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BACKGROUND Cytopenia is the most common condition in paediatric population which requires detailed haematological evaluation. The objective of this study was to understand the, aetiological factors of the three types of cytopenia (single cytopenia, bicytopenia, pancytopenia) in children. METHODS This study is a descriptive & retrospective 5 year study conducted in the Haematology wing of a paediatric tertiary health care centre in South India. Data of all cases who underwent detailed haematological evaluation like Complete blood count, peripheral smear and bone marrow examination for cytopenias during the study period were included in the study. RESULTS The study sample was 365. The total number of patients with single cytopenia (isolated anaemia / leukopenia / thrombocytopenia) was 240 (65.7 %), bicytopenia were 90 (24.6 %) and pancytopenia was 35 (9.58 %). There was slight female predominance (M: F = 1: 1.05). Bicytopenia and pancytopenia were commonly observed between 1 - 5 years of age, while single cytopenias were more common in 5 - 10-year age group. The analysis of symptoms and signs in all cytopenia groups showed petechiae / purpura as the most common presentation in single cytopenia. The analysis of clinical symptoms showed significant correlation (P value < 0.05). Single cytopenia was the most common observed type of cytopenia with Immune thrombocytopenic purpura as the commonest aetiologic factor. In the present study most common causes of bicytopenia were reactive conditions like ITP with and without anaemia, infections etc. Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) was the most common aetiologic factor for pancytopenia (ANOVA test and Bonferroni test P value < 0.05). Isolated thrombocytopenia was the most common peripheral smear picture observed, followed by hypochromic microcytic picture and combination of hypochromic microcytic anaemia (HMA) with thrombocytopenia. CONCLUSIONS Children with cytopenias commonly have benign conditions than malignant conditions. Cytopenias due to primary haematological malignancies are more common than secondaries. KEYWORDS Bicytopenia, Cytopenia, Children, Aetiology, Paediatric Pancytopenia

BACKGROUND Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP) is one of the most commonly encountered disease in paediatric practice. Thorough clinical and morphological study of peripheral blood and bone marrow is required for confirming ITP. Clinicomorphological aspects of paediatric ITP is a less studied topic especially in developing countries like India. The objective was to study the clinical and morphological profile of paediatric cases of ITP. METHODS This is a 5-year record based retrospective study conducted in a paediatric tertiary health care centre in Kerala, South India. Data of all paediatric cases diagnosed as ITP including clinical presentation, clinical findings, blood counts, peripheral blood morphology, bone marrow morphology, and treatment response was collected and entered in SPSS software version 16.0 and analysed. For assessing correlation, chi-square test was used. RESULTS The age of children ranged from 3 months to 15 years. H/o viral fever was noted in 53 % cases. Cases which had moderate and severe thrombocytopenia were 74 % and 21 % respectively. Isolated thrombocytopenia was the most common peripheral blood picture observed with few cases showing coexisting eosinophilia and anaemia. All cases showed megakaryocyte proliferation in marrow with 9 % cases showing coexisting iron deficiency anaemia. Majority of cases showed rapid response to steroid / IVIG therapy and the response had no correlation with grade of thrombocytopenia (p value < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Paediatric cases of ITP usually present following viral infections or vaccination, with worrisome bleeding episodes, petechiae, ecchymosis or purpura. KEYWORDS ITP, Paediatrics, Platelet Count, Thrombocytopenia, Vaccination

Background and objectives: Hematoxylin and Eosin staining is the globally accepted staining technique for histology and histopathology sections. Though hematoxylin is a natural dye, eosin is synthetic dye manufactured from chemicals. Eosin acts as a counterstain to hematoxylin giving sharp contrast to its blue colour. Eosin being a chemical can cause health hazards and environmental pollution. Using ecofriendly materials and going organic is the demand of this era. The present study was conducted to evaluate the staining qualities of Curcumin longa(turmeric) a natural substitute of eosin and the results of Hematoxylin and Eosin stain (H and E) was compared with Hematoxylin and Curcumin(H and C) stain. Methods: The study was conducted in the Histopathology lab of a tertiary health care centre in South India after getting Institutional Ethical Committee Clearance. For each staining method 100 sections were prepared from 20 collagen tissues, 20 epithelial tissues, 20 smooth muscle tissues, 20 bony tissues and 20 adipose tissues. The staining qualities were assessed by an experienced pathologist and the results were scored as excellent, good and poor. After entering the scores in Microsoft excel, the results were statistically analyzed. Results: H and C staining gave comparable results with H and E staining in all the five types of tissue sections studied (p value

BACKGROUND Primary sarcomas of the urinary bladder are uncommon. Most cases of Leiomyosarcomas of the bladder are described in elderly males, years after cyclophosphamide therapy or as a second malignancy in survivors of Retinoblastoma. This case is presented due to rare presentation in young female and due to the absence of the associated factors described in the literature.

Yttrium oxide-based nanophosphors that emit both upconversion luminescence (UPL) and cathodoluminescence (CL) were synthesized by a precipitation method using excessive urea. Precursors of Y2O3 nanophosphors were synthesized with size control to less than 50 nm and a chemical yield greater than 90%. Concentrations of rare-earth co-dopants in nanophosphors were controlled with optimal molar ratios. Co-dopants Tm, Yb/Er, Yb enabled NPs to emit UPL at wavelengths around 810/660 nm and CL at wavelengths around 450/660 nm via excitation with 980 nm NIR light and an electron beam. Synthesized NPs were imaged by NIR and CL microscopy.

This paper presents a new correlative bioimaging technique using Y2O3:Tm, Yb and Y2O3:Er, Yb nanophosphors (NPs) as imaging probes that emit luminescence excited by both near-infrared (NIR) light and an electron beam. Under 980 nm NIR light irradiation, the Y2O3:Tm, Yb and Y2O3:Er, Yb NPs emitted NIR luminescence (NIRL) around 810 nm and 1530 nm, respectively and cathodoluminescence at 455 nm and 660 nm under excitation of accelerated electrons, respectively. Multimodalities of the NPs were confirmed in correlative NIRL/CL imaging and their locations were visualized at the same observation area in both NIRL and CL images. Using CL microscopy, the NPs were visualized at the single-particle level and with multicolour. Multiscale NIRL/CL bioimaging was demonstrated through in vivo and in vitro NIRL deep-tissue observations, cellular NIRL imaging and high-spatial resolution CL imaging of the NPs inside cells. The location of a cell sheet transplanted onto the back muscle fascia of a hairy rat was visualized through NIRL imaging of the Y2O3:Er, Yb NPs. Accurate positions of cells through the thickness (1.5 mm) of a tissue phantom were detected by NIRL from the Y2O3:Tm, Yb NPs. Further, locations of the two types of NPs inside cells were observed using CL microscopy.

We studied the dynamics of photogenerated carriers in Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) single crystals using femtosecond transient reflectivity (TR) and optical pump-THz probe transient absorption (THz-TA) spectroscopy. The TR and THz-TA decay dynamics consistently showed that free carriers have long lifetimes of up to a few nanoseconds. The excitation-photon-energy-dependent TR measurements revealed a slow picosecond energy relaxation of free carriers to the band edge in CZTS. The relaxation and recombination dynamics of free carriers were affected by nonradiative recombinations at the surface. Our results revealed a global feature of energy relaxation and recombination processes of free carriers in CZTS single crystals.