Experience of 100 solid organ transplants over a five‐yr period from the first successful pediatric multi‐organ transplant program in India

To analyze the clinical profile and outcome of pediatric patients who had undergone a liver and/or RT at our center over a five yr period, case records of all the patients who had undergone a liver or RT were analyzed retrospectively. One hundred solid organ transplants were performed at our center between January 2007 and January 2012. These included 50 liver, 44 renal, one sequential liver and renal, and two CLKT. BA was the most common indication for an LT (38%). At a median follow‐up of two yr three months, the patient survival was 88%. The most common indication for an RT was chronic glomerulonephritis (54.5%). At a median follow‐up of three yr, the survival was 91%. The CLKT were performed for hyperoxaluria. Two yr post LT, a sequential RT was performed for ESRD resulting from transplant associated microangiopathy. All patients received a living related graft. The common post‐operative complications were infections, vascular complications, and graft dysfunction. Survival rates for liver and RT at our center are comparable to those in the established centers in the West.     

A magnetically separable and recyclable g-C3N4/Fe3O4/porous ruthenium nanocatalyst for the photocatalytic degradation of water-soluble aromatic amines and azo dyes

Herein, we present the development of a visible-light-driven magnetically retrievable nanophotocatalyst made of porous ruthenium nanoparticles supported on magnetic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄/Fe₃O₄/p-RuNP) for the facile removal/degradation of aromatic amines and azo dyes from wastewater. Aromatic amines and azo-based dyes in water bodies are highly toxic and carcinogenic even at very low concentrations and are difficult to separate because of their high solubility. Our nanocatalyst can efficiently degrade/decompose the aromatic amines and azo dyes under visible light (LED/sunlight) at room temperature and in a wide pH range (pH 5.0–9.0) without using any external chemicals. The magnetic property of the nanocatalyst facilitates its efficient and facile separation from the reaction mixture for reuse in multiple photocatalytic cycles. The nanocatalyst-based degradation of azo dyes and aromatic amines presented here is simple and convenient in terms of efficiency, energy, reusability and cost. The process also does not require any external chemicals and forms gaseous/less harmful end products.

A magnetically separable and recyclable g-C₃N₄/Fe₃O₄/porous ruthenium nanocatalyst display excellent photocatalytic degradation of water-soluble aromatic amines and azo dyes at ambient condition.     

Coronavirus disease (COVID‐19): An updated review based on current knowledge and existing literature for dermatologists

The world entered the year 2020 with reports of the emergence of a new viral illness in Wuhan city, Hubei province, China. In January 2020, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) was identified to be the causative novel coronavirus for the cluster of patients suffering from pneumonia in China. The disease was later named as coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. Several studies, since then, have tried to study and explain the origin of SARS‐CoV‐2, its structure and pathogenicity, epidemiology, modes of transmission, spectrum of illness and causes of mortality and morbidity. The current management strategies focus on supportive care and prevention of complications. With no definite treatment, as of now, encouraging reports of some anti‐viral and anti‐malarial drugs in the management of COVID‐19 generate some hope. This review intends to cover the current known aspects of COVID‐19 and SARS‐CoV‐19, based on the available literature.     

Burden of ocular morbidities and color blindness among school-attending children in a foothill town of Uttarakhand State

Purpose:To estimate prevalence of common ocular morbidities including color blindness among school-attending children of an urban foothill town of Uttarakhand State in Northern India.Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted among school-going children of age group 6–16 years of standard I–XII. Schools were selected using population proportionate to the size sampling technique. Detailed ocular examination including color vision and unaided or aided visual acuity for various ocular morbidities was done. Data was entered into MS excel with statistical analysis using SPSS version 23 with significant P value <0.05.Results:In total, 13,492 students (mean age 10.9 ± 2.7 years) with almost equal male to female ratio were screened. Overall prevalence of ocular morbidity was 23.2%, with refractive error (18.5%) on top, followed by color blindness (2.2%). The later was observed more among males (3.0%) as compared to females (1.4%) with significantly higher odds, OR = 2.3 (1.7–2.9) (P < 0.001).Conclusion:Refractive error has been the most common ocular morbidity, followed by color blindness. Earliest detection can prevent permanent disability and disappointment among youngsters when rejected from entering certain professions due to color vision defect.     

Interval based fuzzy systems for identification of important genes from microarray gene expression data: Application to carcinogenic development

In the present article, we develop two interval based fuzzy systems for identification of some possible genes mediating the carcinogenic development in various tissues. The methodology involves dimensionality reduction, classifying the genes through incorporation of the notion of linguistic fuzzy sets low, medium and high, and finally selection of some possible genes mediating a particular disease, obtained by a rule generation/grouping technique. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology, is demonstrated using five microarray gene expression datasets dealing with human lung, colon, sarcoma, breast cancer and leukemia. Moreover, the superior capability of the methodology in selecting important genes, over five other existing gene selection methods, viz., Significance Analysis of Microarrays (SAM), Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), Neighborhood analysis (NA), Bayesian Regularization (BR) and Data-adaptive (DA) is demonstrated, in terms of the enrichment of each GO category of the important genes based on P-values. The results are appropriately validated by earlier investigations, gene expression profiles and t-test. The proposed methodology has been able to select genes that are more biologically significant in mediating the development of a disease than those obtained by the others.     

Hepatic alveolar hydatidosis — A malignant masquerade

A 43-year-old male presented with clinical features of obstructive jaundice. Biochemical tests and radiologic imaging were suggestive of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma with hilar block. Multiple attempts to obtain tissue diagnosis in the form of USG-guided FNAC & tru-cut biopsy failed. Exploratory laparotomy and wedge biopsy confirmed E. multilocularis (alveolar hydatid disease). The patient was managed with albendazole therapy. At 8-month follow-up, the patient was clinically asymptomatic with near normalization of biochemical parameters and significant regression of the lesion as shown by computed tomography. E. Multilocularis infection of the liver is quite rare in the Indian subcontinent and poses a diagnostic dilemma. Nonetheless, despite its rarity, it should be considered in the differential diagnosis when a patient presents with clinical and radiological features of a space-occupying lesion of the liver while attempts to set pathological diagnosis by FNA/ tru-cut biopsy are inconclusive. Awareness of this emerging infectious disease could prevent a fatal outcome, particularly amongst patients who have been exposure to wild life.