Varsha Narayanan

Dr Varsha's Health Solutions · Health and Pharmaceuticals

Iron supplements are mainstay for prevention and management of anemia. Women, pregnant or not, in particular are vulnerable, and need regular clinical monitoring and care. A knowledge of different pathways of iron absorption and their regulation, helps in understanding the scientific rationale behind formulation, dosing, and response of different i...

Objective: This observational study aimed at evaluating the effects of Ovamystic in groups of women with menstrual irregularities in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), treated at Mahavir Hospital and Manish IVF Center Surendranagar, Gujarat. Materials and Methods: The study involved 126 normal weight or overweight PCOS patients aged 18 to 30 years,...

Bone health is an important concern throughout life, but more so during certain phases of life, such as pregnancy and foetal bone development, in post-menopausal women, elderly people, ones with low bone mineral density or with osteoporosis, and ones recovering from fractures and surgery. Calcium supplements are often prescribed in these cases; how...

Pneumococcus is an important cause of community acquired pneumonia and the commonest cause of community acquired bacterial pneumonia. It also causes invasive pneumococcal disease that increases hospitalization rates, economic burden, morbidity and mortality. Apart from children below 5 years, adults 65 years or more, and all adults with underlying...

Tinea corporis is a fungal infection that is seen more commonly in hot and humid weather, low hygiene, crowded living, and exposure to soil and animals. It is usually diagnosed clinically based on typical appearance of ring like lesions on the trunk and limbs, however, variable and atypical presentations can occur that requires awareness at the lev...

ECG is an often-prescribed investigation for both routine screening and diagnosis of cardiac rhythm and function. Computerized interpretation of ECG through software and algorithm is being used for improving the efficiency of diagnosis. However, there may be errors and inaccuracies in such auto-reports that may lead to further unnecessary tests or...

Musculoskeletal pain is a common healthcare burden, and is often managed with oral pain relief medications. When used recurrently or long-term, such medications can present adverse effects and tolerability concerns. Recent research on the endocannabinoid system and cannabinoid receptors has opened a new avenue in pain management. Cannabinoids such...

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) presents commonly in women of reproductive age group, and has a multifactorial pathogenesis involving insulin resistance and androgen excess, influenced by obesity, diet, lifestyle, metabolic factors, stress, and environmental factors. Inositols (myoinositol-MI, D-chiro inositol-DCI) are part of the therapy options...

Suicide is one of the most concerning incidents that not only has a severe socioeconomic, emotional, and psychological impact on the family but also has adverse effects on the community and overall development of the country. Statistics show that India has an alarmingly high rate of suicide, with a significant proportion being among the youth. Ment...

Eczema and itching are common in the elderly, impacting quality of life. Dry skin and dermatitis due to irritants, allergy and other inflammatory skin diseases are known causes, however non-dermal etiology should also be kept in mind. Chronic venous insufficiency seen in the elderly, can be a cause of skin inflammation, severe itching and ulceratio...

Medical education in India that includes MBBS and specialty post-graduation programmes are intense, thorough and well acclaimed. The new medical education curriculum introduced by the National Medical Commission in 2019 is all set to be uniformly implemented. It is a welcome move in the direction of competencies-based assessment, as well as enhanci...

India has a wide range of healthcare providers and systems. The base is formed by general practitioners from both allopathic and alternate systems of medicine. However, the concept of the family physician is yet to find firm roots both at the academic and scientific, as well as the community level. A family physician has a holistic approach and has...

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) has presented significant challenges and burden to healthcare. Majority of patients have mild-moderate disease and are managed in a non-hospitalized home care setting by family physicians. COVID has pathological mechanisms that include endothelial injury and hypercoagulability due inflammatory mediators. COVID has sho...

Nanotechnology is a novel approach to derma-tologic treatment. Nanomaterials are materials typically defined as less than 100 nm in size. As this size approaches molecular dimensions, the chemical and physical properties vastly change due to a relative increase in surface area to volume ratio. Unique and altered properties ensue, such as carbon bec...

As on December 2021, COVID vaccination for children is yet to commence in India, a country that has been a global leader in vaccinating the adult population. Two indigenous vaccines have already been approved for children 12 years and above by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), with vaccination set to commence for children aged 15 years a...

Introduction: The 2 nd wave of COVID caused an unprecedented burden on health care workers and resources, calling for structured and effective management of most COVID patients in-home care by general and family physicians via digital and virtual monitoring. Methodology: A systematic treatment approach evolved from COVID diagnosis, homecare determi...

Lincomycin, the first antibiotic of the Lincosamide class, has been studied and used in several common outpatient and hospital-based infections, in both its oral and injectable forms. The main ones among these are Ear Nose Throat (ENT) and Respiratory Tract Infections (RTI), skin and Soft Tissue Infections (SSTI) including surgical wound infections...

The Vision Loss Expert Group (VEEG) has recently reported that globally, 1.1 billion people live with vision loss and 90% of such people live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) [2]. This report further states that with the current strategy of eye care, changing trends in disease profiles, and increased longevity, the number of people with...

The second wave of the COVID pandemic has had a sudden and severe impact on India. This grueling period was associated with the shortage of healthcare resources like hospital beds, oxygen supply, and medicines along with overburdening of health workers, and a very high toll of community suffering and loss. A combination of highly infective viral va...

The COVID pandemic has made a more rigorous comeback in 2021 with severely impactful second waves in many countries especially India. In contrast to the previous year, in the second wave the younger population and entire families have been affected at a given time. Medical management by the family physician involves not only individual treatment an...

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has been present for over a year and has been seen to behave unpredictably in different people especially those with other underlying health conditions. Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance (MGUS) is a rare condition that can alter immune responses. There are few case reports of COVID in people...

The resurgence of COVID as a second wave of rising cases has been seen in many parts of India. Presentation with atypi-cal non-specific symptoms, delay in test positivity and diagnosis, infections more among younger people, and a fast-paced growth in daily cases have been the trends so far. Variant strains are also emerging as a cause for concern....

At the start of 2021, two COVID vaccines have received approval for emergency use in India. The review of study data available on the safety and efficacy of these vaccines, and understanding their technological development along with rational of their approval, can help in achievement of a more effective vaccination drive. It is important at this s...

Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has been spreading across the globe in 2020 with most countries being affected significantly in terms of the number of infected cases, morbidity and mortality, as well as health care and economic burden. Currently the most important individual and community measures for curtailing disease transmission are social distanc...

With evolution of technology and materials, new synthetic substances like fiberglass are now available and used for the casting of fractures. Though these offer advantages for both patient and physician, the possibility of developing a pressure ulcer needs to be kept in mind, which should be treated timely and effectively. The family physician can...

Editorial for World Acne Awareness Month June 2020 in Archives of Clinical and Experimental Dermatology.

Anemia is a health condition contributing significantly to morbidity and decreased productivity worldwide. Though iron deficiency in women is the leading cause, anemia in men is also an important health burden and is often underdiagnosed. Sometimes anemia can present in a dimorphic form with both macrocytic and hypochromic microcytic components due...

COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease), caused by the novel Coronavirus designated 2019-nCoV (and thereafter called SARS-CoV-2), first seen in Wuhan, China in December 2019, has now swept across most countries and surfaced as one of the major pandemics the world has seen.1 India too has been impacted with the first few cases emerging in end January-early F...

Health Care and Pharmaceuticals in India are two big segments which are fast growing and influenced by population, environmental, economic and technological factors. 2020 and the following decade will see innovation, expansion and increased effectiveness of these sectors. For Health Care: patient empowerment, strengthening peripheral health service...

Understanding The ABCD of the future of health care.

Rheumatoid Arthritis is known to have a T cell mediated autoimmune aetiology causing joint cartilage destruction. Osteoarthritis, though regarded as a degenerative disease, also shows a T cell immune response and inflammatory cartilage damage. Both types of Arthritis at a cellular level show T helper cell activation, involvement of pro-inflammatory...

Fulvic Acid is a part of Humic substances found in the humus of soil. It has the advantage of higher oxygen content, water solubility at all pH, and low molecular weight as compared to other humic substances. Fulvic acid has been studied for its various clinical benefits including Anti-inflammatory, Astringent, Anti-oxidant, Anti-allergic and Anti-...

Depression is emerging to be one of the commonest mental health disorders worldwide affecting a wide age group. The prescription of antidepressants has risen considerably in last decade with a preference for using newer antidepressants like Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs). There have been many published reports of Ocular side effect...

Osteoporosis is characterized by a reduction in bone mass or bone mineral density and an increase in fracture risk. As it runs a silent course before presenting with a fracture, the importance of screening especially of risk groups for timely diagnosis and treatment, cannot be overemphasized. Often in developing countries, where access to labs and...

Pain is a vital symptom which symbolizes the body's response to injury. The pathophysiology of pain from the site of the injury or pathology to its perception in the brain involves multiple pathways and mediators. Therefore it is increasingly being recognized that a single or unidimensional approach may not give the desired improvement in the quali...

Drug composition B ilastine, is a novel and original molecule belonging to the class of oral second generation antihistamines with a molecular weight of 463.6 daltons and a chemical structure similar to piperidi-nyl-benzimidazol. 1 Bilastine has been developed by FAES FARMA, Spain. Indications Bilastine is indicated for the symptomatic treatment of...

Osteoarthritis, known to be a degenerative disease, is now seeing increasing evidence of also having an inflammatory pathophysiology involving multiple pathways. T cell mediated immune response to joint cartilage collagen is now one of the recognized pathways causing cartilage destruction. T helper cell activation, involvement of pro-inflammatory c...

p class="abstract">Thromboprophylaxis with anticoagulants can significantly reduce the risk of patients developing symptomatic deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism (PE) and VTE related mortality post major orthopedic surgeries like total hip and knee replacement surgeries. Dabigatran, a directly acting oral anticoagulant (DOAC) and direct...

Introduction: Calcium is one of the vital minerals required by the body and may often be deficient due to multiple factors, requiring intake of calcium supplements. Available calcium supplements vary in calcium salts used and amount of elemental calcium available, dosage strength, as well as the absorption and bioavailability of the calcium present...

Background Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a prevalent condition imposing health care burden, impaired quality of life, and a therapeutic challenge due to non-specific symptoms. FD symptoms and delayed gastric emptying are often seen in and further worsen the quality of life in diabetic patients. Acotiamide is a first-in-class gastro-kinetic drug, enh...

Ophthalmic pharmaceutical markets are expanding and growing globally and in India. This review article gives a glimpse of the current pharmaceutical market globally and compares the international ophthalmic drug markets with the scenario in India with further insights into the relative contribution and growth from individual ophthalmic therapy segm...

Abstract Background: Iron deficiency anemia affects the quality of lifeand productivity of women, and in pregnancy can determine and affect maternal and fetal outcomes.Thoughoral iron supplementation is usually first line therapy due to convenience and cost, the conventional Non-heme iron oral supplements may present with gastrointestinal intolerab...

Bepotastine besilate is a selective histamine H1-receptor antagonist and a second-generation non-sedating antihistamine approved for relief from pruritis in various dermatological disorders.Aim: To study the efficacy and tolerance of Bepotastine in providing symptom relief in patients with cutaneous disorders associated with pruritus and other symp...

Background: Dry skin or xeroderma is a very frequent condition which occurs at any age. Moisturizers including conventional oatmeal have been widely used to improve dry skin conditions. Oat-based moisturizer can protect, hydrate, and promote the endogenous barrier repair. Aim: This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of oat extract-based...

Background: Iron deficiency anemia is a common condition affecting the quality of life, as well as maternal and fetal outcomes in non-pregnant and pregnant women respectively. Oral iron supplementation represents the most convenient and cost-effective form of therapy. Conventional non-heme iron oral supplements are known to be associated with poor...

Background: Functional Dyspepsia (FD) is a common condition presenting at the clinic of a gastroenterolo-gist. Though the Post-prandial Distress Syndrome (PDS) type is more commonly seen in clinical practice, often the symptoms overlap with Epigastric pain or burning and sometimes even with other gastro-intestinal symptoms like constipation. Acotia...

Keywords:-Bepotastine besilate is a selective histamine H1-receptor antagonist and a second-generation non-sedating antihistamine approved for relief from pruritis in various dermatological disorders. Bepotastine besilate is a selective histamine H1-receptor antagonist and a second-generation non-sedating antihistamine approved for relief from prur...

Background: Functional Dyspepsia (FD) is a highly prevalent clinical condition that imposes negative economic burden on health-care system as well as greatly impairs quality of life. Treatment of non-specific and bothersome meal-related FD symptoms like post-prandial fullness, upper abdominal bloating and early satiety, is a therapeutic challenge f...

Justification: Chronic cough is a major health and psycho-socioeconomic burden. It is a common reason for the parents to visit a consultant in pediatric practice. Use of appropriate management protocols may reduce the morbidity of chronic cough, lead to earlier diagnosis of chronic underlying illness, reduce unnecessary costs and medications, and i...

Despite the availability of multiple treatments for melasma, the limited efficacy of conventional therapies is a clinical management challenge. A novel sequential regimen based on multi modal bio-innovative combination therapy was designed for the treatment of patients with melasma.To assess the safety and efficacy of a sequential treatment regimen...

Recurrent respiratory infections (RRIs) are one the major contributors of morbidity and mortality in Indian population especially in children below 5 years of age. Though being commonly encountered, there are no guidelines or consensus opinions available to help assist physicians in management of RRIs. There are various gray areas that need standar...

BACKGROUND Acne vulgaris is a universal skin disease affecting both genders. Acne affects more than 85% of the teenagers as well as some adults and persists in large number of people in their 20s and 30s age. A single-center clinic-based study from a teaching hospital in India reported prevalence of acne among boys and girls between 12-17 years of...

Objective: To find the profile and management pattern of cough in out patients visiting family physicians (general practitioners) in India. Material and methods: The survey was done in two phases (monsoon and winter). Parameters captured included occupational exposure of infection or irritant, duration of cough, history of similar episodes, nature,...

Acne is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that involves the pathogenesis of four major factors, such as androgen-induced increased sebum secretion, altered keratinization, colonization of Propionibacterium acnes, and inflammation. Several acne mono-treatment and combination treatment regimens are available and prescribed in the Indian market, ran...

Background: Skin dryness is a common condition that represents significant change in the outermost layer of the epidermis of the skin. Oatmeal moisturizer therapy plays an important role in treating various skin diseases. Methodology/Principal findings: The study included a total of 528 patients aged 2-65 years with atopic dermatitis/xerosis, eczem...

Justification: Asthma and allergic rhinitis together are part of the concept of one airway, one disease or united airway disease. The management of allergic airway diseases should address this united concept and manage the issue by educating the patients and their parents and health care providers, along with environmental control measures, pharma...

Introduction: Currently, no standard practice or recommendation is available for cleaning or sterilizing the syrup caps. With an objective to understand the hygiene practice followed by parents with regard to the use of pediatric syrup caps, a market research study was conducted. Methods: The details of children recently prescribed syrups for vario...

Introduction: Melasma is one of the most common pigmentary disorders seen by dermatologists and often occurs among women with darker complexion (Fitzpatrick skin type IV-VI). Even though melasma is a widely recognized cause of significant cosmetic disfigurement worldwide and in India, there is a lack of systematic and clinically usable treatment a...

Introduction: Skin and soft tissue infections involve microbial invasion of the skin and underlying soft tissues and are estimated to affect 7-10% of hospitalized patients worldwide. Nadifloxacin, a topical fluoroquinolone, has been shown to be effective against aerobic Gram-negative, Gram-positive (including MRSA and coagulase-negative staphyloco...