Immunotherapy in leprosy: a new approach

An immunotherapeutic agent prepared from patient's own affected skin was tried in 30 leprosy cases. 53.6% cases of lepromatous and borderline lepromatous group showed lepromin conversion from lepromin negativity to positivity after 12 weeks of immunotherapy. The clinical and bacteriological improvement was also good. 88.1% cases of borderline tuberculoid also showed fair to good clinical recovery following 12 weeks of immunotherapy.     

Diagnostic tools and imaging methods in intervertebral disk degeneration

Low back pain has a negative impact on the economy and society. Intervertebral disk degeneration is linked to the occurrence of low back pain. MRI provides three-dimensional morphologic and biochemical information regarding the status of the disk. This article reviews new and evolving MRI disk-imaging techniques, including grading, relaxation-time measurements, diffusion, and contrast perfusion. In addition, high-resolution magic-angle spinning methods to correlate in vitro disk degeneration (with pain, etc) and in vivo spectroscopic results are discussed. With the potential for morphologic and biochemical characterization of the intervertebral disk, MRI shows promise as a tool to quantitatively assess disk health.     

A study on cardiovascular risk factors among care-providers of an apex hospital of Kolkata

Cardiovascular diseases, mostly a lifestyle related disease is going to be an epidemic in near future. Eighty per cent deaths due to cardiovascular diseases occur in low and middle-income group of people. A cross-sectional observational study was undertaken among 208 care-providers of different departments of the Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata to assess the prevalence of general, physical activity related and dietary risk factors. The study subjects were classified into medical (doctors), auxiliary (nurses, technical staffs) and supportive (peons, sweepers) categories according to their job responsibilities. With the help of risk factor scoring system developed by the investigators the prevalence of different category of risk factors were compared among different categories of care-providers in association with some related biological characteristics. The general risk factors found significantly increased (p < 0.001) with increase in age. The physical activity related risk scores were more in females than males. But the difference was not statistically significant. The supportive staffs had significantly higher general risk factors than doctors and auxiliary staffs. Regarding physical activity related risk factors it was significantly lower in supportive staffs than the other two categories. The picture was different in case of dietary risk factors that were found to be significantly lowest among auxiliary staffs.     

Emergency management of sigmoid volvulus--institutional experience over four years

Sigmoid volvulus is a serious surgical emergency and a common cause of large bowel obstruction in India. Patients present with abdominal pain, distension and obstipation and abdominal skiagram usually reveals the characteristic omega sign. Non-operative detorsion with early elective sigmoidectomy is the procedure of choice where gut viability is not in doubt and features of peritonitis are absent. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the most suitable procedure for management of patients with sigmoid volvulus needing emergency surgery. Results revealed a high incidence of burst abdomen and anastomotic leak as well as a high mortality rate in patients undergoing resection with primary anastomosis without proximal colostomy. Mortality was least with Hartmann's procedure although there was a higher incidence of wound infection. Thus, in the hospital setting, we consider Hartmann's procedure to be the best emergency surgical procedure for sigmoid volvulus as it limits mortality to the least.     

Human fatalities from wild elephant attacks--a study of fourteen cases

Human-wild elephant conflicts are frequently reported from various parts of the country. Encroaching of animal habitat by human civilization is a primary reason for this. The present study comprises of fourteen autopsy cases conducted at the department of Forensic Medicine, B.S Medical College, Bankura, West Bengal, India over a period of three years. The study attempts to find out the nature of injuries caused by wild elephant attack and the common factors contributing to human-wild elephant conflict so that vulnerable population can be cautioned to avoid conflicts. A distinct seasonal as well as diurnal variation of attack incidences was noted. Attacks were sudden and unprovoked. Killer elephants were wild tuskers in all the cases. Victims were from the low socioeconomic group and the cause of death was due to trampling on the vital organs like chest and head.     

A profile of fatal snake bite cases in the Bankura district of West Bengal

Deaths due to snake envenomation are considered as a public health problem in rural India. The scenario is no different in Bankura district of West Bengal. 86 cases of deaths due to snake bites were recorded during a three year period from January 2006 to December 2008. Nearly 60% of the victims were in the age group of 21-40 years and males comprised 60.47% of the cases. Majority of the incidences occurred during the monsoons and during day time. The present study also highlights the sociological impact and suggests certain preventive measures to reduce snake bite mortality.     

Osteoarthritis of the knee at 3.0 T: comparison of a quantitative and a semi-quantitative score for the assessment of the extent of cartilage lesion and bone marrow edema pattern in a 24-month longitudinal study

Objective  

To compare a semi-quantitative and a quantitative morphological score for assessment of early osteoarthritis (OA) evolution.     

Longitudinal analysis of MRI T2 knee cartilage laminar organization in a subset of patients from the osteoarthritis initiative: A texture approach

Cartilage magnetic resonance imaging T₂ relaxation time is sensitive to hydration, collagen content, and tissue anisotropy, and a potential imaging‐based biomarker for knee osteoarthritis. This longitudinal pilot study presents an improved cartilage flattening technique that facilitates texture analysis using gray‐level co‐occurrence matrices parallel and perpendicular to the cartilage layers, and the application of this technique to the knee cartilage of 13 subjects of the osteoarthritis initiative at baseline, 1‐year follow‐up, and 2‐year follow‐up. Cartilage flattening showed minimum distortion (～ 0.5 ms) of mean T₂ values between nonflattened and flattened T₂ maps. Gray‐level co‐occurrence matrices texture analysis of flattened T₂ maps detected a cartilage laminar organization at baseline, 1‐year follow‐up, and 2‐year follow‐up by yielding significant (P < 0.05) differences between texture parameters perpendicular and parallel to the cartilage layers. Tendencies showed higher contrast, dissimilarity, angular second moment, and energy perpendicular to the cartilage layers; and higher homogeneity, entropy, variance, and correlation parallel to them. Significant (P < 0.05) longitudinal texture changes were also detected reflecting subtle signs of a laminar disruption. Tendencies showed decreasing contrast, dissimilarity, and entropy; and increasing homogeneity, energy, and correlation. Results of this study warrant further investigation to complete the assessment of the usefulness of the presented methodology in the study of knee osteoarthritis. Magn Reson Med, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.