Therapeutic drug monitoring in psychiatry: An important step in clinical practice.

TDM in psychiatry is a tool to optimize the therapeutic regimens in clinical practice. Psychopharmacology encompasses those drugs which metabolize and their metabolites also are active in the body. CYP-450 of antipsychotics is unique as the drugs are lipid soluble and the heterogeneous class of drugs act on different types of receptors and produce variable responses. Various techniques are involved to estimate the drug levels of those drugs. HPLC is a golden standard to assay the serum drug concentration of these drugs. The metabolites can also be assayed along with the parent drug. TDM of these drugs if applied at tertiary care, individualization of dosage regime of these drugs can help the outcomes of therapy and even drug-drug interaction can display the PK/PD nature of such drugs.

Helminthic infestation in children of Kupwara district: a prospective study.

The present study deals with the investigation of the frequency of intestinal helminth parasites in children of Kupwara, Kashmir, India. Three hundred and twelve children in the age group of 4-15 years were examined for different intestinal helminths in three schools located in rural areas. Two hundred and twenty two of 312 (71.15%) tested positive for various intestinal helminths. The various helminth parasites included Ascaris lumbricoides , Trichuris trichiura , Enterobius vermicularis and Taenia saginata . By far, the highest frequency of 69.23% (216/312) was noted for Ascaris lumbricoides followed by Trichuris trichiura 30.76% (96/312), Enterobius vermicularis 7.69% (24/312) and Taenia saginata 7.69% (24/312). Single infection was found in 33.65% (105/312) and mixed infection was seen in 37.5% (117/312) children. This study emphasizes the need for improved environmental conditions, i.e., clean water supplies, enhanced sanitation and chemotherapy of school-age children in rural areas.

Kayser-Fleischer like ring in autoimmune chronic active hepatitis.

Kayser-Fleischer ring is considered an important diagnostic sign of Wilson's disease. We report a 9 year old boy with autoimmune chronic active hepatitis who exhibited Kayser-Fleischer like ring.

Isolated splenic vein thrombosis with natural shunt caused by jejunal tuberculosis.

A case of jejunal tuberculosis causing isolated splenic vein thrombosis with natural shunt is reported, for the first time. The patient, presented with upper small bowel obstruction and massive upper gastrointestinal bleeding, was treated successfully with splenectomy, jejunal resection and antituberculous drugs.