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Background: To enhance the quality of care available for children with central nervous system (CNS) tumors across the world, a systematic evaluation of capacity is needed to identify gaps and prioritize interventions. To that end, we created the pediatric neuro-oncology (PNO) resource assessment aid (PANORAMA) tool., Methods: The development of PANORAMA encompassed 3 phases: operationalization, consensus building, and piloting. PANORAMA aimed to capture the elements of the PNO care continuum through domains with weighted assessments reflecting their importance. Responses were ordinally scored to reflect the level of satisfaction. PANORAMA was revised based on feedback at various phases to improve its relevance, usability, and clarity., Results: The operationalization phase identified 14 domains by using 252 questions. The consensus phase involved 15 experts (6 pediatric oncologists, 3 radiation oncologists, 2 neurosurgeons, 2 radiologists, and 2 pathologists). The consensus phase validated the identified domains, questions, and scoring methodology. The PANORAMA domains included national context, hospital infrastructure, organization and service integration, human resources, financing, laboratory, neurosurgery, diagnostic imaging, pathology, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, supportive care, and patient outcomes. PANORAMA was piloted at 13 institutions in 12 countries, representing diverse patient care contexts. Face validity was assessed by examining the correlation between the estimated score by respondents and calculated PANORAMA scores for each domain ( r  = 0.67, P  < .0001)., Conclusions: PANORAMA was developed through a systematic, collaborative approach, ensuring its relevance to evaluate core elements of PNO service capacity. Distribution of PANORAMA will enable quantitative service evaluations across institutions, facilitating benchmarking and the prioritization of interventions., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press, the Society for Neuro-Oncology and the European Association of Neuro-Oncology.)

Corticosteroids and l -asparaginase used in the treatment of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) can cause drug-induced diabetes mellitus (DIDM). DIDM can lead to dyselectrolytemia, a higher risk of infections including cellulitis, bacteremia, fungemia, and a higher incidence of febrile neutropenia and may have an impact on the outcome of ALL. Literature on the management of DIDM among children with ALL is sparse and the diagnostic criteria for pediatric diabetes should be carefully applied considering the acute and transient nature of DIDM during ALL therapy. Insulin remains the standard of care for DIDM management and the choice of Insulin regimen (stand-alone Neutral Protamine Hagedorn or basal bolus) should be based on the type and dose of steroids used for ALL and the pattern of hyperglycemia. A modest glycemic control (postmeal 140 to 180 mg/dL, premeal <140 mg/dL) to prevent complications of hyperglycemia, as well as hypoglycemia, would be the general approach. This review is intended to suggest evidence-based practical guidance in the diagnosis and management of DIDM during pediatric ALL therapy., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

The Heat Shock Factor (Hsf) genes are widely distributed across the plant kingdom regulating the plant response to various abiotic stresses. In addition to natural selection, breeding and accelerated selection changed the structure and function of Hsf genes. 1076 Hsf genes from 30 genera from primitive algae to the most advanced plant species and major crop plants were used for phylogenetic analysis. The interspecific divergence was studied with 11 members of genus Oryza while intraspecific divergence was studied with sesame pan-genome adapted to diverse ecological niches. B2 genes in eudicots and monocots originated separately while A1 gave rise to the recently evolved Class-C genes and land colonization happened with evolution of A1 genes. An increase in the number of lineages in the Oryza clade with the evolution of AA genome indicated independent domestication and positive selection was observed in > 53% of loci whereas the highly conserved homologues were under purifying selection. The paralogous genes under positive selection exhibited more domain changes for diversified function and increased fitness. A significant co-evolving cluster involving amino acids Phenylalanine, Lysine and Valine played crucial role in maintaining hydrophobic core along with highly conserved Tryptophan residues. A mutation of Glutamic acid to Glutamine was observed in A8 genes of Lamiales affecting protein solvency. Breeding resulted in accumulation of mutations reducing the hydrophobicity of proteins and a further reduction in protein aggregation. This study identify genome duplications, non-neutral selection and co-evolving residues as causing drastic changes in the conserved domain of Hsf proteins., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12298-022-01183-7., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose., (© Prof. H.S. Srivastava Foundation for Science and Society 2022.)

Introduction: Renal infiltration by leukemia causing massive bilateral nephromegaly is an extremely rare presentation of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia(T-ALL)., Case Report: 18-month-old female toddler presented with fever and progressive abdominal distension of 4-6 weeks duration. Imaging revealed bilateral massively enlarged kidneys with normal excretion. Peripheral blood counts and smear examination was unremarkable and immunophenotypic evaluation of marrow was consistent with T-ALL. Chest imaging was unremarkable. She was started on modified Indian Childhood Collaborative Leukemia Group (ICiCLe) ALL protocol. Even with the best anti-tumor lysis syndrome (TLS) prophylaxis the child required two sessions of hemodialysis. An end-induction morphological remission & end-consolidation negative minimal residual disease (MRD) could be achieved., Conclusion: Bilateral massive nephromegaly is an extremely rare presentation of T-ALL. This case emphasizes the unusual presentation, need for prompt remediation of TLS, and most importantly the use of early intensification with four drug anthracycline & dexamethasone-based therapy for the treatment of T-ALL in children., Competing Interests: None declared., (© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Objectives: Early integrated palliative care has shown to improve the quality of life in patients with cancer. During the past decade, pediatric palliative care has become an established area of medical expertise, however due to scant information available regarding the triggers for referral and referral practice very few children receive a formal palliative care consult., Materials and Methods: A retrospective audit of medical case records of pediatric oncology patients over a period of 1 year from September 30, 2019, to September 30, 2020, was conducted. Demographic details, diagnosis, staging, clinical parameters, reason for referral, and palliative care plan were captured in a predesigned pro forma., Results: Among 126 children with cancer, 27 (21.4%) patients were referred to palliative care. Majority 21 (77%) referrals were inpatient consults. Symptom management 17 (44.7%) was the most common trigger for referral followed by referrals for psychosocial support 12 (14.4%). Children with solid tumors 16 (59%) were more often referred than hematological malignancies. Among those needing end of life care, 8 (88.8%) out of 9 families preferred home than hospital., Conclusion: Low incidence of palliative care referral and presence of symptoms as a trigger for palliative care referral suggests gaps in the integrated approach. The study findings prompt a review of palliative care referral criteria and referral practice in a pediatric oncology setting., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (© 2021 Published by Scientific Scholar on behalf of Indian Jounal of Palliative Care.)

Novel microsatellite markers were developed to investigate the genetic diversity and DNA fingerprinting of bougainvillea cultivars. Total of 175 SSRs were designed from over 50,000 SSRs identified in the whole genome sequence data, 33 highly polymorphic markers were identified. These selected SSRs produced a total of 165 alleles with 2 (BOUG-3 and BOUG-50) to 9 (BOUG-69) alleles per loci with an average of 5 alleles per locus. The overall size of the amplified products ranged from 90 bp (BOUG-51 and BOUG-81) to 320 bp (BOUG-162). The gene diversity per locus ranged from 0.13 to 0.91 with a mean of 0.71. Primer BOUG-73 and BOUG-124 exhibited highest gene diversity with greater number of alleles. The mean Nei's genetic diversity index was 0.678 with range of 0.134 (BOUG-77) to 0.958 (BOUG-69). The UPGMA based dendrogram divided the cultivars into seven major clusters. Clustering pattern was more distinct for bract types and variegated cultivars which were also confirmed by PCA scatter plot diagram. The pair-wise genetic distance estimates ranged from 0.089 to 0.86 with an average of 0.56. Each of the 125 cultivar profiled had unique marker profile indicating that the SSR markers identified are useful for identification and differentiation of bougainvillea cultivars. These informative markers identified from the study will be of great utility to assess the genetic diversity, understanding the population structure and in marker assisted breeding for improvement of bougainvillea., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Karyomorphological studies have been carried out in nine species and five varieties of the genus Cucumis representing Indian gene pool. The present investigations reveal the occurrence of two somatic chromosome numbers 2n = 14, 24 in the genus. C. ritchiei and C. indicus the two new species, were found to be having somatic chromosome numbers of 2n = 24 and 2n = 20 respectively. The wild species viz. C. hystrix, C. setosus, C. prophetarum, C. dipsaceus, C. indicus have very less number of median-centromeric chromosomes, high asymmetry indices, while melon groups have intermediate number of median -centromeric chromosomes. C. sativus, C. callosus, C. ritchiei show lesser number median-cen-tromeric chromosomes and very less asymmetry indices. The importance of karyotypic variation with respect to speciation within the genus Cucumis have been discussed.

Sesamin and sesamolin are the major oil-soluble lignans present in sesame seed, having a wide range of biological functions beneficial to human health. Understanding sesame domestication history using sesamin synthase gene expression could enable delineation of the sesame putative progenitor. This report examined the functional expression of sesamin synthase (CYP81Q1) during capsule maturation (0-40 days after flowering) in three wild Sesamum species and four sesame cultivars. Among the cultivated accessions, only S. indicum (CO-1) exhibited transcript abundance of sesamin synthase along with high sesamin content similar to S. malabaricum, while the other cultivated sesame showed low expression. The sesamin synthase expression analysis, coupled with quantification of sesamin level, indicates that sesamin synthase was not positively favoured during domestication. The sesamin synthase expression pattern and lignan content, along with phylogenetic analysis suggested a close relationship of cultivated sesame and the wild species S. malabaricum. The high genetic identity between the two species S. indicum and S. malabaricum points towards the role of the putative progenitor S. malabaricum in sesame breeding programmes to broaden the genetic base of sesame cultivars. This study emphasises the need to investigate intraspecific and interspecific variation in the primary, secondary and tertiary gene pools to develop superior sesame genotypes., (© 2015 German Botanical Society and The Royal Botanical Society of the Netherlands.)

Forty-four soybean genotypes with different photoperiod response were selected after screening of 1000 soybean accessions under artificial condition and were profiled using 40 SSR and 5 AFLP primer pairs. The average polymorphism information content (PIC) for SSR and AFLP marker systems was 0.507 and 0.120, respectively. Clustering of genotypes was done using UPGMA method for SSR and AFLP and correlation was 0.337 and 0.504, respectively. Mantel's correlation coefficients between Jaccard's similarity coefficient and the cophenetic values were fairly high in both the marker systems (SSR = 0.924; AFLP = 0.958) indicating very good fit for the clustering pattern. UPGMA based cluster analysis classified soybean genotypes into four major groups with fairly moderate bootstrap support. These major clusters corresponded with the photoperiod response and place of origin. The results indicate that the photoperiod insensitive genotypes, 11/2/1939 (EC 325097) and MACS 330 would be better choice for broadening the genetic base of soybean for this trait.

Objective: This study aimed to compare outcomes for mastoidotympanoplasty and for tympanoplasty alone in cases of quiescent, tubotympanic, chronic, suppurative otitis media., Study Design: Single-blinded, randomised, controlled study within a tertiary referral hospital., Methods: Sixty-eight cases were randomly allocated into two groups. In group one, 35 ears underwent type one tympanoplasty along with cortical mastoidectomy. In group two, 33 ears underwent type one tympanoplasty alone. Outcome measures were as follows: perforation closure and graft uptake, hearing improvement, disease eradication, and post-operative complications., Results: There were no statistically significant differences in hearing improvement, tympanic perforation closure, graft uptake or disease eradication, comparing the two groups at three and six months post-operatively., Conclusion: Mastoidotympanoplasty was not found to be superior to tympanoplasty alone over a short term follow-up period. Hence, it may not be necessary to undertake routine mastoid exploration at this stage of disease.

The aim of this study was to develop cryopreservation protocols for Asian races of Dioscorea bulbifera and D. alata with high survival and plant regeneration after cryopreservation. Using a vitrification procedure, survival of shoot tips postcryopreservation of up to 89% in D. bulbifera and up to 82% in D. alata were recorded when excised shoot tips were pretreated overnight with 0.3 M sucrose in MS medium, followed by loading with 2 M glycerol plus 0.4 M sucrose for 20 min at 25 degrees C, exposure to PVS2 solution for 90 min at 0 degrees C, immersion in liquid nitrogen for 1 h, rewarming at 40 degrees C for 2 min, unloading in medium with 1.2 M sucrose for 20 min and culturing on growth recovery medium. During growth recovery, 58% shoot regeneration was obtained in D. bulbifera when cryopreserved shoot tips were initially cultured for 40 days on MS medium with 1.5 mg/L BAP, 0.15 mg/L NAA and 0.2 mg/L GA3 followed by culturing on a medium with 0.05 mg/L BAP and 0.15 mg/ L NAA. However, a maximum of 39% shoot regeneration was recorded in D. alata when cryopreserved shoot tips were initially cultured for 40 days on medium M2 (MS containing 1/5 NH4NO3 and 40 g/L sucrose) supplemented with 1.0 mg/L BAP, 1.0 mg/L zeatin, 0.15 mg/L IAA and 0.2 mg/L GA3. Subsequently, the regenerating shoots were cultured for 30 days on medium M2 with 1.0 mg/L BAP, 0.3 mg/L zeatin, 0.02 mg/L NAA and 0.2 mg/L GA3 followed by culturing for another 30 days on medium with 0.5 mg/L BAP, 0.02 mg/L NAA and 0.2 mg/L GA3. Finally, transfer onto medium with 0.05 mg/L BAP and 0.15 mg/L NAA stimulated production of fully grown plantlets. Alteration of post-thaw culture media with plant growth regulators and their application at various stages of growth recovery was crucial for regeneration of shoot tips and formation of plantlets in D. alata.

A study of three different Y-specific microsatellites (Y-STRs) in the populations from Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar (BI), Punjab (PUNJ), and Bengal (WB), speaking modern indic dialects with its roots in Indo-Aryan language, and from South of India (SI), speaking the South Indian languages with their root in Dravidian language, has shown that the predominant alleles observed represent the whole range of allelic variation reported in different population groups globally. These results indicate that the Indian population is most diverse. The similarity between the allelic variants between the populations studied by others in Africa and Asia and in this study between WB, PUNJ, UP, BI, and SI are of interest. It demonstrates that these population groups, housed in eight states of the country in different geographic locations, broadly correspond with Indo-Aryan and Dravidian language families. Further, our analyses based on haplotype frequency of different marker loci and gene diversity reveals that none of the population groups have remained isolated from others. High levels of haplotype diversity exist in all the clusters of population. Nonsignificant results based on Markov chain steps and Slatkin's linearized genetic distances indicate that there has been migration to and from in these population groups. However, some of the marginally significant interpopulation differences could be attributed to one or more of the castes with high diversity embedded within the population groups studied. Haplotype sharing between populations, F(ST) statistics, and phylogenetic analysis identifies genetic relatedness to be more between individuals belonging to two different states of India, WB and PUNJ, followed by UP and BI, whereas SI branched out separately.

Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis was used to examine the extent of variability in 11 Indian wild derived commensal house mice (Mus musculus) populations and compared with inbred strains of musculus and domesticus subspecies as well as commonly used laboratory inbred strains C57BL/6J and DBA/2J. Arbitrary designed 10 mer oligonucleotide primers with 60-70% (G+C) content were used to amplify DNA template. Out of 52 primers screened initially on the laboratory strains, 20 were selected for analysis on the basis of amplification product in the size range of 200-1400 bp. Among 353 total polymorphic bands, 220 bands (64%) were found to be polymorphic in Indian wild mice, 85 bands (25%) in wild derived inbred strains and 37 bands (11%) in laboratory mice strains. The amplification patterns produced by primers were statistically analysed by Jaccard's similarity coefficient the value of which ranged from 0.56 to 0.80. High level of genetic diversity was seen in the Indian wild mice populations as compared to the controls. The UPGMA phenogram grouped mice population into two major clusters except Bikaner [BIK], Bilaspur [BIL] and Ranikhet [RK] populations which were placed outside the close-knit clusters. Inspite of low values of bootstrap estimates obtained by Wagner and Dollo parsimony analysis, the results were comparable with UPGMA phenogram when constitution of the populations in the major cluster was considered. Indian mice populations appeared to be diverse from laboratory inbred mice strains.

The potential use of random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was evaluated as a source of development of alternative genetic markers for studying variation in buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) and other related species of the Artiodactyla family Bovidae, in order to ascertain genetic relationships and diversities. Fourteen arbitrary primers were used to amplify DNA fragments in four species such as Indian Zebu cattle (Bos indicus), buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), sheep (Ovis aries) and goat (Capra hircus). Clear and distinct RAPD patterns with a higher level of polymorphism was detected between species, while fewer polymorphisms were found within the species. Species were subsequently scored for presence or absence of RAPD fragments and Jaccard's similarity coefficients were calculated to quantify the genetic divergence among the species. Wagner parsimony analysis of the RAPD data for 542 markers resulted in one most parsimonious tree which revealed very low similarity among the four species analysed.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of genomic DNA from 57 Musa cultivars with 60 random 10-mer primers generated 605 polymorphic amplification products which were useful in unambiguous cultivar identifications. Unweighted pair-group method analysis of this data grouped the cultivars into specific clusters depending on their genomic similarities. The diploid ancestral species of cultivated banana and plantains, namely Musa acuminata sp malaccensis, an A genome donor and M. balbisiana, a B genome donor, were farthest apart from each other in the phenogram. The edible fruit yielding cultivars with the genomic constitutions AA, AAA, AB, AAB, ABB, and ABBB grouped in different clusters according to overall genetic homologies. The restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) prevalent among the cultivars were studied by hybridization of 19 random genomic clones to blots of HindIII, EcoRI and MspI digests. Cluster analysis of these data on 107 polymorphic alleles resulted in a phenogram comparable to the one obtained with random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. Two multilocus probes useful in distinguishing all the 57 cultivars analyzed were also identified. The A and B types of cytoplasms in the cultivars were further distinguished by hybridization of heterologous chloroplast DNA probes. Results showed that use of different kinds of molecular markers in gene banks is essential for characterization and classification of germplasm collections.

Using synthetic oligodeoxyribonucleotide probes against restriction-digested genomic DNA, we have established DNA fingerprinting of Musa cultivars. Of all the enzymes used, Eco RI and Hin dIII were found to be most informative, giving rise to individual specific band patterns with oligonucleotide probes of 15- to 18-base residues. Of the several probes and enzyme combinations used, the 15mer GACA probe with Eco RI and Hin dIII digests revealed a maximal level of polymorphism, and the probability of obtaining an identical band pattern between any two random genotypes was calculated to be 1.50 x 10(-9) and 1.59 x 10(-9), respectively. Oligonucleotide probes longer than 22 residues were also used but did not hybridize. The present approach is useful for cultivar identification and for overall genome analysis to establish relatedness among the various accessions of the Musa germplasm originating from different geographic locations. The relevance of using synthetic oligonucleotide probes based on simple repeat motifs for achieving DNA fingerprinting pattern is discussed.