Outcome of standardized treatment for patients with MDR-TB from Tamil Nadu,...
Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major health problem in India accounting for more than 20 per cent of the global incident cases (1). Since 1997, the Government of India has implemented under the Revised...
View ArticlePrevalence & determinants of depression in type 2 diabetes patients:...
Sir, I have read with interest the study by Raval et al (1) regarding the prevalence and determinants of depression in type 2 diabetes patients. They found 41 per cent prevalence of depression among...
View ArticleTreatment practices & laboratory investigations during Chikungunya...
Sir, After the re-emergence of chikungunya fever during 2005, widespread outbreaks were reported from several Indian States affecting more than 175,000 individuals (1,2). Laboratory investigations...
View ArticleRecovery in mental health: Reshaping scientific and clinical...
Recovery in mental health: Reshaping scientific and clinical responsibilities, M. Amering & M. Schmolke (M/s Wiley-Blackwell, UK) 2010. 266 pages. ISBN 9780-470-997-963 This book is an English...
View ArticleUse of minocycline in viral infections.(Report)
"The most fruitful basis for the discovery of a new drug is to start with an old drug". James W. Black Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1988) Minocycline: from bacterial infections to...
View ArticleInvolvement of nitric oxide in learning & memory processes.(Report)
Introduction It has been known for many years that NO which is a gas made up of two most common gases in the atmosphere, occurs in the biological system. NO crosses cell membranes freely and plays a...
View ArticleSocio-economic factors & longevity in a cohort of Kerala State,...
Improvements in disease prevention and treatment, nutritional intake, level of education, and living and working conditions have resulted in a better quality of life worldwide. One of the markers of...
View ArticleAn introduction to statistics in early phase trials.(Book review)
An introduction to statistics in early phase trials, S.A. Julious, S.B. Tan & D. Machin (M/s John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Chichester, UK) 2010. 263 pages. ISBN 978-0-470-05985-2 Early phase studies...
View ArticleSuperbug--the so-called NDM-1.(Editorial)
The recent paper on the emergence of a new antibiotic resistance mechanism in India, Pakistan and the UK (1) may have sounded yet another wakeup call to counter the global menace of antibiotic...
View ArticleNormative data of cervical length in singleton pregnancy in women attending a...
The risk of spontaneous preterm labour and delivery increases in women who have a short cervix (1). Transvaginal ultrasound (TVS) can be used as an objective and reproducible method to measure cervical...
View ArticleFibrous dysplasia & McCune-Albright syndrome: an experience from a...
Fibrous dysplasia (FD) is a congenital but noninheritable benign disorder in which medullary bone is replaced by fibro-osseous tissue which causes distortion and overgrowth of the affected bone (1). FD...
View ArticleStudy on cow ghee versus soybean oil on 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)-anthracene...
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women and is the leading cause of cancer mortality in females around the world (1). A strong positive correlation between fat intake and age...
View ArticleDetection & characterization of Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli...
The morbidity and mortality associated with several large outbreaks of gastrointestinal diseases caused by Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) indicating the threat of these organisms to...
View ArticleAre women with mental illness & the mentally challenged adequately...
Sir, Human society has a long history of treating people with mental illness and the mentally challenged as inferior. As a result, they have often been institutionalized, sterilized and prevented from...
View ArticleSperm DNA damage & oxidative stress in recurrent spontaneous abortion...
Sir, Recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) is defined as three or more consecutive pregnancy losses of less than or equal to 20 wk of gestation. The aetiology in about 60 per cent cases is not known....
View ArticleEquity, social determinants and public health programmes.(Book review)
Equity, social determinants and public health programmes, E. Bias & A.S. Kurup, editors (World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland) 2010. 300 pages. Price: CHF/US $ 40.00; in developing...
View ArticleResearch on social inequalities in health in India.(Commentary)(Editorial)
Sauvaget and colleagues (1) use data from a prospective cohort study based in the peri-urban areas of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, a state known for its egalitarian social policies, to document the...
View ArticleEffect of efflux pump inhibitors on drug susceptibility of ofloxacin...
Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the aetiological agent of tuberculosis (TB), has re-emerged as a killer pathogen in western countries after the increase of HIV-AIDS cases and development of resistance to...
View ArticlePrevalence of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene exon 7 Glu298 Asp...
Cardiovascular diseases are fast emerging as a major health hazard and it is estimated that by 2020, the burden of cardiovascular diseases in India would surpass any other country in the world (1)....
View ArticleClinical response of newly diagnosed HIV seropositive & seronegative...
Tuberculosis is a major public health problem globally as well as regionally. In Asia, the prevalence of HIV infection in TB patients has been lower than that reported from sub-Saharan Africa (1). In...
View ArticleWorld No Tobacco Day 2011: India's progress in implementing the Framework...
A global epidemic of tobacco use continues more than a half century after cigarette smoking was causally linked to lung cancer and other diseases. This epidemic has not spared India, home to 17.5 per...
View ArticleProfile of bacterial pneumonia during Hajj.(Report)
Hajj (the Muslim pilgrimage to Makkah) is one of the largest annual gatherings in the world and attracts more than 2 million pilgrims from almost every country. The Hajj takes place between the 8th and...
View ArticleVirulence attributes of Helicobacter pylori isolates & their association...
Helicobacter pylori has been identified as a major cause of peptic ulcer disease (PUD) and a risk factor for gastric cancer (GC) and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma (1,2). On a global...
View ArticleNeed for better anthropometric markers for prediction of cardiovascular risk...
Sir. The article by Thakappan and colleagues in the January 2010 issue of the Journal, defines the enormous threat of non communicable diseases which the State of Kerala faces (1). The results are...
View ArticlePhylogenetic analysis of swine & human hepatitis E...
Sir, We have read with interest a recent paper published in the journal (1). The authors amplified genomic material from swine sera using primers based on hepatitis E virus (HEV) genomic sequences, and...
View ArticleIntroducing pentavalent vaccine in EPI in India: a counsel for prudence in...
Sir, Lone et al (1), have cautioned about the introduction of pentavalent vaccine, that also includes vaccine against Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), citing several studies in support of the lower...
View ArticleEndothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) variants in cardiovascular disease:...
The DNA-based information provided by the Human Genome Project, International HapMap Project and the Human Variome project gave an impetus to understanding the nature and consequences of human genetic...
View ArticleDevelopment of a controlled release formulation of an indigenous insect...
The environmental hazards posed by conventional mosquito larvicides coupled with the development of resistance in mosquito vectors to some of these insecticides warrant an alternate approach in the...
View ArticleAnaemia & expression levels of CD35, CD55 & CD59 on red blood...
In India severe anaemia in patients suffering from Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) is an important concern (1). Direct destruction of RBCs following Pf infection cannot account for the degree of anaemia...
View ArticleProtective association exhibited by the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)...
Base excision repair (BER) pathway is the most pro-active DNA repair pathway that corrects DNA modifications which arise either spontaneously or from attack by reactive chemicals i.e., removal of DNA...
View ArticleIBD and IBS: Novel mechanisms and future practice.(Book review)
IBD and IBS: Novel mechanisms and future practice, S.P.L. Travis, R.C. Spiller, J.F. Colombel, P. Holzer, editors (S. Karger, Basel, Switzerland) 2010. 149 pages. Price: CHF/US $ 56.00 ISBN...
View ArticleObesity and metabolism.(Book review)
Obesity and metabolism, M. Korbonits, editor (S. Karger AG, Basel, Switzerland) 2008. 294 pages. Price: US $ 289.00 ISBN 978-3-8055-8429-6 Obesity is the scourge of modern civilization contributing to...
View ArticlePulmonary tuberculosis among health care workers at two designated DOTS...
The risk of transmitting Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB) from infected patients to health care workers (HCWs) has been recognized for many years (1). The risk...
View ArticleClub drugs: review of the 'rave' with a note of concern for the Indian...
Introduction 'Raves' are parties with loud, electronic "techno-rock" music, laser light shows, and all-night dancing held in clandestine locations, including warehouses, nightclubs, and farm fields...
View ArticleValidation of bedside methods in evaluation of diabetic peripheral...
The number of patients with diabetes mellitus is increasing by epidemic proportions in the world, particularly in India. Lower extremity disease, including peripheral neuropathy, foot ulceration,...
View ArticleSeasonal prevalence & resting behaviour of Anopheles minimus Theobald...
Malaria continues to be a major public health problem in India. The hilly tracts of Indian subcontinent are generally malarious. The worst affected regions are the hilly-forested areas of Orissa State....
View ArticleEvaluation of effect of isoflavone on thyroid economy & autoimmunity...
Women's Health Initiative study in 2002 (1) and Heart and Estrogen/progestin replacement study (HERS) (2,3) have indicated that the risks of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for post-menopausal women...
View ArticleNew drugs and targets for asthma and COPD.(Book review)
New drugs and targets for asthma and COPD, T. Hansel, J. Barnes, editors (Karger, Basel, Switzerland) 2010. 310 pages. Price: CHF/US $ 248.00 ISBN 978-3-8055-9566-7 The book is published as Volume 39...
View ArticleEconomic growth & health of poor children in India.(Correspondence)
Sir, The prevailing wisdom to improve the health of Indians, as repeatedly emphasized by the Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh (1), is based on economic growth. Can India rely solely on the...
View ArticleEmergence of tigecycline & colistin resistant Acinetobacter baumanii...
Sir, Acinetobacter spp. were considered to be quiet bystanders till their role in hospital acquired infections was described (1). Of the many species of Acinetobacter which have been described,...
View ArticleMore blood, more life? Reflections on World Blood Donor Day--2011.(Editorial)
Previously commemorated by the International Federation of Blood Donor Organisations (IFBDO), the World Blood Donor Day has now been adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) to recognise the...
View ArticleAssociation of gene polymorphisms with development of cancer risk or their...
Over the past decade, due to the advent of human genome project and its overwhelming success, there has been a great deal of interest in defining genetic polymorphisms and finding their associations...
View ArticleMolecular typing of Mycobacterium leprae strains from northern India using...
Leprosy, a chronic infection caused by Mycobacterium leprae, is one of the oldest recorded diseases of humankind. According to official reports received during 2008 from 118 countries and territories,...
View ArticleEndometriosis, a modern syndrome.(Disease/Disorder overview)(Report)
When was endometriosis first identified? Over the last decade, great interest has been shown for the reconstruction of the path that led to the identification of the two conditions we call adenomyosis...
View ArticleQuality of life after electroconvulsive therapy in persons with treatment...
In recent years, health-related quality of life (QOL) has been regarded as the most important dimension of outcome in schizophrenia and other serious mental disorders (1). However, the determinants of...
View ArticleSmoking cessation support in Iran: availability, sources &...
Smoking is one of the major causes of death worldwide and the most preventable risk factor of coronary heart disease (1). Prevalence of smoking has come to a plateau or has been decreasing in most...
View ArticleEntomological study of chikungunya infections in the State of Kelantan,...
Since its first report in 1953 (1), chikungunya has caused numerous massive outbreaks worldwide. Asia was reported to have the first outbreak in Bangkok in 1958 (2) and later in Cambodia, Vietnam,...
View ArticleMalaria incidence among paramilitary personnel in an endemic area of...
Malaria continues to cause high rates of morbidity and mortality in India, and remains as a major public health concern in the country. There is an increasing trend in the proportion of Plasmodium...
View ArticlePediatric neuroendocrinology.(Brief article)(Book review)
Pediatric neuroendocrinology, S. Loche, M. Cappa, L. Ghizzoni, M. Maghnie, M.O. Savage, editors [vol. 17, Endocrine development, Mullis PE, editor] (S. Karger AG, Basel, Switzerland) 2010. 220 pages....
View ArticleVirulence potential of Group A streptococci isolated from throat cultures of...
Group A streptococci (GAS) show an incredible history of changing disease pattern (1). Humans are the natural host and sole reservoirs. These are spread through droplets and infect upper respiratory...
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