Introduction: Research on Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID19) seroprevalence in children and adolescent population across the globe is quite limited. In India, there is a dearth of data on COVID-19 ...seropositivity, especially in unvaccinated paediatric population, particularly in the Himalayan region. Aim: To estimate the seroprevalence of COVID-19 in children presenting in a tertiary care health institution. Materials and Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional serosurvey was conducted on 500 children, from October 2021 to March 2022 in paediatric age group, attending Indira Gandhi Medical College Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India, for various health related concerns such as fever, cough, loose stools, vomiting and fast breathing using convenience sampling. Socio-demographic profile was recorded and blood sample was drawn for COVID-19 antibody titre estimation. Chi-squared and Fisher’s-exact tests for proportions was used for testing statistical significance. Results: A total of 500 children, age ranged from 12 hours to 17 years 7 months were enrolled with maximum children belonging to 01-05 years age group and there was slight male preponderance. Seropositivity in males (27.3%) was significantly higher than females (8.3%). Highest (42.3%) seropositivity was seen in age group of 06 months to 01 year. About 10.8% of cases were positive for Immunoglobulin (Ig) G antibody, 4.4% were positive for IgM antibody, while about 6.6% cases were positive for both antibodies. Conclusion: The seroprevalence status of children and adolescents is quite low in this region, revealing the high susceptibility of children to SARS-CoV-2 in the study region. It further emphasises benefits of serological testing in children for SARS-CoV-2 as well as the need of safe and effective vaccination for the unimmunised, unprotected and vulnerable paediatric age group.
The present study aimed to compare clinical features, management, and outcomes between children and adolescents admitted as cases of multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) in Indira ...Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla.
We conducted a cross-sectional study for MIS-C from January to July 2021, in the pediatric ward of IGMC in Himachal Pradesh. All children admitted with a diagnosis of MIS-C were included in the study. Data regarding socio-demographic factors, clinical features, and treatment modalities were extracted and analyzed using Epi Info V7 software.
A total of 31 children diagnosed as cases of MIS-C were included. The mean age was 7.12 ± 4.78 years. 71% were in group 0-10 years, followed by 29% in 11-18 years. Although the duration of hospital stay, mortality, and Kawasaki disease cases were more in children as compared to adolescents, the difference was not significant. Similarly, fever, rash, cough, hematemesis, tachypnea, respiratory distress, hypotension, vomiting, bleeding diathesis, hematuria, seizure, encephalopathy, hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, and lymphadenopathy were greater in children as compared to adolescents but were not significant. Likewise, abnormalities in various biochemical, hematological, inflammatory, and cardiac markers were deranged to a greater extent in children as compared to adolescents, but there was no significant difference. The need for various treatment modalities such as IVIG, methylprednisolone, low-molecular weight heparin, aspirin, respiratory Support, O
, ventilatory support, and inotropic support was more in children as compared to an adolescent, but there was no significant difference.
There was no significant difference in socio-demographic factors, clinical presentation, diagnostic test, mode of treatment, duration of stay, and mortality among children and adolescents.
Diet-induced models of chronic kidney disease (CKD) offer several advantages, including clinical relevance and animal welfare, compared with surgical models. Oxalate is a plant-based, terminal toxic ...metabolite that is eliminated by the kidneys through glomerular filtration and tubular secretion. An increased load of dietary oxalate leads to supersaturation, calcium oxalate crystal formation, renal tubular obstruction, and eventually CKD. Dahl-Salt-Sensitive (SS) rats are a common strain used to study hypertensive renal disease; however, the characterization of other diet-induced models on this background would allow for comparative studies of CKD within the same strain. In the present study, we hypothesized that SS rats on a low-salt, oxalate rich diet would have increased renal injury and serve as novel, clinically relevant and reproducible CKD rat models. Ten-week-old male SS rats were fed either 0.2% salt normal chow (SS-NC) or a 0.2% salt diet containing 0.67% sodium oxalate (SS-OX) for five weeks.Real-time PCR demonstrated an increased expression of inflammatory marker interleukin-6 (IL-6) (
< 0.0001) and fibrotic marker Timp-1 metalloproteinase (
< 0.0001) in the renal cortex of SS-OX rat kidneys compared with SS-NC. The immunohistochemistry of kidney tissue demonstrated an increase in CD-68 levels, a marker of macrophage infiltration in SS-OX rats (
< 0.001). In addition, SS-OX rats displayed increased 24 h urinary protein excretion (UPE) (
< 0.01) as well as significant elevations in plasma Cystatin C (
< 0.01). Furthermore, the oxalate diet induced hypertension (
< 0.05). A renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) profiling (via liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry; LC-MS) in the SS-OX plasma showed significant (
< 0.05) increases in multiple RAAS metabolites including angiotensin (1-5), angiotensin (1-7), and aldosterone. The oxalate diet induces significant renal inflammation, fibrosis, and renal dysfunction as well as RAAS activation and hypertension in SS rats compared with a normal chow diet. This study introduces a novel diet-induced model to study hypertension and CKD that is more clinically translatable and reproducible than the currently available models.
Background: Globally, Prematurity or preterm birth is the leading cause of death in under the age of 5 years but this has been often overlooked and neglected problem. The present study aimed to study ...the trends of preterm birth in Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh, India.
Methods: Retrospective review of records of Kamla Nehru Hospital, Shimla covering the period January 2016 to December 2020 was conducted. The total number of preterm birth were retrieved.
Results: A total of 34769 live birth took place in Kamla Nehru Hospital, Shimla from 2016 to 2020. Among the total live births, 5654(16.26%) were premature birth (<37 weeks) while 29115(83.74%) were term birth. There was continuous decline in premature birth from 32.24% in 2016 to 17.41% in 2017and 10.84% in 2018, slightly rose to 10.87% in 2019 and 11.75% in 2020.
Conclusions: The study concluded that over a period of 5 years there was continuous decrease in premature birth and now it reached almost near to the global average of preterm birth.
Keywords: Trends, Preterm birth, Kamla Nehru Hospital, Shimla.
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