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The present study was conducted for diagnosis of tumors by using foldscope in comparison with conventional microscope. A total of 100 cytological smears including 92 lymph node aspirates, seven peritoneal fluids and one pleural fluid of animals submitted to Centralized Clinical Diagnostic Laboratory, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, Punjab from 1st December, 2019 to 19th August, 2020 were incorporated in the study. Out of which, 88 smears were identified as lymphoma, each two case of squamous cell carcinoma and transmissible venereal tumor in lymph node aspirate. Peritoneal fluid examined revealed seven cases of carcinoma and one case of hemangiosarcoma was diagnosed in pleural fluid. Foldscope was employed to observe the presence of anisocytosis, hypercellularity, pleomorphism, macrokaryosis, multinucleation, increased nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio (N:C), nuclear molding, abnormal mitosis and mitotic figures in the smears. The findings of foldscope matched the conventional microscope up to a magnification of 400X. The current study revealed that foldscope can be reliable diagnostic tool for study of cytological smears. Images clicked with foldscope can also be shared with experts for opinion with the help of smart phone attached to foldscope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Savant syndrome is a very rare, but extraordinary condition where persons with significant mental disability, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), have some impressive abilities, which are markedly incongruous contrast to overall handicap. In fact, as many as one in 10 autistic persons have such remarkable abilities in varying degrees, although savant syndrome occurs in other developmental disabilities or central nervous system (CNS) injury or disease as well. "Autistic savant" refers to individuals with ASD who have extraordinary skills not exhibited by most normal persons. This is an extremely rare phenomenon, although there are several well-documented cases. Here, we are reporting a case of a 29-year-old male patient; as per informants, he had complaints of low intelligence, remaining aloof and withdrawn, not being able to interact properly within the family and in society, wandering aimlessly, self-mutilating behavior, odd behavior such as collecting matchboxes and toys, tearing his own clothes, suggestive of ASD. The patient can tell the day on a given date of a particular year in seconds, suggesting that he has autistic savant abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the quality of health in a personalized manner, better control over pharmacologically relevant cargo formulation, organ-specific targeted delivery, and on-demand release of therapeutic agents is crucial. Significant work has been put into designing and developing revolutionary nanotherapeutics approaches for the effective monitoring and personalized treatment of disease. Nanogel (NG) has attracted significant interest because of its tremendous potential in cancer therapy and its environmental stimuli responsiveness. NG is considered a next-generation delivery technology due to its benefits like as size tunability, high loading, stimuli responsiveness, prolonged drug release via in situ gelling mechanisms, stability, and its potential to provide personalized therapy from the investigation of human genes and the genes in various types of cancers and its association with a selective anticancer drug. Stimuli-responsive NGs can be used as smart nanomedicines to detect and treat cancer and can be tuned as personalized medicine as well. This comprehensive review article's major objectives include the challenges of NGs' clinical translation for cancer treatment as well as its early preclinical successes and prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ante-mortem diagnosis of rabies is highly desirable for veterinary as well as medical fraternity. Recently with advent of molecular approaches it has become feasible using saliva, skin and urine samples. However, there has been ambiguity about the comparative efficacy of molecular approaches while targeting different genes of rabies virus. Thus, present study was envisaged to diagnose rabies from skin samples using hemi-nested (Hn) RT-PCR. The sensitivity of Hn RT-PCR was compared by targeting nucleoprotein (N) gene and polymerase (L) gene of virus in rabies suspected animals. Skin biopsy samples were collected for antemortem diagnosis of rabies from rabies suspected animals presented to the Veterinary Clinics, GADVASU, Ludhiana (India) over a period of 12 months. FAT on brain tissue of the same animals was used as a reference method to establish true positive and true negative cases. Out of 34 skin samples, the sensitivity of molecular detection of rabies by L-gene primers was 95.83% and that of by N-gene primers was 83.33%, with accuracy of 97.05% and 88.23% while targeting L gene and N gene, respectively, whereas both the approaches detected rabies from skin samples with 100% specificity. Thus, Hn RT-PCR targeting L-gene is more sensitive than N-gene for antemortem detection of rabies virus RNA from skin samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mortality statistics are vital for health policy development, epidemiological research, and health care service planning. A robust surveillance system is essential for obtaining vital information such as cause of death (CoD) information. Objective: This study aims to develop a comprehensive model to strengthen the CoD information in the selected study sites. The specific objectives are (1) to identify the best practices and challenges in the functioning of the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) system with respect to mortality statistics and CoD information; (2) to develop and implement interventions to strengthen the CoD information; (3) to evaluate the quality improvement of the Medical Certification of Cause of Death (MCCD); and (4) to improve the CoD information at the population level through verbal autopsy for noninstitutional deaths in the selected study sites. Methods: An uncontrolled, before-after, mixed method study will be conducted in 3 blocks located in the districts of 3 states (Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Odisha) in India. A baseline assessment to identify the best practices and challenges in the functioning of the CRVS system, along with a quality assessment of the MCCD, will be conducted. An intervention informed by existing literature and the baseline assessment will be developed and implemented in the study sites. The major components of intervention will include a Training of Trainers workshop, orientation of stakeholders in the functioning of the CRVS system, training of physicians and medical officers in the MCCD, and training of community health workers in World Health Organization Verbal Autopsy 2022 instrument. Postintervention evaluation will be carried out to assess the impact made by the intervention on the availability and quality improvement of CoD information in the selected study sites. The outcome will be measured in terms of the quality improvement of the MCCD and the availability of CoD information at population level through verbal autopsy in the selected study sites. Results: The project has been funded, and regulatory approval has been obtained from the Institutional Ethics Committee. The data collection process began in May 2023. The duration of the study will be for 24 months. Conclusions: Our study is expected to provide a valuable contribution toward strengthening CoD information, which could be helpful for policy making and further research. The intervention model will be developed in collaboration with the existing functionaries of the health and CRVS systems in the selected study sites that are engaged in reporting and recording CoD information; this will ensure sustainability and provide lessons for upscaling, with the aim to improve the reporting of CoD information in the country. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/51493 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Acute exacerbation of COPD is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Aim: This study was aimed to study the role of clinical tools and biochemical markers which have significant impact on short-term mortality in COPD patients presenting with acute exacerbation. Material and Methods: A total of 50 patients were studied. Patients of age >40 years having COPD exacerbation and presenting with two of the three cardinal features of exacerbation: increase in amount of cough, increase in purulence of cough, increase in baseline dyspnoea which were severe enough to necessitate a hospital admission, were evaluated after admission. A thorough history taking and clinical examination was performed. Along with this, all necessary laboratory parameters were studied. Study population was followed for 30 days. Data were analysed using Chi-square test and multivariate regression analysis using SPSS version 16.0. Results: Out of 50 patients, 30% (15/50) did not survive despite treatment. Parameters such as, history of mechanical ventilation in past one year, low GCS (Glasgow Coma Scale), raised JVP (Juglar Venous Pressure), low pH and raised IL-6 levels were significantly associated with mortality in multivariate analysis (p-value