Pondicherry

OBJECTIVE: To compare the diagnostic accuracy of a handheld colposcope (Gynocular) versus a standard colposcope in women with abnormal cervical cytology or visual Inspection with acetic acid positivity. METHODS: This crossover randomized clinical trial was conducted in Pondicherry, India, and included 230 women who were referred for colposcopy. Swede scores were calculated using both colposcopes, and a cervical biopsy was performed from the most visually abnormal areas...

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) and Saline water intrusion (SWI) are the two major processes that influence coastal aquifers resulting in severe water stress. It is essential to characterize groundwater dynamics and discriminate geochemical characterization to understand both approaches. The present study investigates the zones influenced by SGD and SWI along the coastal aquifers of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. Pore water (PW) and groundwater (GW) samples were collected during the monsoon season at low tide and analyzed for major ions adopting standard procedures...

Functional Dyspepsia (FD), commonly called chronic indigestion, comes under the umbrella of 'Disorders of Gut-Brain Axis'. It manifests as a cluster of upper gastrointestinal symptoms including epigastric pain or burning, postprandial fullness and early satiety. Since the pathophysiology is complex, it is often difficult to effectively manage and significantly impacts the patient's quality of life. This case series aims to elucidate the role of Yoga as an adjuvant therapy to modern medicine in providing relief of dyspeptic symptoms in such patients...

Clinical guidelines are evidence-based clinician decision-support tools that improve health outcomes, reduce patient harm, and decrease healthcare costs, but are often underused in emergency departments (EDs). This article describes a replicable, evidence-based design-thinking approach to developing best practices for guideline design that improves clinical satisfaction and usage. We used a 5-step process to enhance guideline usability in our ED. First, we conducted end-user interviews to identify barriers to guideline usage...

PURPOSE: The study intends to evaluate the demographic and clinical profile of pediatric patients (0-18 years) attending six vision centers (VCs) of a tertiary eye care facility in south India. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional observation study conducted at six major peripheral VCs of a tertiary eye care facility in South India from June 20 to Dec 20. All children presenting at the VCs under a base hospital (BH) in Pondicherry, whose parents gave consent were included...

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) is well-known for causing wasting. Patients on treatment gain weight and weight loss is associated with unfavorable treatment outcomes. There is limited description of weight loss and its predictors during intensive treatment phase. The objective of this study was to assess the predictors of weight loss during intensive phase and to see if there is any association exists with sputum conversion at the end of intensive phase of treatment. METHODS: Data collected as a part of the prospective TB cohort (Regional Prospective Observational Research for TB India Phase 1) conducted in Pondicherry, Cuddalore and Viluppuram districts of Tamil Nadu were used for this study...

This article is based on the contents of 'Dr. K. C. Chaudhuri Lifetime Achievement Award Oration' delivered on the Indian Journal of Pediatrics Annual Day 2022. The author shares glimpses of his academic journey from a remote village to a central Institute. This includes his career as a medical teacher and developing the Department of Neonatology at JIPMER, Pondicherry. This article is primarily focused on some of the significant research conducted during his tenure, like perinatal asphyxia, therapeutic hypothermia, neonatal sepsis, intrauterine growth restriction, and human milk banking...

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to determine the association between Helicobacter pylori infection and variceal bleeding as well as rebleeding in cases of cirrhosis with portal hypertension. METHODS: This prospective cohort study included patients with bleeding oesophageal varices and was conducted at the Department of Surgery, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Pondicherry, India, from August 2016 to July 2018. RESULTS: A total of 190 patients were assessed for eligibility, of which 159 patients were included in this study...

The present study examined 434 field samples including serum (n = 273), swabs from natural orifices (n = 52) and postmortem tissue samples (n = 109) from both suspected and asymptomatic swine from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana states in southern India. All the samples were processed for molecular screening of PCV3 by specific PCR assay. Overall molecular positivity rate of PCV3 was found to be 0.7% in southern India with one sample positive from each state of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Telangana...

Introduction: Down syndrome (DS) is one of the most common genetic abnormalities, with highly variable prognosis. Oral diseases such as periodontal disease, malocclusion, mouth breathing, macroglossia, delayed teeth eruption, missing and malformed teeth, microdontia, diastema, and bruxism are common among individuals with DS. Hence, a study was planned to assess the caries experience and periodontal status of subjects with DS. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 92 DS patients in two different centers in Chennai and Pondicherry to assess the prevalence of dental caries and gingivitis, using dft/DMFT and Modified Loe and Silness Gingival Index, respectively...

Introduction: Giardiasis is one of the greatest public parasitic infections causing diarrheal and also known to be associated with high morbidity and mortality, among the children's particularly in developing countries with less cleanliness practices. Thus, studying genomic variety of Giardia intestinalis aids to improve our perspective related to the variability in the genome of the parasite. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 1006 stool samples were collected from the rural ( n = 500) and urban settings ( n = 506) from the children (<15 years) with and without symptoms and were screened for the presence of G...

Entamoeba moshkovskii Tshalaia, 1941 is prevalent in developing countries and it is considered to be primarily a free-living amoeba, which is morphologically indistinguishable, but biochemically and genetically different from the human infecting, pathogenic Entamoeba histolytica Schaudinn, 1903. The pathogenic potential of this organism is still under discussion. Entamoeba moshkovskii in human stool samples has been reported in different countries such as the United States, Italy, Australia, Iran, Turkey, Bangladesh, India (Pondicherry), Indonesia, Colombia, Malaysia, Tunisia, Tanzania and Brazil, but no data are available about the occurrence of E...

Purpose: To study the awareness on mucormycosis among outpatients who visited six tertiary eye care hospitals at Madurai, Pondicherry, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Chennai, and Tirupati. Methods: This was a telephone-based survey conducted using questionnaires consisting of 38 questions in five sections from July 5 to 25, 2021. Patients visiting the eye hospitals for an examination were contacted over their phones and responses were directly entered onto the Google forms platform...

Despite ample evidence of increasing research misconduct in India, little attention has been paid to understanding researchers' perception of research integrity and research misconduct among young Indian researchers. Interviews among 30 research scholars were conducted at Pondicherry University in India to understand their experience and perception of research misconduct. The top three influencing factors for scientific misconduct, according to the participants, were unavailability of adequate funds (35%), pressure from research supervisors (29%), and desperation to publish articles (25%)...

The present study was conducted to study the molecular phylodynamics of the Indian field IBDVs. A total of 13 organized commercial poultry farms and 29 village poultry flocks were recruited in the study. The broiler flocks showed 15.25-60.18% mortality, followed by 12.4% in improved native poultry varieties and 5% in indigenous birds. The 664 bp hypervariable VP2 gene fragment of Western and Central Indian vvIBDVs showed 97.14-98.79 and 94.49-96.69% identity to Pakistani and South Indian vvIBDVs, respectively...

INTRODUCTION: Chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) is a chronic infection of the middle ear cleft with a permanent perforation resulting in mucopurulent discharge and may include otalgia or fever, vertigo, hearing loss, and tinnitus. These compromise the quality of life of CSOM patients and affect their social communication and professional life also, which may induce social withdrawal and depression. MATERIALS & METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Department of ENT, Indira Gandhi Medical College & Research Institute (IGMC&RI), Pondicherry, India, from May 2019 to May 2020...

Importance: Antifungal resistance has been shown to impact treatment success, but research analyzing antifungal resistance is scarce. Objective: To evaluate changes in antifungal resistance over time. Design, Setting, and Participants: Ad hoc analysis of 3 randomized clinical trials including consecutive patients 18 years and older presenting with smear-positive fungal ulcers to Aravind Eye Hospitals in Madurai, Coimbatore, Pondicherry, and Tirunelveli in South India who participated in 1 of 3 clinical trials: the Mycotic Ulcer Treatment Trials (MUTT) I (2010 to 2011) or II (2010 to 2015) or the Cross-Linking Assisted Infection Reduction (CLAIR) trial (2016 to 2018)...

Objective Literature revealed that oral health status and awareness about oral hygiene measures of Narikuravar tribes were very poor. There was also an increased prevalence of tobacco usage among this population. Considering this, incidence and prevalence of oral precancerous and cancerous lesions are expected to be high in this population. Surprisingly, the literature search revealed a lack of data on the awareness, knowledge, and prevalence of oral cancer and precancer in this group. The primary objective of this survey is to assess knowledge, awareness and attitude toward oral precancer and cancer among the Narikuravar tribal population in Pondicherry state...

The aim of this work was to examine relations between instrumental and sensory parameters in a texture modified food matrix, with and without saliva. Nine pureed carrot samples (eight thickened and a control) were developed with starch (0.4 and 0.8% wt/wt), xanthan (0.2 and 0.4% wt/wt) or starch-xanthan blends that met International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative (IDDSI) Level 4 guidelines using fork and spoon tests. Rheological and tribological tests were conducted on the food and simulated bolus prepared by adding fresh stimulated saliva to the food (1:5, saliva:food) to mimic oral processing...

In this work, sediments collected from a 150-m deep litho-section of a coastal region and encompassing Quaternary, Tertiary and Cretaceous sedimentary formations were studied for arsenic distribution and other trace and redox sensitive elements. Arsenic concentration in the sediments is found to vary from <0.5 to 30 mg·kg-1 and showed an increasing trend with the depth. The highest As content is observed at a depth of 129-131 m bgl belonging to Cretaceous formation. Though XRD studies do not indicate any arsenic mineral in sediments, positive correlations between As-Fe and S, as well as ESEM-EDS and TXRF studies confirm the presence of As sorbed to FeS mineral...