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Two species new to science Willowsia sikkimensis sp. nov. and W. arunachalensis sp. nov., and one new record of the genus Willowsia Shoebotham, 1917 are described and illustrated here. The new species are mainly distinguished from the others on the basis of pigment pattern, scale type and chaetotaxy. The species were collected from the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim (India). Willowsia shiae Pan, Zhang & Chen, 2006 is recorded for the first time from India (Arunachal Pradesh) and redescribed with detailed chaetotaxic nomenclature. A key to the Indian species of Willowsia and a comparison table of related species are also provided.

Background: Stroke is the most important cause of mortality and morbidity. Carotid artery disease is the leading cause of ischemic stroke. Carotid intima-media thickness can be used as an important tool for severity of atherosclerosis. This study revised the usefulness of carotid Doppler as a useful tool for stroke. Aim and Objective: (1) To assess the prevalence of asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis (extra cranial) in high-risk individuals of the North-East Indian region (2) To find out the relationship of underlying disease with the severity of carotid artery stenosis. Methods: It was a prospective, cross-sectional study. The patients attending the department of general medicine, endocrinology, and cardiology were studied. Carotid duplex ultrasound was used to evaluate carotid arteries on 100 individuals having high risk factors such as age more than 40 years, hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus, and coronary heart disease for atherosclerotic diseases. Results: The age range was 40–79 years. Forty-four percent participants had carotid artery diseases of which 6% had significant carotid artery stenosis. In our study, established risk factors for atherosclerosis as advancing age >60 years, hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia were not significantly associated with severe carotid artery stenosis. Conclusion: In this study, established independent risk factors for atherosclerosis were not statistically significant in causing severe carotid artery stenosis. This result may be due to the small study population. However, it is suggested to do study on large populations to establish or to rule out the association of significant carotid stenosis with established risk factors of atherosclerosis.

Background: The study aimed to estimate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the amount of work and mental well-being of the employees. The front-line workers of the radiodiagnosis department incorporated remarkable stress, during caring for COVID-19-infected patients, which led to new encounters of work arrangements in the department. Methodology: The study was piloted from April 2019 to March 2022, to estimate the amount of work and mental well-being of health workers in the Department of Radiodiagnosis at Tertiary Health Care Hospital of North India. General Health Questionnaire-12 was applied to assess the mental well-being. Results: Health-care personnel, who faced COVID-19 patients, were subjected to more workload and mental stress compared to others. Radiological investigation requires a very close contact with the patients and due to high infectivity, morbidity, mortality, and no definite line of treatment, it causes unprecedented mental and physical stress to radiologist, radiographer, and hospital attendants, in comparison to the other investigations. Conclusion: Job nature, working hours, learning level, and close contact with COVID-19 patients, affected the adverse mental status of the members of the radiodiagnosis department. Radiographers and residents were under higher mental stress compared to others. We advocated that complete support should be delivered to support the well-being of health-care personnel. Front-line workers in the department of radiodiagnosis are supposed to be low stress and workload, but high work commitment.

Rice followed by wheat is the dominant cropping system in the middle Indo-Gangetic plains (IGP). Lower productivity (4.8 t ha−1) of this cropping system in Bihar, compared to the national average (6.8 t ha−1) due to several climate- and production-related issues, is a matter of concern for the farmers and the policymakers. Keeping all these in view, an experiment with rice–wheat cropping system was carried out during 2020–21 and 2021–22 in 17 adopted villages of 13 districts of Bihar under the Project “Climate Resilient Agriculture Program (CRAP)” to evaluate the feasibility of early transplanting of rice in the month of June with the aim of achieving higher system productivity by early harvesting of rice and subsequent timely sowing of wheat before 15 November with the provision of assured irrigation. In this study, the concept of an innovative community irrigation approach and single-phase 3-hp submersible pump was employed. Long-duration rice variety (150 days) Rajendra Mahsuri-1 was sown during 20–25 May in the nursery and transplanted through puddling operation during 15–20 June in 17 locations. Under delayed conditions, the nursery sowing and transplanting window were 10–15 June and 10–15 July, respectively. Timely sown rice grown with the provision of a community irrigation system achieved a grain yield of 5.2 t ha−1 and 85.8% higher water productivity, compared to late-sown crops. Following the harvest of rice, the HD-2967 variety of wheat was planted in the first fortnight of November and harvested in the first week of April, yielding 4.9 t ha−1 with the application of 2–3 irrigations based on soil type and evaporative demand. Timely harvesting of wheat facilitated farmers of the region to take an additional crop of summer green gram. With an assured irrigation system and shifting planting dates and thereby managing climatic risks, the overall productivity of the rice–wheat cropping system was achieved to the tune of 10.1 t ha−1 with a cropping intensity of 300% for better adaptation and sustainable production.

Male congenital urethrocutaneous fistula is an extremely rare anomaly that is commonly associated with chordee or anorectal malformations. It is characterised by an abnormal urethral opening on the ventral aspect of the penis with well-formed distal urethra and meatus at the tip of the glans. The treatment is individualised according to the site of the fistula, associated anomalies and condition of the distal urethra. The principles of hypospadias surgery should be strictly followed.

This review article covers a brief explanation on synthesis of Flourodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) and its clinical uses with emphasis on practical uses. In present scenario, 18F-FDG is the most successful PET radiopharmaceutical because of its half-life and mode of uptake. 18F-FDG synthesised by electrophilic fluorination and Nucleophilic fluorination reaction (preferable Nucleophilic fluorination reaction). The simplicity in synthesis and clinical utility of 18F-FDG, together with its approval by the US FDA and the availability of PET radiopharmaceuticals are probably the main reasons for the flourish of clinical PET. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) has increased the accuracy of metabolic mapping of numerous malignancies, with significant impact on the management of cancer patients for initial staging, restaging and therapy monitoring. PET can provide functional information in addition to morphology from conventional imaging modalities. 18F-FDG is the most commonly used PET tracer and FDG PET can demonstrate the activity of glucose metabolism throughout the entire body in a single session. We describe the clinical utility of FDG in PET and display images of normal distribution and of patients.

Background: Various imaging modalities like USG, CT, Invasive cholangiography has been used since long for the evaluation of the pathology of hepato-biliary-pancreatic duct. These techniques pose some limitations either due to bowel gas and obesity in USG, distal CBD calculus and isodense calculus (isodense to bile) in CT (also not used in patient with history of contrast allergy) and post-procedural complications (followed by invasive cholangiography like ERCP and PTC). MRCP is a non-invasive diagnostic technique for the direct visualization of the biliary ducts images similar to that produced in PTC (percutaneous trans-hepatic cholangiography) and ERCP. Also, the continuous expanding spectrum of therapeutic options, including radiological interventions (for palliative and curative) for the patients with biliary tree pathology requires the accurate assessment of the lesion visualized. Aims & objectives: Comparison of sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy between the MRCP/MRI and USG in patients with pancreatic and hepato-biliary pathology and it’s related complications. Materials & methods: The study was a retrospective, single institutional study done during the last two years (January 2018 – December 2019) at IGIMS, Patna, Bihar (A tertiary care hospital). Data was collected from the departmental record for USG findings, medical record for history and PACS (Picture archiving and communicating system) for MRCP findings. Hundred patients were included in our study. All the data were entered in the MS Excel sheet and were expressed as percentage and variables as required. Vassarstats software was used for the data analysis. Results: Benign lesions were common in the age range of 46-60 years (23%), followed by 31-45 years. Most of the malignant lesions were detected in the age range of 31-45 years of age group (13%). USG detected and MRCP detected lesions were benign in 63% and 62% of the cases and malignant in 34% and 35% of the cases respectively. There were overlapping findings present in most of the cases. Pancreatitis, cholecystitis and choledochal cysts were usually associated with biliary tree calculi. Overall sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy of MRI with MRCP sequence (97%, 85% and 92.75%) is greater than that of USG (92%, 80% and 85.5%). Conclusion: MRCP combined with other MRI sequences was superior to the USG in identifying benign and malignant pathology. However, ultrasound remains the primary investigating modality of choice. However, with use of recent advances of USG like harmonic imaging there is significant improvement in the lesion characterization. MRCP is the modality of choice of imaging investigation for the characterization of the lesion especially in obese patients or to choose the patients who are ideal candidate for the MRCP. Keywords: Hepato-biliary-pancreatic pathology, MRCP

Objective The purpose of this study was to find out the incidence of typical and atypical radiological imaging findings of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) on multiphase multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) scans in histologically proven cases. Materials and Methods A multiphase computed tomography study of 73 patients with histologically proven HCC was evaluated by a radiologist. Our multiphasic protocol was composed of precontrast, arterial, portal, and delayed venous phases. The reviewers analyzed the CT images for tumor size, enhancement patterns of HCC in different phases, relative timing of washout, internal cystic changes, and presence of dysmorphic intratumoral vessel aneurysms or arteriovenous shunt. Results Most of the cases (95.9%) showed typical enhancement patterns in MDCT, i.e., enhancements in the arterial phase with the portal or delayed venous phase contrast washout. Three cases (4.9%) out of 73 HCC showed enhancements in the portal phase and washout in the delayed venous phase. Seven cases out of total 73 HCC (9.5%) patients showed heterogeneous enhancements in both arterial and portal phases and contrast washout in the delayed venous phase. Venous thrombosis was noted in about 44 cases (60%) out of total 73 patients, in which portal vein thrombosis was more common than hepatic veins/inferior vena cava. Conclusion Most of the HCC show typical enhancement patterns, i.e., heterogeneous enhancements in the arterial phase and washout in the portal venous phase when we use MDCT. These findings are higher than those described previously. However, in our study, the main difference with MDCT was lower frequency of intratumoral pseudoaneurysm and bile duct invasion, and intratumoral fat and calcification (atypical character of HCC) were not found which were rare findings in previous study.

Introduction: Abnormal Cranial Nerve (CN) enhancement can point towards an underlying disorder or disease severity. Therefore, the depiction of this feature is of utmost importance in the evaluation of various pathologies. Various Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) sequences have a role in the early identification of such findings. Aim: To study the spectrum of cases of abnormal CN enhancement on MRI and the role of contrast-enhanced 3 Dimensional (3D) T1-weighted CUBE Fat saturated sequence in evaluating pathological CN enhancement. Materials and Methods: This prospective longitudinal study was conducted in the Department of Radiodiagnosis at Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, Bihar, India. The duration of the study was 2 years, from June 2020 to June 2022. Study included 50 patients who presented with signs and symptoms of CN involvement or were referred for other pathologies with incidental detection of pathological nerve enhancement on 1.5 Tesla (T) MRI Scanner. The data was transferred to a Microsoft Excel 2010 sheet and results were expressed in terms of frequency and percentages. Results: The mean age of the study participants was 33.3±20.9 years. Male to female ratio was 28:22=1.27:1. Infections were the most common cause of abnormal CN enhancement 26 (52%) cases followed by demyelination 3 (6%) cases, haematological malignancy 4 (8%) cases, metastatic neural infiltration 5 (20%), primary neural tumours 4 (18%), Bell’s palsy 1 (2%) case, Tolosa Hunt Syndrome (THS) 1 (2%) case and idiopathic polyneuritis cranialis 1 (2%) case. Conclusion: Contrast-enhanced 3D T1 CUBE Fat-saturation (FS) sequence is excellent in depicting abnormal CN enhancement, especially the cisternal segments.