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Timely analysis of the laboratory characteristics associated with 2019 novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) can assist with clinical diagnosis and prognosis. This study is a collection of clinical data from 100 hospitalized patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in a dedicated COVID- 19 health center located in a semi-urban area from July to September, 2020. The average age of the patients was 50 years. The proportion of patients with comorbidities was 59%. Lymphocyte counts were reduced in the routine blood-work for all patients, but significantly lower in L2-type patients. Elevation of D-Dimer with near normal PT and APTT were detected in coagulation function tests, and more significant changes were observed in L2-type patients compared to L1-type patients. Serum ferritin levels were sensitive to SARS-CoV (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2) infection and found to rise in L2-type patients more than L1-type patients. Inflammatory markers, CRP and Interleukin-6 (IL-6) were significantly increased in all patients, but higher in L2-type patients compared to L1-type patients. Coming to organ damage, kidney injury was the most common organ affected by COVID-19 followed by heart and liver.

Introduction: Head and neck lesions are common as compared to other body lesions. In head and neck swellings- cervical lymph node swellings, thyroid swellings and salivary gland enlargement are included. Fine needle aspiration cytology ( FNAC)is less invasive, cost effective, safe and satisfactory OPD procedure. Aims and objective: To study the spectrum of lesions in head and neck in our semi urban area. And also assess the role of fine needle aspiration cytology in diagnosing the palpable head and neck swelling. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in department of pathology over a duration of 6 months on all age group patients in both sex male, female. This study had included total number of 392 patients with neck swelling in both kind of patients either indoor or outdoor. The fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) procedure was done in these patients with using 23 gauge needle and 20 ml disposable syringe for aspiration. Results: The study included total number of 392 cases. FNAC revealed 247 cases (63.01%) of cervical lymph node in which non neoplastic lesions were in 146(59.11%) and malignant lesions were in 85(34.41%) cases in which metastatic carcinoma was common. Conclusion: Fine needle aspiration cytology will be more helpful in neck swelling because of safe, cost effective and less painful comparatively biopsy. It can be easily performed in children and old age patients without giving anaesthesia. Keywords: Cervical Lymph nodes, FNAC thyroid head and neck swellings.

Purpose To compare the corneal endothelial cell density (ECD) before and after cataract surgery in patients with and without pseudoexfoliation syndrome (PEX). Methods In this prospective study, we compared the ECD in 62 PEX patients with 62 patients without PEX (controls). The mean age was 78.3 ± 6.2 years and 77.2 ± 5.9 years, respectively. Patients were examined before and at 6 months, 1 year and 2 years after cataract surgery. The corneal endothelium was examined with confocal microscopy, and the ECD was counted both automatically and semi-manually. Nine patients in the PEX group (15%) and 11 patients in the control group (18%) were lost to follow-up in the 2-year period. Within the PEX and the control groups, we also compared the ECD between patients with and without glaucoma. Results Before surgery, the ECD (semi-manual counting) was 2258 ± 342 cells/mm2 in the PEX group and 2322 ± 321 cells/mm2 in the control group (p = 0.29). There were no significant differences in postoperative ECD between these groups at any visit. After 2 years, the ECD had changed by -679 ± 337 cells/mm2 and -704 ± 484 cells/mm2 , respectively (p = 0.78). The preoperative ECD was lower in eyes with glaucoma compared to eyes without glaucoma, both within the PEX group (p = 0.05) and the control group (p = 0.03). After surgery, there were no differences between eyes with or without glaucoma. Conclusion The ECD was not significantly different in PEX eyes compared with control eyes, neither before nor after cataract surgery. However, there seemed to be a lower ECD in eyes with glaucoma before surgery.

Purpose Presently, our clinic is the only centre in Scandinavia that offers patients with corneal surface pathology including limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD) transplantation of ex vivo expanded limbal epithelial cells (LECs). We here present clinical data of the first nine patients with LSCD who were transplanted with autologous LECs expanded in medium completely free of any animal-derived products and non-human/recombinant growth factors (including Cholera Toxin), and with autologous human serum as the only growth supplement. Methods We conducted a noncomparative retrospective study of patients with LSCD at our centre between 2009 and 2011. The diagnosis was based on history and clinical signs. A biopsy was taken from healthy limbus, and the epithelium was expanded on amniotic membrane (AM) in medium containing autologous serum and subsequently transplanted to the affected eye. Results Successful outcome was defined as relief of pain and photophobia and/or improved best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and/or reestablishment of a stable corneal epithelium and regression of corneal vascularization. Five of the nine transplanted patients (55.6%) had an improvement in either subjective symptoms or objective findings (11- to 28-month follow-up). Conclusions Our clinical study shows that patients with LSCD can be treated successfully with transplantation of LECs expanded ex vivo in a medium with autologous serum as the only growth supplement. The use of this novel culture system, which is devoid of animal-derived products and non-human/recombinant growth factors (including Cholera Toxin), reduces the risks of inter-species disease transmission and host immune responses to xenogenic proteins, both obvious advantages for the patient.