Publications by authors named "Rajnish Avasthi"

Accurate diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis is largely based on sputum smear microscopy, culture, and GeneXpert MTB/RIF tests; culture being the gold standard. All these diagnostic tests require sputum sample to be positive for , while many active TB patients often do not present with positive sputum. Biochemical markers play an important role in early diagnosis, disease prevention, and drug response in tuberculosis.

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Aim: Tuberculosis (TB) continues to be a global public health problem. Physicians fail to clearly interpret cycle threshold (Ct) values as a measure of mycobacterial burden due to the paucity of literature correlating Ct values with the clinical scoring. This study aims to correlate the clinical scoring parameters (Bandim TB score and Karnofsky Performance score (KPS)) with Ct values obtained by Cartridge-Based Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (CBNAAT).

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Aim: The second wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic adversely affected an individual's physical and psychological well-being. Events such as nationwide lockdown, isolation, social distancing, loss of jobs, and mortality among close contacts and the neighborhood had a dreadful impact on the psychological well-being of the population. At the time of conducting the present study, limited literature was available on the psychosocial manifestations of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in the Indian population.

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Background: With the impending threat of future COVID-19 waves, it is imperative that teaching hospitals develop, implement, and evaluate a systematic training program to render HCW elastic in delivering COVID-19 related services. We present our experience in developing, implementing, and evaluating a sustainable and scalable COVID-19 patient management training package for healthcare workers.

Materials And Methods: A mixed-methods study design was used.

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Our was an observational follow-up study where the aim was to assess the baseline high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels in 50 smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients in association with socio-clinico-radiological profile and microbiological conversion. Smear and culture conversion of sputum samples at the end of intensive phase of anti-tubercular treatment were recorded. Baseline serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein estimation was done by ELISA.

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Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune inflammatory disorder of unknown etiology. IL-10 stimulates B cell survival and is involved in antibody isotype switching. The serum IL-10 levels are increased in RA patients.

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The proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-1beta (IL-1β) is a key mediator of inflammation which affects cell proliferation and differentiation. IL-1β is considered to contribute to the pathophysiology of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Polymorphisms in cytokine genes are highly influenced by ethnicity.

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Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a severely disabling chronic autoimmune disorder that leads to progressive inflammation of the joints and surrounding tissues. TNF-α, a potent proinflammatory cytokine, plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of RA. The endogenous formation of TNF-α may be influenced by TNF-α promoter polymorphisms.

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Introduction: Until newer, rapid, economical tools are introduced for diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis in resource limited settings, optimization of sputum smear examination for increasing case detection remains of utmost priority. The aim of the study was to detect presumptive TB patients using Front Loading sputum microscopy and compare it with Standard method.

Methods: Three sputum specimens (Spot 1- on spot at the time of first visit, Spot 2- one hour after Spot 1 and early morning-next day early morning sample) from 552 TB suspect cases were collected.

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Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring provides a more reliable assessment of actual BP than office BP and is a more sensitive risk predictor of clinical cardiovascular outcomes. Recent international guidelines for hypertension have emphasised the usefulness of ambulatory BP for diagnosis and management of hypertension. We used ambulatory blood pressure monitoring to monitor the effect of the pharmacological treatment in patients with stage 1 or 2 hypertension.

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Introduction: Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are endocrinal disruptors that tend to accumulate in adipose tissue and have been found to be associated with Metabolic Syndrome (MS).

Aim And Objectives: 1. To measure serum OCP levels in patients of MS and control subjects, 2.

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Introduction: The conventionally used oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) has been the mainstay for diagnosis of diabetes and prediabetes. However, recent studies have indicated that a continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS) could detect impaired glycemia much earlier than OGTT, especially in certain groups. We aimed to study the 24-h glucose profile of high-risk obese first-degree relatives of type 2 diabetes patients by CGMS and ascertain if it was better than OGTT for early detection of type 2 diabetes.

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Background: Slum-resettlement communities are increasingly adopting urban lifestyles. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and identify correlates of hypertension among residents aged 20-59 years of a slum-resettlement colony.

Materials And Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was done from 2010 to 2012 in NandNagri, a slum-resettlement area in east Delhi.

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Background: There has been an alarming rise in the incidence of coronary artery disease (CAD) in India especially involving the age group of less than 45 years. In recent past, various studies focused on hemostatic aspects of CAD, but could not determine the significance of thrombophilic molecular marker in combination. The study was undertaken to investigate the association of thrombophilia related molecular markers in young patients with CAD.

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