Background. Bronchial asthma and tuberculosis (TB) are two of the common diseases seen in developing countries, and most of the patients with bronchial asthma require life-long therapy with steroids.Objectives. To estimate the frequency of pulmonary TB among bronchial asthma patients treated with corticosteroids.Methods. Patients with bronchial asthma who have been on steroid therapy were enrolled. Diagnosis of TB was made by history, clinical examination, and laboratory tests findings.Results. Of 100 patients with bronchial asthma, 11 patients developed pulmonary TB (4 sputum-positive, 7 sputumnegative). Of the 60 patients who were on oral steroids, 52 were taking steroids for more than 2 years; of them, 10 (19%) patients developed pulmonary TB. Of the 40 patients who were on inhaled steroids, 80% were using it for more than 2 years; 1 (3.2%) of them developed pulmonary TB. Conclusion.Systemic corticosteroid therapy significantly increases the risk of pulmonary TB in patients with bronchial asthma.

Background: Patients presented with respiratory distress along with bilateral lung opacities, like infections, Neoplasia, primary abnormality of the airways, pulmonary edema, pulmonary haemorrhage, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and interstitial lung diseases is a common scenario in our hospitals. The chest radiograph remains the basic radiological tool in many rural hospitals in our country. Thus, we aimed to study the patients presenting with respiratory distress having bilateral opacities in chest radiograph admitted in a tertiary care centre.Methods: This study was cross sectional study conducted in the department of respiratory medicine, New Medical College and Hospital, Kota for a period of one year on indoor patients. Fifty patients were studied by detailed clinical history, thorough physical examination, chest x-ray, routine haematological, sputum, electrocardiogram and relevant investigations.Results: Amongst 50 patients we found tuberculosis in 32% cases, pneumonia in 28%, pulmonary edema in 16%, silicosis (ILD) in 8 %, fungal pneumonia in 8 %, malignancy in 4% and aspiration pneumonia in 4% cases.Conclusions: Patients presenting with respiratory distress and bilateral lung opacities can have different diagnosis, most of them can be diagnosed by thorough history, clinical examinations and basic investigations. Proper diagnosis is essential in these patients for their management.

A study was conducted to work out the economics of various treatment combinations calculates the economics of sulphur and zinc under linseed (Linum usitatissimum) Crop, to calculate economics of sulphur and zinc. For the present study factorial randomized block design was used keeping three replications. Among the S and Zn level treatments performed the best with the highest grain productivity up to 19.84 q ha-1, net return up to Rs. 77360 ha-1. Treatment interactions were found to be non-significant in grain yield – However, the combined application of sulphur @ 30 Kg/ha and Zinc 2.5 Kg/ha level treatments with dual further raised all these parameters synergistically according to their combined role. Economy in the uses of phosphatic fertilizers may be done with application S and Zn level treatments. The total availability of nutrients i.e. nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium per hectare were also increased in all these treatments with suggests that soil must be recouped every year with NPK nutrients with a minimum level on soil test values and the nature of the crop to be grown. This would maintain the nutrients balance in the soil to ensure sustainable crop production per unit area.