Noninvasive assessment of pulmonary congestion in heart failure: Need of the hour.

Early pulmonary congestion detection and surveillance in acute heart failure patients can prevent decompensation, minimize hospitalizations, and improve prognosis. In India, the warm and wet types of HF are still the most common types and residual congestion at discharge is still a significant concern. Thus, there is an urgent need for a reliable and sensitive means of identifying residual and subclinical congestion. Two such monitoring systems are available and approved by US FDA. These include CardioMEMS HF System (Abbott, Sylmar, California) and ReDS System (Sensible Medical Innovations, Ltd., Nanya, Israel). CardioMEMS is a wireless pressure-sensitive implantable device, while ReDS is a wearable noninvasive device for measurement of the lung fluid and hence direct detection of PC. This review discusses the role of noninvasive assessment in PC monitoring in patients with heart failure and its implications from an Indian perspective.

Prevalence of Depression among School-going Adolescents in an Urban Area of Bihar, India.

INTRODUCTION: Depression is one of the under-recognized health problems in adolescents. Emotional instability resulted from childhood to adulthood transition makes adolescents vulnerable to depression. AIMS: The aim of the study was to explore the prevalence of depression and its associated sociodemographic factors among school-going adolescents. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was undertaken from January 2016 to June 2016 in adolescents studying in 9-12th standard from forty schools located in an urban area of Patna, Bihar. The self-administered questionnaire of Beck's Depression Inventory II was utilized to assess the prevalence of depression. Statistical analysis was done with Pearson's Chi-square test using SPSS software version 21.0. RESULTS: Among the 1412 selected students, the prevalence of depression was found to be 49.2%, wherein the prevalence of severe depression was 7.7%. The overall prevalence of depression was significantly (P < 0.001) higher among girls (55.1%) than boys (45.8%). The prevalence of depression was found to be higher among students belonging to minorities (Buddhism, Jainism, etc.) (63.3%, P < 0.001). Elder students were found to be more depressed than younger students. Depression was found to be statistically significantly associated with gender and religion (P < 0.005). Guilty feeling (69.48%) was one of the most prominent clinical factors associated with depression followed by pessimism (58.14%), sadness (56.52%), and past failure (55.81%). CONCLUSIONS: Mental health is one of the most neglected aspects of our society. There is a need to increase awareness about depression among teachers and parents to identify and help depressed adolescents in the school.

Phenomenology and predisposing factors of morbid jealousy in a psychiatric outdoor: a cross-sectional, descriptive study.

BACKGROUND: Jealousy in a sexual relation has some advantage that it ensures propagation of one's own gene as put by evolutionary psychologists. However, if this belief is based on unfounded evidence it may impair the relationship between partners and may be extremely distressful. Morbid jealousy may present as obsession, overvalued idea, or delusion as one of the symptoms in different psychiatric disorders. AIM: The aim of the study was to find the frequency of patients with morbid jealousy presenting in the Department of Psychiatry of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), the psychiatric diagnoses of such patients, frequency of different forms of morbid jealousy (obsession, overvalued idea, and delusion). Also, to assess predisposing or triggering factors for jealousy and to assess for suicidality in such patients and their partners. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All patients attending the Department of Psychiatry, PMCH were administered a screening questionnaire and if they qualified they were further administered the operational criteria for morbid jealousy. The psychiatric diagnosis was confirmed with the tenth revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems: Diagnostic Criteria for Research (ICD-10: DCR). Each patient was then administered a rating scale to quantify the psychopathology. RESULTS: Out of 970 patients who attended outpatient department, 658 patients were administered the screening questionnaire, 174 qualified who were later assessed with the operational criteria for morbid jealousy. Fifty patients who fulfilled the criteria were assessed. The mean age of presentation for both sexes were 36.44 year (SD=13.12 years). Morbid jealousy was found to be twice as common in males as compared in females. Highest prevalence was found among participants who had higher secondary education, belonged to middle socioeconomic status, and having psychiatric diagnosis of schizophrenia followed by depression. Delusional jealousy was the commonest followed by overvalued idea and obsession. A total of 20% of patients reported substance abuse like alcohol, cannabis, nicotine etc. either currently or in the past. Triggering factors found were spouse working away from home, interaction with opposite sex, attractiveness as perceived by the person with morbid jealousy. Females either as patients of morbid jealousy or as partners of a morbidly jealous spouse, carried the higher risk of suicide as compared to males.

Increment in vitamin D level and bone mineral accrual in children with vitamin D deficiency.

PURPOSE: To compare different regimens of vitamin D with respect to its serum increment levels and bone mineral accrual in vitamin D-deficient children. METHODS: Children identified as being vitamin D deficient (serum levels<20 ng/mL) were divided into 3 treatment groups by stratified block randomization (group 1, 4,000 IU/day of vitamin D3 plus 50 mg/kg/day calcium for 12 weeks; group 2, 30,000 IU/wk of vitamin D3 plus 50 mg/kg/day calcium for 12 weeks; and group 3, 300,000 IU of vitamin D3 once intramuscularly plus 50 mg/kg/day calcium). After regimen completion, each child received a maintenance dose of 400 IU/day vitamin D3 plus 50 mg/kg/day calcium. Their serum vitamin D level was measured after 3 and 12 months. Total body less head bone mineral concentration (BMC) and total body less head bone mineral density (BMD) were measured after 12 months. RESULTS: The mean increment in serum vitamin D levels from baseline to 3 months was significantly higher in group 3 than in groups 1 and 2, but the levels from 3 to 12 months were almost similar among all 3 groups. There were no significant differences among the 3 groups with respect to percentage increase of BMD and BMC. CONCLUSION: The injectable form of vitamin D was more efficacious than the oral forms in increasing the serum level to the normal range. All 3 regimens were equally effective in increasing the BMC and BMD. The 400 IU/day maintenance dose was sufficient to keep the serum level within the normal range.

Partial Kluver-Bucy syndrome secondary to tubercular meningitis.

Tubercular meningitis (TBM) is a devastating extra pulmonary manifestation of tuberculosis and demonstrates a high neurological morbidity. A rare complication of this condition is Kluver-Bucy syndrome (KBS), which is a neurobehavioral disorder characterised by hyper-sexuality, visual agnosia, bulimia, placidity, hyperorality and memory deficits caused by lesions to the amygdala. The amygdala lesions can be due to many causes, including traumatic brain injury, systemic conditions and infections such as tuberculosis. Here, we present a case of partial KBS in a patient undergoing treatment for TBM.

An unusual complication during bronchoscopy: hypotension, global ST segment elevation, and acute severe left ventricular systolic dysfunction.

Bronchoscopy is widely performed and generally considered safe. Cardiac complications during bronchoscopy are uncommon, and usually occur in elderly patients with coexistent coronary artery disease, hypertension, or severely impaired pulmonary function and resting hypoxemia. We report a patient who developed sudden onset restlessness, chest discomfort, hypotension, global ST elevation in multiple electrocardiogram leads, and acute severe left ventricular systolic dysfunction during a bronchoscopic transbronchial lymph node biopsy. Differential diagnosis included a massive myocardial infarction, apical ballooning (Tako-tsubo syndrome), or coronary vasospasm. The electrocardiogram changes resolved spontaneously, and a coronary angiogram 48 hours later revealed normal coronary artery anatomy and normal LV function. The patient made an uneventful recovery. It is important for physicians to be aware of such unusual complications to be able to appropriately manage these patients in clinical practice.