Lucknow is the capital city of Indian largest state - Uttar Pradesh with over 100 years of established medical education. The results of the study in this town are applicable to most developed cities in India. Lack of adequate knowledge and practices in emergency medical system (EMS) at Lucknow represent a dismal situation and require continuing medical education in this area.

User-friendly tool developed for objective evaluation of non-discrete lumpy breasts showed excellent reliability and validity. This tool should be useful for clinical drug trials in benign breast disorders and for wide routine clinical recording of patients.

BackgroundEndothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) help in neovascularization and endothelial repair during injury. Patients with cirrhosis show increased number and function of EPCs in circulation.MethodsSince natural killer (NK) cells regulate EPCs, we investigated the relationship between the 2 in alcoholic cirrhosis (AC, n = 50) and severe alcoholic hepatitis (SAH, n = 18) patients and compared with nonalcoholic cirrhosis (n = 15) and healthy controls (HC, n = 30). Levels of systemic inflammatory cytokines were measured, and coculture assays were performed between EPCs and NK cells in contact‐dependent and contact‐independent manner. NK cell–mediated killing of EPCs was evaluated, and expression of receptors including fractalkine (FKN) on EPCs and its cognate receptor CX3CR1 on NK cells was studied by RT‐PCR assays.ResultsPatients with SAH had higher regulated on activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) (p = 0.01), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) (p = 0.04), IL‐1β (p = 0.04), and IL‐6 (p = 0.00) growth factors and proinflammatory cytokines as compared to AC and HC. Distinct populations of CD31+ CD34+ EPCs with low and high expression of CD45 were significantly lower in SAH than HC (CD45low, p = 0.03; CD45hi, p = 0.04) and AC (CD45low, p = 0.05; CD45hi, p = 0.02). SAH patients, however, showed increased functional capacity of EPCs including colony formation and LDL uptake. NK cells were reduced in SAH compared with AC (p = 0.002), however with higher granzyme ability (p < 0.001 and p = 0.04, respectively). In SAH, EPC‐NK cell interaction assays showed that NK cells lysed the EPCs in both contact‐dependent and contact‐independent assays. Expression of interaction receptor CX3CR1 was significantly higher on NK cells (p = 0.0005), while its cognate receptor, FKN, was increased on EPCs in SAH patients as compared to HC (p = 0.0055).ConclusionWe conclude that in SAH, NK cells induce killing of EPCs via CX3CR1/FKN axis that may be one of the key events contributing to disease severity and proinflammatory responses in SAH.

Multiple or overlapping tobacco practices and other substances abuse were documented in Lucknow, the capital city of the most populous state Uttar Pradesh where chewing tobacco was the commonest as opposed to smoking.

A single-blind, parallel group, general practice study was carried out in 153 patients with mild to moderate depression to compare the efficacy and tolerability of flupenthixol dihydrochloride and dothiepin hydrochloride. Patients were allocated at random to receive single daily doses of either 1 mg flupenthixol in the morning or 75 mg dothiepin in the evening, and this dose could be doubled at the end of 2 weeks in the event of inadequate response. Assessments were made on entry and after 1, 2, 4 and 6 weeks of treatment using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, a 4-point severity scale and an unwanted symptoms checklist. The results showed that both treatments significantly improved the patients' condition over 6 weeks, and there was a significant difference in favour of flupenthixol at end-point. Both drugs were well tolerated, although persistence of anticholinergic side-effects in the dothiepin group resulted in a trend favouring flupenthixol. One patient in the flupenthixol group attempted suicide by overdose but made a complete recovery.

Drug-resistant Escherichia coli (E. coli) has overburdened the healthcare facilities in recent years and is getting hard to combat, mandating search for novel therapeutics with a broad antibacterial spectrum and high chemotherapeutic index. The 24 kDa domain of DNA gyrase B that is involved in the ATPase activity has been reported to be a promising target for inhibitors. A PDB structure (1KZN) of the 24kD domain of gyrase B with the co-crystallized ligand clorobiocin was used for the docking studies to explore a library of 2924 FDA approved drugs from www.zinc.docking.org. FlexX docking module from Biosolve IT was used for receptor preparation and in silico docking experiments. Docking studies on the pocket created around the reference ligand clorobiocin revealed the best score with diminazene aceturate and it also demonstrated interactions with the crucial amino acids present within the pocket. Diminazene aceturate has been conventionally been used as an antiparasitic molecule in animals and it has also been demonstrated to exhibit repurposing potential in the treatment of disorders triggered due to overproduction of inflammatory cytokines, pulmonary hypertension, ischemia-induced cardiac pathophysiology, etc. among others. Findings from this study indicate the possibility of repurposing the age-old molecule diminazene aceturate into a DNA gyrase B antagonist to combat not just the drug-resistant E. coli but also other gram-negative ESKAPE pathogens. It may also aid in alleviating the inflammatory response induced in the body of the patients suffering from septicemia caused by a variety of Gram-negative bacterial pathogens.

Background: P7 viroporin in HCV is a cation-selective ion channel-forming protein, functional in the oligomeric form. It is considered to be a potential target for anti-HCV compounds due to its crucial role in viral entry, assembly and release. Method: Conserved crucial residues present in HCV p7 protein were delineated with a specific focus on the genotypes 3a &1b prevalent in India from the available literature. Using the Flex-X docking tool, a library of FDA-approved drugs was docked on the receptor sites prepared around crucial residues. In the present study, we propose drug repurposing to target viroporin p7, which may help in the rapid development of effective anti-HCV therapies. Results: With our approach of poly-pharmacology, a variety of drugs currently identified classified as antibiotics, anti-parasitic, antiemetic, anti-retroviral, and anti-neoplastic were found to dock successfully with the p7 viroporin. Noteworthy among these are general-purpose cephalosporin antibiotics, leucal, phthalylsulfathiazole, and granisetron, which may be useful in acute HCV infection and anti-neoplastic sorafenib and nilotinib, which may be valuable in advanced HCV-HCC cases. Conclusion: This study could pave the way for quick repurposing of these compounds as anti-HCV therapeutics.

Background Prescribing behavior of oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) by physicians, gynecologists, and alternative medicine practitioners (AMPs). Materials and Methods Close-ended questionnaire-based cross-section study was performed between 1st September 2012 and 28th February 2014 in three groups of responders, i.e., AMP, general medical practitioners (GMPs), and obstetricians and gynecologists (ObGy). A stratified random cluster sample was used. Data of 400 subjects in all three groups were obtained using both univariate and multi-variate sophisticated statistical analyses for analyzing attitude and practices and were recorded on an ordinal scale using appropriate non-parametric test. Results Of the 1,237 subjects surveyed, 400 completed questionnaires were received from each of the three groups viz; AMPs, GMPs, and ObGy. Remaining 37 incomplete questionnaires were not included in the final analysis. Conclusion There are equal misconceptions regarding OCPs among users and prescribing physicians. Preference for OCPs in married and unmarried women is also equally low. OCP usage and their prescription practices can be improved by removing potential barriers, developing public–private partnership, and training promoters.