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Background Uremic pruritus has an impact on the quality of life and sleep of hemodialysis patients, but the majority of cases go unreported and untreated unless severe, due to a lack of awareness. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence, associated factors, and impact on health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) and sleep in hemodialysis patients. Methodology A single-center observational study of 3 months wherein 120 adults on maintenance hemodialysis were included. Baseline characteristics, dialysis-related factors, and lab parameters influencing uremic pruritus were recorded. Those with uremic pruritus completed “12-item pruritus severity scale (12-PSS)”, “SKINDEX10”, and “Itch-MOS” questionnaires to evaluate severity, impact on HR-QOL, and sleep respectively. Results Sixty seven over one hundred twenty (55.83%) patients had pruritus and majority were mild (40.83%) as per 12-PSS. Those with pruritus (n=67) had a mean age of 56.5±11.3 years, most were males (82%), chronic glomerulonephritis (29.1%) was the commonest cause of end-stage kidney disease, 3 active smokers, and 4 seropositive. 65(97%) patients were on twice-weekly dialysis, 36/67 had Conclusion The majority of patients on maintenance hemodialysis experience uremic pruritus. None of the clinical characteristics, dialysis-related factors, and laboratory parameters affected uremic pruritus. Uremic pruritus patients had the worst HR-QOL & their sleep quality significantly declined as pruritus severity escalated. Trial registration number and date of registration Study approval was obtained from Institutional Research Committee and Institutional Ethical Committee (IEC 642/2021). Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI) registration (CTRI/2022/01/039143) was also obtained.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CC) is the third most common cancer in the world. Annona reticulata (AR) also known as bullock's heart, is a traditional herb. AR leaf extract was initially investigated for its anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-malarial, anti-helminthic, anti-stress, and wound healing properties. Only a few in vitro cancer studies have been conducted on AR. Although few studies have linked AR leaf extract to many cancers, comprehensive studies addressing regulation, biological functions, and molecular mechanisms leading to CC pathogenesis are clearly lacking. Objectives: The present study aimed to explore the antioxidant and anti-cancer potentials of AR leaf extract in CC. Materials and methods: The MTT assay was used to test the anti-proliferative activity of AR leaf extract in vitro on the HCT116 cell line. Qualitative and quantitative phytochemical characterization was carried out using gas chromatography: mass spectrometry (GC–MS). 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH) was used to establish CC model in female Wistar rats. The acute toxicity of AR leaf extract was tested in accordance with OECD guidelines. Aberrant Crypt Foci (ACF) count, organ index, and hematological estimations were used to screen for in vivo anti-cancer potential. The antioxidant activity of colon homogenate was determined. Results: The alcoholic leaf extract (IC50, 0.55 μg/ml) was found to be more potent than the aqueous extract. Using GC–MS, a total of 108 compounds were quantified in the alcoholic leaf extract. The LD 50 value was found to be safe at a dose of 98.11 mg/kg of body weight. AR alcoholic leaf extract significantly (p

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The risk of developing tuberculosis (TB) is 10–25% in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. TB in CKD patients may have a mortality of 16–37%. Standard treatment with four drugs (Isoniazid, Rifampin, Pyrazinamide and Ethambutol) predisposes to side effects, drug interactions and incomplete adherence in this population. We studied adverse drug reactions and potential drug–drug interactions in CKD patients with TB. METHOD Consecutive patients with CKD and TB attending tertiary care hospitals in South India were included over a period of 12 months. CKD was diagnosed based on estimated GFR using CKD EPI and TB using standard methodology. Data on demographic details and adverse drug reactions were collected from case records. Potential drug–drug interactions were checked using Micromedex Drug-Reax® (Truven Health Analytics, Greenwood Village, Colorado, USA). Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 20. RESULTS Of 1300 TB patients, 59 had CKD. The demographic details are as per Table 1. CONCLUSION In CKD with TB, adverse drug reactions were seen in 45.5% and potential drug–drug interactions were seen mostly with rifampin (28.81% in CKD).

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus, the most common chronic metabolic disorder affecting about 300 million people all over the world. It occurs due to impaired insulin secretion, impaired insulin action or both whereas Prediabetes is the initial stage before diabetes mellitus and characterized by impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance. Type 2 diabetes mellitus is associated with increased metabolic processes and oxidative stress. The trace elements are important co-factor in these events. Thus, this study was conducted to compare serum copper, zinc in prediabetes, diabetics with normal controls. Materials and Methods: Institutional ethics committee permission was obtained prior to the study. Study included 71 prediabetes, 71 diabetics subjects and 71 controls between 40-60 years. Serum fasting blood sugar, glycated hemoglobin, copper, zinc was estimated. Statistical analysis was done using student t-test and Pearson’s correlation. p value Results: Serum copper was significantly increased in diabetic (77.87+40.78) and serum zinc (128.05+20.87) was significantly decreased in diabetics compared to apparently healthy controls. (Copper =60.72+19.70, zinc =140.74+33.99), where as in prediabetics both copper and zinc level were increased compared to healthy subjects. Serum copper was positively correlated with Glycated hemoglobin (r=0.26, p= Glycated hemoglobin (r= - 0.182, p=0.008) and fasting blood sugar (r= - 0.188, p=0.006). Copper to zinc ratio also showed statistically significant positive correlation with Glycated hemoglobin (r=0.287, p= ) Conclusion: Serum copper and zinc have a role in diabetes thus supplementation of micronutrients may be essential to maintain the diabetic status. Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, Zinc, Copper, Copper to zinc ratio.

Background and Aims Estimates of Tuberculosis(TB) burden indicate an estimated incidence and mortality of 199 and 32 respectively per 100000 in our country. Risk factors for acquiring TB disease include HIV infection, Diabetes Mellitus, Tobacco consumption and undernutrition. We retrospectively studied profile of TB in Chronic Kidney disease(CKD) in our population. Method Retrospective case record based study of consecutive TB patients visiting a Tertiary care hospital attached to a Medical College diagnosed by standard methods to demonstrate TB bacilli in sputum or affected tissue. CKD was diagnosed based on estimated Glomerular filtration rate less than 60 ml/min/m2 for at least three months. Pattern of TB and adverse drug effects were studied. Statistical analysis was done on SPSS version 20 Results Over ten months, of 746 TB patients seen, 41(5.4%) had CKD, Stage 3b,4 and 5 in 7/41(17.1%), 11(26.8%), 23(56.1%) respectively. Among CKD 24(58.5%) had Diabetes Mellitus, 1(2.4%) HIV and 37(90.2%) hypertension. Pattern of TB is shown in table 1. Adverse drug reactions were significantly higher in CKD 24/41(54.5% vs 17% in non CKD, P < 0.05). Mortality in CKD was 3/41(7.3%) and not significantly higher on multivariable analysis than in those without CKD. Conclusion In this retrospective survey of TB patients CKD constituted 5.4%, was associated with more adverse drug reactions but did not impact on mortality. Pulmonary TB was the common pattern in CKD.

Evidence-based recommendations on the efficacy and safety of corticosteroids in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) remain a therapeutic challenge. Findings from several systematic reviews and meta-analyses are inconsistent. We aimed to assess the published meta-analyses through a systematic review approach and provide further insight into the current uncertainty and also to perform an updated meta-analysis from all the available primary studies.We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review (PRISMA) guidelines to establish the patients, intervention, control and outcome (PICO) for reviewing published meta-analyses. Data sources such as PubMed/MEDLINE, SCOPUS, Cochrane and Google Scholar from inception to February 2021 were accessed. Prevention of ARDS, mortality, ventilator-free days, ICU stay and safety in terms of occurrence of adverse effects were the patient-related outcomes. The review also assessed meta-analysis design-related outcomes which includes the quality of meta-analysis, factors contributing to the risk of bias, extent and sources of heterogeneity, publication bias and robustness of findings. AMSTAR-2 checklist assessed the quality of published meta-analyses.A total of 18 meta-analyses were reviewed comprising a total of 38 primary studies and 3760 patients. Fourteen studies were in ARDS, three in community-acquired pneumonia and one in critical care. The overall quality of meta-analyses was observed to be critically low to high. A non-significant risk of publication bias and non-significant level of heterogeneity was observed in the reviewed meta-analysis. Corticosteroid was significantly effective in preventing ARDS among CAP patients. The effect of corticosteroids on mortality was observed to be still inconsistent, whereas significant improvement was observed with ICU and ventilator outcomes compared with the control group. Our meta-analysis observed a significant reduction of mortality in RCTs (RR: 0.78; 95% CI: 0.61 to 0.99) and the duration of mechanical ventilation (MD: -4.75; 95% CI: -7.63 to -1.88); and a significant increase in ventilator-free days (MD: 6.03; 95% CI: 3.59 to 8.47) and ICU-free days (MD: 8.04; 95% CI: 2.70 to 13.38) in ARDS patients treated with corticosteroids compared with the control group.The quality of included studies ranged from critically low to high demonstrating inconsistency in risk of bias. While older studies found no significant effect, recent meta-analyses of RCTs found a significant mortality reduction in the corticosteroid group with considerable levels of heterogeneity. The updated meta-analysis by our team found a significant reduction in mortality in the pooled estimation of RCTs but not in cohort studies. Corticosteroid therapy was effective in terms of ICU and ventilator outcomes with minimal safety concerns. Future meta-analyses should be well executed with specific research questions and well performed with minimal risk of bias to produce good quality evidence.