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Rhodococcus equi has been recognized primarily as a respiratory pathogen of equines particularly of foals between one and four months of age. R. equi is ranked among the most important disease problems in equines especially because of its high prevalence and mortality rate. R. equi being an intracellular pathogen is very fastidious and requires prolonged specific antibiotic combination therapy lasting up to three months for successful treatment. This assumes further importance as no effective vaccination is available for prevention. It has zoonotic potential and may be responsible for infection in immunocompromised humans. This study is aimed at analyzing the distribution pattern of the resistotypes (R-types) of various isolates of R. equi in different areas of Haryana and Rajasthan, India. Antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of R. equi isolates was determined by Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method following the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines. A total of twenty eight clinical isolates of R. equi from foals from different parts of Haryana and Rajasthan were used in this study. Antibiogram of R. equi isolates with 33 antibiotics revealed ten distinct R-types: R-type 1 to R-type 10, on the basis of variable results of four antibiotics i.e. amoxycillin, gentamycin, colistin and streptomycin. Out of ten resistotypes obtained the relative frequencies of R-1 resistotype and R-4 resistotype were found to be high i.e. 28.57% and 25%, respectively. Differentiation of R. equi strains into R-types is an important tool for therapeutics. In addition to direct foal management, it may have implication in identifying the source and spread of infection, and as epidemiological marker to correlate various isolates from various places, ultimately helping in therapeutics for timely control.

In this study, we aim to determine the false-positive ratespecificity in normal subjects and carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) patients of five provocative maneuvers used to diagnose thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS).We prospectively evaluated subjects with clinical and electrophysiological evidence of CTS as well as normal subjects. All subjects underwent provocative testing by a blinded physician, which included the Adson AB tests, Costoclavicular maneuver (CCM), Elevated arm stress test (Roos), and Supraclavicular pressure (SCP).In the CTS group, false positive tests were observed in 42% in the Adson A test, 45% in the Adson B test, 48% in the CCM, 77% in the Roos test, and 61% in the SCP 94% of the CTS patients had at least 1 positive TOS diagnostic maneuver. In the normal group, false positive tests were observed in 9% in the Adson A test, 20% in the Adson B test, 16% in the CCM, 47% in the Roos test, and 30% in the SCP 56% of the normal patients had at least 1 positive TOS diagnostic maneuver.We conclude that current provocative maneuvers used to diagnose TOS result in a high false-positive rate in normal subjects and an even higher false-positive rate in CTS patients.

A reference family consisting of 12 half sib sire families were created for the identification of QTLs for milk yield in buffaloes. Daughters were recorded for monthly test day milk yield. The number of daughters per sire varied from 50 to 335 daughters per sire. Seventy nine polymorphic microsatellite markers located on 8 chromosomes were genotyped for 2281 daughters of the 12 sires. Whole chromosome scanning was done using single marker analysis and interval mapping using three different algorithms. The analysis was carried out sire family wise. QTLs (63) were identified in single marker analysis and 32 QTLs were identified using interval mapping. The significance of LOD score was tested using permutation tests. The metaQTL analysis was carried out to find out the consensus chromosomal regions associated with milk yield in buffaloes. Five models were utilised and the best was selected on the basis of Akaike Information content. Total 23 chromosomal regions were identified for milk yield in buffaloes. 2 metaQTL chromosomal regions were identified on buffalo chromosome BBU2q; 3 metaQTLs each on buffalo chromosomes BBU8, BBU10 and BBU15 and 4 metaQTL regions each on BBU1q, BBU6, BBU9.

The milk fat percentage records of 2174 daughters belonging to 12 half sib families were analyzed for the identification of QTLs on 8 chromosomes in buffaloes using chromosome scans. The single marker analysis revealed 49 markers to be associated with milk fat percentage in 10 sire families. The interval mapping using R/qtl identified 43 QTLs on 8 chromosomes of buffalo. The meta-QTL analysis was carried out to define consensus QTLs in buffaloes and total 28 meta-QTL regions could be identified for milk fat percentage. Most of the QTLs identified in the experiments have been reported for cattle; however, few new chromosomal locations were also identified to be associated with fat percentage in buffaloes. The additional QTLs identified in buffalo may be due to high level of heterozygosity in buffalo compared to Holstein Friesian and other exotic milk breeds for which QTLs have beenreported. Assuming buffalo-cattle synteny, a total of 1118 genes were identified underlying the QTL regions, out of these 45 genes were identified to be associated with lipid metabolism. The interaction among the genes and gene ontology analysis confirmed their association with lipid metabolism. These 45 genes have potential to be candidate genes for milk fat percentage in buffaloes and underlie the QTL regions identified in buffaloes in the present study.