Amelioration of mild and moderate depression through Pranic Healing as adjuvant therapy: randomised double-blind controlled trial.

OBJECTIVES: Depression is a mental disorder, affecting the quality of life. Our study explores the efficacy of Pranic Healing (PH), as an adjuvant therapy in treating depression Methods: In this randomised double-blind controlled trial, 52 participants with a mean age of 34.4 years, with mild to moderate depression were assessed using the Hamilton Depression Rating (HAM-D) scale during the 5-week study. Both Medication + PH (MedPH) and Medication + Mock PH (MedMockPH) groups comprising 26 members received Pranic and mock healing lasting 20 minutes per session respectively once a week for 4 weeks, along with the antidepressant drug. RESULTS: The average decrease in HAM-D score in MedPH was median 11 (Interquartile Range (IQR) 7-12) and was significantly higher compared with the MedMockPH group median 6.5 (IQR 3-9). At pre-assessment, both groups had 8 cases of mild and 18 cases of moderate depression. At post-assessment, HAM-D showed that the improvement in depression category was seen in 69.2% of participants in the MedMockPH group and 100% in MedPH group. CONCLUSIONS: These results give first the evidence that PH can aid as an adjuvant therapy for depressed people.

Metaplastic carcinoma of the breast-a rare neoplasm with transitional cell differentiation: an exceptional feature.

Metaplastic carcinomas of the breast are malignant breast neoplasms composed of a mixture of both epithelial and mesenchymal elements. The rarity of this tumor is exemplified by the fact that it accounts for only about 0.2% of all breast carcinomas. It can present histologically with diverse differentiation and the exact histogenesis of these tumors is unknown. The present case is reported for its rarity and for the presence of transitional cell differentiation along with the other usual components of metaplastic carcinoma. Transitional cell differentiation in a metaplastic carcinoma has not been documented in the literature. Besides this, it highlights the importance of special stains and immunohistochemistry in evaluating these carcinomas and the need for early diagnosis and excision of these tumors as these carcinomas generally have a poorer prognosis as compared to breast carcinomas without metaplasia, with the tumor size having an important bearing on the outcome of this condition.

Placental site trophoblastic tumour: a case report.

Placental site trophoblastic tumour (PSTT) is a rare form of trophoblastic disease accounting for < 2% of all gestational trophoblastic neoplasms. Most of the cases follow a normal pregnancy and a small number have a preceeding molar pregnancy or spontaneous abortion. It can occur as early as several weeks or as late as 15 years after normal delivery, molar pregnancy or abortion. Excessive intermediate trophoblastic activity is the most important diagnostic criterion of this tumour originating from non villous trophoblast. But the possibility of a PSTT should be considered when there is excessive intermediate trophoblastic activity despite the presence of chorionic villi as in the present case. This case report highlights the unusual features like rarity of the tumour (< 2%), occurrence following spontaneous abortion which happens only in a minority of cases, and presence of chorionic villi in the tumour despite the fact that the tumour is of non villous trophoblastic origin.

Carcinoma within a fibroadenoma: a case report.

Carcinoma within a fibroadenoma is an extremely rare occurrence with a reported incidence of 0.1% and is most often diagnosed incidentally on post-operative examination of excision biopsy specimens. One such case is reported here for its rarity and also for stressing upon the need for compulsory excision of all breast masses clinically diagnosed as fibroadenoma and for highlighting the importance of histopathological evaluation of all breast masses irrespective of their clinical diagnosis as benign.