Immunomodulator Therapy in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Opinion statement  

Occupational stress in naval personnel

Introduction: Increased stress levels have been reported and it has been implicated for mental illness amongst service personnel. However no study has been reported among Indian naval sailors.     

Forced vergence fixation disparity parameters with and without a central fusion lock

The effect of a central fusion lock on forced vergence fixation disparity curve parameters, that is, magnitudes of fixation disparity and associated phoria, curve type and the central slope of the curve, was studied in 84 subjects because of ambiguity in the previous studies. It was found that the magnitudes of exo fixation disparity and exo associated phoria decreased significantly when they were measured with the central fusion lock. The central lock had no noticeable effect on the type of the curve, although, the central slope of the curve was flatter in the presence of the central lock.     

Transient synovitis of the hip in children: role of US

Transient synovitis of the hip remains a common diagnostic problem for the clinician. The physical signs are not pathognomonic of the condition, and the classic technical examinations are of little help. Therefore, the authors retrospectively studied the value of hip arthrosonography in 46 children with clinical symptoms suggesting pathologic hip conditions. In 20 of the 21 patients with a final diagnosis of transient synovitis, articular effusion was detected on ultrasound (US). Conventional radiography showed an increased medial joint space in only eight of these patients. Increased echogenicity of the articular fluid was found in both transient synovitis and septic arthritis. The high sensitivity of US in detecting intraarticular fluid was demonstrated by cadaver studies.     

Characterization and growth in human macrophages of Mycobacterium avium complex strains isolated from the blood of patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

Strains of the Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) yield opaque and transparent colonial variants when cultivated in vitro. The transparent variants are more virulent than the opaque for animals, but little is known about the respective roles of these colonial variants in humans. To assess which variant infects humans, various blood fractions from eight patients with MAC bacteremia were plated directly onto 7H10 agar. In cell fractionation studies, all the M. avium complex CFU were associated with leukocytes and none were found free in plasma. All colonies on the primary culture plate exhibited the transparent phenotype. However, during subculture in 7H9 broth or on Lowenstein-Jensen agar, opaque variants appeared in seven of eight strains. Isogenic pairs of transparent and opaque variants were prepared and used to infect in vitro human monocyte-derived macrophages from healthy seronegative individuals. Transparent variants invariably grew inside macrophages, but only one of seven opaque variants did so. These observations indicate that the bacteremia of M. avium complex in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome patients consists exclusively of the transparent variants, perhaps because these variants are able to multiply inside macrophages. In contrast, opaque variants appear after in vitro subculture and are controlled by human macrophages, consistent with their reduced virulence in animals.