major reason for their abstaining or wanting to quit the habit. The relation of smoking with oral cancer, laryngeal cancer, emphysema and peripheral vascular disease was not well appreciated. Counselling patients about hazards of smoking was practised significantly less often by smoking doctors and surgeons. The options favoured by doctors for preventing smoking included a ban on tobacco advertising, specific health warning on cigarette/bidi packs, and restriction of smoking in public places, particularly hospitals and clinics.     

An unusual case of solitary scleroma of cheek

Scleroma is a disease of unwashed and occurs in people living in poor unhygienic conditions. Commonly it involves respiratory tract. We encountered a case of scleroma over cheek presenting as a solitary nodule without any sign of nasal scleroma.     

Effect of acupuncture on knee function in advanced osteoarthritis of the knee: a prospective, non-randomised controlled study

We report a prospective controlled trial, comparing acupuncture with no treatment, in patients with advanced osteoarthritis of the knee awaiting total knee replacement. Knee function was assessed at the beginning of study and at the end of two months, using four parameters: HSS score, time to walk 50 metres, time to climb 20 steps, and degree of pain. Acupuncture was given at four local points around the knee and at one distal point. The acupuncture group improved in all parameters, whereas the control group deteriorated, a finding that was highly statistically significant (p < 0.0002). Further randomised-controlled trials with longer follow-up are required to confirm these findings.     

A flexible implantable microelectrode array for recording electrocorticography signals from rodents

Biomedical Microdevices - Electrocorticography signals, the intracranial recording of electrical signatures of the brain, are recorded by non-penetrating planar electrode arrays placed on the...     

Preferential tendon stem cell response to growth factor supplementation

Tendon injuries are increasingly prevalent around the world, accounting for more than 100 000 new clinical cases/year in the USA alone. Cell‐based therapies have been proposed as a therapeutic strategy, with recent data advocating the use of tendon stem cells (TSCs) as a potential cell source with clinical relevance for tendon regeneration. However, their in vitro expansion is problematic, as they lose their multipotency and change their protein expression profile in culture. Herein, we ventured to assess the influence of insulin‐like growth factor 1 (IGF‐1), growth and differentiation factor‐5 (GDF‐5) and transforming growth factor‐β1 (TGFβ1) supplementation in TSC culture. IGF‐1 preserved multipotency for up to 28 days. Upregulation of decorin and scleraxis expression was observed as compared to freshly isolated cells. GDF‐5 treated cells exhibited reduced differentiation along adipogenic and chondrogenic pathways after 28 days, and decorin, scleraxis and collagen type I expression was increased. After 28 days, TGFβ1 supplementation led to increased scleraxis, osteonectin and collagen type II expression. The varied responses to each growth factor may reflect their role in tendon repair, suggesting that: GDF‐5 promotes the transition of tendon stem cells towards tenocytes; TGFβ1 induces differentiation along several pathways, including a phenotype indicative of fibrocartilage or calcified tendon, common problems in tendon healing; and IGF‐1 promotes proliferation and maintenance of TSC phenotypes, thereby creating a population sufficient to have a beneficial effect. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Examining Patient Conceptions: A Case of Metastatic Breast Cancer in an African American Male to Female Transgender Patient

An African American male to female transgender patient treated with estrogen detected a breast lump that was confirmed by her primary care provider. The patient refused mammography and 14 months later she was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer with spinal cord compression. We used ethnographic interviews and observations to elicit the patient’s conceptions of her illness and actions. The patient identified herself as biologically male and socially female; she thought that the former protected her against breast cancer; she had fears that excision would make a breast tumor spread; and she believed injectable estrogens were less likely than oral estrogens to cause cancer. Analysis suggests dissociation between the patient’s social and biological identities, fear and fatalism around cancer screening, and legitimization of injectable hormones. This case emphasizes the importance of eliciting and interpreting a patient’s conceptions of health and illness when discordant understandings develop between patient and physician.     

Hyperbranched PEGmethacrylate linear pDMAEMA block copolymer as an efficient non-viral gene delivery vector

A unique hyperbranched polymeric system with a linear poly-2-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (pDMAEMA) block and a hyperbranched polyethylene glycol methyl ether methacrylate (PEGMEMA) and ethylene dimethacrylate (EGDMA) block was designed and synthesized via deactivation enhanced atom transfer radical polymerisation (DE-ATRP) for efficient gene delivery. Using this unique structure, with a linear pDMAEMA block, which efficiently binds to plasmid DNA (pDNA) and hyperbranched polyethylene glycol (PEG) based block as a protective shell, we were able to maintain high transfection levels without sacrificing cellular viability even at high doses. The transfection capability and cytotoxicity of the polymers over a range of pDNA concentration were analysed and the results were compared to commercially available transfection vectors such as polyethylene imine (branched PEI, 25 kDa), partially degraded poly(amido amine)dendrimer (dPAMAM; commercial name: SuperFect(?)) in fibroblasts and adipose tissue derived stem cells (ADSCs).