Back Ground Research Articles

How to manage a dilated cystic duct during laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Back ground Closure of the cystic duct (CD) is a must during laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). Metal clips were the standard technique used before. Now there are different methods used to occlude the CD (endoloop, suturing with absorbable materials, and endo-GIA stapling devices). Aim To assess different methods used in closure of dilated CD during laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Patients and methods This was a retrospective study done on 169 patients with difficult cholecystectomies of 3645 patients who had laparoscopic cholecystectomy in the General Surgery Department, Zagazig University Hospitals, in the period from January 2011 till March 2020. Results A total of 169 patients were included, comprising 98 females and 71 males, with an average age of 45±17.2 years. All patients had dilated CD during laparoscopic cholecystectomy that was occluded by different methods: large metal clips in 39 patients, ligature in 43 patients, endoloop in 33 patients, suturing to close the CD orifice in 30 patients, and endo-GIA devices in 24 patients. Conclusion We should keep in mind different methods when facing dilated CD during laparoscopic cholecystectomy according to its diameter and the availability of equipment.

Fast Visual Tracking Using Spatial Temporal Background Context Learning

Visual Tracking by now has gained much provenience among researchers in recent years due to its vast variety of applications that occur in daily life. Various applications of visual tracking include counting of cars on a high way, analyzing the crowd intensity in a concert or a football ground or a surveillance camera tracking a single person to track its movements. Various techniques have been proposed and implemented in this research domain where researchers have analyzed various parameters. Still this area has a lot to offer. There are two common approaches that are currently deployed in visual tracking. One is discriminative tracking and the other one is generative tracking. Discriminative tracking requires a pre-trained model that requires the learning of the data and solves the object recognition as a binary classification problem. On the other hand, generative model in tracking makes use of the previous states so that next state can be predicted. In this paper, a novel tacking based on generative tracking method is proposed called as Illumination Inavariant Spatio Temporal Tracker (IISTC). The proposed technique takes into account of the nearby surrounding regions and performs context learning so that the state of the object under consideration and its surrounding regions can be estimated in the next frame. The learning model is deployed both in the spatial domain as well as the temporal domain. Spatial domain part of the tracker takes into consideration the nearby pixels in a frame while the temporal model takes account of the possible change of object location. The proposed tracker was tested on a set of 50 images against other state of the art four trackers. Experimental results reveal that our proposed tracker performs reasonably well as compared with other trackers. The proposed visual tracker is both efficiently with respect to computation power as well as accuracy. The proposed tracker takes only 4 fast Fourier transform computations thus making it reasonably faster. The proposed trackers perform exceptionally well when there is a sudden change in back ground illumination.

Dose profile evaluation of a 137Cs source using a solid water phantom

The precision in the dose values delivered in irradiation processes is essential for the efficiency and quality control of these processes. Radiochromic films can be used to record doses and the calibration of these films must be performed so that they can be used as dosimeters. The planning and control of the radiation released in a process allows to adjust the desired dose in the irradiated object. The photons in the primary beam interact with the matter of the object and the beam energy is attenuated due to these interactions. The attenuation depends on the characteristics of the beam and the composition of the irradiated matter. When a beam of photons propagates on an object, it tends to deposit more energy close to the surface and after reaching the maximum dose value, it decreases the dose values with depth. The films used in this work are of the Gafchromic External Beam Therapy (EBT) type, insensitive to visible light and can be prepared in places where sunlight and artificial light exists. Like many other dosimeters, which follow certain protocols, radiochromic films can provide an absolute dose measurement. Radiochromic films are characterized by their linearity, reproducibility, uniformity, sensitivity, and stability after irradiation. For the realization of the experiments, a part of the film to be irradiated was removed designated as background (BG). BG represents a piece of radiochromic film that will not change and reflects changes in film absorption in relation to environmental conditions such as temperature, visible light and scanning light, for example and that must be handled from it way that the film radiated. In this work, irradiations of a solid water phantom were performed using a source of cesium-137 with the deposition of a maximum absorbed dose value of 2.0 Gy. The phantom was placed 1,0 m far from the source collimator. Radiochromic films were placed inside the phantom to obtain the depth variation dose profile and axial dose profiles measured at 1.0 cm depth in the phantom. The dose variation profile in depth allowed to verify that the maximum dose value happened at a depth between 10 and 13 mm, very close to the surface due to the beam energy range (keV). The axial profiles presented a flatness of about 9.4 cm with a total field of 12 cm in diameter.

Spinal Space Occupying Lesions: A Comprehensive Study of Clinico-pathological Spectrum and Measure of Degree of Agreement Between the Diagnostic Modalities

Back ground: Spinal SOLs are quite fascinating group of lesions, comprising a minority of central nervous system lesions often resulting in significant morbidity. There is paucity of comprehensive population-based data of these SOLs in Indian subcontinent. 
 
 Material and methods: The present study was a retrospective descriptive study conducted at the department of pathology, Kamineni Institute of Medical Sciences for 3 years starting from January 2017 to December 2019.
 
 Results: We analyzed eighty-nine spinal SOLs during the study period. Spinal neoplasms encompassed the largest number accounting for 70.7% of total spinal SOLs. Majority were reported in the 20-40 years’ age group with predominant male preponderance except for universal phenomenon of female predominance in meningioma. Back pain was the most common clinical presentation. Among spinal neoplasms, NSTs comprising of schwannoma and neurofibroma, was the most common finding and spinal tuberculosis was the most common non-neoplastic SOL. Majority of benign spinal tumors were distributed in the intradural extra medullary location and involved thoracic vertebrae. Malignant tumors predominantly involved extradural location and were clustered along thoracic and lumbar vertebrae. Measure of agreement between radiological and histopathological diagnosis using kappa statistics revealed almost perfect agreement for extradural spinal SOLs and moderate agreement for intradural intramedullary and intradural extra medullary SOLs.
 
 Conclusion: Comprehensive evaluation of spinal SOLs warrants multidisciplinary approach. Rapid advancements in radiology optimised diagnostic evaluation of non-neoplastic SOLs, however we conclude that histopathological evaluation is still the gold standard for diagnosis of primary spinal cord tumours and for planning the treatment and predicting prognosis.

Seismicity analysis using space-time density peak clustering method

This paper presents two-stage clustering approach for accurate analysis of earthquake catalogs where aim is to categorize events in terms of aftershock (AF) clusters or independent backgrounds (BGs). In stage I, the Gaussian kernel-based temporal density estimation is used for grouping of events based on their occurrence time. From the graph, local peak (maxima), local minima and their timing information are utilized to group the events into significant time zones. In stage II, on events of each time zone, coordinate and magnitude information is combined together (weighted mechanism) to determine effective local weighted spatial density ( $$\rho ^{\mathrm{w}}$$ ). Based on $$\rho ^{\mathrm{w}}$$ and event distance ( $$\delta$$ ), a decision graph is drawn to find out the spatial cluster centroids for each time zone. Event’s assignment to the centroid is carried out based on its nearest neighbor of higher density. Outliers (non-clustered) are also detected in stage II which is considered as independent backgrounds. The experimental analysis is carried out on historical seismicity of California, Himalaya, Japan and Sumatra–Andaman region. The results indicate that obtained AFs and total number of events follow a similar cumulative and $$\lambda$$ rate, whereas BGs have linear cumulative and consistent $$\lambda$$ rate. It is also observed that AFs and total events have similar ergodic behavior, quantified from the inverse TM metric plot. The competitive performance of the proposed approach is obtained over state-of-the-art declustering methods.

ROLE OF DIFFERENT CRITERIA IN OUTCOME ANALYSIS OF MANAGEMENT OF GAP NON-UNION

Back ground and objectives Gap or Defect non-union is not uncommon in Orthopaedic practice. Management involves prolonged periods of tedious procedures and decision making. The endpoint of such management does not reveal itself as a well-defined point. Follow ups must include some analysable outcome which should have a standardised criteria-based endpoint. A well-aligned, painless, noninfected, and functional limb is the goal of treatment. The objective of this study is to understand the role of different criterion to understand whether the goal has been reached. Summary The study is designed as retrospective, prospective observational study. It is conducted in tertiary care hospital (MIOT Hospitals, Chennai). Initial evaluation of all cases were done by Maurizio Catagni’s Classification. Type of surgeries, time spent in hospital, union time were calculated. Patients were followed up for a period of 1year. Patients with average defect size of 6.29cm on an average underwent 4.47 procedures and for an overall time of 17.8 weeks with around 83.80 % of individuals were able to return to their preinjury activity level. Analysis of the outcome was done by ASAMI bone criteria, ASAMI functional criteria, Cattneo et al criteria and Karstrom-Olerud’s functional evaluation criteria for lower limbs at onset of treatment, 6 months and 1 year of treatment,

On Farm Testing of Rice Variety NDLR-7 as an Alternative to Traditionally Grown BPT-5204 in Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh

Back Ground: Rice (Oryza Sativa L.) is major crop in Andhra Pradesh being cultivated in 22.11 lakh ha average productivity of 3350Kg/ha Local BPT-5204 (samba mashuri) is high susceptibility to blast, sheath blight and gall midge. Since this is consumers’ preference both in the rural and urban markets, farmers are cultivating BPT-5204 though this variety is susceptibility to blast and BPH leads to high cost of cultivation .As an alternative to this NDLR-7 variety developed by Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS), Nandyal, ANGRAU NDLR-7 was tolerant to blast, BPH, sheath blight, leaf folders and gall midge. Methods: NDLR-7 was introduced by KVK, Banavasi through on farm trail during 2016-17 and this trial was continued for three years as an alternative to traditionally grown BPT-5204. Result: The data from the three years of on farm trail reveals that the cost of cultivation has drastically reduced from Rs. 66050/ha to 50,538/ha due to reduced use of pesticides. The yield in demonstration plot (NDLR-7) was 7437.5 Kg/ha compared to control (5812 Kg/ha).

APPROACH TOWARDS DEVELOPING AN ALGORITHM FOR GAP NONUNION

Back ground and objectives The treatment of Gap or Defect non-union presents a formidable challenge to Orthopaedic surgeons. Not only a union but also good functional outcome is the target of modern-day Orthopaedics. The objective of this study is to consider knowledge of all treatment modalities, time frame, and functional results of long bone defects and develop an algorithm. Summary The study is designed as retrospective, prospective observational study. It is conducted in tertiary care hospital (MIOT Hospitals, Chennai). Initial evaluation of all cases were done by Maurizio Catagni’s Classification. Type of surgeries, time spent in hospital, union time were calculated. Patients were followed up for a period of 1year. Patients with average defect size of 6.29cm on an average underwent 4.47 procedures and for an overall time of 17.8 weeks with around 83.80 % of individuals were able to return to their preinjury activity level. Analysis of all data was done and algorithm developed.

Injury Severity Score (ISS) versus Revised Trauma Score (RTS) as a predictive value and outcome in polytrauma patients

Back ground: Trauma score are used to obtain a numerical description of the severity of an individual's injuries and clinical condition, which in turn is associated with prognosis. Trauma score that used in predicting mortality among polytraumatized patients could be anatomical or physiological or combined. The Injury severity score (ISS) is the most commonly used measure of injury severity. It is an anatomical scoring system that provides an overall score for patients with multiple injuries. Each injury is assigned an Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) score. The Revised Trauma score (RTS) is a physiological scoring system with high inter-rater reliability and demonstrated accuracy in predicting death. The present study aimed to study outcome value of RTS in comparison to ISS and try to find a relation between initial scores and their outcome. Fifty patients randomly collected presented to the Critical Care Departments. The Injury Severity Score (ISS) and Revised Trauma Score (RTS) was calculated ,the patients had a mean ± SD age of 37.04 ± 13.42 years. They comprised 42 males (84%) and 8 females (16%). The major mechanism of injury in polytrauma patient was road traffic accidents (76.0%). The majority of cases in the age group 20 to 49 (72%). Males were 3 times more affected than females. The most common cause of death was respiratory. RTS was better than ISS in predicting mortality among polytraumatized patients.

THE EFFECT OF TRANEXAMIC ACID IN PRIMARY TOTALHIP ARTHROPLASTY

Back ground: In this Randomized Controlled Trials clinical study, we report results of the effect of tranexamic acid intravenous administration and local injection on transfusion rate and perioperative blood loss in primary total hip replacement.Aim of the Study: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of tranexamic acid intravenous administration and local injection on transfusion rate and perioperative blood loss in primary total hip replacementPatients and methods: The study will include 30 patients in each of the 2 groups.Group (1) Including 30 cases (control group).Group (2) Including 30 cases managed by I.V and local TXA injection. We compare between both group as regard transfusion rate and perioperative blood loss.Results: Patients in the TXA group had significantly higher postoperative hemoglobin (10.34 vs 9.78 g/dl, P<0.102), lower hemoglobin changes (1.88 vs 2.52 g/dl, p < 0.001). higher postoperative hematocrit (34.37 vs 31.46 L/L, P<0.009), lower hematocrit changes (6.17 vs 7.36 L/L, p < 0.001), lower total blood loss (906 vs 1208 ml, P<0.001), lower transfusion rate (6.7 %vs 26.7%, P<0.038), no statistically significant difference between 2 groups regarding demographic data (weight and sex), There was no difference among the 2 groups regarding to the rates of deep vein thrombosis. No patients had thromboembolic complications.Conclusion: In the present study, I. Vcombined with topical administration of TXA significantly reduced postoperative blood loss in patients having a primary unilateral THA. The calculated blood loss was 25% lower in patients who were managed with TXA as compared with the placebo, with a mean difference of approximately 300 ml. Patients in the TXA group had significantly higher postoperative hemoglobin than placebo patient higher postoperative hematocrit lower transfusion rate decreased about 20 %.

On adiabatic oscillations of a stratified atmosphere on the flat earth

We consider the oscillations of the atmosphere around a stratified back ground density and entropy distribution under the gravitation on the flat Earth. The atmosphere is supposed to be an ideal gas, and the motion is supposed to be governed by the compressible Euler equations. The density distribution of the background equilibrium is supposed to touch the vacuum at the finite height of the stratosphere. Considering the linearized approximation for small perturbations, we show that time periodic oscillations with a sequence of time periods, which accumulate to infinity, say, slow and slow oscillations, so called “g-modes,” can appear when the square of the Brunt–Väisälä frequency is positive everywhere for the considered background equilibrium.

An experimental evaluation of Vishagna (Alstonia venenata R. Br.) a folk medicinal plant for anticonvulsant activity in Swiss Albino Mice

Back ground: Epilepsy describes a condition in which a person has recurrent seizures due to a chronic, underlying process. Globally, it is the third most common neurological disorder. There is still a need for an ideal anticonvulsant agent with broad spectrum activity, rapid onset of action, least side effects, good bio availability and low cost. Materials and Methods: Vishagna (Alstonia venenata R. Br.) belonging to Apocynaceae family is an ethno medicinal plant; the stem bark of the plant is used as antiepileptic drug among tribes. This study aims to experimentally evaluate anticonvulsant activity of the drug in PTZ induced generalized seizures and kindling on Swiss albino mice. The acute oral toxicological evaluation of the drug was conducted prior to the anticonvulsant study. Result and Conclusion: Result of the toxicological study reveals that the drug is relatively safe to be used as medicine. The data of the experimental study shows that the drug is moderate to highly effective anticonvulsant in PTZ induced generalized seizures and is mild-moderately helpful in controlling the development of kindled seizures in mice. It also shows that the drug imparts protective action against a sub convulsive dose of PTZ in kindling by inhibiting epileptogenesis and development of potential seizure threshold even when the disease was fully developed.

CONCEPT OF SOPHA (INFLAMMATION): A CRITICAL STUDY

Back ground- Inflammation has a decisive role in pathological classification of diseases in modern medicine and well-known phenomenon of infectious diseases and Non communicable disorders (NCD) also. Ayurveda emphasised the doshic involvement in pathophysiology of diseases process and the phenomenon of Sopha is undetermined in diagnosis and treatment.&#x0D; Objective- A literature survey from Ayurveda classical texts was undertaken to understand the role of Sopha in disease process. &#x0D; Methods- The enumerations of Sopha in Bruhatrayee, Madhav nidana &amp; Bhela Samhita are critically studied to find out its etiology, types, pathogenesis and line of treatment. &#x0D; Enumeration- Sopha is very fundamental to understand the disease process in Ayurveda. The normal snigdha-sheet- agneya character of Srotas get disturbed by the Vidahi &amp; Abhisandhya dravyas, as a result there is a disturbed in the transport mechanism of the affected Srotas. Sopha can be a symptom of any disease and/or an independent disease and may be a complication of other diseases. Sopha can be classified as Antah Sopha &amp; Bahir Sopha.&#x0D; Discussion- The concept of sopha was discussed in terms of pathology and treatment of modern science.&#x0D; Conclusion- Sopha is linked with wide spectrum of Infectious as well as Non communicable disorders (NCD). This study also found out a range of therapies for Sopha driven diseases. It can be recommended to include this concept of Sopha in Ayurveda undergraduate and post graduate curriculum.

Attempt to estimate the background pulse height spectrum of the CeBr3 scintillation spectrometer due to terrestrial gamma ray components: Application in environmental radiation monitoring

This article describes an attempt to estimate the background (BG) pulse height spectrum (PHS) of the CeBr3 scintillation spectrometer due to terrestrial gamma ray components. In radiological emergencies, there are some cases which the prior measurement of the background components can't be made. By subtracting the BG components from the measured gross PHS, timely and accurate information about the artificial radionuclides involved in the emergencies would be effectively drawn to protect the member of the public and first responders. A Monte Carlo calculation was conducted to simulate the PHS by gamma rays from natural radionuclides uniformly distributed in the ground. The calculated PHS were verified to be consistent with measured PHS. Derived dose equivalent rate from the calculated PHS were compared with reference value and found to be in good agreement with each other. The study revealed that applying the calculated PHS to the in-situ gamma ray spectrometry components hardly affected the determination of surface deposition density on soil for radioactive cesium.

Sources of carbohydrates on bulk deposition in South-Western of Europe

Scarce information is available concerning the presence of carbohydrates in rainwater. The existence of carbohydrates in bulk deposition at the town of Estarreja (Portugal), at industrial (I) and background (BG) locals, in winter and spring seasons 2016, was assessed. Seventeen carbohydrates and related compounds were identified: monosaccharides (ribose, arabinose, xylose, glucose, galactose, fructose), disaccharides (sucrose, trehalose, maltose, cellobiose), polyols (arabinitol, xylitol, myo-inositol, mannitol, glucitol, maltitol), and the anhydromonosaccharide levoglucosan. Higher content of carbohydrates was observed in spring (BG: 670 nM; I: 249 nM) than in winter (BG: 168 nM; I: 195 nM), and fructose was the carbohydrate with the highest contribution in both seasons (spring: 32%/44% (I/BG); winter: 24% (at both sites)). Fructose, myo-inositol, glucose and sucrose showed higher volume-weighted averages (VWA) concentrations in spring than in winter, possibly due to biogenic emissions typical of spring, such as pollen, and fungal spores for myo-inositol. Fructose may have derived from isomerization of glucose in biomass burning, namely in winter. Levoglucosan and galactose presented higher VWA concentration in winter than in spring, suggesting a seasonal effect related with the biomass combustion. The carbohydrates VWA concentrations were similar for samples associated with maritime and terrestrial air masses, indicating that local sources were their main contributors. Source assessment of carbohydrates by factor analysis suggested: biogenic sources for the arabinitol, myo-inositol, glucose, fructose and sucrose; soil dust for the trehalose; and anthropogenic sources from biomass burning for the galactose, arabinose and levoglucosan. The bulk deposition showed to be fundamental on removing carbohydrates from the atmosphere.

The Impact of Focused Attention on Emotional Experience: A Functional MRI Investigation.

Emotional well-being depends on the ability to adaptively cope with various emotional challenges. Most studies have investigated the neural mechanisms of emotion regulation strategies deployed relatively later in the timing of processing that leads to full emotional experiences. However, less is known about strategies that are engaged in earlier stages of emotion processing, such as those involving attentional deployment. We investigated the neural mechanisms associated with self-guided Focused Attention (FA) in mitigating subjective negative emotional experiences. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were recorded while participants viewed a series of composite negative and neutral images with distinguishable foreground (FG) and background (BG) areas. Participants were instructed to focus either on the FG or BG components of the images, and then rated their emotional experiences. Behavioral results showed that FA was successful in decreasing emotional ratings for negative images viewed in BG Focus condition. At the neural level, the BG Focus was associated with increased activity in regions typically implicated in top-down executive control (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and lateral parietal cortex) and decreased activity in regions linked to affective processing (amygdala and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex). Dissociable brain activity linked to FA also was identified in visual cortices, including between the parahippocampal and fusiform gyri, showing increased versus decreased activity, respectively, during the BG Focus. These findings complement the evidence from prior FA studies with recollected emotional memories as internal stimuli and further demonstrate the effectiveness of self-guided FA in mitigating negative emotional experiences associated with processing of externalunpleasant stimuli.

Assess the Quality of Life of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Patients Undergoing Treatment: A Descriptive Survey Study

Back ground: Quality of life (QOL) is defined as “The individual’s perception of their position in life within the context of the culture and value system within which they live and in regard to their goal”. Quality of life (QOL) of patient who is suffering with CKD is massively affected and deprived. Aim: The study was aimed to assess the standard of quality of life of CKD patient who were under treatment. Setting and methods: A Descriptive survey study was meted out among 150 CKD patients (n=150) selected by purposive sampling technique through structured interview who were admitted in selected Hospital, Cuttack, Odisha. Results: Maximum Percentage (84%).of patient with CKD were adult people. Highest percentage (78%) of CKD patient was male. Majority (62%) of patient were having primary education. Most of the patients (56.7%) were having Hyper- tension as an associated disease. Most (42%) of patients were daily labour. Maximum (89%) CKD patient were having average quality of life. Linear Regression towards the mean analysis shows only BMI and Gender having the numerous associations with quality of life among demographic variables. Conclusion: The study revealed that Maximum CKD patient were having average quality of life and quality of life(QOL) was only related to BMI and gender among all selected demographic variable.

Protective Efficacy of Combined Administration of Vitamins C and Curcumin on Cypermethrin - Induced Oxidative Stress in Male Albino Rats.

Back Ground: Cypermethrin (CPM) is non-systematic type II synthetic pyrethroid, commonly used for pest control in livestock, forestry, horticulture, household, public and animal health services, private homes, and animal husbandry. By scavenging free radicals and modulating antioxidant protection mechanism, plant phytochemicals (vitamin C and Curcumin) are known to exert their protective impact, Aim: The current research aimed to examine the ameliorative effect of combining curcumin with prevention of vitamin C against the toxic effects of cypermethrin. Method: Four groups of ten male rats each, –ve control, +ve control group (200 mg curcumin and 100 mg vit. C/ kg bw), cypermethrin alone (200 mg / Kg bw), and cypermethrin supplemented with the protective antioxidants orally intubated for 28 - days. Result: Oral cypermethrin induced a significant increase in MDA and PC in serum, liver and brain as the oxidant biomarkers. While the antioxidant biomarkers (CAT, GSH or SH protein) were significantly decreases in serum and brain tissues. The phase II biotransformation GST was increased significantly in brain and liver tissues. ATPase activity declined significantly in brain tissue only. Conclusion: we can deduce that, cypermethrin induce oxidative stress in serum and organs tissues of male rats and the protective role curcumin and vit. C was more evident on serum, brain than liver.

The Knight’s Tour Problem and Rudrata’s Verse

If a chess-knight is moved on a vacant chess-board [8 × 8 square] such that it visits each one of the 64 squares once and once only, the knight is said to execute a Knight’s Tour. Solution to the knight’s tour problem was known in India as earlyasthe 9th century AD as a demonstration of wizardry in composing 32-syllable verses in Sanskrit. A pair of meaningful verses is composed in such a manner that when one verse is written serially (left to right and top to bottom) one syllable a square to fill up 8 × 4 cells — half of a chess board — the other verse appears as the Knight’s Tour. The earliest example of this skill in poetry-composition is given in a Sanskrit treatise on poetics, kāvyālaṅkāra written by Rudraṭa who lived around the ninth century A.D. Knight’s Tour as a mathematical problem was first noticed and discussed in the West by Leonard Euler in the eighteenth century. After providing the back ground to the subject as a puzzle on the chess-board, a problem in mathematics and as a challenge in verse-composition, the article discusses the special characteristic of Rudrata’s example where the pair of verses reduces to a single verse.

A Report on Massive Outbreaks of FMD with Concurrent Mannhaemia hemolytica Infection among Cattle in Tamil Nadu

Back ground: India has a huge resource of livestock and stands first globally in milk production, but reemergence of diseases like foot and mouth disease (FMD) causes a great concern and economic losses to the farmers. Three serotypes of FMD virus (O, A and Asia 1) are prevalent and serotype O was responsible for 80 per cent of confirmed outbreaks /cases in India. The highest incidence of the disease was seen in Southern region (31.5%) and during the month of September. Highest number of outbreaks (201) occurred in Tamil Nadu in the year 2007-08 caused by serotype O virus. FMD causes very high morbidity and mortality rate among young animals and the mortality rate is generally low in adult animals and seen with manifestation of infection limited to epithelial sites. However, In the present study an unusually high mortality among adult cattle due to FMD, complicated with Mannheimia hemolytica infection with specific myocardial lesions were discussed in several outbreaks of FMD in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Methods: Outbreaks of FMD occurred in various districts of Tamil Nadu during the period of October to December in the year 2013 causing large scale mortality among adult cross bred (Jersey cross and Holstein Friesian cross) cows, heifers and calves and detailed disease investigations were carried out .Samples were collected from ailing animals and dead animals for laboratory confirmation of the disease. The collected samples were subjected to isolation of bacteria, serology and molecular confirmation of the virus. Result:Affected animals showed characteristic lesions of FMD with multiple, focal to coalescing ulcers and erosions covered with shreds of epithelium and fibrin on the dorsum and lateral margins of the tongue, dental pad, hard palate, mucosa of lips and gums. Samples of vesicular fluid, oral and tongue epithelium and heart confirmed the presence of FMD type ‘O’ virus based on sandwich ELISA and multiplex PCR. Cultural examination of bacteriological samples revealed presence of Mannheimia hemolytica which was further confirmed by multiplex PCR. Out of 83 serum sample collected, 45 sera were positive for FMD by LPB ELISA, while 32 serum samples were positive for FMD by DIVA test. The sudden deaths among adult cattle and heifers during the FMD outbreak might be attributed to the severe myocarditis and the disease was controlled by following appropriate treatment and preventive measures.