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In India, the per capita availability of water is projected to be 1465 m3 and 1235 m3 by the years 2025 and 2050, respectively, and hence, India would be a water-stressed country as per the United Nations’ standard of less than 1700 m3 per capita water availability. India is predominantly an agricultural-dominant country. Rainfed agriculture in the country contributes 40% of food grain production and supports half of the human population and two-thirds of the livestock population. The country has 15 different agro-climatic zones, and each agro-climatic region has its own constraints of water availability and management along with the potential for their optimum utilization. Such situations warrant the formulation of regional-level strategies. Efforts were made to integrate and evaluate the feasibility of water harvesting and its utilization at twelve different sites representing six different agro-climatic conditions spanning pan India. It was found that water harvesting through tanks/ponds is a feasible approach and can increase the crop production as well as diversification. The results reveal that the range of crop diversification index increased from 0.49–0.85 to 0.65–0.98; the crop productivity index increased from 0.28–0.66 to 0.66–0.90; the cultivated land utilization index increased from 0.05–0.69 to 0.34–0.84; and the crop water productivity index increased from 0.20–0.51 to 0.56–0.96, among other production and diversification indices, due to additional water availability through rainwater harvesting intervention. Moreover, the gross return increased from INR 43,768–704,356 to INR 220,840–1,469,108 ha−1, representing a 108 to 400% increase in the returns due to the availability of water. The findings of this study suggest that the water harvesting in small ponds/tanks is economical and feasible, requires less technological intervention, and increases crop diversification in all the studied agro-climatic conditions, and hence, the same needs to be encouraged in the rainfed areas of the country.

Background: The annual incidence of CNS tumours range from 10-17 per 1,00,000 persons for intracranial tumors. Gliomas are the most common primary intracranial tumours and are of 3 types: Astrocytoma, ependymoma and oligodendroglioma. Glioblastoma, most frequently occurs in older age group whereas in children, pilocytic astrocytoma is most frequently found. The aim of this study is to analyse the age, sex and location wise distribution of CNS tumours and to study the histomorphological ndings of these tumours. T Methodology: his is a retrospective study done in a tertiary care hospital of north east India for a period of 1 year (2020-2021). All total of 52 cases were studied and analysed by histopathological examination. The mean age of the patient presented with CNS tumours was 32.77 Results: years. Out of 52 cases, 11 cases were found in children and 41 cases were of adult population. The overall male to female ratio was 1.4:1. In this study, Astrocytomas were found to be more common in males in both paediatric and adult population, whereas Meningioma was more common in females in case of adult population. Intracranial location was the most common location (96.2%) for the CNS tumours observed in this study. This Conclusion: study gives the current scenario of histopathological aspects of different CNS tumours as encountered in a tertiary care hospital of North east India

Background:The freshwater pearl mussel Lamellidens marginalis is found throughout India and is culturing to produce freshwater pearls. Understanding the process of pearl biomineralization provides insight into the genes responsible for the secretion of the complex nacre. However, information on the transcriptome of L. marginalis pearl sac, mantle tissue and gonads are lacking. Methods and Results: The present study generated the transcriptome resources for L. marginalis and identified genes involved in the biomineralization process in the species. The Illumina paired-end sequencing generated 11.13 million raw reads, and the reads were assembled into 133,246 contigs and 26,373 unigenes. 21,033 out of 26,373 unigenes showed homology with previously reported molluscan proteins. Genes of several proteins associated with biomineralization, namely, pif, perlucin, calreticulin, calmodulin, chitin synthase, chitin dehydrogenase, carbonic anhydrase, tyrosinase, shell matrix protein, chitinase 3, chitinase domain-containing protein 1, chitinase-like protein PB1E7.04c, and putative chitinase-1 were identified in the study. Conclusion: This study's findings will help identify differentially expressed genes that govern the characteristics of the pearl and identify the type-I markers in the genes.

Purpose: The temporal bone depicts a variety of pneumatization patterns which are incidental findings but have a great clinical significance for planning surgical procedures in this area. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence and incidence of pneumatization of articular tubercle and roof of glenoid fossa. Methods: 520 CBCT scans of 260 patients were evaluated to determine pneumatized articular eminence prevalence and characteristics. Gender, laterality and type of pneumatization were observed for both the left and right sides. Chi-square test was used to evaluate the relationship between pneumatized articular eminence and roof of glenoid fossa and gender and type. The software used for the statistical analysis was SPSS version 21.0 and the p-value < 0.05 were considered to indicate statistical significance. Results: PAT was detected in 180 (34.6%), consisting of 105 (20.2%) unilocular and 75 (14.4%) multilocular. PRGF was observed in 224 (43.1%) patients, consisting of 80 (15.4%) unilocular and 144 (27.7%) multilocular. There was 102(19.6%), 93(17.9%) unilateral PAT and PRGF and 44 (8.5%), 74 (14.2%) bilateral PAT and PRGF respectively. Significant corelation was observed for the distribution of types of PAT according to gender (p-value= 0.001).

Freshwater mussels play a key role in ecology and are often considered as ecological indicators. Conversely, these molluscs are one of the most threatened groups due to several anthropogenic factors. Knowledge of phylogenetic diversity would assist in formulating effective management and conservation measures. Lamellidens marginalis is one of the most widely used freshwater mussel for pearl production in India. The genomic resources for investigating its evolutionary relationship within the Unionidae family are lacking.In this study, the f-type mitochondrial genome of L. marginalis was sequenced using the Illumina sequencing platform. The length of the mitochondrial genome was 15,732 bp consisting of 23 tRNAs, 2 rRNAs and 13 protein coding genes. The arrangement of genes was UF1 type and gene overlap was observed between trnG and nad1. Comparative analysis with other Unionidae species showed a high divergence rate in nad6 followed by nad2 atp8 and nad5. The phylogenetic tree supported monophyly of the Unioninae subfamily and L. marginalis (Parreysiinae) formed a sister branch to this subfamily. The divergence time of the Parreysiinae from its most recent common ancestor (MRCA) was placed in the Mesozoic era.This information will be useful for the understanding the evolutionary pattern of the species of Parreysiinae subfamily.

Sedation in paediatric cancer for fractionated radiation treatment (RT) is unique as the child has to be still for accurate delivery of RT, monitoring of the child is from a remote location and sedation is repeated for multiple sessions of RT. The present study was undertaken to compare the efficacy of intranasal dexmedetomidine with oral midazolam and ketamine combination for repeated sedation during fractionated RT in paediatric oncology.Ninety children aged between 3-6 years, planned for 21 fractions of RT, were randomised to receive intranasal dexmedetomidine 2 μg/kg (group D) or oral midazolam 0.2 mg/kg and ketamine 5 mg/kg (group MK). The 21 sessions of fractionated radiotherapy were divided into three subgroups of seven consecutive exposures 1-7, 8-14 and 15-21 for comparison. The primary endpoint was to determine the incidence of successful sedation. The sedation score achieved, time to satisfactory sedation and discharge, rescue ketamine required, and side effects were secondary endpoints.The incidence of successful sedation in the three successive RT subgroups; sessions: 1-7, 8-14 and 15-21, was 82%, 75.6% and 66.7% in group D, as compared to 40%, 24.4% and 13.3% in group MK, respectively. (P0.001). A decrease in successful sedation was noted in the successive subgroups. Time to successful sedation and discharge was earlier in group D in comparison to MK (P = 0.000). More patients in group MK required rescue ketamine (P = 000).Intranasal dexmedetomidine produces more satisfactory sedation as compared to oral ketamine with midazolam for fractionated RT.