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Background: IgG ELISA is useful as an epidemiological tool when used to establish sero-prevalence. Extensive background information is required before selecting sites for dengue vaccine trials like types of dengue virus that are causing disease, preferably over a number of years, sero-prevalence of dengue IgG antibodies, prevalence of each serotype, rates of infection, specific mortality, etc. Aims and Objectives • To study the prevalence of dengue IgG antibodies in the serum of adults in urban slums of Delhi • To study the knowledge, attitude and the practice of study subjects about the prevention of mosquito breeding and dengue fever Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2013 to December 2013 in two urban slums of Delhi, Balmiki Basti and Delhi Gate. All adults aged 20 years and above were included in the study irrespective of sex and previous history of dengue. Knowledge, attitude and practices against mosquito breeding were also taken through predesigned, pretested questionnaires. Results: A total of 49(20.5%) adults from Balmiki Basti and 190 from Delhi Gate were enrolled in the study. Mean IgG dengue OD levels of the study subjects was 1.62±0.568. Of the total, 86% were positive for dengue IgG positivity while 13% negative and 1% equivocal. Of all participants, 214(89.9%) were aware of mode of dengue transmission while 25(10.1%) were not. Majority of the participants 137(57.3%) used liquid vaporizers for prevention of mosquito bites. Discussion: The current study reported that 85.4% of the healthy population in urban slums of Delhi is seropositive for dengue IgG, which indicates the unprecedented extent of exposure to dengue virus. It is 7.8% higher than the study conducted in Delhi in 1998(77.6%). It coincides with the rising trend of dengue cases every year in Delhi, making it an endemic region now.

Immunomodulation is a kind of regulatory modification in the immune system so as to bring the desired response. In this review the immunomodulatory effects of homoeopathic medicines – Rhus toxicodendron, Mercurius solubilis, Echinacea, Aconitum, Lachesis and Apis – and homoeopathic combination remedy Canova® are discussed. The review was conducted using PubMed and references from the relevant articles. The keywords comprising the names of above homoeopathic medicines along with terms 'immune function', 'cytokines', etc., were used for search. The review shows that homoeopathic medicines produced modulation of immune function at multiple levels such as modulation of expression of genes, stimulation of macrophage and polymorph nuclear cells, changes in expression of surface receptors and induction of cytokines. Extensive studies are required to explore the immunomodulatory effects of vast number of homoeopathic medicines. Studies based on human-derived immune cells specifically need more attention.

Watermarking is defined as about hiding any valuable information set in the particular digital media by itself through modifying the particular graphic contents. In our proposed method, the process of watermarking is performed from video data. In this work group search optimization is used to determine the position, selection for watermarking. The proposed framework includes the following stages particularly, frame conversion, preprocessing, watermark image selection, watermarking position selection and inverse watermarking. Initially, the input video is segregated into a number of frames. Then in preprocessing, both the input and the original image are resized and the original image is transformed by discrete wavelet transform. Then the secret data to be embedded is selected and replaced in the watermark position determined through the Group Search Optimization (GSO) Algorithm. Finally, inverse watermarking is performed to retrieve the secret data. The proposed technique is implemented in the working platform of MATLAB which shows improved results by using GSO as compared to without GSO method.

The present work aims to analyze the experimental and numerical investigation on performance such as brake power (BP), brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), brake thermal efficiency (BTE), and combustion parameters (in-cylinder pressure, heat release rate) on a 4.4 kW single-cylinder four-stroke C.I. engine running on biodiesel extracted from tamanu oil and diesel. A two-zone, zero-dimensional mathematical model was developed by using thermodynamic laws and cylinder volume, Wiebie’s co-relation, in-cylinder pressure, heat transfer model, engine friction model was developed to validate the above engine performance parameters and analyze the combustion parameters comprising of in-cylinder pressure, in-cylinder temperature, net heat release rate at different loads with single varying-parameter i.e. equivalence ratio while other parameters engine speed, compression ratio, injection timing were kept constant. It was found that the theoretical results were in good agreement with the experimental results for straight diesel and its blends with biodiesel.

The present investigation aims to study the future potential fuel of a non-edible tamanu oil (calophyllum inophyllum). The raw oil of tamanu oil was converted into biodiesel in two-step esterification process and different test fuel blends with biodiesel were prepared with conventional diesel and ethanol as an additive to evaluate its effect on engine characteristics such as BP, BTE, and BSFC, EGT and smoke density on a 4.4 kW rated power, single-cylinder four-stroke of constant rpm C.I. engineat different loads (25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of rated power). The fuel blends were prepared with biodiesel in the ratio of 40%,100% coded as B40 and B100 respectively along with diesel fuel and ethanol as an additive in the fixed ratio of 10%, 15%, and 20%. It was found that B40E20D40 showed a reduction in smoke density and BSFC of 14.28% and 5.9% respectively, 18.3% increase in BTE and 3.73% reduction in exhaust gas temperature at full load whereas B100 showed a maximum reduction in smoke density of 15.97% with 4.53% increase in BSFC and a marginal increase in EGT of 0.53%. B40E20D40 gave a better performance in a diesel engine from the perspective of minimum BSFC, lower exhaust gas temperature and higher BTE among all other blends.

Ten different wheat genotypes were studied for understanding their differential behaviour to different water-deficit stress levels. Hyperspectral data (350–2500 nm) and relative water content (RWC) of plants were measured at different stress level for identifying optimal spectral bands, indices and multivariate models to develop non-invasive phenotyping protocols. Evaluation of water sensitive existing spectral indices, proposed indices and band depth analysis at selected wavelengths was done with respect to RWC and prediction models were developed. The prediction models developed were efficient in predicting RWC with the R2 values ranging from 0.73 to 0.88 for spectral indices and 0.74–0.85 with continuum depth. Then, the ratio spectral indices (RSI) and normalised difference spectral indices (NDSI) were obtained in all possible combinations within 350–2500 nm and their correlations with RWC were quantified to identify the best indices. The best spectral indices for estimating RWC in wheat were RSI (R1391, R1830) and NDSI (R1391, R1830) with R2 of 0.86 and 0.81, respectively. Spectral reflectance data were also used to develop partial least squares regression (PLSR) followed by multiple linear regression (MLR), support vector machine regression (SVR), multivariate adaptive regression spline (MARS) and random forest (RF) model to calculate plant RWC. Among these multivariate models, PLSR was the best model for prediction of RWC (R2 and RMSE of 0.96 and 3.88%; 0.91 and 6.52% for calibration and validation, respectively). The methodology developed would help for its further use in high-throughput phenomics of different crops for drought stress.

Porcine rotavirus type A (RVA) is a major cause of neonatal piglet mortality in India. The effect of the disease on haemogram and serum biochemical profile is not well established in piglets. Accordingly, we assessed the haemogram and serum biochemical profile in the neonatal piglet diarrhoea with RVA infection (n = 17). The diagnosis of RVA was confirmed using RNA-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (RNA-PAGE), commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Non-infected healthy piglets (n = 6) served as control. The concentrations of total protein, albumin, alanine amino transaminase (ALT), aspartate amino transaminase (AST), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine in serum were measured by spectrophotometric method. Haemogram was done in the blood using sodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (Na2 EDTA) as anticoagulant. The mean values of total protein, albumin and globulin concentrations were significantly (P

A facultatively anaerobic, endospore forming, alkali-tolerant, Gram-stain-positive, motile, rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain AK61T, was isolated from a sediment sample collected from Coringa mangrove forest, India. Colonies were circular, 1.5 mm in diameter, shiny, smooth, yellowish and convex with entire margins after 48 h growth at 30 °C. Growth occurred at 15-42 °C, with 0-3 % (w/v) NaCl and at pH 6-9. AK61T was positive for amylase activity and negative for oxidase, catalase, aesculinase, caseinase, cellulase, DNase, gelatinase, lipase and urease activities. The fatty acids were dominated by branched types with iso- and anteiso- saturated fatty acids with a high abundance of iso-C14 : 0, iso-C15 : 0, anteiso-C15 : 0 and iso-C16 : 0; the cell-wall peptidoglycan contained meso-diaminopimelic acid as the diagnostic diamino acid; and MK-7 was the major menaquinone. DNA-DNA hybridization between AK61T and Bacillus indicus MTCC 4374T and between AK61T and Bacillus indicus KCTC 3880 showed relatedness of 37.99 and 33.32 % respectively. The DNA G+C content of AK61T was 44 mol%. The results of a blast sequence similarity search based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that Bacillus cibi and Bacillus indicus were the nearest phylogenetic neighbours, with a pair-wise sequence similarity of 97.69 and 97.55 % respectively. The results of phylogenetic analysis indicated that AK61T was clustered with Bacillus idriensis and Bacillus indicus. On the basis of its phenotypic characteristics and phylogenetic inference, AK61T represents a novel species of the genus Bacillus, for which the name Bacillus mangrovi sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is AK61T (=JCM 31087T=MTCC 12015T=KCTC 33872T).

Fifteen goats clinically diagnosed with acute ruminal lactic acidosis (ARLA group) and fifteen healthy goats (control group) were included in the study. The samples of whole blood and rumen liquor were collected for the analysis of oxidative stress indices, serum cytokines, cardiac biomarkers and intraruminal changes. The acidotic goats showed moderate to severe dehydration, elevation of pulse and respiration rates, ruminal atony, reduced population of ruminal protozoa and a marked increase in ruminal glucose concentration. Compared to the control group, ARLA group had a significantly higher (p

Many complex biological processes such as cell differentiation, cell proliferation, and cell motility are governed by cell signaling. This mode of intercellular communication is of paramount importance for tissue function and ultimately for entire organism. In intercellular communication cells secrete signaling molecules such as cyto/chemokines which diffuse through the surrounding medium and eventually bind to receptors on other cells whereby the signal transduction is completed. An accurate estimation of the effective communication distances and the time scale on which signaling takes place are important for the interpretation of cell and organ physiology and ultimately in the effective and efficient chemotactically driven tissue engineering. The present study uses a solitary cell model incorporating degradation of secreted molecules to estimate the effective communication distances and the time scale on which signaling takes place. We demonstrate through our model that in presence of degradation the effective communication distances are significantly reduced.

Till date, the remote sensing research on crop nutrient monitoring has focused mainly on biomass and nitrogen (N) estimation and only a few attempts had been made to characterize and monitor macronutrients other than N. Field experiments were undertaken to study the remote detection of macronutrient status of rice using hyperspectral remote sensing. The variability in soil available N, phosphorus (P) and sulphur (S) and their content in plants were created using artificial fertility gradient design. The leaf and canopy hyperspectral reflectance was captured from variable macronutrient status vegetation. Linear correlation analysis between the spectral reflectance and plant nutrient status revealed significantly (p

Infectious bovine rhinotracheitis/infectious pustular vulvovaginitis is one of the high economic importance diseases of cattle and caused by bovine herpesvirus1 (BoHV1). Based on the restriction endonuclease fingerprinting of viral DNA, the BoHV1 can be divided into three subtypes viz., BoHV1.1, 1.2a, and 1.2b. Since this method requires a pure viral DNA, it is time-consuming and labour intense. In the current study, the UL0.5 gene based PCR sequencing has been used for the subtyping of BoHV1. Out of five isolates, four had BoHV1-like signatures and one isolate had BoHV1.2-like signatures. Further, these viruses phylogenetically clustered under the respective subtypes. These results indicate that the UL 0.5 gene based PCR sequencing could be used as an alternate method of subtyping of BoHV1.

Berberis aristata is an important part of traditional healing system from more than 2500 years. The aqueous extract of Berberis aristata root bark displayed broad spectrum activity against 13 test pathogens, ranging from 12 to 25 mm. In classical optimization, 15% concentration prepared at 40 °C for 40 min was optimal and thermostable. Statistical optimization enhanced the activity by 1.13–1.30-folds. Ethyl acetate was the best organic solvent to elute out the potential compound responsible for antimicrobial activity. Diterpenes were the most abundant phytoconstituent (15.3%) and showed broad spectrum antimicrobial activity ranging from 16.66 to 42.66 mm. Ethyl acetate extract displayed the lowest minimum inhibitory concentration (0.05–1 mg/mL), followed by diterpenes (0.05–5 mg/mL) and flavonoids (0.05–10 mg/mL). The test extracts were microbicidal in nature and showed a prolonged post antibiotic effect ranging from 2 to 8 h. They were found to be biosafe as per Ames and MTT assay. The in vitro cytotoxicity evaluation of diterpenes against L20B, RD and Hep 2 cell lines revealed its IC50 ranging from 245 to 473 µg/mL. Acute oral toxicity of diterpenes on Swiss albino mice did not show any changes in behavioral pattern, body weight, biochemical parameters as well as organs’ architecture. The study thus indicates B. aristata could be a potential candidate for development of potent drug owing to its antimicrobial potential and biosafe profile.

This paper describes the design, simulation, development, and analysis of a Cross Floating Valve (CFV), an important instrument used in a cross float or pressure calibration system of pressure balances (PBs) to make the calibration process easy and time efficient. The design aspects of the CFV include the selection of proper materials and modeling of various necessary components of the CFV. For the piston design, 5 different materials, SS304, SS316, Aermet 340, SS440C, and AISI17-4PH were used. After the design, simulation studies were carried out using the ANSYS (Workbench R15.0) software to understand the behavior of stress, strain, and deformation. Out of the 5 materials thus used, the values of the factor of safety of 2 materials (SS304 and SS316) were found to be below expectations and hence were not used in the fabrication process. Among the rest of the 3 other materials (AISI17-4PH, SS440C, and Aermet 340) having a factor of safety within the expected limits, Aermet 340 was also ignored because of its high cost. Finally, AISI17-4PH and SS440C were used to fabricate the piston, the most important and critical component of the CFV. The final CFV thus developed was tested for its performance in the cross floating experiments with 2 different sets of PBs. The results thus obtained show that the use of CFV reduces the calibration time considerably which is approximately 30% (average time of increasing and decreasing orders of pressure) from the time taken in performing calibration without using CFV, which is a significant achievement.

There is a significant increase in the discovery of new antimicrobial compounds in recent past to combat drug resistant pathogens. Members of the genus Bacillus and related genera have been screened extensively due to their ability to produce wide range of antimicrobial compounds. In this study, we have isolated and characterized a new antimicrobial peptide from a marine bacterium identified as Virgibacillus species. The low molecular mass and stability of the antimicrobial substance pointed towards the bacteriocinogenic nature of the compound. The RAST analysis of genome sequence showed presence of a putative bacteriocin biosynthetic cluster containing genes necessary for synthesis of a lanthipeptide. Translated amino acid sequence of mature C-terminal propeptide showed identity with salivaricin A (52.2%) and lacticin A (33.3%). Accordingly, the mass (2417 Da) obtained by MALDI analysis was in agreement with posttranslational modifications of the leader peptide to yield three methyl lanthionine rings and a disulfide bond between two free cysteine residues. The lanthipeptide was named as virgicin, which selectively inhibited the growth of Gram-positive bacteria and biofilm formation by Enterococcus faecalis. Inhibition of biofilm formation by E. faecalis was also observed in in vitro model experiments using hydroxyapatite discs. Thus, virgicin appears to be a promising new bacteriocin to control oral biofilm formation by selective pathogens.

Background: There are several ways by which aging is identified, of which graying of hair is perhaps the most common way. Nowadays, graying of hairs, which was expected to occur after 40s, can be easily observed among younger age group, even before 20s. The present study aims to estimate the prevalence of graying of hairs and its correlates among young adults in Srinagar, Uttarakhand, India. Methodology: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 384 young adults between 15 and 30-year age group in the urban area of Srinagar tehsil of Pauri district. Graying of hair was assessed on the basis of the number of white hairs on examination of scalp. Results: The prevalence of premature graying of hairs (PMGHs) was found to be 27.3%. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that a paternal history of PMGH, history of smoking, maternal history of PMGH, sunlight exposure, and body mass index were significant predictors of PMGH. Limitations: The factors found associated could be better determined through a follow-up study which could not be done in the current study. The present study was carried in a tehsil of one district of Uttarakhand therefore has limited external validity. Conclusion: The present study highlights the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle as well as adequate exposure to sunlight in preventing PMGH.

The Brucella being obligate intracellular parasite, its survival in host requires the ability to overcome host immune system as well as host oxidative stress mechanism. In general, Brucellosis induces rise in host oxidative stress with weakening of the host’s antioxidant defense system. The survival of Brucella to host oxidative and antioxidant system depends on the presence of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase in Brucella. Of these, SOD acts as a major antioxidant enzyme in Brucella pathophysiology. Brucella possesses two SODs, SodA and SodC, that directly detoxify superoxide radicals. SodA resides in the cytoplasmic compartment, while SodC in the periplasm of Brucella strains and exclusively detoxifies superoxide radical within the cellular compartments in which bacteria reside. The endogenously produced superoxide radicals of respiratory metabolism are detoxified by SodA, while exogenously generated during respiratory burst in host phagocytes are typically detoxified by SodC. The catalase neutralizes H2O2 produced during the process. The catalase is mainly constrained to the periplasm and provides protection against H2O2 produced during the immune response provoked against Brucella infection. Regulation of this enzyme along with detoxification of superoxide radicals with SOD is mainly responsible for the adaptation process of Brucella and allows its survival under hostile conditions.

Canine distemper (CD) is one of the highly contagious and invariably fatal viral diseases of dogs and other carnivores. Despite the widespread use of modified live vaccines to control CD, the prevalence of disease has increased at an alarming rate in recent years. Although a number of factors may be ascribed for vaccine failure, antigenic differences among the vaccine and wild-type strains have gained the interest of researchers. Considering the high genetic variability of haemagglutinin gene (H gene) and its role in eliciting the immune response to canine distemper virus (CDV), we have generated nine full-length CDV H gene sequences from infected dogs including three vaccinated cases. Bayesian analysis was performed using 102 full-length H gene nucleotide sequences over a time frame of 76 years (1940-2016) from 18 countries. The time to the most recent common ancestor (tMRCA) of CDV was estimated to be 1696 AD. Phylogenetic reconstruction clustered Indian wild-type viruses into a distinct monophyletic group clearly separated from the previously established CDV lineages. This signifies the presence of a novel genetic variant (proposed as "Lineage India-1/Asia-5") circulating among dog population in India. To investigate the importance of substitutions at amino acid residues 530 and 549 of CDV H protein in determining the host switches from canid to non-canid hosts, we analysed 125 H gene sequences including nine sequences generated in this study. Selection pressure analysis and analysis of amino acid sequences revealed a trend towards adaptation of 549H variants in non-canid hosts although no role of G/E530R/D/N substitution could be identified. This is the first comprehensive study about the nature and ecology of CDV circulating among dog population in India. Outbreaks in vaccinated animals as observed in this study have raised a concern towards the effectiveness of current vaccine strains warranting detailed investigation.

Background and Objectives: Multiple-Drug-Resistance (MDR) among bacteria is an imminent problem and alternative therapies are seen as a future abode. Agarwood Oil (AO) is described to possess antimicrobial activity besides many other medicinal utilities. This paper discusses the antimicrobial activity of AO on MDR and non-MDR strains of microbes of 69 genera isolated from clinical and non-clinical samples. Methods and Results: In this study sensitivity of microbes was determined for conventional antimicrobials and AO using disc diffusion assay followed by determination of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) using agar well dilution assay. A total of 18.5% (522) strains were found sensitive to AO. Carbapenem resistant bacterial strains were more often (p, ≤0.01) resistant to antibiotics with 4.2 times more odds (99% CI, 2.99-5.90) of being MDR than carbapenem sensitive strains but no difference in their AO sensitivity was observed. However, MDR strains were more often (p, 2.56 mg/mL. Conclusion: The study concluded that MDR and AO resistance had a similar trend and AO may not be seen as a good antimicrobial agent against MDR strains.

Potato is an important crop in India with area spread across Himalayan hills in the North to hot tropical conditions in South, albeit major area in sub-tropical Indo-Gangetic plains. The first common requirement in all regions is that the variety should have high performance for tuber yield along with essential agronomic traits. The present study was carried out to identify an ideal variety with wide adaptability for tuber yield and dry matter. Six varieties were evaluated in 9, 11 and 10 locations in the years 2014–15, 2015–16 and 2016–17, respectively for TY, MY and DM. The data were analysed with ANOVA, mixed models, BLUPs and GGE biplot as well as univariate stability statistics. Combined analysis of variance showed significant genotype, environment and genotype × environment interactions. The relative magnitudes of G, E and G×E variances accounted for 6.76–8.91, 51.85–76.65 and 12.41–23.19 per cent for TY and 2.86–4.66, 65.87–72.85 and 13.74–20.04 per cent for DM. Although the genotypes contributed significantly, major part of the variation was explained by environments for all the three traits. Mean across locations and years, and BLUP values of varieties for all the three traits showed similar results with Kufri Khyati as the best variety for TY and MY, whereas Kufri Jyoti and Kufri Garima were best for DM. Based on GGE biplot and univariate stability statistics, Kufri Khyati was the ideal high yielding wide adaptable variety in all the three years and Kufri Jyoti was the ideal variety based on mean dry matter and stability. The environments were very diverse and their clustering suggested three groups, which can be used as three separate zones for varietal evaluation and regional deployment of varieties., BLUPs; GGE biplot; Potato; Tuber yield; Dry matter; Stability; Food science; Agricultural science; Agronomy; Crop breeding; Crop production; Crop yields; Horticulture; Biological sciences.

We perform Brownian dynamics simulation (BDS) of catch to slip transition over a model energy landscape. Through our BDS we demonstrate that for forces below the critical force the bond rupture occurs mostly through the catch pathway while for forces above the critical force the bond rupture occurs mostly through the slip pathway. We also demonstrate that the shoulder in the bond rupture force distribution switches to peak as the loading rate increases progressively and the bond lifetime is maximized at the model dependent critical force. The force dependent bond lifetime obtained via transforming the bond rupture force distribution at a given loading rate is in excellent agreement with that obtained from our BDS at constant forces. An alternative to the current mechanism of catch to slip transition is presented and validated through BDS.

Aim: The present study was conducted to evaluate the antidiarrheal effect of ethanolic extract of Holarrhena antidysenterica (Family - Apocynaceae) seeds against induced diarrhea in Wistar albino rats. Materials and Methods: The extract was evaluated for castor oil and Escherichia coli induced diarrhea. Extract was given at 100, 200, 400 mg/kg body wt. orally in both protocols. Standard antidiarrheal Loperamide was used at 5 mg/kg body wt. orally in castor oil induced protocol, while standard antibiotic Gentamicin at 8 mg/kg body wt. intraperitoneally was used in E. coli induced diarrhea. In castor oil induced protocol, the percentage inhibition of defecation was calculated for each group, whereas in E. coli induced protocol, change in fecal consistency, and body weight was recorded for each individual rat for 3 days. Results: The severity of castor oil induced diarrhea was reduced significantly (p

Use of phorate as a broad spectrum pesticide in agricultural crops is finding disfavor due to persistence of both the principal compound as well as its toxic residues in soil. Three phorate utilizing bacterial species (Pseudomonas sp. strain Imbl 4.3, Pseudomonas sp. strain Imbl 5.1, Pseudomonas sp. strain Imbl 5.2) were isolated from field soils. Comparative phorate degradation analysis of these species in liquid cultures identified Pseudomonas sp. strain Imbl 5.1 to cause complete metabolization of phorate during seven days as compared to the other two species in 13 days. In soils amended with phorate at different levels (100, 200, 300 mg kg−1 soil), Pseudomonas sp. strain Imbl 5.1 resulted in active metabolization of phorate by between 94.66% and 95.62% establishing the same to be a potent bacterium for significantly relieving soil from phorate residues. Metabolization of phorate to these phorate residues did not follow the first order kinetics. This study proves that Pseudomonas sp. strain Imbl 5.1 has huge potential for active bioremediation of phorate both in liquid cultures and agricultural soils.

Background: Sclerotherapy is the treatment of choice for first and second grade haemorrhoidal disease. The aim of this study is to assess the efficacy and safety of polidocanol foam for haemorrhoidal disease.Methods: A total of 50 patients were treated with foam sclerotherapy (polidocanol 3%). Patients who presented with complain of bleeding per anum and diagnosed with first and second grade hemorrhoidal disease were included. Patients without bleeding per anum were not included. The primary objective was the stopping of perianal bleeding after one sclerotherapy session. Sclerotherapy was repeated at 2-week intervals until patients were free of bleeding. The final follow-up was 12 weeks after the last sclerotherapy session.Results: After one foam sclerotherapy session, 82% of patients (41 out of 50) were treated successfully. After second sclerotherapy, 98% of the patients (46 out of 50) were treated successfully. 2% of the patients received third sclerotherapy.Conclusions: In the treatment of first and second grade haemorrhoidal disease, polidocanol 3% foam is very effective and safe. The results of this study show that foam sclerotherapy is a new, innovative, effective and safe non-surgical treatment option for haemorrhoidal disease.

Background: Acute appendicitis is one of the commonest surgical emergencies. The rate of negative appendicectomy has been reported to be between 20-30%. The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of Alvarado scoring system in cutting down the rate of negative appendicectomy without increasing morbidity and mortality.Methods: A study of 100 patients presenting with pain abdomen and diagnosed provisionally as acute appendicitis, was undertaken. Depending on individual presentation, a score was calculated for each case, based on Alvarado scoring system. Operative and conservative intervention was undertaken in patients with scores between 5 and 10 and

Spodoptera litura (Fabricius) is an important polyphagous insect pest of several host plants worldwide and has developed resistance to many insecticides. The present study aimed at analysing the effect of selection with fenvalerate on a resistant field population from Sangrur, Punjab, India (SGR) through synergist and biochemical assays. Following selection with fenvalerate for 14 generations, the selected population (SGR-Sel) was analysed through bioassays to assess changes in levels of resistance, synergism and detoxification enzyme activities. Resistance ratio increased from 12.61 to 52.81 fold when compared to the laboratory susceptible strain (H-Sus). Synergism of piperonyl butoxide (6.19 fold) and triphenyl phosphate (5.88) was observed with SGR-Sel, which suggested the involvement of mainly monooxygenases (mixed function oxidases or MFOs) and esterases in resistance to fenvalerate. A strong positive correlation (r = 0.98) was observed between MFO activity and fenvalerate resistance in SGR-Sel, the activity was 4.26- and 1.84- fold that of H-Sus and SGR. Similarly, esterase activity was 3.70- and 1.73- fold that of H-Sus and SGR populations, with a strong positive correlation between esterases and fenvalerate resistance (r = 0.97). Alignment between COI sequences of SGR-Sel and SGR identified the existence of a single base/nucleotide polymorphism at position 421 represented by replacement of C in SGR with T in SGR-Sel. In the translated protein sequence, serine in SGR was replaced by phenylalanine in SGR-Sel population at position 139.

In this paper, we propose an automated approach that combines the generalized discriminant analysis (GDA) as feature reduction scheme with radial basis function (RBF) kernel and the online sequential extreme learning machine (OSELM) having Sigmoid, Hardlim, RBF and Sine activation function as binary classifier for detection of congestive heart failure (CHF) and coronary artery disease (CAD). For this analysis, 13 nonlinear features as Correlation Dimension (CD), Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA) as DFA-[Formula: see text]1 and DFA-[Formula: see text]2, Bubble Entropy (BBEn), Sample Entropy (SampEn), Dispersion Entropy (DISEn), Lempel–Ziv Complexity (LZ), Sinai Entropy (SIEn), Improved Multiscale Permutation Entropy (IMPE), Hurst Exponent (HE), Permutation Entropy (PE), Approximate Entropy (ApEn) and Standard Deviation (SD1/SD2) were extracted from Heart Rate Variability (HRV) signals. For validation of proposed method, HRV data were obtained from standard database of normal sinus rhythm (NSR), CHF and CAD subjects. Numerical experiments were done on the combination of database sets such as NSR-CAD, CHF-CAD and NSR-CHF subjects. The simulation results show a clear difference in combination of database sets by using GDA having RBF, Gaussian kernel function and OSELM binary classifier having Sigmoid, RBF and Sine activation function and achieved an accuracy of 98.17% for NSR-CAD, 100% for NSR-CHF and CAD-CHF subjects.

Beauveria bassiana is an entomopathogenic fungus with high potential in controlling insect pests. In this study, we propose optimum cultural conditions and culture media for better growth of various B. bassiana strains. B. bassiana strains achieved their maximum growth during optimal incubation period of seven days. The optimum pH and temperature for maximal growth of B. bassiana strains was found to be 6-7 and 25-30⁰C, respectively. All the tested carbon and nitrogen sources supported growth and development of the B. bassiana strains. Starch and peptone as carbon and nitrogen sources supported maximum radial growth (2.13-3.00 cm) and conidiospore count in both solid state culture (2.66x10⁷ conidia/mL) and liquid state culture (9.86x10⁷ conidia/mL). Strain BbR2 was the fastest growing strain on almost all nutrient sources studied and possessed commendable growth rate and sporulation potential. Wheat bran (WB) and rice bran (RB) in the proportion of 3:1 supported maximum conidiospores yields (1.90x10⁷ conidia/mL) for strain BbR2 in solid state fermentation conditions.

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) elicitors isolated from Pseudomonas fluorescens UOM SAR 14 effectively induced systemic and durable resistance against pearl millet downy mildew disease caused by the oomycete Sclerospora graminicola. Rapid and increased callose deposition and H(2)O(2) accumulation were evidenced in downy mildew susceptible seeds pre-treated with LPS (SLPS) in comparison with the control seedlings, which also correlated with expression of various other defense responses. Biochemical analysis of enzymes and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction data suggested that LPS protects pearl millet against downy mildew through the activation of plant defense mechanisms such as generation of nitric oxide (NO), increased expression, and activities of defense enzymes and proteins. Elevation of NO concentrations was shown to be essential for LPS-mediated defense manifestation in pearl millet and had an impact on the other downstream defense responses like enhanced activation of enzymes and pathogen-related (PR) proteins. Temporal expression analysis of defense enzymes and PR-proteins in SLPS seedlings challenged with the downy mildew pathogen revealed that the activity and expression of peroxidase, phenylalanine ammonia lyase, and the PR-proteins (PR-1 and PR-5) were significantly enhanced compared to untreated control. Higher gene expression and protein activities of hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins (HRGPs) were observed in SLPS seedlings which were similar to that of the resistant check. Collectively, our results suggest that, in pearl millet-downy mildew interaction, LPS pre-treatment affects defense signaling through the central regulator NO which triggers the activities of PAL, POX, PR-1, PR-5, and HRGPs. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s13205-018-1501-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Thirty seven patients with various neuroparalytic manifestations were studied. There were 25 males and 12 females aged 14 to 50 years with majority in 3rd and 4th decades. Their neurological deficits comprised of drowsiness in 12, stupor in 6, coma in 4 and convulsions in 4 patients. Ptosis was found in 22, ophthalmoplegia and pharyngeal paralysis in 12 each, facial paralysis in 9, respiratory paralysis in 8, flaccid limb paralysis in 9, respiratory paralysis in 8, flaccid limb paralysis in 16 and lock jaw in one case. History of snake bite was present in 25 cases and in the remaining 12 cases there was a history of not awakening or inability to come out of the bed in the early morning. These subjects were treated with respiratory support, antivenom serum supplemented with atropine-neostigmine combination. Recovery was dramatic in 25 cases. 6 patients died within 12 hours of hospitalization and remaining 6 patients showed improvement gradually in 2-3 days time. The importance of high index of suspicion in the early diagnosis of elapid bite poisoning as a cause of neuroparalysis has been emphasized.

A total of 472 consecutive patients with severe head injuries (Glasgow Coma Scale score 8 or below) were studied for assessment of various risk factors affecting the outcome. The patients were divided into two groups - 299 (63 percent) patients who died and 173 (37 percent) patients who survived. Each risk factor pretraumatic, traumatic and post traumatic which might have affected the outcome was compared in each group. The following risk factors significantly increased the chances of mortality : (i) Pretraumatic - advanced age, presence of pre existing disease, (ii) Traumatic - GCS score less than 8, presence of shock, dilated pupil with an abnormal light reaction, motor disturbances, extensor rigidity, no reaction to pain, intracranial space occupying lesions (CT scan abnormalities), additional injuries, and (iii) Post traumatic - alternations in blood pressure, presence of biochemical abnormalities, hypoxia and the need for endotracheal intubation and mannitol infusion.

Six histologically confirmed cases of esthesioneuroblastoma re reported. Two case had presented with primarily an intracranial mass, two had intracranial extension of a nasal tumour and the remaining two had only nasal growth. Local recurrence in the form of a swelling at the root of nose and metastases to the cervical vertebra, dorsal extradural space and lumbar subarachnoid space were seen in one case each. Aggressive treatment with surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy improved the qualityof life in locally recurrent and metastatic disease. CT scan findings and the role of chemotherapy in the primary metastatic esthesioneuroblastoma are discussed.

The intracellular nature of Brucella leads to rise in oxidative stress due to bacterial invasion, particularly at the site of predilection spleen and lymph nodes. The present study aimed to evaluate the erythrocytic and tissue specific oxidative stress responses induced during oil adjuvant killed Brucella melitensis vaccination. The results of the study clearly implicated a significant increase in level of catalase, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and lipid peroxidation (LPO), and total protein content in erythrocytes after vaccination. The activity of glutathione-S-transferase (GST) was unaltered during the period of experiment. The catalase activity and GSH content was significantly increased in lung and spleen tissues. The tissues GST levels increased significantly in all tissues, while tissue SOD level increased significantly only in lung tissues. Thus, it can be inferred that oil adjuvant based Brucella vaccine induces negligible signs of inflammatory pathophysiology and supports the development of significant level of protection against virulent Brucella challenge.

The potential of hyperspectral reflectance data was explored to assess severity of yellow rust disease (Biotroph Pucciniastriiformis) of winter wheat in the present study. The hyperspectral remote sensing data was collected for winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cropat different levels of disease infestation using field spectroradiometer over the spectral range of 350 to 2500 nm. The partial least squares (PLS) and multiple linear (MLR) regression techniques were used to identify suitable bands and develop spectral models for assessing severity of yellow rust disease in winter wheat crop. The PLS model based on the full spectral range and n = 36, yielded a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.96, a standard error of cross validation (SECV) of 12.74 and a root mean square error of cross validation (RMSECV) of 12.41. The validation analysis of this PLS model yielded r2 as 0.93 with a SEP (Standard Error of Prediction) of 7.80 and a RMSEP (Root Mean Square Error of prediction) of 7.46. The loading weights of latent variables from PLS model were used to identify sensitive wavelengths. To assess their suitability multiple linear regression (MLR) model was applied on these wavelengths which resulted in a MLR model with three identified wavelength bands (428 nm, 672 nm and 1399 nm). MLR model yielded acceptable results in the form of r2 as 0.89 for calibration and 0.90 for validation with SEP of 3.90 and RMSEP of 3.70. The result showed that the developed model had a great potential for precise delineation and detection of yellow rust disease in winter wheat crop.

An unidentified red bacterium strains isolated as endophyte of root nodule of faba bean, when characterized for morphological, microscopic, biochemical and molecular (16SrDNA sequence) features were identified as a novel strain of Serratia marcescens. The strain formed small red colony size measuring 2-3mm in diameter on Glucose Mannitol Tryptone Yeast Extract (GMTYE) agar medium. Under scanning electron microscopy, the single cell rods measured 3.55 - 4.18µm x 0.48µm - 0.68µm. The bacterium strain could efficiently utilize a wide range of carbohydrates (monosaccharide, disaccharide and polysaccharide) both for growth and pigmentation. It’s preferred simple form of organic nitrogen for growth and pigmentation but was unable to utilize inorganic sources of nitrogen. The bacterium could grow over a wide range of medium pH (4.00-11.00) and temperature (20-37°C) and NaCl concentration (0.5-2.0%) but optimal growth and pigmentation were observed in the GMTYE medium of pH (6.00-7.00) containing NaCl at 0.5 percent level and at 28°C of incubation temperature.

Microbial consortia isolated from aged phorate contaminated soil were used to degrade phorate. The consortia of three microorganisms (Brevibacterium frigoritolerans, Bacillus aerophilus and Pseudomonas fulva) could degrade phorate, and the highest phorate removal (between 97.65 and 98.31%) was found in soils inoculated with mixed cultures of all the three bacterial species. However, the mixed activity of any of two of these bacteria was lower than mixed consortia of all the three bacterial species. The highest degradation by individual mixed consortia of (B. frigoritolerans+B.aerophilus, B. aerophilus+P. fulva and B. frigoritolerans+P. fulva) appeared in soil between (92.28-94.09%, 95.45-97.15% and 94.08-97.42%, respectively). Therefore, inoculation of highly potential microbial consortia isolated from in situ contaminated soil could result in most effective bioremediation consortia for significantly relieving soils from phorate residues. This much high phorate remediation from phorate contaminated soils have never been reported earlier by mixed culture of native soil bacterial isolates.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) content and its spatial distribution in the Northern Gangetic Plain (NGP) Zone of India were determined to establish the cause–effect relationship between agro-ecological characteristics, prevailing crop management practices and SOC stock. Area Spread Index (ASI) approach was used to collect soil samples from the NGP areas supporting predominant cropping systems. Exponential ordinary kriging was found most suitable geo-statistical model for developing SOC surface maps of the NGP. Predicted surface maps indicated that 43.7% area of NGP had 0.5–0.6% SOC, while the rest of the area was equally distributed with high (0.61–0.75%) and low ( 12.5 Mg/ha) in 97.8, 57.6 and 46.4% areas of BTZ, CPZ and MWPZ, respectively. Only 9.8 and 0.4% area of WPZ and SWPZ, respectively, had SOC stock above the threshold value. The variation in SOC stock was attributed largely to carbon addition through recycling of organic sources, cropping systems, tillage intensity, crop or residue cover and land-use efficiency, nutrient-use pattern, soil texture and prevailing ecosystem. Adoption of conservation agriculture, balanced use of nutrients, inclusion of legumes in cropping systems and agro-forestry were suggested for enhancing SOC stock in the region.

Background: Unintended pregnancy is an important public health issue in developing countries like India because of its association with adverse social and health outcomes. Emergency Contraception (EC) is a safe and effective way to prevent unplanned pregnancy. The objectives of this study were to assess the attitude, practices and do the need assessment of emergency contraception among the married women of 18 to 45 years in an urban area of Delhi. Methods: It was a community based cross sectional study, done in an urban locality in Central Delhi. A pretested semi-structured questionnaire was used to take the interview of eligible females. Results: 83.2% of the study subjects had favourable attitude towards the use of emergencycontraception in future, if need arises. There was siginificant association of attitude with age, parity and contraceptive usage. Only 9% of the study subjects had ever used EC. Most of them, purchased emergency contraception from a chemist.I pill was found to be the most common EC used by the study subjects. The practice of EC was found to be associated with education, contraceptive usage and having knowledge about EC. Conclusion: Government health facilities were the first choice of study subjects for receiving the information and getting emergency contraceptive pills. However the unavailability of the emergency contraceptive pills at health centres and long waiting time in government health facilities were found to be the reasons for not going to the government health facilities for getting the emergency contraceptive pills. Key Words: Attitude, Emergency contraception, Need assessment, Practice, Urban area, Women.

Every state always motivate tourism to revenue and also exchange of culture. A huge biodiversity across the world exploring by the peoples in last few decades. And this trends is more in developing countries like India. India is having vast cultural, social, religious immense diversity. It is intermixing of various cultures like British, Mugals and local kings for a long period of time. Nowadays these situations transform in to tourism hub and it is a key development strategy. The survey was carried out in the area of Sariska Tiger Project area and also secondary data collected from Alwar tourist department of Rajasthan, India. From the results showing that the total number of tourist decline 2005 to 2009 were 70% in Alwar district whereas in Rajasthan it was increased to 33%. If we analyzed the domestic and foreign tourist there will be a huge declined in domestic tourist at Alwar region compared to Rajasthan. Key words: Agriculture, biodiversity, India, tourism.

The inversion of canopy reflectance models is widely used for the retrieval of vegetation properties from remote sensing. This study evaluates the retrieval of soybean biophysical variables of leaf area index, leaf chlorophyll content, canopy chlorophyll content, and equivalent leaf water thickness from proximal reflectance data integrated broadbands corresponding to moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer, thematic mapper, and linear imaging self scanning sensors through inversion of the canopy radiative transfer model, PROSAIL. Three different inversion approaches namely the look-up table, genetic algorithm, and artificial neural network were used and performances were evaluated. Application of the genetic algorithm for crop parameter retrieval is a new attempt among the variety of optimization problems in remote sensing which have been successfully demonstrated in the present study. Its performance was as good as that of the look-up table approach and the artificial neural network was a poor performer. The general order of estimation accuracy for parameters irrespective of inversion approaches was leaf area index > canopy chlorophyll content > leaf chlorophyll content > equivalent leaf water thickness. Performance of inversion was comparable for broadband reflectances of all three sensors in the optical region with insignificant differences in estimation accuracy among them.

A field experiment was conducted on wheat to analyze its bi-directional reflectance in relation to sun-target-sensor geometry. To achieve a large variation in crop parameters, two extreme nitrogen treatments were applied. The study reconfirms the strong and consistent anisotropic patterns of wheat bi-directional reflectance in visible (VIS) and near infra-red (NIR) and its magnitude was highest in the principal plane. This anisotropic pattern extended equally in shortwave infra-red (SWIR). The hotspot broadened with crop growth due to increase in leaf area index (LAI), leaf size and planophilic orientation. The shape and magnitude of PROSAIL5B simulated spectra was in close agreement with the observed spectra in the optical region for most of the view zenith and azimuth angle combinations. In the NIR and SWIR, the magnitude of the model simulations showed good match in the principal plane, whereas underestimation was found in the backward scattering direction at higher view zenith angles in the VIS. The typical bowl shape of observed reflectance in principal plane was very well simulated in NIR by the model but failed in other wavebands. The model performed best in the NIR region followed by SWIR and maximum relative error was in VIS. Over the whole optical region and view zenith angles, the model simulations showed an average error of 26%. The model simulations were poor at low LAI indicating the need to improve soil reflectance algorithm in the model. Results of the study have implications for understanding the strengths/shortcomings in the model and its inversion to derive crop biophysical parameters from multispectral sensors.