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An adult male who never stood, ambulating on all four due to bilateral severe knee flexion contractures, since his childhood, was 21 years of age, and not deterred by his condition, was pursuing his higher education. He was coaxed by his friends to seek medical opinion and it was decided to give a trial and let the client have a feel of bipedal stance and ambulation. Although there is a paucity of recent evidence on the use of bent knee prosthesis, the trial successfully restored the dignity.

Context: The prosthetic technology in recent years has grown by leap and bounds. The most advanced gadgets like microprocessors are available worldwide at exorbitant costs. Developing countries have issues with terrain, access to services, and cost. The new design of the prosthetic knee joint was planned to develop a cost-effective, sturdy, and easy to fit a universal system. Methods and Material: This exploratory design was undertaken to develop a prototype. The design was further developed and tested for its materialistic properties. Pilot study assessing functions using this joint is also underway. Results and Conclusion: The novelty of this knee joint is that locking and unlocking are made simple such that it can be done by the transfemoral amputee at will, with ease, on the spot, independent of the terrain he/she is traversing. The awareness of such a prosthetic joint is vital for family physicians.

Background: Following head injury, cardiopulmonary functions are impaired and this disturbs the oxygenation transport pathway. Expanding cardiopulmonary physical therapy to encompass the oxygen transport system as a whole has implication for treatment as well as assessment and treatment outcome. Therefore, the aim of the study is to assess the oxygenation level in head injury patients with relation to body positioning in the intensive care unit (ICU). Methodology: Thirty consecutive patients with head injury with hemodynamically stable were included from the surgical ICU, ages ranging from 15 to 50 years. Noninvasive vital parameters (oxygen saturation [SpO2], pulse rate [PR], respiratory rate [RR], and blood pressure [BP]) were observed and recorded in different body positions at regular intervals of 5 min for 15 min in each position. Results: There was increment in SpO2 value in all positions from 0 min to end of 15 min in supine (98.63 ± 0.36–98.73 ± 0.30), right-side lying (98.77 ± 0.30–98.93 ± 0.20), left-side lying (98.73 ± 0.29–99.03 ± 0.24), and recline sitting (30°–70°) (99.03 ± 0.24–99.50 ± 0.22). However, there was statistically significant increment in recline sitting (30°–70°) compared to other positions (P = 0.036) while other parameters (PR, RR, and BP) were getting stabilized at lower values at end of 15 min in every positions tested. Conclusion: We conclude that upright position bring about significant increase in arterial SpO2 compared to any other positions. Other vital parameters were seen to stabilize at lower values at the end of 15 min in every position tested.

Background: As human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection primarily impairs cellular immunity, the immune responses of HIV-infected individuals to tuberculous bacilli may be inadequate. The features of pulmonary and abdominal tuberculosis evident in HIV-positive (HIV-P) patients with severe immunosuppression are markedly different from those seen in HIV-negative (HIV-N) patients. However, such differences have not been reported in tuberculous meningitis (TBM). Here, we therefore compared the clinical, radiological and pathological features of TBM in patients with and without HIV infection. Methods and results: Twenty-two HIV-P patients with TBM, seen over 5 years, were studied and compared with 31 HIV-N patients with TBM. Although clinical features were similar, cognitive dysfunction was more common amongst the HIV-P group. Pathological features were markedly different in the HIV-P group reflecting severely reduced and atypical inflammatory response, and extensive vasculopathy. This manifested as absence or minimal meningeal enhancement and absence of communicating hydrocephalus on CT scan in HIV-P patients. Mortality was higher within the HIV-P group and depressed levels of consciousness and hemiplegia were associated with poor prognosis. Conclusion: The clinical, radiological and pathological features of TBM in HIV-P patients are distinctly different from those without HIV infection; a finding previously unreported.