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ObjectiveTo investigate the effectiveness of using convalescent plasma to treat moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) in adults in India.DesignOpen label, parallel arm, phase II, multicentre, randomised controlled trial.Setting39 public and private hospitals across India.Participants464 adults (≥18 years) admitted to hospital (screened 22 April to 14 July 2020) with confirmed moderate covid-19 (partial pressure of oxygen in arterial blood/fraction of inspired oxygen (PaO2/FiO2) ratio between 200 mm Hg and 300 mm Hg or a respiratory rate of more than 24/min with oxygen saturation 93% or less on room air): 235 were assigned to convalescent plasma with best standard of care (intervention arm) and 229 to best standard of care only (control arm).InterventionsParticipants in the intervention arm received two doses of 200 mL convalescent plasma, transfused 24 hours apart. The presence and levels of neutralising antibodies were not measured a priori; stored samples were assayed at the end of the study.Main outcome measureComposite of progression to severe disease (PaO2/FiO2ResultsProgression to severe disease or all cause mortality at 28 days after enrolment occurred in 44 (19%) participants in the intervention arm and 41 (18%) in the control arm (risk difference 0.008 (95% confidence interval −0.062 to 0.078); risk ratio 1.04, 95% confidence interval 0.71 to 1.54).ConclusionConvalescent plasma was not associated with a reduction in progression to severe covid-19 or all cause mortality. This trial has high generalisability and approximates convalescent plasma use in real life settings with limited laboratory capacity. A priori measurement of neutralising antibody titres in donors and participants might further clarify the role of convalescent plasma in the management of covid-19.Trial registrationClinical Trial Registry of India CTRI/2020/04/024775.

Background & objectives: Guillain–Barre syndrome (GBS) is an autoimmune disease and a recognized cause of generalized progressive paralysis worldwide. The present study was aimed to document the clinical findings, demographics and seasonal variations amongst the patients with GBS during the hospital stay. Methods: A retrospective analysis of 66 referred cases diagnosed as GBS was conducted. Medical records and the data related to age, sex, antecedent illness, duration of symptoms before admission, muscle power graded by the Medical Research Council scale, functional scores, details of Intensive Care Unit complications and need for ventilation were obtained. The patients were divided into four seasonal groups: S1 (spring, February to April), S2 (summer, May to July), S3 (rainy, August to October) and S4 (winter, November to January) and parameters were studied. Results: The mean age of the patients was 40.69 yr. Forty one (62.1%) patients had a history of preceding illness. Forty nine (74.2%) patients showed quadriparesis as most common complaint. Thirty three (50%) patients were of acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (AIDP) variant. The highest number of GBS cases (60%) was found in S1 and S2. The maximum duration of hospital stay was observed in S3 group (mean 23 days). Interpretation & conclusions: GBS seems to affect all age groups with male preponderance. Most common antecedent event and presenting feature were flu-like illness and quadriparesis, respectively. AIDP was the most common variant. Most cases occurred from February to July (S1 and S2 group) (maximum in July) with preceding influenza and diarrhoea and maximum duration of hospital stay was observed in S3 group. Prospective studies with follow up of GBS patients need to be done to confirm findings.

Psoriasis is a common autoimmune disorder that affects the skin. Approximately 30% of individuals with psoriasis will develop inflammatory arthritis, often in the setting of human leukocyte antigen B27. Both forms of disease are thought to be the result of prolonged inflammation mediated by T lymphocytes, dendritic cells, and keratinocytes. While there are treatments aimed at immunomodulation, targeting T cell co-inhibitory receptors signaling pathways may provide therapeutic benefit. This review will discuss in detail four T cell co-inhibitory receptors and their potential application for the treatment of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.

ANTIOXIDANT THERAPY IN CHRONIC PANCREATITISChronic pancreatitis (CP) is characterised by chronic, frequent, disabling abdominal pain. It often leads to exocrine and endocrine insufficiency resulting in malabsorption and diabetes mellitus respectively. The incidence of CP is 5-10 per 100,000 population worldwide and is on the rise in UK.Alcohol (70%) is the commonest aetiologic cause, idiopathic (20%) and others (10%) being second and third respectively. There are various medical and surgical treatment options available depending on clinical characteristics and the stage of disease. In spite of wide spectrum of therapeutic options, pain control still remains a challenging problem to the clinicians. Surgical treatments for chronic pancreatitis, broadly classified into resectional and drainage procedures, may offer relief of symptoms. These surgeries are associated with severe morbidity and high mortality. In addition, our comprehensive review of surgery in chronic pancreatitis demonstrated lack of criteria for baseline assessment of patients with CP; resulting in lack of standardization, variation in indication and comparability in published literature on surgical treatment of chronic pancreatitis. These factors have collectively forced the medical fraternity to look for other non or minimally invasive options. Oxidative stress and deficiency of anti-oxidants have long been implicated in pathogenesis of CP. Our review of literature on oxidative stress and antioxidants has highlighted the shortcomings and inadequacies from the previously published reports. These reports were underpowered and not all included patients had chronic pancreatitis. This in turn led us to propose a well designed randomised, double blind, placebo controlled trial of antioxidant therapy in CP. Considering the loss of time and productivity, it is necessary to undertake Qol as an outcome measure in any intervention related to CP. Our study assessed the suitability and feasibility of validated quality of life indices in patients with painful chronic pancreatitis. After correction for disease duration, the outcome of contemporary quality of life assessments showed that patients with CP taking Antox™ had better scores than controls. Cytokines, a group of proteins and glycoproteins that act in regulation of immunity, inflammation and haematopoiesis are implicated in oxidative stress related pathogenesis of chronic pancreatitis. They are broadly classed as pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory. There have been few experimental studies suggesting that antioxidants ameliorate cytokine response in chronic pancreatitis. However our study has failed to demonstrate a significant effect on cytokine levels after six months of antioxidant therapy.Similarly, on the clinical front, a randomised, double blind placebo controlled study (referred to as ANTICIPATE TRIAL) has shown no benefit of antioxidant therapy in painful chronic pancreatitis, irrespective of age, gender, aetiology or operative intervention. So we are afraid to say that until we discover any novel treatment in management of intractable painful chronic pancreatitis, surgery and interventional endoscopy might be the only viable options. The Theses is being converted from the word to the PDF format by the Manchester University. Page 160, Consort flow chat there is a question mark in one of the boxes and the legends from figures on page 161-163 have not turned out appropriately. I would request the Manchester e-scholar department to please amend it.

Present study was designed to evaluate in vitro antioxidant activity in heart and serum Glucose, HbA1c of Hesperidin on isoproterenol induced myocardial infarction in normal and diabetic in rats. Hesperidin (100 mg/kg, p.o) was administered for 28 days in rats injected with single dose of Streptozotocin (65 mg/kg, i.p, STZ) and nicotinamide (110 mg/kg, i.p, NIC) and after isoproterenol (200mg/kg, s.c., ISO) induced myocardial infarction in diabetic rats on 29th and 30th day. At the end of experimental period (i.e. on the day 31) heart tissue sample of each rat was collected and antioxidative parameter carried out for further estimations. Administration of STZ-NIC in rats showed a significant (P

Objective: Upper extremity (UE) transplantation is the most commonly performed composite tissue allotransplantation worldwide. However, there is a lack of imaging standards for pre- and posttransplant evaluation. This study highlights the protocols and findings of UE allotransplantation toward standardization and implementation for clinical trials. Methods: Multimodality imaging protocols for a unilateral hand transplant candidate and a bilateral mid-forearm level UE transplant recipient include radiography, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, catheter angiography, and vascular ultrasonography. Pre- and posttransplant findings, including dynamic CT and MR performed for assessment of motor activity of transplanted hands, are assessed, and image quality of vessels and bones on CT and MR evaluated. Results: Preoperative imaging demonstrates extensive skeletal deformity and variation in vascular anatomy and vessel patency. Posttransplant images confirm bony union in anatomical alignment and patency of vascular anastomoses. Mild differences in rate of vascular enhancement and extent of vascular networks are noted between the 2 transplanted limbs. Dynamic CT and MR demonstrate a 15° to 30° range of motion at metacarpophalangeal joints and 90° to 110° at proximal interphalangeal joints of both transplanted hands at 8 months posttransplant. Image quality was slightly better for CT than for MR in the first subject, while MR was slightly better in the second subject. Conclusion: Advanced vascular and musculoskeletal imaging play an important role in surgical planning and can provide novel posttransplantation data to monitor the success of the procedure. Implementation of more standardized protocols should enable a more comprehensive assessment to evaluate the efficacy in clinical trials.