Herpes zoster and post-herpetic neuralgia--a clinical trial of aspirin in chloroform for anodyne

Pain associated with Herpes Zoster (HZ) and Post-herpetic Neuralgia (PHN) has been a challenging task to manage with ease. Topical aspirin dissolved in chloroform is an effective means of reducing pain due to HZ and PHN in most patients. The locus of pain origin and analgesia induced by topical aspirin is supposed to be at cutaneous free nerve ending pain receptors. The present study was conduced in fifty two patients of HZ and PHN. Pain intensity before and after the application of drug was measured with help of Sort Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SE-MPQ). Most of the patients experienced relief of pain within 1-5 minutes after the aspirin-chloroform application. Maximum relief was achieved in about 30-40 minutes and persisted for 5-6 hrs. In the beginning 3-4 applications were required but frequency decreased gradually as the pain abated.     

Meningoencephalitis in brucellosis

Human brucellosis, more specifically neurobrucellosis, is a less commonly reported disease in India; although, animal brucellosis and seroprevalence in specific areas is well reported. We are reporting 4 cases of neurobrucellosis presenting as meningoencephalitis. Diagnosis was confirmed by serological test and agglutination titre was > 1:320 in all the patients. All these patients had close contact with animals and history of raw milk ingestion was present in 3 cases. The aim of presenting these cases is to create awareness among physicians while treating meningitis in persons, engaged in occupations related to brucellosis or having a history of ingestion of raw milk or milk product.     

Expression and characterization of αvβ5 integrin on intestinal macrophages

Macrophages play a crucial role in maintaining homeostasis in the intestine, but the underlying mechanisms have not yet been elucidated fully. Here, we show for the first time that mature intestinal macrophages in mouse intestine express high levels of αvβ5 integrin, which acts as a receptor for the uptake of apoptotic cells and can activate molecules involved in several aspects of tissue homeostasis such as angiogenesis and remodeling of the ECM. αvβ5 is not expressed by other immune cells in the intestine, is already present on intestinal macrophages soon after birth, and its expression is not dependent on the microbiota. In adults, αvβ5 is induced during the differentiation of monocytes in response to the local environment and it confers intestinal macrophages with the ability to promote engulfment of apoptotic cells via engagement of the bridging molecule milk fat globule EGF‐like molecule 8. In the absence of αvβ5, there are fewer monocytes in the mucosa and mature intestinal macrophages have decreased expression of metalloproteases and IL 10. Mice lacking αvβ5 on haematopoietic cells show increased susceptibility to chemical colitis and we conclude that αvβ5 contributes to the tissue repair by regulating the homeostatic properties of intestinal macrophages.     

Decrease in Antioxidant Status of Plasma and Erythrocytes from Geriatric Population

Background: Ageing is associated with an accumulation of free radical damage, which leads to physiological and clinical modifications. The study aims to find out the status of lipid profile, antioxidant enzymes, malondialdehyde in geriatric population. Patients/methods: The study was conducted on 150 subjects (75 healthy control between the ages of 20–30 years and 75 elderly subjects between ages of 50–70 years as cases). The following parameters were analyzed using the standard reference methods: lipid profile, reduced glutathione, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, catalase, superoxide dismutase and malondialdehyde. Results: The present study was conducted to estimate the oxidative stress parameters in geriatric population. Highly significant increase in total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C), VLDL-cholesterol (VLDL-C), malondialdehyde, catalase and decrease in high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), reduced glutathione, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, superoxide dismutase was observed in geriatrics when compared with their younger counterparts. Conclusion: This study concluded that there is enhanced oxidative stress and decreased antioxidant defence in geriatrics as compared to younger subjects which could play an important role in ageing. Dyslipidemia has become one of the important risk factors for the increasing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases. There is lack of awareness on the relationship between blood lipids and the risk of cardiovascular diseases in geriatric population. The strategy of early prevention should be adopted against dyslipidemia.