Publications by authors named "Anand Rao"

Purpose: To describe the clinical profile, efficacy, and safety profile of tofacitinib in non-infectious ocular inflammation from a tertiary eye centre in South India.

Materials & Methods: Retrospective study between 2020 and 2025.

Results: A total of 35 cases with various inflammatory ocular diseases treated with tofacitinib were included in the study.

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  • The study evaluated the effectiveness of biologic treatments for noninfectious uveitis and other eye inflammatory diseases in a South Indian population over several years.
  • A total of 76 patients, predominantly adults with anterior nongranulomatous uveitis, were analyzed, revealing adalimumab as the most frequently used biologic.
  • While biologics led to a significant reduction in flare-ups, their success rates were lower for certain conditions, particularly in younger patients with specific types of uveitis.
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  • Mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD) is rare in children, and there's limited research on juvenile-onset MCTD (jMCTD), particularly in Southeast Asia.
  • A study involving eleven pediatric rheumatology centers in India analyzed clinical and laboratory data from 31 jMCTD patients, revealing common symptoms like arthritis, malar rash, and Raynaud's phenomenon.
  • The findings highlight the need for better understanding and management of jMCTD in children, with 45% of patients in remission after an average follow-up of 43 months.
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  • CACP syndrome is a rare genetic disorder that includes symptoms like camptodactyly, coxa vara, arthritis, and constrictive pericarditis, primarily caused by mutations in the PRG4 gene.
  • A study evaluated 13 individuals from eight related Indian families, confirming the diagnosis through exome and Sanger sequencing to identify disease-causing variants.
  • The research uncovered five new and two previously known mutations in PRG4, highlighting the common physical symptoms observed in these patients, such as joint deformities and arthritis in major joints.
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  • The linear ubiquitin assembly complex (LUBAC), made up of HOIP, HOIL-1, and SHARPIN, is crucial for immune responses, with deficiencies leading to severe issues like immunodeficiency and autoinflammation.
  • Two individuals with SHARPIN deficiency exhibited autoinflammatory symptoms but did not have the expected skin problems seen in other cases, and their cells showed reduced immune responses.
  • Treatment with anti-TNF therapies successfully resolved the autoinflammatory symptoms in one case, highlighting LUBAC's important role in managing immune cell death and maintaining immune balance in humans.
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Besides genetic susceptibility, infections due to viruses, bacteria and protozoa have been implicated in the development of autoimmune diseases (AD). AD can be triggered in a genetically susceptible individual by infections that disrupt immunological tolerance towards self-antigens. Pathogens can initiate autoimmunity by way of molecular mimicry, bystander activation, epitope spreading or persistent infection with polyclonal activation.

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The growth in AI is rapidly transforming the structure of economic production. However, very little is known about how within-AI specialization may relate to broad-based economic diversification. This paper provides a data-driven framework to integrate the interconnection between AI-based specialization with goods and services export specialization to help design future comparative advantage based on the inherent capabilities of nations.

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Purpose: To report the spectrum of posterior segment manifestations and visual outcomes in a large series of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Methods: Retrospective study at a tertiary referral eye center in south India between 2016 and 2022.

Results: Charts of 109 patients diagnosed to have SLE were retrieved from our medical database.

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Background: Juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) is one of the commonest forms of inflammatory myositis in childhood.

Objective: The objective study was to study the clinical characteristics and course of JDM patients.

Material And Methods: Retrospective analysis of the charts of 25 JDM patients admitted to two hospitals in Bangalore from March 2011 to July 2017.

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Embolic stroke results in a necrotic core of cells destined to die, but also a peri-ischemic, watershed penumbral region of potentially salvageable brain tissue. Approaches to effectively differentiate between the ischemic and peri-ischemic zones is critical for novel therapeutic discovery to improve outcomes in survivors of stroke. MicroRNAs are a class of small non-coding RNAs regulating gene translation that have region- and cell-specific expression and responses to ischemia.

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Sugarcane is an important cash crop used for producing sweeteners and also some bioproducts (alcohol and bioenergy). The current study assesses life cycle energy, carbon and water footprint of sugarcane based sugar, ethanol and electricity in India. A farm to factory gate attributional life cycle assessment (LCA) is conducted to assess the energy and carbon footprints whereas the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) CropWat model is used to estimate the water footprint (green, blue and grey).

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The main objective of this work was to develop an analytical method that can be used in a dairy manufacturing facility for the quantitation of phospholipids in dairy products. Total lipids from a dairy matrix were obtained first by Folch extraction. The total lipid extract was then applied to a silica gel-based solid-phase extraction column, and triglycerides and other nonpolar lipids were separated from the phospholipids and sphingolipids.

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Objective: To develop and test shortened versions of the Manual Muscle Test-8 (MMT-8) in juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM).

Methods: Construction of reduced tools was based on a retrospective analysis of individual scores of MMT-8 muscle groups in 3 multinational datasets. The 4 and 6 most frequently impaired muscle groups were included in MMT-4 and MMT-6, respectively.

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  • The objective is to create guidelines for diagnosing and managing Kawasaki disease (KD) specifically for Indian children, highlighting its impact on infants and the seriousness of untreated cases.* -
  • KD can cause serious complications like coronary artery abnormalities, which may lead to long-term heart issues, but timely diagnosis and IVIG treatment can significantly reduce risks.* -
  • A committee from the Indian Academy of Pediatrics was established to draft these guidelines, emphasizing that the diagnosis is primarily clinical and supported by lab tests and imaging, with IVIG being the first-line treatment.*
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: To report the clinical profile of genetically proven Blau syndrome in seven cases from a single center in South India.: Retrospective case series: There were four females and three males. All cases had a history of skin and joint involvement of varying severity.

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A 13-year-old boy with a 4-year history of idiopathic pediatric uveitis and recurrent uveitic macular edema had failed conventional immunomodulatory therapy and presented to us with a vision of 6/24 [right eye (OD)] and 6/9 [left eye (OS)]. Fluorescein angiography showed diffuse vascular leakage along with cystoid macular edema (CME). Intravenous tocilizumab (10 mg/kg body) was given as 14 injections over 12 months.

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Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) can result in permanent impairment in memory and learning and may be a precursor to other neurological sequelae. Clinical treatments to ameliorate the effects of mTBI are lacking. Inhibition of microRNA-181a (miR-181a) is protective in several models of cerebral injury, but its role in mTBI has not been investigated.

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  • - The study aimed to create and validate a composite Disease Assessment Scale (DAS) specifically for Juvenile DermatoMyositis (JDM) through a new measurement tool called the Juvenile DermatoMyositis Activity Index (JDMAI).
  • - JDMAI consists of four evaluation components, including assessments from both physicians and parents, muscle strength, and skin disease activity, validating its effectiveness across 627 patients from multinational samples.
  • - Results showed that JDMAI has solid validity and reliability, making it a suitable tool for measuring disease activity in clinical and research settings; the final version will be confirmed after further prospective validation.
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Background: Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO) is a rare auto-inflammatory disease of the bone. It tends to be multifocal and usually the symptoms tend to run for months and years before diagnosis is usually made. The objective of our study was to understand the clinical presentation and short-term response to treatment of CRMO patients.

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Cerebral ischemia remains a major cause of death and disability worldwide, yet therapeutic options remain limited. Differences in sex and age play an important role in the final outcome in response to cerebral ischemia in both experimental and clinical studies: males have a higher risk and worse outcome than females at younger ages and this trend reverses in older ages. Although the molecular mechanisms underlying sex dimorphism are complex and are still not well understood, studies suggest steroid hormones, sex chromosomes, differential cell death and immune pathways, and sex-specific microRNAs may contribute to the outcome following cerebral ischemia.

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Iatrogenic arteriovenous fistula is a unique complication during pacemaker implantation. A 55-year-old man was posted for pacemaker implantation for recurrent unexplained syncope with trifascicular AV block. After axillary/subclavian venous puncture and introduction of RV lead, arterial spurting was immediately noticed as the the sheath was peeled away.

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  • A new hybrid muscle strength measure for juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) combines Manual Muscle Testing (MMT-8) and key elements from the Childhood Myositis Assessment Scale (CMAS) to improve comprehensiveness and feasibility.
  • The hybrid measure (hMC) was validated with 810 JDM patients, demonstrating strong validity, reliability, and responsiveness to treatment changes.
  • The hMC is useful for routine clinical care, but further testing is needed in other patient populations to confirm its effectiveness.
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