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SETTING: Nepal Mediciti Hospital, Bhainsepati, Lalitpur, NepalOBJECTIVES: To determine antimicrobial resistance patterns, and the number and proportion of multidrug-resistant (MDR-) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR-) cases among all patients with Acinetobacter isolates between September 2018 and September 2019.DESIGN: This was a hospital laboratory-based, cross-sectional studyRESULTS: Acinetobacter spp. (n = 364) were more common in respiratory (n = 172, 47.3%) and invasive samples such as blood, body fluids (n = 95, 26.1%). Sensitivity to AWaRe (Access, Watch and Reserve) Group antibiotics (tigecycline, polymyxin B, colistin) remained high. MDR (resistance to at least three classes of antimicrobial agents) (n = 110, 30.2%) and XDR (MDR plus carbapenem) (n = 87, 23.9%) isolates were most common in the Watch Group of antibiotics and found in respectively 99 (31.0%) and 78 (24.5%) patients (n = 319). Infected patients were more likely to be aged >40 years (n = 196, 61.4%) or inpatients (n = 191, 59.9%); 76 (23.8%) patients had an unfavourable outcome, including death (n = 59, 18.5%).CONCLUSION: A significant proportion of MDR and XDR isolates was found; nearly one patient in five died. Robust hospital infection prevention and control measures (particularly for respiratory and invasive procedures) and routine surveillance are needed to reduce infections and decrease the mortality rate. Tigecycline, polymyxin B and colistin should be cautiously used only in MDR and XDR cases.

BACKGROUND Congenital posteromedial bowing of tibia (CPMBT), a rare anomaly, is characterized by a decreasing deformity and a gradually increasing limb shortening. Lengthening in CPMBT has not been studied extensively. Our series compares the duration and complications of lengthening in younger versus older children to determine early lengthening safety and benefits. METHODS We studied 28 tibial lengthenings performed by a single surgeon in 23 patients, divided into 2 equal groups of 14 segments: group A 5 years or younger (preschool) and group B above 5 years. All were lengthened with circular external fixators, of which 3 were lengthened over a nail. We measured preoperative (bo) and postoperative (po) sagittal, coronal, and oblique plane deformities, initial limb length discrepancy (LLD), percentage LLD (% LLD), amount of lengthening (AmtL), percentage lengthening (%L), external fixator duration (EFD), and external fixator index (EFI). We graded complications by Lascombes' criteria, results by Association for the Study and Application of the Methods of Ilizarov bone score. RESULTS The mean age was 8.8±7.1 years; the mean follow-up was 7.9 years. Group A had significantly greater bo-sagittal, coronal, and oblique plane deformities. Mean LLD (3.4 cm in group A vs. 4.1 cm in group B) was similar in both. Expected LLD at maturity (LLDM) using the multiplier method was greater than previously reported (mean, range in group A: 7.2 cm, 4.4 to 9.5 cm; group B: 5 cm, 2.5 to 9.7 cm). Though AmtL (3.5 and 4.1 cm) was similar in both, %L was 24% in group A and 15.7% in group B (P=0.002). EFD (116.6 days) and EFI (33.7 days/cm) were lesser in group A compared with group B (200.3 days, P=0.001; 50.2 days/cm, P=0.01). Lascombes' triple contract was fulfilled in 11/14 lengthenings in group A versus 3/14 in group B. Association for the Study and Application of the Methods of Ilizarov bone score was good and excellent in both groups (P=0.44). CONCLUSIONS In a large series of lengthenings in CPMBT, we found younger children presenting with large deformities and large projected length discrepancies could be safely lengthened with significantly lesser EFD and complications than in older children. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Level IV-therapeutic study.

Introduction: Prior to the introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), the presence of BCR-ABL1 conferred a poor prognosis in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). We published in 2017 in Br J Haematology our analysis comparing the survival of Ph-Positive (Ph+) and Ph-negative ALL during the period when TKIs were universally available in the United States for Ph+ ALL using a Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Database analysis. Despite using TKIs, we have continued to remain reliant on cytotoxic chemotherapy regimens and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (allo-HSCT) to achieve the best long-term outcomes. However, with the introduction of more potent TKIs and other novel agents, as well as better methods for monitoring minimal/measurable residual disease (MRD) the best approach is yet to be determined. In this study we present data from our institution with incorporation of TKIs in our modified USC ALL pediatric-based regimen without pegaspargase (PEG) (Table 1). Methods: This retrospective, single institution chart review included adults aged >18 with newly diagnosed Ph+ ALL between 2016 and 2020. Primary objectives were Overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) at 3 years for Ph+ ALL patients and secondary objectives were rates of complete remission/complete remission with incomplete recovery (CR/CRi), minimal residual disease (MRD) by flow cytometry and presence of BCR-ABL1 fusion transcript by real time polymerase chain reaction. Descriptive statistics of patients were reported and evaluated using Fisher's exact test. OS and EFS were reported through Kaplan Meier curves and Log-rank tests. Two-sided p value ≤0.05 was significant. RESULTS: 26 Ph+ ALL patients were identified. Median age at diagnosis was 42.5 years, with 42.3% males and 57.7% females. Median BMI was 31.1 kg/m 2, 42.3% had hepatic steatosis and 34.6% had CNS disease pre-induction. After induction 1, 91.3% of patients achieved CR/CRi, 8.7% were refractory, and 64.3% were MRD flow negative with 24% of patients with undetectable BCR-ABL1. After induction 2, 94.1% had achieved CR/CRi, 64.3% were MRD flow negative with 44.4% of patients with undetectable BCR-ABL1. After consolidation I, 78.6% were MRD flow negative. 50% of patients had received blinatumomab for MRD flow positivity early in the course and 34.6% underwent allo-HSCT. Of note, 65.4% of patients received Dasatinib only and 30.8% received at least 2 TKIs. Overall, 11.5% had known relapse, 12.5% died. 3-year OS was 83.3% and 3-year EFS was 86.6% (Table 2). When survival was stratified by transplant status, 3-year OS with allo-HSCT was 100% versus 70% without allo-HSCT (p=0.15) and 3-year EFS with allo-HSCT was 100% compared to 77.9% without allo-HSCT (Table 3). CONCLUSIONS: The use of the modified USC ALL regimen without PEG for the treatment of newly diagnosed Ph+ ALL combined with TKI at our institution led to an excellent 3-year OS (83.3%) and 3-year EFS (86.6%). All patients received TKI, half of the patients received blinatumomab and at least one third received allo-HSCT which likely led to higher OS even without PEG. We also observed a trend towards improved OS in recipients of allo-HSCT compared to patients who did not receive allo-HSCT (100% vs. 70%, p=0.15) although statistically not significant, it highlights the role of allo-HSCT in the management of Ph+ ALL patients. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Chaudhary: TCR2: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; Celldex: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; Moderna: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; Pancella: Consultancy; Oncotartis: Consultancy; Athelas: Consultancy, Current holder of stock options in a privately-held company; Angeles Therapeutics: Current holder of individual stocks in a privately-held company, Current holder of stock options in a privately-held company, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Founder, Patents & Royalties: Cell therapy ; Allogene: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Douer: Adaptive: Current holder of individual stocks in a privately-held company, Current holder of stock options in a privately-held company, Speakers Bureau; Jazz: Consultancy; Servier: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Amgen: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau. Yaghmour: Agios: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; BMS: Speakers Bureau; Alexion: Speakers Bureau; Astellas: Speakers Bureau; Takeda: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Jazz: Speakers Bureau.

Background: Haploidentical hematopoietic cell transplantation (haplo-HCT) has emerged as a popular alternative to traditional HLA-matched hematopoietic cell transplant. The major advancement of haplo-HCT has increased donor availability to many patients in need, therefore investigating the factors that may affect outcomes is necessary to improve overall survival and reduce transplant-related mortality. Data regarding optimal dose of CD34 cells, CD3 cells and CD34/CD3 ratio used during haplo-HCT to ensure favorable outcomes with post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy) is lacking. Previously we have reported improved outcomes using CD34 cells limited to 7x10^6 cells/kg or less. In this report we are presenting an updated analysis including outcomes related to CD34/CD3 ratio used during haplo-HCT. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed adult patients at USC Norris Cancer Hospital who received haplo-HCT from 2014 to 2020. The primary endpoint assessed was 1-year GVHD-free/relapse-free survival (GRFS). Secondary endpoints included overall survival (OS), 1-year transplant related mortality (TRM) and incidence of acute and chronic GVHD. Kaplan Meier survival curves and log-rank tests were used to evaluate 1-year GRFS and OS with CD34 cell dose ≥ 7x10^6 cells/kg and < 7x10^6 cells/kg; CD3 cell dose < 2.5x10^8 cells/kg and ≥ 2.5x10^8 cells/kg; and CD34/CD3 ratio 3-5 and >5. Results: 103 adult haplo-HCT recipients were reviewed with 55.3% male and 44.7% female. The age range was 21-71 years old (median = 51), and a majority of patients were Hispanic (62%). The most common underlying hematologic disorders included AML (40.8%), ALL (34.1%), and MDS/MPN (13.6 %). 41.7% patients with leukemia were in CR1, 55% were CR2/CR3 and 78% were MRD negative by flow cytometry prior to transplant. 73% received myeloablative conditioning and 83.5% received peripheral blood stem cells. Median CD34 dose, CD3 dose and CD34/CD3 ratio were 6.1 x10^6cells/kg, 2.27 x10^8 cells/kg and 3.2 respectively. Median time to recovery of neutrophil, platelets, and lymphocyte was 17, 24, and 124 days respectively. Incidence of 1-year GRFS was 43.7%. 1-year TRM was 13.6% and rate of aGVHD and cGVHD was 42.7% (n = 44) and 35.9% (n = 37) respectively. There was no difference in 1-year GRFS and OS when multiple dose levels of CD34 cells and CD3 cells were compared. Although when dichotomized, a CD34 cell dose of ≥ 7x10^6 cells/kg compared to < 7x10^6 cells/kg showed higher dose had significant improvement in 1- year overall survival (p-value=0.01) but no statistical difference in 1 year GRFS (p value=0.24). CD3 cell dose < 2.5 x 10^8 cells/kg trended towards worse 1-Year GRFS compared to ≥ 2.5 x 10^8 cells/kg (43.9% compared to 58.6%; p-value 0.075), similarly CD3 dose of < 2.5x10^8 cells/kg showed a lower 1-year OS compared to > 2.5x10^8 cells/kg but was not statistically significant (78.7% compared to 89.4%; p-value 0.092). 1-year GRFS and OS did not show statistical difference at CD34:CD3 ratios of < 2, 2-3, 3-5 and > 5, although on cox regression analysis the HR for 1-year GRFS was 2.92 (95% CI 1.21-7.05) in patients with CD34:CD3 > 5 as compared to reference of < 2 (p-value 0.017). Multivariate regression also showed CD3 cell doses of 2-3x10^8 cells/kg and >3 x 10^8 cells/kg were associated with worse 1-year GRFS with HR of 0.43 and 0.40 and p-value of 0.041 and 0.048 respectively when compared to reference of < 1x10^8 CD3 cells/kg. Discussion: Our results demonstrate 43.7% survived 1 year compared with reports of 24-35%. The OS was significantly better in the CD34 dose > 7x10^6 cells/kg. CD3 2x10^8 cells/kg was associated with inferior 1-year GRFS. Conversely, higher CD34/CD3 ratio >5 was associated with increased 1-year GRFS. Thus, our findings indicate that along with improvement in OS by using >7x10^6 CD34 cells/kg, lower CD 3 cell dose 5 can improve 1-year GRFS in patients receiving haplo-HCT. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Chaudhary: Angeles Therapeutics: Current holder of individual stocks in a privately-held company, Current holder of stock options in a privately-held company, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Founder, Patents & Royalties: Cell therapy ; Athelas: Consultancy, Current holder of stock options in a privately-held company; Oncotartis: Consultancy; Pancella: Consultancy; Moderna: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; Celldex: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; TCR2: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; Allogene: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Yaghmour: Jazz: Consultancy, Honoraria; Astellas: Consultancy; Takeda: Consultancy; Incyte: Consultancy.

Introduction: COVID-19 has several overlapping phases. Treatment has focused on the late stage of the disease in hospital. Yet, the continuation of the pandemic is by propagation of the disease in outpatients. The current public health strategy relies solely on vaccines to prevent disease. Areas Covered: We searched the major national registries, pubmed.org, and the preprint servers for all ongoing, completed and published trial results with subject numbers of 100 or more on, and used a targeted search to find announcements of unpublished trial results. As of 2/15/2021, we found 111 publications reporting findings in human studies on 14 classes of agents, and on 9 vaccines. There were 62 randomized controlled studies, the rest retrospective observational analyses. Only 21 publications dealt with outpatient care, the rest all in hospitalized patients. Remdesivir and convalescent plasma have emergency use authorization for hospitalized patients in the U.S.A. There is also support for glucocorticoid treatment of the COVID-19 respiratory distress syndrome. Monoclonal antibodies are authorized for outpatients, but the supply is inadequate to treat all at time of diagnosis. Favipiravir, ivermectin, and interferons are approved in certain countries Expert Opinion: Worldwide vaccination is now underway. Vaccines and antibodies are highly antigen specific and new variants are appearing. There is a need for treatment of outpatients who contract the disease, in addition to mass immunization. We call on public health authorities to authorize treatments with known low risk and potential benefit for use in parallel with mass immunization.

COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, continues to be a major health problem since its first description in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Multiple drugs have been tried to date in the treatment of COVID-19. Critical to treatment of COVID-19 and advancing therapeutics is an appreciation of the multiple stages of this disease and the importance of timing for investigation and use of various agents. We considered articles related to COVID-19 indexed on PubMed published January 1, 2020-November 15, 2020, and considered papers on the medRxiv preprint server. We identified relevant stages of COVID-19 including three periods: pre-exposure, incubation, and detectable viral replication; and five phases: the viral symptom phase, the early inflammatory phase, the secondary infection phase, the multisystem inflammatory phase, and the tail phase. This common terminology should serve as a framework to guide when COVID-19 therapeutics being studied or currently in use is likely to provide benefit rather than harm. (AIDS Rev. 2021;22:40-47)

Background:-The word “hernia” derived from Latin term meaning “a rupture”[1]. A hernia is defined as an area of weakness or complete disruption of fibromuscular tissue of body wall can pass through or herniate through defect[1]. In all ventral abdominal hernias, Inguinal hernia is the most common. Inguinal hernia repair is common in surgical practice. In past, the repair was pure open tissue repair which was changed to open prosthetic mesh repair. Laparoscopic groin hernia repair was first performed by Ger in 1979[1]. The laparoscopic approach to hernia repair has since evolved into common and effective procedure.Methods:-The presented study is a prospective, open labelled, randomized, comparative study during a period from May-2017 to March-2019. After taking written consent from the patients were randomly allocated to two groups. Group A, Open hernioplasty were operated with open tension free Lichtenstein’s hernioplasty. Group B, laparoscopic hernioplasty were operated with Transabdominal Preperitoneal(TAPP) repair. Those patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria are included in study. The mode of presentation, surgical treatment and postoperative complications were all evaluated and compared.Results:-During the study there were no major life threatening complications were reported in either group. The postoperative pain and need of analgesics, presence of surgical site infections were more in Open hernioplasty group compared to laparoscopy group. The time taken for return to routine daily activities and work was earlier in patients treated with laparoscopy compared to open surgery and good cosmetic results.Conclusions:-Laparoscopic hernia repair has better, evolving & effective procedure in recent days compared to open hernia repair in terms of less postoperative complications, early recovery with good cosmetic results.

Patient selection for critical care admission must balance patient safety with optimal resource allocation. This study aimed to determine the relationship between critical care admission, and postoperative mortality after abdominal surgery.This prespecified secondary analysis of a multicentre, prospective, observational study included consecutive patients enrolled in the DISCOVER study from UK and Republic of Ireland undergoing major gastrointestinal and liver surgery between October and December 2014. The primary outcome was 30-day mortality. Multivariate logistic regression was used to explore associations between critical care admission (planned and unplanned) and mortality, and inter-centre variation in critical care admission after emergency laparotomy.Of 4529 patients included, 37.8% (n=1713) underwent planned critical care admissions from theatre. Some 3.1% (n=86/2816) admitted to ward-level care subsequently underwent unplanned critical care admission. Overall 30-day mortality was 2.9% (n=133/4519), and the risk-adjusted association between 30-day mortality and critical care admission was higher in unplanned [odds ratio (OR): 8.65, 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.51-19.97) than planned admissions (OR: 2.32, 95% CI: 1.43-3.85). Some 26.7% of patients (n=1210/4529) underwent emergency laparotomies. After adjustment, 49.3% (95% CI: 46.8-51.9%, P0.001) were predicted to have planned critical care admissions, with 7% (n=10/145) of centres outside the 95% CI.After risk adjustment, no 30-day survival benefit was identified for either planned or unplanned postoperative admissions to critical care within this cohort. This likely represents appropriate admission of the highest-risk patients. Planned admissions in selected, intermediate-risk patients may present a strategy to mitigate the risk of unplanned admission. Substantial inter-centre variation exists in planned critical care admissions after emergency laparotomies.

Synthetic cannabinoids-associated coagulopathy cases are on the rise but are usually undetected in clinical settings due to less awareness among physicians and the lack of available literature on the subject. Patient may also not volunteer information about the use of such substances therefore detailed history is important. We present a case of a patient found to have coagulopathy of unclear cause as patient did not report the use of synthetic cannabinoid initially. J Med Cases. 2020;11(11):355-357 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jmc3561

Background: The use of post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy)/tacrolimus/mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) for GVHD prophylaxis has improved outcomes in haploidentical hematopoietic cell transplantation (haplo-HCT). PTCy is now being evaluated in matched-related (MRD) and matched-unrelated (MUD) allo-HCT. Previous studies demonstrated improved GVHD-free/relapse-free survival (GRFS) when PTCy was combined with two immunosuppressive agents and PTCy has also been associated with better relapse-free survival (RFS) as demonstrated in De Jong et al 2019, though only one immunosuppressive agent was used. Currently, there is limited published data comparing outcomes using PTCy/tacrolimus/MMF to standard MRD/MUD GVHD prophylaxis of methotrexate (MTX)/tacrolimus. The importance of studying this comparison may help to improve GVHD outcomes in MRD and MUD allo-HCT. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed adult patients at USC Norris Cancer Hospital (age ≥ 19) who received allo-HCT from 2018 to 2020. The primary end-points assessed were incidence and severity of 1-year aGVHD and cGVHD. Secondary end-points included day+100 mortality, 1-year overall survival (OS), 1-year RFS, 1-year transplant-related mortality (TRM), and 1-year GRFS, defined as grade 3-4 acute GVHD, systemic therapy-requiring chronic GVHD, relapse, or death in the 1-year post-HCT period. Results: A total of 65 adult MRD and MUD allo-HCT recipients and 53 haplo-HCT patients were reviewed. Of the MRD/MUD patients evaluated, approximately 51% (n = 33) were female and 49% (n = 32) were male. The age range was 20-69 years old (median = 46), and the most common diseases included ALL (46%), AML (31%), MDS (11%), and others (i.e. lymphoma, aplastic anemia (AA), myelofibrosis) (12%). 34% (n = 22) of patients received PTCy on D+3 and D+4 with tacrolimus/MMF/ on D+5 as GVHD prophylaxis and 66% (n = 43) of patients received MTX/tacrolimus on D+1, +3, +6, and +11 as GVHD prophylaxis. All haplo-HCT patients received standard PTCy/tacrolimus/MMF. Stem cell source was primarily PBSC except in HLH and AA patients. The PTCy group had more MUD allo-HCT (64%), degree of antigen mismatch (56%), and median age of 50.5 years compared with the MTX group at 44%, 47%, and 44 years respectively. 70% in the MTX group received MAC compared with 45% in the PTCy group. The haplo group had similar demographics to the MTX group. The mean CD34 cell doses in the PTCy, MTX, and haplo groups were 4.87, 5.36, and 7.24x106 cells/kg respectively. Incidences of total GVHD, aGVHD, and aGVHD grade 3 or 4 in the PTCy group were 55%, 50%, and 4.5% respectively compared with 65%, 35%, and 7% in the MTX group, though not significant. The haplo group had 68%, 55%, and 1.9% respectively. Incidence of total cGVHD and cGVHD requiring systemic therapy in the PTCy group was 4.5% and 0% respectively compared with 30% (p = .02) and 23% (p =.01). The haplo group had 13% and 1.9% respectively. Day+100 mortality, 1-year OS, 1-year RFS, 1-year TRM, and 1-year GRFS in the PTCy group were 0%, 80%, 60%, 0%, and 64% respectively compared with 7%, 88%, 90%, 7.3%, and 59%. The haplo group had 3.8%, 86%, 89%, 14%, and 66%. In a univariate analysis, factors significantly associated with GVHD were disease status (p = .0.12) and CD34 dose (p = 0.015) and antigen mismatch (p = 0.04) was associated with increased mortality. Discussion: Our results demonstrate improved overall and extensive cGVHD outcomes in the PTCy group and thus an improvement in 1-year GRFS. Furthermore, incidence and severity of 1-year cGVHD in this group are improved when compared with previously reported outcomes. 1-year GRFS reported in De Jong et al 2019 was 45% and 1-year GRFS reported for all groups in our study is higher at 66%, 64%, and 59% for the haplo, PTCy, and MTX groups respectively. Although this was not significant, it may be clinically meaningful given the significant improvement in extensive GVHD and improvement in all other secondary end-points except 1-year OS and RFS. Furthermore, the PTCy group had a higher percentage of mismatched antigens yet demonstrated superior outcomes. 1-year OS and RFS were superior in the MTX group however this is likely due to sample size differences. The improved extensive cGVHD and GRFS outcomes observed using PTCy/tacrolimus/MMF in the MRD/MUD setting should continue to be evaluated and currently there is an ongoing prospective, randomized study to further investigate. Disclosures Yaghmour: Jazz: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Takeda: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Astellas: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Alexion: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Agios: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Novartis: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees.

Introduction: Takayasu’s disease (TD) (pulseless disease, aortic arch syndrome) is a rare but potentially life-threatening chronic giant cell vasculitis. The major complications attributed to the disease include Takayasu’s retinopathy, secondary hypertension, aortic regurgitation, and arterial aneurysm. The aim of this study is to describe a patient with Takayasu’s disease and scleritis and to show its association.Case report: We describe a 44-year-old female patient with Takayasu’s disease who presented with bilateral anterior scleritis in the form of painful red eye. Patient did not have any associated autoimmune diseases. Patient was diagnosed to have TD and was treated with immunosuppressant.Conclusion: Scleritis though rare can be a vasculitic feature of TD. This is a first report of Takayasu’s disease with scleritis, which has been documented in Nepal.

INTRODUCTION: Hispanic patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) are historically known to have poor outcomes compared to non-Hispanic patients. Our institution, LAC-USC (LA County Hospital/University of Southern California) has shown a complete remission rate of 96% with use of pegasparagase at 2000 IU/m2 using the USC ALL regimen (based on CCG-1882) for patients aged 17-55 years with a 7-year OS of 51% reported in 2014. The modified USC ALL regimen now uses a single dose of cytarabine rather than fractionated doses and uses a single dose 3g/m 2 methotrexate compared to 1g/m 2 (2.5g/m 2 if T-cell) D1, 15 in original USC ALL regimen to improve compliance, while consolidation was increased to six cycles allowing for PEG holidays to improve toxicity (Table 1). Since our institution takes care of a large population of Hispanic patients with ALL, we now report outcomes in Hispanic and Non-Hispanic patients using the modified USC ALL regimen in the era of novel agents like blinatumomab and inotuzumab. METHODS : This retrospective, single institution chart review included adults >18 years old with newly diagnosed Ph-negative ALL (2016-2020). Primary objectives were 3-year over-all survival (OS), event-free survival (EFS), disease-free survival (DFS). Secondary objectives were complete remission/complete remission with incomplete recovery (CR/CRi), minimal residual disease (MRD) by flow cytometry, descriptive statistics of patients who were stratified into Hispanic and non-Hispanic cohorts and evaluated using Fisher's exact test. OS, DFS, EFS were reported through Kaplan Meier curves and Log-rank tests. Two-sided p-value ≤0.05 was significant. RESULTS: 121 Ph-negative patients were reviewed. 87 were Hispanic patients (HP) and 34 non Hispanic patients (NHP). Median ages were 39 and 35 years (p=0.51) and median BMI were 29 and 26.9 kg/m 2 (p=0.42), respectively. There were about equal males and females in HP while NHP had 70.6% males compared to 29.4% females (p=0.076). Both HP and NHP were mainly of the Ph-negative ALL subtype, 50.6% vs 47.1%, followed by Ph-like, 25.4% vs 20.6%, respectively (p=0.884). Majority of the population were unfavorable risk by NCCN karyotypic risk stratification, 55.9% in HP compared to 56.0% in NHP (p=0.99). Over-all, no significant difference between baseline characteristics in both cohorts. After induction 1: CR/CRi was 85.9% in HP and 73.4% in NHP (p=0.09). MRD negativity by flow cytometry in HP was 41.4% compared to 26.4% in NHP (p=0.13). After induction 2: 83% of HP were in CR/CRi compared to 80% in NHP (p=0.99) and MRD negativity by flow was 35.6% in HP compared to 32.4% in NHP (p=0.73). Blinatumomab was given in 33.3% of HP and 32.3% of NHP (p=0.92) while only 5.7% of HP and 2.9% of NHP received inotuzumab (p=0.99). 34.5% of HP underwent allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (allo-HSCT) versus 26.5% in NHP (p=0.40). 3-year OS was 92.2% in HP versus 67.4% in NHP (p=0.004). 3-year DFS was 92.8% in HP versus 60.7% in NHP (p=0.003). 3-year EFS was 54.1% in HP versus 32.3% in NHP (p=0.02) (Table 2). Rate of relapse for HP and NHP were 23.4% vs 29.4% (p=0.74) while rate of mortality for HP and NHP were 7.5% vs 28% (p=0.015), respectively. No clear difference in grade 3/4 PEG toxicities were found in HP and NHP except more hypertriglyceridemia in HP (p=0.019). CONCLUSIONS: We present comparison of outcomes in Hispanic and non-Hispanic patients using our modified USC ALL pediatric-based regimen in an era of novel agents. Our data shows significantly better outcomes in Hispanic patients compared to non-Hispanic patients [OS (92.2% vs 67.4%, p=0.004), DFS (92.8% vs 60.7%, p=0.003) and EFS (54.1% vs 32.3%, p=0.02)]. This study demonstrates that given equal access to care (eg. receiving blinatumomab, allo-HSCT), outcomes in HP with Ph-negative ALL are not worse, but rather superior to those in NHP. Utilization of novel immunotherapy like blinatumomab in the salvage setting to achieve deeper molecular response and increased utilization of haploidentical allo-HSCT have likely contributed to reducing ethnic disparities in Hispanic ALL patients. Future studies are needed to validate these findings with larger patient populations. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Chaudhary: Oncotartis: Consultancy; Pancella: Consultancy; Moderna: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; Celldex: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; TCR2: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; Allogene: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; Athelas: Consultancy, Current holder of stock options in a privately-held company; Angeles Therapeutics: Current holder of individual stocks in a privately-held company, Current holder of stock options in a privately-held company, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Founder, Patents & Royalties: Cell therapy . Douer: Jazz: Consultancy; Amgen: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Adaptive: Current holder of individual stocks in a privately-held company, Current holder of stock options in a privately-held company, Speakers Bureau; Servier: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau. Yaghmour: Takeda: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Astellas: Speakers Bureau; Alexion: Speakers Bureau; BMS: Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Agios: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Jazz: Speakers Bureau.

Intro: Acute and chronic graft versus host disease (GVHD) is a major complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (allo-HSCT). Post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy), alongside mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) and tacrolimus (TAC), is known to be effective in reducing cGVHD in haploidentical (HI) transplant recipients. Results of the prospective randomized HOVON-96 trial in recipients of matched related (MRD) and unrelated donors (MUD) showed that PTCy leads to a reduction in risk of severe cGVHD. However, the role of PTCy in HSCT with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) remains controversial. The purpose of this study is to evaluate outcomes using PTCy, TAC, and MMF for GVHD prophylaxis in MRD and MUD stem cell recipients who have ALL. Methods: This study is a retrospective analysis of adult patients (aged 19 and up) with ALL who received MRD, MUD, and HI HSCT at USC Norris Cancer Hospital from 2018 to 2020. The primary end-points were to compare incidence of aGVHD and cGVHD within the first year post-transplant after receiving MRD, MUD, and HI donor transplants. Secondary end-points were day +100 mortality, 1-year overall survival (OS), relapse free survival (RFS), transplant-related mortality (TRM), and GRFS within the same subgroups. Kaplan-Meier curves and Log Rank tests were used to evaluate a difference in outcomes. Results: A total of 46 patients with ALL who received HSCTs were identified and separated based on type of GVHD prophylaxis received: 7 (15.1%), 16 (34.8%), and 23 (50.0%) in the PT-Cy, HI and standard groups respectively. Demographic data can be found on Table 1 attached. Baseline characteristics among all groups were similar with the exception of the more Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) mismatch (p Discussion: In this single institution analysis, we observed that patients with ALL who underwent HI transplant had the best outcomes. Moreover, patients receiving MUD/MRD HSCT with use of PTCy had a non-significant reduced incidence of aGVHD and cGVHD, though had significantly worse 1-year OS, RFS, and GRFS when compared to standard GVHD prophylaxis or patients receiving HI transplants. We believe this is likely a multifactorial process. However, the increased percentage of mismatched antigens in the MUD transplants (p=0.19) and higher proportion of patients receiving less than 5.0 x 10^6 CD34+ cells/kg (p=0.02) in the PTCy group is important to acknowledge and can also be contributing to their poorer outcomes. We pose the idea that the use of PTCy may also lead to a reduced graft vs. leukemia effect in this population and thus a higher incidence of relapse and worse outcomes overall. A larger, prospective study should be considered to take into account these factors to better determine if patients with ALL could benefit from PTCy for GVHD prophylaxis. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Chaudhary: Celldex: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; Moderna: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; Pancella: Consultancy; Oncotartis: Consultancy; Athelas: Consultancy, Current holder of stock options in a privately-held company; TCR2: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; Allogene: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; Angeles Therapeutics: Current holder of individual stocks in a privately-held company, Current holder of stock options in a privately-held company, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Founder, Patents & Royalties: Cell therapy . Yaghmour: Takeda: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Astellas: Speakers Bureau; Alexion: Speakers Bureau; BMS: Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Agios: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Jazz: Speakers Bureau.

INTRODUCTION: The use of pediatric inspired regimens in adolescent young adults and adults has improved outcomes in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). CALGB 10403 was prospectively tested in patients 17-39 years, showing a 3-year event free survival of 59%. In 2007, our institution reported outcomes after incorporating peg-asparaginase (PEG) dosed at 2000mg/m 2 in induction for patients aged 17- 55 years. This regimen was well tolerated and resulted in a complete remission (CR) rate of 96%. In 2014, we reported experience with the use of multiple doses of PEG (CCG-1882) for newly diagnosed ALL adult patients, with a 7-year overall survival (OS) of 51%. Since our last report, the USC ALL regimen consisting of 2 induction phases, has been further modified with a goal of maintaining good outcomes, and improving compliance and toxicities. Fractionated doses of cytarabine were changed to a single dose, the methotrexate dose of 1g/m 2 (2.5 g/m 2 if T-cell) given D1,15 of intensification phases was changed to 3g/m 2 (B and T cell) given in single doses, and consolidation was increased to six cycles allowing for PEG holidays (Table 1). Moreover, the approval and incorporation of novel agents such as blinatumomab and inotuzumab also changed outcomes in ALL. Therefore, this study reports an update of outcomes since further modification of the USC ALL pediatric-based regimen in the era of novel agents. METHODS: This is a retrospective review which included adults aged >18 with newly diagnosed Philadelphia negative ALL between 2016 and 2020 treated at USC/Norris Cancer Center and Los Angeles County Hospital (LAC). Primary objectives were over-all survival (OS), event-free survival (EFS), disease-free survival (DFS) at 3 years, and secondary outcomes were complete remission/complete remission with incomplete recovery (CR/CRi) rates and minimal residual disease (MRD) by flow cytometry. OS, DFS, EFS were reported through Kaplan Meier curves and Log-rank tests. Two-sided p value ≤0.05 was significant. RESULTS: 121 patients with Ph-negative ALL were identified (49.6% Ph-negative B-ALL, 24% Ph-like B-ALL, 0.8% B cell lymphoblastic leukemia (LBL), 9.1% T cell ALL, 4.1% T cell LBL, 4.1% early T-cell, 5.8% mixed phenotype acute leukemia (MPAL). Median age at diagnosis was 38.5 years and maximum age of patient to receive pegasparagase during induction 1 was 63 years. 71.9% Hispanic, 15.7% white, 9.9% Asian, 2.5% African American. 57.9% males, 42.1% females. 3.4% were favorable, 4.2% intermediate, 54.6% unfavorable and 37.8% unknown by karyotypic risk stratification. Median BMI was 28.9 kg/m 2.54.6% had hepatic steatosis either on history or imaging and 5.1% had CNS disease pre-induction. Post-induction 1, 81.4% of patients achieved CR/CRi and 50% MRD negative. Post induction 2, 82.2% achieved CR/CRi, 67.7% MRD flow negative. Post-consolidation 1, 90.9% were MRD flow negative. 33.1% subsequently received blinatumomab for MRD positive disease, 5% given inotuzumab for relapsed disease, 32.2% underwent allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (allo-HSCT). Median number of pegasparagase doses received during treatment was 2, rate of relapse and mortality was 27.3% and 13% respectively. Median OS and DFS were not reached but median EFS was 35 months. 3-year OS was 85.3%, when stratified according to MRD post induction 2; 3-year OS was 91.7% for MRD positive patients and 91.2% for MRD negative patients (p=0.55). 3-year DFS was 83.2%; 88.2% for MRD positive patients and 97.4% for MRD negative patients (p=0.22). 3-year EFS was 47.3%; 51.3% for MRD positive patients and 50.6% for MRD negative patients (p=0.49) (Tables 2-3). Use of pegasparagase resulted in grade 3/4 toxicities including hypersensitivity (4.1%), transaminitis (21.5%), pancreatitis (5.4%), hypertriglyceridemia (49.5%), hypofibrinogenemia (45.5%), hyperbilirubinemia (21.5%) and thrombosis (16.5%). CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric-based modified USC ALL induction regimen led to a high 3-year OS (85.3%), DFS (83.2%) and EFS (47.3%) with predictable toxicity and compares favorably with original USC ALL regimen, CALGB 10407, GRAALL 2005 and USC/MSKCC regimen. Interestingly, MRD positivity after induction 2 did not adversely affect OS, DFS or EFS, which is likely due to incorporation of blinatumomab and inotuzumab. These agents could have allowed for deeper remissions allowing Ph-negative patients with residual disease to receive allo-HSCT. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Chaudhary: Oncotartis: Consultancy; Pancella: Consultancy; Moderna: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; Celldex: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; TCR2: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; Allogene: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company; Athelas: Consultancy, Current holder of stock options in a privately-held company; Angeles Therapeutics: Current holder of individual stocks in a privately-held company, Current holder of stock options in a privately-held company, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Founder, Patents & Royalties: Cell therapy . Douer: Servier: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Amgen: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Adaptive: Current holder of individual stocks in a privately-held company, Current holder of stock options in a privately-held company, Speakers Bureau; Jazz: Consultancy. Yaghmour: Novartis: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; BMS: Speakers Bureau; Alexion: Speakers Bureau; Astellas: Speakers Bureau; Takeda: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Jazz: Speakers Bureau; Agios: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau.

Infected nonunions of tibia pose many challenges to the treating surgeon and the patient. Challenges include recalcitrant infection, complex deformities, sclerotic bone ends, large bone gaps, shortening, and joint stiffness. They are easy to diagnose and difficult to treat. The ASAMI classification helps decide treatment. The nonunion severity score proposed by Calori measures many parameters to give a prognosis. The infection severity score uses simple clinical signs to grade severity of infection. This determines number of surgeries and allows choice of hardware, either external or internal for definitive treatment. Co-morbid factors such as smoking, diabetes, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use, and hypovitaminosis D influence the choice and duration of treatment. Thorough debridement is the mainstay of treatment. Removal of all necrotic bone and soft tissue is needed. Care is exercised in shaping bone ends. Internal fixation can help achieve union if infection was mild. Severe infections need external fixation use in a second stage. Compression at nonunion site achieves union. It can be combined with a corticotomy lengthening at a distant site for equalization. Soft tissue deficit has to be covered by flaps, either local or microvascular. Bone gaps are best filled with the reliable technique of bone transport. Regenerate bone may be formed proximally, distally, or at both sites. Acute compression can fill bone gaps and may need a fibular resection. Gradual reduction of bone gap happens with bone transport, without need for fibulectomy. When bone ends dock, union may be achieved by vertical or horizontal compression. Biological stimulus from iliac crest bone grafts, bone marrow aspirate injections, and platelet concentrates hasten union. Bone graft substitutes add volume to graft and help fill defects. Addition of rh-BMP-7 may help in healing albeit at a much higher cost. Regeneration may need stimulation and augmentation. Induced membrane technique is an alternative to bone transport to fill gaps. It needs large amounts of bone graft from iliac crest or femoral canal. This is an expensive method physiologically and economically. Infection can resorb the graft and cause failure of treatment. It can be done in select cases after thorough eradication of infection. Patience and perseverance are needed for successful resolution of infection and achieving union.

Context Hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients are generally considered high risk for poor outcomes following COVID-19 infection. The CIBMTR observational report published by Sharma et al. found that recipients of allogeneic HSCT who contracted COVID-19 had poor overall survival with a 30-day mortality of 32%. However, there are relatively few other studies that evaluate the effect of COVID-19 on HSCT recipients, especially in the setting of in vivo T-cell depletion protocol. Objective This is a single-institution, retrospective analysis evaluating outcomes of HSCT recipients who were diagnosed with COVID-19 between March 2020 and April 2021. Patients There were 21 patients at our institution who had undergone HSCT and subsequently contracted COVID-19. Their median age was 53 years at the time of diagnosis. Thirteen of the patients were Hispanic (61.9%). Six of the patients received match-related stem cells (28.6%), 7 received cells from match unrelated donors (33.3%), and 7 received cells from haploidentical donors (33.3%). Fifteen of the patients (71.4%) received myeloablative conditioning regimens, whereas 5 (23.8%) received reduced intensity or non-myeloablative regimens. One patient had received an autologous stem cell transplant. Our most common GVHD prophylaxis regimens were PTCy/Tacro/MMF (12 pts, 57.1%) and Tacro/MTX (6 pts, 28.5%). Results Our primary endpoint in this retrospective analysis was non-relapse mortality within 60 days of COVID-19 diagnosis. Of the 21 patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection, 1 passed away 20 days after diagnosis, giving us a 4.8% case fatality rate. The median time of COVID-19 diagnosis post-transplant was 469 days. Sixteen of the 21 patients were symptomatic at the time of diagnosis (76.2%). Eight patients received steroids for treatment of COVID-19 (38.1%). Seven of the 21 patients (33.3%) were hospitalized for a median of 7 days (range, 5–17 days), with 2 requiring ICU level of care (9.5%). One patient was intubated and ultimately passed away. Conclusion Our data suggest that our HSCT recipients who contracted COVID-19 have had generally good short-term outcomes. Longer follow-up is required to determine if a COVID-19 diagnosis has any effect on long-term transplant related complications and outcomes in this population.

Background: Cam femoroacetabular impingement is caused by a misshapen femoral head with a reduced head neck offset, commonly in the anterolateral quadrant. Friction in flexion, adduction and internal rotation causes limitation of the hip movements and pain progressively leading to labral and chondral damage and osteoarthritis. Surgical hip dislocation described by Ganz permits full exposure of the hip without damaging its blood supply. An osteochondroplasty removes the bump at the femoral head neck junction to recreate the offset for impingement free movement. Materials and Methods: Sixteen patients underwent surgery with surgical hip dislocation for the treatment of cam femoroacetabular impingement by open osteochondroplasty over last 6 years. Eight patients suffered from sequelae of avascular necrosis (AVN). Three had a painful dysplastic hip. Two had sequelae of Perthes disease. Three had combined cam and pincer impingement caused by retroversion of acetabulum. All patients were operated by the trochanteric flip osteotomy with attachments of gluteus medius and vastus lateralis, dissection was between the piriformis and gluteus minimus preserving the external rotators. Z-shaped capsular incision and dislocation of the hip was done in external rotation. Three cases also had subtrochanteric osteotomy. Two cases of AVN also had an intraarticular femoral head reshaping osteotomy. Results: Goals of treatment were achieved in all patients. No AVN was detected after a 6 month followup. There were no trochanteric nonunions. Hip range of motion improved in all and Harris hip score improved significantly in 15 of 16 cases. Mean alpha angle reduced from 86.13° (range 66 ° –108 ° ) to 46.35° (range 39 ° –58 ° ). Conclusion: Cam femoroacetabular Impingement causing pain and limitation of hip movements was treated by open osteochondroplasty after surgical hip dislocation. This reduced pain, improved hip motion and gave good to excellent results in the short term.

Herpes Zoster is produced by reactivation of latent varicella zoster from the dorsal root ganglion of sensory nerves. It is common in older individuals and rarely described in Pediatric age group. Its occurrence in younger age should be viewed with suspicion. We describe an 11-year-old Nepali child who presented with herpes zoster ophthalmicus of right half of the forehead and a perforated corneal ulcer in the right eye. On investigations he was found to have been infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Patient responded well to systemic acyclovir. Thus, herpes zoster ophthalmicus in a young child should be viewed with suspicion.

Background: HIV/AIDS has various ocular manifestations. Objective: To find out eye findings among HIV positive patients in the era of antiretroviral therapy. Method This Hospital based cross sectional descriptive study was carried at B. P. Koirala Lions Centre for Ophthalmic Studies. Patient profile, WHO clinical stage, CD4+ cell count, duration of HIV, antiretroviral therapy, and systemic diseases were recorded. All the cases underwent ocular examination as per the study protocol and the findings were noted in a proforma developed for the study. The results were analysed with SPSS 14.0. Results: Of 100 HIV positive cases (including 55 antiretroviral therapy patients) 62% patients were male and 38% were female. The mean age of presentation was 27.72 years. Heterosexual transmission (62%) was the commonest mode of transmission of HIV. Thirty seven percent patients were illiterate. Systemic disease was present in 20% cases. Ocular complaint was present in 53% patients. Ocular disease was present in 40% HIV positive patients. Almost 55% of these cases were on antiretroviral therapy. Moderate to lower CD4 count patient had frequent eye disease. Patients in WHO Stage III and IV also had frequent eye problems. Anterior segment and external ocular disorder was present in 25% patients. The commonest manifestation was conjunctivitis in10% of total cases. Posterior segment manifestation was present in 11%, neuro-ophthalmic lesion in 4% and orbital lesion in 1% patient. Conclusion: Anterior segment manifestation is still common ocular manifestations in HIV positive patients in Nepal. Patients in WHO Stage III and IV are more vulnerable for eye changes. Young aged male and migrant workers are at risk of acquiring HIV in developing country like Nepal. Eye findings even in patientson antiretroviral therapy are similar. However, large sample size and long follow up study is required to have final disclosure. Nepal J Ophthalmol 2016; 8(15): 62-70

Urinary tract infections are one of the most common causes of imaging in a typical radiology practice on a daily basis and are a great concern for the patient and referring physician. There is an overlap in imaging findings in some of the renal infections, but many urinary tract infections have characteristic imaging features. Patients with uncontrolled diabetes mellitus or immune compromised status are at high risk for urinary tract infection, and in these patients, symptoms often are subtle; hence, urgent imaging is required to rule out life-threatening complications. Common and uncommon urinary tract infections with relevant imaging findings and clinical relevance will be described and illustrated.

Background: Foreign body ingestion and food bolus impaction is a common clinical scenario and can present as an endoscopic emergency. Though majority of them pass spontaneously 10-20% require endoscopic intervention. Flexible endoscopy is recommended as therapeutic measure with minimal complications. The aim of our study is to present 5 years’ experience in dealing with foreign bodies in the upper gastrointestinal tract.Methods: Cases of foreign body ingestion admitted to department of general surgery from March 2015 to March 2020 were evaluated. The patients were reviewed with details on age, sex, type of FB, its location in gastrointestinal tract, treatment and outcome.Results: A total of 55 cases were studied. Age range was 1-85 years. Males were predominant 61.81%. Coins were found most commonly 63.6%. Esophagus was the commonest site of FB lodgement 70.9%. Upper esophagus being the most common 36.36%. Upper gastrointestinal flexible endoscopy was useful in retrieving FB in all the 55 cases. There were no complications throughout the study period.Conclusions: Flexible endoscopy should be used as definitive treatment and endoscopic treatment is safe and effective.

Introduction: Infective keratitis is an ocular emergency that requires prompt diagnosis for appropriate management. This study was done todetermine the sensitivity, specificity and predictive values of Gram stain and potassium hydroxide (KOH) wet mount in the diagnosis of suppurative keratitis. Materials and methods: A prospective hospital based study of all patients with clinically diagnosed suppurative keratitis presenting between January 2011 and June 2012 was carried out. Corneal scrapes were taken and subjected to direct microscopy and culture. Results: Corneal scrapings were obtained from 108 eyes with suppurative keratitis. Direct microscopy was positive in 39.2% of cases and organisms were grown in 50.9 % of the cases. Bacteria were responsible in 76.4% and fungi in 23.6%. Of the bacterial isolates, 66.7% was Staphylococcus aureus and of the fungal isolates, 30.7% was Aspergillus species. Sensitivity in vitro showed that Cefazolin, Chloramphenicol and Ofloxacin were most effective against bacteria. Sensitivity of Gram stain in detecting bacteria was 50% (95% CI, 34.43 to 65.56) and specificity was 77.3% (95% CI, 65.0 to86.3) and sensitivity of KOH wet mount in detecting fungi was 53.8% (95% CI, 26.12 to79.6) and specificity was 98.9% (95% CI, 93.44 to 99.9). Positivity of direct smear (65.1%) was found to be higher among eyes with larger ulcers (>2mm) than eyes with smaller ulcers (

Background and objectives: HIV/AIDS is a burning crisis worldwide. Cure of HIV is not yet possible so prevention is of prime importance in control of HIV. Education plays an important role in bringing awareness. This study is planned to find the existing knowledge and significance of educational intervention. Material and Methods : This study was an experimental design in which same group of subjects (students to class 9 and 10) of selected schools in Imadol, served as control and experimental group. Participants’ perception and knowledge about various aspects of HIV/AIDS were studied by noting their agreement with a set of 65 statements (questionnaire) using a modified Likert-type scale. The data was entered in SPSS. A p value less than 0.05 were taken as statistically significant. Result: In this study, educational intervention has proved statistically significant in public school (p value 0.02). Among different sub groups total median score for knowledge about HIV/AIDS and idea about vulnerable group was also statistically significant ( p value 0.01). Conclusion: Educational intervention does play significant role in strengthening knowledge and perception regarding issues related to HIV/AIDS. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jmcjms.v2i1.11418 Janaki Medical College Journal of Medical Sciences (2014) Vol. 2 (1):44-51

Background Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a degenerative process that leads to severe vision loss. Wet AMD is defined by choroidal neovascularisation, leading to the accumulation of subretinal fluid (SRF), macular oedema (ME), and pigment epithelium detachments (PED). Purpose To evaluate the initial clinical experience of conversion from bevacizumab or ranibizumab to aflibercept in wet AMD patients. Methods Records of 250 consecutive wet AMD patients were retrospectively reviewed. Of 250 patients, 29 were naive (with no previous treatment), and 221 were previously treated with bevacizumab (1/3) or ranibizumab (2/3). On average, converted patients received 14 injections every 6 weeks on a treat-and-extend regimen with Avastin or Lucentis before being converted to aflibercept every 7 weeks on average (no loading dose) for three doses. For the purposes of this study, we concentrated on the patients converted to aflibercept since the number of naive patients was too small to draw any conclusion from. Snellen (as logMar) visual acuities, and optical coherence tomography (OCT) were compared predrug and postdrug conversion. Results Converted patients did not show a significant difference in visual acuity or average OCT thickness from preconversion values; however, small improvements in ME (p=0.0001), SRF (p=0.0001), and PED (p=0.008) grading were noted on average after conversion to aflibercept. Conclusions No significant difference in visual outcome or average OCT thickness was observed when switched from bevacizumab or ranibizumab q6 week to aflibercept 7-week dosing, on average. Mild anatomic improvements did occur in converted patients with regard to ME, SRF and PED improvement, on average, after conversion to aflibercept, and aflibercept was injected less frequently. No serious adverse reactions, including ocular infections or inflammation, as well as ocular and systemic effects were noted.

Pleomorphic adenoma (PA) can be defined as a benign mixed tumor composed of epithelial and myoepithelial cells arranged with wide cytomorphologic and architectural diversity and morphological patterns, demarcated from surrounding tissues by fibrous capsule. PA is one of the salivary gland tumors affecting both major and minor salivary glands. Parotid gland is the most commonly affected of the major group, and palate is the most common site of the minor salivary glands affected. The tumor has 3 components: an epithelial cell component; a myoepithelial cell component; and a mesenchymal component. The identification of these 3 components, which may vary quantitatively from one tumor to another, is essential to the recognition of pleomorphic adenoma. The tumor is also known as a benign mixed tumor. When these lesions affects the minor salivary glands on palate and if there is any involvement of the surrounding structures like maxillary antrum and nasal floor, then pre-operative imaging of these lesions is mandatory by 3-dimensional imaging modalities like CT or CBCT to evaluate the exact depth and the dimensions of the lesion. Following case of pleomorphic adenoma of palatal salivary glands which was evaluated with CT as well as CBCT pre- operatively.

PURPOSE To evaluate the possible benefit of pars plana vitrectomy in the treatment of patients with endophthalmitis following antivascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) injection. METHOD The authors retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all patients in their practice with a diagnosis of endophthalmitis from January 1, 2007, through December 31, 2011. Only those with a clinical presentation consistent with endophthalmitis after intravitreal anti-VEGF injection were included. Clinical data that were collected and recorded included visual acuities and the method of initial and subsequent treatment of endophthalmitis following anti-VEGF injection: tap and injection of intravitreal antibiotics (TAP) and tap and inject with subsequent pars plana vitrectomy (VIT). RESULTS The authors identified 23 patients meeting criteria. Nineteen patients had received bevacizumab and four patients had received ranibizumab. The median time from last injection to presentation was 4 days (range, 1-18 days) with a median follow-up of 15 months (range, 5-48 months) after being diagnosed of endophthalmitis. Nine patients had positive cultures. The median baseline visual acuity (preendophthalmitis) was 20/70 (range, 20/25 to counting fingers at 2 ft) with a median presenting visual acuity of counting fingers at 1 ft (range, 20/50 to light perception vision). Overall, 90% (9/10) of the patients in TAP only group regained visual acuity within 1 line or better of baseline versus 46% (6 of 13) in the TAP and VIT group. Only one of the patients treated with TAP alone suffered more than one line of visual acuity loss. CONCLUSION Patients diagnosed with endophthalmitis after anti-VEGF intravitreal injection who underwent TAP regained baseline visual acuity more often than those who underwent TAP and VIT. This study did not support a benefit for VIT in all patients, rather only in those cases who warranted it because of worsening clinical course. The study suggests that TAP is a viable primary intervention for endophthalmitis after anti-VEGF injection.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an important factor in the pathogenesis of multiple retinal neovascular disorders. This report focuses on the quality and depth of new evidence for the use of VEGF inhibitors in selected pediatric ocular diseases, including Coats’ disease, Best disease, and childhood uveitis. Because much of the literature comprises case reports and retrospective case series, the level of evidence supporting its use as a primary treatment option, or even as adjuvant therapy, is low. The standard of care is treatment of the underlying disorder to prevent neovascularization (retinal or subretinal), vitreous hemorrhage, or subsequent retinal detachment. However, these complications may not present until late in the disease course. It may then be useful to treat with these agents. Prospective studies are warranted to further elucidate the role of anti-VEGF therapy in these diseases.

Recently there has been interest in the novel, off-label use of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) agents for various stages of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). The authors report on the quality and depth of new evidence published from 2009 to 2011 concerning the treatment of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) with bevacizumab (Avastin; Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, CA) as either primary or adjunctive treatment for ROP. There is significant variability in the evidence, quality, and design of the studies available in the literature. There has been a trend in the scientific literature of the past 2 years toward larger, multi-center, randomized studies investigating the role of bevacizumab in the treatment of ROP. More recent evidence suggests that monotherapy with intravitreal bevacizumab may be a viable first-line treatment for select cases of zone I ROP and possibly for posterior zone II disease. Adjunctive treatment with bevacizumab may enhance outcomes in patients treated with laser photocoagulation or pars plana vitrectomy. However, there are significant concerns regarding its long-term safety profile. Further prospective studies are warranted to more fully determine the role of anti-VEGF therapy in this disease.

Introduction: Upper tibial nonunions (UTNUs) pose challenging difficulties such as soft-tissue scarring, infection, deformity, shortening, and small fragments with intra-articular extension. We present a retrospective analysis of probably the largest series of UTNUs using the Ilizarov techniques. Factors determining the outcome based on difficulty scores and NU scores were also assessed. Patients and Methods: Forty-one patients with UTNU (within 10 cm of joint line) were evaluated retrospectively. Fourteen were aseptic and 27 were septic. The mean NU distance was 5.6 cm from the knee joint. The Association for the Study and Application of Methods of Ilizarov (ASAMI) functional and bone scores were evaluated and compared with NU severity score (NUSS), NU level of difficulty score (NULODS), and infection severity score (ISS). External fixation duration (EFD) was compared to NUSS and NULODS to determine which is better in predicting the outcome. We also compared our results with the literature. Results: We achieved union in all except one. The mean EFD was 333 days. The mean regenerate lengthening was 8.6 cm. The ASAMI bone score was: excellent – 16, good – 22, fair – 2, poor – 1. The ASAMI functional score was: excellent – 16, good – 14, fair – 9, poor – 2, and failure – 0. We found a positive correlation between NUSS, NULODS, and ISS. EFD correlated better with overall NULODS and subset of NULODS gap score compared to NUSS and NUSS gap score, respectively. Conclusions: Ilizarov is an effective method to treat UTNU. It corrects the deformity, provides stable fixation, achieves union, and corrects limb length discrepancy.

HIV and tuberculosis co-infection interact in fundamentally important ways. This interaction is evident patho-physiologically, clinically and epidemiologically. There are several differences between HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected patients with tuberculosis (TB) that have practical diagnostic implications. TB is more likely to be disseminated in nature and more difficult to diagnose by conventional diagnostic procedures as immunosuppression progresses. As TB rates continue to increase in HIV-endemic regions, improved diagnostic techniques merit consideration as TB-control strategies. There is a need to develop more user friendly techniques, which can be adapted for use in the high-burden and low-income countries. This review focuses on the diagnostic challenges in HIV-TB co-infection with an update on the current techniques and future prospects in an era of HIV pandemic.

Background: In recent decades, there has been a tremendous surge of interest in issues related to child health. The present study was carried out to reveal the DMFT/deft status of children in the age group of 1-12 years, residing in orphanages from Pune, India. Aims and Objectives: To explore the DMFT/deft status in various orphanages from Pune (India). To find out differences, if any, between the DMFT/deft status in orphanages from Pune, India, and the general population of children below 12 years of age in Maharashtra state, India as well as all over India. Results: DMFT/deft of the orphanages was found to be 2.58 in the age group 1-5 years and 2.5 in the age group 6-12 years with caries prevalence in 70.27% of the children. An incidental finding of Molluscum contagiosum was observed in a significant percentage of children. The total percentage of children afflicted by Molluscum contagiosum was found to be 24.32%. Conclusion: The higher incidence of Molluscum contagiosum in children residing in orphanages as compared to the normal population of the same age group was reflected in the higher incidence of DMFT/deft in orphanages as compared to the normal population.

Background: Limb lengthening using Ilizarov external fixation is safe, but the consolidation phase tends to take too long. A method that can safely reduce the time spent in external fixation would help increase patient tolerance and comfort. We report our results of lengthening over nails (LON) method in which an interlocking nail was used along with an Ilizarov external fixator to reduce external fixation duration in limb lengthening. This is a retrospective study. Materials and Methods: Twenty-seven lengthening surgeries were done with the LON method in 23 patients with 22 tibiae and five femora during the last 12 years. Length gain ranged from 1.5 cm to a maximum of 9.8 cm with a mean of 4.6 cm. The mean modified Paley difficulty score was 7.6 points. Fourteen associated procedures were performed in these patients, including equinus contracture releases, supracondylar osteotomies, ilizarov hip reonstruction and ankle fusion. We had a 29% rate of complications which included one problem, three obstacles and four complications with no serious deep intramedullary infections. Our rate of complications compares favorably with series reported in the literature. External fixation duration was reduced significantly to a mean of 17.8 days per cm. Conclusions: A combination of intramedullary nailing along with external fixation significantly reduces external fixation time while maintaining low rate of complications. Great care needs to be taken to prevent pin track infection and deep intramedullary sepsis.

The extremely poor prognosis of patients with metastatic osteosarcoma indicates the need for novel therapeutic approaches. Ectodysplasin-A2 (EDA-A2) is a recently isolated member of the tumor necrosis factor superfamily that binds to X-linked ectodermal dysplasia receptor (XEDAR). In this report, we have analyzed the biological activity of EDA-A2 against osteosarcoma-derived cell lines. We report that XEDAR is expressed in cell lines derived from osteosarcoma and adenoviral-mediated expression of EDA-A2 in these cells results in the induction of apoptosis via caspase activation and cell-cycle arrest in the G(0)/G(1) phase. Treatment with EDA-A2 also upregulates the expression of alkaline phosphatase, a marker of osteogenic differentiation, in a caspase-dependent fashion. Collectively, our results suggest that EDA-A2 may be a promising agent for the gene therapy of osteosarcoma.

Objectives To evaluate, retrospectively, the impact of penile correction by modeling of the penis over an inflatable penile prosthesis and the subsequent improvement in erectile function. Advanced Peyronie’s disease with severe penile curvature and poor quality erections presents a challenge to the urologist. Methods In our series, 46 patients with advanced Peyronie’s disease and associated erectile dysfunction underwent insertion of an inflatable penile prosthesis between 1998 and 2003. Of the 46 patients, 28 (61%) underwent a standard modeling procedure; the other 18 patients (39%) did not need additional modeling, because their curvature was corrected by inflation of the prosthesis alone. Patients were evaluated postoperatively in the clinic, as well as by a postal questionnaire. Results Of the 46 patients, 44 were satisfied with the penile correction and 2 (4.4%) underwent removal of their prosthesis because of infection. These 2 patients underwent revision surgery; subsequently both prostheses had to be removed, one for severe pain and the other for urethral erosion. None of the patients underwent reoperation for additional straightening. Of the 44 patients with intact prostheses, erectile function significantly improved in 41 (93%). Conclusions The results of our study have indicated that patients with severe Peyronie’s disease and erectile dysfunction should be offered the choice of penile modeling over an inflatable penile implant to correct the curvature, as well as improve erectile function.

EDAR plays a key role in the process of ectodermal differentiation via activation of the NF-kappaB pathway. We present evidence that EDAR also represses Lef-1/beta-catenin-dependent transcription and this ability is defective in EDAR mutants associated with anhidrotic ectodermal dysplasia. While IKK1/IKKalpha and IKK2/IKKbeta are required for EDAR-induced NF-kappaB activation, they are dispensable for its ability to repress Lef-1/beta-catenin-dependent transcription. In contrast, NIK is not involved in EDAR-induced NF-kappaB activation or Lef-1/beta-catenin transcriptional repression. As Lef-1/beta-catenin pathway controls the expression of EDAR ligand, ectodysplasin-A (EDA), our results point to a negative feedback regulation of EDA-EDAR axis.

To evaluate an optical coherence tomography (OCT)-based positioning regimen for patients undergoing macular hole surgery.We reviewed the medical records of all patients in our practice who underwent macular hole repair, instituting a modified OCT-based positioning regimen from November 1, 2011 through July 31, 2013. The regimen consisted of prone positioning at the conclusion of surgery with daily OCT imaging until the hole was confirmed closed at which point positioning was halted. Clinical data that were collected and recorded included visual acuities, stage of hole, size of hole, chronicity, preoperative and postoperative OCT imaging, and length of follow-up.We identified 33 patients (35 eyes) with a mean baseline visual acuity of 20/220, a mean hole size of 465 μm. The mean final (postoperative) visual acuity was 20/135 with a mean follow-up of 7.7 months. Six patients (17%) in our study were diagnosed with myopic degeneration. Thirteen patients (37%) were found to have chronic (≥12 months) holes, and 19 (54%) were found to have large holes (400 μm). Overall, 28 eyes (80%) had persistent closure of macular holes with an OCT-based positioning regimen. In the absence of high risk factors, such as myopic degeneration, chronic or large holes, the closure rate was 92%. In the presence of 2 or 3 of these risk factors, the closure rate was 85% and 74%, respectively.The presence of 2 or 3 high risk factors, such as myopic degeneration, chronic holes (≥12 months), or large holes (400 μm) can compromise outcomes resulting in reopening after apparent early closure. Based on the presence of these risk factors, a modified postoperative positioning regimen can be used to obtain complete and persistent closure.

X-linked ectodermal dysplasia receptor (XEDAR) is a recently isolated member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor family that has been shown to be highly expressed in ectodermal derivatives during embryonic development and binds to ectodysplasin-A2 (EDA-A2). By using a subclone of 293F cells with stable expression of XEDAR, we report that XEDAR activates the NF-kappaB and JNK pathways in an EDA-A2-dependent fashion. Treatment with EDA-A2 leads to the recruitment of TRAF3 and -6 to the aggregated XEDAR complex, suggesting a central role of these adaptors in the proximal aspect of XEDAR signaling. Whereas TRAF3 and -6, IKK1/IKKalpha, IKK2/IKKbeta, and NEMO/IKKgamma are involved in XEDAR-induced NF-kappaB activation, XEDAR-induced JNK activation seems to be mediated via a pathway dependent on TRAF3, TRAF6, and ASK1. Deletion and point mutagenesis studies delineate two distinct regions in the cytoplasmic domain of XEDAR, which are involved in binding to TRAF3 and -6, respectively, and play a major role in the activation of the NF-kappaB and JNK pathways. Taken together, our results establish a major role of TRAF3 and -6 in XEDAR signaling and in the process of ectodermal differentiation.

Background: Though leprosy has ceased to be a chronic disease, the impairments present at diagnosis or those which develop after diagnosis may have a lasting effect on the functioning of those who have been patients. This study is an attempt to clinically evaluate the orofacial lesions and deformities of treated leprosy patients, and see whether they have received any rehabilitation services. Methods: This was a hospital based cross sectional study conducted in a tertiary health care centre at Nagpur. All treated leprosy patients coming to the Out patients department of Skin and Venereal Diseases centre of the institute were examined and details regarding rehabilitation services received by them were inquired. Results: A total of 30 patients were studied of whom male and female were 15 each. Oro-facial lesions were seen in 20 patients of whom 11 were males and 9 were females. The most common lesion was in tongue (depappilated/fissured/deviated) in males and madarosis in females. Shrunken or erythematous uvula was the least common finding. Deformities of hands and feet were more common in females while deformity of eyes was more common in males. Utilization of rehabilitative services was very poor. Conclusions: It can be concluded from the results that leprosy as a disease is being treated successfully but the Oro-facial lesions and deformities are significant and utilization of rehabilitation is poor.

Background: The aim of this study was to determine proportion of newly diagnosed male HIV cases with thyroid dysfunction at different levels of CD4 counts.Methods: 195 newly diagnosed male HIV patients attending medical OPD, ART centre and medical wards of SMS Medical College and Hospital, during a period of May 2012 to April 2013 were enrolled in the study. These patients were divided in three groups on the basis of CD4 cell counts. Group A: CD4 counts 500/mm3.Results: We concluded a negative correlation between the CD4 counts and serum TSH level (r = -0.382) which was significant (p-value

Alport's syndrome (Haemorrhagic Familial Nephritis) is a rare syndrome. It encompasses a group of heterogeneously inherited disorders involving the basement membrane of the kidney frequently involving the cochlea and the eye. We describe here the detailed ocular findings and the systemic problems of a case of Alport's syndrome in a 30 years male from Nepal. The current understanding of the clinical features and aetiopathogenesis are also discussed. Key words: Alport's syndrome; Anterior lenticonus; Oil droplet sign; Anterior capsular cataract; Perimacular flecks DOI: 10.3126/kumj.v8i2.3566 Kathmandu University Medical Journal (2010), Vol. 8, No. 2, Issue 30, 238-240

Cam femoroacetabular impingement is caused by a misshapen femoral head with a reduced head neck offset, commonly in the anterolateral quadrant. Friction in flexion, adduction and internal rotation causes limitation of the hip movements and pain progressively leading to labral and chondral damage and osteoarthritis. Surgical hip dislocation described by Ganz permits full exposure of the hip without damaging its blood supply. An osteochondroplasty removes the bump at the femoral head neck junction to recreate the offset for impingement free movement.Sixteen patients underwent surgery with surgical hip dislocation for the treatment of cam femoroacetabular impingement by open osteochondroplasty over last 6 years. Eight patients suffered from sequelae of avascular necrosis (AVN). Three had a painful dysplastic hip. Two had sequelae of Perthes disease. Three had combined cam and pincer impingement caused by retroversion of acetabulum. All patients were operated by the trochanteric flip osteotomy with attachments of gluteus medius and vastus lateralis, dissection was between the piriformis and gluteus minimus preserving the external rotators. Z-shaped capsular incision and dislocation of the hip was done in external rotation. Three cases also had subtrochanteric osteotomy. Two cases of AVN also had an intraarticular femoral head reshaping osteotomy.Goals of treatment were achieved in all patients. No AVN was detected after a 6 month followup. There were no trochanteric nonunions. Hip range of motion improved in all and Harris hip score improved significantly in 15 of 16 cases. Mean alpha angle reduced from 86.13° (range 66°-108°) to 46.35° (range 39°-58°).Cam femoroacetabular Impingement causing pain and limitation of hip movements was treated by open osteochondroplasty after surgical hip dislocation. This reduced pain, improved hip motion and gave good to excellent results in the short term.

Background/Aims: Leptin, the ob/ob gene product, is a recently discovered peptide hormone, secreted by adipocytes, which can act as a satiety factor to regulate food intake. Its levels thus will be related to the presence of food in the lumen of the gut, and food intake is one of the most potent stimuli for intestinal epithelial cell proliferation. Leptin has a variety of other actions and the aim of this study was to see if one of these was to stimulate mucosal growth. Methods: Three groups of mice were fed ad libitum, starved for 48 h or starved for 48 h and given twice-daily intraperitoneal injections of recombinant leptin (1 μg/g). Results: Starvation led to a 20% decrease in body weight and a similar decrease in the weights of the intestines. Starvation also markedly inhibited intestinal epithelial cell proliferation. Leptin had little effect on the small intestine and did not stimulate proliferation. However, in the hind gut it was associated with small but significant decreases in caecal weight, distal colon mitotic counts (p = 0.036) and in colonic crypt area (approximately 20%, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Leptin did not stimulate intestinal cell proliferation, however it did have a paradoxical inhibitory action on the caecum and colon.

Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of anemia among adolescent females and to study the socio-demographic factors associated with anemia. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in an urban area under Urban Health Training Center, Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Government Medical College and Hospital, Nagpur. A total of 296 adolescent females (10-19 years old) were included in this study. The study took place from October 2002 to March 2003 (6 months). Statistical analyses were done using percentage, standard error of proportion, Chi-square test, and Student's 't' test. Results: The prevalence of anemia was found to be 35.1%. A significant association of anemia was found with socio-economic status and literacy status of parents. Mean height and weight of subjects with anemia was significantly less than subjects without anemia. Conclusions: A high prevalence of anemia among adolescent females was found, which was higher in the lower socio-economic strata and among those whose parents were less educated. It was seen that anemia affects the overall nutritional status of adolescent females.

Background & objectives: Prostate carcinoma is the second leading cause of cancer death in men above age of 60 years worldwide. More than 80% of the cancers concomitantly arise with Benign prostate hyperplasia. Prostate carcinoma is associated with various lower urinary tract symptoms, which affect their day to day life. The aim of the present investigation was to find out the major chromosomal aberrations present in Prostate carcinoma patients and to make a comparison with other study. Methods: In present study 05 cases of prostate carcinoma were taken on the basis of clinical diagnosis from the Gujarat Cancer Research Institute (GCRI), Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, during the period of March 2011 to October 2011. The patients were analyzed for chromosomal aberrations using cultured peripheral blood lymphocytes with their pre-informed written consent. Results: In the present study, all 5 cases were > 60 years of age. 3(60%) cases of prostate carcinoma have elevated PSA level (>4 ng/ml). In adenocarcinoma of prostate gain, deletion, and translocation of 7q22-q31 is common. In present study, Karyotype analysis reveal 01 prostate carcinoma patient had 46,XY,del(7)(q31). In present study 2 cases shows evidence of metastasis. Conclusion: Prostate carcinoma is found in > 60 years of age. Chromosome 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 16, 22, X and many more chromosomes were affected in prostate carcinoma patients, Common chromosomal aberration is 46,XY,del(7)(q31). Patients with prostate carcinoma have elevated PSA level (>4 ng/ml). Prostate carcinoma associated with metastasis have poor prognosis.