National Trends and Outcomes in Dialysis-Requiring Acute Kidney Injury in Heart Failure: 2002–2013

Background

Dialysis-requiring acute kidney injury (D-AKI) is a serious complication in hospitalized heart failure (HF) patients. However, data on national trends are lacking after 2002.

Relationship of Quality of Life with Disability Grade in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Dysthymic Disorder

Background:

There is paucity of information on the relationship of quality of life (QOL) in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and dysthymic disorder (DD) with disability grade in India.

Aim:

To assess the relation of QOL with disability level in OCD and DD.

Materials and Methods:

This hospital based study was conducted in a medical institution in Davanagere, Karnataka, India. Data was collected by using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV Text Revision (DSM IV TR) criteria, WHO QOL BREF and IDEAS. Relationship between disability grade and QOL was assessed by independent sample t test.

Results:

Mild disabled OCD patients had a significantly better QOL in the Q1 domain i.e. perception on quality of life as compared to moderately disabled patients (P < 0.05), while in other domains of QOL, there was no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05). But, QOL score in physical domain showed significant difference across disability grades (56.00, SD = 6.89; 48.50, SD = 12.28) in DD, but not in other domains.

Conclusion:

Perception of QOL is better in those with mild disability in OCD, but in DD, physical domain of QOL score is more in mild disability compared to moderate disability.     

Cold Agglutinin Induced Hemolysis in a Newly Diagnosed Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a well-known autoimmune chronic inflammatory disease, which can virtually affect any organ system in the body. Although hemolytic anemia has been known to occur in < 10% of SLE patients, they are usually mediated through warm antibodies. It is extremely rare to see cold antibody-mediated hemolytic anemia in SLE, and only few cases have been reported in literature to our knowledge. This is a unique case report of SLE associated with cold agglutinin hemolytic anemia in a patient presented with generalized tender lymphadenopathy and typical B-symptoms including fever, night sweats, and significant weight loss.     

New bis-aminomercaptotriazoles and bis-triazolothiadiazoles as possible anticancer agents

A series of bis-phenoxyacetic acids 2 were prepared starting from corresponding unsubstituted/substituted 1,4-quinols 1. The fusion of bis-phenoxyacetic acids 2 with thiocarbohydrazide gave the corresponding bis-[4-amino-5-mercapto-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl-methyleneoxy]phenylenes (3) in a one pot reaction. The reaction of bis-triazoles 3 with various reagents afforded N-bridged heterocycles 4-6 in good yields. The newly synthesised compounds were screened for their anticancer activity against a panel of 60 cell lines derived from seven cancer types namely, lung, colon, melanoma, renal, ovarian, CNS and leukemia. Some of the tested compounds showed promising anticancer properties.     

Carcinoma oesophagus--overview and update of literature

Oesophageal cancer is one of the most challenging pathological conditions confronting the surgeon. With advances in imaging techniques, correct evaluation is possible pre-operatively, which helps in planning of treatment and thereby improving overall survival. Treatment now-a-days is multimodality, but still surgery remains the mainstay of the treatment. Usually very less number of patients are amenable to surgical resection and in remainder, palliative treatment remains the primary aim of treatment. Chemoradiation has got some role as in some seen recent trials. Novel drugs, which target at molecular level, are in research phase at present.     

Synthesis, characterization and antimicrobial activity of some substituted 1,2,3-triazoles

Two substituted 1,2,3-triazoles 4 and 6 have been synthesized by the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of 4-azido-8-(trifluoromethyl)quinoline 2 with ethyl acetoacetate and acetylacetone, respectively. The reaction of 2 with ethyl acetoacetate afforded 1-[8-(trifluoromethyl)quinolin-4-yl]-5-methyl-1H-1,2,3-triazole-4-carboxylic acid 3 and with acetylacetone afforded 1-{1-[8-(trifluoromethyl)quinolin-4-yl]-5-methyl-1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl}ethanone 5. Compound 3 is converted into its corresponding acid hydrazide and then condensed with different aromatic aldehydes to yield Schiff's base, N-[1-arylmethylene]-1-[8-(trifluoromethyl)quinolin-4-yl]-5-methyl-1H-1,2,3-triazole-4-carbohydrazides 4. Compound 5 is condensed with aromatic aldehydes to obtain [1-aryl-4-{1-[8-(trifluoromethyl)quinolin-4-yl]-5-methyl-1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl}prop-2-en-1-ones 6. The newly prepared 1,2,3-triazole derivatives 4 and 6 have been characterized by IR, NMR and mass spectral data. These compounds were screened for their antimicrobial activity.     

Synthetic and antibacterial studies on some new furanopeptides

A series of new furanopeptides (3) are prepared by the coupling of arylsubstituted furoic acids (1) with amino acid methyl esters, di and tetra-peptide methyl esters using dicyclohexyl carbodiimide (DCC) as coupling agent. Some of the newly synthesized compounds are characterized on the basis of IR, 1H NMR, mass spectral data and elemental analysis. Some of the selected compounds are also tested for their antibacterial properties.     

Protective Role of Co-administration of Vitamin D in Monosodium Glutamate Induced Obesity in Female Rats

Purpose

Obesity in females is an emerging health problem. The consumption of MSG has been considered as a risk factor for obesity. The tastemakers in Chinese and fast foods, such as fish sauce and soy sauce, contain very high levels of glutamate. The deficiency of Vitamin D is associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the effect of co-administration of Vitamin D on body weight control in MSG-induced obese rats.

Reduced Resource Optimization in Male Alcoholics: N400 in a Lexical Decision Paradigm

Background: Event Related Potential (ERP) studies have highlighted some measures, notably P3 amplitude, that are associated with both state and trait deficits in alcoholism, while studies examining N400 amplitude in alcoholism are few. The present study aims to examine differences in the N400 component, an electrophysiological correlate of semantic priming, in event‐related potentials from a lexical decision task in 87 alcohol dependent subjects and 57 community controls. Methods: Each subject was presented with 300 stimuli sequentially in a quasi‐randomized design, where 150 stimuli were words and 150 were non‐words. The subjects made a lexical decision indicating the word/non‐word status with a button press. Among the words, 50 words (primed) were always preceded by their antonyms (prime, n = 50), whereas the remaining 50 words were unrelated. N400 amplitude and latency measures were compiled from ERPs to the primed and unprimed words. Corresponding reaction time (RT) and response characteristics were also analyzed. Results: Control subjects revealed a significant attenuation of the N400 response to the primed word when compared to the unprimed word. Significantly less attenuation was observed in alcohol dependent subjects. No significant group differences were seen for latency and behavioral measures. All subjects had slower RT for unprimed words compared to primed words; however significantly less RT savings between the unprimed and primed condition was noted for alcoholics. Conclusions: These results suggest a reduced flexibility in the cognitive networks and a lack of resource optimization in alcoholics. The reduced attenuation of N400 during the primed condition in the alcohol dependent subjects may reflect an inability to engage similar neuronal substrates associated with semantic relatedness as seen in the controls. As diminished N400 attenuation during priming is observed in both alcoholics and high risk subjects, it may be a marker of risk and a good endophenotype for alcoholism.