scholarly journals Randomized Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy of Ashtamangal Ghrita Oral and Nasya in the Management of Cerebral Palsy

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 483-490
Author(s):  
Shabnam Rajput ◽  
Kalpana Patni

Background: Cerebral palsy is one of the most common childhood disabilities, which hinder the development of a child, causing extensive suffering to affected children and their families. According to world health organization about 10% of population have some form of disabilities. Cerebral Palsy can be compared with Vatavyadhi(neurological disorder) manifested in various form like sarvangavata (quadri-plegia), pakshaghata (hemiparesis), ekangavata(monoplegia), pangu and khanja (motor disorder), kampavata,  jadatva (mental retadation), mukatva (dumbness) etc. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of Ashtamangal ghrita, in the form of oral medication and as nasya in the management of cerebral palsy. Material and Methods: Total 24 Children with physical and mental developmental disabilities of of age group 01 to 10 years of either sex were randomly divided into two groups, group A received Ashtamangal ghrita (orally) - 1 ml/kg body weight in two divided doses for 3 months and Group B received Pratimarsh Nasya with Ashtamangal ghrita – 2 drops in each nostril 2 times a day for 3 months. Assessments were done on the basis of 5 point grading score of Clinical symptoms of Cerebral Palsy as per standard classification scale for CP, i.e, motor functions were assessed on the basis of CDC Grading Scale for Motor milestones and Teacher’s drooling test. Follow up visit was on every 15th day. Result: Overall effect of therapy shows that there was 34.79% improvement in group A & 37.74% improvement in group B. Results were slightly superior in group B than group A in most of the parameters. Although intergroup comparison of both groups was not-significant or there were no differences in both groups statistically. Group A was slightly superior than group B in following parameters –Head holding, sitting, teacher drooling scale and spasticity. In all the other parameters group B was slightly superior. Conclusion: Clinical efficacy of both Ashtamangal ghrita orally and as nasya on various parameters of Cerebral Palsy showed that both were effective, safe and comparable.

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 790-795 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seung Won Byun ◽  
Tae Chul Park ◽  
Seog Nyeon Bae

ObjectiveThe goal of this study was to evaluate the efficacy, toxicity, and survival of patients in our institution treated by EMA (etoposide, methotrexate [MTX], and dactinomycin) chemotherapy for 3 groups of patients: ones that had low-risk gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) that was resistant to MTX (group A), those with high-risk GTD (group B), and the group having low-risk GTD but the cancer being metastatic (group C).MethodsThe medical records of 58 patients who received EMA chemotherapy in groups A, B, and C in the 2000 to 2012 period at St Mary’s Hospital were examined. Clinical characteristics, chemotherapy responses, causes of treatment failure, and cases of drug toxicity were analyzed retrospectively.ResultsTreatment with the EMA regimen resulted in primary remission in 52 (96%) of 54 patients and resistance in 2 of the patients (3%). In the resistance group, one belonged to group B and was treated with etoposide, MTX, and actinomycin D with cyclophosphamide and vincristine (EMA-EP) and the other belonged to group A and died of refractory disease. World Health Organization (WHO) grade 4 leukocytopenia and thrombocytopenia with the EMA regimen occurred in 6% and 0.4% of the cycles, respectively; the other toxic effects were acceptable and manageable. Median cycles of EMA chemotherapy during the treatment were 7, 8, and 8 in groups A, B, and C, respectively. There was some reduction in total chemo cycle and toxicity, as compared with a previously reported study using the alternative cyclophosphamide and vincristine regimen. Among the EMA treated patients, 1 patient with a second malignancy of breast cancer was documented. In addition, 5 child births for the treated patients were recorded during the follow-up period of mostly 10 years.ConclusionsThe EMA chemotherapy seemed to reduce treatment duration and the relapse rate without increasing the adverse effects in patients with MTX resistance and low-risk GTD, but having confirmed metastatic lesions. Although this study had some limitations regarding the high-risk GTD, our findings will provide a basis for the use of EMA chemotherapy when cyclophosphamide and vincristine is contraindicated due to toxicity.


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1124-1128
Author(s):  
Hira Burhan ◽  
Askari Syed Hasan ◽  
Syed Mansur-ul-Haque ◽  
Ghazanfar Zaidi ◽  
Taha Shaikh ◽  
...  

Introduction: According to the World Health Organization, the estimated number of malaria cases in Pakistan is about 1.5 million. Hematological variables like platelets, total leukocyte count (TLC), and hemoglobin (Hb) need to be evaluated to diagnose malaria in suspects. This study aimed to investigate the association between blood group and susceptibility to malaria and effects on platelets, TLC, and Hb. Methodology: This was a case-control study with a sample size of 446, of which 224 were malarial cases and 222 were controls. A designated questionnaire was developed to know age, gender, malarial strain, Hb, TLC, platelets, and blood group. Results: Of 224 malarial cases, 213 were P. vivax, and 11 were P. falciparum. There were 58 patients with blood group A, 72 with group B, 69 were O and 23 were AB. There was no significant difference in the blood group of controls compared to malarial patients (p > 0.05). Mean Hb level was 11.5mg/dL in malaria patients and 12.5mg/dL in controls. There was significant difference (p<0.01) in the mean platelet count in malarial (11,7000/μL) and control (24,5000/μL) patients. All blood groups showed similar falls in Hb and platelet levels, showing no significant difference among blood groups (p = 0.79 and p = 0.52, respectively). TLC was not significant between malarial and control groups (p = 0.072). Males were two times susceptible to malaria. Conclusions: There was no significant association between the type of blood group and susceptibility to malaria or developing anemia or thrombocytopenia.


Author(s):  
Petr Ilyin

Especially dangerous infections (EDIs) belong to the conditionally labelled group of infectious diseases that pose an exceptional epidemic threat. They are highly contagious, rapidly spreading and capable of affecting wide sections of the population in the shortest possible time, they are characterized by the severity of clinical symptoms and high mortality rates. At the present stage, the term "especially dangerous infections" is used only in the territory of the countries of the former USSR, all over the world this concept is defined as "infectious diseases that pose an extreme threat to public health on an international scale." Over the entire history of human development, more people have died as a result of epidemics and pandemics than in all wars combined. The list of especially dangerous infections and measures to prevent their spread were fixed in the International Health Regulations (IHR), adopted at the 22nd session of the WHO's World Health Assembly on July 26, 1969. In 1970, at the 23rd session of the WHO's Assembly, typhus and relapsing fever were excluded from the list of quarantine infections. As amended in 1981, the list included only three diseases represented by plague, cholera and anthrax. However, now annual additions of new infections endemic to different parts of the earth to this list take place. To date, the World Health Organization (WHO) has already included more than 100 diseases in the list of especially dangerous infections.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 38-40
Author(s):  
N M Shrestha

Background: Urethral stricture and its recurrence is still a major problem in male. Several procedures are present for the treatment of the disease. Lapides introduced the concept of intermittent self dilatation (ISD) which has decreased the incidence of recurrence of urethral stricture if doing properly. The aim of the this study was to report the outcomes of ISD for the treatment of urethral stricture after Filliform follower urethral dilatation (FFUD).Method: This was a prospective comparative study, conducted in the department of surgery, urology unit from March 2013 to February 2016. Total of 49 patients were enrolled and were randomly divided into Group A and Group B. In Group A, all the patients were taught ISD with Nelaton Catheter after FFUD. In group B, all patients underwent only FFUD for urethral stricture. In both groups, Foley's catheter was removed after 2 weeks of FFUD. These patients who had difficulty In passing urine or having lower urinary tract syndrome after removal of catheter, were evaluated for urethral stricture recurrency by clinical symptoms, ultrasonography, urine test for culture and sensitivity, cystoscopy/urethrogram as necessarily.Result: In Group A, 4 patients out of 20(20%)developed urethral stricture recurrency where as in Group B,18 patients out of 23 (78.26%) developed urethral stricture recurrency. Therefore, the rate of urethral stricture recurrence is significantly more in group B than the Group A (p< 0.001).Conclusion: ISD is an effective way for the prevention of urethtral stricture recurrence after FFUD. JNGMC,  Vol. 14 No. 2 December 2016, Page: 38-40


2021 ◽  
pp. 000348942199018
Author(s):  
Kostas Vahtsevanos ◽  
Angelos Chatziavramidis ◽  
Ioannis (Yiannis) Papadiochos ◽  
Georgios Koloutsos ◽  
Anastasios Stefanidis ◽  
...  

Background: Frey’s syndrome is a well-known complication of parotid surgery; its prevention may be achieved by the use of an interpositional barrier between the overlying flaps and the exposed parenchymal bed of parotid gland. The aim of this study was to retrospectively evaluate clinical outcomes with and without the interpositional placement of a porcine dermal collagen graft (PDCG) for prevention of syndrome occurrence. Methods: We conducted a 20-year retrospective study including the patients who had undergone “formal” (superficial, total, or subtotal) parotidectomies for benign pathologies. The inclusion criteria also involved patients that were (i) regularly monitored about clinical symptoms related to syndrome, and (ii) examined with Minor starch-iodine test. The severity of the diagnosed syndrome was retrospectively evaluated according to the grading score system of Luna-Ortiz. To assess group differences in terms of the extent of dissection in operating sites, we estimated the tumor and histological specimen volumes using the available dimensions. Results: We included 73 patients who had undergone 76 formal parotid surgeries. The surgical sites were divided into 2 groups: (1) Group A consisted of 44 sites that were reconstructed with a SMAS flap, and (2) Group B, comprised 32 sites where a PDCG was additionally applied as an artificial preventive barrier. At a mean follow-up of 26.3 months, a significantly lower incidence of clinically diagnosed Frey’s syndrome was found after the use of dermal collagen interpositional barrier ( P = .031). Specifically, subjective symptoms were reported at an incidence of 31.8% in Group A and 6.7% in Group B. Minor’s test was positive at an incidence of 59.09% in Group A and 21.87% in Group B ( P = .004, 95% CI). Severe Frey’s syndrome was observed in 31.82% of the patients of Group A and in 3.12% of the patients of Group B ( P = .002, 95% CI). Since there were no statistical significant differences between the volumes of the removed tumors and the excised histological specimens, the extent of dissection was not proved to influence the occurrence of Frey’s syndrome in the compared groups, Conclusion: Porcine dermal collagen is a safe, practical, and useful means for parotid reconstruction, since it seems to contribute in prevention of Frey’s syndrome when increased amount of glandular tissue has to be removed. Additional randomized controlled studies with bigger samples are required to better assess the PDCG use in parotid surgery.


2020 ◽  
pp. 63-68
Author(s):  
Phat Ho Tan ◽  
Tam Vu Thi Minh ◽  
Trong Huynh Nguyen Dang ◽  
Phuong Tran Nhat Thi Anh ◽  
Ngan Tran Thi Kim ◽  
...  

Background: Hepatic encephalopathy is an important evidence that confirms impairment of liver function, may occur in about 40% of cirrhotics. Data about efficacy of rifaximin plus lactulose in the treatment of Vietnamese patients was still limited. This study aimed to determine the precipitating factors and to access the efficacy of lactulose plus rifaximin in overt hepatic encephalopathy. Patients and Methods: The prospective single-blind randomized controlled trial, 43 cirrhotics with overt hepatic encephalopathy without portal systemic shunting addmitted to gastroenterology department of Cho Ray Hospital from March 2019 to August 2019, were randomized into two groups (group A lactulose plus rifaximin 1.100 mg/day, n = 21; and group B only lactulose; n = 22). All patients were recorded for onset factors, clinical characteristics and assessing the recovery of hepatic encephalopathy. Results: The mean age of patients in this study was 54.8 ± 12.1 years (the ratio of male to female patients is 4.38 : 1). The leading cause of cirrhosis was alcohol (39.5%). The most common clinical symptoms were jaundice (83.7%), spider naevi (41.9%) and ascites (37.2%). The most common triggers were infection (51.2%), gastrointestinal bleeding (37.2%) and constipation (25.6%). The percentage of patients with complete improvement after treatment with lactulose plus rifaximin was 81% compared to 63.6% in the lactulose-treated patients only (95% CI: 0.539 - 1.147, p value = 0.206). Conclusion: Our data revealed that common triggers of hepatic encephalopathy were infections, gastrointestinal bleeding and constipation. The combination of lactulose plus rifaximin was more effective than rifaximin alone in the treatment of overt hepatic encephalopathy. Key words: hepatic encephalopathy, precipitating factor, lactulose, rifaximin


Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Joaquim de Moura ◽  
Lucía Ramos ◽  
Plácido L. Vidal ◽  
Jorge Novo ◽  
Marcos Ortega

The new coronavirus (COVID-19) is a disease that is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). On 11 March 2020, the coronavirus outbreak has been labelled a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. In this context, chest X-ray imaging has become a remarkably powerful tool for the identification of patients with COVID-19 infections at an early stage when clinical symptoms may be unspecific or sparse. In this work, we propose a complete analysis of separability of COVID-19 and pneumonia in chest X-ray images by means of Convolutional Neural Networks. Satisfactory results were obtained that demonstrated the suitability of the proposed system, improving the efficiency of the medical screening process in the healthcare systems.


Author(s):  
Quratulain Mehdi

Introduction: Rheumatoid arthritis is one of the most common systemic inflammatory diseases characterized by progressive damage to the joints. There is rising evidence that Renin Angiotensin Aldosterone System signaling is also involved in the inflammatory response in rheumatoid arthritis and its blockers possess anti-arthritic properties. Telmisartan is an angiotensin receptor blocker and PPAR-? agonist and its anti-arthritic effects were evaluated. Aims & Objectives: This experimental study was designed to evaluate the anti-arthritic efficacy of telmisartan in pristane induced rat model of arthritis in adult female rats. Place and duration of study: The study was conducted in the Department of Pharmacology, Army Medical College, Rawalpindi, in collaboration with National Institute of Health and Armed Forces Institute of Pathology from July 2020 to August 2020. Material & Methods: Twenty four (24) adult non-pregnant female Sprague Dawley rats were divided in three groups (n=8) designated as Group A (normal control), Group B (arthritic control) and Group C (telmisartan group) & maintained on standard diet and water adlibitum. Rheumatoid arthritis was induced in each rat of Groups B &C by a single intradermal injection of 0.5ml pristane at the base of its tail on day 0 and the disease developed in two weeks. All 3 groups were given distilled water 2.5 ml/kg from 2-4 weeks and Group C was additionally given dissolved telmisartan orally at 2 mg/kg/day. Anti-arthritic efficacy was determined by assessing arthrogram score and total leukocyte count on day 0, 14 and 28 along with histological examination done at the end of the study. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 25. Results: Healthy rats in group A maintained a unremarkable arthogram & histogram score & TLC count of 6675±350/?l during the entire study period. Telmisartan administration in Group C for two weeks after pristane induction resulted in significant reduction in arthrogram score (AS) 9.5±3.66, total leukocyte count (TLC) 7350±550/?l and histological score (HS) to 6.88±1.24 as compared to (AS) 14.50±2.07, WBC 10150±350/?L & (HS) 10.75±2.05 in Group B, left untreated with pristane alone. The intergroup comparison showed significant p value < 0.05 respectively. Conclusion: Anti-arthritic effect was shown by telmisartan as it was able to ameliorate the changes induced by pristane.


The Healer ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-51
Author(s):  
Sandeepanie Maragalawaththa ◽  
E.R.H.S.S. Ediriweera

Introduction: Sciatica is a medical condition of pain going down the leg through back, outside, or front of the leg from the lower back. It can be co-related with Grdrasi caused by both the aggravated Vata and Kapha two elements out of three basic elements of the body. Diagnostic method of disease is different and management also based on root cause of the disease. Sepalika  (Nyctanthes arbor-tristis.Linn.)(Oleacea) leaves are having anti inflammatory effect and analgesic effect. Aim and Objectives: To Evaluate the efficacy of Koshtha (GIT) (Gastro Intestinal tract) Shuddhi (Purification) in the management of Gridrasi w.s.r. to Sciatica. Material and methods: For this study, 20 patients were resisted and divided into two groups. Registered patients of group A and Group B were given Koshtha Shuddhi with Sepalika leaves decoction along with Sashapadi oil Abhyanga and Sand Potali fomentation and Sepalika leaves decoction along with Sashapadi oil Abhyanga and Sand Potali fomentation respectively for 2 weeks before meal. Patients of group A were given 120ml of Vasagudushi decoction with 5ml Eranada oil twice a day for purpose of Koshtha Shuddhi for 3 days. The effect of therapy was evaluated on the basis of changes of chief complaints and SLR test was taken for assessment parameter. Discussion: The statistically significant relief was showed on the chief complaints of Gridrasi (Sciatica) in the both the groups except Ruk (Pain) in group B. SLR of all the patient of present study were in between 30o- 70o in R/side LL (Lower Limb). SLR was changed of both the groups up to 70o-90o and 100% showed relief except 4 patients in the group B. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the Koshtha Shuddhi is showed comparatively better effect than management of Gridrasi (Sciatica) without carried out Koshtha Shuddhi.


2019 ◽  
Vol 69 (5) ◽  
pp. 877-883 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Vekemans ◽  
Fernando Gouvea-Reis ◽  
Jerome H Kim ◽  
Jean-Louis Excler ◽  
Pierre R Smeesters ◽  
...  

Abstract Group A Streptococcus (GAS) infections result in a considerable underappreciated burden of acute and chronic disease globally. A 2018 World Health Assembly resolution calls for better control and prevention. Providing guidance on global health research needs is an important World Health Organization (WHO) activity, influencing prioritization of investments. Here, the role, status, and directions in GAS vaccines research are discussed. WHO preferred product characteristics and a research and development technology roadmap, briefly presented, offer an actionable framework for vaccine development to regulatory and policy decision making, availability, and use. GAS vaccines should be considered for global prevention of the range of clinical manifestations and associated antibiotic use. Impediments related to antigen diversity, safety concerns, and the difficulty to establish vaccine efficacy against rheumatic heart disease are discussed. Demonstration of vaccine efficacy against pharyngitis and skin infections constitutes a key near-term strategic goal. Investments and collaborative partnerships to diversify and advance vaccine candidates are needed.


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