Study of kite string injuries in Western India.

A prospective analysis of 104 patients (outdoor and indoor) with manja (powdered glass coated kite string) injury from January 2011 to January 2015 was carried out at Civil Hospital Ahmedabad. All patients were analysed for mode and severity of injury, site of injury, associated injuries, activity being performed when injury occurred, the clinical diagnosis and treatment required. Analysis of collected data revealed that majority of the injuries occurred while driving or in pedestrians with the neck being the most commonly affected body part. Males were more commonly affected with most of the victims in the age group of 16-45 years. Injuries sustained while driving tended to be more severe. All injuries were recorded in the month of January. No deaths were reported, but potentially fatal injuries did occur. Most of the injuries were superficial and could be prevented or mitigated by either protective clothing or by use of protective devices on vehicles, which should be implemented to reduce the morbidity of such injuries in the future. There were no ethical issues or vested interests associated with the study.

A clinico-epidemiological study of rescuer burns.

Rescuer burn is a relatively newer terminology introduced to define the burns sustained by a person attempting to rescue a primary burn victim. Few studies have been published thus far on this peculiar type of burns. Due to the general neglect of the rescuer burns victim and discontinuation of treatment in most cases, once the primary victim dies, the rescuer often ends up in badly infected wounds and has a delayed return to work. A prospective study was conducted at the B J Medical College and Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad from January 2009 to December 2012 on the rescuer burns patients treated in its burns and plastic surgery department. 3074 patients of burns received treatment during the period of study. Of these, 48 patients gave the history of sustaining burns while trying to rescue a burns victim. Male to female ratio of rescuers was approximately 7:1. It was significantly higher as compared to the ratio of 1:0.8 of females to male burn victims observed at our centre (p≤0.01). Average age of the rescuers was higher in males as compared to females but the difference was not significant (p≥0.05). Of the 45 cases of female primary burns victims, male rescuer was husband of the primary victim in 41/45 cases (91.1%), mother was rescuer in three cases (6.6% cases) and sister was rescuer in one case. Though multiple people came to rescue a burns victim, in all cases, it was seen that it was the first rescuer who sustained burns himself or herself. None of the rescuers had any knowledge of the techniques and precautions to be taken while performing a rescue operation irrespective of their education status, indirectly pointing to the lack of any teaching on burns rescue in the school education curriculum.

Effect of Eclipta alba on Acute Seizure Models: a GABAA-mediated Effect.

In the present study, anticonvulsant activity of methanol extract of Eclipta alba (10-200 mg/kg) was studied using pentylenetetrazole- and picrotoxin-induced seizure models. Mechanism of effect of methanol extract of Eclipta alba was further elucidated by studying its GABAA receptor modulatory activity and its effect on levels of GABA in mice brain. Methanol extract of Eclipta alba exhibited potent anticonvulsant activity but has saturation of its pharmacological activity at 50 mg/kg. At the concentration of 10 mg/ml, contractions induced in guinea pig ileum was blocked by picrotoxin, but it didn't not show any increase in GABA levels in mice brain after treatment. Hence, it can be concluded that methanol extract of Eclipta alba possesses potent anticonvulsant activity because of its positive modulatory effect on GABAA receptors.

Development and Validation of a HPTLC Method for Simultaneous Estimation of L-Glutamic Acid and γ-Aminobutyric Acid in Mice Brain.

A new robust, simple and economic high performance thin layer chromatographic method was developed for simultaneous estimation of L-glutamic acid and γ-amino butyric acid in brain homogenate. The high performance thin layer chromatographic separation of these amino acid was achieved using n-butanol:glacial acetic acid:water (22:3:5 v/v/v) as mobile phase and ninhydrin as a derivatising agent. Quantitation of the method was achieved by densitometric method at 550 nm over the concentration range of 10-100 ng/spot. This method showed good separation of amino acids in the brain homogenate with Rf value of L-glutamic acid and γ-amino butyric acid as 21.67±0.58 and 33.67±0.58, respectively. The limit of detection and limit of quantification for L-glutamic acid was found to be 10 and 20 ng and for γ-amino butyric acid it was 4 and 10 ng, respectively. The method was also validated in terms of accuracy, precision and repeatability. The developed method was found to be precise and accurate with good reproducibility and shows promising applicability for studying pathological status of disease and therapeutic significance of drug treatment.

Transient osteoporosis associated with pregnancy: use of bisphosphonate in treating a lactating mother.

Transient osteoporosis is a rare condition causing regional pain, immobility and functional compromise. The authors present the case of a pregnant lady with multiple sites of transient osteoporosis, including a stress fracture, successfully treated with intravenous pamidronate and a physical rehabilitation programme. The authors discuss the mechanisms for the syndrome and its overlap with complex regional pain syndrome type I; as well as the implications of bisphosphonate administration to a nursing mother. The authors also highlight the advantages of MRI over standard radiography when investigating unexplained foot pain.

Duplication of hemi mandible and oral cavity, presentation of an adult patient--a case report.

We are present a case of duplication of hemi mandible and oral cavity in an adult patient. This is a very rare condition and each and every case warrants publication. This patient is unique in that she would not have presented for surgery if she was married. She presented at 30 years of age. The patient underwent radiological investigations using CAT scan, orthopantogram and routine X-ray films. She was operated on with an elliptical incision around the swelling, excising the whole of the duplicated mandible along with other associated structures such as a salivary gland and the branchial cyst present along with it. Postoperatively the patient had mild marginal mandibular weakness which recovered with time.