Using Wearable Biosensors to Predict Length of Stay for Patients with IBD After Bowel Surgery

Digestive Diseases and Sciences - It remains unknown whether ambulation or sleep predicts postoperative length of stay for patients with IBD. We aim to identify the utility of wearable biosensors...     

Spectrum of ocular firework injuries in children: A 5-year retrospective study during a festive season in Southern India

Purpose:

Ocular trauma is a major cause of acquired monocular blindness in children. Firework injuries account for 20% of ocular trauma. The purpose of our study was to document the profile of ocular firework injuries in children during the festive season of Diwali and to determine the prevalence of unilateral blindness in them.

Materials and Methods:

A retrospective chart analysis of ocular firework injury in children during the festival of Diwali from 2009 to 2013, conducted in a tertiary care eye center in Tamil Nadu, Southern India. Children below 18 years of age with ocular firework injuries who presented to the emergency department for 3 consecutive days - the day of Diwali, 1 day before, and 1 day after Diwali - were included in this study.

Results:

Eighty-four children presented with firework-related ocular injuries during the study period. Male to female ratio was 4:1 with mean age 9.48 ± 4 years. Forty-four percentage required hospitalization. The prevalence of unilateral blindness in children due to fireworks was found to be 8% (95% confidence interval - 2–13%).

Conclusion:

Vision 2020 gives high priority to avoidable blindness, especially in children. In our study, for every 12 children who presented with firecracker injury, one resulted in unilateral blindness. This is an avoidable cause of blindness. Awareness needs to be created, and changes in policy regarding sales and handling of firecrackers including mandatory use of protective eyewear should be considered.     

Recent advances on the δ opioid receptor: from trafficking to function

Within the opioid family of receptors, δ (DOPrs) and μ opioid receptors (MOPrs) are typical GPCRs that activate canonical second-messenger signalling cascades to influence diverse cellular functions in neuronal and non-neuronal cell types. These receptors activate well-known pathways to influence ion channel function and pathways such as the map kinase cascade, AC and PI3K. In addition new information regarding opioid receptor-interacting proteins, downstream signalling pathways and resultant functional effects has recently come to light. In this review, we will examine these novel findings focusing on the DOPr and, in doing so, will contrast and compare DOPrs with MOPrs in terms of differences and similarities in function, signalling pathways, distribution and interactions. We will also discuss and clarify issues that have recently surfaced regarding the expression and function of DOPrs in different cell types and analgesia.

LINKED ARTICLES

This article is part of a themed section on Opioids: New Pathways to Functional Selectivity. To view the other articles in this section visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bph.2015.172.issue-2     

Coincident Kikuchi-Fujimoto’s disease and adult-onset Still’s disease: report of a patient from an uncommonly affected population and case-directed systematic review

Clinical Rheumatology - Kikuchi-Fujimoto's disease (KFD) and adult-onset Still’s disease (AOSD) are rare idiopathic inflammatory conditions of unknown etiology. Ten prior instances of KFD...     

Utility of urinary progranulin in patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy and its correlation with renal function

International Journal of Diabetes in Developing Countries - Urinary progranulin is an inflammatory marker that may indicate renal damage at an early stage of diabetic nephropathy. To determine...     

Hepatitis C virus genotypes: distribution and clinical significance in patients with cirrhosis type C seen at tertiary referral centres in Europe

The aim of this study was to evaluate the distribution and clinical significance of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes in European patients with compensated cirrhosis due to hepatitis C (Child class A) seen at tertiary referral centres. HCV genotypes were determined by genotype-specific primer PCR in 255 stored serum samples obtained from cirrhotics followed for a median period of 7 years. Inclusion criteria were biopsy-proven cirrhosis, absence of complications of cirrhosis and exclusion of all other potential causes of chronic liver disease. The proportion of patients with types 1b, 2, 3a, 1a, 4 and 5 were 69%, 19%, 6%, 5%, 0.5% and 0.5%, respectively. Kaplan–Meier 5-year risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was 6% and 4% for patients infected by type 1b and non-1b, respectively ( P =0.8); the corresponding figures for decompensation were 18% and 7% ( P =0.0009) and for event-free survival were 79% and 89% ( P =0.09), respectively. After adjustment for baseline clinical and serological features, HCV type 1b did not increase the risk for HCC [adjusted relative risk=1.0 (95% confidence interval=0.47–2.34)], whereas it increased the risk for decompensation by a factor of 3 (1.2–7.4) and decreased event-free survival by a factor of 1.7 (0.9–3.10). In conclusion, type 1b and, to a lesser extent, type 2, are the most common HCV genotypes in European patients with cirrhosis. HCV type 1b is not associated with a greater risk for HCC, but increases the risk for decompensation by threefold in patients with cirrhosis.     

An unusual case of haemobilia

Arterio-biliary fistula is an uncommon cause of haemobilia. We describe a case of right hepatic artery pseudo-aneurysm causing arterio-biliary fistula and presenting as severe melaena and cholangitis. Gastroduodenoscopy failed to establish the exact source of bleeding and hepatic artery angiography and selective embolization of the pseudo-aneurysm successfully controlled the bleeding. Pseudo-aneurysm of the hepatic artery is mostly iatrogenic due to biliary intervention, as demonstrated in this case. Difficulty in diagnosis and management is discussed together with a review of the literature.