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Objective: Denosumab, a human monoclonal antibody that exhibits strong affinity and specificity for the receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappa B ligand (RANK-L), is essential in regulating bone turnover. Its inhibition of RANK-L decreases bone resorption by preventing the development, function, and survival of osteoclasts. The objective of the study was to evaluate and compare the efficacy and safety of biosimilar denosumab with the reference product, Prolia (denosumab), in Indian women suffering from postmenopausal osteoporosis., Methods: This phase III study was a prospective, active-controlled, randomized, double-blind trial that included postmenopausal women diagnosed with osteoporosis. Participants were randomly allocated in a 2:1 ratio to receive either the biosimilar denosumab (Treatment A) or the reference denosumab (Prolia®; Treatment B). All participants also received daily supplementation of 500 international units (IU) of vitamin D3 and 1000 mg calcium. The primary outcomes measured were the bone mineral density (BMD) percentage change at the lumbar spine and the neck of femur, while the secondary endpoint assessed changes in biomarkers from baseline at months 6 and 12., Results: The lumbar spine BMD percentage change for group A vs group B from baseline to month 6 was 5.69 ± 0.88 ( p < 0.0001) vs 5.08 ± 1.19 ( p < 0.0001), and at 12 months was 7.26 ± 1.05 ( p < 0.0001) vs 7.31 ± 1.40 ( p < 0.0001), demonstrating equivalent efficacy. Both treatment groups showed statistically significant improvement in femoral neck BMD at 12 months. No statistically significant difference was noted in the ln-transformed primary pharmacokinetic parameters, including C-max, AUC0-120d, and AUC0-∞., Conclusion: Biosimilar denosumab was comparable to reference denosumab with respect to its efficacy, safety, pharmacokinetics (PK), pharmacodynamics, and immunogenicity in women with postmenopausal osteoporosis. Thus, biosimilar denosumab is expected to improve the quality of life in osteoporotic patients at affordable prices., (© Journal of The Association of Physicians of India 2025.)

The India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI) is a multi-partner initiative, implementing and scaling up a public health hypertension control program across India. A cohort of 21,895 adult hypertension patients in 24 IHCI sentinel site facilities in four Indian states (Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Telangana), registered from January 2018 until June 2019 were assessed at baseline and then followed up for blood pressure (BP) control and antihypertensive medication use. Among all registrations, 11 274 (51%) of the patients returned for a follow-up visit between July 2019 and September 2019. Among patients returning for follow-up, 26.3% had BP controlled at registration, and 59.8% had BP controlled at follow-up (p < .001). The absolute improvement in BP control was more than two times greater in primary care (48.1 percentage point increase) than secondary care facilities (22.9 percentage point increase). Most IHCI patients received prescriptions according to state-specific treatment protocols. This study demonstrates that a scalable public health hypertension control program can yield substantial BP control improvements, especially in primary care settings. However, high loss to follow-up limits population health impact; future efforts should focus on improving systems to increase the likelihood that patients will return to the clinic for routine hypertension care., (© 2020 The Authors. The Journal of Clinical Hypertension published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Objectives: To explore the vulnerabilities and risks of HIV infection among female migrants compared with male migrants in the Thane district of Maharashtra, India., Study Design: This is a cross-sectional epidemiological study., Methods: Data from 35,841 migrants (men 96.2% and women 3.8%) were collected using the web-based 'Migrant Service Delivery System.' The data were then analysed in SPSS, version 23.0. Statistical analysis, including Chi-squared test and multivariate logistic regression, was used to identify factors influencing HIV infection for both male and female migrants., Results: It was observed that 2.96% of female migrants had HIV infection compared with 0.77% of male migrants. We found that 12.1% of women consumed alcohol compared with 41.9% of men, and access to bars was 1.5% among women and 3.5% in men. We observed an even larger difference between men and women in their previous history of using brothels for sex; only 5.9% of female migrants reported previously having used brothels for sex, compared with 62.9% of male migrants. Approximately 12.3% of married women and 93.6% of married men had sex with someone other than their spouse. We found that 67.0% of married women and 73.9% of married men reported using a condom during their last sexual act compared with 60.9% of unmarried women and 68.1% of unmarried men., Conclusions: In Thane, female migrants faced higher vulnerabilities and risks of HIV infection than male migrants. Consequently, innovative strategies are required to address these particular needs of female migrants., (Copyright © 2018 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

We sought to determine the proportion of rotavirus (RV) infections among children with severe diarrhea in Bangalore, India, and to determine the role of neonatal infection with the asymptomatic RV strain I321 in protection against subsequent RV diarrhea. At 2 major hospitals, there was a >42% decrease in diarrhea-specific admissions during the study period. At 6 hospitals, asymptomatic infections were found in 25%-50% of neonates, when screening was performed randomly, and in >58% of neonates, when screening was performed daily, with the majority of infections occurring within the first 7 days of life. All the RVs found in asymptomatic neonates were strain I321. A 24-month follow-up of a cohort of 44 children who had been neonatally infected with strain I321 and 28 children who had not (control group) revealed comparable rates of RV detection but a marked decrease in the number of RV diarrhea episodes in the strain I321-infected group (2.3%), compared with the control group (39.3%) (P<.0001). This preliminary study suggests a possible association between neonatal infection with strain I321 and protection against subsequent RV illness.

A short course on Diabetology, attended by 83 doctors was evaluated. The doctors were divided into three groups. (Group I--basic qualification MBBS, Group II--MD in medicine or allied subject, Group III--Diploma in Diabetes Mellitus). The mean age group of all three groups were comparable. Pre-course evaluation of their knowledge of diabetes showed the best performance in Group III and poorest in Group I. Post-course evaluation showed significant improvement only in Group I and II. Maximal improvement in performance was seen in Group II. Mean time since passing the last professional examination was 14.8, 12.6 and 1.0 year respectively. The performance was not linked to time since passing the last examination. 14.5% of doctors were from a rural or semiurban setting. The precourse performance of rural doctors in the MD group was significantly poorer, but their post course performance was as good as the others. All doctors from rural or semiurban areas improved their performance postcourse, compared to 84% in the urban group. 74% of doctors had not attended any post graduate course after their basic degree. Their performance did not differ significantly from those who had attended such courses. 44.6% were Consultants, 26.6% were general practitioners, 12.0% were attached to institutions, 10.8% were in government service or armed forces and 6% were attached to teaching hospitals. The performance of the doctors was not linked to the type of practice. The doctors attending the course felt that the audiovisual presentation needed improvement.

This is a hospital-based study of 25 biopsy-proven cases of histoid leprosy in the arid, northwest Rajasthan region of India. Over an 11-year span, a total of 893 new cases of leprosy were diagnosed at our institution. These 25 histoid cases thus make up 2.8% of our new patients. Various clinical and laboratory observations are summarized and compared to other published series.