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Relapsing polychondritis is a rare multisystem disease involving the cartilaginous and proteoglycan rich structures. The spectrum of clinical presentations may vary from intermittent episodes of painful and often disfiguring auricular and nasal chondritis, to occasional organ or even lifethreatening manifestations like airway collapse. There is lack of awareness about this disease due to its rarity. Relapsing polychondritis disease activity index has recently been validated and may help in clinical decision making and research. This article reviews the literature on this disease entity.

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The validity of a Hindi version of the Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Studies (DIGS) was investigated. The original English version was initially translated into Hindi. The Hindi version was then back-translated and compared with the original. Next, a group of psychiatric inpatients and outpatients were interviewed using the Hindi version. The resultant diagnoses were compared with those obtained for the same patients using a Hindi version of the Present State Examination (PSE), and the clinical diagnoses given by the treating psychiatrists. The DIGS diagnoses were significantly correlated with both the PSE diagnoses (Cohen's kappa = 0.80) and the clinical diagnoses (kappa = 0.56). Interrater reliability between three interviewers for diagnoses obtained using the Hindi version of the DIGS varied (kappa = 0.45-1.00). Possible causes for this variability are discussed. The Hindi version of the DIGS fulfills the need for a current comprehensive interview schedule not only for psychiatric genetic research in India, but also for nongenetic research.

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The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has posed severe threats to humans and the geoenvironment. The findings of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (Sars-CoV-2) traces in waste water and the practice of disinfecting outdoor spaces in several cities in the world, which can result into the entry of disinfectants and their by-products into storm drainage systems and their subsequent discharge into rivers and coastal waters, raise the issue of environmental, ecological and public health effects. The aims of the current paper are to investigate the potential of water and waste water to operate as transmission routes for Sars-CoV-2 and the risks of this to public health and the geoenvironment. Additionally, several developing countries are characterised by low water-related disaster resilience and low household water security, with measures for protection of water resources and technologies for clean water and sanitation being substandard or not in place. To mitigate the impact of the pandemic in such cases, practical recommendations are provided herein. The paper calls for the enhancement of research into the migration mechanisms of viruses in various media, as well as in the formation of trihalomethanes and other disinfectant by-products in the geoenvironment, in order to develop robust solutions to combat the effects of the current and future pandemics.