A single infusion of liposomal amphotericin B was not inferior to and was less expensive than conventional therapy with amphotericin B deoxycholate. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00628719.)

ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00370825 .

BACKGROUND:During the last few decades, high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) has come up as a new diagnostic modality to diagnose emphysematous and chronic bronchitis components of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The present study was undertaken to evaluate for various quantitative and qualitative HRCT features in patients with COPD, and to detect patients' characteristics that correlate with these HRCT features.MATERIALS AND METHODS:Forty male patients with COPD attending the COPD clinic at a tertiary referral hospital and postgraduate medical institute were included in the study. Various HRCT features, including tracheal index, thoracic cage ratio, sterno-aortic distance, thoracic cross-sectional area, vascular attenuation, vascular distortion, mosaic attenuation pattern, and directly visible small airways, were evaluated and correlated with patients' characteristics, including age, duration of illness, quantum of smoking, dyspnea score, quality-of-life index, and various spirometric indices.RESULTS:We found significant correlations of various quantitative and qualitative HRCT features with age, duration of illness, quantum of smoking, quality-of-life index, and the spirometric indices showing the extent of airways obstruction.CONCLUSIONS:Various quantitative and qualitative HRCT features were found to correlate with patients' characteristics, spirometric indices, and health-related quality-of-life score, suggesting that HRCT is useful not only in detecting emphysema and its various subtypes but also in predicting the extent and severity of COPD.

No abstract

The landscape of AES in India has changed in the previous decade, and both outbreak investigations and surveillance studies have increasingly reported non-JEV etiologies; because of these findings there is a need to explore additional strategies to prevent AES beyond vector control and JEV vaccination.

Although the cure rate in the group of patients who received the 14-day regimen was not optimal, the results with respect to initial cure were encouraging. Further studies that combine a short course of paromomycin with treatment with another antileishmanial agent are warranted. ( ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00629031).

Though there are few studies addressing brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), subclinical BAEP abnormalities in stable COPD patients have not been studied. The present study aimed to evaluate the BAEP abnormalities in this study group.MATERIALS AND METHODS:In the present study, 80 male subjects were included: COPD group comprised 40 smokers with stable COPD with no clinical neuropathy; 40 age-matched healthy volunteers served as the control group. Latencies of BAEP waves I, II, III, IV, and V, together with interpeak latencies (IPLs) of I-III, I-V, and III-V, and amplitudes of waves I-Ia and V-Va were studied in both the groups to compare the BAEP abnormalities in COPD group; the latter were correlated with patient characteristics and Mini–Mental Status Examination Questionnaire (MMSEQ) scores to seek any significant correlation.RESULTS:Twenty-six (65%) of the 40 COPD patients had BAEP abnormalities. We observed significantly prolonged latencies of waves I, III, V over left ear and waves III, IV, V over right ear; increased IPLs of I-V, III-V over left ear and of I-III, I-V, III-V over right side. Amplitudes of waves I-Ia and V-Va were decreased bilaterally. Over left ear, the latencies of wave I and III were significantly correlated with FEV1; and amplitude of wave I-Ia, with smoking pack years. A weak positive correlation between amplitude of wave I-Ia and duration of illness; and a weak negative correlation between amplitude of wave V-Va and MMSEQ scores were seen over right side.CONCLUSIONS:We observed significant subclinical BAEP abnormalities on electrophysiological evaluation in studied stable COPD male patients having mild-to-moderate airflow obstruction.

Probiotics supplementation has shown significant improvement in CD4 counts. Micronutrients supplementation has shown significant delay in the progression towards advance stage of disease.